Monday, September 22, 2014

Triumph Of The Computer Nerd – redqueeninla

Triumph Of The Computer Nerd – redqueeninla:

Triumph Of The Computer Nerd

Written by redqueeninla in Education

Once upon a time computer nerds were stored in the basement, sometimes in the garage or in a forgotten meeting room at school; nowadays we store them in boardrooms and cabinet offices and among venture philanthropy concerns.

The last laugh of the intellectual ought to be occasion for celebration. But not when the evil genius is twisted at the expense of humanism or evidence-based logic (a true tautology that somehow, in today’s euphemistic edubabble actually passes as an acceptable conditional). There is so much going on these days in obeisance to the hegemony of technology that just makes no sense from a human-point-of-view, you just have to wonder about those nerds.

There are a lot of examples to highlight. Key among them might be the subversion of empathy for children and a cherishing of their childhood at the command of Big Education’s Testing Imperative. It is nothing short of heart-breaking to read thousands of anecdotes about children’s test-misery.

But on the other end of the spectrum, big children, high schoolers, are being subjected to an absolutely out-of-control amplification of that vortex of miserytoo, and to what end?

Because association and causality are widely conflated, college attendance has been railroaded as a ticket to economic security since it was once observed to be associated with it. But there is no certainty that simple attendance is relevant toeconomic success – even presuming that was the sole justification for attending college anyway. But at the least, merely attending college is never going to be the wellspring of success in contrast with that which was once required in order toattend and graduate from an institute of higher education: let’s call this, say, Triumph Of The Computer Nerd – redqueeninla:

9-22-14 All NEW Living in Dialogue - Chicago Teacher: Privatized Janitorial Services Mean Dirty Bathrooms and Classrooms

Home - Living in Dialogue:

Straight Out of Brooklyn: Public Education Nation

PUBLIC EDUCATION NATION from Schoolhouse Live on Vimeo. For years, reformers have talked down to students, parents and teachers. Now it’s time for us talk back! Join Diane Ravitch, Anthony Cody and Leonie Haimson as they take on Common Core, charters and school closures, and other threats to public education, October 11, 2014, 12-5 PM (EST), for the first ever Public Education Nation webcast, on s

10 by Vincent Precht / 1h

Chicago Teacher: Privatized Janitorial Services Mean Dirty Bathrooms and Classrooms

By Michelle Gunderson. My friend who is a janitor in the Chicago Public Schools told me that he warned his daughters to only use the bathrooms at school if they have to. He said, “I know how impossible it is to get our schools clean right now. It just can’t be done with the cutbacks.” Can you imagine telling your child that school is too dirty to safely use the toilet? Last March the Chicago Schoo

13 by Anthony Cody / 3h

9-20-14 All NEW Living in Dialogue

Home | Living in Dialogue:Yong Zhao Slays the Authoritarian Testing DragonBy Anthony Cody. For progress to occur in China – or the US, the dragons of educational authoritarianism must be slain. Chinese-American professor Yong Zhao has been a bit of a contrarian regarding education reform in the United States. He comes at the subject with a unique perspective. He experienced the Chinese educational

1 by mike simpson / 27min

9-22-14 Curmudgucation - CCSS: Set in Stone?

CURMUDGUCATION:

CCSS: Set in Stone?

One of the ongoing side arguments in the education debates is the question of just how set in concrete the Common Core standards are.The pro-Core talking point has become some variation of, "Pshaw! States can totally do as they wish. The Core are just like, you know, mild suggestions, and states can just rewrite them or modify them or whatever." This is a considerable shift from the days

