Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Education in America: right or privilege? – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

Education in America: right or privilege? – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:


Education in America: right or privilege?





 So, is schooling in America a right or privilege?  Do we hold sacrosanct our hopes and wishes that what still remains is a free and public right to education in America?  Or, has the division of inequity in America, driven by the leverage gained by banks too big to fail who are responsible for the shaping of opportunity create education as privilege?  I was told recently that schooling in America is a right because it is taxpayer funded.  I don’t disagree with this completely.  However, we, parents, students, teachers, citizens are becoming aware through observations beyond the corporate media that public school funding, even private, corporate-run school funding is a function of the power to create a monomaniacal structure of capitalization and consumerism.
That’s true, public schools are mostly paid for through taxation.  But the fair share system of funding through taxation has become corrupted.  Education is also at the mercy of banks, too big to fail banks, who control through distortions of bonding and distribution markets , interest on loan leveraging on everything within the public demesne.  From toilet tissue in the school bathrooms to teacher pension funds.  Public schools’ budgets are being purposefully decimated to make way for the great corporate takeover through global interest rate swaps which control everything we consume.  Having taught in the public domain for over half my life, I’ve gained a wider and more panoramic picture (well, I think so, maybe) of what goes on in public education, on campuses, and have come to the conclusion that it is less about taxpayer funding than it is about distribution of funding driven 

Cage-Busting Skunks Disrupting the Status Quo - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

Cage-Busting Skunks Disrupting the Status Quo - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:


Cage-Busting Skunks Disrupting the Status Quo


"When you wage war on the public schools, you're attacking the mortar that holds the community together. You're not a conservative, you're a vandal."

~Garrison Keillor~

This is a blog about innovation--that is, innovation in public education. More specifically, creating catchy memes to push "pioneering" thinking while simultaneously attacking the "status quo" (painted as bad, very bad) in American education. Under the benign banner of...innovation.
A decade ago, we were new-millennials, thinking out of the box. Then it was all about Shift Happens, which morphed into mega-excitement around disrupting class--flipping classrooms, embracing blended learning, anointing "Video Sal" Khan as America's best (read: cheapest) teacher. Now, all the flippers, shifters and disrupters have moved to the next big thing: cage-busting.
In Michigan, they're doing this by creating a secret task force--no educators allowed!--to design ground-breaking 

NYC Public School Parents: Why do the media nearly always frame education issues as the UFT vs. the Mayor; and Ben Chapman's response

NYC Public School Parents: Why do the media nearly always frame education issues as the UFT vs. the Mayor; and Ben Chapman's response:


Why do the media nearly always frame education issues as the UFT vs. the Mayor; and Ben Chapman's response

Corporate Media = Corporate Lies

One of my particular gripes is how the politics of education in NYC is usually framed by the media in simplistic terms as a battle between the teachers union vs. the mayor, without any reference to the views of parents, advocates or other members of the community.  This is especially true now that we are in the midst of a mayoral race.  If one or more of the candidates take a different position from the mayor on education, this is usually  interpreted as a naked attempt to appeal to the union, with little acknowledgement of the fact that the political crosscurrents are far more complex, and that they may also be responding to the priorities and views of public school parents, community members, or voters in general.
Here is an example from a Daily News article, about one of the mayoral debates: 

There were also moments when it felt like United Federation of Teachers President Michael 

Students organizing Georgia integrated prom: Governor’s silence is ‘political suicide’ | The Raw Story

Students organizing Georgia integrated prom: Governor’s silence is ‘political suicide’ | The Raw Story:


Students organizing Georgia integrated prom: Governor’s silence is ‘political suicide’

Jersey Jazzman: Perth Amboy Schools Circus Update

Jersey Jazzman: Perth Amboy Schools Circus Update:


Perth Amboy Schools Circus Update

So what's new in Perth Amboy, The Reformiest District in New Jersey™?
The superintendent of the city's schools says that a board member is lying about where he lives, the most recent salvo in an ongoing public-education battle.
Janine Caffrey said at a school board meeting Thursday night that the state is investigating whether Israel Varela lives on Lewis Street in the city or 40 miles away in Hunterdon County. School board members are required to live in the school district.
"He needs to resign," Caffrey said of Varela in an interview Friday. "He is a board member who is contributing nothing to this Board of Education other than creating a cloud of suspicion over it. He has been lying about his residence for three years." [emphasis mine]
Innocent until proven guilty? Meh...
Varela denies that he lives in Flemington, and said that the accusations are nothing more than political retribution, all because he won't "brown-nose" school 

Bennett: #commoncore because Exxon-Mobile said so. – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

Bennett: #commoncore because Exxon-Mobile said so. – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:


Bennett: #commoncore because Exxon-Mobile said so.

