7-23-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

Seattle Downtown School - Is the Fix In?

I make no secret of the fact that I had been pushing for the district to consider applying to take over the empty Federal Reserve building downtown.  I believed it was worth looking into (and still do).  However, that is now tempered by this rather large push for the building.  Who's pushing?  All the forces that have decided that, for SPS, preschool is the cause de jour (de annee, as well). I thi

by Melissa Westbrook / 1h 

7-22-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Tuesday Open ThreadThe 2014 Band Jam event will take place at 6:30 pm this Friday July 25, 2014 at the Southwest Athletic Complex – 2601 SW Thistle St. (across the street from Chief Sealth International High School.)Band Jam is an annual band showcase intended to highlight what we all know to be the best part of the summer parade season – the bands. In addition to

by mike simpson / 21h 

New Coalition Urges Congress to Listen to Parents and Strengthen Student Privacy Protections | Seattle Education

New Coalition Urges Congress to Listen to Parents and Strengthen Student Privacy Protections | Seattle Education:

New Coalition Urges Congress to Listen to Parents and Strengthen Student Privacy Protections

A new coalition called the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy released a letter today to the leaders of the committees of the House and Senate Education Committees, urging Congress to strengthen FERPA and involve parents in the decision-making process to ensure that their children’s privacy is protected.

Many of the groups and individuals in the Coalition were involved in the battle over inBloom, which closed its doors last spring.  They were shocked to learn during this struggle how federal privacy  protections and parental rights to protect their children’s safety through the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)  had eroded over the last decade.

The letter below calls for Congress to hold hearings and enact new privacy protections that would minimize the sharing of highly sensitive student data with vendors and among state agencies and would maximize the right of parents to notification and consent.  The letter also asks for strict security requirements, that the law be enforceable through fines, and that parents have the right to sue if their children’s privacy is violated.

 Parent Coalition for Student Privacy

 July 23, 2014

Dear member of Congress:

We write on behalf of a broad coalition of parents across the country to urge Congressional review of emerging threats to student privacy rights and to request legislative action to address significant shortcomings in current law. Specifically, we are alarmed about ill-thought-through federal policies that, instead of providing safeguards against non-consensual disclosure and downstream uses of children’s personally identifiable information, actually promote policies in which a child’s highly sensitive personal data is disclosed to third-parties for purposes that go well beyond reasonable educational uses and deny parents the right of notification or consent.

First, we respectfully urge Congress to hold hearings on why the U.S. Department of Education has abdicated its historic role as the guardian of educational privacy rights. In responding to interest groups that included Big Data enthusiasts, influential New Coalition Urges Congress to Listen to Parents and Strengthen Student Privacy Protections | Seattle Education:

The Growth of a Movement: Lessons Learned During the First Year of the Badass Teachers Association | emPower magazine

The Growth of a Movement: Lessons Learned During the First Year of the Badass Teachers Association | emPower magazine:

THE GROWTH OF A MOVEMENT: LESSONS LEARNED DURING THE FIRST YEAR OF THE BADASS TEACHERS ASSOCIATION

On June 13, 2014 the Badass Teachers Association (BATs) celebrated its one year anniversary. As a member and administrator since the first few weeks, it has been truly amazing to watch this organization grow. The co-founders had no idea that a Facebook group titled Badass Teachers Association would have grown to include over 50,000 members and become a grassroots movement that fights for teachers and public education. The mission of BATs made it clear who we were and what we were about:

“Badass Teachers Association was created to give voice to every teacher who refuses to be blamed for the failure of our society to erase poverty and inequality through education. BAT members refuse to accept assessments, tests and evaluations created and imposed by corporate driven entities that have contempt for authentic teaching and learning.”

BATs is for teachers. Teachers who are routinely silenced through neoliberal privatization policies. Teachers who are expected to perform miracles for students living in extreme poverty, speak English as a second language, and have special needs without adequate resources and support. BATs became a safe place for teachers to be heard, to network, and to demand change.

