7-29-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter:

Holy Moses Batman! Arne Met with the Badass Teachers!

The BATS Swoop Down on Department of EducationFrom With a Brooklyn AccentThe party's over but looks like the Badass Teachers, a group of people who have devoted their lives to educating children, had a meeting with Arne Duncan. The party at the DoE was  a lot of fun and nice to see new faces. The music was particularly good and the speakers, weather and entertainment was just what teachers needed

1 by freetoteach / 22min 

Evan Bayh Loves Christel DeHaan and Hedge Funders: CORPORATE SCHOOL ALERT

by Doug Martin With so many people saying Evan Bayh must come back to Indiana to "save" public education as governor, it is time to set the record straight and let Hoosiers know about the real Evan Bayh. Here is just a glimpse (after only a few hours of research) into Indiana’s hero, Fox News' on-air contributor, and former governor of and senator for Indiana, and it is not pretty. An

1 by Doug Martin / 6min

7-27-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter: Haslam Continues Ed Policy Based on Secrecy, Favoritism, and DupliictyWashington County School Board member Jack Leonard speaks Friday outside the district's central office as state Reps. Matthew Hill, Micah Van Huss and Tony Shipley listen. (Nathan Baker/Johnson City Press)Bill Haslam is up for re-election this year, and if Tennesseans can see beyond the ends of the Obama-hating n

by mike simpson / 49min 

Trouble in Common Core City: Too Many Music Men, Not Enough Librarians - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Trouble in Common Core City: Too Many Music Men, Not Enough Librarians - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Trouble in Common Core City: Too Many Music Men, Not Enough Librarians

By Anthony Cody on July 29, 2014 2:12 PM

Last week Glenn Beck brought parents to 700 theaters nationwide to warn them of the perils of the Common Core, and the dangers of government brainwashing. Andy Schmookler has written a post comparing Beck's fear-mongering with Professor Harold Hill of the musical play and movie, The Music Man. The funny thing is that Common Core itself is being sold by yet another version of Professor Hill, in the form of billionaire Bill Gates.

To start with, here is how Schmookler connects Beck and the River City con man:

Beck's move here reminded me of "The Music Man," the con man in the musical of that namewho comes to an Iowa town to fleece the good people there. What Beck and the con artist in "The Music Man" have in common is that to accomplish their own hidden aims they tap into the anxieties that parents have regarding their children.

What the Music Man was selling were fictitious musical instruments and band uniforms, and he did it by playing on parental fears of corrupting influences on their children (fears aroused by the arrival in town of a Pool Hall, which starts with 'P' which rhymes with 'T' which stands for 'trouble').

Beck's pitch against the Common Core is selling a different fear: that the federal government is seeking to take control of their children away from their parents for purposes of indoctrination.

True enough. But I part ways with Schmookler in two regards. First,Trouble in Common Core City: Too Many Music Men, Not Enough Librarians - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

7-29-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Arne Duncan Drops in Unexpectedly on Meeting With BATS at US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights and Gets an Earful!

With A Brooklyn Accent: Arne Duncan Drops in Unexpectedly on Meeting With BATS at US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights and Gets an Earful!:

Arne Duncan Drops in Unexpectedly on Meeting With BATS at US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights and Gets an Earful!

   On July 28, 2014, following the  BAT Rally outside the US Department of Education, a delegation of BATS went up to  the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights to share some of the main issues that BATS had with  Department Policy.  Representing the BATS were Marla Kilfoyle, General Manager of BATS. Dr Yohuru Williams of Fairfield University, Chicago BAM (Badass Moms) leader  Shoneice Reynolds and her son Asean Johnson, Tennessee BAT leader Larry Proffitt, and Dr Mark Naison, co founder of BATS. The meeting had been set up by Marla Kilfoyle through an official of the Department of Education’s Office of Communications.

