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Tuesday, March 4, 2014

NYC Public School Parents: inBloom executives finally testify before the NYS Assembly; what a sad spectacle it was

NYC Public School Parents: inBloom executives finally testify before the NYS Assembly; what a sad spectacle it was:



nBloom executives finally testify before the NYS Assembly; what a sad spectacle it was



See the videotaped testimony of NYSED's Ken Wagner, along with a crew from inBloom Inc., including Peggy Brookins, Board Member, Jat Pannu, Senior VP of Services and Virginia Bartlett, Chief Privacy Officer before the NY Assembly Education Committee last Friday, February 28.

Highlights (or low lights): Ken Wagner giving a one sentence testimony at the beginning.  

And inBloom's VP refusing to disclose what other states they are working with, by saying they "respect the confidentiality of their clients"!!!  Too bad they don't respect the confidentiality of NYC public school children or their families. 

Thanks to the Assemblymembers present, especially Chair Cathy Nolan, Danny O'Donnell, Tom Abinante, Ed Graf and Shelley Mayer, who asked great questions but got very little information in return. 

Here is the testimony of Allison White, co-author of the privacy petition. There was no time allotted for parents to speak, but this is how it ends:
I will not allow my children to go to a public school if this is approved. I will protect my children's privacy and private information like medical records which are protected by our government already. I expect our government to be forthcoming about their intentions and inform us (the public) of matters that impact our children and ourselves. I will not allow the government to take away my parental decision making choice. STOP THIS EDUCATIONAL FARCE....

Our children are not employees, they are not commodities, and they are not owned by the government or special interest groups! This unnecessary intrusion into their lives needs to stop.

Parents and children should not lose their rights to privacy. These rights MUST be Protected. I'm completely opposed to any sharing or storage of student data for the OBVIOUS and valid reasons listed in this petition.

See the videotaped testimony of NYSED's Ken Wagner, along with a crew from inBloom Inc. @NYC Public School Parents: inBloom executives finally testify before the NYS Assembly; what a sad spectacle it was: 

‘What’s Next? at TFA’ webcast. Spoiler alert: More of the same | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

‘What’s Next? at TFA’ webcast. Spoiler alert: More of the same | Gary Rubinstein's Blog:



‘What’s Next? at TFA’ webcast. Spoiler alert: More of the same



TFA has been recently taking a beating in social media.  Whether in response to this, or if it is just something that’s been planned for a while, the two co-CEOs Elisa Villanueva-Beard and Matt Kramer were part of a live webcast tonight called ‘What’s Next at Teach For America?”
This was an hour long live show broadcast out of Nashville where TFA alum Kevin Huffman is commissioner of education and another TFA alum Chris Barbic is the superintendent of the Achievement School District, which is like the Recovery School District in Louisiana.
As is everything with TFA, this was carefully scripted and controlled.  It began with a high school student.  This Latino student embodied everything that TFA believes in.  She is obviously quite a gifted speaker and she has a TFA teacher as one of her teachers right now.  Of course she proves that ‘poverty is not destiny’ and that every student who is poor and who did not go to college would have if they just had the chance to be taught by a TFA teacher.  Hearing this student speak, I have a feeling that she was going to make it to college even if she had all traditional teachers.  Let’s give the kid some credit, here.
Huffman was next on the bill.  He reminded everyone that on the latest NAEP results, Tennessee had the most ‘growth’ of any state.  Just like ‘miracle schools’ that have 

Parent Power School- Session II « NYC Coalition for Educational Justice

Parent Power School- Session II « NYC Coalition for Educational Justice:



Parent Power School- Session II

Register Now!
Advanced Training for Parent Leaders




Parent Power School educates, empowers and instills confidence and hope for parents to be articulate messengers and change agents on education issues affecting their children and the community. By developing the voices, skills, issue expertise and relationships of public school parents and community members Parent Power School will build and strengthen CEJ.
Saturday, March 29th
10:00AM – 2:00PM 
PSC-CUNY: 61 BROADWAY, 16TH FLOOR
Come to Parent Power School and:
  • Learn about community schools, pre-kindergarten, ending the school-to-prison pipeline and successful parent engagement initiatives!
  • Gain skills to effectively recruit more parents to be leaders for better schools!
  • Join the education justice movement!
A light breakfast, lunch, childcare and translation will be provided.
Register here: Parent Power School
¡Aprenda cĂłmo reclutar más padres para que sean lĂ­deres para mejores escuelas! 
¡Aprenda acerca de las polĂ­ticas importantes que pueden mejorar las escuelas de Nueva York! 
Atende Parent Power School a PSC-CUNY: 61 BROADWAY, Piso 16 el Sab, 29 de marzo de las 10 a.m.-2 p.m.!
Vamos a explorar:
  • Las escuelas comunitarias
  • JardĂ­n de Infantes (Pre-K)
  • Poner fin a los iniciativas que ponen mas jovenes en la carcel
  • Iniciativas exitosos de participaciĂłn de los padres
y la forma de reclutar a otros padres para hablar de estos temas!
Se proporcionará un desayuno ligero, almuerzo, cuidado de niños y traducción.
Registrase aqui: Parent Power School

CURMUDGUCATION: Why the Hell Are We Racing Anywhere?

