Saturday, February 18, 2017

CURMUDGUCATION: Evidence

This work is Romantic because the author used lots of Romantic ideas, and the characters behave in a Romantic way that captures just how very extremely Romantic the work really is. The author has really infused Romanticism into the whole writing in a way that makes in undeniably Romantic.

Welcome to my world. While this is not a direct quote of an actual student essay, it's of a type that English teachers often see. Call it support via assertion, or argument by modifiers (the more adjectives and adverbs you throw in, the more absolutely very clearly definitively true your argument is).

It is one of the few things that the Common Core actually gets right-- if you are going to make a case for a point, you need to provide evidence.

Evidence can take many forms, but it needs to be specific. It needs to be true.

Repetition is not evidence. Here's another archetypical essay paragraph.

Good parents need to be patient, because you need patience to be a good parent. A good parent is able to be patient. If you can't be patient, then you will not be a good parent. Every day, good parents must display patience, because if you are not patient, you cannot be a good parent.

It's hard to say exactly where students pick up the technique of un-supported ideas. Certainly we can reinforce it in school without meaning to. Tests where the student just has to mention a key idea or fact without backing it up help 0push the notion that we just want you to say the right thing. And of course our young humans come with plenty of pre-packaged ideas from home-- it must be true because it's what I learned from my folks, what do you mean I have to back it up with something.

And of course, it is tried and true in our culture that evidence is not really necessary. Yes, I can CURMUDGUCATION: Evidence:

Seattle Schools Community Forum: DeVoss - Not Off to a Good Start

Seattle Schools Community Forum: DeVoss - Not Off to a Good Start:

Not Off to a Good Start

As you may recall, Secretary of Ed Betsy DeVoss, went to a traditional D.C. middle school. There were a few protestors that apparently so intimidated her that she and her handlers left and then went in a different door.

She visited one classroom and then made a comment about the teachers there being "in a receive mode." She went on:

“They’re waiting to be told what they have to do, and that’s not going to bring success to an individual child,” DeVos said. “You have to have teachers who are empowered to facilitate great teaching.”

As you can imagine, that "waiting to be told" remark didn't go over well with teachers who are doing tremendous things.
The tweets from Jefferson Academy:

This is what Sec. DeVos said about our teachers after her visit. Needless to say, we're about to take her to school...

First, the secretary visited the classroom of Ashley Shepherd and Britany Locher, a dynamic co-teaching team that differentiates for the...

needs of students ranging from a first grade level to an eighth Seattle Schools Community Forum: DeVoss - Not Off to a Good Start:

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos' Very Busy First Week - Illustrated

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos' Very Busy First Week - Illustrated

How I Got Schooled at the NAACP Hearing - LA Progressive

How I Got Schooled at the NAACP Hearing - LA Progressive:

How I Got Schooled at the NAACP Hearing

Alice Huffman

After calling for a national moratorium on charter schools until certain concerns were addressed (see below), the NAACP received blowback from charter school advocates. But Jitu Brown, of the Journey for Justice, defended the moratorium in the Washington Post’s education blog, the Answer Sheet, saying, “corporate reform has failed to bring equitable educational opportunities to all children.”

This hearing was one in a series, a listening tour, making its way across the country.

The distinguished members of the Task Force, all pre-eminent civil rights leaders in cities from Boston to Sacramento, states from Mississippi to Minnesota, gathered testimony from people with direct experience of the issues the moratorium seeks to provide the breathing room to address.

There was massive organized presence by charter advocates. One charter supporter stacked the speaker sign-up sheet with people who would speak against the moratorium, by copying a typed-up charter school roster she had brought.

The unions showed up, too. UTLA brought a contingent from Dorsey High School and CSEA came. The Santa Ana Teachers Association’s charter school task force came. Former Education Chair of the California Assembly, Jackie Goldberg, gave public comment.

I was part of a group of the California Badass Teachers Association (BATs), a grassroots group of about 2000 teachers and education activists. I testified as a recovering charter school parent, but what I heard was more important than anything I said.

I go anywhere that people are willing to talk about what charter schools are doing to public education because of their lack of oversight. Few official bodies in California, and perhaps none in Los Angeles, will openly discuss the need for charter school oversight for fear of the powerful California Charter Schools Association lobby (Gubernatorial candidate and California State Treasurer John Chiang is a rare exception).

So the NAACP, the oldest civil rights organization in our country, provided us with a rare opportunity. I was grateful for my two minutes at the mic.