As I reflect back on this past year, it is truly inspiring to see what can be done when teachers refuse to be scapegoats and demand change. Although we have had many successes over the past year we have also made some mistakes and learned some valuable lessons on how to manage a fast growing group through social media. One of the things I learned, was that although we might all be badass teachers we were and still are a very diverse group of individuals. We come from all over the country and world, work in different settings, belong to different political parties, and have a variety of beliefs on many issues. It might be part of human nature to believe that people who share the same profession also share the same values but diversity in all forms is what makes us human.

The rapid growth of BATs took all of us by surprise. The founders and admins had been in many social media groups before but none of them had as many members as we did in our first 2 months. The admins spent countless hours each day admitting new members and monitoring conversations. We immediately voted to ban posts that contained spam and were racist, sexist, and homophobic. We also did not allow posts that disparaged either political party, attacked teachers, parents, administrators, or students. We learned that these conversations were quick to become divisive and the last thing we wanted was to see this group implode. Discussions on changing the name also became a distraction so we deleted these posts and encouraged people who did not like the name to leave the group. These actions led to accusations of censorship, but for those of us spending 10-15 hours a day having the same conversations it was the best way for us to keep the group growing. As an online social community we had the right to dictate what our purpose was and what conversations we would allow to take place within our own group. As we tried to capitalize on our growth it was imperative that we did not allow contentious issues to divide us.

Our stance against conversations that divided us soon divided us. Members wanted to discuss any issue they thought was important while other members did not agree that those issues were pertinent to our mission. When conversations took a turn for the worse they were deleted. These conversation topics varied, but included topics such as race and racism, the pledge of allegiance, guns, and sex education. Since none of these topics were directly related to our mission we thought it best to discourage them from taking place in our group. The founders even created affiliate groups focused on specific topics where members could discuss these issues with others who also wanted to discuss them. Nonetheless, some felt as though we were silencing their voice and although it was not our intention, we did, and for that we apologize.

During the past year, the founders and administrators have understood the need to allow difficult conversations to take place. Although we continue to monitor our group and keep a list of topics that are banned, we know that conversations about race and racism are something that all teachers need to have. In light of the Trayvon Martin verdict, we agreed to allow these conversations to progress and only delete The Growth of a Movement: Lessons Learned During the First Year of the Badass Teachers Association | emPower magazine:

Why were thousands of books purged from Racine, Wisconsin school libraries? : blue cheddar

Why were thousands of books purged from Racine, Wisconsin school libraries? : blue cheddar:

Why were thousands of books purged from Racine, Wisconsin school libraries?

by blue cheddar • July 23, 2014

Backup direct link to embedded video of speech at Racine school board meeting

Thousands of books were removed from the public school libraries of Racine, Wisconsin by non-library staff to the alarm of the local community and school staff. The staff who were told to remove the books and either box or shred them were grounds crew staff in at least one location.

I received this message from a Racine resident who wishes to remain anonymous:
“I think their long range goal is to get rid of most of the librarians. No books, no library, no need for librarians. Many of the books being tossed are classics in Bound to Stay Bound covers. They are perfectly good editions, but they aren’t flashy. I pulled out copies of Beowulf, Time-Life Civil War series volumes, local poets, art history books with beautiful color illustrations. These people are ill-educated, well-intentioned cultural vandals.”

The Racine Unified School District’s Chief of Communication & Community Engagement is attempting to smooth things over. Stacy Tapp says the Racine’s school libraries are simply getting their annual sprucing up which typically includes the tossing of some tattered and dated books.

“In interviews, Stacy Tapp, Unified’s chief of communication and community engagement, refuted claims that classics older than 2000 were being thrown away and denied that librarians were not given a say in the process.” source: Journal Times

The librarians and teachers of Racine say that the bare library shelves (see photographs HERE) and the boxing of thousands of books for donation to charity is a purge. They say it is very alarming and not at all resembling their typical yearly cull of worn out books.

