The 5 Teachers You Meet in Heaven: What It Really Takes to Save Our Schools | Yohuru Williams

The 5 Teachers You Meet in Heaven: What It Really Takes to Save Our Schools | Yohuru Williams:

The 5 Teachers You Meet in Heaven: What It Really Takes to Save Our Schools

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of delivering commencement addresses to the graduates of the Read Middle School and the Metropolitan Business Academy Magnet High School in Bridgeport and New Haven, Connecticut respectively. The student speakers at both schools thanked their principals and teachers for helping prepare them for the next chapters in their lives -- chapters, of course, yet to be written. Their remarks, nonetheless, were far from perfunctory as evidenced by the heartwarming displays of affection students from both schools showed for their teachers. It is a safe bet that all they imagine regarding the significance of the connections they made will prove not only true but also richly rewarding in the future. They only have to look around to see why.

There are abundant examples of the many ways in which teachers change lives. During his acceptance speech for the Tony Awards top honor, Best Musical of 2015, producer Joey Parnes, for example, made it a point to thank "two of my many teachers" as well as "two of my newest teachers" emphasizing the importance of lifelong learning. During the same ceremony, actor Neil Patrick Harris likewise acknowledged his former "teachers in small town New Mexico." He explained, "When sports were the only option, you showed creativity has a place in the world." These are wonderful and much needed nods to the importance of and need for continued support of music and arts education. They also illustrate the deep, if not always-obvious ways, teachers can inspire greatness through a challenging assignment, a stimulating discussion, a few well-timed words of encouragement, the unbridled enthusiasm of a librarian, some constructive feedback on a piece of music or art, a successful entry at the science fair or the special attention of a club leader or coach. It is an aspect of the art of teaching that long-term educators cherish.

Given the continued attacks on the teaching profession from so-called corporate education reformers, these displays of gratitude and emotion are especially welcome The 5 Teachers You Meet in Heaven: What It Really Takes to Save Our Schools | Yohuru Williams:

Education Health ALERT!: United Nations warns GERMs spreading worldwide #NN15 | Cloaking Inequity

Education Health ALERT!: United Nations warns GERMs spreading worldwide #NN15 | Cloaking Inequity:

Education Health ALERT!: United Nations warns GERMs spreading worldwide #NN15

The world is experiencing the spread of privatizing GERMs (Global Education Reform Movements).

School “reformers” are pressing a variety of “school choice” and “market-based” policies that move the control of schools from democratic control to private control. Market-based approaches such as vouchers, charters, and parent trigger take the control of schools out of the hands of democratically elected governmental officials and local communities.

Not only are the spreading “choice” and “market-based” policies across the United States, but the world is also facing privatization efforts. The United Nations recently convened a meeting to address the GERMs. I will begin with a quick discussion of primary domestic privatization efforts and then segue to the global pushback.

The two most prominent forms of private control pressed in educational policy in the United States are charters and vouchers. Choice proponents focus on the limitations of traditional public schools but rarely discuss the predominance of the peer-reviewed research literature that demonstrates limited or no effect of choice (i.e. vouchers and charters) on student success. Are there examples of student success in charters? Of course, as is there also in public schools. However, the most prominent CREDO study of charter schools across the nation showed that nationwide only 15% of charters perform better than traditional neighborhood public schools.

While it is true that you can find an occasional peer-reviewed study that shows small effects for vouchers, the predominance of the research literature in the United States and elsewhere in the world shows no statistical significance or limited effects. What is also notable about the rare voucher study that shows a positive effect is that they are typically churned out by researchers primarily funded by foundations that are ideologically privatization advocates (aka Kool-Aid drinkers). What charters and vouchers clearly do is hand the control of the capital in schools to religious organizations, politically appointed boards and/or corporations.