When the charter advocates in the back of the room shouted me down, Alice Huffman, the chair, promptly regained order.

I’m sure for some in the audience it wasn’t my anti-charter message that got them riled up. Some were rightly suspicious of a white Westsider telling them anything about educating urban, black How I Got Schooled at the NAACP Hearing - LA Progressive:

Black History Month Part 3 - The Origin of Racist Ideology

Black History Month Part 3 - The Origin of Racist Ideology:

Black History Month Part 3 - The Origin of Racist Ideology

Please join Internet radio host Dr. James Avington Miller Jr. for the third of a four part series for Black History Month. The series is exploring the 400 year struggle for freedom, justice, and equality affecting African Americans, and how these struggles have contributed to their current social, cultural, social-economic status in the context of a political economy within America.

In this show, Dr. Miller will explain the "Rightness of Whiteness Value Syndrome" – a phase, theory and concept he created in 1972-73. Dr. Miller will explore the origins of this syndrome, and its manifestations, and historical, past, present, and future impact on black and white America.

The show will illuminate the origins of racist ideology, racist political theology, white supremacy, and white rage. Where did this rage come from and when did it manifest?

The final show on February 26 willl focus on the rise and fall of the black middle class elite. Dr. Miller will share his own introduction and induction into this group (their children of high school and college age). when he was a senior in high school.

Listen to Part 1 - The Origin Story - This show will open your eyes and you will see that we owe our nation's existence to the first Black Americans. They are our pride and the way they were treated is our shame.
http://bbsradio.com/podcast/war-report-public-education-february-5-2017

Listen to Part 2 - The Origin Story of Black Studies - the story of the student movement that changed the face and nature of higher education institutions, and gave birth to AFRICAN AND AFRICAN- AMERICAN STUDIES.
http://bbsradio.com/podcast/war-report-public-education-february-12-2017

Do not miss Dr. Miller's critical examination of the African and African American experience.

Knowledge is power!

RESISTANCE MATTERS

RESISTANCE IS NOT FUTILE

RESISTANCE IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF EXPRESSION OF DEMOCRACY

RESISTANCE IS SURVIVAL

Please click on the website below to listen live:

http://bbsradio.com/thewarreport

2:00 PM PDT

4:00 PM CDT

5:00 PM EDT

A direct listen-in line only

Station 1 - 716-748-0150

To call-in and interact live

Station 1 888-627-6008 toll free

On Sunday, please click on the website below to listen to the rebroadcast.

http://bbsradio.com/thewarreport

The War Report on Public Education with Dr James Avington Miller Jr

http://bbsradio.com/thewarreport

Black History Month Part 3 - The Origin of Racist Ideology:

Former D.C. schools chief takes on DeVos: ‘Sorry lady…. this is so amateur and unprofessional’ - The Washington Post

Former D.C. schools chief takes on DeVos: ‘Sorry lady…. this is so amateur and unprofessional’ - The Washington Post:

Former D.C. schools chief takes on DeVos: ‘Sorry lady…. this is so amateur and unprofessional’

Kaya Henderson, the former chancellor of the D.C. public schools, is none too happy with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s comments about teachers at a D.C. public school she recently visited.

DeVos, confirmed by the Senate on Feb. 7 only after Vice President Pence broke the first-ever tie vote for a Cabinet nominee, visited Jefferson Academy last week. Her initial effort to get into the school by a side door was blocked by protesters and she entered another way. She later criticized the protesters, saying they were “hostile” to change in education.

[DeVos: Critics want to ‘make my life a living hell’]

DeVos is seen by her supporters as a true champion of school choice who has used part of her fortune to support choice advocacy and with philanthropic efforts in Christian communities. Critics of DeVos, who has said public education is a “dead end” and that “government sucks,” say she wants to privatize America’s public education system. They also say she has no real experience with public schools, having attended private schools, sent her children to private schools, and spent decades advocating for alternatives to traditional public schools.

As my Post colleague Emma Brown wrote in this story, DeVos also criticized some of the teachers she saw at Jefferson, telling columnist Cal Thomas for the conservative online publication Townhall, that they seemed dedicated and sincere but were in “receive mode.”

“I visited a school on Friday and met with some wonderful, genuine, sincere teachers who pour their heart and soul into their classrooms and their students and our conversation was not long enough to draw out of them what is limiting them from being even more success from what they are currently. But I can tell the attitude is more of a ‘receive mode.’ They’re waiting to be told what they have to do, and that’s not going to bring success to an individual child. You have to have teachers who are empowered to facilitate great teaching.”

