Monday, May 16, 2011

Morning Report: Schools Supposed to Integrate Even Without Buses - voiceofsandiego.org: Morning Report

Morning Report: Schools Supposed to Integrate Even Without Buses

Posted: Sunday, May 15, 2011 9:10 pm | Updated: 7:06 am, Mon May 16, 2011.

By Randy Dotinga

Integration and school busing have long been virtual conjoined twins in the world of education, promising a dream world where all kids get equal education.

Thanks to integration and busing, specialized schools like magnets have flourished. But they've also created flash points of anger and frustration. Consider one of the most famous photos in newspaper history: it shows a white man attacking a black man with an American flag at a busing protest in 1970s Boston.

San Diego didn't escape the national trend toward busing kids away from their local schools in order to help restore ethnic balance. An anti-segregation lawsuit prompted

May 12th Protesters Identify a Stumpf Problem | Dissident Voice

May 12th Protesters Identify a Stumpf Problem

by Billy Wharton

As thousands of protesters marched through Downtown Manhattan yesterday, I had a difficult task – explain why Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf was such a threat to GED students in New York City. The connection was not so straightforward, but May 12th was a day in which the parts of the City that normally operate in isolation were brought into comparison and conflict with each other. The more than 10,000 protesters made sure this was literally the case as bankers were forced to squeeze past housing rights activists and Wall Street “power-couples” shot disturbed glances at homeless rights advocates. It was a day for all the contradictions in our City to come face-to-face with one another.

I was positioned in Teach-in Zone 2, right on the edge of Pine and Water Street. My topic was education, but my approach was not typical of other education teachers. Most would discuss the high-profile cuts – big number layoffs for teachers and the next in the seemingly never ending gutting of the public higher education system. My focus was to look at smaller budget cuts. Though small, these cuts threaten to devastate critical support programs, further dislocating poor and working class New Yorkers.

My lead in was John Stumpf. He’s a dapper man who prefers dark suits that contrast with his gently graying hair. And Stumpf has a problem, a really serious one. One that I presented to the students at my open-air teach-in. How can you spend $8,500 an hour? That’s how much he received in compensation from Wells Fargo bank last year. The crowd shouted out all the typical working class fantasies – go on a long vacation, buy twenty pairs of jeans, pay off my student loans… Yet, none of these captured Stumpf’s dilemma. He simply cannot spend $8,500 an hour.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There is a plan for Stumpf and his fellow CEO’s. First, the cuts.

The education budget is clearly a target for Bloomberg. And with education we know which way the human feces rolls. The Federal Government has ended important funding streams to New York City’s education system. Simultaneously, budget-cutting New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has also withdrawn funding from the system. And Mayor Michael Bloomberg has gone right along with them by proposing to cut $461 million from the system.

A good chunk of that comes from the previously mentioned teacher layoffs. These firings will send class sizes

We Party Patriots » Blog Archive » “In reality, the Democratic Party has ended their once-intimate relationship with labor, while some union officials seem in denial about the divorce.”

“In reality, the Democratic Party has ended their once-intimate relationship with labor, while some union officials seem in denial about the divorce.”

The fundamental difference between the powerful unions of yesterday and the passive unions of today is the unwillingness of today’s unions to wage a real fight in the streets and workplaces. You cannot mobilize and excite workers with an electoral campaign for a Democratic Party politician anymore; the betrayals of Obama put a nail in that coffin. And while it is true that the Republican governor in Wisconsin may have temporarily revived illusions in Wisconsin Democrats, that fantasy will quickly fade.

Truthout contributor Shamus Cooke has some strong words for the labor movement. Cooke contends that backing Democratic candidates is no longer a means to a union end, suggesting instead that waging “a

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Change Doesn't Mean Progress

Change Doesn't Mean Progress

by coolcatteacher@gmail.com (Victoria A Davis, Cool Cat Teacher)

As Tim Stahmer so aptly says, change doesn't mean progress.

