Dragon tales and other reasons I oppose school vouchers

Change of Subject: Dragon tales and other reasons I oppose school vouchers:

Dragon tales and other reasons I oppose school vouchers

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Deanna Pan at Mother Jones does a quick run-down of the worst of the claptrap that taxpayers in Lousiana are going to have to pay to disseminate to that state's schoolchildren under a new school voucher program.  In 14 Wacky "Facts" Kids Will Learn in Louisiana's Voucher Schools:

(Some of the schools) rely on Pensacola-based A Beka Book curriculum or Bob Jones University Press textbooks to teach their pupils Bible-based "facts," ...and all sorts of pseudoscience that researcher Rachel Tabachnick and writer Thomas Vinciguerra have thankfully pored over so the rest of world doesn't have to. Here are some of my favorite lessons:

 Dinosaurs and humans probably hung out: "Bible-believing Christians cannot accept any evolutionary interpretation. Dinosaurs and humans were definitely on the earth at the same time and may have even lived side by side within the past few thousand years."—Life Science, 3rd ed., Bob Jones University Press, 2007

Dragons were totally real: "[Is] it 

California's Prop. 32 would be Citizens United on steroids - The Hill's Congress Blog

California's Prop. 32 would be Citizens United on steroids - The Hill's Congress Blog:

California's Prop. 32 would be Citizens United on steroids

By John Logan, professor, San Francisco State University - 08/14/12 07:57 AM ET

  

Conservative activists in California are promoting a deceptive ballot proposition that would increase the ability of business groups and billionaires to dominate state elections. The measure, Proposition 32, claims to be an even-handed effort at campaign finance reform – but nothing could be further from the truth. Prop. 32 (or “Stop Special Interest Money Now,” as its big money supporters prefer to call it) would cripple the ability of unions to participate in politics, but have little or no impact on unlimited spending by corporate executives and other wealthy individuals.

Data compiled by the non-partisan Center for Investigative Reporting 

Morning UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 5-14-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

For-Profit Charter Chains Pour Money into Florida State Senate Races

by dianerav

Coach Sikes, our reliable Florida informant, describes how that state’s for-profit charter chains are pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into four key races for the state senate.
This past spring, the state senate deadlocked on a 20-20 vote and did not pass a parent trigger law supported by

Why Is K12 Online Corp. Advertising on Kansas TV?

by dianerav

David Reber is a teacher in Kansas who happens to be a terrific writer.
His articles are always insightful.
This one is about the relentless advertising campaign in Kansas of the online giant K12.
As the privatization movement gathers steam, as equity investors launch their latest scheme to extract profits 

Who Is Funding “Teachers Rock” and “Won’t Back Down”?

by dianerav

The money behind the “parent trigger” movie comes from the rightwing.
It’s a shame to see mainstream movie stars and musicians fooled into thinking this movie “honors” teachers.
The parent trigger is a transparent attempt to fool parents into seizing control of their public school and handing it 

Will Your District Race to the Top?

by dianerav

Arne Duncan wants your district to compete for his millions. If you win the money, he will judge whether your superintendent and school board are doing a good job.
Who made him superintendent of education for the United States? Did he never learn about federalism? Did he miss that course?
If Romney is elected, his secretary of education will hold a Bigger Race to the Top contest and give points and

Why So Much Test Prep? Ask Gates Foundation.

by dianerav

According to this story in Philadelphia’s Notebook, the Gates Foundation has been generously funding a teacher-training program tailored to test prep.
Philadelphia schools need higher scores, so the Philadelphia Great Schools Compact wants more, please, of

Please Watch CNN Newsroom, Saturday August 18 10-11 AM

by dianerav

Many people have asked me what time I will be interviewed on CNN on Saturday.
I will be interviewed by Randi Kaye, who interviewed Michelle Rhee on same program.
Saturday August 18, 10-11 am.
I will do my best to present the facts and to rebut the misinformation that has been disseminated to the public about the work of our nation’s teachers and schools.

