Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Modern School: New Sheriff in Town, Julie Washington, LAUSD’s New Corporate Enforcer

New Sheriff in Town, Julie Washington, LAUSD’s New Corporate Enforcer

Arne Duncan was in L.A. this week for an education summit. That can only mean one thing: promotion of his latest pet project, employee/boss collaboration. The details of this summit are summarized by Charles Taylor Kerchner (in John Fensterwald’s, Educated Guess).

According to Kerchner, Duncan told listeners that “Crisis gives us a perfect opportunity, not just a perfect storm.” Crises, we should remember, allow entrepreneurs to swoop in to clean up messes created by cumbersome government bureaucracies, as they so beautifully demonstrated in Iraq and Haiti. Crises make it easy to justify extraordinary tactics, even ones that trample personal freedom or common sense, like the idea that labor-boss collaborations will serve the interests of workers.

Yet this is precisely what Duncan was up to. According to Kerchner, incoming superintendent John Deasy and Julie Washington, the “new sheriff in town” at United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), will negotiate in an environment that

solidaridad: Class War In Wisconsin: First Hand Accounts

Class War In Wisconsin: First Hand Accounts

Educators march against Walker's attacks on their unions and rights (Carole Ramsden)

Thursday March 24, 2011, 4:30PM
UTLA Building Room 816*
3303 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90010
Corner of Wilshire and Berendo

Members of United Teachers Los Angeles, Lisa Karahalios and Sarah Knopp, were able to go to Madison to witness the struggle firsthand will come together to share their experiences and the lessons learned from the battle for Wisconsin.

A sickout initiated by teachers in Madison, Wisconsin protesting Governor Scott Walker's union- busting "budget repair" bill has sparked a movement of hundreds of thousands of workers, students, and activists converging on the State Capitol over the last few weeks to stand up for workers' rights. These rallies have inspired workers from around the nation and captured the

KOCH BREAK News | www.kochwatch.org #wiunion #1u #wearewi

News | www.kochwatch.org

WSJ Market Watch: New Civil War erupts, led by super rich, GOP Commentary: ‘Shock Doctrine,’ Reaganomics trigger explosive class war *By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch * *March 22, 2011-* Yes, “there’s class warfare, all right,” warns Warren Buffett. “But it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re ...

Who Is America's Worst Governor? *-Originally blogged by Keith Balmer on Typepad.com/ Prince of Satire:* *March 21, 2011-* The Coup D'Etat of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker infuriated me. So I decided to write a blog post in which I vanquished him with my vicious vernacular. I was ...

Christian Science Monitor: Wisconsin redux: Indiana Democrats flee state in protest In Indiana, Democratic state legislators are balking at the Republicans' entire agenda – not just a single bill, as was the case in Wisconsin. That has made compromise difficult. *March 21, 2011-* In a replay of the recent political upheaval in ...

Shanker Blog » Among Charter Schools, Inconsistency Begets Opportunity

Among Charter Schools, Inconsistency Begets Opportunity

by Matthew Di Carlo

Andrew Rotherham – who writes the blog “Eduwonk” – has also recently started writing a weekly column forTime Magazine. Most of his articles have been interesting and relatively fair, even on the controversial issues. He has a point of view, just like the rest of us, but usually makes a good-faith effort to present alternate viewpoints and the relevant research.

His most recent piece was a disappointment. In it, Rotherham takes up the issue of charter schools. His overarching argument is that too many people focus on whether or not charter schools are “better” or “worse” than regular public schools, rather than why – which policies and practices are associated with success or failure.

As I stated in my very first post on this blog (and others), I completely agree. Given the overt politicization of the charter school discussion, the public desperately needs a move away from the pro/anti-charter framework, towards a more useful conversation about how and why particular schools do or don’t work. Their inconsistent performance has caused controversy, but it also an opportunity.

