Special Late Nite Cap UPDATE 2-13-13 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2

Nite Cap UPDATE

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

MONICA GARCIA + L.A. FUND FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION REMOVE OFFENSIVE, ILLEGITIMATE, UNETHICAL & SELF–SERVING BILLBOARDS

by smf

see: LA GORDA DREAMS BIG: Monica’s Big Big Billboard The utla Arts Education Committee e-mails: The mere threat of our protests was enough. The offensive, illegitimate, unethical billboards have been taken down. They've whitewashed their wrongdoing by covering them up. But, hey, we still have photos.  When faced with public denunciation of two protests originally planned later

Education Trust: I Am Not A Loan

by Cryn Johannsen

Just a quick note about a fabulous campaign that has been launched by Education Trust (Ed Trust). Ed Trust's campaign is raising awareness about the college affordability debate. They have a great name for this new project: I AM NOT A LOAN. Great, right?!? I think so. When it comes to abandoning this identity, it is time for us to do it now. Furthermore, 2013 is the year to solve this problem. That's right. The time is now.

As a supporting partner of Ed Trust's campaign, I am delighted to spread the word on their behalf. This campaign - obviously - relates to my own research and writing about the student lending crisis. What is next? Well, it isn't 

Mark Zuckerberg's guests wade through a line of protesters to get to Chris Christie fundraiser

by Rosi Efthim

One, Two, Three, Four
This is not the Jersey Shore
Five, Six, Seven, Eight
Zuck send Chris back to his own State

Condoleezza Rice was among the swells who showed up tonight at Mark Zuckerberg's Palo Alto house to glad hand the media showboat from New Jersey, Chris Christie. Another beneficiary of the Bush White House.
Inside chez Zuckerberg, on a tree-lined, sleepy residential street in the cushy heart of Silicon Valley, visitors plunked down the max of $3,800 to pump the already-pumped governor towards a second term here on the right 

NYC Educator: Stupid Meetings

NYC Educator: Stupid Meetings:

Stupid Meetings

by NYC Educator

I'm the UFT chapter leader at my school. It's kind of a crazy job. I get called to go here, do this, or discuss that on a regular basis. But I'm also an ESL teacher, and I almost always teach beginners. One day, the kids asked me why I had to leave a class early. I told them I was the chapter leader. They didn't really understand that. The more I explained, the less they seemed to get it.

The next year, a new group of kids asked me the same question. I decided to explain to them in a way they might understand and accept. I told them I had two jobs. First, I teach them. Second I had to go to a lot of stupid meetings. This, they understood. They asked me who made me go to all these stupid meetings and I said it was the principal. The kids all agreed that if the principal said I had to go to stupid 

The emotional violence of the accountability regime: part two – @ the chalk face

The emotional violence of the accountability regime: part two – @ the chalk face:

The emotional violence of the accountability regime: part two

by Barbara Madeloni

You may say to yourself, my god, what have I done?-   Talking Heads
In the lead up to NCATE at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, I was given the job of helping to figure out how the various assessments could be fitted to the structures of the web-based data management system we had purchased. As well, when it came time to teach students, teachers and faculty how to use the system, I was one of the people charged with this work. I was both horrified and compliant. More than compliant, I was good at the job.
In telling the story of the assault on education, it matters to tell the story of our compliance as much as the story of our resistance. It is in the story of our compliance that we understand the violence of the accountability and standards regime, from which we might access our outrage and our voices.
The violence that is at the center of the accountability and standards regime has many manifestations. We see it in the relentless testing that marks k12 schools in high poverty areas. Testing to prepare for testing. Testing that 

The Origin and Purpose of Black History Month - Higher Education

The Origin and Purpose of Black History Month - Higher Education:

The Origin and Purpose of Black History Month

by cmaadmin

Stacy Swimp

History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is also a compass that people use to find themselves on the map of human geography. History tells a people where they have been and what they have been, where they are and what they are. Most important, history tells a people where they still must go, what they still must be. The relationship of history to the people is the same as the relationship of a mother to her child.
– J.H. Clarke
February is observed as “Black History Month” in America.
Its precursor, “Negro History Week,” was created by Dr. Carter G. Woodson in 1926 and observed on the second week of February.
A staunch Republican, Woodson chose that week in that month to honor the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.
Woodson created Negro History Week because Black Americans and their accomplishments were largely left 

You might be a reformer if … | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

You might be a reformer if … | Gary Rubinstein's Blog:

You might be a reformer if …

by Gary Rubinstein

It has been a while since I caught up on some TFA ‘Pass The Chalk’ blog entries.  I read two interesting ones, one just published, and one published a few months ago that I must have missed.
In “Who are the ‘So-Called Reformers’” staffer Heather Harding writes about how it is too bad that people opposed to the corporate reform strategies sometimes refer to people like Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee, and others as ‘Reformers’ always with the quotation marks around them, to highlight the irony, or even as ‘So-Called Reformers.’  She thinks this is a somewhat unfair linguistic trick.
In “Am I An Ed Reformer?” staffer Tracy Dunbar writes about how although she doesn’t closely identify with Joel Klien, her life was impacted by a great principal who shook things up.  If that principal would be considered an 

Mother Crusader: The Paterson Collegiate Charter School Application; New Markets Tax Credits, Part III

Mother Crusader: The Paterson Collegiate Charter School Application; New Markets Tax Credits, Part III:

The Paterson Collegiate Charter School Application; New Markets Tax Credits, Part III

by darciecima

This is Part III of a four part series about the Paterson Collegiate Charter School Application. Part I was about the current state of the New Jersey Department of Education charter application process, and Part II was about Stephen F. Wilson, the lead founder of the charter and also conveniently the founder and president of Ascend Learning, the proposed Charter Management Organization.

Back in July when I wrote about Benjamin Rayer and the approval of his two hybrid charters I noted that he too was both the lead applicant and CEO of the CMO. Looks like this may be a new trend among the applicants 

Jersey Jazzman: Pundits: Listen To Teachers!

Jersey Jazzman: Pundits: Listen To Teachers!:

Pundits: Listen To Teachers!

by Duke

Diane Ravitch is one of my heroes. So when she asked me to write a guest post for her blog, I was thrilled and honored. This piece was originally published here, but I wanted to have a copy at my blog as well.

As an American public school teacher, one of my greatest frustrations is how little our debate about education has been informed by the people who actually do the teaching. It's not that I think teachers are the only ones who should have a say in education policy; that would be as foolish as thinking that only astronauts who've been in space should determine the direction of NASA.

Increasingly, however, I'm finding arguments put forward by pundits that are rather silly to someone who has 

Anti-Common Core Bill Almost Ready to Go in Michigan House | Truth in American Education

Anti-Common Core Bill Almost Ready to Go in Michigan House | Truth in American Education:

Anti-Common Core Bill Almost Ready to Go in Michigan House

by Shane Vander Hart

To our Michigan Readers… Deborah DeBacker, one of our partners in Michigan, said that there is an anti-Common Core bill on the desk of State Representative Tom McMillin (R-Rochester Hills).  He’s looking for co-sponsors and it will be on his desk only tomorrow.  You can find your State Representative’s contact info here.  Call them, email them and call them again if you need to.

The post Anti-Common Core Bill Almost Ready to Go in Michigan House appeared first on Truth in American Education.

CPS chief releases list of 129 schools that could close — most on South and - Chicago Sun-Times

CPS chief releases list of 129 schools that could close — most on South and - Chicago Sun-Times:

CPS chief releases list of 129 schools that could close — most on South and West sides

By Lauren FitzPatrick Education Reporter lfitzpatrick@suntimes.com February 13, 2013 5:32PM

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Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago public schools C.E.O., Barbara Byrd-Bennett. FILE PHOTO.. | Al Podgorski~Chicago Sun-Times

RELATED DOCUMENTS

 List of 129 CPS schools that remain under consideration for closure [PDF]

Updated: February 13, 2013 6:06PM

 

And then there were 129.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett will choose from among a pool of 129 schools when she decides this spring which ones will close in June. Most are on Chicago’s South and West sides.

