solidaridad: 2ND ANNUAL CEJ/PEAC Social Justice Schools Conference

solidaridad: 2ND ANNUAL CEJ/PEAC Social Justice Schools Conference:

2ND ANNUAL CEJ/PEAC Social Justice Schools Conference

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene

Attacks on our schools continue, but the fight is stronger than ever as exemplified by the Schools L.A. Students Deserve Campaign. Parents, students, teachers, community organizations have come together to not only build a vision for schools but to think about a strategy to win.

2ND ANNUAL CEJ/PEAC Social Justice Schools Conference by Robert D. Skeels

Schools Matter: Tom Friedman Signals New Education Rhetoric and the Same Old Crap

Schools Matter: Tom Friedman Signals New Education Rhetoric and the Same Old Crap:

Tom Friedman Signals New Education Rhetoric and the Same Old Crap

by Jim Horn

I have been dismissing Tom Friedman for a long time, but occasionally I do find something of interest in his column that someone else said.  His latest column follows that pattern, in that it is based largely on quotes from Tony Wagner, a Harvard prof who has made a career of trying to do in education what Tom Friedman has done in politics, i. e., represent an abstract middle-brow version of progressivism that wraps neo-liberal social engineering plans in gauzy, good-smelling paper.  When you look closely, however, you will still find a turd inside.

Friedman begins with the reason for all education, the economy, and by pointing out that there are no more high paying middle skilled jobs.  What he doesn’t tell us is that those jobs were shipped abroad by theyguys he goes skiing with in Sun Valley, exported to labor markets that 

UPDATE: DFER's 'Education Warrior' Schooling in the Ownership Society: Walton paying for CPS propaganda campaign on school closings

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Walton paying for CPS propaganda campaign on school closings:

DFER's 'Education Warrior' Sen. Smith, busted trying to rig N.Y. mayor's race

by Mike Klonsky

Smith, in a conversation with a federal informant, expressed his feelings on the illegal payoffs. “Business is business.”

Hedge-fund school reformers at DFER's held up State Sen. Malcolm Smith, as their all-time school privatization hero. They describe Smith here as "a proud supporter of public charter schools long before it became popular to do so within the Democratic Party." Smith was even honored with DFER's 2007 Education Warrior Award .

Oops! This from today's Daily News:

Democratic state Sen. Malcolm Smith was busted Tuesday with City Councilman Dan Halloran in a 

Walton paying for CPS propaganda campaign on school closings

by Mike Klonsky

Federico Waitoller and Stephanie Farmer from CReATE, present  research on school closings at today's City Hall press conference. But can education research counter the Walton-funded propaganda campaign? (Mike Klonsky photo)

The Walton Fund, philanthropic arm of the mega-billionaire Walton family (Wal-Mart), has given CPS nearly half-a-million dollars to underwrite Rahm's pro-school-closing propaganda campaign. The $478,000 grant went to setting up the  Profits Children First Foundation, an organization created by CPS which a spokesperson confirmed was to help facilitate the “community engagement process” over the school closings.

Walton dollars were also used to set up this website with a video showing a concerned CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett bemoaning the fact that her school district is not providing "all children" with a "high quality, 21st

UPDATE: Parent Revolution Monster Jeb Bush + Florida’s School Choice Crowd Buses in Kids on a School Day for Political Rally | Scathing Purple Musings

Florida’s School Choice Crowd Buses in Kids on a School Day for Political Rally | Scathing Purple Musings:

The Parent Revolution Monster Jeb Bush Wants to Unleash in Florida Communities With Parent Trigger

by Bob Sikes

Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Florida’s Future (FFF) has brought in Parent Revolution the past two years to testify on behalf of Parent Trigger. FFF’s executive director, Patricia Levesque, orchestrated a press conference last week with Parent Revolution as a primary part of FFF’s efforts to pass Parent Trigger. Bush even singled out the self-described left wing group at his fifth annual summit in November 2012.
Parent Revolution’s existence depends on Parent Trigger legislation becoming reality and  is banking on it’s success in Adelanto, California. The group spends a lot of time advancing their version of events. Fully funded by billionaire philanthropies, such a misinformation campaign is easy. Sometimes the real story gets out. Former Adelanto school board chairman Carlos Mendoza routinely tells events differently. Now this from two parent who

Florida’s School Choice Crowd Buses in Kids on a School Day for Political Rally

by Bob Sikes

ASTRO TURF KIDS?

