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Tuesday, March 18, 2014

CURMUDGUCATION: Who Is Diane Ravitch?

CURMUDGUCATION: Who Is Diane Ravitch?:



Who Is Diane Ravitch?



At Reclaiming Public Education 101 (my website for ed reform neophytes), I'm trying to create and collect materials to answer some of the questions newby ed reform students might have. I'm not a fan of cults of personality-- any time I'm in a group that drops its mission to sing a hymn of praise to its leaders, I get itchy. But I also know that many folks who are not fully involved--yet-- in the issue of education reform don't really know the best-known players beyond simple name recognition. Part of learning your way around this stuff is knowing who's who, and Diane Ravitch seems like the place to start.

If you are a regular reader of Curmudgucation, you probably know who Diane Ravitch is. But you would be surprised how many people do not, and do not know what the big deal is. Let me draw the broad outline.

Ravitch was born in 1938 in Houston, Texas. She attended Wellesley College, did graduate work at Columbia, established herself as an education historian and cemented her professional reputation with the 1974 book The Great School Wars, a history of New York City schools.

Five years after the release of A Nation at Risk, the 1983 critique of US public schools, she co-authored with Chester Finn What Do Our 17-Year-Olds Know, marking her as part of the 
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These Seattle Teachers Boycotted Standardized Testing—and Sparked a Nationwide Movement | I AM AN EDUCATOR

These Seattle Teachers Boycotted Standardized Testing—and Sparked a Nationwide Movement | I AM AN EDUCATOR:



These Seattle Teachers Boycotted Standardized Testing—and Sparked a Nationwide Movement

By I AM AN EDUCATOR on 
[This article was written for Education Uprising, the Spring 2014 issue of YES! Magazine.  To support many of the MAP test boycott leaders who are now running for office in their union, visithttp://socialequalityeducators.org/%5D

Parents, students, and teachers all over the country have joined the revolt to liberate our kids from a test-obsessed education system.

Kris McBride, Garfield’s academic dean and testing coordinator, at left, and Jesse Hagopian, Garfield history teacher and a leader of the school’s historic test boycott. Photo by Betty Udesen.
by Diane Brooks
Life felt eerie for teachers at Seattle’s Garfield High in the days following their unanimous declaration of rebellion last winter against standardized testing. Their historic press conference, held on a Thursday, had captured the attention of national TV and print media. But by midday Monday, they still hadn’t heard a word from their own school district’s leadership.
Then an email from Superintendent José Banda hit their in-boxes. Compared with a starker threat issued a week later, with warnings of 10-day unpaid suspensions, this note was softly worded. But its message was clear: a teacher boycott of the district’s most-hated test—the MAP, short for Measures of Academic Progress—was intolerable.
Jittery teachers had little time to digest the implications before the lunch bell sounded, accompanied by an announcement over the intercom: a Florida teacher had ordered them a stack of hot pizzas, as a gesture of solidarity.
“It was a powerful moment,” said history teacher Jesse Hagopian, a boycott leader. “That’s when we realized this wasn’t just a fight at Garfield; this was something going on across the nation. If we back down, we’re not just backing away from a fight for us. It’s something that educators all over see as 

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Big Conferences: What’s their Goal? | My Island View

Big Conferences: What’s their Goal? | My Island View:





Big Conferences: What’s their Goal?


March 18, 2014 by tomwhitby


This is a topic I have written about before, and I will probably continue to write about in the future. I guess we should start by defining a big education conference. For the purpose of this post and my experience let’s make it conferences of over 1,000 attendees. Most big education conferences came about by professional organizations wanting to provide a gathering place for their constituents to meet and share ideas and best practices, as well as the latest tools for learning. The goal is to best educate educators about education. It seems like a simple goal, which should be easily accomplished. The easiest method of delivery is to have teachers teach other teachers. This shares experiences, successes and failures.
The first hurdle is the “when” of the conference. Someone determined that it must be held during the school year in order to get the best access to the most educators.
The conference can’t conflict with other big Education conferences. It would be a drain on the number of attendees, as well as a smaller pool of keynotes and key presenters to draw on.
The second hurdle is the “where” of the conference. Once a conference gets over a certain number of attendees there are limits to access to hotel accommodations. There is also the geographical deterrent. We live in big states in a big country. Whatever the location selected, some educators will need to travel further than others. To be equitable locations are often rotated in order to share the burden of travel. Unfortunately, some educators live in areas 
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NYC Educator: Why Is There a Revive NYSUT?