It is certainly true that in corporate school reform of the past 15 years has taken away autonomy from teachers as many of them have been forced to use scripted curriculum and spend a lot of time preparing students for high-stakes standardized tests. That’s not the same thing as saying Former D.C. schools chief takes on DeVos: ‘Sorry lady…. this is so amateur and unprofessional’ - The Washington Post:

Why Teachers Are So Tired ~ Teacher Habits

Why Teachers Are So Tired ~ Teacher Habits:

Why Teachers Are So Tired

Big Education Ape: Why Teachers Are So Tired – Teacher Habits (Site Is Working Again) - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2017/02/why-teachers-are-so-tired-teacher.html

Editor's Note: I heard from the author of this piece: Thanks. I wondered how so many people found it. I've rebuilt the site and upgraded my hosting. Barring further unforeseen problems, it should all be back up and running tonight or tomorrow. Go ahead and reblog it when you can. Thanks again.

Teacher Habits on Twitter: teacherhabits (@teacherhabits) | Twitter - https://twitter.com/teacherhabits

Teacher Habits on Facebook: Teacher Habits - https://www.facebook.com/teacherhabits/#

The Site Teacher Habits Seems to Have Crashed - Too Many Teachers Are Trying to Find Out Why Teachers Are So Damned Tired Try Again Later If You Are Not Too Tired!

Better question: When was the last time you weren’t tired after teaching?

If you’re like most teachers I know, including me and my wife, being tired at the end of the day is a way of life. We’ve become so used to it that it’s hard to imagine how it could be any different.

Our non-teacher friends have a hard time understanding how we could be so exhausted. After all, we’re not building houses or working under tight deadlines or competing with co-workers to sell the most widgets or working in some ultra-competitive office with an unreasonable boss breathing down our necks. We work with kids! We work seven-hour days! We have a lot of control over our own schedules.We have summer vacation! Some teachers have these thoughts themselves and wonder what’s wrong with them. How in the world can we be so tired?

There are three reasons.

Decision Fatigue and Willpower

Psychologist Roy Baumeister coined the term “ego depletion” after he found that humans have a limited supply of willpower. He compares willpower to a muscle, which can strengthen but also wear out with use. Ego depletion has a general effect, meaning that using self-control in one area of your life erodes your ability to self-regulate in other parts of your life. Baumeister has found that exerting self-control results in a significant drop in blood-sugar levels. Low blood-sugar leads to physical fatigue, which is why you’re so tired, even though the heaviest thing you lifted was a textbook.

As a teacher, think of how often you use willpower. We censor ourselves all day. We hold back a sarcastic remark, walk away from a lazy student when we what we really want to do is lecture her, keep our honest thoughts about the principal’s latest idea to ourselves, respond professionally to a disrespectful email from a parent, work with a Why Teachers Are So Tired ~ Teacher Habits:

Teachers union president backs Ellison for DNC chair | TheHill

Teachers union president backs Ellison for DNC chair | TheHill:

Teachers union president backs Ellison for DNC chair

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) on Friday picked up the backing of the head of the nation’s largest teachers union in his bid to lead the Democratic National Committee.

In a statement announcing her personal endorsement, National Education Association president Lily Eskelsen García said she knows Ellison will be a unifying force for Democrats.

“Keith’s emphasis and well-documented commitment to party building and grassroots organizing in every community is exactly what we need as the nation finds itself at a crossroad under the divisive Trump administration,” she said.

Eskelsen García’s endorsement comes just hours after the Service Employees International Union called on its members who can vote for DNC chair to cast their votes for Ellison.

Ellison has been jockeying for the support of leading labor organizations in the race against his chief rival for the post, former Labor Secretary Tom Perez. So far his supporters include the AFL-CIO, Teamsters, United Steelworkers, American Federation of Government Employees, Communications Workers of America, UNITE HERE and National Nurses United.

But at least five AFL-CIO affiliated groups have broken with the labor giant to back Perez over Ellison, including the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers.

In a statement, Ellison said he is honored to receive Eskelsen García’s support and reiterated his plan to return Democrats to elected offices across the country at all levels of government.

“As Chair of the Democratic Party, I will make sure every Democrat and every educator has the tools and resources they need to fight attacks on public education, and to ensure every student has the opportunity to a quality education, regardless of their ZIP code,” he said.

“That means the DNC must institute more than a 50 state strategy. It needs a 3,143 county strategy, like the NEA.”Teachers union president backs Ellison for DNC chair | TheHill:

Local school district payments to charter schools shot up 70 percent in 6 years.