In response to a questions from a colleague during yesterday’s Parent Trigger senate hearing, bill sponsor Kelli Stargel seem to bristle when she corrected a senate colleague by insisting that charter schools are public schools.
Why so touchy?
Stargel’s not alone. Consider this from Ron Matus who wrote this  a few days ago in redinED

Senate sponsor Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, crafts an amendment that would leave the final decision to school boards, not the state Board of Education, reports the Tallahassee Democrat. Creative Loafing notes the concept’s origins on the political left, but inaccurately writes that unlike California, “troubled schools singled out in the Sunshine State would be taken over by a for-profit corporation.”

Matus doesn’t say what’s inaccurate. Is it the “would” part or the “taken over by a for-profit corporation” part?
At any rate, it is Matus who is inaccurate – or at least misleading. Nothing in either Parent Trigger bill moving through the legislature prevents for-profit corporations from taking over a public school after a Parent Trigger

Hispanic Education: CA Migrant Head Start Program Can be Model | HispanicallySpeakingNews.com

Hispanic Education: CA Migrant Head Start Program Can be Model | HispanicallySpeakingNews.com:

Hispanic Education: California Migrant Head Start Program Can be Model

Long before President Obama triggered a new national interest in universal preschool earlier this year, a Central Valley-based Head Start program for children of migrant workers has been breaking down barriers that have kept Latino families out of early learning programs.
Data suggests that Latino children, who now make up more than half of children under 5 years old in California, have historically enrolled in early education programs at lower rates than their peers in other ethnic groups.
“We know from 20 years of research that a lot of Latino parents prefer to use home-based care, and that preschools appear to be excessively formal and sometimes not inviting institutions” to those parents, said University of California, Berkeley education professor Bruce Fuller, who has spent years studying early education issues in the Latino community.
“Formal” and “not inviting” are not terms that could be used to describe the child development center in Hughson, a small agricultural community nine miles southwest of Modesto. Four portable classrooms sit facing a play area with a jungle gym and a swing set. On a recent morning, the center was filled with 52 children ranging in age 

Learning Math, Learning Justice - Rethinking Schools

Rethinking Schools:

Volume 27, Issue 3

Volume 27, Issue 3

VOLUME 27, ISSUE 3 — SPRING 2013

Cover Theme: Learning Math, Learning Justice

This issue of Rethinking Schools previews our new, expanded, and revised edition of Rethinking Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the Numbers. The focus is on teaching math in ways that help students make sense of their world.

Editorial: Just Math

Whose Community Is This?Mathematics of neighborhood displacement

By Eric (Rico) Gutstein

Students use advanced math to study gentrification, displacement, and foreclosure in their neighborhood.

Beyond MarblesPercent change and social justice

By Flannery Denny

Middle school students analyze a classroom full of social justice issues, armed with their understanding of percent change.

Responding to Tragedy2nd graders reach out to the Sikh community

By Dale Weiss

When a racist attack kills members of a local Sikh temple, a 2nd-grade teacher involves her students in a journey of connection and solidarity.

Paradise LostIntroducing students to climate change through story

By Brady Bennon

The film Paradise Lost—about the rising ocean that threatens Kiribati—proves an evocative introduction to a unit on climate change.

UPDATE: Seattle Schools Community Forum: Ed Reform Collapsing Under Its Own Weight - Part One, Assessments

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Ed Reform Collapsing Under Its Own Weight - Part One, Assessments:

Keeping Up with Language Usage (Do Keep Up)

from Seattle Schools Community Forum by Melissa Westbrook

First up today, it was the use of the word "illegals", then it seems "whom" may be on its way out and now the NY Times weighs in on language with this op-ed "Those Irritating Verbs-as-Nouns."

Today the Associated Press (via the Huffington Post) sent out a style guide to reporters about using the term "illegals, illegal immigrants and undocumented immigrants."

From the AP Stylebook:

illegal immigration Entering or residing in a country in violation of civil or criminal law. Except in direct quotes essential to the story, use illegal only to refer to an action, not a person: illegal immigration, but not illegal immigrant. Acceptable variations include living in or entering a country illegally or without legal permission. 

