Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Modern School: Left Wing Sellout in Chicago?

Left Wing Sellout in Chicago?

by noreply@blogger.com (Michael Dunn)

When the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) took over the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) last year, many teachers were hopeful that things would change, especially the horrible policies of Arne Duncan and the collaborationist policies of the old school CTU. CORE includes many leftists, including members of the International Socialist Organization and they campaigned on a platform of fighting against the attacks on teachers, layoffs and testing.

However, CORE and the new CTU have failed to deliver. As is typical of so many teachers unions, CTU accepted

Modern School: Texas Anti-Immigration Hysteria

Texas Anti-Immigration Hysteria

by noreply@blogger.com (Michael Dunn)

Just when you thought Arizona had usurped Texas’ standing as the most xenophobic state in the nation, Texas has come back with a host of proposed new anti-immigrant legislation, including one that requires public schools to collect and maintain a “blacklist of undocumented students.” Because schools cannot oust children based on their residency status, the law is mostly toothless. However, it will likely ratchet up the climate of bigotry and intimidation in Texas and frighten some parents into pulling their kids from school.

For details on the plethora of racist, paranoid and proto-fascist laws being considered by the Texas legislature,

School Tech Connect: This Is How It's Done

This Is How It's Done

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

Ok this is like, weird. It’s a Democrat sounding like a Democrat. It’s Senator Dan Kotowski (D-Park Ridge), and he can barely use his voice but that doesn’t stop him from standing up. He talks about how the minority party was totally on-message during the debate-- they were all about job-killing this, job-killing that, and how everyone’s going to decamp to Indiana and Missouri if we temporarily raise taxes. One senator even read a letter from a constituent who announced he was moving his business to Missouri if the tax increase passed. We’ll review that section of the video in six months and then

From LAUSD to New York City Public School and everything in between: A NATIONAL SCANDAL OF EPIC PROPORTIONS by Susan Lee Schwartz Part 2 - Perdaily.com

From LAUSD to New York City Public School and everything in between: A NATIONAL SCANDAL OF EPIC PROPORTIONS by Susan Lee Schwartz Part 2

by Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) Ordinary people who believe in the law of the land are incredulous and say, "How can our public school systems across the country be so corrupt?

SIMPLE -with the help of the media and the complicity of the union. You see, while the media focuses and points the finger at those "bad teachers," at the 'dead-wood" the union mishandles tens of thousands of cases.

THE WAY IT WORKS:

• The crucial point where the contract would prevent charges based on abusive, false allegations from being IS AT THE SITE!
• But, the union's rep on-site is a teacher who depends on the principal for everything: the student load, the duties, the materials, the program. Collusion with administration has become epidemic here and grievance procedures are abandoned or subverted.

IT IS SO SIMPLE!

To bypass the grievance procedure MANDATED in a contract, the principal tells a parent to complain directly to

IFT > YOU MADE THE DIFFERENCE

IFT >

YOU MADE THE DIFFERENCE

Recent days in Springfield have been some of the most challenging we have ever encountered. In the face of the vicious attacks on teaching, unions and our most basic right to collectively bargain, you stayed informed, spoke out and made your voices heard. Make no mistake about it - YOU MADE THE DIFFERENCE. I have never been more proud to be an educator and a member of our union, the IFT.  

Since December, IFT members have visited the union's Web site andFacebook page in record numbers. You have sent nearly 50,000 e-mails and made countless phone calls to your legislators telling them to protect our collective bargaining rights. You have asked lawmakers to support a desperately needed tax increase to avert thousands of layoffs, help the state pay school districts and vendors billions of dollars in overdue payments and provide critical revenue for public education and state services.

Your successful efforts on behalf of our state’s students and citizens will have a tremendous positive impact for years to come. Early this morning, the Illinois General Assembly passed legislation to increase the individual income tax from 3 to 5 percent to help our state climb out of its $15 billion deficit and get back on sound fiscal footing. The House and Senate also passed a bill that would allow the state to borrow fund

NJEA plans to fight Christie on eliminating teacher tenure - pressofAtlanticCity.com: Today's Top Headlines

NJEA plans to fight Christie on eliminating teacher tenure

Posted: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 7:45 pm

By DIANE D'AMICO, Education Writer |

The New Jersey Education Association, while admitting changes are needed, stands ready to fight for teacher tenure, the core job protection it says has helped make New Jersey's schools among the best in the nation.

But on Tuesday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called for its elimination, saying tenure has become a handicap to providing children with a quality education.

"Teaching can no longer be the only profession where you have no rewards for excellence and no consequences for failure to perform," Christie said in his State of the State speech. "The time to eliminate tenure is now."

A report released Tuesday contains material that supports both claims.

The annual "Quality Counts" report by Education Week ranks New Jersey's education system seventh in the nation, with a grade of B-minus. The national average was a C. New Jersey got high marks for providing public preschool, decent funding and having a high percentage of students graduate high school and go on to college.

But the state got its lowest grades in the "teaching profession" category, earning a C for its accountability for teacher quality and evaluation, and an F for incentives such as merit pay for high performance, or bonuses for

Parents urge BOE to reach accord with union - NorthJersey.com

Parents urge BOE to reach accord with union

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

BY JEFF FRANKEL

BLOOMFIELD LIFE

of Bloomfield Life

BLOOMFIELD - Many parents are urging the board of education (BOE) and teachers' union to come to an agreement on a new contract.

JEFF FRANKEL/BLOOMFIELD LIFE

Parents ramped up the pressure on the board of education (BOE) to reach a new deal with the Bloomfield Education Association during Tuesday's BOE meeting at Forest Glen School.

Several parents accused the BOE Jan. 11 of acting in bad faith in its negotiations with the union, though BOE President Joseph Lopez said any such rumor is untrue. Debbie Ellis was among parents who told the board to get on with it during the BOE's Jan. 11 meeting, held at Bridges Academy at Forest Glen.

"I don't believe the board is negotiating in good faith with the teachers," said Ellis.

Township teachers have been working without a contract since June, and negations are now at an impasse. In December, a mediator sat down with both sides in an attempt to reach a settlement. Before that meeting, roughly 500 teachers held a candlelight vigil in the school

Another teacher turned crusader « Failing Schools

Another teacher turned crusader

JANUARY 12, 2011

by Sabrina

A few months ago, I began corresponding with (now former) Los Angeles teacher, Leonard Isenberg. An experienced and accomplished educator, he was nevertheless pushed out of the profession for reporting and resisting the practice of passing and graduating high school students who didn’t have the skills implied by their diploma. Though LAUSD has joined the many districts across the nation that claim to be increasingly “data-driven,” Leonard was retaliated against for using data to demonstrate that Central High School was

Every Waking Moment I’m Haitian, Too — The Jose Vilson

Every Waking Moment I’m Haitian, Too

by Jose

The New Year marked the 207th year of Haitian independence from French rule, a big footnote in time rubbed away into the crevices of Anglo history books. What many should consider a moment of celebration and exaltation gets shrouded in the dire situation that Haiti’s lived in since. Corrupt leaders, disintegrated economies, and disruptive occupants have ravaged a still proud country to its current state. Thus, I find it only appropriate

Schools Matter: Parents Demand and Get More Play Time at PS 101

Parents Demand and Get More Play Time at PS 101

by Jim Horn

In an era when kindergarten nap time is history, play time is on the skids, entrance exams are commonplace, and kindergartners must do idiot worksheets that clueless principals demand, it is heartening to see parents stepping in to see that the developmental needs of their children are met. From the New York Times:

Some kindergarten parents at Public School 101, a graceful brick castle in Forest Hills, Queens, wanted more free play time for their children; so they decided to do something about it.

Gone were the play kitchens, sand and water tables, and dress-up areas; half-days were now full

Schedule a Screening of RTN in Your Neighborhood
by Jim Horn

IEA, Race to the Top and the Illinois budget crisis. « Fred Klonsky's blog

IEA, Race to the Top and the Illinois budget crisis.

by Fred Klonsky

Both Arne Duncan and the IEA leadership have some responsibility for the current budget crisis in Illinois and its impact on school funding. The increase in the state income tax doesn’t really address this part of the problem.

When Illinois was preparing its application for Duncan’s Race to the Top grant, a committee that was chaired by IEA Executive Director Audrey Soglin, the grant included a number of programs that came with a cost. In addition, the proposal made statewide changes in the way teachers would be evaluated, linking our evaluation to test scores.

While the state did not receive the Race to the Top grant, the programs were adopted by the legislature and the bill has come due.

Any money that might have gone to other education programs must now compete with the ones Arne Duncan demanded and the Illinois committee led by the IEA proposed and got adopted.

Jim Broadway addresses this in his State School News.

Education “reforms” with high fiscal impact were enacted last spring to bolster

Education Board Investigating Bobb Complaints - Education News Story - WDIV Detroit

Education Board Investigating Bobb Complaints

POSTED: Wednesday, January 12, 2011

UPDATED: 5:36 pm EST January 12, 2011

Robert Bobb

DETROIT -- The Michigan Department of Education says it is investigating complaints from parents that Detroit Public Schools emergency financial manager Robert Bobb is mishandling the needs of some special education students.

"Initially, we have 1,160 complaints," said Chris White, a parent of an autistic son and member of the Coalition to Restore Hope to DPS.

He said he and 50 others recently dropped off bus attendant requests directly to the Education Board in Lansing after Bobb announced that 88 attendants had been terminated district-wide because of budget needs.

White said not having attendants on buses with special needs children violates the Individualized

Schools Matter: Review of U.S. Math Performance in Global Perspective: How Well Does Each State Do at Producing High-Achieving Students?

Review of U.S. Math Performance in Global Perspective: How Well Does Each State Do at Producing High-Achieving Students?

by Kenneth Libby

Jeremy Kilpatrick of the University of Georgia recently reviewed U.S. Math Performance in Global Perspective: How Well Does Each State Do at Producing High-Achieving Students? by Eric Hanushek, Paul Peterson, and Ludger Woessmann. Their original piece was covered quite extensively by media outlets. Below is a summary of the review. You can read the full review here.

A report from Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance and the journal Education Next finds that only 6% of U.S. students in the high school graduating class of 2009 achieved at an advanced level in mathematics compared with 28% of Taiwanese students and more than 20% of students in Hong Kong, Korea, and Finland. Overall, the United States ranked behind most of its industrialized competitors. The report compares the mathematics performance of high achievers not only across countries but also across