Verdict Is In: The Final Draft of Indiana Proposed Standards Stink | Truth in American Education

Verdict Is In: The Final Draft of Indiana Proposed Standards Stink | Truth in American Education:

Verdict Is In: The Final Draft of Indiana Proposed Standards Stink

Filed in Common Core State Standards, Education at State Level by Shane Vander Hart on April 18, 2014 • 0 Comments

Ok some folks are now weighing in on the final draft of Indiana’s proposed academic standardsthat was released earlier this week.

Dr. Terrence Moore of Hillsdale College needs to let loose and tell us how he really feels about the ELA standards, don’t hold back!  No, just kidding, he writes a no-holds-barred review, and doesn’t give the standards good marks.  An excerpt:

This absurd incongruity is one of the leading characteristics of the supposedly new Indiana English standards. We are invited to be overjoyed as we skip down the Yellow Brick Road to College and Career Readiness, preparing our children for a Twenty-First-Century Global Economy by putting them behind computers and by having them act out “assigned roles” for “small group discussions and projects” (as though project-based learning has not been tried and failed over these last forty years). Meanwhile, we have children being introduced to the word night in fourth grade, and we utterly fail to teach even the letter A properly.

The math standards still have fuzzy math.

The new draft begins with a preamble before the standards are listed claiming that the standards are not instructional practices: “The educators and subject matter experts that have worked on the standards have taken care to ensure the standards are free from embedded pedagogy and instructional practices.” This statement couldn’t be further from the truth and those who cut and pasted these standards know it. They simply don’t care because it is the type of pedagogy they prefer – parents and experts be damned.

The IDOE and Pence’s CECI were duly warned that Draft 2 contained pedagogy by Dr. James Milgram, the national expert they hired to help review the standards. Unfortunately, it seems theIDOE and CECI ignored Milgram’s recommendations, and contrary to 

Verdict Is In: The Final Draft of Indiana Proposed Standards Stink | Truth in American Education:

4-18-14 The Whole Child Blog — Engaging Curriculum: A Foundation for Positive School Culture — Whole Child Education

Engaging Curriculum: A Foundation for Positive School Culture — Whole Child Education:

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

Engaging Curriculum: A Foundation for Positive School Culture

April 18, 2014 by ASCD Whole Child Bloggers

Post written by David Hunter

As a curriculum designer who advocates for project-based learning, I strongly believe that curriculum plays a major role in the school culture but can often go unconsidered when developing a vision around that culture. At first glance, curriculum and culture may seem to be separate issues, but when you look deeper, curriculum can be a foundation for the culture because it's representative of how students are interacting with learning on a daily basis. To that end, creating a positive school culture requires that students play a part in curriculum design and implementation.

Involving students in curriculum development sounds challenging, but as a teacher, I found small, easily executed steps that help build a culture where students feel heard and engaged about what they are learning. Here's an example of what worked for me: after I had designed the major portion of the curriculum for a new unit, but before starting it with my class, I would hold a "Curriculum Lunch." I invited students to bring their lunch to my classroom, where I would present a preview of my plans for the next project. I shared the standards and learning objectives as well as the projects I was preparing for the students to work on, then asked for their input and feedback.

At our curriculum lunches, students were positive about upcoming projects and mostly gave feedback on how to make them more interesting; engaging; and, in some cases, challenging. Student feedback, even if I couldn't use all of it, helped me refine my curriculum in student-centered ways. What's more, these Engaging Curriculum: A Foundation for Positive School Culture — Whole Child Education:

4-17-14 The Whole Child Blog — A Legacy of Caring and Learning — Whole Child Education

A Legacy of Caring and Learning — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOGA Legacy of Caring and LearningApril 17, 2014 by Torva Felton"The things he sees are not just remembered; they form part of his soul."—Maria MontessoriBeing with Guilford County Schools since 1998, my heart and soul has been dedicated to teaching here at Washington Elementary School, now known as Washington Mont

by mike simpson / 15h 

The Dishonorable Andrew Cuomo Meets the Hedge Fund / Charter School Zombies * | Alan Singer