But, when Rotherham lays out the characteristics (“ethos and operations”) that these successful charters supposedly share, the factors he specifies are vague and unsubstantiated – it’s hard to figure what they mean, to

Cuts to Local Public Schools are a Reality | CTA Radio Ad - California Teachers Association

Cuts to Local Public Schools are a Reality | CTA Radio Ad

Script: Cuts to local public schools are not a threat – they’re a reality right in your neighborhood. March 2nd: San Bernardino school board announces that 272 teachers may be laid off. March 9th: Fresno delivers pink slips to 257 teachers. March 11th: Sacramento schools announce lay-off notices for 2,550 educators and counselors. March 4th: Los Angeles announces 4,500 teachers will have to go. San Diego cuts another 1,000. If we want to improve learning for our children, California cannot keep laying off teachers, counselors, nurses and education support staff. It can’t keep letting class sizes rise, cutting arts and music or making students pay more for college. Our kids deserve a better solution to this state budget crisis. And our future depends on it. The California Teachers Association has brought you this message, because we are dedicated to giving EVERY child the opportunity to succeed.

Modern School: Why I Support Fighting Unions #wiunion #1u #wearewi

Modern School: Why I Support Fighting Unions

Why I Support Fighting Unions

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Edusolidarity.org solicited postings on “Why You Support Unions.” Of course I am very glad that I have a union to back me up in grievances with my boss and to help negotiate my contracts. Imagine if I had to gomano a mano with my boss each year to beg for health care, sick leave, supplies, smaller class sizes AND a living salary? With collective bargaining, we can negotiate these things once, for everyone, AND harness the power of large numbers of union members to pressure the boss to agree to our demands, rather than begging for his mercy. So on a very practical level, unions are essential for maintaining decent working and living conditions.

The problem is that for unions to be effective at maintaining decent working and living conditions, they must be willing and able to fight for them. This means keeping all their members in a constant state of readiness, through

The Next Step in Scott Walker’s Corporate Education Reform Agenda: Diploma Mills - Times - Forbes #wiunion #1u #wearewi

The Next Step in Scott Walker’s Corporate Education Reform Agenda: Diploma Mills - E.D. Kain - American Times - Forbes

Mar. 23 2011 - 5:42 pm | 0 views | 0 recommendations | 0 comments

Republicans in Wisconsin have not yet begun to fight against the traditional public school system in that state. A new Republican bill in that state would give nine political appointees – a Charter School Authorizing Board hand-picked by the governor and leaders of the state legislature – the power to authorize new charter schools while leaving the funding of those schools up to local school districts. It would also raise the cap on how many students could attend ‘virtual’ schools and lower the standards for teachers at public

The Mammoth Pell Grant Program

by KEVIN CAREY on MARCH 23, 2011

in UNCATEGORIZED

The Chronicle published a forum on Pell Grants this week, along with my new column on the same subject. We’ve clearly reached a point where the rapidly growing cost of Pell ($44-billion in FY 2012 according to OMB, although I doubt Congress will actually appropriate that much) can’t be ignored. Once tax credits, loan subsidies, and other aid programs are added in, general federal subsidies for higher education are starting to approach total state subsidies for higher education (there’s no real economic difference between directly writing public universities a check to keep average tuition below market prices and giving students a voucher to hand to colleges to keep their individual tuition below market prices). A commensurate shift in policy authority can and should follow, and I think

Chris Lehmann: In Defense of Teachers Unions #wiunion #1u #wearewi

Chris Lehmann: In Defense of Teachers Unions

by Chris Lehmann

Are unions perfect? No. Ask anyone involved with one.

But it comes down to this: Do you believe that people have the right to a say in their own workplace?

If so, do you believe that their voice will be stronger collectively or alone?

If you believe that teachers have more ability to have a say in their schools collectively, then you believe in unions. Whatever frustrations, whatever issues, whatever problems you have with the manner in which a specific union may or may not have acted...so be it. You believe in unions.

We should have a great debate in this country about what teaching and learning looks like. Part of that debate should be about what role the teacher assumes and how that life is sustainable, livable and just. The teachers unions will be at the table for that conversation. They should be; they need to be.