Parent Trigger is a policy where parents are allowed to vote to turn over a public school to private control. Parent Trigger is parent empowerment without the empowerment. Parental involvement without the involvement. Why? Education Health ALERT!: United Nations warns GERMs spreading worldwide #NN15 | Cloaking Inequity:

NEW CTA PRESIDENT | ERIC HEINS - California Teachers Association

- California Teachers Association

CTA PRESIDENT | ERIC HEINS

CTA President Eric Heins took office on June 26, 2015 along with CTA Vice-President Theresa Montano & Secretary/Treasurer David Goldberg.

CURMUDGUCATION: How AFT Blew It

CURMUDGUCATION: How AFT Blew It:

How AFT Blew It

I wouldn't devote one more post to deconstructing Randi Weingarten's early-bird Christmas gift to Hillary Clinton except that I'm an NEA member, and I'm living in fear that NEA president Lily Ekelsen Garcia's administration will lead us down the same path.

Arguing about Clinton (or Weingarten for that matter) is a tricky dance. Clinton tends to have a destabilizing effect on the brains of people who don't like her, who proceed to froth at the mouth at start ranting about conspiracies tortured enough make a truther blush. My opposition to Clinton (andsupport for Bernie Sanders) is not based on any belief that she is a terrible human being, a crazy-awful person, or some evil mastermind bitch on wheels. My reluctance to support her is not even based on my perception that she is extraordinarily inauthentic (though I think that magnifies her other issues). I just don't think she is remotely a supporter of public education or the teachers who work there. I think she would be perfectly comfortable continuing the exact same policies that we've suffered under for the past fifteen years and in fact would prefer to continue with them.

The counter-argument is that she's electable while Sanders is a modern George McGovern, beloved by liberals and doomed in the general election. Maybe Clinton is electable (though if that's the case I'd ask why? Could it be that she's electable because, other than her lack of a penis, she is indistinguishable from a Republican candidate). And there's a case to be made that endorsing early and ahead of the pack earns you a better voice in policy discussions.

But if she is electable, nobody's pretending it won't be a tough sell. And that's how AFT blew it.

Let me take a moment to tell you how I have always handled advising students who are in charge of putting on Prom. First, it takes months-- mooonnnnnnths. Because we make sure every student on class council has had a chance to propose an idea and explain that idea. Then students break into groups and they research and pitch the ideas. And then they discuss the ideas until every single person has been heard just as much as they want to be. And then they decide.

The process is long and involved and inefficient and often results in exactly the same theme-and-CURMUDGUCATION: How AFT Blew It:

NY's new education commissioner on Common Core, teacher evals & more | syracuse.com

NY's new education commissioner on Common Core, teacher evals & more | syracuse.com:

NY's new education commissioner on Common Core, teacher evals & more

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The state's new education leader, MaryEllen Elia, wants to be known as a teachers' commissioner.

"I am a teacher," Elia said today. "I think of myself as a teacher."

That means more support for teachers to implement Common Core standards. It means better testing with quicker results. And, to Elia, it means using teacher evaluations as an important and meaningful way to measure teachers' abilities.

"My role right now is to go out and listen to some of the concerns people have," Elia said during an hourlong interview with Syracuse Media Group's editorial board. Those listening sessions have included teachers, superintendents, parents' groups and media. This morning, she met with Syracuse's schools superintendent, Dr. Sharon Contreras; this afternoon, she was to meet with superintendents from Syracuse-area schools.

Here's are a few of the issues she touched on today:

The Common Core"I'm very committed to the implementation of the Common Core," she said.

Many teachers, she said, also are embracing the new teaching methods and seeing good results among students.

But teachers need more support to do shift to that pedagogy, she added.

"They need more time," she said. "We've got to step back and give teachers in the state the opportunities to get more accustomed and feel more comfortable...I think we have some work to do there," she said.

Teacher evaluationsEvaluation is a way to figure out if those new teaching methods are working, Elia said. At her last job, as superintendent in Hillsboro County, Fla., Elia added peer reviews and mentors to the evaluation system.

"I'm totally in favor of evaluations for teachers and making that valuable for them," she said.