Added To Board Meeting Agenda: RIFs

by Melissa Westbrook

Just added to the School Board meeting agenda today is an Introduction item to allow for "Authorization for a Reduction in Force" by Human Resources.   From the item (red mine):

The District is projecting some budget and program changes for the 2013-2014 school year that will not allow it to maintain its current level of programs and services. In order to maintain expenditures within a level of anticipated revenues, it is necessary for the District to make changes to programs and services and possibly complete a reduction in force of certificated staff. Therefore, it is necessary to give timely notice to people in certificated and classified positions that those positions are being eliminated. For certificated staff, these notices need to be delivered on or before May 15, 2013. 

Seattle Schools Named for 2012 Achievement

by Melissa Westbrook

From OPSI:
A total of 381 schools are receiving Washington Achievement Awards for 2012. Award-winning schools were notified today via email by State Superintendent Randy Dorn and State Board of Education Chair Jeff Vincent.

The Washington Achievement Awards, now in their fourth year, are sponsored by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education. Award winners are selected using the state’s Achievement Index and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Flexibility Waiver.

Washington’s School Achievement Index rates all schools according to specific outcomes and indicators from 2010 to 2012. The five outcomes are student performance in statewide assessments in reading, writing, math 

Twelve Districts May Be Charter Authorizers

by Melissa Westbrook

From KING-5 news:

A dozen Washington school districts have sent letters to the state Board of Education indicating intent to authorize charter schools starting in 2014, beating a Monday deadline.

The twelve districts include Bellevue, Battle Ground, Eastmont, Highline, Kent, Naselle-Grays River Valley, Peninsula, Port Townsend, Sequim, Spokane, Sunnyside and Tacoma.

Kent, Spokane and Tacoma are the second, third and fourth largest districts in the state.  (Note: Spokane and 

Ed Reform Collapsing Under Its Own Weight - Part One, Assessments

by Melissa Westbrook

There has been many, many news stories out this last month that all lead me to believe that ed reform is starting to collapse.  Is it anywhere near full-collapse?  Nope and that's because there is a lot of money to be made so it will not go without a fight.  But the signs are all there.

Let's start with assessments and the posterchild that is Atlanta.  (But close on its heels is Rhee's D.C., Texas and Florida.)

What is this all about?  It's about a superintendent who wanted to make money for herself and for the administrators and teachers in her district, make a "name" for herself and the kids be damned.

Today the first suspects in the Atlanta cheating scandal turned themselves in.  There are 35 educators who 

Public Schools, Private Agendas: Parent Revolution – Hot Ideas for a Cold Economy – The Frying Pan

Public Schools, Private Agendas: Parent Revolution – Hot Ideas for a Cold Economy – The Frying Pan:

Public Schools, Private Agendas: Parent Revolution

by Gary Cohn on April 2, 2013

 At first glance, it is one of the nation’s hottest new education-reform movements, a seemingly populist crusade to empower poor parents and fix failing public schools. But a closer examination reveals that the “parent-trigger” movement is being heavily financed by the conservative Walton Family Foundation, one of the nation’s largest and most strident anti-union organizations, a Frying Pan News investigation has shown.

Since 2009, the foundation has poured more than $6.3 million into Parent Revolution, a Los Angeles advocacy group that is in the forefront of the parent-trigger campaign in California and the nation. Its heavy reliance on Walton money, critics say, raises questions about the independence of Parent Revolution and the intentions of the Walton Family Foundation.

(See interactive infographic, left, for donations from 2009 through March, 2013.  Sources: Parent Revolution; foundation tax returns; foundation grant reports.)

While Parent Revolution identifies the Walton Family Foundation as one of several donors on its Web site, the full extent of contributions from the Walton foundation and other donors hasn’t been publicly known until now. Information supplied to Frying Pan News by Parent Revolution and publicly available tax records show that a total of 18 separate foundations have given more than $14.8 million to the group since its founding in 2009.