  Arne Duncan was not originally scheduled to attend the meeting, but dropped in unexpectedly in the middle. What follows  is my  account of the meeting, including the dialogue with Mr. Duncan, along with and some reflections on what it all means.  How much of what transpired will lead to further communication and action, and how much represented a “smoke and mirrors” game by officials of the Department remains to be seen.

   After going through security, we were escorted to a conference room in the
US Ed Department’s Office of Civil Rights, where we were met by 9 people, including a senior staff member of the Office of Civil Rights, James Kim, who chaired the meeting, along with staff members from the Offices of Communications and Community Outreach and several student interns with the Department.  Mr Kim, who With A Brooklyn Accent: Arne Duncan Drops in Unexpectedly on Meeting With BATS at US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights and Gets an Earful!:

7-26-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Love Letters to the BATS

With A Brooklyn Accent:BATS- Finding a Teacher VoiceIf there is a single contribution that BATS has made in the one year of its existence, it is to show the powers that be that public school teachers- in all their diversity and variety-- are not a silent, compliant group who can be demonized, standardized, scripted, deprived of due process, and forced to commit professional malpractice at the expe

by mike simpson / 25min 

7-29-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:

A Parent/Filmmaker Comments on Ravitch and Unions

How is it possible that  the Leadership of Teachers Unions maintains this destructive control of the profession?  And how can that control be altered and in what ways, without destroying the Unions altogether.  .....parent perception is predominantly that the Unions speak for and represent the attitudes of teachers.... If the Unions don't speak for the majority of teachers and, if as you say, ther

by ed notes online / 44min

7-28-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: Francesca Gomes on the New Teacher ContractWhile many teachers were able to see the contract for what it was, the only organized protest against it was mounted by the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE). Though the effort made by this group was truly commendable, it currently has too small of a base to mount an effective attack or empower the teachers in a city with such a

by mike simpson / 20h 

To ALEC in Texas: School Vouchers are Poppycock | Cloaking Inequity

To ALEC in Texas: School Vouchers are Poppycock | Cloaking Inequity:

To ALEC in Texas: School Vouchers are Poppycock

ALEC is meeting in Texas right now with a “shameless” agenda to privatize public education. Who is ALEC? In December 2012 Cloaking Inequity first profiled the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC is a national organization “composed of legislators, businesses and foundations” with great influence and connections to extreme think tanks and supported by funding from corporations that are seeking to drive a public policy agenda based on privatization and profit. At the time I relayed:

A recent flurry of legislation seeking to capitalize on public dollars into “parental choice” and “vouchers” were not inspired by legitimate, local, or a family “grass roots” base but from a national, well-funded effort from extreme think tanks modeled, written, and disseminated by ALEC. Diane Ravitch has extensively written on ALEC’s opinions and activities in the education sector here. Many state legislators have been provided training, technical assistance and handed the language for bills to direct the flow of public money into “parental choice.” As a consequence privatization and profit driving efforts in the education sector are growing as the public dollars are flowing. For example, see the 2012 ALEC Report on American Education. On pages 6 – 9 they summarize their successes in 2011 in regards to vouchers.

Notably, privatization and profit efforts in education have been tried elsewhere. A decade ago Chile decided that private (and non-democratic) organizations should provision schooling— education should be excluded as much as possible from a government’s budget. As a result their public system is shrinking rapidly and low-SES students are now more likely to be denied access to a high-quality education. If you are looking for model voucher legislation for privatization and profit, you have to look no further than Chile. While parental choice sounds attractive, those behind the legislative efforts for privatization are not interested in equity and social justice, despite their simple, impassioned, and convincing rhetoric otherwise. In their hands, our public system of education will continue to wither and 

To ALEC in Texas: School Vouchers are Poppycock | Cloaking Inequity:

The Charter School Profiteers | Jacobin

The Charter School Profiteers | Jacobin:

The Charter School Profiteers

by Allie Gross

In Detroit charter schools, mismanagement and opportunistic “education entrepreneurs” thrive.

(Beth Fertig / SchoolBook)

This is the second installment in our two-part series looking at charter schools in New Orleans and Detroit. The juxtaposition is no accident — these two cities have the highest percentage of charters in the country.