14 by Peter Greene / 1h

9-21-14 Curmudgucation - Running a Business with No Employees

CURMUDGUCATION: Running a Business with No EmployeesThis week New York magazine profiled a new type of business, and while it has nothing to do with teaching, it's a business model that those of us who work in the ed biz should pay attention to.Modern business leaders in America face what seems to them to be a dreadful problem-- employees who want to be paid. Earlier this week, I was involved in a

by mike simpson / 26min

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 9-22-14

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

Student Put In Detention For Sharing School Lunch

By Katherine Harwood KRCR News (Chico/Redding) http://bit.ly/1v03rph video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player POSTED: 6:45 PM Sep 17 2014 UPDATED: 11:53 PM Sep 17 2014 WEAVERVILLE, Calif. :: An eighth grade student from Weaverville Elementary School got a detention slip for sharing his school prepared lunch Tuesday. Kyle Bradford, 13, shared his chicken burrito with a

1 by smf / 2h hide // save

Washington Post: STATE SAYS PRINCE GEORGE’S SCHOOLS CFO COMMITTED INSURANCE FRAUD, PLACED ON LEAVE

Read the article: http://wapo.st/1DsO6T3 smf /4LAKids opines: It would take a lot of of twisty twist-ties to connect this story of almost comic alleged wrongdoing (Trying to run the same scam against two different insurance companies for the loss of the same wedding ring) to the former Prince George’s Schools superintendent who left that gig under a cloud to join the Gates Foundation and then

1 by smf / 3h

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 9-21-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: The Debate Over Common CoreCBS News Sunday Morning | http://cbsn.ws/Z503yF The curriculum for boosting K-12 students' academic performance has drawn critics on both sides of the political divide. CBS News September 21, 2014, 9:35 AM :: The core issue in education this brand new school year revolves around something called the Common Core. It's a pr

by mike simpson / 6min

9-22-14 Cali Education Headlines

Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team | CSIS – California School Information Services:

www.StopThePowerGrab.org

Education Headlines

Debate rages over how to evaluate teachers
Should student test scores affect teacher evaluations? That issue continues to be a stumbling block between Stockton Teachers Association and Stockton Unified negotiators as they pursue a new contract.
September 22, 2014
Retiring Bonita Unified superintendent reflects on influences
Many years ago, Gary Rapkin drove a bus. And he’s been known to occasionally board school buses in the Bonita Unified and Mountain View Elementary school districts and ride with the children.
September 22, 2014
Natomas school district chides board candidate Konatsu for profanity
An otherwise quiet school board election in the Natomas Unified School District took a bizarre turn this week when a letter from the district chastising one of the candidates for using obscene language on school campuses became public.
September 22, 2014
MORENO VALLEY: Planned city and school district summit soured
After a rocky relationship over the past year, Moreno Valley city and school district officials have talked in recent months about wanting to work better together. But efforts to repair the relationship appear to have hit a bump, with a planned joint meeting last week between the two elected bodies canceled, reportedly over a disagreement over who would host it.
September 22, 2014
Prop. C renews school funding with boosts to children’s programs
The simple explanation of San Francisco’s Proposition C is that it renews more than $135 million in annual funding for school and children’s programs across the city. The longer explanation of what the measure does specifically takes up 50 pages of ballot language that covers four separate policies and a 25-year commitment that would come with a majority yes vote on Nov. 4.
September 22, 2014
San Bernardino teacher accused of using slur: ‘I don’t tolerate racism’
A Cajon High teacher accused of using a racial slur in class denies she used it in reference to any student. A senior in her seventh-period math class said that she used a racial slur in class on Sept. 3, after he asked why she was rearranging the seating of the black students, who make up a minority of the class.
September 22, 2014

Is Education Reform Punk Rock? | EduShyster

Is Education Reform Punk Rock? | EduShyster:

Is Education Reform Punk Rock?

Do real punk rockers prefer school choice? Not when it’s the major label or the big rock manager offering *choice.*

By Hugo Burnham

Education is the new punk rock. So says the t-shirt sold by my friend, an old punk rock drummer named Martin Atkins who has found, forced and finagled his way into higher education in the USA. As have I. *Higher* for us these days means education beyond K–12.