The biggest components of evaluations, she said, are immediate feedback and striving for continuous improvement.

Elia also said evaluations should not be used as a yardstick to get rid of a certain amount of teachers. "That's not my agenda," she said.

Student testsElia said obtaining testing results more quickly will help teachers and parents better assess what's happening in the classrooms. Part of that will include moving some of New York's standardized tests to a computer-based form.

"We've got to start moving toward that," she said.

Right now, all New York public school students take standardized tests with pencils and paper. Going to computers will take time. It will be at least two years before pilot programs begin.

The community must step upSuccessful districts need involvement from the community, Elia said. And that's in NY's new education commissioner on Common Core, teacher evals & more | syracuse.com:

Now They Want to Make Money On Your Babies - Pre-K and Charter Schools

Pre-K and Charter Schools: Where State Policies Create Barriers to Collaboration? | The Thomas B. Fordham Institute:

Now They Want to Make Money On  Your Babies - Pre-K and Charter Schools

Pre-K and Charter Schools: Where State Policies Create Barriers to Collaboration

July 14, 2015

Foreword by Michael J. Petrilli and Amber M. Northern
Report by Sara Mead and Ashley LiBetti Mitchel

Download the full report, foreword and executive summary, and the base report.

In Pre-K and Charter Schools: Where State Policies Create Barriers to Collaboration, authors Sara Mead and Ashley LiBetti Mitchel examine thirty-six jurisdictions that have both charter schools and state-funded pre-K programs to determine where charters can provide state-funded pre-K. Among the findings:

• Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia have both state-funded pre-K and charter laws. Of those, thirty-two have at least one charter school serving preschoolers.
• Charter schools in all but four states face at least one significant barrier to offering state pre-K. Nine have statutory or policy barriers that preclude charter schools from offering state-funded pre-K; twenty-three other states technically permit charters to offer state-funded pre-K but have created practical barriers that significantly limit their ability to do so in practice.

The most common practical barriers include low funding levels, small pre-K programs, barriers to kindergarten enrollment, and local district monopolies on pre-K funds.

Recommendations for state policymakers:

• Ensure that the state's definition of a "charter school" includes pre-K in the activities or grade levels that charters are permitted to offer.
• Establish clear policies that allow charter schools operating publicly funded pre-K to enroll the children served by those programs directly into their kindergarten classes.
• Make certain that charter schools have equal access to state pre-K funds.

Recommendations for federal policymakers:

• Include pre-K in the federal definition of "charter school."
• Ensure that federal preschool programs, including Head Start, provide charters equitable access to funding.

State ProfilesPre-K and Charter Schools: Where State Policies Create Barriers to Collaboration? | The Thomas B. Fordham Institute:

Common Core Opt-Out Debate: Parents Fight For Standardized Testing Rights

Common Core Opt-Out Debate: Parents Fight For Standardized Testing Rights:

Common Core Opt-Out Debate: Parents Fight For Standardized Testing Rights

On a recent Thursday morning designated for testing at his Colorado middle school, Jack Spiegel commenced to following what had become his daily routine: He woke up, got dressed by 6:45 a.m., sat down the kitchen table and ate a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats. But then the sixth grader broke from his normal course of events -- and school administrators' expectations -- by staying home. Jack and his other school-aged siblings would not be among the students taking their annual exams, his mother decided.

"I wrote a letter just saying they're not going to participate," Ilana Spiegel said later that day. "The laws are immoral and [unjust] and are hurting kids. People aren't listening to parents and educators and students...this was the only thing to do."

Jack's mom is not alone when it comes to that train of thought. Though there's no official count, hundreds of thousands of students across the country reportedly opted out of spring standardized tests based on controversial Common Core standards, which were instituted not long ago throughout most of the country. Because there's no legal precedent for this, some students were disciplined. Federal aid was threatened. But now, as scores were calculated in the summertime lull, lawmakers from Colorado to Maine were pushing state legislation that would secure parents' rights to keep their kids from taking the tests. They argue the so-called opt-out bills not only get families involved in the discussion around the contentious educational initiative but also give them a chance to start taking it down.

