Rev. Jessie Jackson calls for serious investigations of all testing scandals

Rev. Jessie Jackson calls for serious investigations of all testing scandals

Rev. Jessie Jackson calls for serious investigations of all testing scandals

by admin

Written by Reverend Jessie Jackson for CNN. Read the entire article here.
“The recent disclosure of test altering practices across Atlanta’s public school system has turned the spotlight on a national crisis. Instances of grade changing and test tampering have also been reported across the country in cities such as Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia and Washington. …

Top-down polices such as the George W. Bush-era No Child Left Behind and the Obama administration’s Race to the Top have provided an incentive to manipulate test scores, deceptively report graduation rates and falsify actual student performance in our schools. …

True educational excellence is not a race to the top at the expense of short-shrifting our most precious

Ravitch weighs in on Edelman video, corporate education ''reformers'' In this post on Ed Week, Anthony Cody interviews Diane Ravitch about Jonah Edelman’s controversial presentation at the Aspen Ideas Festival. As was noted in an earlier post, Jonah Edelman’s brother Joshua was appointed by Michelle Rhee to the Office ...

Edelman, the IEA leadership and pensions. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Edelman, the IEA leadership and pensions. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Edelman, the IEA leadership and pensions.

by Fred Klonsky

Hang with me this morning. I’m going to wander a bit.

The other morning a friend reminded me that we sometimes get so involved in the technical minutiae of school issues that we lose sight of the bigger picture.

Teacher pensions for example.

So, “What’s the deal with teacher pensions?”

It’s part of the Jonah Edelman story (of course!), and I’ll get to how in just a bit.

Why do public service workers, teachers in this case, get state pensions?

Because as a community we have come to agree that teachers work is special. It takes nothing away from the value of other work. But work for the common good is different. We take on the task of teaching our community’s

A Sociological Eye on Education | Why organizational misconduct happens: A look at the Atlanta cheating scandal

A Sociological Eye on Education | Why organizational misconduct happens: A look at the Atlanta cheating scandal

Why organizational misconduct happens: A look at the Atlanta cheating scandal

by Aaron Pallas

Aaron Pallas

What do the Atlanta test-score scandal and the British tabloid phone-hacking scandal have in common?

Both cases are widely publicized instances of wrongdoing, appearing to emanate from the top of the organization, and pressing downward. We know that some individuals were involved in the transgressions, but not others.

Under these circumstances, it’s not surprising that public anger is directed at individuals who have engaged in misconduct. There is a tendency to attribute their bad behavior to fundamental flaws in their character: they lack integrity, they are immoral, and they’re just plain bad people. In contrast, those who did not break the rules were moral, upstanding, and professional.

But to cast these scandals in this way is to miss the forest for the trees. Although it may be satisfying to blame the individuals involved, doing so frames the problem as one of individual personality and moral character, ignoring a critical fact: These are examples of organizational misconduct—when individuals acting in their

Save our Schools Rally & March July 30, 2011 Washington, DC

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Save our Schools Rally & March
July 30, 2011
Washington, DC

The National Education Association has endorsed the Save our Schools March.

A well-educated society is essential to the future of the United States of America. Our students must have access to a fully funded, world-class public education system. Please join us on July 30, 2011 to show support for public education.

A Grassroots Mobilization for:

• Ensuring resources students need to succeed
• Encouraging community collaboration
• Ending high-stakes testing
• Listening to those closest to classrooms
• Replacing failed mandates with what works

Sign up to tell us you will be marching on July 30 and get updates on the march.

A Race to Rock Bottom: The Texas Economic Model | Dissident Voice

A Race to Rock Bottom: The Texas Economic Model | Dissident Voice

A Race to Rock Bottom: The Texas Economic Model

by Jack Random

If you care about putting people back to work when nearly 14 million are unemployed, maybe Texas has something to teach us.

— Rick Wartzman, LA Times 7/3/11

The same economic geniuses that gave us the Great Recession and nearly crashed the global economy are back with a vengeance and a new message: We ought to be following the Texas model of job creation.

Those of us who have memories longer than an Alzheimer patient will recall that these are the same chefs who cooked up the deadly brew of Free Trade, deregulation, evisceration of anti-trust laws and unlimited corporate power. To everyone on the working end of the economic strata it was an unmitigated catastrophe and one that may haunt us for decades. But to those whose idea of labor is handing down dictums from the executive suite it all worked out fine. We paid the bill and they got multi-million dollar bonuses.

Those of us with memories longer than a crack addict on pot will also recall the last time the nation adopted the Texas model: Based on a fictional success derived from skewed data, the country was saddled with No Child

Frederick Engels on the Historical Development of Modern Socialism

by Thomas Riggins

In the first chapter of Part Three of his classic work “Anti-Dühring”, Engels discusses the origins of the modern socialist movement. He begins with the enthronement of “Reason” by the pre-revolutionary 18th century French philosophers who thought that only reason could be used to answer any of the questions of existence.

