Schools Matter: Corporate School Boarding Indy Style

Schools Matter: Corporate School Boarding Indy Style:

Corporate School Boarding Indy Style

by Storm

Guest Post by Doug Martin, author and contributor at The Common Errant
Doug Martin is doing the heavy lifting in Indiana--the work our Fourth Estate seems to have been hired to ignore.  There is one very bright exception (shining much more so because so isolated in the journalistic sky): Karen Francisco who writes "The Learning Curve" at the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.

It happened in New Orleans, it happened in Denver, it happened in Florida with the Vice President's brother, and now the mega-rich are buying the Indianapolis Public School Board race, with many of the same hedge fund managers and the Walmart family tossing their dirty money into the ring. Local grassroots education activist John Harris Loflin, who authored a truly progressive plan for IPS that the media seldommentions, breaks the corporate funding down for us in an email sent out a few days ago, noting the following 

Throughout November: Teacher Evaluation — Whole Child Education

Throughout November: Teacher Evaluation — Whole Child Education:

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

Throughout November: Teacher Evaluation

November 5, 2012 by Klea Scharberg

Teacher quality is the most important in-school factor influencing student learning and achievement. Research shows that students with high-performing teachers can progress three times as fast as students with low-performing teachers and each student deserves access to highly effective teachers in every subject. In turn, all teachers deserve a fair and accurate assessment of their skills, how they perform in the classroom, and how they can improve. Teacher effectiveness is dependent on accurate and fair evaluations, based on multiple measures, including—but not solely based around—their students' performance in the subjects they teach.

Teachers should be evaluated based on their performance in their own subject area using a range of criteria, including observations, peer reviews, parental or student input, and analysis of agreed-on student learning evidence. Join us throughout November as we take a look at models of effective evaluation that produce results that truly benefit students, schools, and educators.

The Whole Child Blog

Check out the Whole Child Blog throughout November for contributions from experts and practitioners in the field, whole child partners, and ASCD staff who will share free resources, provide examples of teacher evaluation models, and answer your questions. Be sure to leave your questions, ideas, and stories in the comments.

What Works in Teacher Evaluation

Visit the What Works section for a one-stop (free!) shop to explore issues that must be transformed for us to successfully educate the whole child. Our topic pages are a collection of resources on the topics we address each month. This month, we'll add resources to the Teacher Evaluation topic page. Tell us what has worked in your school and with your students. E-mail us and share resources, research, and examples.

Social Networking

Connect (if you haven't already) with the Whole Child Initiative on Facebook and Twitter to be part of changing the conversation about the importance of school-based physical activity with nearly 15,000 people from around the globe.

Daily Kos: The “Naïve Expert” Problem in Market Paradigm and Education Reform

Daily Kos: The “Naïve Expert” Problem in Market Paradigm and Education Reform:

The “Naïve Expert” Problem in Market Paradigm and Education Reform

by rss@dailykos.com (plthomasEdD)

In a letter written to Charles Thompson in 1787, Thomas Jefferson stated: "The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees, in every object, only the traits which favor that theory." The dangers inherent in the ideologue may have been central to Jefferson's faith in democracy wedded to his personal and political commitment to the necessity for universal public education.
Without a well-informed citizenry, what chance did democracy have to seek the ideals standing before humans—ideals such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
Rarely do those of us fortunate to be living in that democracy—that possibility—have the discussion about the inherent tension between whose voice matters (every adult holding the equal power of one-person-one-vote) and the disproportionate weight of expertise.
Nested in the education reform debate, particularly within the voice of free market advocates, lies the 

My High School Feminism Class Marks International Day of the Girl 2012 « Feminist Teacher

My High School Feminism Class Marks International Day of the Girl 2012 « Feminist Teacher:

My High School Feminism Class Marks International Day of the Girl 2012

by feministteacher

Click to view slideshow.The students in my high school feminism class marked this year’s first International Day of the Girl by leading a phenomenal school-wide assembly for their peers. We partnered with 10×10 Educate Girls to learn about the state of girls’ education globally as well as with our partner school in India, the all-girls Shri Shikshayatan Schoolin Kolkata.
In addition to sharing information about girls education globally, my students showed videos from a range of organizations including those from 10×10 and the Girl Effect. The young women and men in the class highlightedstatistics on girls education and several girls shared personal stories about growing up at the intersection of race, class, gender, and sexuality in the U.S.
Across the globe, high school girls at Shri Shikshayatan sponsored a day of panels related to infanticide or sex 

Shanker Blog » New Books For The Youngest Victims Of Hurricane Sandy

Shanker Blog » New Books For The Youngest Victims Of Hurricane Sandy:

New Books For The Youngest Victims Of Hurricane Sandy

by Shanker Institute Staff

Citizens across the United States have been deeply moved by the scenes of devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy. At the Albert Shanker Institute, we offer our condolences to those who have lost loved ones, and to the thousands upon thousands who have lost their homes.
Educators and those who care about our public schools can make a special contribution to the recovery efforts. One of the great losses in the flooding that came with Hurricane Sandy was books. The Albert Shanker Institute is partnering with the organization First Book in a drive to replenish school, classroom, and home libraries that were destroyed. We are asking our friends and fellow educators to join in this campaign: your help will ensure that children in need will have new books — stories at bedtime, the chance to be transported to another world, and the opportunity to return to normalcy.
As a result of contributions from the Albert Shanker Institute, the AFT, and other First Book partners, your contribution to this drive will be matched, dollar for dollar.
With the resources of First Book, which replaced five million books after Hurricane Katrina, the cost of a single book is only $2.50, so your contribution will have maximum effect. A modest contribution of $25 on your part will buy twenty books for children who have lost so much. Your contributions are charitable donations which are tax deductible.
You can make your contribution here.

School Reform, But From Whose Perspective? | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

School Reform, But From Whose Perspective? | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights:

School Reform, But From Whose Perspective?

by Cheryl S. Williams

Public K-12 schooling is a popular subject in all forms of media these days, with the majority of coverage highly critical of both the professionals who work within the system and the performance of the students with whom they work. Prominent national leaders from government, corporations, and philanthropic organizations, having positioned themselves as "reformers," hold the bully pulpit in not only proclaiming education professionals as inadequate in ability and practice, but also in controlling access to significant resources to define and support reform efforts.
Those of us who have spent our careers in public education have always welcomed interest and enthusiasm from those outside the profession when that involvement focuses on unique perspectives and skill sets they can bring to the learning environment, including financial support, assistance with new technologies, participation in career days, and internship opportunities for students. We also welcome open discussion and the sharing of experience that can contribute to new ways of thinking about the challenges we face in our daily work with students.
read more

Jersey Jazzman: You Don't Mess With the Rocketship

Jersey Jazzman: You Don't Mess With the Rocketship:

You Don't Mess With the Rocketship

by Duke

Yesterday, I detailed how an "obscene" amount of money is coming into the Perth Amboy, NJ school board race. Three of the wealthy Californians who have pumped towns of thousands of dollars into the campaign - Greg Penner, Arthur Rock, and David Goldberg - are also partners in Rocketship Education, a charter school management company.

It turns out that Rocketship is very aggressively involved in California school board politics:

The six-figure spending by independent committees highlights the muscle of charter proponents in Santa Clara County, where the county Board of Education is rapidly approving charter schools that compete for students and funding with established public schools.

The most aggressive campaign appears to be aimed at Anna Song, who is running for her fourth term on the county Board of Education.

The Santa Clara County Schools Political Action Committee has raised nearly $200,000 from Jan. 1 through Oct. 20, and financed auto-dial calls plus four mailers slamming Song and three supporting her challenger, trustee David Neighbors.