Common Core, a national set of English language and math guidelines that dictate what students should be able to do at certain grade levels, was adopted by more than 40 states in 2010. Since then the implementation has been rocky, with critics arguing that the standards didn't cater to a diverse student audience and teachers weren't prepared for the new curriculum. Common Core-aligned standardized exams, most of them developed by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and the Common Core Opt-Out Debate: Parents Fight For Standardized Testing Rights:

Law allows for opt outs of standardized tests | Polk County Itemizer-Observer

Law allows for opt outs of standardized tests | Polk County Itemizer-Observer:

Law Allows For Opt Outs Of Standardized Tests

If school districts don’t meet 95 percent participation rates, they could stand to lose federal money

SALEM — The landscape of statewide assessments — currently Smarter Balanced Assessments — is in question after Gov. Kate Brown signed a law allowing parents to more easily opt children out.

#The law is not without controversy, as roughly $140 million in federal funding statewide is dependent on at least 95 percent of students participating in the standardized tests.

Buzz Brazeau

#Last year, only about 10 students were excused from the tests in Central School District, said Buzz Brazeau, superintendent.

#Whether or not the new law will affect participation rates next year is difficult to say.

#“It’s hard for me to tell,” he said. “I would hope (we don’t get more opting out), but I think it depends on how well people are informed.”

#For some, including Central Education Association president and CHS English teacher Ben Gorman, the new law is a win for educators and parents.

#“My guess is that, when parents realize that the test data isn’t actually used to help their individual student, many will decide any activity in which their child learns something is preferable to an unnecessary test,” Gorman said.

#Kimber Townsend is a mother of two Central students, one was a junior last year and the other attended Talmadge Middle School. She opted both of her children out of Smarter Balanced last year, calling it a family decision.

#A couple factors contributed to that decision.

#“I work in the College of Education at Western Oregon University,” she said. “I hear conversations about standardized testing from faculty, the dean and administration. How do we feel about it, how will this affect our students (at WOU). Standardized testing goes against every best practice that we teach our student teachers.”

#Standardized tests are developed by people who make tests, not by educators, Townsend said.

#“With more and more blended classrooms, all learning levels and skill levels in the same room, standardized testing doesn’t work,” she said. “They’re not standardized students.”

#Perhaps a bigger motive behind opting out her students was because of the missed classroom time.

#“When my student says to me, these are challenging classes, what happens if I miss four days — they actually pull them (students) out and coach them how to pass,” Townsend said. “Four days of testing, plus prep time.”

#Brazeau said Smarter Balanced took roughly 11,500 hours of testing time last year.

#Gorman said the time spent testing gets in the way of teaching.

#“We have to give up significant instructional time to testing every year,” he said. “Combine that with one of the shortest school years in the country, and Oregon’s kids get almost a full year less instruction (over the course of 12 years) than students from most states.”

Michelle Johnstone

#Michelle Johnstone, Dallas School District’s new superintendent, said she agrees that students spend too much time taking state assessments.

#“The thing that worries me is how much time it takes,” she said, adding it’s counterintuitive to requirements schools increase time students spend in the classroom.

#That’s especially true when the results aren’t provided to the districts in a timely manner, she said.

#That being said, she understands the need for testing in some form to make sure teachers and districts are doing their job educating children.

#“Kids have to be measured somehow,” she said. “Now, do we have to do it excessively? No.”

#Previous to Dallas, Johnstone was a superintendent in Colorado, where the Legislature also allowed for more opt outs.

#The federal government put the state on notice that it could lose funding if too many students weren’t tested.

#She’s worried the same thing will happen in Oregon.

#“It makes me a little nervous to say parents can opt out for any reason,” she said, adding:

#“It puts districts in a really bad spot.”