Diane in the Evening 4-27-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:









Parent: I Am Fighting Against the Testing Mania

I received an email from a parent in Long Island who has decided to join the campaign against high-stakes  testing. She blames Common Core for her children’s unhappiness with school, but Common Core is just the latest manifestation of the testing obsession embedded in No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. She blogs, writes letter, button holes elected officials. She is fighting for her children and for all other children. With more parents like her, we could turn this situation around.
She writes:
Hi Ms. Ravitch,
I’m a Mom from Long Island, NY. I would like to share my story about how 


This Teacher Sets the Record Straight

This teacher wrote a math problem into a Tweet. He got a negative response from someone he did not know. The next day, he was pulled out of his class and suspended on suspicion that he had leaked a Common Core test question on Twitter.
This is a frightening story. His reputation was nearly destroyed by suspicion and allegation.
This is his story:

I need to set the record straight

I teach my students that their reputation is the most important asset they own. Your reputation is determined by 


Rhode Island: Why Do “Reformers” Hate Democracy?

Having followed the corporate reform movement closely, I have noticed that the adherents of this strange movement think they have all the answers. They make grandiose promises, set impossible targets, and make impossible claims. And they are never held accountable. They like to arrange things so they don’t have to listen to anyone who disagrees with them.
Tom Sgouros, an engineer in Rhode Island, has been vocal in protesting the corporate steamroller. He has been especially vocal in opposing the use of the standardized NECAP test as a graduation requirement. But he has


Bruce Baker: the Misuse of the Gates’ MET Study

Bruce Baker chides state policymakers for claiming that they are relying on MET, the Gates’ teacher evaluation program.
In his previous post, Baker delves into the ways that state officials are misusing value-added measurement and student growth percentiles. I asked Bruce if he would clarify the difference and he responded as follows (go to the link to see the video):
The key difference is explained in the previous post – which I think needs more attention:
With value added modeling, which does attempt to parse statistically the relationship between a student being 

John Thompson: What Did the Billionaires Know and When Did They Know It?

John Thompson understands that the big money has been betting heavily on testing and accountability. When did the billionaires realize that test score gains were the result of cheating? Did they care? Will they learn? Or will they continue to promote the same failed policies? Why? What do they hope to accomplish?

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 4-27-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 21 minutes ago
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Minneapolis: Steve Perry Ridicules Teachers by dianerav Steve Perry, who was once a commentator for CNN, recently spoke in Minneapolis and used the occasion to ridicule teachers and unions and boast of his own miraculous powers. He runs a school in Hartford where he performs miracles daily, unlike the millions of teachers who are not lucky enough to work in his school. His contempt for everyone but himself may explain why he is no longer a regular at CNN. How ... more »



LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitch's blog 4-27-13 #SOSCHAT

Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG 
DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG




Jersey Jazzman: Revenge Against Those Who Question "Reform"

Jersey Jazzman: Revenge Against Those Who Question "Reform":


Revenge Against Those Who Question "Reform"

Back in November - before Chris Christie declared that poor black people in Camden weren't capable of running their schools like rich white people in the 'burbs - the Camden school board actually wielded a little power. And last year enough members of the board banded together to exercise that power and stop South Jersey Democratic boss George Norcross from bringing the national charter chain KIPP into Camden to establish a quasi-charter where a new public school was supposed to be:
George E. Norcross III does not lose often. 
Nor does he lose easily: When Camden’s school board recently rebuffed a Norcross-backed bid to bring a Hope Act school to the city, the de facto leader of South Jersey Democrats quickly 

PAA leader helps expose Parent Revolution carpetbagging | Parents Across America

PAA leader helps expose Parent Revolution carpetbagging | Parents Across America:


PAA leader helps expose Parent Revolution astroturfers

Ed Notes Online: Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman at AERA Conf Sunday in San Francisco

Ed Notes Online: Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman at AERA Conf Sunday in San Francisco:


Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman at AERA Conf Sunday in San Francisco

We were asked to make our real reform film available as a counterpoint to the ed deform WFS. Note they are showing another ed deform film after ours, followed by a panel discussion. NOT FAIR - 2-1.