The Sunday Dispatch | Local school district payments to charter schools shot up 70 percent in 6 years.:

Local school district payments to charter schools shot up 70 percent in 6 years.

Charter schools, particularly online “cyber charters” have increasingly been blamed for school district financial woes, with administrators contending charters siphon much-needed money from district coffers.

An advocacy group recently compiled state data for all 500 districts in the state showing just how much money is involved, providing payments to charters during a six-year span.

The local hit is steep: Luzerne County’s 11 school districts paid $16.1 million for charter school tuition in 2014-15. It’s also escalating rapidly. The data shows the payments by all 11 districts increased 70 percent since 2009-10.

Charter schools are public schools free of many state regulations. The initial idea was to let a school board grant a charter to a new school that could try different ideas in the classroom, with districts and charters collaborating to improve education for all students.

Charters are financed by a per-student tuition paid from the district where the student ordinarily would attend school. The theory is simple: The money the district would have spent on a student goes with the student to the charter school.

But the relationship became adversarial quickly. Districts often rejected requests for charters, forcing those who hoped to establish one to appeal to the state. That is how Luzerne County’s lone brick-and-mortar charter school — Bear Creek Community Charter — came to be after repeated rejections by the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board.

But charters expanded without physical buildings, thanks to cyber charters, where students do the bulk of school work online. As cyber charter enrollment increased, so did complaints from local school boards. It has become an almost annual lament: budgets are tight because the district loses money by forking it over to charters.

Northwest Area School District officials cited money lost to charters as a major drain when the school board started working in January on the 2017-18 budget. School districts point out that losing students to charter schools rarely translates into savings equal to the per-pupil payment to those charters.

Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale has repeatedly questioned charter payments, contending charter schools get far more than they spend per student. Charter proponents deny accusations by critics.

So how much have local districts been paying to charter schools? A group called Education Voters of PA compiled state data into an online spreadsheet, letting anyone with Internet access look up the district of their choice.

The data shows that, in 2009-10, Luzerne County districts collectively shelled out $9.5 million in charter tuition, $7.63 million for regular education students and $1.85 million for special education students. The amount rose The Sunday Dispatch | Local school district payments to charter schools shot up 70 percent in 6 years.:

DeVos’ marketplace turns kids into commodities

DeVos’ marketplace turns kids into commodities:

DeVos’ marketplace turns kids into commodities

The secretary of education has vowed in speeches, in writings and in millions of dollars of campaign contributions to destroy America’s public schools.

This is not an accusation; it is her source of pride. Betsy DeVos wants to create a “market” of “choice” in which schools are no longer public goods, democratically governed of, by and for the people and their children, but instead, private organizations funded by our tax dollars but not governed by us, the public. Her stated “long game” is to use tax dollars to fund religious schools, specifically Christian schools. As a stepping stone to that goal, she advocates that tax dollars in the form of “vouchers” be shifted from the public’s schools to private schools and charter companies.

She calls this “choice,” putting children and their education out for bid.

Her years of pushing privatization in Ohio and in her home state of Michigan are fraught with harsh language about the public’s schools (“dead ends”), and at the same time a record of low achievement, questionable finances and instability in the charter schools she claims to be their superior.

Many people have commented on DeVos’ ignorance of federal policies that her agency is charged to enforce, notably, the IDEA law guaranteeing appropriate educational services to children with disabilities, a law re-authorized under President George W. Bush and bipartisan votes in Congress. DeVos had no answers for questions about how to best assess children’s learning, and her position on guns in schools brought tears to the eyes of anyone who understood the source of the question: a Connecticut senator, the Sandy Hook parents’ senator.

What struck me was less her lack of preparedness, but that broad, fixed smile as she stumbled through or avoided responding. I came to think of it as a power smile: A smile that said “I don’t need to know these things because I made large contributions to many of you on this committee, and besides, I have a completely different agenda for this department and America’s schools. I will create a marketplace of private DeVos’ marketplace turns kids into commodities:

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION: PA Senate Ed Chair Wants To Trash Education

CURMUDGUCATION:

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION

PA Senate Ed Chair Wants To Trash Education

49by Peter Greene / 14h

John Eichelberger has been a Pennsylvania state senator for over a decade, and during those years, he has been no friend to public schools or the teachers who work in them. Seriously-- this is District 30. Eichelberger is a Republican upstart who was swept into office on the wave of voter anger over the infamous late-night pay raise of 2005 . He was supported by an assortment of conservatives incl