After the overthrow of Louis XVI and the abolition of the monarchical French state, a new state was constructed

Save Our Schools: Why I March — Seasoned Teacher Tells Us Why

Save Our Schools: Why I March — Seasoned Teacher Tells Us Why

Save Our Schools: Why I March — Seasoned Teacher Tells Us

by Seasoned Teacher

I could actually write a book listing my concerns about education and why I think it’s important to go to DC and join fellow teachers marching to Save Our Schools. But yesterday I saw a graphic example that gives me all the reason I need to participate in this event.

There is a public school in Chicago — Whittier Elementary.

Whittier Elementary needs a library

Whittier Elementary needs a library

Last fall, the CPS (Chicago Public Schools) decided to sell the field house and the playground at

NYC Educator: Because They Know Everything

NYC Educator: Because They Know Everything

Because They Know Everything

by NYC Educator

That's why the state has designed an observation rubric that sounds like it comes directly from the Gates Foundation. For teachers to be highly effective, every student must participate. That's every one of your 34 students, or if you teach gym or music, 50 students.

I'm a great believer in an active classroom, and I work really hard to make kids participate. Yet sometimes it's not possible. Life sometimes differs from rubrics in ways a casual observer cannot perceive. For example, if I have a kid grieving over a lost family member, I may decide it's best not to call on that kid. In fact, there are all sorts of other personal tragedies a kid could be going through. Sometimes kids are not programmed properly, and no matter what I do I cannot correct the problem. I do what I can, but I often end up giving such kids grades of NC, so they don't have failures on their records.

I've had kids who were suicidal in my classes. I'm not an expert on handling these kids in particular, but knowing that, I'm not likely to push such kids any further than they appear willing to go. So, will an observer to my class

Bridgeport parents ask courts to block schools' takeover - Connecticut Post

Bridgeport parents ask courts to block schools' takeover - Connecticut Post

Bridgeport parents ask courts to block schools' takeover

Linda Conner Lambeck, Staff Writer

Updated 11:24 p.m., Wednesday, July 13, 2011

BRIDGEPORT -- Michelle Black Smith-Tompkins told Acting Commissioner of Education George Coleman Wednesday that she can pinpoint the start of the decline of the city school system.

She was in the eighth grade and there were suddenly no books for everyone in her class. She had a mother who did something about it. Others weren't as lucky.

"It's 40 years of decline. It's not five, it's not 10 ... What I am asking you is to please be a standard-bearer and to make the standards plain, that children are not expendable," she said.

It was the last of six audiences Coleman has entertained since Saturday. This group of 200 parents, teachers and

Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Bridgeport-parents-ask-courts-to-block-schools-1464018.php#ixzz1S5hutzIU

Jersey Jazzman: Just Words

Jersey Jazzman: Just Words

Just Words

by Duke

Yesterday Governor Christie's office released this video, "proving" Christie's commitment to helping kids in poverty-laden districts, with great fanfare:

Popout

What I think we need to be concerned about is perhaps not what's going on in Fair Lawn, but what's going on in a lot of other places in our state where the children and their families are being cheated. And when you spend nearly $30,000 per year per pupil in Absury Park, and less than

Rhee's new digital educorp mission is a ''future of failure''

Rhee's new digital educorp mission is a ''future of failure''

Rhee's new digital educorp mission is a ''future of failure''

by admin

Written by Shely Blake-Plock for the Baltimore Sun. Read the entire article here.
“Michelle Rhee is back in town.

This time it is as a “grass-roots” activist who only wants to put children first. Surely many of her fans in the testing industry think that’s really at the heart of what they are doing. They look at failing public schools and they see reason for change.

As a teacher and as a parent of three public school students, I look at the type of change they are advocating for and I see the future of failure. …

For most children, the key to success will continue to be sharp critical skills, strong connections, effective communication and the nerve to be creative and entrepreneurial. The difference is that we are living at a time in which all of those skills are defined by one’s proficiency in connected media. Furthermore, for students facing

''Phony accountability in Rhee's D.C.'' Written by Valerie Strauss for the Washington Post. Read the original here. *“What is going to happen to the D.C. school system for failing to keep its promise to the federal government in its successful Race to the Top funding? * *First, the ...

Chief of staff for Newark's $200M Facebook grant to step down from Atlanta school board after scandal | NJ.com

Chief of staff for Newark's $200M Facebook grant to step down from Atlanta school board after scandal | NJ.com

Chief of staff for Newark's $200M Facebook grant to step down from Atlanta school board after scandal

by David Giambusso/The Star-Ledger

George Burns / Harpo Productions, Inc.Gov. Chris Christie, Oprah Winfrey, Newark Mayor Corey Booker and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg pose on the set of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in this 2010 file photo. Khaatim Sheerer El, the man tapped to...

N.J. Board of Ed votes to open superintendent positions to non-educators

by Jessica Calefati/The Star-Ledger

Tim Farrell/The Star-LedgerGov. Chris Christie pictured in Denville during a press conference last month. TRENTON — It just got easier to become superintendent of a troubled New Jersey school district. The state Board of Education Wednesday relaxed the requirements for...