Because in a former life I helped a children’s librarian cull books in a public library that serves populations of children (toddler to teen) I know that the amount of vacant shelf space seen in the photos at Racine County Eye is in fact shocking and unusual. I know that it is not customary for an administrator to direct non-library staff to sweep all books of a certain copyright date off and then dispose of them. It is not customary to remove Why were thousands of books purged from Racine, Wisconsin school libraries? : blue cheddar:

7-21-14 The Whole Child Blog — Four Frames for Principals, New and Experienced

The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education:

Four Frames for Principals, New and Experienced

I was working with an elementary principal. One of the school's 3rd grade classes had given him a list of responsibilities they assumed formed his job. He showed me the list and chuckled, until he got to an item that he said made him shudder far more than smile: "You fix everything." That overwhelming mandate contains a big piece of the truth: almost everything that happens in the school

by Jeffrey Benson / 2min

7-21-14 The Whole Child Blog — Free Webinar: Digital Learning Strategies with Mike Fisher

The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education: Free Webinar: Digital Learning Strategies with Mike FisherJoin Mike Fisher, author of the ASCD Arias Digital Learning Strategies: How do I assign and assess 21st century work?, for an exciting, free webinar to explore six questions for deciding whether or not to digitize your instructional strategies, processes, or products. Thursday, July 31, 2014, 3:

by mike simpson / 21h 

Zombie Lies of Corporate Education Reform

Zombie Lies of Corporate Education Reform

Teachers’ “Actual” Impacts on Tests: A Reality that Defies VAMs |

Teachers’ “Actual” Impacts on Tests: A Reality that Defies VAMs |: Teachers’ “Actual” Impacts on Tests: A Reality that Defies VAMsDrs. Gene Glass and David Berliner (both Regents’ Professors Emeriti from Arizona State University) recently published a book with 15 doctoral students titled the 50 Myths & Lies that Threaten America’s Public Schools (published by Teachers College Press). In one of

by mike simpson / 36min 

4 Corporate Education Reform Talking Points That Are Flat-Out Lies

NOVEMBER 10, 2013 BY KRIS NIELSEN 11 COMMENTS

If you listen to the buzz coming from the airwaves about education reform these days, you may notice that many things are starting to sound much too familiar–some even vomit-inducingly so.  It’s almost as if someone gave the spokespeople from state education departments, private curriculum and testing firms, and astroturf groups the same script and cue cards from which to pontificate.

“And on the 7th day, God was college and career-ready.”

Here are the four most misleading talking points from those scripts, and why they really mean nothing, at best, and even hide the devastating truth behind euphemism, at worst.  They sound so wonderful and they often warm the hearts of hopeful voters and parents.  But, as you’ll see, they are generally created by those who couldn’t care less about children.

#4 We must work together to make sure all students have access to great schools.

From the top (President Obama) to the media and from the union leadership to the local politicians, this point is echoed constantly.  It makes sense, since our American society believes, for the most part, that all children have a right to an education that will lead them through childhood and ready to live meaningful and successful lives.

But this sweet little sentence means something very different to those who continue to blab, as opposed to those of us who really believe it.  You see, the reform groups that keep saying this are of the “school choice” club (another bad euphemism).  The term “great schools” has even been co-opted into the name of a reform organization–the Walton and Gates-fundedGreatSchools, which innocently purports to rate every school in the country so that parents can choose where to send their kids (or even choose where to live) based on these ratings.

I have a hard time trusting organizations that can’t find the spacebar

GreatSchools determines ratings specifically from School Report Cards, which are almost always focused on test scores.  Basically, this is a fun little online way to do exactly what Florida’s School Grading model does–simplify incredibly complex scenarios into a single score.  A score that has little base in reality in terms of how effectively a school serves its population.