"It's an outrageous amount of money to take out one school board member," said 

Diane in the Evening 11-5-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Don't Forget to Vote For PUBLIC Education

DC Teacher to Washington State Voters

by dianerav

Erich Martel retired as a much-respected veteran social studies teacher in the DC public schools.
He offered this warning to voters on the other side of the continent, in Washington State:
From: Erich Martel
To: voters in Washington State
November 5, 2012
Charter Expansion (Ballot Initiative I-1240) Will Harm, Not Help, Public School Students in Washington State: Insights from the Other Washington, the Washington (DC) Public Schools
- Charter schools are private schools on the public dole:
– Unlike real public schools, they are not obligated to keep and teach the students they enroll
- They boost their standardized test scores and graduation rates by transferring unwanted students back to the real public school system or LEA.
- Charter advocates, like the Walton & Gates Foundations, aim to break up public schools and replace them with a lots of charter schools, run by charter boards that report to an appointed authorizing body over which neither the public nor the state legislature has oversight authority.
- They view the public the same way they view teachers’ due process rights: obstacles to arbitrary management 

Help Hurricane Victims By Sending Books

by dianerav

The Albert Shanker Institute is collecting money to buy books for children in the devastated areas.
Please read this and send whatever you can.
Every dime will go for books, not a penny for administration.

Rightwing Groups Pour $$$$$ into Tennessee

by dianerav

StudentsFirst and another far-right group called Tennessee Federation for Children are pumping huge amounts of money into state legislative races for candidates who support vouchers and charters.
Tennessee Federation for Children is affiliated with the pro-voucher organization called American Federation for Children, run by billionaire Betsy DeVos of Michigan. AFS honored Michelle Rhee and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin for their efforts on behalf of vouchers in 2010.
This report in the Tessessean says:
The Tennessee PAC affiliated with StudentsFirst, a Sacramento, Calif.-based organization led by former 

TFA: The Goal is Power

by dianerav

Jersey Jazzman points out what has become apparent: Teach for America is not really about teaching. It is about training the leaders who will take power in the education system.
Some work for Senators and members of Congress. Some are embedded in state and city school systems at the highest levels. Some have ascended to six-figure positions in education before the tender age of 30, doubling what classroom teachers make.
Almost every day brings another announcement of a TFA appointment to a high-level position. In Louisiana, the TFA director of charter schools in New Orleans was elected to the State Board, where she votes on contracts for–guess what–TFA.
In Dallas, a TFA alum is in charge of human resources. In Louisiana, a TFA alum of 27 was put in charge of 

The Quick and the Ed » Vouchers Redux: The Possible Unintended Consequences of Victory

The Quick and the Ed » Vouchers Redux: The Possible Unintended Consequences of Victory:

Vouchers Redux: The Possible Unintended Consequences of Victory

by Peter Cookson Jr.

Some issues just won’t go away. Despite two hundred years of debate, Americans still don’t agree about the proper relationship between government and religion. Pity poor James Madison who after writing the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights still had to take quill in hand and argue against the establishment of a state religion. But even his mighty quill was not enough. There remains a movement to marry state and religion. Case in point: Tomorrow, Floridians will go to the polls to vote on Amendment 8 or the Florida Religious Freedom Amendment.
The proposed ballot question reads: Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution providing that no individual or entity may be denied, on the basis of religious identity of belief, governmental benefits, funding, or other support, except as required by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, and deleting the prohibition against using revenues from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or 

SOS Hurricane Sandy Student and Teacher Support FundSave Our Schools

SOS Hurricane Sandy Student and Teacher Support FundSave Our Schools:

SOS Hurricane Sandy Student and Teacher Support Fund

by Server

Save Our Schools Response to Hurricane Sandy

Please Register for/Donate to the
Hurricane Sandy Student and Teacher Support Fund

Save Our Schools calls on all local, state and federal authorities to spare no expense in rushing aide to thousands of school children and teachers affected by hurricane Sandy. The devastating loss of homes, clothing, books and school supplies will result in a serious and prolonged disruption to education. Schools that have suffered destruction from flooding will need immediate assistance to replace materials and restore a healthy, safe environment for all students and employees. Students experiencing the trauma of fear and loss need counseling and other social services to ensure their emotional health and optimize their ability to continue learning. We need to do all that we can to make certain adequate services are provided. Building a sense of connection and care, and providing opportunities to process with others what has just occurred should be a key focus of instruction at this time.
We therefore urge that governments and agencies take the following steps:

• Set up distribution centers in affected communities to provide area teachers and students with free supply of books and school supplies
• Provide immediate assistance to damaged schools to restore all supplies and a healthy and safe environment
• Dispatch counselors and other social service and medical personnel to schools, shelters and community centers to provide support to children and families affected by the storm
• Provide bus service and other transportation to children and teachers in affected areas so that they may resume education at their local (or nearby) schools.
• In all communities affected by the storm, provide free breakfast, lunch and dinner to all students and their families at their own or nearby schools.
• Enact an immediate moratorium on administration of all high stakes standardized testing in the states affected by the storm.

Save Our Schools also calls on its members and endorsers to support communities in need by:

• Supporting our efforts in urging all governments and agencies to take the above steps
• Donating clothing, books and school supplies to children and teachers at shelters, distribution centers and schools
• Volunteering at local shelters to provide educational and recreational activities to children
• Wherever possible, volunteering time and energy to the restoration efforts in affected communities
• Donating generously to the Save Our Schools Hurricane Sandy Student and Teacher Support Fundthrough this link Contribute.

* Please Note
All funds will be used to help teachers, students and their families in need of books and school supplies and will be distributed through union locals, area PTA’s and other education advocacy organizations.
SOS understands as other organizations do, that monetary contributions are best and that Small items such as collections of food, used clothing, and shoes often must be cleaned, sorted, and repackaged. This impedes the valuable resources of money, time, and personnel that are needed for other aspects of our relief operation.
~ Source; The American Red Cross.

UPDATE: The “school conversion” clause in Initiative 1240, the parent trigger and ALEC model legislation | Seattle Education

The “school conversion” clause in Initiative 1240, the parent trigger and ALEC model legislation | Seattle Education:

The “school conversion” clause in Initiative 1240, the parent trigger and ALEC model legislation

by seattleducation2011

The “school conversion” clause in Initiative 1240, the parent trigger and ALEC model legislation

Posted on November 5, 2012 by seattleducation2011 | Leave a comment

There’s a reason why Stand for Children doesn’t want to refer to the school conversion clause in Initiative 1240 as the parent trigger. If you were to Google “parent trigger”, articles come up about how it hasdivided communities, how it has been used as a tool for charter operators to take over existing school buildings and how it started with Steve Barr, then the CEO of the Green Dot charter chain to open a charter school in Compton amidst much uproar by the majority of parents using an existing school building. (Which begs the question, just where do Bill Gates, Alice Walton and Stand for Children see all of these charter schools being located?  The Seattle Public School district is above capacity right now in terms of class space). Oh yeah, and the other reason why Stand for Children denies the fact that the term “school conversion” is not the same as the parent trigger is because the parent trigger has been formalized as a model bill and pushed as legislation in 17 states so far by ALEC.

Even with Steve Barr’s big fail in Compton, CA trying to take over a school building, the Heartland Institute, yes the same one who loves vouchers and 

Parents throughout the US, take note of anti-public school legislation in your state.

Posted on November 5, 2012 by seattleducation2011 | Leave a comment

This is being re-posted from NYC Public School Parents. The original post, written by Parents Across America Founding MemberLeonie Haimson, was titled:

Parents throughout the nation: Use your vote wisely on Tuesday to protect and support your public schools; do not let the privatizers buy your elections!

There are critical elections taking place on Tuesday throughout the country that parents, education advocates, and others who care about preserving and strengthening our public schools need to take notice of and cast their ballot appropriately.  Out-of-state money from billionaires and astroturf groups like Students First are flowing into state races, like this one in Tennessee  and local school board elections, like these  in New Orleans and  New Jersey, to push damaging policies to privatize and digitize our public schools.

There are also referendums and initiatives on the ballot in many states and cities that will affect the future of our public schools for years to come.  In each case, there is tremendous private money being used to facilitate the expansion of charters and vouchers, promote budget cuts, and impose mayoral control, and against allowing elected school boards to protect and support their local public schools.  The hedge funders, billionaires, for-profit charter operators, and right-wingers are using their vast resources to impose their political will, and in most cases are dramatically outspending the good government organizations, education advocates, teachers, and other concerned citizens, who would rather save and strengthen our public schools rather than dismantle them.