NYC Educator: Why Is There a Revive NYSUT?:



Why Is There a Revive NYSUT?

There are a lot of stories floating around the net about this. There's a grain of truth to some of them. Many of  them revolve around Governor Cuomo. They say that NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi wanted to order three tickets for Andy Cuomo's thousand-dollar-a-plate birthday party, and that Executive Vice-President Andy Pallotta not only bought an entire table of ten, but also gave seats to several of his Revive running mates. Iannuzzi then made any outlays of more than 5K subject to a vote. That's true.

There is of course the myth that Pallotta, a product of UFT Unity and a long-time UFT District Representative, wanted to stir up the state union, because he didn't deem it active enough. Pallotta, the sitting Executive VP, is in charge of legislation. On his watch, we've seen not only a crippling tax rule, but also a Gap Elimination Adjustment that cuts state aid. So districts get less state money, and can't raise taxes to compensate for it. This has cost plenty of NYSUT jobs, and has also saddled hapless kids with higher class sizes.

There's then the story that NYSUT leaders belong to some super-exclusive club, and blogs overstating the membership fees. There are ridiculous contentions about one of the VPs, who doesn't play squash, playing squash there. I always thought squash was a vegetable, but regardless, this club was used as a place of business. People tell me there are Revive tweets suggesting they should have done business at McDonald's. Maybe the blogger in question didn't know the membership was 30 years old, or that neither of 
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12 Excellent Reasons to Opt Out of Relentless Hi Stakes Testing Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública

Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública:



12 Excellent Reasons to Opt Out of Relentless Hi Stakes Testing





 
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Good-bye, Tests! Don’t Let the Door Hit You On the Way Out! | Gatsby In L.A.

Good-bye, Tests! Don’t Let the Door Hit You On the Way Out! | Gatsby In L.A.:



Good-bye, Tests! Don’t Let the Door Hit You On the Way Out!





 Sayonara, test score mania!  Well, for two years, anyway.  The state of California has just suspended the calculation of API scores until 2016—an index of performance based on multiple choice state tests in every subject for every grade–in order to give schools time to gear up for the Common Core tests that are still under construction.  As far as I’m concerned, that suspension is cause for celebration.  I know, I know, all over the state, people are freaking out because they believe this suspension of scores will leave schools in low-income communities free to go down the toilet for two full years while corrupt administrators and bad teachers merrily cash paychecks, accountable to no one.  Here’s why I think that logic is wrong—and why I believe this temporary suspension is a great opportunity to create a better system.

First of all, over a decade of API scores doesn’t seem to have done much to stop corrupt administrators and bad teachers.  The schools that were terrible before we started testing are still terrible.  Where schools were declared failing and taken over by the Partnership for L.A. Schools or other charter management systems, results have been underwhelming no matter who is in charge.  I have heard not a single story of a miracle takeover, but have heard many stories of schools that are as bad as before.  In any case, test scores are not the best measure of whether these takeovers have been successful; 
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3-18-14 The Whole Child Blog — ED Pulse Poll Results: What Will Be the "Next Big Thing" in Education Tech? — Whole Child Education

ED Pulse Poll Results: What Will Be the "Next Big Thing" in Education Tech? — Whole Child Education:









THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

Kit Harris, ASCD Research

ED Pulse Poll Results: What Will Be the “Next Big Thing” in Education Tech?

March 18, 2014 by Kit Harris, ASCD Research
ASCD continually seeks to provide solutions to the challenges that face educators of all levels. A recentASCD SmartBrief ED Pulse poll asked readers what advancements in technology could help them be more successful at work, either with students or in their own professional development.
As each new year starts, there are multiple stories on the anticipated trends in education technology. Most stories have reinforced the changes we have seen over the past few years that resulted from the "Internet revolution"—the connectivity of students, use of video for classwork and homework, use of mobile devices, and gaming for multiple purposes. However, many feel that education is on the edge of another major technology shift, with cloud applications, e-books, and video conferencing, among other things, contributing to a far greater individualized education experience for students and teachers.
With this in mind, ASCD SmartBrief sought to poll its readers about some cutting-edge technology that might become the "next big thing." Readers selected automated individualized student education plans (35 percent) as the trend that might make educators more successful. Following this, the two items of live two-way peer coaching (22 percent) and accurate voice-recognition word processing (18 percent) were chosen next most frequently. In the third position was spoken language translation without having to type text (12 percent). The other items on the list were selected by less than 10 percent of the readers.