Unfortunately, Brian Jones and Diana Zavala will be heading to AERA on Tuesday for a panel and will miss this. Would have been great to have them rep us in the context of the bookend ed deform films.

By the way -- if see it if you haven't seen the film, the best defense of teacher unions yet, something that puts the UFT to shame ...


"The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" Online

I know she will kill me for saying this --- was inspired and managed and written and produced and narrated and 

MORE's Jonathan Lessuck to Speak at Ethical Culture Sunday at 11 am



The privatization of education
On Sunday, April 28, the Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture will discuss how public polices have allowed businesses to profit from education.
 
Jonathan Lessuck, an E.L.L.I.S. Preparatory Academy science teacher and MORE caucus union member, will discuss how the “education reform” movement has led to businesses competing for contracts and to diminished 

Tony Bennett’s Desperate, Disengenuous Defense of Common Core | Scathing Purple Musings

Tony Bennett’s Desperate, Disengenuous Defense of Common Core | Scathing Purple Musings:


Tony Bennett’s Desperate, Disengenuous Defense of Common Core

Indiana Deals Major Blow to National Education Standards — American Principles in Action

Sun Sentinel reporter Anthony Man was in attendance when Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett made a speech to Broward Workshop’s State of Our County forum on April 12. Bennett focused his speech on the sudden and unexpected debate that’s emerged on Common Core Standards.
“I would like to start my comments today around common core. I want to start by saying I acknowledge there are people on both sides of this issue.
“Let’s be very blunt about it. There are people on both sides of this issue. There are people who fear common core, and there are those like myself and [Broward School Superintendent] Bob [Runcie] who embrace common core…
“I acknowledge that there are differences. I am going to very simply say that if you want to know 

A dozen things teachers won’t tell parents (e.g., ‘Kids dish on your secrets all the time’)

A dozen things teachers won’t tell parents (e.g., ‘Kids dish on your secrets all the time’):


A dozen things teachers won’t tell parents (e.g., ‘Kids dish on your secrets all the time’)

http://thesecretsjourney.blogspot.com/2012/09/secrets.html
(thesecretsjourney.blogspot.com)
Interviews with teachers by Reader’s Digest yielded a list of more than 30 things that teachers think but would not tell their students’ parents. Here are a dozen of them, and you can find the rest here.
1. Kids dish on your secrets all the time — money, religion, politics, even Dad’s vasectomy.
2. Please, no more mugs, frames, or stuffed animals. A gift card to Starbucks or Staples would be more than enough. A thank-you note: even better.
3. I’m not a marriage counselor. At parent-teacher conferences, let’s stick to your child’s progress, not how your husband doesn’t help you around the house.
4. Guys who dribble a ball for a couple of hours a game can make up to $20 million a 

A ‘parent trigger’ mystery solved in Florida

A ‘parent trigger’ mystery solved in Florida:


A ‘parent trigger’ mystery solved in Florida

parent-trigger1Every major parents group in Florida, including the PTA, has long been vocally opposed to  the “parent trigger” legislationnow before the state legislature. Recently, a new group called Sunshine Parents was formed, this one in support of parent trigger — laws allowing parents at a failing school the right to change the school’s structure. What seemed unusual about the group wasn’t that some parents in Florida support parent trigger; surely some do. Rather, nobody was standing up and taking credit for creating the group, which sent out a pro-parent trigger e-mail, with a link to a video, to legislators and other Floridians. There was an e-mail address for the group on the letter, but nobody responded to the e-mails I sent to that address.
The Sunshine Parents e-mail urges support for the parent trigger legislation, known as the Parent Empowerment Act. It says that “Sunshine Parents is a group of parents and 

And now, Girl Scout badges aligned to Common Core standards

There’s nothing in this school reform era, it seems, that can’t be aligned with school content standards — even Girl Scout badges. It turns out, according to the Girl Scout Web site, that the “content” of every single Girl Scout … Continue reading →