Re-election of Tom Torlakson as State Schools Chief - California Teachers Association

- California Teachers Association:

CTA Votes to Support Re-election of Tom Torlakson as State Schools Chief and Jerry Brown for Governor

Contact: Claudia Briggs at 916-352-1550 or Mike Myslinski at 650-552-5324

Recommendations also made in constitutional and legislative races

The top governing body of the 325,000-member California Teachers Association has voted to support State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson in his bid for re-election and Gov. Jerry Brown in his bid this November, in addition to candidates for other statewide constitutional offices and legislative races.

“Superintendent Torlakson is a passionate educator and leader who shares our values and passion as we educate California’s students. He has always been a strong advocate for increasing state resources in support of K-14 education and has been a sponsor and supporter for reforms that work, like the Quality Education Investment Act. We look forward to continue working with the Superintendent as our schools begin to heal after years of devastating cuts,” said CTA President Dean E. Vogel.

Torlakson began his career as a science teacher in the Mount Diablo Unified School District (where he remains a teacher on leave) and served in California’s state Assembly and Senate before becoming state schools’ chief in 2010.

In addressing the recommendation of Gov. Jerry Brown, Vogel said, “We are grateful to Gov. Brown for his commitment to California’s public schools and colleges, and to responsibly navigating this state through some rough waters. During his entire term of office, the governor has made California’s students a priority and our schools are in better shape for it. Thanks to his leadership in proposing Proposition 30 and our work together, each and every student will now have a better chance at a well-rounded education.”

In its quarterly meeting in Los Angeles, CTA’s 800-member State Council of Education also voted to support the re-election of Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom; state Attorney General Kamala Harris; Commissioner of Insurance Dave Jones; Controller John Chiang who is a candidate for state Treasurer; and Assembly Speaker John Perez who is running for state Controller.

Council also voted to support dozens of candidates in local assembly and state senate races.

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The 325,000-member CTA is affiliated with the 3.2-million member National Education Association.

Should Integration Be a Goal of DC Public Schools?

Should Integration Be a Goal of DC Public Schools?:

• Read Sam Chaltain’s Books

  

  

 Something’s Happening Here . . .

In the span of a few weeks, all of DC seems to be abuzz with the prospect that our elected officials may actually try to ensure greater racial and socioeconomic equity in the city’s public schools — apple carts be damned. First, there was the Op-Ed two colleagues and I published in the Washington Post, calling for the adoption of controlled-choice policies as part of the city’s current effort to r

by Sam / 12min 

Turning School Chance Into School Choice

There are a lot of smart people in Washington, D.C., and one of them is Evelyn Boyd Simmons. A longtime D.C. resident, an effective parental advocate, and a firm believer in the unmatched promise of public education, Evelyn has a way of cutting to the quick on complicated, contentious issues. And so it was when in a recent conversation, she summarized the state of affairs in American public educat

by Sam / 12min 

Should Integration Be a Goal of DC Public Schools?

From 2000 to 2010, the white share of the District of Columbia’s population grew from 30.8 percent to38 percent . And from 2000 to 2012, the median household income in the city rose 23.3 percent while the nation saw a 6.6?percent decline, adjusted for inflation. This rapid gentrification provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create racially and socioeconomically integrated public schoo

by Sam / 12min 

The Teacher Commitment That Cannot Be Evaluated With Tests | The Nation

The Teacher Commitment That Cannot Be Evaluated With Tests | The Nation:

The Teacher Commitment That Cannot Be Evaluated With Tests

John Nichols on February 5, 2014 - 2:53 PM ET

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A fourth grade teacher and her intern, left, work with students at Samuel Mason School in Boston. (AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki)

Teachers, parents and students are pushing back against high-stakes testing, over-testing and the fantasy that education is made better by preparing for, conducting and evaluating tests.

As American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten says: "The current accountability system has led districts to fixate on testing and sanctions, has squeezed out vital parts of the curriculum that are not subjected to testing, and has sacrificed much-needed learning time. That is not what high-performing countries do, and it is not what the United States should do."