Other multimillion dollar contributors include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ($1.6 million); the Laura and John Arnold Foundation ($1.5 million); the Wasserman Foundation($1.5 million); the Broad Foundation($1.45 million) and the Emerson Collective Education Fund ($1.2 million), founded by Laurence Powell Jobs, the widow of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

But the Walton Family Foundation is by far Parent Revolution’s largest benefactor, 

Letter to the Sacramento County Board of Education: Just Say No to the Fortune School Charter Revision | The Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education

Letter to the Sacramento County Board of Education: Just Say No to the Fortune School Charter Revision | The Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education:

Letter to the Sacramento County Board of Education: Just Say No to the Fortune School Charter Revision

by Kate_Lenox

published by Kate_Lenox on Tue, 04/02/2013 - 1:07pm

Dear SCOE Board of Trustees:  It has come to our attention that the Fortune School will be coming before the SCOE board to ask for a material revision of its charter. It is proposing a new school in Elk Grove School USD more than three miles from the "children's zone" identified in the original petition for a school location. Not only does this seem to go against its stated mission of locating in areas where the students in most need of their service reside, the location was approved by SCOE with no notification to Elk Grove USD.  As stated by President Geeting in the SCOE minutes,  the Fortune Charter School must come before the SCOE board to ask for a new charter for its third school due to a state decision about charter funding. We believe that the Fortune school should go before the individual districts where the schools are to be located to petition for  their charter.

The recent court decision on the Aspire schools supports this. The decision, while pertaining to a statewide charter, is analogous to this situation.  The Fortune School did not prove that they could not achieve their goals through locally chartered schools. They simply made that claim in their original petition and it was not disputed by SCOE. The countywide benefit they claimed is more for their ease of operation than for the students they plan to serve.  Students could as easily attend a Fortune School chartered by the district it is located in.

The SCOE board should not approve this material revision of the Fortune charter. The Fortune school should not undermine the intent of  charter school law by going directly to the County Office of Education for their charter.  Individual districts have the right to hear these petitions and make the determination.  Please see the link to the court decision below.

http://www.edsource.org/today/wp-content/uploads/Chart-StatewideBenefit-...

Thank you,

Kate Lenox, Secretary

Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education

Rally and Teach In at Serna Center Thursday, April 4th 2013, 4:30 to 5:30 pm

Atlanta school cheating indictments: Your questions, answered. By Dana Goldstein

Atlanta school cheating indictments: Your questions, answered.:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

What You Need to Know About the Shocking Cheating Indictments in the Atlanta Public Schools

By Dana Goldstein

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Posted Tuesday, April 2, 2013, at 3:07 PM

 

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The Atlanta indictment alleges a top-down conspiracy.

Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images

A March 29 grand jury indictment details the shockingly sick culture of adult cheating that existed within the Atlanta public schools under former superintendent Beverly Hall, who resigned in disgrace two years ago. A one-time “Superintendent of the Year” who earned $580,000 in performance bonuses, Hall allegedly fired skeptics and whistle-blowers and protected the jobs of the very same principals and teachers known to have held “erasure parties” to change students’ standardized test answers from wrong to right. Here are some of the biggest questions this scandal raises for national education reform:

Is Atlanta an isolated case? The extent of the top-down malfeasance under Beverly Hall may be unprecedented, but as I report in this Slate piece, there is reason to believe that policies tying adult incentives to children’s test scores have resulted in a nationwide uptick in cheating. An investigation by the Atlanta Journal Constitution found 196 school districts across the country with suspicious test score gains similar to the ones demonstrated in Atlanta, which statisticians said had only a one in 1 billion likelihood of being legitimate. A 2011 study by USA Today of test scores from just six states found 1,610 instances in which gains were as likely to be authentic as you are likely to buy a winning Powerball ticket. Absent independent, local investigations of suspected wrongdoing—which are rarely conducted—we simply cannot know the full extent of the cheating, which makes it difficult to assess whether the United States ought to continue down the road of tying teacher and administrator pay and job security to kids’ standardized test scores.

Do scores on other tests show Atlanta schools improved under Hall, despite the cheating? When the scandal first made national news in 2011, Hall claimed that because 

On the Atlanta Cheating Scandal

by Dana Goldstein

I've written a new explainer for Slate on the indictments of 35 Atlanta educators for inflating students' test scores: What does it tell us about national education reform? For previous coverage of my thoughts on Atlanta and standardized testing more generally, see this 2011 piece.