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Friday, September 19, 2014

Patrick Walsh Reviews A Chronicle of Echoes | deutsch29

Patrick Walsh Reviews A Chronicle of Echoes | deutsch29:



Patrick Walsh Reviews A Chronicle of Echoes

September 19, 2014
On September 19, 2014, New York teacher and United Federation of Teachers (UFT) chapter leader Patrick Walsh published the following review of my book, A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who In the Implosion of American Public Education, on the online news site, Truthdig.
patrick walsh
Patrick Walsh, 2012

My heartfelt thanks to Patrick for his interest in my work. Below is an excerpt of his review, which is cross-posted on his blograginghorse.wordpress.com.

Image from themillions.com
By Patrick Walsh
“A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who in the Implosion of American Public Education”  
A book by Mercedes K. Schneider
Like every American teacher working in the public school system over the past 10 years or so, I have both witnessed and experienced the relentless and reckless experiments performed upon my students, my profession and, indeed, the entire American public school system itself in the name of “education reform,” a phrase that has become synonymous with privatization. Ten years of massive upheaval and dislocations later, nothing has improved—much has worsened—and still the privatizing reforms go on. The reforms, we are told endlessly by the mass media, are desperately needed. American public schools are “broken.” American children are ill-equipped to compete with their international counterparts in the savage new global economy. Indeed, in March 2012, former New York City Chancellor of Education Joel Klein and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice released a report that stated that our schools are so wretched they now pose nothing less than a threat to national security.
The privatizers’ experiments share common characteristics. All strip classroom teachers of autonomy and some, like the deceitfully named and privately owned Common Core State Standards Initiative, move the power of the federal government straight into the classroom. All are punitive and have resulted in the firing of teachers and the closing of schools, which, in turn, have led to the proliferation of publicly funded charter schools, beloved by Wall Street. All reduce education and educators to data points (which in turn are linked to data mining), the better to hold the latter accountable for their “performance.” All are linked to high-stakes standardized tests which, in the one-dimensional thinking of the reformers, are the hallmark of teacher accountability, even as the reformers wouldn’t dream of subjecting their own children to such tests. Finally, almost all the reforms are the work of non-educators—and not only non-educators, but non-educators who look upon traditional educators with undisguised contempt. Those few reformers who did teach, like Michelle Rhee, Frederick Hess or the founders of the much ballyhooed KIPP charter schools, did so for only two or three years before, like the God of Genesis, they set out to remake American education in their own image and that of their billionaire backers.
As I write, they are succeeding. Consequently, the U.S. public school system, the backbone of American public life, could well be but a memory in another 10 years. The noble art of teaching, which has sustained civilization since the days of Socrates, could well be reduced to a temp job or, at best, a micromanaged performance both Patrick Walsh Reviews A Chronicle of Echoes | deutsch29:

9-18-14 Jersey Jazzman - The Fine, Reformy Whines of @ConorPWilliams & @campbell_brown

Jersey Jazzman:







The Fine, Reformy Whines of @ConorPWilliams & @campbell_brown
As Paul Krugman recently opined: when you can't win an argument on the merits, whine about "tone":I’m far from convinced by everything that gets done today in the name of education reform. But Rhee’s and Brown’s examples are indicative of a troubling pattern for reform opponents: anti-reformers are prone to shooting any reform messenger. Anti-reform has an ad hominem problem. In part thi


9-18-14 Jersey Jazzman - David Boies's Flim-Flam on Tenure
Jersey Jazzman: David Boies's Flim-Flam on TenureI suspect that celebrity lawyer David Boies -- recruited by celebrity education non-expert Campbell Brown to lead the fight against teacher tenure -- has begun to realize he can't possibly win his case against educator due process on the merits. So he's doing what all lawyers do when they find themselves with a dud of a case: obscuring the issue at


NYC Educator: Where Are We Gonna Put Those Kids?

NYC Educator: Where Are We Gonna Put Those Kids?:



Where Are We Gonna Put Those Kids?

Mayor de Blasio, to his credit, has stated he'd get rid of the trailers. I envision getting a bunch of lawn chairs, a barbecue, a large party, and blowing them up. But, you know, we'd do it the safe way, like they do with outdated casinos in Vegas. They sort of implode. That's kind of anti-climactic, but there's nothing that says you can't follow up with a fireworks show, or the Rockettes, or something festive.

I've been expelled from the trailers. It's odd to be in the building, to hear the bell ring, and not instinctively run like hell out of the building. I can now be just about anywhere, and make it to my classroom without too much of a struggle. Of course, after my decade of exile, I kind of feel like I no longer belong in the building. I haven't got a tattoo or anything, but I kind of feel like I deserve one.

Despite Mayor de Blasio's good thoughts, he still hasn't told our school, or any really, what the hell it is we're supposed to do after we blow up those trailers. I mean, sure we'll clean up after our barbecue, and whoever blows up the trailers can drag away the debris. Sure we'll salt the ground to make sure nothing ever grows there again, and it's my fond hope they name the site for me. Nonetheless, there will still be a problem.

The problem, of course, is those darn students. Where are we gonna put them once the trailers are gone? In our school, the trailers represent 8 NYC Educator: Where Are We Gonna Put Those Kids?:

UPDATE: Hofmeister’s “Have-to”s Leave Even More Questions + Hofmeister’s “Have-to”s Leave Even More Questions | Life at the Intersections

Hofmeister’s “Have-to”s Leave Even More Questions | Life at the Intersections:



Hofmeister Answers Questions About Contributors-Charter Schools-ALEC
In June, as the primary was getting closer, I suggested a series of questions that anyone should ask our Oklahoma State Superintendent candidates. The questions were raised across two posts, one on June 16th and the other on June 25th, and represented issues about campaign finance, the influence of ALEC, and charter schools. My concern about the influence of for-profit charter lobbies  came after



HOFMEISTER’S “HAVE-TO”S LEAVE EVEN MORE QUESTIONS

SEPTEMBER 19, 2014 BRETT DICKERSON



John Cox and Joy Hofmeister
Oklahoma Superintendent of Schools candidates L-John Cox – Dem, and R-Joy Hofmeister-Rep


 First, let’s acknowledge that those school A-F rankings that came out this week are bogus, and both candidates clearly say so.

Second, let’s also acknowledge that the drastic drop in rankings for so many schools after Barresi’s primary loss shows just how the Barresi-led OKSDE has been jiggering the grades all along. Leading up the election? The scores keep improving. Barresi’s point is, well, we are doing great! These reforms are kicking in and we can see it, even though there is room for improvement.
But now, the point she’s making is: These public school leaders who didn’t support me? What do they know? Look how dumb they are! They are doing just awful, aren’t they? They should have listened to me.
So now those bogus grades are out, and the two candidates for State Superintendent were expected to make statements, which they did in print, but also on camera for Tulsa TV station KTUL.
A closer look at those videos, one after the other, show some interesting contrasts.
John Cox focused on how the whole grading system was designed to make public schools look bad anyway. He has the freedom to say that because he is a public school superintendent himself and is a Democrat. Democrats in Oklahoma, at least, are not too deep in the hip pockets of the reform lobbyists. And so his comments in this video are very clear.
But even though Republican Joy Hofmeister‘s responses are critical of the current system, they are far more nuanced and raise more Hofmeister’s “Have-to”s Leave Even More Questions | Life at the Intersections:

Using Students with Special Needs to Privatize Public Schools

Using Students with Special Needs to Privatize Public Schools:



MagiciansStageCabaret

Using Students with Special Needs to Privatize Public Schools

Education Week came out with an article pondering a serious question. How can you have special education charter schools and still call it inclusion? HERE.
I wondered, were the school reformers going to do the following:
  1. Return or ramp-up the old model of resource and self-contained classes within the traditional public school system?
  2. Pull together counselors, school psychologists, special ed. teachers, regular ed. teachers, district SPED staffing specialists, and other specialists, all who understand and have studied and earned degrees in those areas, to guide decisions to assist individual children with special needs?
  3. Renew the importance of the IEP, bypassing Common Core State Standards?
  4. Give parents inclusion as an option on a continuum of services?
No! Just kidding! This isn’t about that at all!
There are no plans anywhere to revitalize special education in America’s public schools. Quite the contrary, for the last 30 years the quest has been to get rid of public schools and special education.
But the reformists have a problem with all their quasi-private charter schools. Kids with disabilities have not been allowed in—no inclusion. But they have been pushing inclusion in traditional public schools for years. The reality, however, is if the charter schools were to pull together all the professionals I noted above, it would be costly. It would dip into their profits.
So they are opening cheap special education charter schools. In the Ed Week example it is one run by a parent (a well-meaning parent). They will throw in some behavior specialists in these schools, probably to guide all the Teach for America types, to show they care about the students who aren’t allowed into the elite charters.
And so now you hear a phony argument about the pros and cons of inclusion, by, just Using Students with Special Needs to Privatize Public Schools:

9-19-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: A Short History of Anti-Immigrant Movements in the US

With A Brooklyn Accent:








A Short History of Anti-Immigrant Movements in the US

The first wave of anti-immigrant hysteria in the US took place before the Civil War and was directed at Irish Catholic immigrants. It led to the formation of the No Nothing Party and also sparked mob attacks on Catholic institutions in many northern citiesThe second wave of anti- immigrant hysteria took place after the Civil War and was directed at Chinese immigrants. It led to mob violence agains


9-14-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Are Public Schools Focal Points of Failure in A Successful Society?
With A Brooklyn Accent: Are Public Schools Focal Points of Failure in A Successful Society?Many critics of our public schools imply that public education is an ugly center of failure in a largely successful society, However, singling out public schools for failure relative to other spheres of America economic and social life, such as our banking system, housing market, and medical system does hold




Nite Cap 9-19-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT



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




Ego, money and false promises: Michelle Rhee’s big secret and the collapse of education “reform” - Salon.com
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International Benchmarking: State and National Education Performance Standards | American Institutes for Research
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Should Schools Be Responsible for Kids' Health? - The Atlantic
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Cali Education Headlines 9-19-14
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Morning Wink 9-19-14 AM Posts #edchat #edreform
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9-19-14 Schools Matter
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The Answer Sheet 9-19-14
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Burris Calls Out Common Core; Duncan-friendly EdPost Indignant | deutsch29
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4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 9-19-14
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9-19-14 @ The Chalk Face
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Q&A with Dana Goldstein: How yesterday’s teacher wars explain today’s education battles | The Hechinger Report
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YESTERDAY

Report critical of charter school oversight | EdSource
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Can Today’s Tests Yield Instructionally Useful Data? |
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9-18-14 Jersey Jazzman - David Boies's Flim-Flam on Tenure
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I was honored this past weekend (and I accidentally lied) | Crazy Crawfish's Blog
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Nite Cap 9-18-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT
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 CAP9-18-14 Schools MatterSchools Matter: Reprise: Re-Review of Paul Tough's Biggest HitWhen I looking this morning for the publication date of Paul Tough's neo-eugenics manifesto, How Children Succeed . . ., I saw that it is #1 at Amazon in the area