Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, October 12, 2013

All Week 10-12-13 @ THE CHALK FACE

@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER
All Week @ THE CHALK FACE 



PresidentTruman’s Letter to Sen.Joseph McCarthy
PresidentTruman’s Letter to Sen.Joseph McCarthy.   HST did not fuck about or suffer fools gladly. We could use him or his like again.

Reformy NY Education Commish gets taken to the woodshed by parents.
From a PTA Town Hall in Poughkeepsie. This event is one of several that the New York State PTA is sponsoring to spread Common Core propaganda across the Empire State. The NYS PTA’s plan looks to be backfiring as parents see the Common Core as damaging their children’s education.  Families are seeing their children’s creativity, […]
Two Hours and Two Days: I Chat With Bill McCallum and Reflect
  Some followers of my writing may recall that one of my first contributions to @the Chalk Face in early September was a piece in response to a blog entry by Bill McCallum, one of the lead writers for the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics, in which he was harshly critical of many of those […]

OCT 10

The Fight to Save Common Core: Count Me Out
I have written a number of posts on the so-called Common Core State Standards (CCSS), an unprecedented effort by those outside of the classroom to exercise control over the classroom by standardizing what is taught in classrooms across the nation. Since CCSS did not originate with those forced to accept it, there has been resistance. Legislators are […]
The Fight to Save Common Core: Count Me Out
The Fight to Save Common Core: Count Me Out.   I couldn’t say it any better.
Impact of shutdown to be felt by DC charter schools, but…
… notice the list of priorities here. Is this in any particular order? Ramona Edelin, executive director of the D.C. Association of Chartered Public Schools, said the payment, totaling $101 million, is supposed to go toward preparation for SAT and other entrance tests as well as food services and teacher pay. “Some schools have something […]
EngageNY website – not so boring after all!
Several authors here at The Chalk Face have discussed the scripted curriculum modules that the New York State Department of Education has placed on its education reform propaganda website EngageNY.org. The modules are widely considered by teachers, and now and growing group of parents and children as being boring lessons killing student interest and creativity. […]
Professors Need to Stop Recommending TFA’ers to Be Teachers
TFA is Losing Its Luster There is still good, quality, genuine education going on around the country despite the anti-teacher, anti-intellectual and misogynistic meme of accountability and performance, test scores, and measuring every student every year, over and over and over again, on standardized fill in the bubble sheets. TFA, just like so much of […]
Common Core in the Real World: Destroying Literacy through Standardization (Again) | the becoming radical
Common Core in the Real World: Destroying Literacy through Standardization (Again) | the becoming radical.

OCT 09

Holy hell, that joke Doctor Steve Perry unloads and unhinged on Twitter. Say hey, @drsteveperry
Can you believe this guy? Does he not know the internet is forever? Tagged: edreform, Ravitch, steve perry
This is how it’s done, that professional development stuff.
I see how it is. So, teachers are offered the choice to join a pilot for the Kindergarten GOLD assessments.  In exchange, you get an iPad mini, yours to keep. And a “day off” for training. Nicely done, consultants. Nicely done.   Tagged: gold assessments, professional development, reading
If you are this person, then you have no business in education. Quit now. Leave. Good-bye.
Here’s the model citizen in question. Are you a homophobe, or just so blatantly stupid that it hurts? Quit. Tagged: education, gawker, homophobe, teacher
A New Review of “The Global Achievement Gap”
During my first year teaching, I downloaded Tony Wagner’s breakthrough book, The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need—and What We Can Do About It.  I will henceforth refer to this book as G.A.G., which is simply an unintended coincidence, not a pun.  I promise. At […]

OCT 08

Ali: “You must listen to me” | the becoming radical
Ali: “You must listen to me” | the becoming radical.