That’s an increasingly common sentiment, even among former advocates for testing-obsessed initiatives such as George W. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” and Barack Obama’s “Race to the Top.” Diane Ravitch, who served as Bush’s Assistant Secretary of Education now says: "I had never imagined that the test would someday be turned into a blunt instrument to close schools—or to say whether teachers are good teachers or not—because I always knew children's test scores are far more complicated than the way they're being received today."

How then should we “evaluate” teachers and schools?

The truth is that many measures exist: some structural and some practical.

America asks a great deal of teachers. And while carefully-developed and cautiously-implemented testing can tell us a little, incidents and events can tell us a lot.

Take, for instance, the response to the winter weather that last week brought the Atlanta area to a standstill. State and local officials—led by Georgia Governor Nathan Neal—neglected warnings 

Show Us the Subsidized Jobs | Good Jobs First

Show Us the Subsidized Jobs | Good Jobs First:

Show Us the Subsidized Jobs

SHOW US THE SUBSIDIZED JOBS: An Evaluation of State Government Online Disclosure of Economic Development Subsidy Awards and Outcomes

By Philip Mattera, Thomas Cafcas, Leigh McIlvaine, Kasia Tarczynska, Elizabeth Bird and Greg LeRoy

Good Jobs First
January 2014

Press release
Full report
Executive summary
Table of links to state disclosure websites

UPDATE: After this report was published, officials in Arkansas brought to our attention the fact that recipient information for two of the state’s subsidy programs we reported as having no disclosure is available through the Transparency Arkansas website. A corrected Arkansas appendix is linked below.

Online Appendices (with scoring details):

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas (revised 1/31/14)
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

The first national compilation of company-specific information on economic development subsidy awards from around the country. Search the database here. To zero in on Megadeals, go here.

2-5-14 Jersey Jazzman

Jersey Jazzman:

Local Control: In New Jersey, It's Not For "Them"

Bob Braun breaks an amazing story, once again showing Newark's public schools administration is out of control:A parent leader who criticized the “One Newark” plan pushed by state school superintendent Cami Anderson was arrested yesterday  on charges he assaulted a central office administrator. Daryn Martin, president of the Parent Teacher Organization at the Ivy Hill School, was charged with ”agg

28 by Duke / 1h 

 

2-3-14 Jersey Jazzman

Jersey Jazzman: State-Run Newark Schools Blow Snow Closings AgainJust received this via email from a teacher in the Newark Public Schools:We got texts from our dcs saying that school was closed at 7:39.This means that she [State Superintendent Cami Anderson] waited until 7 or later to make the call. Kids and teachers were already in schools when they got the message. This is either incompetence or

by mike simpson / 19min 

Going Dark … but not out of the light:

Going Dark … but not out of the light

by EDWARDBERGER on FEBRUARY 5, 2014

When one writes in light, the expression “going dark” has real meaning. Since early 2012, I have been in the light, sorting through and sharing thousands and thousands of blogs, Tweets, FB sites, and correspondence from educators and those who believe the future of America requires free public comprehensive schools.

I believe in free education for all. I do not believe in schools for profit. I am dead-set against public tax dollars going to religions for inculcation. I abhor the takeover of our schools to push political ideologies. The awful idea that corporations can run schools is ludicrous. I believe that if democratically elected school boards are bypassed, or fail to function well, children are deprived of access to the American Dream.

I spent over 5 years researching and writing, Vital Lies: The Irrelevance Of Our Schools In The Information Age.  It is about where we are, how we got this way, and where we need to go. I have focused on the pulse of America and find that the so-called education reform movement does not represent the interests or the needs of students or our society. The primary drive that motivates “education reform” is access to the education tax dollars citizens pay. They are for profit, not for kids.

I’m taking a break and may be directing my time into another book – #12, histerical fiction, I’m thinking.  On Feb 7, Jo and I head to Mexico for three weeks in Nayarit and Jalisco. That will give me time to examine options. My 

So just who is Tiffany Hardrick? And why did she leave New Orleans? | Bob Braun's Ledger

So just who is Tiffany Hardrick? And why did she leave New Orleans? | Bob Braun's Ledger:

So just who is Tiffany Hardrick? And why did she leave New Orleans?