The Dishonorable Andrew Cuomo Meets the Hedge Fund / Charter School Zombies * | Alan Singer:

The Dishonorable Andrew Cuomo Meets the Hedge Fund / Charter School Zombies *

From May 4 to May 6, 2014 the Honorable Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York State, is scheduled to be the Honorary Chairman at a three-day charter school/hedge fund extravaganza that is anything but honorable. Other celebrity "guests" who are supposed to attend the Lake Placid retreat sponsored by a group called Education Reform Now include Senator Mary Landrieu from Louisiana, Mayor Kevin Johnson of Sacramento, California, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, Russlynn Ali, assistant secretary for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education, and horror film producer/director M. Night Shyamalan. Shyamalan, who attended elite private schools as a youth, decided he is an education expert and wrote a book about saving public schools after filming in a Philadelphia public high school.

For $1,000 each, participants in the Lake Placid retreat "Embark on three spring days of fun, fellowship and strategy with the nation's thought leaders on education reform." Those who are special, or especially rich, can get VIP treatment for $2,500.

According to the online agenda, break-out sessions include discussions on "The Next Big Thing: Groundbreaking Approaches to Teacher Preparation," "Up, Down, and Sideways: Building an Effective School Reform Coalition," " Tight-Loose Options for Ensuring All Kids Have Access to a Great Education," and "Collaborative Models for Changing State and Local Teacher Policies." But really only one topic will be discussed - How to promote and profit from the privatization of public education in the The Dishonorable Andrew Cuomo Meets the Hedge Fund / Charter School Zombies * | Alan Singer:

Common Core Enthusiast Didn’t Get The Memo(s) | Missouri Education Watchdog

Common Core Enthusiast Didn’t Get The Memo(s) | Missouri Education Watchdog:

Common Core Enthusiast Didn’t Get The Memo(s)

Angie Hanlin needs to get her name on some distribution lists. There are a few important memos she seems not to have gotten.

Ms. Hanlin was quoted in a Standard Democrat article this week supporting the Common Core Standards.  I believe she truly enjoys the work she is doing to implement Common Core and she is no doubt seeing some results, but her message in the article is often at odds with those of CCSSI, NGA and CCSSO. Some of her statements are contrary to what other experts have said about Missouri standards.

Hanlin claims that the challenge of Common Core stems from the implementation.

How you implement the standards is by changing your instructional practices…If you keep teaching how you’re teaching and just change what you’re teaching, it won’t work. It’s how you teach that you have to change.

Missing Memo:  When describing Common Core be sure to stress that they are just standards. They don’t tell you how to teach. Teachers and districts have complete autonomy to choose the curriculum.

If the greatest problem with common core is the implementation process, then correct implementation, according to her, means changing how you teach, which means common core, if done right, does in fact tell you how to teach.

Common Core is the first set of standards where every grade builds upon the previous grade. We’ve never done that before, Hanlin said.

Missing Memo: The DESE crosswalks of the common core standards and the existing Missouri Grade Level Expectations. These documents show a tremendous amount of overlap between the two. http://dese.mo.gov/divimprove/curriculum/common-core-math.htm#crosswalk

We have had standards that build upon each other for years.  Hanlin’s statement is false.

Our students in Southeast Missouri can have the education students are getting in Boston, Mass. We’ve never been in that category, and we are now.

Missing Memo: Margaret Spellings visited MO in 2008 during her tenure as US Secretary of Education. In a meeting with DESE and the SBE, after mentioning that Massachusetts’ standards usually gets the limelight,  said “It’s a little known fact is that Missouri’s standards are right up there and really really strong.”

