Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Black Friday Protest: '16 Shots. Stop the cover-up!'

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Black Friday Protest: '16 Shots. Stop the cover-up!':

Black Friday Protest: '16 Shots. Stop the cover-up!'

When Black Friday comes
I'll stand down by the door
And catch the grey men when they
Dive from the fourteenth floor -Steely Dan

The first recorded use of the term “Black Friday” was applied not to holiday shopping madness, but to financial crisis: specifically, the crash of the U.S. gold market on September 24, 1869. Two notoriously ruthless Wall Street financiers, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, worked together to buy up as much as they could of the nation’s gold, hoping to drive the price sky-high and sell it for astonishing profits. On that Friday in September, the conspiracy finally unraveled, sending the stock market into free-fall and Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Black Friday Protest: '16 Shots. Stop the cover-up!':

Why Oregon teachers have concerns about standardized testing (OPINION) | OregonLive.com

Why Oregon teachers have concerns about standardized testing (OPINION) | OregonLive.com:

Why Oregon teachers have concerns about standardized testing (OPINION)

By Hanna Vaandering

Recently, The Oregonian/OregonLive ran a story with the headline: "Oregon teachers despise the Smarter Balanced tests, survey says." The story was referring to the 164 pages of thoughtful, reasoned responses we — the Oregon Education Association — collected when we asked educators about their experiences with the assessment.

Comments like: "We are narrowing the focus of education to teaching to a test and test results. We want an increase in graduation rate, but are taking out the projects, getting rid of the high-interest, hands-on classes that keep kids focused and motivated."

"Due to the test my students lost a week and a half of instruction time in U.S. history. We lost a whole unit on WW2. I think this is an unacceptable loss for students."

"This caused students stress to the point of cruelty.  There is no way their scores accurately reflect their mathematical skills."

There may be some educators who actually do despise the Smarter Balanced assessment.  That's likely because they are outraged by the way the assessment exacerbates inequities, frustrated by the technical failures and heartbroken when they have to stand by, unable to offer clarity, and watch as their students struggle and lose confidence and hope.

However, these comments offer much more than a critique of a single assessment—they expose deep truths about our schools and what our students are experiencing in their daily lives. The comments offer a realistic view of the ways in which larger classes, limited resources, and, yes, Smarter Balanced assessments are impacting our children.

Reading these responses, you'll learn that our special education students and students who are learning English do not have the resources they need to be successful.  You'll find that our schools are in desperate need of more up-to-date technology.  You'll understand that all of our students are not getting the individual attention they deserve, or that is essential to their success. You'll discover that Advanced Placement students are falling behind in their classes because of the time spent taking the Smarter Balanced assessment.  And, you'll notice that counselors are spending so much time administering the test that they can't focus on advising or counseling their students.

These deep truths — truths our educators and students navigate every day — should alarm parents and everyone else who cares about Oregon's future. As I read the responses to our survey, I could not help but get emotional.  In fact, I think it would be pretty difficult to take in the hundreds of comments without feeling a powerful urgency to improve our students' academic experience.  Educators — teachers, education support professionals and administrators alike — have so many good and proven ways to do this.  Our students need more time to learn; more opportunities to ignite their curiosity, imagination and passion for learning; more occasions for individual, one-on-one attention and, importantly, more attention to existing and persistent opportunity gaps.

As educators, we have a responsibility to push forward, and, sometimes, that Why Oregon teachers have concerns about standardized testing (OPINION) | OregonLive.com:

Help NPE STOP Damaging New Provisions in ESEA Reauthorization Bill - Action Network

Help NPE STOP Damaging New Provisions in ESEA Reauthorization Bill - Action Network:

Help NPE STOP Damaging New Provisions in ESEA Reauthorization Bill

The new ESEA bill will be released in full on Monday, November 30, and is likely to be voted on by the House on December 2 and the following week in the Senate. We believe that this bill is a smallimprovement over the highly punitive No Child Left Behind law, which has given the Secretary of Education too much authority to prescribe unproven learning standards, unreliable teacher evaluation systems linked to test scores, and punitive policies in struggling schools.

Unfortunately the bill continues the annual mandate for testing in grades 3-8, and a waiver will still be needed if states want to give alternative assessments to more than one percent of their students with disabilities and English Language Learners after one year. The reality is many state exams are neither valid nor diagnostically useful for many of these students.

In addition, there are some new provisions that we are very concerned about:

• The bill appears to require that “academic standards” including proficiency rates and growth based on state test scores, must count for at least 51% of any state’s accountability system. Some observers say that the bill would allow the Secretary of Education to determine the exact percentage of each factor in a state accountability system. This is not acceptable. Every state should be allowed to decide on its own system, including what percent to give standardized tests.

• The bill would also allow states to use Title II funds, now meant for class size reduction and teacher quality initiatives, for Social Impact bonds, which amount to another profiteering scheme for Wall Street to loot our public schools. Recently, the New York Times reported on how Goldman Sachs helped fund a preschool program in Utah with Social Impact bonds. Goldman Sachs will now make hundreds of thousands of dollars, based on a flawed study that purported to show that 99 percent of these students will not require special education services – a far higher percent than any previous study. We vehemently oppose the inclusion of this provision in ESEA. If preschool is worth funding, and we believe that it is, it should be paid for by public funds and not provide another way for Wall Street profiteers to drain resources from our public schools.

We urge you to send a letter to your Senators and Representative now, to express your opposition to these two proposals. We have provided a sample letter you can send with just a few clicks, and if you can, please follow up with a phone call to their DC offices.

Time is short and we must let Congress know that our public schools can’t afford any new mandates for counterproductive high-stakes testing and opportunities for the private sector to profit off our kids.

Sponsored byHelp NPE STOP Damaging New Provisions in ESEA Reauthorization Bill - Action Network:

Network for Public 

To build a better teacher, Harvard launches program aimed at quality - The Washington Post

To build a better teacher, Harvard launches program aimed at quality - The Washington Post:

To build a better teacher, Harvard launches program aimed at quality

As the country debates the best way to improve the quality of teachers in struggling public schools, Harvard University is launching a training program it hopes will serve as a national model.

Starting in January, about two dozen Harvard seniors will begin a three-year fellowship designed to combine pedagogy — learning the methods of teaching from experts — with lengthy practice in the classroom under mentor supervision.

Thanks to $18 million from private donors who wish to remain anonymous, the program is free to fellows.

James E. Ryan, dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, said the university has three goals: improve the quality of classroom teachers in urban schools, create a model that can be copied elsewhere, and present teaching as a viable career to Harvard students and their peers who do not typically think of K-12 teaching in the same vein as law, medicine or business.

“We really want to get Harvard students to think about teaching as a career,” Ryan said. To that end, Harvard is asking its fellows to commit to teaching for five to seven years.

In the spring of their senior year, the fellows will take courses in teaching methods and continue through the summer, with some time spent instructing under supervision in a public school.

“You can talk all you want about teaching, but when you are teaching is when the growth curve is the greatest,” said Katherine K. Merseth, a senior lecturer at the education school who first conceived of the fellowship program more than a decade ago.

[TFA recruits don’t outperform other teachers at elementary level, study says]

During the first full year, Harvard fellows will be placed in schools to teach part time, responsible for two or three classes a day, while working with an on-site mentor, having long-distance coaching sessions with a Harvard faculty adviser and taking an online Harvard class.

“That is a whole lot better than sprinting through the day, teaching five classes, maybe going to the bathroom during lunch, then going home and grading the work of 100 to 150 students,” said Steve Mahoney, associate director of the Harvard Teaching Fellows. “It’s still hard. But it’s doable-hard as opposed to superhuman-hard for a 23-year-old in their first job.”

During the second summer, Harvard fellows will return to the university for more course work and to finish requirements for a teaching certificate. In the second and third years, fellows teach full time but go back to Harvard for retreats, conferences and summer courses. They can take six more credits to earn a master’s degree for about $10,000, compared with about $45,000 for Harvard’s traditional master’s program, Ryan said.

In its design and goals, the fellowship clearly differs from Teach for America, the 25-year-old highly selective program that recruits college seniors on elite campuses such as Harvard, gives them five weeks of training and places them To build a better teacher, Harvard launches program aimed at quality - The Washington Post:

Gene V Glass: Education in Two Worlds: Human Relations, Charter School Style

Gene V Glass: Education in Two Worlds: Human Relations, Charter School Style:

Human Relations, Charter School Style

My Inbox for October 27, 2015, contained the usual collection of SPAM, ads, and offers to transfer millions of dollars to the U.S. from a prince in Nigeria. But one letter was most unexpected and not in the least routine. A teacher at Challenge Charter School in Glendale, Arizona, wrote, not to ask for help, but to let me know what is going on at one of the area's celebrated educational institutions.

I had written previously about this charter school:

A man named Greg Miller is president of the Arizona State Board of Education. There is also a man named Greg Miller who is CEO of Challenge Charter School in Glendale, AZ, a suburb of Phoenix. Matching up photos of the Board president and the charter CEO leaves no doubt that these two individuals are one in the same Greg Miller. Mr. Miller, a civil engineer for 25 years, founded Challenge Charter School in the late 1990s and for a while served as principal. His current title is CEO. ... [D]aughter Wendy Miller was appointed Principal of Challenge Charter School the same year in which she earned her MBA.Greg Miller, the CEO of a school "system" with about 650 students, is being compensated to the tune of $145,000 annually. His wife receives the same salary, though her duties are never enumerated at the website and her position is only described as "Executive Director/Vice-PR" .... Wendy, who has degrees in Public Administration and Business, receives a salary of more than $120,000 for acting as Principal/Secretary. Basically, the Miller family, while working assiduously 60 hours a week each as reported on their IRS form, is taking about $425,000 a year out of the coffers for salary.

End of my blog post from February 2, 2015

A roughly half-million $ annual salary to three family members might be a great investment for educating 650 students in the world's greatest school. But my correspondent's letter of October 27th and other information lead me to believe that perhaps the Millers are not operating one of the world’s greatest educational institutions.

Herewith, my correspondent’s experiences:

‪Hello Dr. Glass,‬‪I read with interest your article about Greg Miller and Challenge Charter School. I would add more to it if I may. I was employed as a sixth-grade teacher at CCS from July to September 25, 2015. I was originally hired in March because they were going to move a long-time employee to the position of vice principal. The woman's husband was then offered a job out of state and she was moving with him. ‬

‪I began my work with CCS in July and they loved me. The week of September 21, 2015, my job appeared to unravel. The Millers kept a constant eye on me with the video cameras they have in every classroom that are meant for student and teacher protection , not evaluation. On one occasion that week, I was having my students stretch at the end of our class session and Greg Miller

Gene V Glass: Education in Two Worlds: Human Relations, Charter School Style:

CURMUDGUCATION: Can Competency Based Education Be Stopped?

CURMUDGUCATION: Can Competency Based Education Be Stopped?:

Can Competency Based Education Be Stopped?

Over at StopCommonCoreNYS, you can find the most up-to-date cataloging of the analysis of, reaction to, and outcry over Competency Based Education.

Critics are correct in saying that CBE has been coming down the pike for a while. Pearson released an 88-page opus about the Assessment Renaissance almost a year ago (you can read much about it starting here). Critics noted way back in March of 2014 (okay, I'm the one who noted it) thatCommon Core standards could be better understood as data tags. And Knewton, Pearson's data-collecting wing, was explaining how it would all work back in 2012.

Every single thing a student does would be recorded, cataloged, tagged, bagged, and tossed into the bowels of the data mine, where computers will crunch data and spit out a "personalized" version of their pre-built educational program.

Right now seems like the opportune moment for selling this program, because it can be marketed as as an alternative to the Big Standardized Tests which have been crushed near to death under the wheel of public opinion. "We'll stop giving your children these stupid tests," the reformsters declare. "Just let us monitor every single thing they do every day of the year."

It's not that I don't think CBE is a terrible idea-- I do. And it's not that I don't have a healthy respect CURMUDGUCATION: Can Competency Based Education Be Stopped?:

Tomorrow’s Teachers? | Live Long and Prosper

Tomorrow’s Teachers? | Live Long and Prosper:
Tomorrow’s Teachers?
WHO WILL STAFF TOMORROW’S CLASSROOMS?

A Not Quitting Letter

Earlier this month blogger Peter Greene struck back against the increasingly frequent “teacher quits via internet post” genre. He wrote a “not quitting” letter to an imaginary school board.

So I will stay here, and I will do what I consider– in my professional opinion– to do what is best for my students and my community. When I am told to implement a bad policy, I will circumvent it by any means at my disposal. I will disregard directives to commit malpractice. I will question, I will challenge, and I will push back. I will speak at every board meeting. I will talk to every parent.

Unfortunately, not everyone can do that. To his credit, he did acknowledge that not everyone is in position to do what he suggested. In the school I volunteer at, for example, anyone who did what he said would get fired due to insubordination.

Yes, I know. Not everyone is in the position to be this feisty and confrontational, and not every situation lends itself to this approach. I’m not advocating this for every single teacher up against it. And yes– lots of teachers have adopted this “stay and fight” stance– they just haven’t written a letter announcing it.

As I said, I am not unsympathetic to those who quit. You can only take as much as you can take.

I get it. Teachers who are strong will stay in the classroom…until they can’t. Some teachers will leave because they can’t handle the cognitive dissonance of the education malpractice they are forced to dump on their students…and would Tomorrow’s Teachers? | Live Long and Prosper:

A Newark teacher offers a Thanksgiving lesson | Bob Braun's Ledger

A Newark teacher offers a Thanksgiving lesson | Bob Braun's Ledger:

A Newark teacher offers a Thanksgiving lesson

Susan Palmucci is a Newark teacher. First grade at the Cleveland School. In the city’s schools for 24 years. But forget her job for a moment. Think of her in a way many people don’t think of teachers–as a woman, as a person who saw an immediate, emergency need and did what she could to help another person–another woman happened to be the mother of nine, including one of Palmucci’s  students.

“I knew the family had been living in a shelter and then I learned they had finally found a home in public housing,” says Palmucci.

The name of the family won’t be published here, but the teacher says that, despite the work involved in taking care of nine children, the mother is a conscientious parent who is active at the school and its PTA. The youngest of her children is eight months old, the oldest in the 8th grade.

They had found housing just days before Thanksgiving. But that’s all they received–the housing, walls with no furniture.

Susan Palmucci explained, “I was happy they finally were no longer homeless. I picked up a few things and brought them to the housing development where they live. What I saw made me very sad. The kids were so happy to finally have a home but they were sleeping on  blankets. No furniture. No kitchen appliances. Little food.”

Palmucci, a mom herself and a West Orange resident, posted a story Nov. 14 A Newark teacher offers a Thanksgiving lesson | Bob Braun's Ledger:

Teachers Know Bullies: Trump Is One - Living in Dialogue

Teachers Know Bullies: Trump Is One - Living in Dialogue:

Teachers Know Bullies: Trump Is One 

By Anthony Cody.



A teacher sees the best and the worst in behavior any given year. And one of the most important jobs we have as teachers is to create a community of learners in our classrooms – teaching students to help one another academically, and also as friends. These two things go together. People learn best when they can take risks, and get supportive feedback on their work.



But some of our students come having learned a different pattern of behavior – that of the bully. The bully lives in fear that he will be seen as weak, and projects that fear onto others. So long as the bully is the strong one, he cannot be made to suffer the humiliations that the weak must endure. So the quest is constant for those to mock, those who can, by their inferiority, prove the bully to be superior. And when this mockery finds a receptive audience, the whole school environment can become toxic.



The US government sponsors this web site that fights bullying. It says that on our school campuses, any form of bullying is unacceptable, and should be dealt with directly by school staff. One presidential candidate would run afoul of this policy.



Donald Trump has emerged as the personification of the American bully.



Trump defines almost every situation as a contest between winners and losers, and nobody is in between. If he is allowed to “make America great again,” he promises “we will win so much we will get sick of winning.” Anyone who opposes him in any way is subject to mockery on whatever basis he can find. There seems to be Teachers Know Bullies: Trump Is One - Living in Dialogue:

CURMUDGUCATION: Is the Teacher Shortage Real?

CURMUDGUCATION: Is the Teacher Shortage Real?:

Is the Teacher Shortage Real?

We talk a lot about the current teacher shortage. I've posted about it numerous times. But the question remains-- is there really a teacher shortage?

A study released this month by the National Center for Educational Statistics suggests that everything we think we know about the Great Teacher Shortage is wrong. Or at least, it was wrong as of four years ago. The study is pretty straightforward, and it's worth making a note of.

The writers are Nat Malkus of the American Institutes of Research with Kathleen Mulvaney Hoyer and Dinah Sparks of Activate Research, Inc. AIR is also in the test manufacturing biz (SBA is their baby) and Activate is a "woman-owned small business" in the metro DC area focusing on research and policy. They created the report under the aegis of NCES, an arm of the USED Institute of Educational Sciences, so while none of these are without blemish, this is not another Gates-funded fake research project.

The report looks at four samples of data from the 1999-2000, 2003-2004, 2007-2008 and 2011-2012 school years, and it looked for answers to fairly straightforward questions:

1) What percentage of schools reported teaching vacancies or hard-to-fill spots?

2) What percentage of schools found these positions related to particular subject areas?

3) Did persistent hard-to-fill spots correlate to any school characteristics?

The report is easy to read through and contains lots of charts, but the answers reached by the CURMUDGUCATION: Is the Teacher Shortage Real?:

If you liked "Alice's Restaurant", you're gonna love...APPR in NY State

If you liked "Alice's Restaurant", you're gonna love...

A heart wrenching story from a teacher in Tennessee. Could have been Connecticut or anywhere… - Wait What?

A heart wrenching story from a teacher in Tennessee.  Could have been Connecticut or anywhere… - Wait What?:

A heart wrenching story from a teacher in Tennessee.  Could have been Connecticut or anywhere…

Read the story posted by a Tennessee teacher yesterday.  Then convert what will undoubtedly be your sadness and anger into action.

Election Day 2016 is just over 11 months away.

This time, use your vote to slap back the testing mania and the unprecedented attack on our students, their teachers, the teaching profession and our public schools.

Before you vote, demand that every incumbent explain what they have done to push back the Corporate Education Reform Industry and the destructive agenda.

Before you vote, demand that every candidate outline what they will do to put the concept of “public” back into public education.

No votes until they reduce the use of inappropriate standardized testing, no votes until they ensure that teacher evaluation program don’t rely on the use of those unfair standardized test results and no votes for those who have become lackeys for the effort to privatize public education.

Voting is the ultimate weapon we have in a  stable democracy, use your vote with Maximum Force.

The Tennessee teacher’s powerful expose was re-posted by Connecticut educator and fellow blogger, Poetic Justice who is “A poetry teacher defending ALL students and their families.” You can find and comment on the original post at: A Not So Graceful Exit: Why I Left Teaching

A Not So Graceful Exit: Why I Left Teaching

Yesterday, I quit.  In the middle of the school year, I quit.  After fourteen 

A heart wrenching story from a teacher in Tennessee.  Could have been Connecticut or anywhere… - Wait What?:

Teach for America 2, Parents 4: A Tale of Two Elections | The Progressive

Teach for America 2, Parents 4: A Tale of Two Elections | The Progressive:

Teach for America 2, Parents 4: A Tale of Two Elections

Teach for America scored big in Minnesota recently, with an Election Day, under-the-radar purchase of two suburban Minneapolis school board seats.

Purchase might be a strong word, but Teach for America and its affiliates definitely threw moneyed support behind Richfield, Minnesota school board candidates Crystal Brakke and Paula Cole. Both Brakke and Cole have served as TFA alums, and Brakke has stayed with the organization in executive positions. Currently, she works as TFA’s ombudsperson, based in Minneapolis.

Campaign finance reports for both candidates reveal a surprising influx of out of state dollars, primarily for Brakke:

• California-based venture capitalist Arthur Rock, who has become notorious as a funder of TFA-affiliated school board campaigns, gave both Brakke and Cole around $600.00 each. Rock is a TFA board member, an investor in KIPP charter schools, and has used his fortune to prop up the controversial Rocketship Charter School chain, which seeks to promote large class sizes with fewer teachers and more educational technology.
• New York resident Michael Buman also gave $600 each to Brakke and Cole. Buman is the Executive Director of Leadership for Educational Equity, or LEE, which is Teach for America’s more overtly political, and famously secretive, spinoff. In a 2014 article, writer Stephen Sawchuck noted that, in the span of just a few years, LEE went from a tiny operation—with a handful of staffers—to a coordinated team of 60 people, managing a budget worth close to $4 million. LEE’s stated mission is to “develop leaders” while “growing a movement.” Important note: Arthur Rock has paid $500,000 to place TFA alum in policy positions on Capitol Hill.
• Alex Johnston, another East Coast resident, donated a relatively modest amount--$100--to Brakke and Cole, but his education reform pedigree should not be underestimated. Johnston is the former CEO of “ConnCAN,” which is part of the hedge fund-supported

- See more at: http://www.progressive.org/news/2015/11/188411/teach-america-2-parents-4-tale-two-elections#sthash.LgvDohTs.dpuf

Geaux Teacher!: Wake Up Teachers! Your Profession is Being Made Redundant

Geaux Teacher!: Wake Up Teachers! Your Profession is Being Made Redundant:

Wake Up Teachers! Your Profession is Being Made Redundant

Wake up teachers. Your profession is being made redundant w discussions like this from Brookings. http://brook.gs/1jnE27B

More importantly, children are being left behind as "reform" addresses everything but learning! 

Once again yet another article focused on what matters least in a discussion about improving the teaching and learning of our K-12 students. At the same time that the discussion of pay (for performance) pretends to offer solutions to our dying public school system, cheap, temporary labor provided by and for billion$ of  non-profits like TFA, NSNO, charters and other privatization service providers are pushing out the K-12 teaching profession by facilitating its stagnation. 

Our very own La. State Board next week will approve two new charter authorizers to flood the Baton Rouge "region" with start up charters. Next will come John White's push for TAP in the guise of mentorship and pay incentives for "teacher leaders."  Just like Race to the Top which was sold as an option for those districts who wanted it, these two initiatives to privatize our schools devoid of local control and to further distract teachers from demanding real progress and innovation for improving teaching will quickly become mandatory statewide.  The only way you can stop it is to offer real solutions and demand your local school boards and administration to support them.  

Although teachers are human and would love to be paid high salaries at ANY point in their careers (which is why schemes like TAP and VAM to "reward" a very few teachers are enticing) they typically don't enter the teaching profession for the money. There is no denying that the end of career salary boost, that finally ensures a hard earned retirement benefit, keeps some teachers in the classroom longer than their capacity to endure the never-increasing level of respect along with the ever-increasing level of responsibilities would otherwise Geaux Teacher!: Wake Up Teachers! Your Profession is Being Made Redundant:

Past Chester Community Charter testing head disciplined in cheating scandal | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Past Chester Community Charter testing head disciplined in cheating scandal | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

Past Chester Community Charter testing head disciplined in cheating scandal

The state's largest bricks-and-mortar charter is operated for profit by a GOP power broker. Its test scores plunged in 2012 when security measures were tightened.

A former testing coordinator at Chester Community Charter School, the state’s largest bricks-and-mortar charter with more than 3,000 students, has been sanctioned by the state for “systemic violations of the security of the PSSA exams” over the five-year period between 2007 and 2011.

The school was under scrutiny for testing irregularities by the Pennsylvania Department of Education as part of a statewide cheating scandal that broke in 2011.

CCCS is operated for profit by a company owned by Vahan Gureghian, a major Republican donor and power broker who was among the largest individual contributors to former Gov. Tom Corbett’s campaign and a member of his education transition team. During his term, Corbett visited CCCS to tout it as an exemplar of high-quality education for low-income communities.

Now with two campuses, CCCS has drawn more than half the K-8 students who live in the Chester Upland School District. 

The state’s disciplinary action against the former coordinator, Patricia A. Sciamanna, was for violating testing rules during years that CCCS  was struggling to meet federal student proficiency targets used for critical decisions, including whether a charter should be renewed.

The Pennsylvania Professional Standards and Practices Commission (PSPC) suspended Sciamanna’s instructional and administrative licenses, as well as her eligibility to work in a charter or cyber charter, for two years.

It also banned her permanently from ever “participating in, proctoring, monitoring and/or overseeing the administration of the PSSAs.” Although the action was taken in April, it was only recently posted on the PSPC website that tracks disciplinary actions against educators.

An effort by the Notebook to reach Sciamanna through her Facebook page was unsuccessful.

CCCS spokesman A. Bruce Crawley issued a statement on the disciplinary action, saying it is against the school's policy to comment on “issues related to individual staff members.” He did not respond to a request to clarify when Sciamanna started working at the school, when she left, and what positions she held.

The school’s statement reiterated its longstanding position that PDE has made no determination against the school itself in regards to cheating. 

“The PDE closed its review of CCCS in September 2012, with no finding of wrongdoing by Past Chester Community Charter testing head disciplined in cheating scandal | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

Louisiana Educator: Educators and Parents Thankful

Louisiana Educator: Educators and Parents Thankful:

Educators and Parents Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Many educators and parents I have spoken to recently are very thankful that we have a chance to restore sanity, dignity, professionalism, and a positive balanced curriculum in our public schools. 

The election of John Bel Edwards as our governor gives us a great opportunity to truly improve Louisiana public education

Edwards won't be able to do it alone. He will be faced with a Board of Elementary and Secondary Education that is mostly occupied by persons elected by a fanatic group of privatizers and public education haters. Many legislators have also received their bribe contributions from the out-of-state billionaires and LABI bosses who want to take over education. Our new governor will need the help of the real educators and the many parents who support public education to change the course and to put the emphasis on positive change instead of falsely claiming to be fixing "a broken system".

Public education is not broken, but it has been severely damaged by the attempt by misguided billionaires, greedy privatizers, and big business to blindly test and punish our students and our educators. Amazingly the schools and educators and students who needed the most support have been the most victimized by these so called education reforms and our true public schools have been bilked of needed school tax dollars.  After all this abuse, it is amazing that we still have so many educators and parents who have not ever given up on public education.

Governor elect Edwards has already demonstrated by his previous work in the legislature and by his very practical positions on key education issues that he will be just the Louisiana Educator: Educators and Parents Thankful:

NYC Educator: Why Is Reformy Andy Cuomo Backing Down on Junk Science?

NYC Educator: Why Is Reformy Andy Cuomo Backing Down on Junk Science?:

Why Is Reformy Andy Cuomo Backing Down on Junk Science?

Like everyone who pays attention, I was pretty amazed to read in the NY Times that Governor Andrew Cuomo is looking to tamp down his teacher evaluation mandate. After all, hadn't he said that the new system, the one he backed and pushed, was "baloney?" He was clearly upset that not enough public school teachers had been badly rated and fired. After all, the developmentally inappropriate tests he had mandated, with no preparation whatsoever, had managed to fail a large number of New York's children. Surely he could blame the public schools and turn them over to his wealthy BFFs. There were billions to be made.

But alas, there was pushback. The moms whose kids Arne Duncan insulted were not ready to throw in the towel. They were not prepared to label their children as dummies and turn over their schools to Cuomo's campaign contributors. Opt-out fever hit NY State widely, and grew in leaps and bounds. Cuomo, seen as invincible after his first run against some Buffalo lunatic, began to show chinks in his armor. And on education, his popularity fell into the toilet. Ever reformy MaryEllen Elia suggested that junk science should count for 20, rather than 50% of teacher ratings.

Diane Ravitch pointed to this piece as significant, but urged caution.

This may be a hoax, a temporary moratorium intended to deflate the Opt Out Movement and cause it to disappear. Do not rest until the law is changed to delink testing and teacher-principal evaluations. The new federal law–not yet enacted–eliminates the federal mandate that Duncan imposed without authorization by Congress. New York may now permanently eliminate this punitive, anti-educational requirement. 

New York parents: As Ronald Reagan said,  “Trust, but verify.” I suggest turning that saying around: “Verify, then trust.” Meanwhile, to quote an even older saying, keep your troops together and “keep your powder dry.”

Of course I agree. Trusting Andrew Cuomo is an egregious error. Punchy Mike Mulgrew trusted him when he opposed Bloomberg's LIFO-killing bill, but it was pretty clear Governor Andy thought his new junk-science APPR bill was gonna serve to fire those inconvenient unionized teachers. Punchy Mike trusted him so much he didn't bother to oppose Cuomo in primaries, let alone the general election. Cuomo thanked him by enacting the not only the most punitive and draconian teacher rating system I've ever seen, but also receivership that made collective bargaining agreements moot  (a system for which Punchy Mike thanked the Heavy Hearts Legislature).

Why would Governor Andy even pay lip service to reversing his reforminess? I have a theory. Perhaps he expects Friedrichs to win. Were that to happen, the inconvenient NYC Educator: Why Is Reformy Andy Cuomo Backing Down on Junk Science?:

When A 4-Day School Week Might Cost More Than It Saves : NPR Ed : NPR

When A 4-Day School Week Might Cost More Than It Saves : NPR Ed : NPR:

When A 4-Day School Week Might Cost More Than It Saves

First thing Friday morning, Bill Florence is getting his two kids, Chloe, 11, and Austen, 8, ready to head out the door.

"Did you guys brush your teeth?" he asks. "Yes," they moan.

Monday through Thursday Chloe and Austen catch the bus to Peralta Trail Elementary School, but today, their dad scoots them into the family's silver Honda.

That's because Apache Junction Unified School District, just east of Phoenix, moved to a four-day week this year. With little else to cut out of its shrinking budget, it dropped Friday classes, adding an hour to class-time Monday through Thursday.

On the fifth day, Florence drops his kids off at a city-run daycare that costs the family more than $100 a month — a cost they don't have any other day of the week.

This year alone Bill and his wife, Jennifer Florence, will pay more than $1,500 in childcare because of the four-day schedule. "We are not happy with it. It isn't the ideal situation. We would rather have the kids in school on Friday," he says.

But something in the schools had to go. The district of 4,500 students says its bills are high, too. After closing schools, and growing class sizes, Apache Junction joined at least 41 other districts in Arizona already on the four-day schedule.

Superintendent Chad Wilson blames the state of Arizona. Parodying officials he says, "Pay your bills that cost what they cost in 2016 off of what you were making in 1987."

All across the country districts have tried cutting the fifth day to save money on things like gas for buses, heating and cooling bills and school lunches.

This year Apache Junction estimates it'll save less than one percent of the budget by dropping Friday classes. That's about $33 per student, per year.

Again, the Florences pay close to $30 every Friday for daycare. So, were there other reasons behind the move?

As Superintendent Wilson points out: Yes, teachers.