In our schools, it is very easy to run roughshod over the rights of adults. "It's for the children... you're for the children, aren't you?" It's an easy sell, and it tugs at the heartstrings of all -- but the most hardened of hearts. It'

Teachers union report links layoffs to a spike in class size | GothamSchools

Teachers union report links layoffs to a spike in class size

by Anna Phillips

Class sizes across the city could increase by an average of 13 percent next year if the city decides to cut more than 6,000 teaching positions, according to a report the teachers union released today.

The United Federation of Teachers’ report doesn’t consider whether the city will lay off teachers by seniority — as is currently mandated by law. Nor does it factor in Mayor Bloomberg’s desire to lay off teachers based on how their principals have rated them, or how many unexcused absences they’ve accumulated, among other factors. Instead, it takes a blunt measurement of what the loss of over 6,000 bodies in classrooms could do to class sizes across the city and in certain districts.

The calculations don’t appear to take into account many of the complicated details behind how schools distribute their teachers. Often, schools will keep class sizes low for younger students, then increase them for older ones. Schools that separate their advanced students from those who are struggling are also likely to keep

Robert Reich (Why Governor LePage Can't Erase History, and Why We Need a Fighter in the White House)

Why Governor LePage Can't Erase History, and Why We Need a Fighter in the White House

Maine Governor Paul LePage has ordered state workers to remove from the building that houses the state labor department a 36-foot mural depicting the state’s labor history. Among other things the mural depicts the 1937 shoe mill strike in Auburn and Lewiston. It also features the iconic “Rosie the Riveter,” who in real life worked at the Bath Iron Works. One panel shows my predecessor at the U.S. Department of Labor, Frances Perkins, who was buried in Newcastle, Maine.

The LePage Administration is also renaming conference rooms in the department that had carried the names of historic leaders of American labor, as well as former Secretary Perkins.

The Governor’s spokesman explains that the mural and the conference-room names were “not in keeping with the department’s pro-business goals.”

What nation is this?

Frances Perkins was the first woman cabinet member in American history. She was also one of the most

Daily Kos: An incredibly important piece on teaching and education

An incredibly important piece on teaching and education

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

Sometimes one encounters something that needs no commentary from me - it is complete in itself. I want to share something like that about teaching and education.

People who follow the blog Valerie Strauss runs at the Washington Post, the Answer Sheet, experienced that. Valerie often cross-posts things written elsewhere. Occasionally she posts something written directly for her. This morning she posted a piece by Linda Darling-Hammond, who is Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University and was Founding Director of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future. Linda - who is a friend - now directs the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education.

When I read it I asked for - and received - Linda's permission to crosspost it here and at some other sites to give it more visibility. Let me offer just a few words of introduction, then let Linda's words speak without further

solidaridad: Speaking truth to Camino Nuevo Charter Academy Revisionists

Speaking truth to Camino Nuevo Charter Academy Revisionists

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene

I appreciate that PND has done some beneficial things in the Westlake area. However, charter-voucher schools are anathema to both democratic processes and social justice. I don’t care how dedicated individual teachers or even individual board members are, school privatization is still school privatization. Unelected boards are still unelected boards. Lack of community control is still lack of community control. — Robert D. Skeels

Ana Ponce, CEO of the burgeoning Corporate Charter Voucher empire CNCA

The Eastsider LA recently published a piece which discusses the apologetics by the vile school privatization princess, Yolie Flores, for handing CRES #14 over to a corporate charter operator instead of to those that would have run it as a public school. Not surprisingly, CNCAsupporters and charter-voucher industry employees basked in their chance to gloat over another public school being privatized. Understood. However, those self-same neoliberal cheerleaders began to engage in some revisionist history regarding CNCA and how the school was handed over. That type of mendaciousness doesn't go without response. So

Sacramento's "We Are One" Rally & Action (FB)

Sacramento's "We Are One" Rally & Action (32)