PA: How Much Does Your District Pay in Charter Costs

28by Peter Greene / 20h

An extremely handy spread sheet has been circulating lately, and if nothing else, I want to put a link here so that I can more easily find it. If you're in Pennsylvania, you'll want to look at this, too. Yes, 502 districts is a lot. The document covers every school year from 2009-2010 through 2014-2015 for every single one of our 502 pubic school districts (yes, that is a high number, but that's a

DeVos: No Real Role for Feds

7by Peter Greene / 1d

At Axios (the new "media company" from two former Politico honchos ), Johnathan Swan ( formerly of The Hill ) has a quick moment with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos . She uses the opportunity for a bit of a do-over on her confirmation hearing, but it's her thoughts on the federal role in education that are most striking. Among the things that " Betsy DeVos wishes she had said at her confirmation

IOWA: Gutting Unions

21by Peter Greene / 1d

The Iowa House and Senate have voted to gut the public service unions of their state . Under the new bill, Iowa's public service unions (that, of course, includes teachers) may not negotiate anything but wages. Health care, evaluation procedures, and other language items may not be part of contract negotiations. And should those wage negotiations stall, the arbitrator must consider management's ab

FEB 16

Performance Pay Bombs Across the Pond

10by Peter Greene / 1d

I don't know if this will make you feel better or make you feel worse, but our nation is not the only one caught in the throes of bad education reform. The UK has a performance pay system in which teachers get an increase of pay based on their job performance. Well, if there's money to pay for a raise. Well, if the raise is within the cap of 1% (aka "not enough to keep up with inflation"). The UK

FEB 15

I Am Not Hostile To Change

200+by Peter Greene / 2d

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos spoke today to a gathering of Magnet School folks, and opened up by suggesting that "some people" are "hostile" to change. I just want to be clear. I am not hostile to change. In fact, there are some changes that I would love to see. I would love to see a change in the rhetoric about failing schools. Instead of declaring that we will "rescue" students from failin

The Proper Use of Mockery

31by Peter Greene / 2d

Jimmie Fallon has done it again , and not, I'm afraid, in a good way. Fallon has now twice included a Betsy DeVos sketch. His show's version of DeVos is bumbling and clueless, the kind of hapless twit who says, in response to questions about her fitness for the job, replies "I am totally got this." As regular readers of this blog are well aware, I am not above or beyond mockery of certain subjects

FL: Merit Pay (Still) Doesn't Work

100+by Peter Greene / 3d

Yes, and in other news, the sun is expected to rise in the East tomorrow. So, Florida has a merit pay system. In fact, Florida has tried to implement merit pay for quite a while. Of course, there are issues: The design and implementation of merit pay faces several key challenges. First, student outcomes are difficult to define and measure. Second, the contributions of individual teachers to studen

FEB 14

Guest Post: Open Letter To Pat Toomey

19by Peter Greene / 3d

Barbara Ferman is a professor at the College of Liberal Arts, Temple University. She's also the Director of the University Community Collaborative. She passed along this letter to share. If you want to make sure Senator Toomey sees it, feel free to help direct it to him. February 13, 2017 An Open Letter to Senator Toomey, Pennsylvania Dear Senator Toomey: I grew up in a working class family and n

FEB 13

New Congressional Attack on Education

63by Peter Greene / 4d

You probably already heard about H.R. 899 , a bill elegant in its simplicity. Here's the whole text of the bill: The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2018. Thanks to Rep. Thomas Massie (R) of Kentucky for this little zen koan of legislation. It raises many questions. Will the department evaporate? Will it be terminated with extreme prejudice? When the ball drops on New Years

FEB 12

Charter Schism Explainer

23by Peter Greene / 6d

The charter world (which is mostly all that's to what we mean by "education reform") has been wrestling and fracturing and considering serious marital counseling over the past year or so. This bit of a crisis has been exacerbated since, oh, November. I've been drawn into conversations about this schism several times in the last week, which means it's time to write a simple explainer. Feel free to

ICYMI: This Week's Reading (2/12)

5by Peter Greene / 6d

The list is long this week, but at least it's not all politics. At least, I'm pretty sure it's not all politics. I Never Cared Much About Politics; The Trump Nominated Betsy DeVos A guest at the Washington Post. The title is self-explanatory Holy Warrior Against the Welfare State Jennifer Berkshire's trip to Michigan yielded a lot of good writing. This piece appeared in the Baffler and explains a

Reformsters Contemplate Race (Part 2)