Sunday, May 11, 2014

Recruiting students for meals program pays off for East Side Union | EdSource Today

Recruiting students for meals program pays off for East Side Union | EdSource Today:



With millions of dollars in extra state funding at stake, the staff of the East Side Union High School District spent months recruiting low-income students to sign up for the federal school meals program with the zeal of an Army recruiter.
Overfelt High sophomore Marilyn Lopez and senior Ernesto Monarres eat brunch during the morning break. They're among the 87 percent of students at the school who signed up for the free and reduced meals program. Credit: John Fensterwald
Overfelt High sophomore Marilyn Lopez and senior Ernesto Monarreseat brunch during the morning break. They’re among the 87 percent of students at the school who signed up for the free and reduced meals program. Credit: John Fensterwald
The campaign paid off. Enrollment in the meals program increased. And because program enrollment is what districts use to identify low-income students, East Side Union will receive more money based on a new funding formula that targets those students.
The new Local Control Funding Formula adds 20 percent to the yearly base for every English learner, foster youth and low-income student in a district. At East Side Union, increasing its free and reduced lunch eligibility from 43 percent of the 22,700 students in the district to 51 percent will translate to about $800,000 more in funding next year. This will increase to an estimated $2.7 million when the transition to full funding under the formula is reached, potentially in six years, said Marcus Battle, associate superintendent for business services. Including English learners nudged the district’s proportion of targeted students to 55 percent, at which point districts get additional dollars.
While perseverance worked, what clinched the deal was not an appeal to help the district. It was the pitch to families’ self-interest. Low-income students enrolled in the meals program qualify for reduced fees for Advanced Placement exams – the price drops from $85 to $5 – and waived fees for the college SAT and ACT exams and for applying to state universities, said Julie KasbergerRecruiting students for meals program pays off for East Side Union | EdSource Today:

Emeritus Professor Jack Hassard Reviews My Book | deutsch29

Emeritus Professor Jack Hassard Reviews My Book | deutsch29:



Emeritus Professor Jack Hassard Reviews My Book

May 11, 2014
I first read of Georgia State University Emeritus Professor Jack Hassard in connection to his work on the Gates funding of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).
In my search of Gates’ CCSS spending, I examined spending specific to the keyword “Common Core” with one addition (Fordham Institute). The total Gates CCSS spending from my search was $173.5 million.
Hassard broadened his search beyond the term, “Common Core.” His total is $2.3 billion.
I admire Hassard’s work. Thus, it was my pleasure to learn that he was reading my book,  A Chronicle of Echoesand in an email, he wrote that it was “fabulous.”

book_cover
In my chapter on the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), I mention NCTQ’s attempt to clean up its website following the time of my writing a series of NCTQ blog posts December 2012 to February 2013. I note that even though NCTQ sanitized its website, I published the former content and associated links, anyway.
Hassard wrote to remind me of the website snapshot tool, the “Way Back Machine.”
He was also gracious enough to write this review of my book on Amazon.com.
I bolded my favorite statements.
By Jack Hassard on May 8, 2014
 Dr Mercedes Schneider’s book arrived the other day and I was thrilled to see the names and chapters devoted to many of those who I have written about on my blog. But you won’t find the kind of writing in Mercedes’s book about these individuals and organization anywhere else. In my own view, Mercedes Schneider is at the vanguard of voices who are uncovering the harm that the people featured in her book are inflicting on public education. In amazing detail and wonderfully written you’ll be taken on journeys into the minds of corporate and education thieves, many of whom have become wealthy on the backs of American school students and teachers.
And here in this book we have at our fingertips answers to important questions about how such a limited number of individual’s faces crop-up in various media outlets as the experts on public schools. If you want to find how to get wealthy and have a really big office, read about Joel Klein in chapter 1. Find out how Teach for America is transforming teacher education into a temp business by reading the Wendy Kopp story in chapter 3. You’ll find important episodes about characters including Eva Moskovitz, Michelle Rhee, Erik Hanushek, Arne Duncan, David Coleman, Chester Finn, and others. You’ll also find out about organizations that fund each other in the name of reform, but in the end seek to dismantle public education. Welcome to TFA, the New Teacher Project, the National Council on Teacher Quality (not), the Aspen Institute, the Gates Foundation, and cousins Walton and Broad.
And the best is yet to come as she saves the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the nation’s bill mill for the last chapter.
The content of the book is thoroughly researched and authenticated. If you read her blog, you’ll certainly enjoy this book.
This is a must read book. [Emphasis added.]

