Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, October 18, 2013

10-18-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:






NYSED ELA Lesson Module - 17 Days On One Short Story
As I posted earlier this week, the teachers who have had the misfortune to have to use the Common Core lesson modules provided for by NYSED at a website they called Engage NY have found that the material is so full of mind-numbing, soul-sucking drudgery that they had lost the interest of students by the second week of school.I have heard many complaints from teachers about one module that has stud

Regents, NYSED Put On Full Court Education Reform Press
The corporate education reform establishment has gotten the message in the last week since NYSED Commissioner/rookie teacher petulantly canceled four parent town hall meetings on the Common Core after having a rough time of it at the first meeting in Poughkeepsie last Thursday.Today Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch called the press to announce that the Regents and NYSED would be holding 16 parent f

Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch Announces 16 Parent Forums On Common Core
You know the education reform establishment in the state is feeling pressure from the accelerating attacks on the Common Core, the state tests, the evaluation system, the data collection and the rest of the education reform agenda because they took the parent town hall announcement away from NYSED Commissioner King and gave it to Regents Chancellor Tisch instead:The state Education Department will

Criticism Of NY State Education Reform Agenda Grows
You can see the tide turning in stories like this one:Lisa Rudley does not consider herself a special interest.She’s a mother of three, president of Ossining’s special education PTO, and a founding member of New York State Allies for Public Education, a coalition of more than 40 parent groups from Long Island to Buffalo that formed in July.New York State Allies became widely known Monday after its

NYSED Says They'll Look For Ways Students Are "Overtested"
Commissioner John King and his merry men and women in reform at SED are in full-damage control over their education reform agenda these days.The latest example is this:New York state education officials said they would look for ways to make sure that students weren't being over-tested, after concerns from parents and educators about exams tied to a new teacher-evaluation system.Many schools across

NYSED Scripted Lessons Have ELA Classes Spending Weeks On One Short Story
In my school 9th grade teachers are using the vaunted new NYSED lesson pods/seeds for their curriculum.Both students and teachers hate the lessons.Whoever developed the seeds/pods decided that the most important skill to teach students is close reading of text.To that end, the lesson seeds/pods have students learn what close reading is, then read a short story while practicing that skill.Students

Calls For NYSED Commissioner John King To Resign Or Be Fired Grow
Not just parent groups and education bloggers are calling for King's ouster from power:Assemblyman Thomas Abinanti, a Westchester Democrat, released a statement Thursday insisting that King step down amid harsh criticism that the commissioner has ignored parents' and teachers' grievances around the Common Core and related testing. "For quite some time, Education Commissioner John King has clo
Iannuzzi Should Be Grilled At NYSUT Common Core Town Halls
NYSUT announced they would hold town hall meetings with parents and teachers to discuss the problems with Common Core implementation.NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi should be asked some tough questions at this meetings over the positions he has taken on Common Core, Race to the Top, and the APPR teacher evaluation system.Iannuzzi signed off on Race to the Top, happily embraced Common Core and stood

10-17-13 Perdido Street School
Perdido Street School: NYSED Commissioner John King Channels Christine QuinnNew York State Senator Lee M. Zeldin had a meeting with NYSED Commissioner John King yesterday.Zeldin said in a press release that the meeting "went well," in that neither he nor King threw anything at each other and they both got to make their respective points about Common Core and the SED reform agenda.Given h