OCT 07

Tucker, Darling-Hammond, and Jackson Wuss Out: Failing to Challenge Basic Assumptions of CCSSI Is No Solution
EdWeek published today a piece by Marc Tucker, Linda Darling-Hammond, and John Jackson, entitled “Fewer, Better Tests Can Boost Student Achievement,” a promising title from a trio of authors at least the last two of whom are generally associated with sane, progressive, child-positive education. Unfortunately, the piece was either dominated by Mr. Tucker, president of the Washington-based […]
Colleague and I on the front page of Sunday’s Baltimore Sun on #optout
Amazing how good conversations lead to such small quotes.  Journalists! In any event, opt out and common core resistance makes the front page of the Baltimore Sun, mainly about the left-right debate. The coverage continues. Tagged: baltimore sun, common core, Maryland, politics, tea party
Returning from a successful trip to Douglas County, CO, UPDATED
Tim and I, along with the Edushyster, visited Douglas County, CO as they gear up for a contentious school board election. All politics are indeed local. From the kitchen of one of our hosts, we have a live broadcast with a panel of guests engaged in this fight. Listen here. UPDATE I want to include […]

OCT 06

Colorado Parents See Wizard Behind the Curtain
Fantastic reporting from the front line and on the ground in Douglas County, CO by Chalkface radio roving reporters.   As your own community continues to follow the yellow brick road to for-profit corporate education reform and school privatization, show them the shortcut to the Wizard by listening to parents, teachers and concerned citizens in […]
Enemies of Public Education: ExxonMobil
Here at the Chalk Face, we’ve spent some time questioning and exposing the intentions behind the energy giant, ExxonMobil.  Their ad campaign in support of Common Core continues to take up space and spread lies on the network airwaves.  It’s well-known by now that Bill Gates is the top fund owner for Exxon, which somewhat […]
A Message for Voters in Boston…and Beyond
http://theindignantteacher.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/what-john-connolly-marty-walsh-must-understand-about-charter-schools-and-ed-reform/   Tagged: boston mayoral race, diane ravitch, John Connolly, Martin Walsh, reign of error
U.S. Needs Moratorium on (Privileged) White Men Pontificating on Race, Class, Gender | the becoming radical
U.S. Needs Moratorium on (Privileged) White Men Pontificating on Race, Class, Gender | the becoming radical.

OCT 05

Bill Gates Must Be Worried About Common Core Survival
Bill Gates is heavily invested in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). However, CCSS is in trouble. Even US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is desperately trying to save them. Forget the students and teachers. It’s The Standards that the likes of Gates and Duncan wish to rescue. Gates/Scholastic CCSS Survey Result ”Early Release” In order to […]
Stuck in the Middle With You
STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU Yes I’m stuck in the middle with you, And I’m wondering what it is I should do, It’s so hard to keep this smile from my face, Losing control, yeah, I’m all over the place, Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right, Here I am, stuck […]
Gates Money and Common Core– Part VI
This post is the sixth (and final) post in a series I have written detailing Bill Gates’ mammoth purchasing of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). (Here are links to the previous five posts in the series.) In the fifth post, I mentioned that this final post would be Gates’ CCSS funding of education businesses. Then, I realized […]
Live show from DougCo Colorado today, 4PM EST
Tim and I are out here meeting with parent and teacher activists who are attempting to oust a school board that is rotten. This is actually a very interesting case study. You can understand at minimum the racism and bigotry that underscore inner city school reform. Even the white savior mentality that goes back to […]

OCT 04

We Gotta Get Out of This Place: Looking For A Heart of Math
Why in the world does NCTM support the Common Core Mathematics Standards? NCTM leadership fantasizes that CCSSI will accomplish what 25+ years of NCTM’s efforts failed to get done. The reality may well be that CCSS will drive the final nails into burying the progressive mathematics reforms that NCTM has supported, by associating them in […]
The Broad Foundation and Broadies: Kings of “Distruptive” and “Unreasonable” Trickle-Down Reform
A study in evil from Julian Vasquez Heilig   The Broad Foundation and Broadies: Kings of “Distruptive” and “Unreasonable” Trickle-Down Reform.     Tagged: broad foundation, education deform, eli broad, privatization
The Problem With Charter Schools
Reblogged from Moi Naturale: In the fall of 2008, I decided I wanted to transition from journalism to education.  While I was in a master's program studying broadcast journalism at the University of Southern California, I started volunteering at a local community center called the Jackie Robinson Community Center.  Through this experience, I realized I […]