Charters, Public Schools and a Chasm Between - NYTimes.com

Charters, Public Schools and a Chasm Between - NYTimes.com:



Charters, Public Schools and a Chasm Between




When Neil J. McNeill Jr., principal of the Middle School for Art and Philosophy in Brooklyn, learned that fewer than 4 percent of his students had passed state exams in math last year, he was frustrated.
It so happened that he shared a building with one of the top-performing schools in the Brownsville neighborhood, Kings Collegiate Charter School, where 37 percent of the students had passed, well above the New York City middle-school average of 27 percent.
Mr. McNeill had long been curious about the charter school’s strategies: It, too, served large numbers of low-income black students, many from the same neighborhoods. But the two schools operated in their own bubbles, with separate public-address systems and different textbooks. And as a matter of practice, they did not talk about academics.
“We are kind of two ships in the night,” Mr. McNeill, 39, said recently.
A primary rationale for the creation of charter schools, which are publicly financed and privately run, was to develop test kitchens for practices that could be exported into the traditional schools. President Obama, in recently proclaiming “National Charter Schools Week,” said they “can provide effective approaches for the broader public education system.”

Photo

Neil J. McNeill Jr., principal of the Middle School for Art and Philosophy in Brownsville, Brooklyn.CreditChristopher Gregory for The New York Times

But two decades since the schools began to appear, educators from both systems concede that very little of what has worked for charter schools has found its way into regular classrooms. Testy political battles over space andCharters, Public Schools and a Chasm Between - NYTimes.com: 


A Lesson in Farming, Classroom to Cafeteria
In Hagerstown, Ind., high school students will be making their own burgers from scratch — raising cattle to supply cheaper food for their cafeteria.

A Valuable Research Tool: The “Way Back Machine” | deutsch29

A Valuable Research Tool: The “Way Back Machine” | deutsch29:



A Valuable Research Tool: The “Way Back Machine”

May 11, 2014

In exposing corporate reformers at their game, I have found that information sometimes “conveniently” disappears from websites once such information is publicized in a less-than-complimentary blog post.
There is a way to view web pages that have been removed or otherwise altered:
The “Way Back Machine”:
The “Way Back Machine” is a search engine of “snapshots” taken of web pages over time.
All one must do is enter the non-responsive or altered url into the search engine; the result will include the number of snapshots taken in a given period. For example, I just entered my blog address into the search engine, and the result was “Saved 24 times 

Schooling in the Ownership Society: The great $660 billion public pension rip-off

Schooling in the Ownership Society: The great $660 billion public pension rip-off:



The great $660 billion public pension rip-off


Edward Siedle is president of Benchmark Financial Services and is a former investigator with the Security and Exchange Commission's Division of Investment Management. He writes in Sunday's New York Times:
Nearly a quarter of all state and local public pension assets have disappeared -- $660 billion in state workers’ retirement savings taken off the radar and swept into high-cost hedge, private equity, venture and real estate funds with little or no public oversight.
Kickbacks, bribery, self-dealing, fraud, tax evasion and outright theft have been protected as confidential “trade secrets” or “proprietary business information” exempt from disclosure to the public under Schooling in the Ownership Society: The great $660 billion public pension rip-off:






5-10-14 Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Schooling in the Ownership Society All Week
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog:Schooling in the Ownership SocietyMike Klonsky's SmallTalk Schooling in the Ownership SocietyBridging DifferencesHow many polls do you need?Hey Preckwinkle, Fioretti, Bozo the Clown...somebody. What the hell are you waiting for?Only one in five Chicago voters credit Mayor Rahm Emanuel with doing a better job of running the city than Richard M. Daley did, and only 29 p