Martin played with PIL (that’s his Mickey Mouse watch sound on Metal Box’s immense *Four Enclosed Walls*), Ministry, Killing Joke, Pigface, and others. He wasn’t in NIN, but he was in a NIN video. (Just as I wasn’t inPIL…but I was on the Top of the Pops TV show with them.) And he runs a record label that has released a shitload of records. And he owns a studio. And he’s written two books. He is now teaching at the SAE Institute in Chicago. I’m exhausted just writing this—he’s a bloody machine. Oh, and just got his Bachelor’s Degree. At 55, yet! I got my Bachelor’s Degree at the *right* time, you know, when I was young. Martin is onto his Master’s next (ha ha…got mine already!). And we are both fathers. Alright then, so who’s the real punk here?!

Mind the bollocks
Which leads us to the obvious question: what is punk rock? And what does it have to do with public education? Almost everything you’ve read defining punk is bollocks. Mind them. And ignore anyone over the age of 25 pontificating about what is or is not punk rock. (That should reduce your online reading by about 78%…) The only real punk who’s still punk is Joe Strummer. And maybe Charlie Harper.

So what right do we, as post-punk college professors (hilarious, really, isn’t it?! I still cannot believe that I am 14 years deep into what my Mum calls *A proper job—finally*), and bloody foreigners to boot, have to weigh in on the maelstrom that is the public school debate in these United States? Whether clutching Green Cards or US passports, we’ve both lived here for so many years and guided and watched our progeny engage in public schools that, despite lacking representation for our taxationIs Education Reform Punk Rock? | EduShyster:

SXSWedu and Student Voice Join in Collaboration to Celebrate Students at SXSWedu 2015

SXSWedu and Student Voice Join in Collaboration to Celebrate Students at SXSWedu 2015:

Partnership announced at annual Student Voice Live! Summit

Sept. 22, 2014, AUSTIN, Texas – SXSWedu and Student Voice are excited to partner on an initiative to celebrate student engagement and participation at the 2015 SXSWedu Conference & Festival in Austin, Texas.

The announcement was made Saturday at the close of the annual Student Voice Live! Summit in New York City, which saw a convergence of students and stakeholders in support of the student voice movement in education. Ron Reed and Greg Rosenbaum of SXSWedu joined Student Voice’s Co-founder and Executive Director Zak Malamed in highlighting the opportunities for students the new partnership will foster.

“This is a great opportunity to connect students to existing conversations on education and open new doors for those itching to be a part of decisions that affect their lives,” Student Voice Director of Public Relations Jessica Schram said. “Partnering with SXSWedu is a radical step forward for the education movement, and is something that can only be accomplished when an event of this magnitude partners with a movement this pressing to give students the spotlight and microphone they deserve.”

Launched in 2011, SXSWedu provides a platform for social change across all facets of the education landscape by convening a dedicated and diverse community of stakeholders to create and collaborate on the future of education. Founded in 2012, Student Voice works to highlight the importance of student engagement in global education reform by fostering student-focused discussion and action on prevalent issues.

“Students are more than an integral part of our community at SXSWedu,” said Ron Reed, SXSWedu Executive Producer. “Learners are the fundamental reason SXSWedu exists. We’re looking forward to working closely with the Student Voice team to champion student action in the education space and to engage even more students at the event, on the local, national and international level.”

More information on the collaboration between SXSWedu and Student Voice will be forthcoming in the lead up to the March event. For more information on attending the SXSWedu Conference & Festival, March 9-12, 2015 in Austin, Texas, please visit http://sxswedu.com/attend.

About SXSWedu

The SXSWedu Conference & Festival fosters innovation in learning by hosting a diverse and energetic community of stakeholders across a variety of backgrounds in education. The four-day event affords registrants open access to engaging sessions, interactive workshops, hands on learning experiences, cinematic portrayals, early stage startups and a host of networking opportunities. By providing a platform for collaboration, SXSWedu works to promote creativity and social change.

SXSWedu is a component of the South by Southwest family of conferences and festivals that includes SXSW Music, Film and Interactive; SXSW Eco and SXSW V2V. Internationally recognized as the convergence gathering for the creative arts, SXSWedu extends SXSW’s support for the art of engagement beyond musicians, filmmakers and new media innovators to include society’s true rock stars: educators.