About that “Teachers Rock” Concert

by dianerav

A reader asks a reasonable question about the concert in Los Angeles tonight celebrating a film that disparages teachers, public schools, and unions:
Here’s another thought.  You could also contact the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the American Federation of Musicians to express your opinion about this situation.  It does seem a little odd that professionals in these unions would take part in a production that is sponsored and promoted by private parties intent on disparaging professionals in a different union.  Just saying.

Anthony Cody Challenges the Gates Foundation

by dianerav

Anthony Cody has worked for nearly two decades in the Oakland public schools. He knows what poverty does to children. He knows what hunger and violence do to their lives. He thinks the Gates Foundation should stop pretending that it can end poverty by putting “a great teacher” in every classroom. How will that feed children? How will it end the violence to which so many are exposed? How will it change the terrible conditions in which so many live?
In this post, Anthony Cody brings the facts to light that never figure in the Gates’ plans. Let’s hope that the

The Most Perceptive Article of the Year: UPDATE!

by dianerav

Every once in a while, I read something that rings as true as a perfectly pitched bell or a fine piece of crystal.
Every once in a while, a clear-headed thinker assembles all the pieces of what is happening around us and puts it all together into a sensible and compelling analysis.
Here is that article that did it for me today.
This is a keeper.
It demonstrates, in persuasive detail, why the federal policy framework is failing and will continue to fail.
Why firing half the staff of low performing schools does not produce high performing schools and may make it

Educators Push Back Against Rhee’s Insulting Ad

by dianerav

Two different videos made by educators to satirize Michelle Rhee’s insulting Olympics ad, the one that ridicules America, teachers, students, obesity and gays.
Here is one. It is hilarious.
Here is the other.  This creative video is from “the Chalkface,” where smart and funny educators use radio and

Jim Horn’s Top 10 Reasons Why 1% Like Urban Charters

by dianerav

Jim Horn has an illuminating blog called “SchoolsMatter.”
In this post, he puzzles over why hedge fund managers and assorted billionaires are so devoted to urban charter schools, particularly in light of repeated studies that show that these schools don’t get better results than public schools.
Here is his list of the top ten reasons that the super-wealthy–the 1%–adore urban charter schools.
Do you agree?

How Would You Answer This Question?

by dianerav

A reader writes for our help.
I would say to these students: No one can promise you will land a job, not in this or any other field, but I can promise you that teaching is the most exciting, rewarding, and important job you will ever have. It will change your life, and you all have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of your students.
What would you say to them?
I wrote to the celebrities [who are in "Teachers Rock"], and I hope all our messages make a difference. I have a 

Time to Speak Out and Act Up for Teachers and Public Schools

by dianerav

Teachers and parents often ask me: What can I do? How can I stop the attacks on teachers, on their unions, on public schools?
Here is one way:
Tomorrow night there will be an event called “Teachers Rock” to promote a film that is anti-teacher, anti-union and anti-public schools.
Let the stars involved in “Teachers Rock” know that the film they are promoting is NOT pro-teacher. It is anti-public education.
It celebrates the failed parent trigger, the idea that parents should “seize control” of their public school and hand it over to a charter corporation.
It is funded by the same pro-privatization billionaire that produced “Waiting for Superman.”
Here is some helpful advice from blogger Jersey Jszzman about how to contact the stars.

Dancing Guy: Why teachers should ignore his advice - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Dancing Guy: Why teachers should ignore his advice - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:

Dancing Guy: Why teachers should ignore his advice

By Valerie Strauss

This was written by Larry Ferlazzo, a high-school teacher in Sacramento who writes a blog for educators and a teacher advice column for Education Week Teacher. He also has authored four bookson education. This first appeared here .

By Larry Ferlazzo

Music and creativity entrepreneur Derek Sivers has a popular TED Talk titled “Leadership Lessons From Dancing Guy.” Here’s the video andtranscript of his three-minute talk.

Unfortunately, at least through my eyes as a 19-year community organizer and nine-year high-school teacher, Dancing Guy models many poor leadership traits.

A leader who shares the values of democracy, justice and diversity (among other things) and is serious about building long-lasting change 

Thursday deadline for resolving teacher evaluation bill | EdSource Today

Thursday deadline for resolving teacher evaluation bill | EdSource Today:

Thursday deadline for resolving teacher evaluation bill

August 14th, 2012 | Add a Comment | 
By John Fensterwald

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The Senate Appropriations Committee has given Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes three days to figure out how to pay for and, if possible, mollify critics of his bill to redesign teacher evaluations.