In New Orleans, charters have almost entirely replacedtraditional public schools; in Detroit, about half the schools are charters. Both cases show the perils of privatization and the way in which elites manipulate crises to transform social goods.

Similar themes are explored in Class Action: An Activist Teacher’s Handbook, a joint project of Jacobin and the Chicago Teachers Union’s CORE. The booklet can be downloaded for free, and print copies are still available.

Jenay* crouches on the carpet, her spine curved into a lowercase “c” as she concentrates on the flimsy picture book in her lap. Every few minutes her fingers slide off the page, tapping the floor until she locates a bottle of purple soda. She never breaks eye contact with the book.

It’s 4 p.m. on a Monday in Detroit, and the fifth grader is staying after school to work on her reading. Jenay is reading at a second-grade level. She has been placed in summer school each June since the third grade, and every September she is promoted to the next grade. It is the unspoken truth all students know: Getting held back is an idle threat. It could lead to families The Charter School Profiteers | Jacobin:

Teachers Occupy the US Department of Education in Washington, DC | M. Shannon Hernandez

Teachers Occupy the US Department of Education in Washington, DC | M. Shannon Hernandez:

Teachers Occupy the US Department of Education in Washington, DC

I boarded the Amtrak early Sunday morning in New York City and headed into Washington, DC. The weekend had finally arrived where teachers from across this nation were going to show our solidarity and use our voices to fight for public education. Educators, parents and students from 35 states occupied the U.S. Department of Education on Monday, July 28th -- and our efforts paid off. Four delegates from our group, the Badass Teacher Association (BATs) were invited into Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's office to explain to him what we stand for and why public education is so important to our nation's children.

Teaching is an issue near and dear to my heart. It was my dream when I was younger -- I would line-up my stuffed animals, and my little sister, and teach to them for hours. Even at the age of seven, I understood what it meant to engage my students -- creating lessons that my sister, and her stuffed-animal peers, would find completely captivating and inspiring.

Acting on that childhood dream, I went to college, earning both a bachelors and masters degree in education. I have had the privilege of teaching elementary and middle school students in Charlotte, North Carolina, and middle school students in Spanish Harlem and Upper Manhattan. Teaching was my truth, it was my life.

But last June, I turned in my official resignation as a 15-year veteran public school teacher. You see, I was tired and beaten down by the many politicians who value test scores over authentic learning. The worst days of my career were the ones where I left the building wondering if I was able to make a personal connection with each student who walked through my classroom door -- because budgets had been cut and my class sizes had reached 32 students. There were nights I laid awake, never falling asleep, because my end of the year evaluation depended on factors that were completely out my control, such as if Johnny could make it to school tomorrow after taking care of his three siblings while his parents worked two jobs to make ends meet.

The decision to leave my life-long dream was not an easy one. I took time to consider all angles -- especially my emotions of how it would feel to leave something I loved so dearly. On May 1, 2013, I opened up a notebook and stared at the blank pages. I was sitting at my desk, and I had 40 days remaining before I walked out of that classroom for the last time. I decided I would capture my feelings on paper, as they unfolded, and also record the stories from my students and their learnings and lessons during those last days of my career. I wanted to have a record of why I loved Teachers Occupy the US Department of Education in Washington, DC | M. Shannon Hernandez:

7-29-14 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):

Teachers union leaders updating members on strike potential

Teachers union leaders updating members on strike potential UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl speaking to union members No matter the state of contract negotiations between LA Unified and the teachers union, UTLA, instructors are becoming more familiar with the possibility of a strike. Alex Caputo-Pearl, the union president, said in an interview today union officials are busy organizing parents, se

3 by Vanessa Romo / 1h 

Lawsuit filed in New York takes after Vergara ruling

Lawsuit filed in New York takes after Vergara ruling Via Edweek | by Stephen Sawchuck A second lawsuit challenging New York laws governing teacher tenure, layoffs, and dismissals has been filed on behalf of seven schoolchildren in the state. The suit, modeled on the successful Vergara v. California lawsuit in California, argues that those protections are depriving pupils of their constitutional ri