#The threat of losing funding should enough parents in Oregon opt out of the testing is real, but it may not Law allows for opt outs of standardized tests | Polk County Itemizer-Observer:

Hillary's Family Ties to School Privatizers, and Diane Ravitch's Review of Hoosier School Heist | Black Agenda Report

Hillary's Family Ties to School Privatizers, and Diane Ravitch's Review of Hoosier School Heist | Black Agenda Report:

Hillary's Family Ties to School Privatizers, and Diane Ravitch's Review of Hoosier School Heist

By Doug Martin at Hoosier School Heist Blog, and Diane Ravitch

Last week the American Federation of Teachers endorsed Hillary Clinton's presidential candidacy, without consulting more than a token slice of the union's membership. It's hard not to know that AFT leaders have turned their backs on teachers and thrown in with the privatizing politicians and consultants. Hillary too has her own family ties to school privatizers.

Hillary's Family Ties to School Privatizers, and Diane Ravitch's Review of Hoosier School Heist

By Doug Martin at Hoosier School Heist Blog, and Diane Ravitch

1. Hillary and the Privatizers

A while back, Hillary Clinton, speaking the talk of the working class as all Wall Street DC Democrats do, lashed out at top hedge fund managers for “making more than all of America’s kindergarten teachers combined.”  Hillary’s statement was mere deception. Not because it wasn't the truth; but because Hillary happens to love hedge fund managers and banksters.

Hedge fund managers seek to privatize education and steal pensions from teachers, as I detail in my bookHoosier School Heist, and wipe out what is left of the middle class.  And Hillary is all about that. 

In fact, Hillary’s son-in-law, Marc Mezvinsky, is a hedge fund manager.  His fund, Eaglevale Partners, recently lost a little money in Greece, a country which cannot pay back loans to billionaires, banksters, and hedge fund managers who have set in place legalized stealing in the form of disaster capitalism.  

One of the chief structures behind disaster capitalism across the planet is the World Bank, which Hillary once wanted to lead. 

As a New York Times piece noted, Eaglevale Partners is a “fund that makes trades based on global economic and political events.” Several investors in Hillary’s son-in-law’s hedge fund, as the New York Times alsopointed out, have ties to the Clintons and have even funded Hillary’s campaign chest. Goldman Sachs is one of these.  As of November 2010, Goldman Sachs, through its Charter School Loan Facility, was funding 130 charter schools across the US.  Hillary’s son-in-law was once a Goldman Sachs employee.

As for Bill?  Bill Clinton has been behind the for-profit charter school movement since its inception, as many now know. Last year, he even spoke at a Nashville charter school operated by one of Chelsea’s old college sweethearts. 

Recently an outfit spreading charter schools in India was honored at the Clinton Global Initiative, and MarcMezvinsky, Clinton’s hedge fund son-in-law, was there for the photo-op.

Disaster capitalism is the leading force behind the assault on public schools.  And be sure that Hillary, hedge fund managers, Goldman Sachs, and Randi Weingarten will help further its agenda.

DC is a lost cause.  And so are the teachers unions. Sleep good at night. Focus your energy on the state level and make plans for a real revolution, before global warming kills us all off. 

Doug Martin is the author of Hoosier School Heist : How Corporations and Theocrats Stole Democracy From Public Education, a book being read in over 130 cities and towns and 78 Indiana counties, 23 states, and the District of Columbia.  A regular guest on national and Indiana radio talk shows such as Justin Oakley’s Just Let Me Teach and Amos Brown’s Afternoons with Amos, Dr. Martin’s research has been or will soon be featured in the Washington Post Answer Sheet , ABC’sNightline, and the Associated Press. 