Zak Ford invited you

Sacramento's "We Are One" Rally & Action

Time	Monday, April 4 · 5:00pm - 7:00pm

Location	Cesar Chavez Plaza Park 10th & I Streets Sacramento, CA

Created By	Sacramento Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO

More Info	On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, where he had gone to stand with sanitation workers demanding their dream: The right to bargain collectively for a voice at work and a better life. Today, that same demand is electrifying people across America. It’s the demand of all people—regardless of race: The right to join together for our common dreams. Join us to make April 4, 2011, a time to stand in solidarity with working people in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and dozens of other states where well-funded, right-wing corporate politicians are trying to take away the rights Dr. King gave his life for. It’s a time to show movement. A time to be creative, but clear: We are one. More details will be coming soon. For more information, please contact Zak Ford of the Sacramento Central Labor Council at 916-927-9772 or zak@sacramentolabor.org. SAVE THE DATE AND LEARN MORE www.we-r-1.Org/April4

Maine Governor Orders Removal of Labor Mural from Labor Dept. Lobby | Cleveland Leader

Maine Governor Orders Removal of Labor Mural from Labor Dept. Lobby

By Julie Kent. Published on 03/23/2011 - 2:32pm

Panels 7-9 of Judy Taylor's mural that hangs in Maine's Dept. of Labor lobby.

Maine's new governor, Paul LePage, has ordered the removal of a 36-foot mural in the Department of Labor's lobby which depict's Maine's labor history.

Critics have labeled it a "mean-spirited" attempt at provocation amid LePage's standoff with unions, but a spokesperson, when asked to justify the mural's removal, said that "some

“The courage of a common school teacher”: THIS is what a leader sounds like « Failing Schools

“The courage of a common school teacher”: THIS is what a leader sounds like

MARCH 23, 2011

by Sabrina

Parrin, Texas superintendent John Kuhn has become something of a celebrity among educators, because he is one of the few district leaders who has the guts to speak the truth– as seen from the school level– to the powers that be. He is rare in that he defends his teachers and students, instead of joining the “reform” chorus who condemn and neglect them. Please watch the entire speech, read his Alamo letter, and read this interview by Anthony Cody. All are incredibly powerful, moving testaments, from a remarkable and committed educator.

solidaridad: Southern California Immigration Coalition Conference

Southern California Immigration Coalition Conference

CA Statewide (Im)migrant Rights Conference: Building a Movement to Stop ICE & Police Repression

Saturday, March 26 2011
8:00AM - 3:30PM
Santee Education Complex
1921 Maple Ave. LA, CA 90011

Plenty of FREE Parking
Child care will be provided
Lunch will be provided
NO REGISTRATION FEE: DONATIONS will be accepted

Conference Program
MC: Adrian Alvarez

Conference Registration: 8:00AM - 9:00AM

I’d Love To Meet You At The ASCD Conference! | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

I’d Love To Meet You At The ASCD Conference!

by Larry Ferlazzo

I’ll be at the ASCD Conference in San Francisco this Sunday, and would love to meet readers of this blog!
Unfortunately, I’ll only be there on Sunday. You’ll be able to find me at the Eye on Education booth #2423 from 11:45 AM — 2:00 PM (they’re the publishers of my new book coming out next month,Helping Students Motivate Themselves. Alice Mercer is also going to try to do a live webcast from the same place at 11:00 AM that day, so if that works well I’ll be there then, too, and she’ll be hoping to have other drop-in visitors speak.
The rest of the time that day, I’ll either be wandering aimlessly, doing what Alice tells me to do (which is what usually happens at these conferences), or going to events/workshops that any of you recommend. Feel free to leave a comment with suggestions.
You can see a list of other people who will be blogging and twittering about the conference, too, at this ASCD

Schools Matter: Rotherham in TIME - Bending the Truth

Rotherham in TIME - Bending the Truth

by Kenneth Libby

This is a post that should have been up a while ago, but I needed to check with multiple sources to make sure the facts were straight. This post will focus on something Andrew Rotherham said in TIME magazine.

From TIME:

Recently, the group [Stand for Children] pushed through tax increases to improve school funding in Oregon as well as changes in the ways that teachers are evaluated and granted tenure in Colorado. It is currently in the middle of a major debate over teacher policy in Illinois.