On Thursday, the committee, chaired by Democratic Sen. Christine Kehoe of San Diego, will decide whether AB 5 moves forward with an as-yet imprecise price tag. Even critics who say the bill doesn’t go far enough – and they were out in force at the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing Monday ­– acknowledge that the bill would bring clarity and add substance to the vague, largely irrelevant current law known as the Stull Act. But in a year in which Gov. Jerry Brown has vowed to veto legislation costing more money, AB 5 would establish an expensive new state mandate by imposing substantial additional requirements on school districts.

Fuentes, a Democrat from the San Fernando Valley, indicated Monday that he still needed to 

Narrow win for middle class scholarship in Assembly - by Kathryn Baron

by Kathryn Baron

One Independent, one Republican, and one reluctant Democrat gave Assembly Speaker John Pérez the votes he needed to pass the most contentious piece of his Middle Class Scholarship Act. The Act is a two-bill package consisting of AB 1500 and AB 1501; the latter creates the program while the former establishes the funding source to pay for it. They both have to pass or the Scholarship Act fails...

Compton NAACP moves to recall school board member - latimes.com

Compton NAACP moves to recall school board member - latimes.com:

Compton NAACP moves to recall school board member

The Compton chapter of the NAACP has launched an effort to recall Skyy Fisher from his seat on the Compton Unified School District board.
In an Internet podcast, Fisher referred to the district superintendent with insulting names and used a gay slur to describe slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin.
The 28-year-old Fisher, who was elected to his seat last year, later took a 60-day leave of absence.
His profanity-filled rant, first reported in May by L.A. Weekly, criticized Compton Supt. Karen Frison for not giving him a district car, ridiculed a father who alleged that his daughter had been raped and disclosed plans to get 

Four Florida Senate Primary Races Today Are Key to March’s Parent Trigger Fight | Scathing Purple Musings

Four Florida Senate Primary Races Today Are Key to March’s Parent Trigger Fight | Scathing Purple Musings:

Four Florida Senate Primary Races Today Are Key to March’s Parent Trigger Fight

by Bob Sikes

When Florida’s two largest for-profit charter schools each made the unprecedented move of donating $100,000 last month to the PAC of privatization advocate, it signaled some changes among the people seeking to end public education. Lets review.
Charter school giants Academica and Charter Schools USA had always operated separately from one another. The  later let the former dominate the one lobby that had existed in the state until last year when another was funded with Walton family money and staffed with loyalists to Jeb Bush. Academica  (06/28/2012) and Charter Schools USA (07/10/2012) made donations to John Kirtley’s  Florida Federation for Children, the Florida arm of Kirtley’s American Federation for Children.
Kirtley, a wealthy Tampa investor, made his name in the Florida ed privatization community as a voucher and tax 

What Really Happens When Parents Pull the "Parent Trigger?" | Center for Media and Democracy

UPDATE: Seattle Schools Community Forum: Updates on WA State PTSA Opposition to I-1240

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Updates on WA State PTSA Opposition to I-1240:

Another Ill-Informed Times Editorial

by Charlie Mas

I have pretty much given up on the idea that the Seattle Times will ever write a well-informed, well-reasoned or well-written opinion piece on public education. Their latest offering, Define state's education priorities before boosting funding, is just as insipid and weak as any of those that came before.

Believe it not, they want the state to decide, in advance of any additional funding as required by the McCleary decision or as promised by both gubernatorial candidates, how they would spend it. I guess they don't remember the state legislature's recent definition of Basic Education.

Teacher Evaluation Law critiqued

by Charlie Mas

Liv Finne of the Washington Policy Center wrote an article for Crosscut, A failing grade for the state's new teacher-evaluation bill.

Ms Finne writes "The federal government has no business telling us how to evaluate our teachers,". I suspect the same could be said of the state legislature. What other state employees have their evaluations dictated by statute? What do state legislators know about evaluating teachers?