See the full video hereCommon Core Enthusiast Didn’t Get The Memo(s) | Missouri Education Watchdog:

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 4-18-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:

Field Poll: 3 out of 5 OF CALIFORNIA VOTERS SUPPORT UNIVERSAL PRESCHOOL FOR 4-YEAR-OLDS

News stories/Follow the links: Majority of California voters support universal preschool for 4-year-olds -- Most California voters think the state should increase the availability of preschool for the state’s 4-year-olds, according to a Field Poll conducted in partnership with EdSource. Lillian Mongeau EdSource -- 4/18/14 Californians support state-funded preschool for 4-year-olds, survey

by smf / 4min 

Cartoon: THE 20 STAGES OF READING

by Lynda Berry | The Washington Post  | http://wapo.st/Rw7RWt Sep 13, 2013 - If there are stages of grief and steps to recovery; isn't the act of reading a complicated, evolving thing over time?

by smf / 2min 

Serious Reading Takes A Hit From Online Scanning And Skimming, Reseachers Say

By Michael S. Rosenwald, The Washington Post | http://wapo.st/Rw0z4U smf: This article, and the cited book Proust and the Squid comes recommended by former Superintendent Roy Romer. [see this]  Romer and I suggest you read it deeply – and in a not-so-subtle message from the author: Proust and the Squid is not available

by smf / 8min 

Same Fight, Another Arena

By smf for 4LAKidsNews April 18, 2014 :: Apparently the way to fund a school bond campaign to relieve overcrowded conditions and fix aging facilities is to pack too-many like-minded potential donors into a too-small room, give them wine and cheese and canapés (and diet Coke) – tell stories about the glory days of yesteryear and shake ‘em down for checks. So it was Thursday night in when

by smf / 2min 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 4-16-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: DISTRICTS FACE CHALENGE OF PRIORITIZING PUBLIC INPUT ON SCHOOL SPENDING + smf’s 2¢By Louis Freedberg | EdSource Today http://bit.ly/1iZj3lv April 15th, 2014 | California’s school funding reform law has triggered a burst of outreach efforts to solicit parent and community input in at least some districts – along with a plethora of suggestions about how t

by mike simpson / 21min 

HOW SCHOLASTIC MAGAZINE CHANNELS BILL GATES | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing

HOW SCHOLASTIC MAGAZINE CHANNELS BILL GATES | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing:

HOW SCHOLASTIC MAGAZINE CHANNELS BILL GATES

 Reading between Scholastic’s lines is easy. All you have to do is a “close read”. So lets do that together, shall we? You can find the article by clicking the link. 

Of course, following CC procedure, we will take excerpts and close read them to get to the hidden agendas. 

My comments to the author are Italicized. 

**********

“The Common Core State Standards Initiative is one of the biggest educational reforms in decades, and its goals are lofty. Is lofty synonymous with good?Lofty according to whom? Can lofty be construed as unreachable, especially when age and cognitive development are factored in? 

The sweeping new set of educational benchmarks for kindergarten through high school not only aim to prepare students for college — they’re designed to turn them into big thinkers who can compete in the global job market.

Was education not designed to do that prior to CCSS? What global market is this competition for? Are they competing for jobs and college acceptance in Singapore? Why hasn’t Finland (whose students rate higher than ours when you don’t count poverty as a variable) bought into this concept? 

Another driving force behind the state-led initiative: a belief that having a common set of standards — and a more streamlined testing process — will help raise the quality of public education for all American kids.”

Streamlined? Where is the evidence that more testing is streamlining a process of evaluation? What ever happened to “authentic assessment”? Why, exactly, is streamlining a good thing? 

“We wanted to take a deep breath and find out exactly how teachers feel about HOW SCHOLASTIC MAGAZINE CHANNELS BILL GATES | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing:

4-18-14 Wait What?

Wait What?:

Saw it on the Internet so it must be true… (No, but…)

After an email exchange earlier today, Neil Vigdor, a leading reporter for the Hearst Media Group, put up a blog post entitled, “Malloy gets “Pelto-ed” from the left?” As the saying goes, take the story with a grain of salt.  Like much of what we read on the Internet, aspects of the story are true […] The post Saw it on the Internet so it must be true… (No, but…) appeared first on Wait What?.

by jonpelto / 41min 

Malloy administration recruits “Dream Team” to sell Common Core to Connecticut teachers

The Malloy administration is implementing a new Common Core PR extravaganza. Initially Malloy and his team wanted to run a $1 million Connecticut taxpayer funded pro-Common Core advertising campaign. But when a political firestorm forced them to back down, the Malloy team came up with a different publicly funded campaign to sell the Common Core.  […] The post Malloy administration recruits “Dream

by jonpelto / 0min 

4-17-14 Wait What?