For example, there are two statewide referendums on charter schools that people need to vote AGAINST.  The individuals and groups who are pushing them are outspending the opposition in Georgia  twenty to one   and in the state of Washington, more than twelve to one.  If the privateers win out, it will show how the influence of big money can buy elections in the face of local sentiment and good public policy.

•  In Washington State, parents should vote NO on Initiative 1240, which would authorize charter schools to be established in the state for the first time.  Charter schools have already been voted down by the State Legislature six times, including as recently as 2012, and three times by Washington voters.  Yet Bill Gates and his cronies remain determined to overturn the popular will, and have contributed nearly $11 MILLION to achieve this end.  Gates himself has given more than $3 million to the campaign, Alice Walton of Walmart fame has kicked in another $1.7 million, and Gates’ buddies Paul Allen of Microsoft and the Bezos family at Amazon.com have donated millions more.  91 percent of the funding for the massive campaign of this initiative has come from just ten people, all of them billionaires.

Meanwhile, those opposing the initiative include the Washington State PTA, the State Democratic Party, the League of Women Voters, the state Association of School Administrators, the state’s principals, the state teachers union, the Seattle NAACP, El Centro do la Raza, the Seattle Public Schools superintendent and countless school boards. They point out how this initiative would further drain resources from the public schools, which have already been found to be constitutionally underfunded by the courts, and would take accountability out of public hands.  The measure would also allow the privatization of any public school as long as 51 percent of parents voted for it, in an even more radical permutation of the so-called Parent Trigger. In the latest poll, the pro-charter supporters are ahead by nearly 20 points because of the “very lopsided advertising campaign” financed by these ten billionaires; don’t let this Initiative pass!  For more on 1240, visit the No on 1240 website.

• In Georgia, parents should vote NO on Amendment 1, which would create an appointed commission with the power to authorize charter schools over the opposition of democratically elected local school boards and the state Board of Education.  This constitutional amendment is opposed by the state PTA, the state School Superintendent, the Georgia School Boards Association, and many civil rights groups,  who explain how this measure would divert hundreds of millions of dollars annually from the public schools, and into the hands of for-profit corporations, many of them with a lousy record of the schools they currently run, like K12 Inc. According to one report, these new charter schools would also be eligible to receive more state money per pupil than regular public schools.  The vast majority of the contributions  financing the amendment are coming from outside the state, mainly from charter operators, Michelle Rhee’s Students First, Alice Walton, the Koch brothers, and other individuals intent on weakening and privatizing public schools.   Don’t be fooled: here is an explanation of how the amendment has been misleadingly phrased to trick voters, which has already triggered a lawsuit.  For more on why you should vote no on this damaging amendment, see Vote Smart Georgia.

• In Idaho, parents should vote NO on Propositions 1, 2, and 3:  Proposition One would limit the rights of teachers to collectively bargain over working conditions like class size, would effectively eliminate their job security and base their evaluation largely on test scores.  Proposition Two would implement damaging and wasteful merit pay. Proposition Three would spend yet more funding on requiring online learning for students, which was passed into law after substantial contributions from for-profit virtual learning companies to the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna. Many of the same companies, including K12 Inc., have given funds to push this proposition, along with NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who contributed $200,000.  Their involvement was only disclosed after a court order demanding that the shadowy group pushing these propositions reveal its donors.

•  In California, parents should vote YES on both Propositions 30 and 38, to enable the state to raise revenue to prevent hugely damaging budget cuts to public schools, which are already critically underfunded.  More on this from the group Educate the State.  Parents and other concerned citizens should also vote NO on Proposition 32, which would prohibit unions from spending money for political purposes, while exempting Super PACs, hedge-funders, billionaires and thousands of big businesses. The League of Women Voters, among many other good government groups, urges a No vote, as do we.