CURMUDGUCATION: Why the Hell Are We Racing Anywhere?:



Why the Hell Are We Racing Anywhere?



Race to the Top had been rather quiet as a brand until President Obama revived it in his new budget proposal. Unfortunately, the new iteration underlines the metaphorical problems with the nom de regulation. For a guy who launched his career by being a moving speaker, Obama has hit on a real tone-deaf clunker here.

This time, we are racing for equity, which means, I guess, that we are going to Race To The Top To The Middle. Seriously, how does this metaphor even sort of work? How does a race for equality work, exactly?

My first thought is that we are about to see a real-life Diana Moon Glampers to preside over a race in which the swift are properly held back. But no-- we're clearly supposed to be competing for excellence. Excellence in...not being any more or less excellent than anybody else??

But the metaphorical muddle that is Race To The Top To The Middle only raises a more important question which is-- why were we ever racing anywhere?

Competition in pursuit of excellence is highly overrated.

First of all, we only compete with other teams. The five members of a basketball team do not compete with each other to score the most baskets; if they did, they would be a terrible team and they would lose very much, and nobody would say, "Wow, those guys are really excellent!" Not even if they competed with great rigor.

So who is supposed to be the other team in this race? Other schools? We are supposed to beat other schools and teachers and students and leaving them whipped and beaten and in this way we will 

Last Stand for Children First: Not All Parents Oppose Excessive Testing

Last Stand for Children First: Not All Parents Oppose Excessive Testing:



Not All Parents Oppose Excessive Testing


The credit for this article goes to the great Alexander Russo, who urged journalists to do a better job reporting on testing by finding the many parents and students who don't oppose excessive standardized testing.  This is much the same way that the media overemphasized Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier, when the vast majority African American ballplayers were content to stay in the Negro Leagues.

Alexander Russo has long been a friend of this blog and that's because he has a clear way of getting to the bottom of a story.  When other "journalists" were reporting on the teachers at two Chicago Public Schools refusing to give the ISAT, Russo saw that the real story was the nearly 50 people on his blog who vented about CPS principals.   

I didn't have to go much further than Chicago's Bernard E. Epton School of Sufficiency.  For those of you who don't remember, the Epton School got in some trouble last year when the principal was caught importing unlicensed standardized tests from China.   The principal, Dr. Michelle Perry claimed she acted at the urging of her teachers who noticed a 2 month period in the beginning of the year when there was no standardized testing in the school.

I was fortunate enough to get a chance to interview an entire family about their pro-standardized testing attitude and how they have found a home at Epton.   I was joined by 

Obama's Budget Boosts Preschool, Access To Top Teachers, But Freezes Many Education Programs

Obama's Budget Boosts Preschool, Access To Top Teachers, But Freezes Many Education Programs:



Obama's Budget Boosts Preschool, Access To Top Teachers, But Freezes Many Education Programs

Main Entry Image
President Barack Obama sits with Marcus Wesby and other preschool student during his visit to Powell Elementary School in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, Tuesday, March 4, 2014. Obama visited the school to talk about his fiscal 2015 federal budget proposal, which was released today. Powell elementary has seen rapid growth in recent years and serves a predominantly Hispanic student body. Washington DC Mayor Vincent Gray, who greeted Obama at the school, recently directed $20 million to P | ASSOCIATED PRESS


 President Barack Obama's 2015 budget request increases education funding 2 percent over the previous year, cheering many education advocates, and proposes a revamped Race to the Top competition that focuses on opportunity for all students and a tobacco tax to pay for a previously-announced preschool expansion effort.