Join the passionate and innovative community at SXSWedu, March 9-12, 2015 in Austin, Texas. For more information, please visit http://sxswedu.com.

About Student Voice

Student Voice is a completely student-run, non-partisan, not-for-profit organization inspired by the lack of student voices in education. Research shows that only 47 percent of students believe they have a voice in decision making and this dips to as low as 36 percent in the 12th grade. Student Voice strives to enhance the overall effectiveness of the student voice movement by bridging the gap between students and education communities around the world through its services-based approach. For more information about Student Voice, visit http://www.StuVoice.org or follow us on Twitter@Stu_Voice.

Student Voice instates five education influencers to Board of Directors

News Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sept. 20, 2014 NEW YORK, NY— Today Student Voice announced the appointment of Alexis Glick, Nicholas Ferroni, Ryan Orbuch, Ritankar Das and Nikki Adeli as members of the nonprofit’s new Board of Directors, effective immediately. The announcement came alongside the organization’s reveal of its new partnership with SXSWedu at the finale of the second annual Student

26 by stuvoiceadmin / 1h

Democracy and the Donor Class by Gara LaMarche | OccupyWallSt.org

Democracy and the Donor Class by Gara LaMarche | OccupyWallSt.org:

Democracy and the Donor Class by Gara LaMarche

Posted 5 hours ago on Sept. 22, 2014, 10:38 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Tags: Philanthropy

This article was originally published at The Democracy Journal

Foundations and philanthropists do much good, but these unelected actors have acquired enormous power to shape policy. Should they be reined in?

Though this is not the way I would usually describe my career, one way of looking at it is that I spent my first 20 working years trying to raise money, and the next 15 trying to give it away. The transition, which took place when I left Human Rights Watch in 1996 to found the United States Programs of George Soros’s Open Society Institute, was a challenging one.

On the one hand, having dealt with foundations over the years as a supplicant, I felt I knew their ways—and in particular, ways of behaving that I was eager to avoid. On the other hand, suddenly becoming the gatekeeper to many millions of philanthropic dollars altered most of my collegial relationships, and many of my personal ones, infecting all but a few of them with a new power dynamic. I found myself—as various wags have observed about philanthropy staff over the years—a great deal smarter, wiser, funnier, and probably handsomer than I had been only months before.

I managed that personal transition as well as I could. I vowed not to internalize the importance others now ascribed to me. What power I held was derivative and temporary, and I tried not to forget that. I think I was mostly successful in remembering, so my recent transition out of philanthropy, with the accompanying loss of certain kinds of power and capital, has been that much easier as a result. For the better part of those 15 years, I oversaw grants made by two of the world’s largest foundations, both with engaged and active donors, probably to the tune of about $3 billion in all. So I’ve had more experience helping to direct the largesse of the living rich than almost anyone, aside from Patty Stonesifer, Jeff Raikes, and Sue Desmond-Hellmann, the former and current CEOs of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Through that experience, I’ve been a vocal and persistent advocate for a certain kind of philanthropy, one that eschews simple charity—worthy but palliative measures like supporting a soup kitchen or personal gestures like providing a scholarship—for attention to policy, to the root causes and structural conditions that result in hunger or lack of access to education in the first place. I’ve preached to my philanthropic brethren the virtues of support for advocacy on the leading social-justice issues of the day, and tried in the positions I’ve held to model that in the hopes that others would follow, or in any case find it safer territory to explore. The grant made by Atlantic Philanthropies during my tenure to Health Care for America Now, the grassroots organizing campaign for universal health coverage—at $27 million, the largest advocacy grant ever made by a foundation—was perhaps the most prominent of many such examples.

And yet it was during that campaign, ironically, that I began to have my first real doubts about the legitimacy of philanthropy in its engagement with the democratic process. You’ll recall that one of the many attacks on President Obama’s health-care bill was that it would bust the budget, and the President was careful to state from the outset that this major social-welfare advance would be revenue-neutral, not adding to the deficit, and indeed saving money over time.