Rotherham makes three claims about Stand in these two sentences. Two claims are fair and accurate, but one is quite misleading. Whether or not this is intentional or accidental is somewhat irrelevant (although interesting to

Parents, Community Protest Sen. Golden for Protecting Millionaires Instead of Kids! « EdVox

Parents, Community Protest Sen. Golden for Protecting Millionaires Instead of Kids!

by edvoxny

Popout

School bus of concerned taxpayers, parents visits Sen. Golden’s office in Brooklyn to call for continued Millionaire’s Tax to prevent unnecessary cuts and demonstrated largest potential transfer of wealth in history from low- and middle-income NYers to wealthiest, by presenting an oversized check from Sen. Golden to Donald Trump

Concerned taxpayers and parents gathered with other advocates today at Sen. Martin Golden’s Brooklyn office to call on the senator to reverse his stated position, and to take a pivotal stand against Governor Cuomo’s proposed tax break for the wealthy and record cuts to critical services.

Sen. Golden’s constituents and others demanded he join the broad majority of New Yorkers in supporting the current progressive tax under which New York’s wealthiest pay a fair share. Cuomo’s proposed tax cut for

NYC Public School Parents: Bringing the War Home

Bringing the War Home

by Gary Babad

March 23. 2011 (GBN News): Responding to criticism that he is neglecting his domestic agenda in favor of foreign intervention, President Obama today ordered a massive cruise missile attack on public schools. The assault was said to be aimed taking out teachers’ union defenses by surgical strikes on the classrooms of the most senior teachers.

Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters in his daily briefing that the attacks are not aimed at the schools per se. “The President’s goal”, he said, “is simply to protect ‘great teachers’ by eliminating the sanctuaries of the ‘defenders of the status quo’.”

Education Secretary Arne Duncan was said to be the main driving force behind the President’s bold action. He reportedly argued persuasively to the President that, “To bring about real education reform, Bill Gates can make better use of the missiles than Bob

On Charter Schools and Integration: A Case Study - Dana Goldstein

On Charter Schools and Integration: A Case Study

Blackstone Valley Prep phys-ed teacher Jay Murray is also trained in phonics; here he conducts a pirate-themed reading lesson, rewarding correct answers by putting "gold coins" in each child's treasure chest.

Yesterday Bob Herbert published a very good column about why racial and socioeconomic integration remain important education reform goals, even though saying so much has become politically taboo.

Educators know that it is very difficult to get consistently good results in schools characterized by high concentrations of poverty. The best teachers tend to avoid such schools. Expectations regarding student achievement are frequently much lower, and there are lower levels of parental involvement. These, of course, are the very schools in which so many black and Hispanic children are enrolled.

One reason we don't have a real political conversation about how to counteract school segregation is because of the rise, since the mid-1990s, of the charter school movement. Charter networks such as KIPP and Achievement First were founded in inner city neighborhoods by educators who wanted to

The $40 billion pension hole? A Trib fairy tale. « Fred Klonsky's blog

The $40 billion pension hole? A Trib fairy tale.

by Fred Klonsky

The Chicago Trib ran a scary fairy tale this morning about the $40 billion shortfall in the TRS bank account. It is all part of a strategy to dismantle what was promised to teachers as deffered compensation.

I got lots of calls from teachers this morning about this Tribune hoax. Here are the facts directly from Rich Frankenfeld, Director of Outreach for the Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois.

The Chicago Tribune today published a front-page story that uses selective facts to say that Teachers’

THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: Major development re the charter schools associated with the Gulen movement

Major development re the charter schools associated with the Gulen movement

by The Perimeter Primate

The Sunday Philadelphia Inquirer article by Martha Woodall and Claudio Gatti has been spreading like wildfire.

U.S. CHARTER-SCHOOL NETWORK WITH TURKISH LINK DRAWS FEDERAL ATTENTION (March 20, 2011)

Fethullah Gulen is a major Islamic political figure in Turkey, but he lives in self-imposed exile in a Poconos enclave and gained his green card by convincing a federal judge in Philadelphia that he was an influential educational figure in the United States.

As evidence, his lawyer pointed to the charter schools, now more than 120 in 25 states, that his followers - Turkish scientists, engineers, and businessmen - have opened, including Truebright

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