Philly School District goes to Supreme Court in charter case - Philly.com

Philly School District goes to Supreme Court in charter case - Philly.com:

Philly School District goes to Supreme Court in charter case

May 08, 2012|By Martha Woodall, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

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The Philadelphia School District has asked the state Supreme Court to consider overturning a recent Commonwealth Court ruling about charter schools that could have dire consequences for Philadelphia and other cash-strapped districts.

The lower court ruled in April that the district had illegally capped enrollment at the Walter D. Palmer Leadership Learning Partners Charter School, upholding Education Secretary Ronald J. Tomalis’ finding that the charter was entitled to $1.3 million that otherwise would go to the district.

The School District had refused to give the Palmer charter that amount for 2008-09 and 2009-10 to pay for students the school enrolled beyond the 675 specified in its charter agreement.

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The charter school has more than 900 students in grades K-12. Its main campus is at 910 N. Sixth St.

A state law that took effect July 1, 2008, bars districts from capping charter enrollment unless the 

Cerf Enters Perth Amboy Superintendent Fight

NJ Spotlight | Fine Print: Cerf Enters Perth Amboy Superintendent Fight:

Fine Print: Cerf Enters Perth Amboy Superintendent Fight

Acting commissioner's ruling puts embattled school administrator back to work

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By John Mooney, May 9, 2012 in Education |3 Comments

What it is: New Jersey’s acting education commissioner, Chris Cerf, yesterday ruled on a legal challenge that Perth Amboy superintendent Janine Caffrey must be reinstated to her job, at least for now, after the district’s school board voted in April to dismiss her over a number of political differences.

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Perth Amboy Decision

What it means: While the commissioner hears countless personnel appeals, it was unusual for him to get involved in such a high-profile leadership fight. But it was also unusual for the board to try to dismiss Caffrey without the usual notice, especially on more political grounds that were not so much about misconduct as misbehavior, at least in the board’s eyes.

Caffrey’s side: The superintendent has maintained that the dismissal was about her refusal to follow the board’s bidding on school hiring, as well as cooperate in separate investigations involvin

Students must summon our inner superheroes for educational justice | Thoughts on Public Education

Students must summon our inner superheroes for educational justice | Thoughts on Public Education:

Students must summon our inner superheroes for educational justice

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Posted on 5/08/12 • Categorized as Achievement Gap

By Citlali Hernandez

When I was a young child, every Saturday morning I would watch cartoons, especially Batman. Although people may think it’s a cliché for children to be inspired by superheroes, the feeling children get from watching people who can change the world into a better place touches a true emotion. I don’t have superpowers, but I do have the power to speak out for my community, to tell my story as an inner-city young woman of color in a public school.

On Thursday, I will head out to Sacramento with students and parents from different cities and different backgrounds from all over California to fight for a better education for all 

Weighted formula in waiting - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

With the cancellation of today’s joint hearing with the Senate and Assembly Education Committees, the Brown administration has dodged – for now – tough questioning on the governor’s plan for a weighted student formula. Today’s session would have been the first formal look by the two key education policy committees at the sweeping school finance proposals [...]

Daily Kos: A brief moment of personal reflection

Daily Kos: A brief moment of personal reflection:

A brief moment of personal reflection

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

In exactly two weeks I will turn 66.  Each year as May 23 approaches, I find myself reflecting, looking back on the year that has passed, wondering what if anything I might have to offer on that date itself.  Certainly in the year that I turned 60 that seemed most appropriate.
This year is somewhat different.  My birthday will occur less than  3 weeks before I leave the school at which I have taught, except for one year, since 1998.  It will be exactly one week before my department holds an informal reception to honor me, one to which several of my former principals, one from this school and one from my first school, have agreed to come.
By then I may know what I will be doing next year, or perhaps I will be as uncertain as I am now as to what the future may hold.
One week from now will be the day after my students have taken their Advanced Placement examination.  Yesterday was the last FORMAL practice they will have, and it was eye opening for a few.  Out of the 25 questions, 6 were of the type "which of the following .... EXCEPT"  and many students missed four or more of those because they did not force themselves to look at ALL the answers, and thus catch themselves on the key word, EXCEPT.  I have done what I can to prepare them for HOW to take the test.
But yesterday was also a touching day in other ways.
Let me explain

Teacher evaluation: What it should look like - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Teacher evaluation: What it should look like - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:

Teacher evaluation: What it should look like

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 2 hours ago

A new report from Stanford University researcher Linda Darling-Hammond details what the components of a comprehensive teacher evaluation system should look like at a time when such assessments have become one of the most contentious debates in education today. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]

Ben Carson's creationist views spark controvery over commencement speech

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 8 hours ago

An unusual controversy has erupted at Emory University over the choice offamed neurosurgeon Ben Carson to deliver this year’s commencement address because he does not believe in evolution. Nearly 500 professors, student and alumni signed a letter (see full text below) expressing concern that Carson, as a 7th Day Adventist, believes in creationist theory that holds that all life on Earth was created by God about 6,000 years ago. It rejects Darwin’s theory of evolution, which is the central principle that animates modern biology, uniting all biological fields under one theoretical t... more »