Wait What?: Corporate Education Reform Industry group starts radio campaign in support of new charter schoolsSurprise, surprise… An out-of-State charter school advocacy group has started an advertising campaign to support the Malloy administration’s decision to give Steve Perry his own privately run, but taxpayer funded, charter school in Bridgeport. According to a reports from the CT Mirror and H

by mike simpson / 20min 

Ed Tech Blueprint - Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education)

Ed Tech Blueprint - Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education):

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Releases Education Technology Blueprint

MILPITAS—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson's Education Technology Task Force released a new report today that outlines steps California should take to ensure education technology can be an effective, safe, and productive tool for learning over the next few years.

"As California continues to move toward college and career readiness for every child, education technology has to be part of what we do," Torlakson said. "I've visited classrooms up and down the state and seen everything from virtual science experiments to online group projects. From Common Core to the new Smarter Balanced assessments, our state—which has always led the way in innovation—is focused on preparing student with the real-world skills they need. This new blueprint charts a smart course for getting us there."

Torlakson convened his Education Technology Task Force in 2012 to recommend ways to bring 21st century tools into California's classrooms to improve teaching and learning. The Education Technology Task Force's report, Empowering Learning: California Education Technology Blueprint, 2014 – 2017 (Ed Tech Blueprint) focuses on four key areas: learning, teaching, assessment, and infrastructure.

• Learning: Every student, teacher, and administrator should have access to Internet-connected devices. There should be instruction on how to use technology, as well as policies and best practices to prevent cyberbullying and protect student data. Classroom technology should also be integrated throughout California's K-12 and higher education systems.
• Teaching: Barriers should be removed that restrict teachers from using technology to educate students. Professional development and certification programs in technology instruction should be created to support teachers. An online learning community can help teachers share best practices. California should join other states in providing and sharing educational resources.
• Assessment: The state should identify technology gaps, establish professional development programs for using technology in assessments, and develop recognition programs.
• Infrastructure: Partnerships should be formed to enhance technology and Internet connectivity. School districts should design facilities with technology and the Common Core State Standards in mind. Measures should be taken to close the digital divide between those who can and cannot afford technology. There should be statewide cloud computing data centers. Finally, the California Department of Education should create a senior-level position for education technology to help lead this transition.

Some of the recommendations intersect with work already underway in California, such as schools' receipt of $1.25 billion in a Common Core implementation block grant that could go toward equipment, training, and materials. Torlakson has also gathered a group of state schools chiefs from around the nation to push for modernizing the federal E-rate program, under which a surcharge on telephone bills provides discounts for telecommunications and Internet access for schools and libraries.

The recommendations in the Empowering Learning: California Education Technology Blueprint, 2014 – 2017 are detailed on the California Department of Education's California Education Technology Blueprint Web page.

# # # #

Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

4-18-14 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):

Tutoring center busted for scamming millions in fed dollars

A tutoring company billing itself as “The trusted name for specialized tutoring” may not be so trustworthy after all. Unless, that specialty is in defrauding the federal government. The Academic Advantage, whose website is endorsed by The Governator himself — Arnold Schwarzenegger – and former LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines, was busted scamming millions from federal supplemental-educatio

by Vanessa Romo / 1h 

LA Unified district 1 candidate forum scheduled for 6 tomorrow

Candidates for LA Unified’s open District 1 board seat are gathering again tomorrow for a community forum at the West Adams Church of Christ, 4959 W. Adams Blvd. So far,  said one of the organizers, Rashad Trapp-Rucker six of the candidates have committed to participate — all but Alex Johnson — with a moderator kicking things off at 6 p.m. with a series of questions about Common Core, Local Contro

7min 

Morning Read: Insurance costs boosted superintendent pay

Insurance premium subsidy boosted superintendent’s pay to $772,457 An embattled South Bay school district leader, under investigation for his high compensation, now has a new issue to deal with: insurance premiums that should have been counted as taxable income, but were not. The Centinela Valley Union High School District is being investigated by federal and state authorities for paying Supt. Jos