2. Diane Ravitch, review of Hoosier School Heist

Every so often, I run into someone who says that he or she cannot take seriously the claim that there is such a thing as a “privatization” movement. They think that charter schools are public schools (I do not) and they scoff at any concern about for-profit schools. They say things like, “There have always been for-profit businesses in education, selling tests, textbooks, supplies, etc., why does it matter if some corporations run Hillary's Family Ties to School Privatizers, and Diane Ravitch's Review of Hoosier School Heist | Black Agenda Report:

New Education Reform PAC Launches With Help from Bowser - Loose Lips

New Education Reform PAC Launches With Help from Bowser - Loose Lips:

New Education Reform PAC Launches With Help from Bowser 

Candidates in the 2016 D.C. Council and State Board of Education races will have another PAC to court. Democrats for Education Reform-D.C., a new PAC with a connected independent expenditure, is looking to fund candidates in next year's races.

The PAC, the local branch of Democrats for Education Reform, launched last week at the home of former Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu. Muriel Bowser gave a speech, while former Mayor Tony Williams, Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd, and Ward 8 Councilmember LaRuby May also attended. (Todd and May won their seats in April with help from DFER.)

DFER-D.C. Director Catharine Bellinger says the group wants to back candidates who will "expand access to quality seats in schools." For her, that means backing flexibility for principals and increasing attendance at successful schools.

Prominent DFER critic Diane Ravitch, meanwhile, has called the group's national organization "the go-to place for candidates who hope to tap into Wall Street campaign funds."

Bellinger says the PAC hasn't decided on which races to back candidates in New Education Reform PAC Launches With Help from Bowser - Loose Lips:

PAA Week July 19-25: Final Schedule and Session Links | Parents Across America

PAA Week July 19-25: Final Schedule and Session Links | Parents Across America:

PAA Week July 19-25: Final Schedule and Session Links 

Time to get ready for PAA Week! Let’s go!

All public sessions will be recorded and posted after the session ends.

Day 1 – Sunday, July 19, 8PM ET: Kick-off (internal PAA session)

This session is for PAA chapter and affiliate leaders only; invitations are going out through our internal system. If you have questions about your status, or are a leader who did not receive a link for this meeting and think you should have, please contact Julie at JuleW@parentsacrossamerica.org.

Day 2 – Monday, July 20, 1:30 PM ET: Focus on Messaging (public session 1st hour) 

Join PAA and FairTest’s super media director, Bob Schaeffer, for a one-hour public webinar on ways to get our message across when “the other side” has all the money, clout and media attention.The public presentation and Q and A will be followed by a half hour internal session for PAA chapter and affiliate leaders only.

Here’s the access information for Monday:

Please join our meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.

https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/728049917

Join the conference call.
Dial-in number 641-715-3277

Participant Access Code: 325309#

Day 3 – Tuesday, July 21, 1:30 PM ET: Next steps in our race, poverty and education work (public session)

PAA members will share the disturbing and powerful information we’ve gathered about the impact of race, poverty, and cultural bias on educational opportunity.

Now that we know, where do we go from here? Strengthening PAA’s equity agenda.

Here’s the access information for Tuesday:

      Please join our meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.

https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/702194701

Join the conference call.
Dial-in number 641-715-3277
Participant Access code: 325309#

Day 4 – Wednesday, July 22, 11 AM-12:30 PM Focus on federal advocacy (public session)

PAA members will share our Capitol Hill Toolkit and our experiences talking with Congress.

Here’s the access information for Wednesday:

Please join our meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/847230637

Join the conference call:

Dial-in number 641-715-3277

Participant Access Code: 325309#

NO SESSION ON THURSDAY

Day 5 – Friday, July 24, 11 AM ET: PAA’s test stress and children’s mental health (public session)

PAA members will share our preliminary materials on the impact of testing on children’s mental health.

Here’s the access information for Friday:

Please join our meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/839924765

Join the conference call.

Dial-in number 641-715-3277

Participant Access Code: 325309#

Day 6 – Saturday, July 26, 11 AM ET: Wrap up (internal PAA session)

- See more at: http://parentsacrossamerica.org/paa-week-july-19-25-final-schedule-session-links/#sthash.SRWsYko3.dpuf