That meant finding a combination of savings and new revenue to finance the bill. One proposal from the Administration would have capped the income tax deduction for charitable contributions at the level it was during the Reagan Administration, 28 percent. Almost without exception, the organizations that purport to speak for foundations and the nonprofits they fund rose up in opposition to the proposal.

There are credible arguments on both sides about how much effect a change in the deduction would have on charitable giving in the United States. I tend to believe the studies—such as those by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University—that assert that there would be a modest effect, if any. But let’s assume for the sake of discussion that the effect would be more than modest—that wealthy Americans in particular would open their checkbooks for causes dear to them a bit less often Democracy and the Donor Class by Gara LaMarche | OccupyWallSt.org:

Choosing Democracy: Providing teachers that reflect the students

Choosing Democracy: Providing teachers that reflect the students:

Providing teachers that reflect the students

The Sacramento Bee published a good story on Saturday by Lorett Kalb and Phillip Reese on a group of teachers at McClatchy High working together in a colectivo to recruit students to get a college education and return to McClatchy as teachers. Here.http://www.sacbee.com/2014/09/20/6712601/mcclatchy-high-wants-students.html

However, the story misses an important issue.

Mc Clatchy used to get many minority teachers, both Asian and Latino from the Bilingual Multicultural Education Department at Sac state, before that program was eliminated in 2012. The major minority teacher recruitment program in Northern California was quietly shut down. I was the first Chair of that department.

By 2007, BMED was recruiting and placing minority teachers in the region such that between 30 and 36 % of all new teachers at Sac State were Latino. We did this for over 18 years. We trained over 600 teachers, most of them minority and most of them local.

Now that has been re- organized out of existence under the disguise of low enrollment. Current enrollment in teacher preparation at Sac State is about 6-8 % Latino. This data is available in publicly available sources.

The story of the creation and destruction of the BMED department is here.

https://sites.google.com/site/chicanodigital/home/the-creation-and-demise-of-bilingual-education-at-csu-sacramento-2

We need an investigative article about this closing of a successful program and to investigate how when a successful program was created to provide minority teachers for our public schools, the program was later eliminated by self interest politics.

Dr. Duane E. Campbell

Democracy and Education Institute

http://www.democracyeducationinstitute.org

http://MexicanAmericanDigitalHistory.org

Auditor releases nonpartisan brief on Common Core - SFGate

Auditor releases nonpartisan brief on Common Core - SFGate:

Auditor releases nonpartisan brief on Common Core

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Questions about the dispute over the Common Core education standards, or still wondering what the standards even are?

Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera's office on Monday released a nonpartisan overview about the English and math standards used in Louisiana's public school classrooms.

The 30-page report describes development of the standards, gives a sample of the changed teaching and outlines other states' use of Common Core. The report also provides an overview of the Common Core lawsuits filed in Louisiana.

More than 40 states, including Louisiana, have adopted Common Core, which describes what students should know after completing each grade.

Gov. Bobby Jindal opposes the standards, saying the Obama administration has manipulated use of Common Core to try to control local education policy and curriculum.

The auditor's report is available at: http://bit.ly/1payvha .

Auditor releases nonpartisan brief on Common Core - SFGate:

Looking Back (Part 6) | Taking Note

Looking Back (Part 6) | Taking Note:

Looking Back (Part 6)

by JOHN MERROW on 22. SEP, 2014 in 2014 BLOGS, LOOKING BACK

The news that ‘only’ 14,700,000 American children are now living in poverty [1] prompted this look back at my reporting for NPR about the emotional development of children, an important but often unrecognized aspect of life for some children growing up in poverty. Food, healthcare, shelter and education matter, but love and affection are vital if a child is to have a decent chance of becoming a functioning adult [2].

Here, briefly, are the stories of Lisa, Roy and Mary, three young people who, for a host of reasons, were growing up without the emotional supports they needed.

Merrow: “OK, let me give you a spelling test. How do you spell ‘cereal’?
Lisa: S-E-I-A-L-A.