Nite Cap 5-11-14 #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




4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 5-11-14
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Duncan: “Achievement gaps among ethnic groups have not narrowed.”: NATIONAL REPORT CARD FOR HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS SHOWS STAGNATION IN MATH+READING + smf’s 2¢Commenting on the 2013 NAEP 'report card' for US hi12th graders, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said,''achievement gaps among ethnic groups have not narrowed.' By Amanda Paulson, Christian Science Mo
What Kind of Education Do Mothers Want for Their Children? | Reclaim Reform
What Kind of Education Do Mothers Want for Their Children? | Reclaim Reform: What Kind of Education Do Mothers Want for Their Children?Posted on May 11, 2014by Ken PrevitiWhat kind of education do mothers want for their children?A) A well rounded education that meets the needs of all of their children – including reading, science, math, nutrition/health, music and all of the arts.“The arts challen
DECONSTRUCTING THE RENAISSANCE - Perdaily.com
DECONSTRUCTING THE RENAISSANCE - Perdaily.com: DECONSTRUCTING THE RENAISSANCE (Mensaje se repite en Español)In looking at the long term failure to achieve a viable public education system in the United States by those charged with its efficient implementation, it seems clear that this lack of success has a great deal to do with leadership at all levels of public education that is more concerned wi
Federal Funding a Gravy Train for Charter Schools | Tennesseans Reclaiming Educational Excellence (TREE)
Federal Funding a Gravy Train for Charter Schools | Tennesseans Reclaiming Educational Excellence (TREE): FEDERAL FUNDING A GRAVY TRAIN FOR CHARTER SCHOOLSposted on May 11, 2014TREE has a rare ask. We are typically very focused on state-level issues around education reform; but, today we are asking you to look at legislation being pushed at the federal level. The federal government is pushing thro
Who Betrayed The Legacy Of Brown V. Board?
Who Betrayed The Legacy Of Brown V. Board?: Who Betrayed The Legacy Of Brown V. Board?So this one’s personal for me.The day they bused the poor kids to my school was the first time I’d ever come face to face with children my age who were so poor they weren’t properly clothed. It was the first time – in a society where I saw separate water fountains for blacks and whites, and the black maid who hel
5-11-14 Jersey Jazzman Jammin' All Week: Ras Baraka & Newark's Last Grasp at Democracy
Jersey Jazzman: Ras Baraka & Newark's Last Grasp at Democracy: Ras Baraka & Newark's Last Grasp at DemocracyIf you believe that America is a democracy, you must also believe, a priori, that Newark, NJ, is not part of America.For the last couple of weeks, it has become painfully, disturbingly clear that Newark -- like many other communities populated by working-poor and working-class people
Charter schools paying millions in taxpayer money to middlemen while students suffer - NY Daily News
Charter schools paying millions in taxpayer money to middlemen while students suffer - NY Daily News: Charter schools paying millions in taxpayer money to middlemen while students sufferBrooklyn Dreams pays $2.3 million to for-profit firm National Heritage Academies to lease space from the Catholic Church — at a price much higher than what the city would normally pay. Dozens of for-profit vendors
Students, Teachers March To Demand Changes To L.A. Public Schools | Neon Tommy
Students, Teachers March To Demand Changes To L.A. Public Schools | Neon Tommy: Students, Teachers March To Demand Changes To L.A. Public SchoolsComments (1)| hannah nguyen, ipad, john deasy, l.a. schools, LAUSD, Los Angeles, los ángeles public schools, march, Pearson, protest, rally, schools l.a. students deserve, students, trojan 18Nearly 100 students, teachers and parents marched toward a busy
5-11-14 Ed Notes Online
Ed Notes Online: UFT Contract: Secretaries Ask MORE for Help After Mulgrew Ignores PleasMulgrew being handed requestsDear Mr. Scott,The secretaries of the UFT have been working under a 1979 contract. Some of the secretaries put together an outline of requests to up date our duties, title and protections against out of license employees being put in our positions. They have not opened up the test o
5-11-14 the becoming radical A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD
the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): On Foma and Mendacity: Letting the Cat Out of the BagKurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle and Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof may seem at first blush to share only the use of “cat” in their titles, but both works are masterful examinations of something central to the
Saturday’s Book Presentation |
Saturday’s Book Presentation |: Saturday’s Book Presentation This past Saturday, those involved with Arizona State University’s edXchange initiative invited me to speak on VAMs and my new book, Rethinking Value-Added Models: Critical Perspectives on Tests and Assessment-Based Accountability.I would venture to say that most professional fields wouldn’t attract many Saturday lecture attendees. But,
Everything is Untested Until You Test It | Paul Bruno
Everything is Untested Until You Test It | Paul Bruno: Everything is Untested Until You Test ItBy PAUL BRUNO | Published: MAY 11, 2014Teacher tenure is a hot topic in California these days thanks to the Vergara trial, so it was newsworthy when the San Jose chapter of the California Teachers Association asked the State Board of Education for a waiver from state law extending the probationary period
The Philanthropy Paradox | Network Schools - Wayne Gersen
The Philanthropy Paradox | Network Schools - Wayne Gersen: The Philanthropy ParadoxMay 11, 2014wgersenLeave a commentGo to commentsA lengthy BloombergBusinessweek post, “The $13 billion Mystery Angels“, describes the efforts of three philanthropists to use elaborate means of shielding their identities from the public and a lengthy description of how the philanthropists made their fortune through t
Morning Wink 5-11-14 AM Posts #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2
BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTS5-11-14 Schools MatterSchools Matter: KIPP Pre-Ks With 8-9 Hour DaysKIPP's segregated charter reform schools are widely known for their 10 hour days, plus 2 hours of homework each night.  With tons of federal cash soon up for grabs for those who promise to replace the effect of poverty with cultural and character sterilization programs, KIPP has plans to t
5-11-14 Schools Matter
Schools Matter: KIPP Pre-Ks With 8-9 Hour DaysKIPP's segregated charter reform schools are widely known for their 10 hour days, plus 2 hours of homework each night.  With tons of federal cash soon up for grabs for those who promise to replace the effect of poverty with cultural and character sterilization programs, KIPP has plans to take the lead in the 3-4 year old market.  KIPP would like to sta
5-11-14 Wait What?
Wait What?: On mythical state revenue and a Pelto candidacy for GovernorIn a column entitled, Malloy Finds Revenue in Land of Pretend, Hartford Courant columnist Kevin Rennie explores the “make believe” budget that passed the Connecticut General Assembly last week and the potential impact my possible candidacy for governor. Kevin Rennie, a lawyer and a former Republican state legislator, is one of
5-11-14 @ The Chalk Face
@ THE CHALK FACE: For Mother’s Day, embrace the complicationsIt’s hard for me not to be slightly cynical on special days like this because they’re largely capitalist confections created by skilled marketers. Take a look at how far we’ve come from the original connotations of “Mother’s Day,” from the Zinn History Project. What began as a call to action, now we eat brunch and exchange […]1 by Shaun
5-11-14 LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH Diane Ravitch's blog #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Why Empathy for Children MattersA reader posted this comment:   It is obvious that the designers and supporters of CCSS do not have empathy for children. Narcissism is on a spectrum and intensifies with chronic stress. This is evident in how the Common Core Environment has created systemic Narcissism from the top down:   The antith
5-11-14 Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"
Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement": “District of Columbia Expands Family-Engagement Program”District of Columbia Expands Family-Engagement Program is the title of an Education Week post. Here’s an excerpt: Twenty-one schools will participate in the parent partnership program during the 2014-15 school year. Each participating school receives a grant for up to
5-11-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher
Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Mother’s Day.Mom could not be ambivalent about anything. Her two favorite colors were black and white. Mom had little patience for shades of gray. She hated the things she hated. She loved the things she loved. She loved my father for reasons I still don’t entirely understand. She loved her women frie
5-11-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Four Good Links On Classroom InstructionHere are a number of relatively recent links on classroom instruction: Five Teaching Tips for Helping Students Become ‘Wild Readers’ is by Donalyn Miller, and appeared in Ed Week. What if we approached testing this way? appeared in The Washington Post. I’m adding it to The Best Resour
Don’t Blame the Internet: We Can Still Think and Read Critically, We Just Don’t Want to (Daniel Willingham) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
Don’t Blame the Internet: We Can Still Think and Read Critically, We Just Don’t Want to (Daniel Willingham) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Don’t Blame the Internet: We Can Still Think and Read Critically, We Just Don’t Want to (Daniel Willingham)Daniel Willingham is a columnist for RealClearEducation and professor of psychology at the University of Virginia. He also writes
5-11-14 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: New Budget Leaves Florida 50th of 50 States in Per Pupil FundingLooks like all that back-slapping by republican legislators and happy talk about public schools being a “big winner” was poppycock. St. Augustine Record reporter Marcia Lane explains: When Superintendent Joe
5-11-14 With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs
With A Brooklyn Accent: On the "Civil Rights" Defense of Common CoreIt is a grave error to portray the Common Core Standards as a Civil Rights measure opposed largely by right wing fanatics seeking to undermine pubic education. Not only does this offend people on the right whose views on education and social policy it caricatures, it offends liberals and people on the left who have view
5-11-13 Curmudgucation
CURMUDGUCATION: Mixing With PoliticsThere's a great line, usually attributed to Rev Gene Carlson of Wichita, about religious getting involved in politics:When you mix religion and politics, you get politics.His point was that while you may think that political power gives you leverage you need to engineer the social changes you want (in Carlson's case, conservative Christian changes), politics alw
5-11-14 Perdido Street School
Perdido Street School: Daily News Goes After The Little Charter School Crooks But Leaves Big Ones Like Moskowitz And Kenny AloneOne of the lines you sometimes here from charter school proponents and supporters - charters must be free from the same regulations as public schools so they can do their magical "innovation" thing.Of course a lack of regulations also can lead to this: On a quie
NYC Educator: Me--Free and Fair Contract Discussion, UFT Leadership--Crickets
NYC Educator: Me--Free and Fair Contract Discussion, UFT Leadership--Crickets: Me--Free and Fair Contract Discussion, UFT Leadership--CricketsOn Friday I decided it would be a good idea to have a forum in which both sides of the contract proposal are examined. I asked my friend Julie Cavanagh if she would be interested in presenting the con side, and she agreed. I went to my principal and asked if

YESTERDAY

inBloom, BloomBoard, and the Undeniable, Corporate Reform “Need” for Student Data | deutsch29
inBloom, BloomBoard, and the Undeniable, Corporate Reform “Need” for Student Data | deutsch29: inBloom, BloomBoard, and the Undeniable, Corporate Reform “Need” for Student DataMay 10, 2014On April 21, 2014, the Gates-funded data warehouse inBloom publicized that it was shutting down.The New York Times called it a “setback for the nearly $8 billion prekindergarten through 12th-grade education techn
@ProfessorJVH with @MHarrisPerry on @MSNBC @MHPshow in NYC 5/17 #brownvboard60 | Cloaking Inequity
@ProfessorJVH with @MHarrisPerry on @MSNBC @MHPshow in NYC 5/17 #brownvboard60 | Cloaking Inequity: @ProfessorJVH with @MHarrisPerry on @MSNBC @MHPshow in NYC 5/17 #brownvboard60Looking forward to joining Melissa Harris-Perry in New York City for MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry Show on May 17, 2014 10 a.m.- 12 p.m. EST for a live panel discussion on Brown vs. Board of Education. My last visit to MHP
Nite Cap 5-10-14 #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 CAPStudents Worldwide Join Week of Action to Reclaim Education | PopularResistance.OrgStudents Worldwide Join Week of Action to Reclaim Education | PopularResistance.Org: Students Worldwide Join Week of Action to Reclaim EducationRESIST! STUDENT ACT