Thursday, June 26, 2014

UPDATE: Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Duncan a know-nothing when it comes to teaching kids with disabilities

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Duncan a know-nothing when it comes to teaching kids with disabilities:



Duncan a know-nothing when it comes to teaching kids with disabilities




Arne Duncan seems bent on pushing standardized-testing madness and privatization into the area of special ed and the teaching of kids with disabilities. That's the only way I can interpret his announced "major shift"in an area about which he appears immensely ignorant.

Duncan claims, without offering any evidence, that the vast majority of the 6.5 million students with disabilities in U.S. schools today are "not receiving a quality education", and that he "will hold states accountable for demonstrating that those students are making progress". The basis for this radical shift in special ed policy comes from his belief that it's not students' disabilities that are holding them back, but rather the low expectations of educators.

Duncan has announced new standards for judging states on special education which greatly reduce compliance enforcement for IDEA. Instead, they're using NAEP test results to judge educational outcomes for students in special ed.

 But "NAEP was never designed or tested for any such purpose", writes Beverley Johns, a national authority on special education (on Diane Ravitch's blog). NAEP is a test taken by a sample of school districts from each state, every 2 years.

Duncan dragged out his pet teacher-bashing school boss, Tennessee's appointed ed commissioner, Kevin Huffman (a lawyer and  former Teach for America executive) to back up his unsubstantiated claim. Huffman believes that most kids with disabilities lag behind because teachers don't expect them to achieve but they will succeed if they're given more demanding schoolwork and are tested more.

I should mention that Huffman, (Michelle Rhee's ex) who's part of Jeb Bush's corporate reform group Chiefs for Change, is hanging onto his own job by his finger tips after the governor received a letter from 63 superintendents criticizing Huffman's leadership.

Under the new guidelines, Duncan says "he'll require proof" that these kids aren't just being served Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Duncan a know-nothing when it comes to teaching kids with disabilities:


Ctu Statement On Cps Lay Off Of 1,150 More Teachers And Staff
  NEWS RELEASEFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                      CONTACT:  Stephanie GadlinJune 26, 2014                                                                          312/329-6250                 EMANUEL CONTINUES ASSAULT ON CITY’S TEACHERSCHICAGO—Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Karen Lewis released the following statement regarding today’s announcement of 1,150 teacher and school suppor



Rauner still lying about his clout call to Duncan
Outgoing Inspector General James Sullivan on Chicago Tonight, tells what his investigation reveals about Bruce Rauner's clout call to Arne Duncan which got Rauner's unqualified kid into Walter Payton H.S. [2.53 on the video].  Our investigation revealed that there was a phone call made to the CEO’s office by Mr. Rauner, and after that somebody in the CEO’s office called Walter Payton and his daugh