She told me that she had lived in ‘13 or 16’ foster homes. Lisa was 9 years old when, at the end of a long conversation, I gave her an impromptu spelling test..

Merrow: How do you spell ‘sugar’?
Lisa: Sugar. S-H-U-G-E-R.

At the time, Lisa was living in a Texas mental institution for children.

Merrow: How do you spell ‘couch’?
Lisa: Ooo! Couch. C- No. K-A-O-W-C-H.
Merrow: How do you spell ‘soda’?
Lisa: S-O-A-D.

Lisa was a charmer. At one point she asked me what I was going to do with the recording. When I told her it was for a radio program, she exclaimed, “Oh, yuk.” She paused and then added, “Don’t put it on AM. Put it on FM.”

I took the bait. “Why,” I asked?

You can hear the laughter in her voice. “Because we usually don’t even listen to FM. We only listen to AM [3].”

Her doctor said that Lisa had been abandoned at age two by her natural parents. They left her with some relatives, who in turn gave her to other friends, who then left her on someone’s doorstep; those people eventually brought her to the Department of Human Resources.

At the end of the conversation, Lisa asked me if I liked her. I said yes, of course. Then she asked me if I reallyliked her…and pulled her dress up over her head, an incident I wrote about recently.

Sexual behavior like that was also part of her sad history, a ‘survival’ tactic she had apparently learned Looking Back (Part 6) | Taking Note:

9-22-14 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):

LAUSD Title 1 money in jeopardy over enduring MiSiS glitches

LAUSD Title 1 money in jeopardy over enduring MiSiS glitches The deadline for LA Unified students’ receiving free and reduced priced lunch is tomorrow, leaving anyone who has not renewed an application facing an empty stomach come Wednesday. Making matters worse, school site officials say a bug in the district’s new student data system, MiSiS, has made it difficult to target students who still nee

4 by Vanessa Romo / 2h

LA Unified sets record with 5 county ‘Teachers of the Year’

LA Unified sets record with 5 county ‘Teachers of the Year’ The five LA Unified teachers named Los Angeles County “Teachers of the Year” are in the front row, (left to right): Maricar J. Fortuno Calatán, Lovelyn Marquez-Prueher, Isabel J. Morales, Michael A. Morgan, and Hector V. Perez-Roman. A record five LA Unified teachers have been named Los Angeles County Teachers of the Year for 2014-15. The

2 by Craig Clough / 7min

Another challenger to Kayser enters LAUSD school board race

Another challenger to Kayser enters LAUSD school board race Andrew Thomas, challenger to Bennett Kayser for the district 5 seat on the LA Unified school board Andrew Thomas came to the conclusion the LA Unified school board had grown too distant from issues at the school level. He tried one approach at improving things, serving as a member of the Parents Advisory Committee, which was suppose to he

2 by Michael Janofsky / 1h hide // save

In State of the Union, Caputo-Pearl hints at strike, targets Deasy

In State of the Union, Caputo-Pearl hints at strike, targets Deasy Alex Caputo-Pearl, President of UTLA In his first State of the Union speech as the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) president, Alex Caputo-Pearl delivered a careful, balanced address at the union’s annual Leadership Conference on Friday night, leaving most of the fiery rhetoric to one of his predecessors, Wayne Johnson, who energ

5 by Craig Clough / 3h

Morning Read: Teacher dismissal bill may further muddy process

Morning Read: Teacher dismissal bill may further muddy process Teacher dismissal bill may add complexity not simplify Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation in late June with the goal of expediting the process of dismissing teachers for egregious misconduct, but some experts say AB 215 will only further muddy up an already difficult and costly process. S&I Cabinet Report Officials optimistic abo

2 14min

9-20-14 This Week in 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):Deasy, Garcetti help kick off City Year in 25 LAUSD schoolsDeasy, Garcetti help kick off City Year in 25 LAUSD schools Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, helping kick off City Year in LA Unified schools. LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti were on hand today to help 288 C

1 by mike simpson / 46min

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