Whether you agree or disagree with Ms Finne or the Washington Policy Center, they are thoughtful and provide rationale for their conclusions. I find nothing more illuminating to read than a well-written and thoughtful article by someone who disagrees with me. I like to be challenged in my thinking.

Updates on WA State PTSA Opposition to I-1240

by Melissa Westbrook

The Seattle Times had an update to its news that the Washington State PTSA reviewed I-1240 and, despite their past support for charters, stated it was opposed to I-1240.  (Note: Ramona Hattendorf, WA State PTSA, let me know that they are not going to actively campaign against the measure but do not support it.)

Apparently Stand for Children thinks that the folks at the WSPTSA can't read.

Shannon Campion, a spokesman for the initiative, said she was surprised by the PTA’s decision.
“We respectfully disagree with the PTA board’s position and view it as essentially a misreading because of the strong parent involvement in this initiative,” Campion said.

Really?  Because:

LAUSD TEACHERS: CARE TO FRAME THE CONVERSATION FOR A CHANGE? - Perdaily.com

LAUSD TEACHERS: CARE TO FRAME THE CONVERSATION FOR A CHANGE? - Perdaily.com:

LAUSD TEACHERS: CARE TO FRAME THE CONVERSATION FOR A CHANGE?

by Leonard Isenberg

(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post)
As the war against a professional, well-educated, and  fairly compensated teacher corp continues unabated across the United States, what remains missing in this most important discussion is the voice of teachers authoritatively laying out the reality of what they do for a living in a manner that might counter the incessant "dominant narrative" of the mainstream media, that only sees bad teachers as the problem and charter school as the panacea.

Dr. Wendy C. Kasten of Kent State University has prepared asurvey for teachers to take that might offer an alternative view of just how difficult it is 

Missouri Education Watchdog: The GAO Establishes Site for Citizens to Report "Potential State Testing Improprieties" when it Cheats Taxpayers for Lavish Conferences?

Missouri Education Watchdog: The GAO Establishes Site for Citizens to Report "Potential State Testing Improprieties" when it Cheats Taxpayers for Lavish Conferences?:

The GAO Establishes Site for Citizens to Report "Potential State Testing Improprieties" when it Cheats Taxpayers for Lavish Conferences?

by stlgretchen

This federal worker is from the GAO, now charged to investigate school cheating....while the GAO has cheated taxpayers of millions of dollars with its own improprieties.

Teacher cheating scandals have been in the news the last few years.  Michelle Rhee, the darling of charter schools and school choice has had her issues with keeping those test scores up to support her educational reform.  From the Washington Post:

Nobody was particularly surprised when the D.C. Inspector General’s Office, after a 17-month investigation into allegations of widespread cheating on standardized tests in D.C. public schools,issued a new report which concluded that the suspicions were unfounded.

The probe was launched in 2011 in large response to a USA Today Kaya Henderson and Michelle Rhee 

PSAT for 8-14-12: Let’s not back down! Parents United for Responsible Education

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » PSAT for 8-14-12: Let’s not back down!:

PSAT for 8-14-12: Let’s not back down!

by admin

Public Schools Action Tuesday for today is to keep up the pressure on the Teachers Rock event and Won’t Back Down movie.
Please especially work on your local movie and/or entertainment reporters. They are no doubt receiving buckets of slick PR material from Walden Media, the producers whose Waiting for Superman propaganda sucked all the air out of the school reform debate for a couple of months in 2010.
I’m trying to get to Roger Ebert and a TV entertainment reporter I know but we need all hands on deck across 

Rally in Springfield. But not for this framework. « Fred Klonsky

Rally in Springfield. But not for this framework. « Fred Klonsky:

Rally in Springfield. But not for this framework.

by Fred Klonsky

Yesterday the We Are One Coalition issued a framework for solving the pension issue.

The following must be in any plan going forward:

1. A guarantee that the state will pay its portion as required. That hasn’t happened for decades, as legislatures have diverted money to other programs. 

2.  A true look at revenue by closing loopholes for big corporations that hurt taxpayers of Illinois. Many loopholes exist, and closing a few would generate money to help pay down the pension debt.

3.  No inclusion of current retirees, who are living on an earned and needed