This survey question was included in ASCD SmartBrief, a free daily e-mail news service that provides summaries and links to major education stories and issues, wweekly online poll, data was collected from 325 readers,hich has more than 200,000 subscribers. Using ED Pulse, the  
 
3-17-14 The Whole Child Blog — A New Framework for Health and Education — Whole Child Education
A New Framework for Health and Education — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOGA New Framework for Health and EducationMarch 17, 2014 by Klea ScharbergThis is not a launch that calls for health for education's sake. Nor is it education for health's sake. Rather, it is a call for health and education for each child's sake.In 2013, ASCD and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
by mike simpson / 20h 
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Bronies Are Redefining Fandom — And American Manhood | Underwire | Wired.com

Bronies Are Redefining Fandom — And American Manhood | Underwire | Wired.com:



Bronies Are Redefining Fandom — And American Manhood

On the internet, no one knows you’re a pony. At least, they don’t have to.
When the largely male, largely adult contingent of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic fans now known as “bronies” emerged shortly after the show’s premiere three years ago, they were a largely disorganized, largely anonymous band haunting places like 4chan’s /co/ and /b/ boards. They got trolled. A lot.
And to be honest, it’s amazing that such a fandom even formed, let alone blossomed. When I first wrote about bronies in early 2011, most people considered them a random fad, a meme that would vanish faster than planking. But the phenomenon didn’t just persist—it thrived.
Like countless other outsiders who found each other online, bronies sought each other out and created places to congregate. Now they’re everywhere: Fan blogs, Tumblr, Ponychan, even the United States military. A brony delegation is building MLP worlds in Minecraft. They host gatherings and conventions that attract thousands. And they’ve used their love of the show to challenge entrenched notions about what men and boys can like and feel, even as they’ve reshaped the meaning of fandom.

An Unexpected Home

The reasons why people enjoy brony fandom are complex, in part because of the gender assumptions surrounding the show and its “intended” audience. The cartoon, as well as its values (caring, generosity, and kindness), is widely seen as being “for girls,” so men who like it often are mocked as feminine or childish. Bronies fully realize this, which explains why fewer than half of bronies surveyed would be comfortable admitting their broniness. Identity is a tricky thing, and being a grown man 

Thugs win again — ‘My Little Pony’ edition

WLOS-TV reports that 9-year-old Grayson Bruce was being “punch[ed],” “push[ed]” and “call[ed] … horrible names” for bringing a “My Little Pony” bag to school — so school officials told him to stop bringing the bag:
[Bruce's mother, Noreen, says] the school asked him to leave the bag at home because it had become a distraction and was a “trigger for bullying.” …
Buncombe County Schools declined an interview, but sent us this statement, “an initial step was taken to immediately address a situation that had created a disruption in the classroom. Buncombe County Schools takes bullying very seriously, and we will continue to take steps to resolve this issue.”
This story struck me much like the story of the high school kids told not to wear American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo, because of thuggery by some of their classmates.
It may well be that the school may restrict speech that yields a disruptive reaction by some listeners, given Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District
Grayson Bruce Prohibited from Bringing 'My Little Pony' Backpack to School
Noreen and Grayson Bruce
Grayson Bruce needed a backpack, so he picked one based on his favorite show: My Little Pony. 

Unfortunately, bullies at his school in Buncombe County, N.C., don't share his taste in television. 

The decades-old franchise's current incarnation is My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, in which the titular characters laud the importance of friendship. 

"Most of the characters in the show are girls ... most of the toys are girly ... surprisingly I found stuff like this," Grayson, 9, told local station WLOS-TV, referring to his blue backpack. 

But bullies have targeted him because of the accessory: Grayson says kids are "taking it a little too far, with punching me, pushing me down, calling me horrible names, stuff that really shouldn't happen." 

The school's solution was to tell Grayson to leave the backpack at home, claiming it had become a distraction and was a "trigger for bullying," according to WLOS-TV. 

Grayson's mother, Noreen, disagrees. "Saying a lunchbox is a trigger for bullying is like saying a short skirt is a trigger for rape. It's flawed logic, it doesn't make any sense," she told WLOS-TV. 

A Facebook page has sprung up in defense of Grayson. Buncombe County officials told WLOS-TV that they "will continue to take steps to resolve this issue." 

RELATED: 11-Year-Old Boy Attempts Suicide After Being Bullied for My Little Pony Passion
















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