The point is to segregate schools based on “choice.”  Those who can afford it wouldn’t choose a “2″ school over a “9″ school.  But those children who go to a “2″ school may not have that choice, and may not need it.  Many “2″ schools are fantastic learning institutions, which struggle every day with the poverty and other societal issues surrounding them.  No, this is an attempt to demonize and scapegoat schools.  And when you put down the efforts of a school long enough, the environment becomes ripe for corporate charter takeover, school closing, or “parent trigger” activity.  If a choice is in the minds of those who go to “bad schools,” it would be the choice to not work for minimum wage while struggling to feed and clothe their kids.

When reformers say this line, what they mean is that every child who goes to a “bad school” should be able to go to one of their shiny, new
workforce training centers charter schools, which almost always target low-income areas.

#3 We want parents and teachers  to play an active role in reforming education

Education astroturfers are notorious for choosing the definitions of their buzz terms.  “Parental involvement,” for instance, is something that we all know is vital for child development in all areas.  The incidence of those words making their way into newspapers, blogs, news media, and speeches has increased lately.  Reformers want parents to get involved.  Wonderful!

This little tidbit points to the massive funding going into professional development and training for teachers and, yes, parents.  The most active role corporate reformers can think of for teachers to play is being trained and following the rules.  So, that’s where the investments have gone.

Learn how to support your child’s ability to set up a sweet cubicle!

Bill Gates and other private reformers can’t fund federal government training programs for teachers, so they went for the next best thing: teachers unions.  The Gates Foundation has given training and development funds to both the NEA and AFT to the tune of almost $10 million, and counting, in order to train teachers to implement and teach Common Core-aligned lessons.  He has poured money into individual districts to get them to use his idea of teacher evaluation.  He and others also paid the National PTA and NBC’s Education Nation to “train” parents to lead their kids down the path of corporate reform with support from home.

Parents aren’t being given real resources to assist their kids with the struggles and challenges of school and life, they are simply being given the training necessary to make sure that their kids fit more neatly within the molds of corporate necessity.

#2 The most important factor affecting student achievement is the teacher in the classroom.

Teachers are important–very important.  They got into the profession because they know they’re important, and they work hard every day to make sure they are helping children grow healthfully and successfully.  The incredible thing is, they most often succeed despite the odds and against the challenges that are imparted by the very people who keep trying to block their efforts–the same people who keep repeating the talking point above.

As you’ve probably guessed, this doesn’t mean what it’s supposed to mean.  Michelle Rhee likes to go along with this as one of her biggest selling points to get expensive veteran teachers out of classrooms and her barely-trained and just-hatched college graduates into classrooms for two-year commitments.

By “great teachers,” the reformers point to young, idealist, and usually affluent adults, which go through just enough training to learn how to get kids to score well on tests.  When they do, they are touted as heroes, which makes even more money for Rhee, Teach for America, and StudentsFirst.  After all, we keep hearing, we have a national test score crisis.  We don’t, but it makes the news.

Great teachers do great things for kids, things that can’t be measured objectively.  Bill Gates, who has decided that data will save the world, doesn’t get that.  His own kids, no doubt, go to a school that doesn’t worship data, but that’s because his kids are rich.  He uses his “great teacher” initiatives in schools that serve minority and poor students.  Michelle Rhee failed miserably as a teacher.  These people have no idea what great teaching looks like.

Pictured: Classroom management…reformer style!

#1 A college and career-ready education is the path out of poverty.

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that a motivated child, who lives in poverty, can beat the odds and move up the socioeconomic ladder with a good education and plenty of support.  It’s always a nice story and it makes me smile to see it happen.  But, even the most optimistic studies have suggested that roughly half of students in poverty climb the ladder, and it’s much more difficult for American children to rise out of poverty than those in other countries.

A group of people hold the belief that education is the key to getting out of that rut; conversely, bad education keeps them there.  At a glance, and after looking at some of the data, it almost makes sense.  Except for one thing: there’s no causal data to prove it; there is only correlation, and shaky correlation at that.