- The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

- The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Volunteer: Why I stopped helping for Stand for Children

by Valerie Strauss

Susan Barrett was a volunteer for an education reform organization called Stand for Children, which is based in Portland. In this post she explains why she stepped down. This appeared on the website of Parents Across America.

Stand for Children’s Jonah Edelman, co-founder and chief executive officer, just got some unpleasant publicity for remarks he made while he was on a panel at the Aspen Institute’s Ideas Festival. Caught on video, he was shown bragging about how he manipulated people to get reform legislation passed in Illinois. He apologized but the damage was done.

Read full article >>

Diane Ravitch on Edelman's Astroturf Enterprise - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Diane Ravitch on Edelman's Astroturf Enterprise - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Diane Ravitch on Edelman's Astroturf Enterprise

by Anthony Cody

Yesterday I shared some reactions to a video making the rounds, in which Jonah Edelman describes the way his non-profit organization, Stand For Children, maneuvered to get legislation enacted in the state of Illinois. This seems to represent the sort of money-fueled policy that education historian Diane Ravitch has been warning us about, so I asked her for her thoughts.

What do you think that Jonah Edelman's remarks reveal about how education policy is being shaped in states across the country?

I attended the Aspen Ideas Festival but did not go to Edelman's session, which was titled "If It Can Happen There, It Can Happen Anywhere: Transformational Education Legislation in Illinois." Edelman shared the billing with James Schine Crown, a financier in Illinois. I watched the video and read the transcript. Edelman was very candid in describing the hardball political tactics that Stand for Children used to push through legislation that diminished the collective bargaining rights of teachers. But above all, he used a massive financial political kitty to woo friends and allies to his side. This is not merely an interesting anecdote about Illinois politics, but reveals tactics that are now being employed in states and districts across the nation by small numbers of very well-

New parent trigger regs approved | Thoughts on Public Education

New parent trigger regs approved | Thoughts on Public Education

New parent trigger regs approved

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Vote may be the final round - really

Posted on 7/13/11 • Categorized as Parent Trigger, State Board of Education, Uncategorized

By Kathryn Baron

The State Board of Education (SBE) received a standing ovation yesterday morning. Members of the Los Angeles advocacy group Parent Revolution, wearing their matching navy tee-shirts, applauded wildly and shouted “si se puede”.

Even board member Patricia Rucker smiled. The lobbyist for the California Teachers Association, against whom Parent Revolution has filed a conflict of interest complaint, had voted with them, giving the latest – and possibly last – revised set of parent trigger regulations a unanimous send-off by the State Board.

At the start of the meeting Rucker seemed to set a different tone when she would not recuse herself from voting on the issue saying that because “there’s no fiscal connection for her

Lessons from Atlanta - Bites - Opinions - July 14, 2011 - Sacramento News & Review

Lessons from Atlanta - Bites - Opinions - July 14, 2011 - Sacramento News & Review

Lessons from Atlanta

By Cosmo Garvin
cosmog@newsreview.com
More stories by this author...

This article was published on 07.14.11.

The Atlanta public school system is feeling the consequences of the obsession with high-stakes educational testing.

There, some 178 teachers and principals and teachers, at 44 different schools, are accused of cheating to raise standardized test scores. And no wonder.

Educators told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution of enormous pressure to raise scores, and a “culture of fear” where teachers whose students got low marks could be fired. Same for teachers who blew the whistle.

Can’t happen here? Well, at least a few of the major ingredients needed for a testing scandal are already on hand here in Sacramento.

Here, the daily newspaper has already called for evaluating Sacramento teachers based on student test scores. That echoes the philosophy of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and his (still) fiancée, education reform celebrity Michelle Rhee.

Rhee chose Sacramento for her StudentsFirst lobbying group, which has test-score based

Rhee and Robinson Hit the Road to Sell Scott's Educational Vision - The Bradenton Times

Rhee and Robinson Hit the Road to Sell Scott's Educational Vision - The Bradenton Times - Free News for Bradenton, FL and Manatee County

Rhee and Robinson Hit the Road to Sell Scott's Educational Vision

Published Thursday, July 14, 2011 2:01 am

by John Rehill

Rick Scott and Gerard Robinson

BRADENTON -- If it seems like the walls are moving in on the way our schools are being run, its because they are. As each county district attempts to reign in the fluff and cut out the rust, Tallahassee gets to see it's newCommissioner of Education Gerard Robinson in full swing Friday in Ft Lauderdale, where he and controversial former D.C. schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee (a former Scott advisor) will headline a forum on student achievement.

The education-focused forum is sponsored by Hispanic CREO (Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options). The pro-voucher group invited both guests to speak about their experience in the field of strategies that enhanced and expanded school options.

Robinson, straight from his desk as Virginia's Secretary of Education to his seat as Florida's Education Commissioner, is said to be a leader in education reform and innovation, with experience holding