•   In Arizona, parents should vote YES on Proposition 204, which would make permanent a temporary one percent sales tax, with most of the proceeds going to public schools.  Arizona already has seen the most drastic budget cuts to schools in the nation in recent years, resulting in some of the highest class sizes, and its children cannot afford any more cuts to school funding.  Supporters of Proposition 204 include the Arizona State PTA, Voices for Education and the Southern Arizona Leadership Council; opponents include the state Chamber of Commerce. For more on this Proposition, see the Quality Education and Jobs website.

•  Finally, voters in Bridgeport CT should Vote NO on changing the city charter to eliminate their elected school board, which would allow their mayor to wield unilateral control through an appointed school board.  Earlier last year, the hedge-fund backed, pro-charter lobby group ConnCAN conspired with Teach for America and the mayor of Bridgeport, along with the state’s Governor, to oust Bridgeport’s elected school board in what was essentially an illegal coup.  Their actions were later overturned by the courts.  So now, the pro-privatization lobby is spending a record amount to impose mayoral control through a referendum, with Michelle Rhee’s Student First contributing $97,000 and Mayor Bloomberg another $20,000.

As Diane Ravitch has pointed out, mayoral control has a lousy record; our analysis shows that two cities under mayoral control, Cleveland and NYC, have made the  least progress in raising student achievement since 2003 of any the large urban districts on the national assessments called the NAEPs. Here in NYC, after ten years, mayoral control is hugely unpopular, for we have seen how Bloomberg has ignored the priorities of parents in cutting school budgets, increasing class size, closing neighborhood schools, expanding charters and putting them in existing school buildings where they have squeezed out our public school children. In a poll conducted earlier this year, only 13 percent of New Yorkers said the mayor should retain sole control of the public schools. In Chicago, where mayoral control has existed for 17 years, polls show that the system is equally unpopular: 77 percent of Chicago voters oppose continued mayoral control. In fact, on Tuesday in Chicago, there is an advisory referendum on the ballot, urging the state legislature to allow the city to return to an elected school board.

Kevin Johnson, a former NBA basketball player, who used to run charter schools and who is now mayor of Sacramento and is married to Michelle Rhee, came to Connecticut to campaign for the mayoral control referendum.  John Bagley, also a former professional basketball player who is now an elected member of Bridgeport’s school board wrote a great letter to Johnson a week ago, which concluded this way:

“Maybe “KJ” and his `reformers’ can explain why the city of New Haven, which has an appointed board, has more failing schools than Bridgeport. This is true, despite the presence on their appointed Board of Education of the former director of CONNCAN, the Connecticut leader of takeover policies. I have only one final piece of advice for `KJ’, don’t come into my house and mess with my right to vote!”

This is a message we should all take to heart.

Use your vote, Bridgeport residents and all others throughout the nation who care about public education, while you still have it!  Do not give up your democratic rights and allow the billionaires who send their own children to private schools to buy these elections so they can dismantle, plunder and privatize your public schools.

Zombie Functionalism and the Return of Neo-Instrumentality in Education

Zombie Functionalism and the Return of Neo-Instrumentality in Education:

Zombie Functionalism and the Return of Neo-Instrumentality in Education

by Danny Weil

First printed: August 7th, 2012 at:

http://philoforchange.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/zombie-functionalism-and-the-return-of-neo-instrumentality-in-education/

also, Truthout: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/11757-zombie-functionalism-and-the-return-of-neo-instrumentality-in-education

Tuesday, 25 September 2012 10:46

This article is part of Truthout’s ongoing Public Intellectual Project.

For decades now, the debate in America over education has swerved back and forth between student testing, teacher accountability, standards, competitiveness and what curriculum should contain. With No Child Left Behind ushered in at the beginning of the George W. Bush presidency, America entered into the cartographic reality and morbid morass of high stakes testing, the location on the chess board where the Wall Street financiers and seedy politicians wanted to put public school education after years of neglect and underfunding.  Why?  For not only is the attack on public education one aimed at destroying teacher unions and the public commons in general, but it is also an attack on what is to be taught in classes, the actual methods of instruction, what students are to be thinking about and the educational theories behind a ‘neo-functionality’ that reduces students to mere