Tiffany Hardrick

Daryn Martin, the leader of the parent-teacher organization at Ivy Hill School, may go to jail because of a criminal complaint filed by Tiffany Hardrick, an assistant superintendent of schools in Newark who co-founded a New Orleans charter school.  So it’s a good time to ask just who this Dr. Hardrick is, why is she in Newark, and why she left New Orleans. The answer is–she is another one of Cami Anderson’s misguided appointments of an educator with a, well, unusual past.

Hardrick was a co-founder with Keith Sanders of the Miller-McCoy Academy in New Orleans, a charter school. She left the school “under a cloud” in July, 2012, after the trustees discovered they canceled a bus contract with an outside vendor and gave the business to a company owned by her brother, Bobby Hardrick.

A letter home to the school’s parents described how the busing crisis left students and parent in tough circumstances. Sound familiar?

For Newark’s Cami Anderson, the cloud apparently could not be seen because the state-appointed superintendent hired her within a few months to be a $175,000 assistant superintendent of schools–one of whose jobs, apparently, is to tear downnotices of PTO meetings legally posted by parent leaders.

I can understand Cami Anderson might not like to read the press clippings about herself and her friends. But due diligence certainly would have prompted her to read the minutes of the trustee board that employed Hardrick. This is how notice of the 

2-5-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

Seattle Schools Math Adoption

I am a bit late on this post but here is the latest.As noted by one reader (I believe Lynn), there is a hastily scheduled Board Work Session on Math Instructional Materials Adoption tomorrow, the 6th from 6-7 p.m.   The agenda has no presentation so I don't know what kind of update it will be.Meanwhile, the next meeting of the Math Adoption Committee is this Friday, the 7th, from 8:30 am to 3pm in

by Melissa Westbrook / 19min 

This and That

According to KIRO tv, 565 teachers and 13,523 students reported absent from SPS.  Wow.   (I had thought of attending but being short makes a parade challenging.  It started late and sounds like an absolute zoo (of the crazy, fun kind but really cold to wait for).The Police were asking the crowd to keep cell phone use to a minimum because they were not getting 911 calls.Ed Week reported on Seattle'

by Melissa Westbrook / 56min 

Seattle School Board Meeting Tonight

You can generally count on the January Seattle School Board meetings to be shorter and less well-attended.  Well, that may change with tonight's meeting.The Public Testimony list is has varying topics with the- Transportation Service Standards (5),-NW Center Kids program at Queen Anne Elementary School (10),-Policy #4260 - about the use of school buildings and-Racial discussions in the classroom (

by Melissa Westbrook / 0min

Advanced Learning: Where are going?

Some updates:- according to the AL webpage, as of yesterday, 1,637 eligibility letters were sent (out of a possible 4024).  So if you were looking for one, it may be in the mail.  They started mailing them out on Jan. 31st.  Scores and eligibility decisions are NOT available by phone or e-mail.  - testing is continuing thru early Feb.- all eligibility decisions, including appeals, will be done bef

by Melissa Westbrook / 26min 

2-4-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Annual Report on Equitable Access to Programs and ServicesThe School Board should reject the Annual Report on Equitable Access toPrograms and Services because it fails to fulfill the requirements of the policy. Instead of holding the required information, the report contains a lot of general information that should not appear. Either the superintendent is confused

by mike simpson / 21h 

Substitute teachers accuse PPS of illegal threats | KATU.com - Portland

Substitute teachers accuse PPS of illegal threats | Local & Regional | KATU.com - Portland News, Sports, Traffic Weather and Breaking News - Portland, Oregon:

Substitute teachers accuse PPS of illegal threats

By Dan Cassuto, KATU News Published: Feb 4, 2014 at 12:14 PM PST Last Updated: Feb 4, 2014 at 8:53 PM PST

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Ray Amling, chairman of the substitute teacher committee of Portland Association of Teachers, says the district is threatening to retaliate against subs who refuse to work if regular teachers go on strike.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- When your A-team threatens to strike, you realize how much you need your B-team.

Substitute teachers have nothing to do with the contract negotiations between Portland Public Schools and the Portland Association of Teachers.

But the subs have everything to do with the district's promise to keep schools open if teachers walk off the job.

On Tuesday, a day before the teachers vote on a strike, subs accused the school district of breaking state laws by threatening to retaliate against subs who won't cross potential picket lines, according to a grievance the Portland Association of Teachers says it filed with the Oregon Employment Relations Board.