1min  

4-17-14 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): Report: Brown decision at 60, what have we learned?Via Economic Policy Institute | By Richard Rothstein May 17 is the 60th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision that prohibited Southern states from segregating schools by race. The Brown decision annihilated the

by mike simpson / 20h 

4-18-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University):

Paternalism, Old or New, Blinds

22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Ephesians 5:22-24 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Colossians 3:18 The

by plthomasedd / 1min 

4-15-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): AlterNet: What We Lose When We Rip the Heart Out of Arts EducationWhat We Lose When We Rip the Heart Out of Arts Education1 by plthomasedd / 3min hide  //  savePat Tillman (11/6/76 – 4/22/04): A Decade of ForgettingOn the first anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing,

by mike simpson / 22min 

New Network for Social Justice Unionism Seeks to Change the Labor Movement | PopularResistance.Org

New Network for Social Justice Unionism Seeks to Change the Labor Movement | PopularResistance.Org:

New Network for Social Justice Unionism Seeks to Change the Labor Movement

ORGANIZE! WORKER RIGHTS AND JOBS, YOUTH 
By Roshan Bliss, www.PopularResistance.org
April 18th, 2014

Select LanguageAfrikaansAlbanianArabicArmenianAzerbaijaniBasqueBelarusianBengaliBosnianBulgarianCatalanCebuanoChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)CroatianCzechDanishDutchEsperantoEstonianFilipinoFinnishFrenchGalicianGeorgianGermanGreekGujaratiHaitian CreoleHausaHebrewHindiHmongHungarianIcelandicIgboIndonesianIrishItalianJapaneseJavaneseKannadaKhmerKoreanLaoLatinLatvianLithuanianMacedonianMalayMalteseMaoriMarathiMongolianNepaliNorwegianPersianPolishPortuguesePunjabiRomanianRussianSerbianSlovakSlovenianSomaliSpanishSwahiliSwedishTamilTeluguThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduVietnameseWelshYiddishYorubaZulu

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Interview with Michelle Gunderson co-founder of the Network for Social Justice Unionism

Earlier this month at the Labor Notes Conference, rank and file labor leaders announced for the first time the creation of the Network for Social Justice Unionism (NSJU), a new infrastructure that unionists concerned with advancing social justice beyond the workplace hope to use to organize for a shift in the way the labor movement operates. The NSJU seeks to encourage the creation of social justice caucuses in union locals across the nation and to establish working relationships between those caucuses to be able to support each other’s struggles. Together, these caucuses hope to create an movement inside of organized labor that pushes union leaders across the country to do more to see that union power benefits not just workers themselves, but also the communities that unions are embedded in and rely upon. Plans for the NSJU have been in the works for over a year, and NSJU members are optimistic that their work will not only be enthusiastically received by workers and social justice activists, but that it could eventually transform and revitalize an aging labor movement. The NSJU effort has its roots in recent struggles for change led by teachers, but seeks to encourage workers of all kinds to commit to lending their knowledge, resources, and influence to other ongoing struggles for justice beyond their workplaces. NSJU co-founder Michelle Gunderson is a member of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) who helped start the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE). She sat down to talk about creation and purpose of Network for Social Justice Unionism and the potential of it work Talk about the Network for Social Justice Unionism. Where did it come from? It came from a definition. What does it mean to be a social justice unionist? What that means, in my mind, is that we hold workers’ rights in the same plane and in the same balance as students’ rights and community rights. We don’t hold our needs above students’.  I will fight to the death for the right of a teacher to have good compensation and job security and due process as much as I will for my students to have text books or proper health care and the things that they need to do well. The Network for Social Justice Unionism started from the Caucus of Rank and File Educators and Labor Notes thinking together, and we believe that social justice unionism is actually going to be what saves unionism as a movement. We are the New Network for Social Justice Unionism Seeks to Change the Labor Movement | PopularResistance.Org: