UPDATE: SAY THE WORD SOLIDARITY SEVEN TIMES A DAY. – @ the chalk face

SAY THE WORD SOLIDARITY SEVEN TIMES A DAY. – @ the chalk face:

SAY THE WORD SOLIDARITY SEVEN TIMES A DAY.

by Barbara Madeloni

Today the people of Chicago take to the streets to let the plutocracy know that public schools are OUR schools and will not be shut down by fiat. Schools are being defended in Philadelphia and New York. Parents and students are saying no to high stakes testing and yes to opting out. Teachers boycott and strike. The energy is high for next week’s Occupy the DOE 2.0—when we will raise our voices in a great roar of outrage right outside Arne’s house. After the Occupy the DOE there is San Francisco, where educators are planning protests against the neo-liberal infiltration of the American Education Research Association and then back again across the country to New York (and livestreaming) for Reclaim the Conversation on Education. organizing collective actions, and then on back to Chicago for Free Minds Free People.
Not all of us can be in Chicago or Washington DC, but wherever we are, we have battles to wage and stands to take. And that means we have decisions to make about strategies and risks.
Risks are real. Threats are common. Our schools and workplaces are steeped in fear and silencing.
When I spoke with Mike Winerip, the reporter for The New York Times who wrote the story about the Umass students who refused to participate in the Pearson-Stanford field test, he asked me on at least three different occasions if I understood the risk I was taking by speaking out.  For the past year I have been trying to make sense of why I don’t quite understand what people mean when they say, “Well, you are an example of what happens when one person stands alone.”
I was not alone. I took the action I did with students—we stood together. I was supported by colleagues, friends, family, and strangers from across the globe. My action emerged from the knowledge and wisdom I gained from

Here We Go Again: Charters NOT Exceptional

by plthomasedd

The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC) offers yet another in a series of misleading claims in order to promote charter schools: “It’s still difficult for some educators to say “charter schools” without sneering. But in Charleston County, charter schools are delivering on promises,” adding:

Monday, the once wary Charleston County School Board renewed the Charleston Charter School for Math and Science’s contract for 10 years and approved its expansion by 80 students to 560. The school has achieved an impressive track record of academic achievement and is the most racially diverse public school in the district.

Praise in isolation is a dangerous thing; therefore, what is behind charter schools “delivering on promises” in Charleston? Consider how these charters compare to other schools, mostly pubic, who have the same student demographics:

The raw “excellent” ratings of most of these charter schools certainly justifies praise, but to suggest that charter schools—because they are charter schools—are somehow producing elite and exceptional results when compared to public schools serving essentially the same populations as those charter schools is misleading—revealing that such claims have some ulterior motives beyond praising academic success of schools.

The charter schools are not exceptional; they are typical, and they do not in any way justify further expansion of charter schools, especially while public schools are routinely demonized and marginalized in the media and through misguided policy decisions.

@rweingarten is trying to drive that bus…

by Chalk Face, PhD

AFT President Randi Weingarten tried to throw us all under the bus with this abhorrent collaboration with a member of the Gates Foundation. Here’s the original piece with response from Anthony Cody and Diane Ravitch.
Proximity to power and self-preservation are very persuasive. But this bus can’t run over everyone finally starting to stand up to this nonsense. So, keep it coming.

@rweingarten has been assimilated. However, resistance is NOT futile!

by Timothy D. Slekar

Anthony Cody and Diane Ravitch had some things to say about Randi Weingarten’s dance with the Gate’s Foundation and teacher evaluations.  For me, its not surprising (Randi’s assimilation). What is frightening though is the potential this new alliance signals for supporters of the reform movement.  For example, I went to Anthony Cody’s blog and after reading offered this comment:

Just because the two leaders of the teachers’ unions have sold out their members is no indication that “the union” has endorsed or accepted VAMs. It is merely evidence that union leadership is out of step with its members and blatantly disregarding the research on holding teachers accountable for “growth” through statistical hallucinations.
Gates can do what he wants (he does anyway). I am more disturbed that those who supposedly represent teachers have decided to “keep their seat at the table” and throw those in the trenches