Third-grade teacher, Shana Myers, and her colleagues in Apache Junction make up to $10,000 less than surrounding districts. And when they leave, turnover is When A 4-Day School Week Might Cost More Than It Saves : NPR Ed : NPR:

Principal to N.Y. Gov. Cuomo: Stop spreading a false narrative about public education - The Washington Post

Principal to N.Y. Gov. Cuomo: Stop spreading a false narrative about public education - The Washington Post:

Principal to N.Y. Gov. Cuomo: Stop spreading a false narrative about public education

Jamaal Bowman is the principal of the Cornerstone Academy for Social Action Middle school in the Bronx.  The school’s website says that the mission of the school is to graduate “self-aware, hard-working and socially responsible 21st century learners.” Cornerstone Academy’s curriculum, based on the Common Core State State Standards, focuses on improving the “creative, critical, collaborative and higher-order thinking skills” of students, who take practice state assessments every six to eight weeks. Teachers and administrators look at the scores, the website says, and devise new instructional plans based on the results.

Bowman clearly believes in data-driven instruction, and that makes the following open letter he has written to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo — which talks in part about the misuse of data in education — particularly interesting.

Implementation of the standards and aligned testing was widely described as a mess, and 20 percent of students across the state refused to take the Core tests this past spring as a protest. Cuomo took notice and in September, he created a task force to review the Common Core in his state. The New York Times just reported that Cuomo, a staunch advocate of making student standardized test scores up to 50 percent of teacher evaluations, may be ready to move away from that stance (which would be a significant change) and is awaiting the task force’s conclusions. (It could happen but don’t hold your breath.)

In any case, here’s Bowman’s open letter.

[What the ‘thoughtless’ N.Y. government just did to teachers]

 Dear Governor Cuomo:

I hope this letter finds you and your family in good health and good spirits. I write not only to you, but also to those who share your view of public education.

I want to start by thanking you for creating a commission to review and “reboot” the Common Core standards. I agree, “the implementation of the Common Core just did not work,” and needs a “total overhaul.” By forming the commission, you have provided a platform for parents and educators to share their thinking regarding not just the common core, but public education in general. I am hopeful that the feedback you receive will make its way into our schools and begin a much needed student centered redesign of public education in New York State.

I also want to personally thank you for allowing me to provide testimony to the common core commission at the College of New Rochelle. It seems that my testimony went over pretty well as it has nearly 4,000 views on social media. Your commission has also chosen to make me one of their technical advisors, which 

Principal to N.Y. Gov. Cuomo: Stop spreading a false narrative about public education - The Washington Post:

Ranking Finland's Schools Proves That They're All Equal - The Atlantic

Ranking Finland's Schools Proves That They're All Equal - The Atlantic:

The Place Where Ranking Schools Proves They're Actually Equal

Why one journalist wanted to grade Finland’s schools

In Finland you’re not supposed to wonder—let alone ask out loud—if one school is better than another. That’s because all Finnish schools are designed to be equal.

We Finns are very proud of our equal education system. In fact, education is the one positive thing Finland is known for all around the world. Our results in global assessments of 15-year-olds have won us international attention a small nation rarely receives.

The strong ideology of equality doesn’t always make life easy for us Finnish education reporters. We feel, for example, we should rank the nation’s high schools even though the government doesn’t want us to.

All Finnish schools are designed to be equal.



In 2011, my boss asked me to help her create a more ambitious high-school ranking than anything Finland had ever seen. I had just been promoted from an education reporter to the editor of domestic news at the Finnish News Agency, which is like the Associated Press of Finland except on a smaller scale. (Since there are only 5 million Finns, all things Finnish are small scale.)

My boss, the editor in chief of news at the agency, is also a former education reporter. She had been dreaming of the new high-school ranking for a long time. The project sounded very interesting, but also very challenging.

In Finland, ranking schools is unthinkable to educators and education officials. Especially when it comes to elementary and middle schools, Finnish education officials have a clear stand: It’s always best for any child to go to the neighborhood school closest to their home.

The idea behind this policy is that if we started believing some schools were better than others, those schools would attract the best teachers and the most advantaged students. The rest of the schools would see their reputations decline and have a hard time keeping, and recruiting, good teachers. That, in turn, could harm the quality of many schools.

That’s why education officials in Finland believe that ranking schools would do more harm than good.

As a Finn, I feel very strongly that everyone should get equal opportunities in life. I believe one good way to try to accomplish that is to have equally good schools available for everyone, and to avoid letting some schools get a better reputation than others.

As a journalist, however, I’m not at all happy with the idea of officials telling me not to seek information. I find it essential that any question can be asked.

So when my boss asked for my help, I said yes.

Comparing high schools was not unheard of in Finland at the time we began our project. Some of the biggest newspapers published, twice a year, a simple ranking Ranking Finland's Schools Proves That They're All Equal - The Atlantic: