Modern School: Use a Gun, Go to Church

Modern School: Use a Gun, Go to Church

Use a Gun, Go to Church

from Modern School by Michael Dunn

The controversial and scandal plagued Parent Trigger attempt at McKinley Elementary, in Compton, may finally be resolved, but not in parents’ favor. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Anthony Mohr has ruled that he will throw out the petitions signed by 265 parents because many failed to date their signatures, in violation of state law (See John Festerwald’s TopEd blog).

Mohr seemed saddened by his decision, as he had been pumping for parents in his previous rulings on the case. However, as a dutiful servant of the state, he acquiesced to the rule of law, telling parents he understood their frustration and thought his ruling might even be detrimental to the interests of their students. Nevertheless, parents who pulled the trigger at McKinley will

Modern School: Less Testing in Cali—In Your Dreams

Modern School: Less Testing in Cali—In Your Dreams

Less Testing in Cali—In Your Dreams

by Michael Dunn

John Fensterwald reported today on his blog TopEd that California Gov. Jerry Brown wants to suspend funding for CALPADS, the state student longitudinal data system, and to stop further planning for CALTIDES, the teacher data base associated with CALPADS. In a superficial nod to his benefactors in the California Teachers Association, Brown has expressed disapproval of the overuse of data collection and standardized testing.

However, Brown has not proposed abolishing testing or data collection. Noncompliance with NCLB, alone, would save the state $500 million per year—a pretty smart move at a time when the state is struggling to balance its budget and find enough revenue to keep teachers in the

You're invited to a conversation on K-14 Budgeting with Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.

Sen. Darrell Steinberg

	Budget Crunch: Without Tax Extensions what might happen to Public Education? You're invited to a conversation on K-14 Budgeting with Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg. The outcome of the state budget will impact school district funding across California, potentially including the Prop 98 school funding guarantee. Are Californians willing to accept tax extensions to stabilize our schools? Without additional revenue will California be able to educate its children? Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg would like you to join him in this conversation. As part of the Senate Democratic Caucus' outreach effort during budget negotiations, Senator Steinberg wants to hear from K-14 education leaders throughout the state. Please join Senator Steinberg and a panel of invited guests for a live internet town hall on Thursday, June 2, 2011. The webcast will last about one hour and he will solicit and answer questions from around the state. The proposed budget continues drastic reductions in state services and expenditures, and demonstrates the need for additional stable revenues for long-term budget solutions. Senator Steinberg and the Senate Democratic Caucus remain committed to delivering those long-term solutions and putting California's fiscal house in order. Live Internet Town Hall Budget Crunch: Without Tax Extensions what might happen to Public Education? When: Thursday June 2, 2011 Time: 7:00 p.m. Where: http://www.senate.ca.gov/steinberg For more information, or to submit questions, please visit http://www.senate.ca.gov/steinberg.
	California State Senator Darrell Steinberg - Sixth Senate District Representing the Capital Region Web site: http://www.senate.ca.gov/Steinberg E-mail: Senator Darrell Steinberg Capitol Office State Capitol, Room 205 Sacramento, CA 95814 District Office 1020 N Street, Room 576 Sacramento, CA 95814

This Week In Education: Best 5 Blogs: Ravitch Apologizes To Gist (Sorta)

This Week In Education: Best 5 Blogs: Ravitch Apologizes To Gist (Sorta)

Best 5 Blogs: Ravitch Apologizes To Gist (Sorta)

by Alexander Russo

Minnesota inches closer to banning Common Core Kathleen Porter-Magee: The Minnesota Commissioner will not be able to adopt common standards in any other content area, no matter how good those standards may be... Political Andywonk: Underneath all the chattering there is a quiet consensus among some key players that current law – with all its problems – is preferable to a law that only focuses on 5 percent of the schools... Illinois Is Proving any State Can Change its Schools Suzanne Kubach: A dozen or so leading citizens, backed by local and national philanthropy, put Illinois on this path to becoming a national leader in education reform, distinguishing its approach from its neighbor... VideoGate, Day 7 Jay P. Greene: There is something self-serving and potentially insincere about Ravitch’s generic denunciation of “the spirit of meanness that now permeates so much of our

Schools Matter: Are school libraries obsolete?

Schools Matter: Are school libraries obsolete?

Are school libraries obsolete?

by skrashen

Are school libraries obsolete?

Sent to the Los Angeles Times (May 24)

Those who think school libraries are obsolete might consider the results of a Scholastic-Gates Foundation poll, given to 40,000 teachers, published in March, 2010. One question was: Where do your students get books for their independent reading most often? Select all that apply.

The winner: School libraries. Teachers reported that 80% of high school students, the group least dependent on school libraries, get reading material from school libraries. In contrast, 35% get books from retailers and 46%

Shanker Blog » A Response To Joel Klein

Shanker Blog » A Response To Joel Klein

A Response To Joel Klein

Posted May 24, 2011

Our guest author today is Edith (Eadie) Shanker, Albert Shanker’s widow and a retired New York City teacher.

A few months ago, in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Joel Klein invoked Al Shanker’s name as an educator in support of today’s charter school “reform” efforts. Klein wanted the public to believe that Al was the originator of the charter school concept (he wasn’t) and that he would today be supportive of the charter school ”reform” ideology now being spread around New York City and the country as a panacea for low student achievement. Conveniently, Klein did not indicate that Al denounced the idea of charters when it became clear that the concept had changed and was being hijacked by corporate and business interests. In Al’s view, such hijacking would result in the privatization of public education and, ultimately, its destruction – all without improving student outcomes.

Now, in his recent Atlantic magazine article, Klein trots out a quotation attributed to Al (said in jest if at all) to support the stereotype that, as a union leader, Al cared only about “protecting” the union’s members, including “bad” teachers. Using this alleged quotation – “when school children start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of children” – Klein not only plays fast and loose with Al’s reputation as a union leader but also as a sterling educator. (To be a true expert on Al’s views on how to improve education for children – and how to be a union leader – Klein could check out 27 years’ worth of his “Where We Stand” columns in the New York Times.)

So, on the one hand, Klein touts Al as a great education reformer who’s ostensibly an advocate for charter schools – presumably in the interests of the children (this characterization suits Klein’s search for unlikely allies on the

School Tech Connect: Get Involvitude

School Tech Connect: Get Involvitude

Get Involvitude

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

In case you're just dropping by... the Illinois legislature has a committee that's tossing around the idea of bringing an unconstitutional kill-the-pensions bill to the floor here in the last days of the session. It's how these things get done these days.

Bill Gates, who has an attitude about working people, is getting a significant return on his stealthy take-over-public-policy investments, it seems. The man is a public menace, if you asked me. I'd rather have a country that

Schools Matter: A Review of Alexander Russo's 'Stray Dogs, Saints, and Saviors'

Schools Matter: A Review of Alexander Russo's 'Stray Dogs, Saints, and Saviors'

A Review of Alexander Russo's 'Stray Dogs, Saints, and Saviors'

by Ken Libby

Anyone in search of a rather level-headed look at school turnarounds should check out Alexander Russo’s Stray Dogs, Saints, and Saviors. It’s both an enjoyable read and highly interesting – I’d place it in the rather small education drama-slash-documentary genre.

The book is not a puff piece, nor does it leave out criticisms. I say that as someone who generally is quite skeptical of charter management organizations, outsourcing, and reforms that deal almost exclusively with school-level changes.

I should also note that I play a very small (minuscule) role in some of the drama that unfolds in the book.

Readers beware: I may say some things here that you disagree with, or that you’re surprised to hear.

Let’s start with Steve Barr, because that’s a fitting way to start a conversation about the book’s real story: the school “turnaround” at Locke High School. Also, I think it’s better to deal with my small role right away and then

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The new social-Darwinism

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The new social-Darwinism

The new social-Darwinism

by Mike Klonsky

Charter schools for those with "highest potential"

Robert Schwartz's post today on Huffington, "Why Charters and College Access Programs Should Cream," is but the latest incarnation of Social-Darwinism applied to current public education policy. Such theories were popular in the late Victorian era in England, America, and elsewhere.

The basic notion was--and still is--that the strongest or fittest should survive and flourish in society, while the rest --- not. The theory was chiefly expounded by Herbert Spencer, whose ethical philosophies were grounded in an elitist worldview and received a boost from the application of Darwinian ideas such as adaptation and natural selection. In its most extreme form, Social-Darwinism was used to justify eugenics programs aimed at weeding "undesirable" genes from the population. While we usually associate such theories with Nazi Germany, we have always had our home-grown versions within U.S. academia and politics.

President Obama, while on the campaign trail in 2007, was a vocal critic of Social-Darwinism as practiced by the

Ten Reasons Protecting Unions Is a Life-and-Death Issue | Truthout

Ten Reasons Protecting Unions Is a Life-and-Death Issue | Truthout

Ten Reasons Protecting Unions Is a Life-and-Death Issue

Monday 23 May 2011

by: Eric Mann, Truthout

In Wisconsin, tens of thousands of public-sector workers were going to work every day, helping the people in the DMV, hospitals, health care centers, public transportation: teachers, fire fighters, clerical workers, among others. Then, on February 11, 2011, Republican Gov. Scott Walker introduced a bill, with a Republican majority in the legislature, which would virtually eliminate public-sector unions as we know them. The bill opposed collective bargaining rights, required annual votes to ask workers if they wanted the unions to represent them and prevented unions from collecting dues automatically out of workers' paychecks. The anti-union movement is spreading to Ohio and many other states, and we have to develop a plan to beat back the pro-corporate, anti-union forces. Recently, the Massachusetts legislature, with a Democratic majority voted to deny public-sector unions the right to bargain collectively for medical coverage, leaving workers to fend for themselves.

These ten reasons are put forth as a tactic to help the movement for union rights.

1) Because the relationship between labor and capital and labor and management is in contradiction: They do not have the same class interests. Otherwise, we wouldn't

ThinkProgress » REPORT: Across The Country, Conservatives Shift Taxpayer Dollars From Public to Private Schools

ThinkProgress » REPORT: Across The Country, Conservatives Shift Taxpayer Dollars From Public to Private Schools

REPORT: Across The Country, Conservatives Shift Taxpayer Dollars From Public to Private Schools

As ThinkProgress previously reported, a handful of billionaires and right-wing think tanks and foundations are pushing school voucher legislation nationwide, with the effect of undermining public education. These schemes funnel taxpayer dollars to private schools with the promise of better education for students — a claim that has never been backed up with actual evidence.

While many of the conservatives who are for expanding vouchers claim they are not trying to undermine public education but rather inject more competition into it — “school choice,” as they call it — Wisconsin’s superintendent Tony Evers said yesterday that it is morally wrong for his state to be expanding taxpayer funds for Milkwaukee’s voucher program while at the same time slashing money for the state’s public schools:

Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to expand the Milwaukee school choice voucher program to other Wisconsin school districts is “morally

Michelle Rhee's Group Hired Lobbyist To Work On Controversial Ohio Teachers Bill

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Michelle Rhee's Group Hired Lobbyist To Work On Controversial Ohio Teachers Bill

First Posted: 05/24/11 01:17 PM ET Updated: 05/24/11 01:18 PM ET

WASHINGTON -- The nonprofit group set up by former Washington D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee is facing criticism for hiring a lobbyist to work on controversial legislation in Ohio that partially restricted the collective bargaining rights of teachers.

Between January and April of 2011, StudentsFirstemployed Robert Klaffky, the president of firm Van Meter, Ashbrook & Associates and a close adviser to Ohio Governor John Kasich (R) to help push various aspects of education policy.

In particular, the group, established by Rhee after she left the D.C. school system following then-Mayor Adrian Fenty's defeat, had Klaffky work on SB5, the infamous anti-collective bargaining bill passed into law but already facing the likelihood of referendum.