As Robert Madden says,

"Given that just one of those is reason enough to embrace technology in the classroom, why are some people using standardized test scores to seemingly justify its integration? By using test scores as a justification we are giving them an importance that I don’t think many of us believe or would want others to. "

The Hand
The human hand. A beautiful thing. 123 bones. 29 major and minor bones. 29 major joints. 48 names nerves. 30 named arteries.

One out of six disabling work injuries involves the fingers.

It is important. It helps us manipulate our world.

The hand has helped the sick from the gutter and fed the poor. The hand has caressed lovers and been raised in the salute. It has built homes and driven cars. It has even made cars. Lots of good has come from the hand.

The hand has killed, maimed, and tortured other human beings. It has pushed buttons that have deployed

IRONY ALERT!! Perry castigates those who perpetuate lies. « A "Fuller" Look at Education Issues

IRONY ALERT!! Perry castigates those who perpetuate lies.

by Dr. Ed Fuller

In today’s Austin-American Statesman, Governor Perry castigated those who perpetuate lies in order to distract people from the conversations that should be happening. Specifically, the Governor starts off the editorial by stating: “One proven tactic of propaganda is that if you want to distract people from the conversation you should be having, don’t be afraid to lie … and lie big.”

SEE: http://www.statesman.com/opinion/perry-learn-to-separate-fact-from-fiction-1474089.html

Well, if anyone knows that tactic, it is the Governor and his staff. As I pointed out in my most recent blog post, Perry flat-out lied about the ratio of administrators to teachers. And, I argue that he did so to distract voters from questioning the Governor’s culpability in creating the serious budget issues facing schools. Rather than admitting that there is a structural deficit in how we raise revenue for education as pointed out by a number of media, legislators, and education officials (1), the Governor would rather blame educators for a bloated

Book Review: “Hey Shorty” Provides Educators Steps Against Sexual Harassment in Schools « Feminist Teacher

Book Review: “Hey Shorty” Provides Educators Steps Against Sexual Harassment in Schools

by feministteacher

(Girls for Gender Equity)

Reading Hey Shorty: A Guide to Combating Sexual Harassment and Violence in Public Schools and on the Streets is like drinking vitamin water for activists. An immersion in how-to community organizing, movement building, and feminist activism against sexual harassment, this book is the one we’ve all been waiting for. Written in easy-to-read language and clearly outlined, bullet point action steps, co-authors Meghan Huppuch, Joanne N. Smith, and Mandy Van Deven make the case for feminist activism in schools in ways that will make

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

by Mike Klonsky

Huckabee's new company -- Learn our History.com

"Make no mistake, this isn't education; it's kiddie-propaganda. The favored narratives -- of a nation planted here by God and heroic leaders free from flaws -- are driven by pure politics." -- Maureen Costello, Teaching Tolerance Project

GOP Not the Only Party Targeting Unions

"Obvious political truths are sometimes smothered by special interests. The cover-up of the Democrats’ national anti-union agenda is possible because the truth would cause enormous disturbances for the Democratic Party, some labor leaders, liberal organizations and, consequently, the larger political system." -- Shamus Cooke, Common Dreams

Rand Paul’s "Public health care=Slavery" Rant

"With regard to the idea of whether you have a right to healthcare, you have to realize what that

The privatization of immigration | Being Latino Online Magazine

The privatization of immigration

by Julio Ricardo Varela

by Julio Ricardo Varela

It is an extremist’s most exciting dream: set up a powerful lobbying group in Washington that unites the country’s top private jails and anti-immigrant legislators, have a few meetings to draft the law that would eventually be known as Arizona SB 1070, spread that law to other states to pass copycat bills, and have those private jails incarcerate those (mostly Latino) illegal immigrants to the tune of $5 billion in revenue.

Sounds like a typical liberal scare story, right?

Actually, no. This story is real. Illegal immigration has gone corporate, and the money involved can entice anyone who places the Almighty Dollar above the pain and suffering of human beings.

Enter Cuéntame, a group of “Latino Instigators” with close to 54,000 fans on Facebook. As their mission statement reads:

“Through short video, docu-series, interviews from our studio, the streets, or sent to us by you, we unite voices

This Week In Education: Update: Who's Going To Offend Ravitch Next?