Actually, those who live in poverty aren’t all uneducated or undereducated.  In this current economy, there are many people with college degrees and strong skills that are either unemployed or employed in a field outside of their study.  For example, people with degrees in the all-important STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields only have a 4% unemployment rate attributed to them, but fully half of them can’t find a job in a STEM field.  Further study might show that they aren’t earning what they were planning to.  The same general trend applies to many other profession titles across the nation, including teaching.

Degree: BA Education
Salary: $8.25 per hour
Being a laid-off teacher in a corporate wonderland: hopeless

This talking point was made up out of thin air.  It was sold as a solution to a problem that no one has the political or economic will to fix.  The plan was to put the schools on the spot, with the responsibility of fixing our poverty problem.  When they failed, we adopted a new corporate model, with corporate standards, objective measure, and a birth-to-career program.  Now, we can make sure our children fit into a guaranteed job track.  It won’t (it can’t) fix poverty, but at least those kids will be working for the corporate dominance of their beloved country.

A Teacher's Life for Me: Friday's Five - Education "Reform" Lies http://bit.ly/WDKJaI

7-23-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: About the radio showJoin Drs. Shaun Johnson and Tim Slekar LIVE Sundays at 6PM EST and Wednesdays at 7PM EST on Blog Talk Radio for progressive, pro-public education talk radio. Call in to speak live with Tim and Shaun during the show, (805) 727-7111. You can also listen to our Monday "Sunday-Replay" at 7PM EST, and re-broadcasts of the archives every Tuesday and Thursd

by mike simpson / 2h 

7-23-14 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):

Magnolia going into court to keep 2 of its charters open

Magnolia going into court to keep 2 of its charters open Magnolia Public Schools (MPS) is going into a Los Angeles superior court tomorrow to ask a judge to keep open two of its schools that LA Unified wants to close. The district denied the renewal applications for Magnolia Science Academies 6 and 7 after an independent audit determined that MPS is insolvent. The audit uncovered a number of fisc

2 34min 

CWC charter finds yet another new home, at least for a year

CWC charter finds yet another new home, at least for a year St Joan of Arc school, CWC’s new home Citizens of the World Mar Vista has a new new home.  The charter school, which was forced to move from its co-location site at Stoner Elementary School after a tumultuous year, has turned down LA Unified’s most recent offer for classroom space and is moving onto a Catholic school campus.  CWC finalize

3 by Vanessa Romo / 36min hide  //  save

Freedom Schools strengthen, empower LA Unified students

Freedom Schools strengthen, empower LA Unified students 17-year-old Dorsey High School senior Christian Moton, second from right, participates in a group discussion about a book on Nelson Mandela Every morning for the last six weeks, Dorsey High School senior Christian Moton has been taking part in a highly charged and energetic morning ceremony when he sings, chants and cheers. “They host Harambe

2 by Yana Gracile / 1h 

Morning Read: Charter school in south LA damaged by fire

Morning Read: Charter school in south LA damaged by fire L.A. charter school gutted by fast-moving blaze A charter school organization is scrambling to find an alternative location after a fire swept through the campus Tuesday. Animo South Los Angeles Charter High School served 600 students, but school was not in session and officials believe the structure was empty. LA Times Gloria Romero: Too p

2 39min 

7-22-14 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): Morning Read: New political action committee joins board raceMorning Read: New political action committee joins board race New political action committee forms in L.A. school board race A new political action committee has formed to influence the outcome of Los Angeles school board races, filling a gap cr

by mike simpson / 21h 

Teachers’ “Actual” Impacts on Tests: A Reality that Defies VAMs |:

Teachers’ “Actual” Impacts on Tests: A Reality that Defies VAMs

Drs. Gene Glass and David Berliner (both Regents’ Professors Emeriti from Arizona State University) recently published a book with 15 doctoral students titled the 50 Myths & Lies that Threaten America’s Public Schools (published by Teachers College Press). In one of its chapters, as it pertains to VAMs, they deconstruct the myth that “Teachers are the most important thing in the world (so we should fire them if their kids’ scores don’t go up.”

Glass, recently highlighted this chapter on his Education in Two Worlds blog, and I’ve included his highlights from this entry for you all here. Glass writes:

Myth 9. Teachers are the most important influence in a child’s education.

The full statement of Myth 9 might take the following form: “Dear Teachers, you are so overwhelmingly important in the education of our children, you are the be-all and the end-all, the Alpha and the Omega, that when the children aren’t learning, it has to be your fault, that’s why we are going to fire you if the test scores don’t go up.”

As obvious as it is to note the importance of good teachers, research makes it clear that teachers are not the most important influence in a child’s education. Most research shows that less than 30% of a student’s academic success in school is attributable to schools, and teachers are only a part of that overall school effect, perhaps not even the most important part. Student achievement is most strongly associated with socioeconomic status of the child’s family. Outside-of-school factors having nothing to do with teacher ability appear to have at least twice the weight in predicting student achievement as inside-of-school factors. Schools can’t supply all of what society fails to give children.

Politicians and education reformers – the Value-Teachers’ “Actual” Impacts on Tests: A Reality that Defies VAMs |:

This Week In Education: Thompson: Burris Documents Damage Done By Tracking & School Reform

This Week In Education: Thompson: Burris Documents Damage Done By Tracking & School Reform:

Thompson: Burris Documents Damage Done By Tracking & School 

 

We know Carol Burris for her insightful critiques of the contemporary school reform movement, but at first glance her On the Same Page seems to be a history of the bad old days. She presents an authoritative account of the severe damage done by “tracking” students, or assigning them to classes based on their so-called abilities. 

But, isn’t the fight to “de-track” classes and to offer the same opportunity for challenging instruction a distant memory from an ugly era? 

Burris begins with a photo of three English students. The color of their ties denotes their place in the school hierarchy. The one with the purple tie is “gifted and talented.” But, it is not a picture of Victorian times. It was taken in 2012. 

The beauty of On the Same Page is two-fold. Her history of the perpetuation of segregation through tracking of students in the second half of the 20^th century, and of promising efforts to fight it, presents an overwhelming case against grouping students according to their achievement levels. It includes the research that market-driven, test-driven reformers should have considered before imposing their theories of school improvement on 21^st century schools. 

Even better, Burris lets the evidence lead the reader to a startling realization. Reformers, who sought to help poor children of color, have recreated segregation patterns that rival those that grew out of the overt racism of previous generations. We now avoid the word tracking, and we don’t like to think of America as returning to the class-bound structure of England, but much of that evil is being revived in the name of school improvement.

School reform has revitalized a multitude of discredited educational malpractices and rebrandedthem as virtuous. Charters have brought back extreme segregation that some (though not Burris) have dubbed “neo-Plessyism.” High-stakes testing has prompted a focus on worksheet-driven remediation and the widespread dumping of more challenging students into lower level classes. Reform has even brought back the vituperation which accompanied the backlash by those with power, privilege and prestige against full implementation of court-ordered desegregation. 

Corbett’s astute interweaving of social science and the history of trying to resist the de factosegregation of tracking This Week In Education: Thompson: Burris Documents Damage Done By Tracking & School Reform:

7-23-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:

14 More Schools for Avaricious Eva - Coming to a School Near You - Or in Your Own School

....with so many schools how can Eva assure a consistent quality of cheating that keeps her scores so far above any of the other charters?By way of example, the application points to one Harlem district school co-located with a Success school has started posting college flags in school hallways, based on a Success practice....I'm trying not to fall off my couch laughing at this major impact Succes

by ed notes online / 16min 

7-22-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: Lee Sustar on #AFT14 Convention: Lots of Tough Talk - But Watch What They Do....to Randi Weingarten, "fighting forward" apparently means embracing the New York contract as a template for the entire union. The supposed benefits of the deal were hammered home throughout the convention. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose administration negotiated the agreement, spoke

by mike simpson / 3min