Tuesday, May 28, 2013

UPDATE: Refuting the Status Quo of Ed Deform Ed Notes Online: Assaulting the Walls of Ed Deform, NYSUT June 8 "One Voice" Critiqued

Ed Notes Online: Assaulting the Walls of Ed Deform, NYSUT June 8 "One Voice" Critiqued:

The Next Phase in Refuting the Status Quo of Ed Deform: Offering Alternative Assessments

With the turn against ed deform the resistance needs to begin to offer alternatives to the status quo. And how nice to turn the old SQ tables on the deformers who have been seeing things going their way since c. 1994 in Chicago. I even heard that Arne Duncan was forced to defend his disastrous turn as Supe of Chicago schools for 7 years by claiming he reduced testing. We must keep focusing on the testing battle since it is the force that unites teachers, parents, students, academics and all rational and sensible people.

Monte Neill sent this from Fair Test as a follow up to what we posted yesterday (The assessment reform movement continues to gather steam).
Assessment that Supports Education
Recently, Boston area students and teachers organized an excellent conference, “Creating the Schools We Deserve.” It focused on what schools should be like and how we can win them. The conversations made clear that most people have never had the privilege of experiencing the kind of 



Assaulting the Walls of Ed Deform, NYSUT June 8 "One Voice" Critiqued

"One voice" is more about drowning out  the people's voice with a droll compliant whimper in true Weingartian style.... This is not a social justice rally.  This is a 'let's make believe we care' rally. It's play acting by the AFT/NYSUT/UFT gang.  We can play along, relieved that at least they are doing something, but their "something" is really business as usual.  --- Sean Ahern (see below for full text).
NYSUT Press release: Rally in Albany June 8.
Members of the more than one dozen organizations will join other parents, teachers and educators in speaking out against the state’s over-emphasis on standardized testing and misuse of test data to improperly label students and teachers. Rally-goers will call for a moratorium on the use of standardized tests in high-stakes decisions for students and teachers until the State Education Department and Regents properly implement the state’s new Common Core learning standards.
Well we know all about NYSUT/AFT/UFT and their role as enablers. When the water is at the top of the wall they decide to stick their finger in the dyke.

I know many people opposed to the testing regime who are going. And people in MORE are working on organizing. The UFT has buses available.

I am on the fence -- for a number of reasons from inconvenience to doubts about jumping on a NYSUT/UFT 

Arthur Goldstein, Gary Rubinstein to be Honored at Skinny Awards Dinner, June 18

Wow! What a twosome in the blogging world and beyond. Has anyone accomplished more in the battle over ed deform than Leonie Haimson over the past decade?

I just bought my ticket. If light and sound are decent I might tape it.

I might as well use Diane Ravitch's posting.


Please Attend the Skinny Awards in NYC

by dianerav
If you are within driving distance of New York City, please come to the Skinny Awards.
I will be there, along with many other friends of public education.
The Skinny Awards are the opposite of the Broad Awards, which are given to urban districts and charter schools that raise test scores. The Skinny Awards recognize character, courage, valor, and integrity in support of sound education ideas.
Leonie Haimson is the genius behind the Skinny Awards.
Benefits go to Class Size Matters, which advocates for reduced class size, opposes invasion of student privacy, and supports teachers and public schools. Leonie runs Class Size Matters on something less than a shoestring.
Here is the announcement:
Please attend our Fifth annual “Skinny Awards” Class Size Matters fundraiser
And enjoy a four-course dinner with wine
When: Tuesday June 18 at 6 PM
Where: FAGIOLINI ON 40TH, 120 E. 40th St. (betw. Lexington and 3rd Ave.)
Purchase your tickets here.
Each year we give an award to the individuals who provide the real "Skinny" on NYC schools. Past recipients of the award include Diane Ravitch and Juan Gonzalez. This year, our “Skinny” award will go to two brilliant teacher/bloggers:
Arthur Goldstein,  an ESL teacher at Francis Lewis High School in Queens
Gary Rubinstein, who blogs at Teach for Us and is a math teacher at Stuyvesant HS in lower Manhattan
This dinner is always a highlight of the year, with delicious food, good wine, and great company.
This year, it is especially important to attend and/or contribute to our work. As always, Class Size Matters relies on your donations to keep our organization going. We have continued to advocate for smaller classes and an end to school overcrowding, as class sizes swell throughout the country. We also have become leaders in the fight against high-stakes testing, privatization, and the violation of student privacy.
Nationally, we spearheaded the battle against the sharing of confidential student data with a corporation called inBloom Inc. inBloom Inc. plans to put children’s personal information on a vulnerable data cloud, and share it with private vendors without parental notification or consent.
For the last few months, the tabloids and corporate reform blogs have featured attacks against me personally, evidence of the prominent role that Class Size Matters plays in the debate over education policy. One of the best ways to show your support for our work is to contribute whatever you can to keep our organization alive.
If you believe that class size matters, and that it is important to keep our public schools and children’s personal information out of the hands of private corporations, please make tax-deductible contribution now to Class Size Matters and/or purchase a seat at our fundraiser dinner June 18 by clicking here or here:http://www.nycharities.org/events/EventLevels.aspx?ETID=6292 .
Please forward to others who care and hope to see you there, Leonie
Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
212-674-7320
Follow me on twitter @leoniehaimson
Make a tax-deductible contribution to Class Size Matters now!
Subscribe to Class Size Matters news by emailing classsizematters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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