Among the targeted are three designated special education schools and two that have just undergone academic turnarounds.

Safe from closure are schools with more than 600 children, schools with at least 70 percent capacity and schools either isolated from others or surrounded by schools without any more room.

Defining the criteria Wednesday she will use to make her decision, Byrd-Bennett agreed she will also spare another group of schools including those 

Obama Preschool Plan Faces Major Questions Over Cost, Viability

Obama Preschool Plan Faces Major Questions Over Cost, Viability:

Obama Preschool Plan Faces Major Questions Over Cost, Viability

from Joy Resmovits by Joy Resmovits

Just one day after President Barack Obama unveiled hisbig promise to America's smallest children, both advocates and allies are raising major questions about its prognosis.

Obama proposed a major expansion of preschool for all children, but it's unclear if he can deliver on it -- especially in a climate of ever-tightening budgets. Such an ambitious plan would have to clear a Republican-controlled House of Representatives, and would also have to make up for the effects of a likely sequestration that would cut into domestic spending, including education.

"He presented a vision for an ideal federal policy," said Charles Barone, the legislative director for Democrats for Education Reform, who spent years on the Hill crafting education bills. "But it's hard to see it happening."

Sara Mead, an early education analyst at Bellwether Education Partners, has similar doubts. "There's a big 

the unthinkable: dreams and nightmares « Deborah Meier on Education

the unthinkable: dreams and nightmares « Deborah Meier on Education:

the unthinkable: dreams and nightmares

by debmeier

We perhaps need utopian and “revolutionary” thinking just to keep ourselves from falling into despair. Reading history helps me too–things could be a lot worse, I remind myself.
Yes “our dreams” are better than “their nightmares”–even if less realistic.
At times I fall back on hoping for a knight on a white/black/brown et al horse, who sweeps in and rights the ship/school/nation/planet and then gives the reins back to us when the crisis is over.
I had an experience of this happening at the intermediate school (44) my children attended forty plus years ago. 

CHECK THIS! Who’s this @alderman_moreno guy? He called himself a “hipster?” Really? – @ the chalk face

Who’s this @alderman_moreno guy? He called himself a “hipster?” Really? – @ the chalk face:

Who’s this @alderman_moreno guy? He called himself a “hipster?” Really?

by Chalk Face, PhD

I saw pop up on my Facebook feed a video of some Chicago Alderman getting booed off the stage at a local meeting. Good deal.
PopoutYou know, I think I remember a quote from the movie Hunt for Red October. Not worth looking up, but it was something to the effect of, oh hell, wait a minute. All right, here it is:

UPDATE: Common Core Claims Aren't Factual and Questions Remain Unanswered + Missouri Education Watchdog: Bill Gates, Education Reform and Philanthrocapitalism. .

Missouri Education Watchdog: Bill Gates, Education Reform and Philanthrocapitalism. .:

Common Core Claims Aren't Factual and Questions Remain Unanswered

by stlgretchen

Diane Ravitch makes some valid points and raises serious questions about Common Core standards and why the business community is so keen on seeing them implemented. The claims are bolded; the questions are highlighted. From 15153:
  

Yesterday, 72 business corporations published a full-page advertisement in the New York 

Bill Gates, Education Reform and Philanthrocapitalism. .

by stlgretchen

Joy Pullman of the Heartland Institute wrote an article Education Policies Led by Gates, Not States questioning the intent and outcome of Bill Gates' investment in education reform:

The world’s largest philanthropy has targeted education policymaking, sparking debate among education wonks and watchdogs over whether some of its activities cloak government actions and amount to lobbying.

An article written by  RiShawn Biddle Common Core Foes’ Laughable Gates Foundation Conspiracy-Theorizingin Dropout Nation dismissed Ms. Pullman's research and chalked it up to a conspiracy by conservatives:

Covering the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s efforts on the school reform front — along with the