"They're using tactics to scare the subs," said Ray Amling, chairman of the substitute teacher committee of Portland Association of Teachers. "They're threatening subs with taking away their livelihood and health insurance."

The subs are represented by the same union as regular teachers, but have separate contracts.

All two-dozen or so members of the substitute teacher committee voted unanimously on Monday evening to file grievances.

"The accusations are completely false," said Christine Miles, a spokeswoman for Portland Public 

The Gates Foundation's Imaginary World of School Reform Collides with Reality - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

The Gates Foundation's Imaginary World of School Reform Collides with Reality - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

The Gates Foundation's Imaginary World of School Reform Collides with Reality

By Anthony Cody on February 5, 2014 12:19 PM

Guest post by John Thompson.

The Gates Foundation's Director of Education, College Ready, Vicki Phillips, describes what she admits is the ideal implementation of Common Core and test-driven evaluations. In the "vast majority of cases," these changes would be implemented carefully. The key principle would be that teachers and students would be given "time to adjust to new expectations before they face serious consequences for not meeting them."

If implemented properly, Common Core "test scores shouldn't be used to make consequential decisions, such as whether students should graduate, until we are sure we understand how to interpret the results." Neither would schools or teachers be punished "until teachers have had a few years to get used to the new ways of working."

Such a distinction between idealized implementation and reality would seem to be progress. Just when it seemed like the Gates Foundation was conceding that it is important to acknowledge the facts about their theories, however, Phillips showed she was just spouting rhetoric. Phillips claimed that the ideal state she described "with the exception of a few outliers," is what is "actually happening across the country."

OK, everyone participates in political spin, but this bait and switch is especially brazen.  The Gates Foundation and other reformers claim that output-driven accountability is necessary because the 

2-5-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):

Another witness in Vergara says tenure in CA comes too soon

Mark Douglas of the Fullerton School District The Vergara v California trial and its testimony from educators and administrators from around the state continued its geographic journey today, when the focus turned to Fullerton. Assistant Superintendent of the Fullerton School District, Mark Douglas, a 37-year veteran of state public education systems, took the witness stand in state superior court

2 by Mark Harris / 41min hide  //  save

Aspire charters planning to expand ‘blended learning’ model

Aspire Public Schools, a nonprofit charter school operator with 12 schools chartered through LAUSD, announced this morning that it will expand its blending learning curriculum to all of its elementary schools in the Los Angeles region by the end of the 2015-16 school year. The expansion is supported by the Eli & Edyth Broad Foundation, and comes after the organization’s blended learning model

2 by Chase Niesner / 1h 

Holy cow! LA Unified does not condone this behavior

  Never say LA Unified doesn’t look out for the kids. This press release arrived from the district yesterday, so everyone can relax:       L.A. UNIFIED’S STATEMENT ON GRAPHIC IMAGES OF COWS DISTRIBUTED TO STUDENTS DURING ANIMAL ACTIVIST PROTEST A cow and a calf, part of a mobile classroom provided by the Dairy Council of California, were bought on the campus of Calabash Charter Academy in Woodla

4 1h 

Zimmer gets the message, interim cannot have binding vote

Only two LA Unified school board members hold law degrees: Tamar Galatzan and Monica Ratliff. But Steve Zimmer, a college professor, did a pretty good impression of a lawyer last night. Zimmer presided over an ad hoc “committee of one” — no other board members attended — that was charged with defining the role and scope of a temporary representative for the vacant District 1 seat while the city aw

3 by Vanessa Romo / 1h 

Morning Read: State Controller wants to post public school salaries

Controller seeks pay data from all California public schools State Controller John Chiang has asked every public school district in the state to provide salary and benefit information for all employees and elected officials so that it can be posted on the Web and shared with the public.  LA Times Earthquake safety: LA school district to spend $41M to rebuild 2 Sylmar structures The Los Angeles Un

1min 

2-3-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District): Christmas returns to the stand as the Vergara trial resumesTroy Christmas, of Oakland Unified Testimony resumes this morning in Vergara v California, with Troy Christmas of the Oakland Unified School District returning to the stand to face cross examination by lawyers for the defendants — the state and it

by mike simpson / 20h