Thoughts on teachers — from Socrates to Lady Gaga

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 1 day ago

Today is National Teacher Day, part of Teacher Appreciation Week, an annual moment to heap praise on teachers in a country that has spent the rest of the past year doing pretty much the opposite. Morale has been plummeted in recent years among most of the approximate 3,232,800 teachers in K-12 public schools, according to recent polls. This is a result in large part of the actions of state legislatures that have passed laws end teacher tenure, to make teacher evaluation partly dependent on student standardized test scores, and to take other actions that many teachers see as an ass... more »

Teacher on flawed tests: ‘We can ill-afford to be silent while our very jobs are at stake’

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 1 day ago

I received the following email from a New York State math teacher. The message reveals a previously unreported problem with the New York State 7th Grade Math exam recently given to students, this on top of the now famous English Language Arts test questions about a talking pineapple and other problems with these tests that have been cited by principals and others. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]

Ravitch: Pearson’s expanding role in education

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 1 day ago

This *was written by education historian Diane Ravitch, a research professor at New York University and author of the bestselling “The Death and Life of the Great American School System.” This first appeared on her blog. * Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]

FINALLY MAKING A STAND AGAINST LAUSD IN THE OAH - Perdaily.com

FINALLY MAKING A STAND AGAINST LAUSD IN THE OAH - Perdaily.com:

FINALLY MAKING A STAND AGAINST LAUSD IN THE OAH

by Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post)
For years the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has been running roughshod over teachers, who they have succeeded in removing from their livelihood as professional tenured teachers as if they had no rights under collective bargaining or to due process of law. With the Miramonte Child Abuse Scandal, matter have only gotten worst as the removal of teachers without honest cause has reached adeasying pace. Today in Courtroom #9 at the Office of Administrative Hearings at 320 W. 6th Street in Downtown Los Angeles just maybe the first step was taken by Attorney Ronald Lapekas to finally hold LAUSD responsible to the rule of law - even for teachers.

Over the last few years as public education budgets have been drastically cut, those in power at LAUSD and their masters have targeted more and more innocent teachers for removal from their jobs based on false charges, 

REJECTING THE COMMON CORE by Anthony Scott

by Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post)
On Perdaily, there have been many articles about the privatization of our educational system. As a teacher in California, I want to encourage you to reject our states adoption of the common core standards as another effort to privatize our education system. While our current system can be improved, this is not being addressed by common core. What is at issue is how the common core gives two companies an unregulated monopoly on our education.   

First, the common core standards were not created by an unbiased group of experienced and 

The Innovative Educator: Parent opts child out of field test and opts into meaningful learning

The Innovative Educator: Parent opts child out of field test and opts into meaningful learning:

Parent opts child out of field test and opts into meaningful learning

by noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen)

Opt Out of Field Tests

Students across the nation have been unnecessarily subjected to the most expensive and least effective assessments possible over the past few months...standardized tests. While in all cases this resulted in stolen instructional time, in many cases it was even worse and also resulted in students forced to take tests against parental will even if it meant emotional and  physical distress to the child.  


In many states the system isn't done stealing instructional time. They are now going into a round of field testing where they use children as involuntary subjects on which to experiment.  Parents should know that they DO NOT have to do this. They can opt their child out as New York City parent and teacher Veronica Vega is doing.  Below is her opt out letter which can be used as a model for other parents who value student learning.  


Dear Principal,

Please do not allow my child Steven Herrera Jr. in 5th grade to sit for any New York state field test in any 

Arts high school students walk out to protest proposed budget cuts - latimes.com

Arts high school students walk out to protest proposed budget cuts - latimes.com:

Arts high school students walk out to protest proposed budget cuts

More than 1,000 students from the Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts walked from their downtown campus to school district headquarters Tuesday afternoon to protest budget cuts that have the potential to devastate the school’s arts program.
The high school opened three years ago as the district’s flagship arts program in a gleaming, high-tech campus on the north edge of downtown. The school has struggled with a series of principals and other issues, but also 

NYC Educator: Obama to Teachers--Drop Dead

NYC Educator: Obama to Teachers--Drop Dead:

Obama to Teachers--Drop Dead

by NYC Educator

To show how much he appreciates the endorsements of NEA and AFT, President Barack Obama declared this week, Teacher Appreciation Week, to be National Charter School Week. So all you public school teachers wasting your time with kids who don't speak English, kids who have special needs, kids who need alternate assessment, and all the other kids who don't improve the test scores can go straight to hell. The President has taken your week and given it to Bill Gates, Eli Broad, Michelle Rhee and the Walmart family.

In fact, this President does not appreciate teachers

Peg with Pen: Mind Trust's David Harris: His Next Step Will Be Over You

Peg with Pen: Mind Trust's David Harris: His Next Step Will Be Over You:

Mind Trust's David Harris: His Next Step Will Be Over You

by Peggy

As a former public school teacher who knows a lot about authentic assessment, I am always fascinated to read directives given by the likes of Mr. Harris, who hasn't taught - yet can suggest a school closing based on standardized test data - data that quite honestly, is worthless – if indeed you wish to know about real student learning.  Mr. Harris, CEO of Mind Trust, recently stated that The Project School (as well as three other schools) in Indianapolis should be closed, based on their low test scores. 

The research on test-based incentive programs shows that these mandates do not raise student achievement, yet, this prized standardized test data continues to be used to determine the success or failure of our public schools. Standardized test data does tell us one thing - which students are living in poverty. At TPS