2 37min hide  //  save

Zimmer, Kayser back McKenna; Villaraigosa in for Johnson

Zimmer, Kayser back McKenna; Villaraigosa in for Johnson Steve Zimmer, with George McKenna to his right. Endorsements in the District 1 school board race continued to pile up today as two LA Unified board members jumped on the George McKenna bandwagon, and former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa weighed in for Alex Johnson. Steve Zimmer and Bennett Kayser appeared at a news conference outside City Hall

by Vanessa Romo / 0min 

Morning Read: LAUSD, teachers at odds over contract talks

Morning Read: LAUSD, teachers at odds over contract talks Teachers union, LAUSD at odds over bargaining tactics With just two weeks before school starts, union leaders representing 35,000 teachers have declined Los Angeles Unified’s offer to conduct contract talks on a daily basis. The two sides are divided by about $280 million per year in pay increases and other issues. LA Daily News Report say

4 34min 

7-28-14 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: Lawsuit looms over California PE classesMorning Read: Lawsuit looms over California PE classes California schools face lawsuit over physical education classes Thousands of elementary school teachers have been asked this summer to hold on to their lesson plans as 37 school districts throughou

by mike simpson / 22h 

Teachers’ due process rights are not the problem | Edwize

Teachers’ due process rights are not the problem | Edwize:



Teachers’ due process rights are not the problem

Read the full post here.

Common-sense school reform in a post-Vergara world: Guest commentary:

Common-sense school reform in a post-Vergara world: Guest commentary

 If you are of a certain age, as we are, you will recall the days when your buddies all wanted to put “headers” on their V-8 Chevy, Dodge, or Ford. The effect was a loud, thumping rumble that turned heads in the school parking lot or at the drive-in theater. Headers didn’t add much performance, but they sure sounded great.

The current school reform debate reminds us of those thumping V-8s. All of the attention is focused on firing or laying off teachers, and tenure, thanks to a recent court ruling in the Vergara v. California lawsuit. This lawsuit isn’t over and the case will be appealed. But are we discussing the policy changes that will improve our schools?

We firmly believe that all students deserve a highly qualified teacher. And revisiting the parameters of teacher tenure could be helpful, as long as we keep things in perspective. The focus on removing ineffective teachers will affect a relatively miniscule number of employees, no matter what system is devised, and these processes are a very small part of what makes for a great school system. And building a great school system in California is where the dialogue around school reform belongs.

For example, we need funding equity in our schools. The recent change to the Local Control Funding Formula is real reform. We need to institutionalize it and adequately fund it. We also need stable funding that doesn’t result in teacher layoffs every decade or so. School districts can’t effectively plan for the future because they can’t depend on stable state revenue.

Also troubling is the number of teachers who voluntarily leave the profession — about 30 percent within the first five years, and more than half in many urban assignments. This suggests that the focus on teacher tenure, dismissal and layoffs is misdirected. Recruitment and retention of high-quality teachers and providing them with adequate support would have significantly more impact on school improvement.

There’s evidence to show that successful schools worldwide are those where teachers and school leaders receive the resources and support Common-sense school reform in a post-Vergara world: Guest commentary:

7-29-14 The Whole Child Blog — ED Pulse Poll Results: Should Cellphones Be Allowed at School?

The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education:

Making a Difference through Student Advocacy Programs

The students needed me to make a difference, and they couldn't wait another year for me to figure it out. The disciplinary referrals were piling up in the manila folder on my desk. Their pink, yellow, and white triplicate forms were complete and signed by parents and guardians and entered into the school system's data management system. Even though I had already dealt with these behavior documents

by Dru Tomlin / 1h 

ED Pulse Poll Results: Should Cellphones Be Allowed at School?

ASCD continually seeks to provide solutions to the challenges that face educators of all levels. A recent ASCD SmartBrief ED Pulse poll asked readers if they believe students should be allowed to bring and use their cellphones at school. While families struggle with the right age for a child to have a cellphone, schools continue to struggle with whether or not cellphones should (and how) be used

by Kit Harris, ASCD ... / 0min 

7-28-14 The Whole Child Blog — ICYMI: Principals Share Advice on Whole Child Podcast

The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education: ICYMI: Principals Share Advice on Whole Child PodcastPrincipals are the key players in developing the climate, culture, and processes in their schools. They are critical to implementing meaningful and lasting school change and in the ongoing school-improvement process. There is also no doubt that the role—or roles—of a principal has changed dramaticall

by mike simpson / 18h 

Testing scandal | Deborah Meier on Education

Testing scandal | Deborah Meier on Education:

Testing scandal

Posted on July 29, 2014 by debmeier

Dear readers,

I have been silent since June fourth because my car, without my consent, left the road and crashed into a field—totaling it, but fortunately not me. I’m very lucky to have escaped with minor damage, but enough to “lay me low” for the past month plus. But, when I read Rachel Aviv’s marvelous article about cheating to boost scores in Atlanta (July 2lst New Yorker) I felt propelled to respond. It is time to return.

What a perceptive and clear account of an old wound. And done with a rare sympathy for the “villains”—teachers and administrators. Especially those far down the hierarchy. It is a subject about which I too have been unwisely silent for too long.

Aviv tracks math teacher Damany Lewis and his principal Christopher Waller and the life inside their middle school—starting in 2006 during Beverly Hall’s superintendency. She does not condone the many teachers who followed Lewis and Waller’s lead. But she describes the relentless, not quite inevitable path they each took to protect their students, the school and, of course, their own jobs too. They lost on all counts. But they are, I believe, only the tip of an iceberg that has been around for a very long time—and which the media has deliberately refused to take into account—and has in fact aided and abetted

I know personally.

In the 1970s—when I was the teacher-director of the newly formed Central Park East elementary school in East Harlem‑I faced a similar dilemma. Because we were an “alternative” school located in larger neighborhood school, our scores were not Testing scandal | Deborah Meier on Education:

Moms winning the Common Core war - Stephanie Simon - POLITICO.com

Moms winning the Common Core war - Stephanie Simon - POLITICO.com:

Moms winning the Common Core warmillions have proved no match for the moms. | AP Photo

Supporters of the Common Core academic standards have spent big this past year to persuade wavering state legislators to stick with the new guidelines for math and language arts instruction. Given the firestorm of opposition that took them by surprise, they consider it a victory that just five states, so far, have taken steps to back out.

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But in a series of strategy sessions in recent months, top promoters of the standards have concluded they’re losing the broader public debate — and need to devise better PR.

(Also on POLITICO: Undocumented immigrants call for W.H. boycott)

Consider: Conservative commentators Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin held a crackling town hall meeting last week describing the Common Core as a threat to local control of education. The two-hour event was simulcast in 700 movie theaters nationwide and will be rebroadcast Tuesday night in more than 500.

About 10,000 aspiring activists have since downloaded Beck’s “action plan” for defeating the standards. Beck’s slogan, “We will not conform,” is still echoing on Twitter. FreedomWorks, the tea party group that co-sponsored the event, is planning Skype chats to hash out tactics with local activists inspired by the evening.

The response from Common Core backers?

A pair of sedate videos featuring three former Republican governors — one of whom has been out of office for 11 years — sitting in front of a gray backdrop, eyes fixed on a point slightly off camera as they cycled through familiar talking points. And a news release offering quotes from standards supporters, including a fifth-grade teacher in rural Colorado and a Pentecostal preacher from Virginia.

(Also on POLITICO: GOP rejects tax crackdown)

Neither seemed likely to set social media ablaze.

So, backed with fresh funding from philanthropic supporters, including a $10.3 million grant awarded in May from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, supporters are gearing up for a

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/the-common-core-pr-war-109460.html#ixzz38sHW5Kxp