Update: Who's Offend Ravitch Next?

by Alexander Russo

The easily-offended Diane Ravitch appears to have been thwarted in her effort to engage RI's Deborah Gist in some sort of debate over meeting etiquette and now must slouch away in search of some other offense-giving person. This is not Ravitch's first time at the offense-taking game, and likely won't be her last. As readers may recall, Ravitch took offense in the extreme to a column I wrote in the Huffington Post outlining my concerns about her newfound convinctions and demanded that her already-lukewarm book blurb

Quote: WSJ Puts IL Reform Bill In Context

by Alexander Russo

The Illinois bill is far weaker than those recently passed in Ohio, Florida, and Indiana

-- Wall Street Journal editorial page, debunking much-ballyhooed IL reform bill

Common Core: Giving Happy Lie to the "Reform Consensus" :: Frederick M. Hess

Common Core: Giving Happy Lie to the "Reform Consensus"

by Frederick M. Hess • May 16, 2011 at 8:19 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

Send

RSS

For several years now, would-be reformers have gotten away with claiming that there's a goopy, groupthink "reform consensus." They depict the edu-debates as a simple-minded morality play between a "reform" phalanx and "adult interests." This line has been sold most assiduously by Democrat for Ed Reform-types and NCLB enthusiasts who think conservatives are supposed to quietly, cheerfully sign on to the grand schemes crafted by their betters.

These reformers imagine broad sentiment that anyone who's not a union toadie agrees to a whole host of "reformy" things, including the Common Core, sanctity of value-added measures, race-based accountability metrics, niftiness of turnarounds, magic of Race to the Top, and so on. To question any of these has been enough to raise questions about one's seriousness and judgment. The result has been bad for schooling, bad for reform, and bad for public debate.

The Common Core debate last week, like that over teacher collective bargaining, is giving lie to the notion that all would-be reformers sing from a shared hymnal. There are serious divides even among would-be reformers; it's just that they've been submerged during the NCLB era. There are deep disagreements about the role of

This Week In Education: AM News: Duncan Denies Kansas School Rating Exemption

AM News: Duncan Denies Kansas School Rating Exemption

by Alexander Russo

L.A. school board runoff grows expensive and contentious LAT: The race for the last available Los Angeles school board seat has turned both expensive, with almost $3 million spent in all... Duncan Denies Kansas' AYP WaiverEdWeek: While Education Secretary Arne Duncan has been issuing a ton of waivers from No Child Left Behind requirements, he's stopping short of offering the big one... Developments on 'Effectiveness' Materialize in Texas, Illinois EdWeek: In adopting the system, which is scheduled go into affect for the upcoming school year, Houston officially becomes the largest school district to use a "value added" method in teacher evaluations... Teachers at Cape charter to unionize Boston Globe: Teachers at a Cape Cod charter school [are] the second independently run charter school in Massachusetts to take the step, union officials announced yesterday. Appreciation Week Brings Little Cheer To Teachers NPR: May is the month when teachers win awards and have their appreciation week, but tight budgets and campaigns against public employees have lots of teachers feeling anything but appreciated... PETA pushes for anti-dissection ads in Pa. school AP: A national animal rights group has offered a cash-strapped school district an undisclosed amount of money if it allows ads in school promoting alternatives to animal dissection.... Ga. school system taken off probation, now stable AP: A Georgia school district that lost its accreditation due to its "dysfunctional" school board has been taken off probation by a national standards agency.... Fast-Tracking to Kindergarten? NYT: Enrichment programs like Kumon are gaining from, and generating, parental anxiety about what kind of preparation children need — and whether parents themselves have what it takes to provide it... Student Is Allowed to Attend Prom in Connecticut AP: James Tate was suspended for breaking school rules by the manner in which he asked a fellow student to be his date... Arne Duncan, Sidelined EdWeek: In case you haven't noticed, Education Secretary Arne Duncan has been MIA from several recent events...

Latest News and Comment from Education

Monday, May 16, 2011