Klaffky, in a brief phone interview, said that as a lobbyist for StudentsFirst he did not work on some of the bill's toughest provisions, including language that limited collective bargaining rights among public employees (including teachers) for benefits, or language that eliminated blinding arbitration and prohibited those same employees from striking. Rather, he confined his work to the issue of

Rhee Targets Teacher Seniority and Democratic Lawmakers in Sacramento Address « State of Emergency

Rhee Targets Teacher Seniority and Democratic Lawmakers in Sacramento Address « State of Emergency

Rhee Targets Teacher Seniority and Democratic Lawmakers in Sacramento Address

by Leonard Feldman

(Photo Center) Former D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee says she is setting her sights on teacher seniority in order to “protect good teachers” during a Friday evening forum in Sacramento’s Oak Park as (from l.) former D.C. Union Official George Walker, former D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, and Rhee admirer Richard Whitmire look on.

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) 23 May 2011 — Former Washington D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee told more than 300 parents, teachers, and community members gathered in Oak Park on May 20 that her Students First organization aims to press lawmakers in California and around the United States to rescind laws that require seniority to be a determinant in layoffs of teachers.

Speaking at a monthly meeting of Mayor Kevin Johnson’s Stand Up for Great Schools at the Guild Theater, Rhee

“The pushback from the unions has just been ferocious.” « Fred Klonsky's blog

“The pushback from the unions has just been ferocious.” « Fred Klonsky's blog

“The pushback from the unions has just been ferocious.”

by Fred Klonsky

“Transparency” is not a word they know in Springfield.

It is difficult to tell what is going on behind closed doors on the pension bill.

It appears that it will include more state workers than just teachers

It appears it will be a three-tier system for teachers, with all three tiers representing a increase in costs, a reduction in benefits, or both.

It appears it is having trouble getting enough House members to support it to move it out of committee.

The reason?

The Daily Herald:

But facing a tight deadline of May 31 before lawmakers are scheduled to leave

What’s your degree worth?

What’s your degree worth?

What’s your degree worth?

by Erin Dillon

What’s It Worth?: The Economic Value of College Majors, a new report from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, contains some very interesting data that should spark debate over the relative economic value of college majors. The Georgetown researchers analyzed census data that links workers’ bachelor degree majors with their careers and earnings – data that’s never been available before. The results show wide variation in earnings between majors -students with the highest-earning majors earn over 300% more than those with the lowest-earning majors. That’s a big difference in the return on investment for tuition dollars.

There are also substantial differences within majors. Table 27 from the report (below) shows the top 10 majors with the biggest variation in earnings.

The researchers also found troubling disparities in earnings by gender and race, even within the same majors. Below is chart 20 from the report, which shows the top 10 highest earning majors for African Americans – it also

School superintendent to Governor: Please make my school a prison | Dangerously Irrelevant | Big Think

School superintendent to Governor: Please make my school a prison | Dangerously Irrelevant | Big Think

SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT TO GOVERNOR: PLEASE MAKE MY SCHOOL A PRISON

Scott McLeod on May 24, 2011, 12:36 PM

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A school superintendent in Michigan has written a public letter to the editor asking Governor Rick Snyder if his school can become a prison instead. The full text is below. What do you think?

—-

Dear Governor Snyder,

In these tough economic times, schools are hurting. And yes, everyone in Michigan is hurting right now financially, but why aren’t we protecting schools? Schools are the one place on Earth that people look to to “fix” what is wrong with society by educating our youth and preparing them to take on the issues that society has created.

One solution I believe we must do is take a look at our corrections system in Michigan. We rank nationally at the top in the number of people we incarcerate. We also spend the most money per prisoner annually than any other state in the union. Now, I like to be at the top of lists, but this is one ranking that I don’t believe Michigan wants to be on top of.

Consider the life of a Michigan prisoner. They get three square meals a day. Access to free health care. Internet. Cable television. Access to a library. A weight room. Computer lab.