Obama announced the budget, which would restore across-the-board cuts known as sequestration, at Powell Elementary School in Washington.
"We know -- and this is part of the reason why we’re here today -- that education has to start at the earliest possible ages," Obama said. "So this budget expands access to the kind of high-quality preschool and other early learning programs to give all of our children the same kinds of opportunities that those wonderful children that we just saw are getting right here at Powell."
In a call with reporters, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said the budget speech setting was no accident. "In tough economic times, education is receiving the largest non-defense increase" in discretionary spending, Duncan said.
Many newer education initiatives, such as a high school redesign competition, receive a boost in Obama's budget. But some key programs, including most parts of the 

3-4-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education:







Florida Senate Republicans Ignore Superintendts, Jeb Bush Abandons College Readiness in First Passage of New School Grade Bill

It comes as no surprise the republican-dominated Senate Education Committee didn’t listen to the recommendations of two school superintendents in passing through the new and improved school grade formula. Nor is it any surprise Jeb Bush’s mouthpiece finds it just swell. Reports Miami Herald reporter Kathleen McGrory: The Senate Education Committee got right to work Tuesday morning, approving a pro
3-1-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida ALL Week
Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education:Scathing Purple Musings  Color me purple in Florida ALL WeekFort Myers News-Press: For Teachers, VAM Doesn’t Add UpFrom the editors of the News-Press: Think back to a schoolteacher who had a positive impact on your life. Chances are, your choice wasn’t based on explanatio




Please Refrain from “Think[ing] of VAMs Like an Oak Tree” |

Please Refrain from “Think[ing] of VAMs Like an Oak Tree” |:











Please Refrain from “Think[ing] of VAMs Like an Oak Tree”

 
It happened again. In the Tampa Bay Times a journalist encouraged his readers to, as per the title of his article, “Think of VAMs Like an Oak Tree” as folks in Florida are now beginning to interpret and consume Florida teachers’ “value-added” data. It even seems that folks there are “pass[ing] around the University of Wisconsin’s ‘[O]ak [T]ree [A]nalogy,” to help others understand, unfortunately, what is a very over-simplistic and overoptimistic version of the very complex realities surrounding VAMs.
He, and others, obviously missed the memo.
So, I am redirecting current and future readers to Stanford Professor Edward Haertel’s deconstruction of the “Oak Tree Analogy,” so that we all might better spread the word about this faulty analogy.
I have also re-pasted Professor Haertel’s critique below:
The Value-Added Research Center’s ‘Oak Tree’ analogy is helpful in conveying the theory [emphasis added] behind value-added models. To compare the two gardeners, we adjust away various influences that are out of the gardeners’ control, and then, as with value added, we just assume that whatever is left over must have been due to the gardener.  But, we can draw some important lessons from this analogy in addition to those 

Nite Cap 3-4-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2



James Baldwin said it best: 

"For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."


A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAP




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Bring Yourself to Work Every Day to Build Trust, Morale, and Culture — Whole Child Education
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SPECIAL Mid Day Banana Break 3-4-14 #RealEdTalk #edreform
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Morning Wink 3-4-14 AM Posts #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2
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YESTERDAY

Some Details on the First NPE Conference | deutsch29 #npeconference
Some Details on the First NPE Conference | deutsch29: Some Details on the First NPE ConferenceMarch 3, 2014The first annual Network for Public Education (NPE) Conference was this past weekend, on Saturday, March 1, and Sunday, March 2, 2014.Below is a news brief on the conference:I participated in the NPE conference as a member of three panel discussions, the topics being investigative journalism,
Diane Ravitch at NPE Conference (4th pass) on Vimeo #npeconference
Diane Ravitch at NPE Conference (4th pass) on Vimeo: Diane Ravitch at NPE Conference (4th pass) from Vincent Precht on Vimeo.NY Teacher Mercedes Schneider shreds Common Core from NPE Conference #npeconferenceNY Teacher Mercedes Schneider shreds Common CoreThe Network For Public Education | NPE CALLS FOR CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGSThe Network For Public Education | PRESS RELEASE – NPE CALLS FOR CONGRES
Special Late Nite Cap UPDATE 3-3-15 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2
Nite Cap UPDATEUPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATECORPORATE ED REFORMCyber-Schools Still Suck, Says NEPC ReportThe National Education Policy Center announced the release of its report on virtual schooling with the hefty headline "Responsible Policymaking Still Absent for Virtual Schools, Which Continue To Proliferate Despite Scant Research Support and Lagging Quality" There's going to be plenty
Nite Cap 3-3-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2
James Baldwin said it best: "For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAPJust home from #NPEConference & Ready to AWAKE Activate AGITATE in FL Join Me ? @DianeRavitch #LetThemKnow #AwakeFL | Continuing ChangeJust home from #NPEConference & Ready to AWAKE Activate AGITATE in FL Join Me ? @DianeRavitch #LetThemK