NYC Public School Parents: We fought the invasion of PS 15: a real-life "Won't Back Down" story

NYC Public School Parents: We fought the invasion of PS 15: a real-life "Won't Back Down" story:

We fought the invasion of PS 15: a real-life "Won't Back Down" story

by Leonie Haimson

Lydia Bellahcene and Julie Cavanagh

The following was written by Julie Cavanagh and Lydia Bellahcene, a teacher and a parent at PS 15 in Brooklyn.  This is their real-life “Won’t Back Down” story, unlike the Hollywood version featured in the film of the same name that will open nationwide on Sept. 28.  You can also check out my review of the movie.  If you are a parent or educator and have your own real-life Won't Back Down story you’d like to share, please send it to us atinfo@classsizematters.org  Thanks!

The movie “Won't Back Down” is a work of fiction but is said to be based on real life events.  It tells the story of a teacher and a parent in a 'failing' school who join forces to 'save their school'.  The tale is a powerful one and some 

E Pluribus...Separation: Deepening Double Segregation for More Students — The Civil Rights Project at UCLA

E Pluribus...Separation: Deepening Double Segregation for More Students — The Civil Rights Project at UCLA:

E Pluribus...Separation: Deepening Double Segregation for More Students

Authors: Gary Orfield, John Kucsera, Genevieve Siegel-Hawley

Date Published: September 19, 2012

This report suggests a number of specific ways to reverse the trends toward deepening resegregation and educational inequalities.

Related Documents

•  Full Report: E Pluribus...Separation
•  Executive Summary: E Pluribus...Separation

Editor's Note: This new research by the Civil Rights Project includes an extensive report on national trends, “E Pluribus… Separation: Deepening Double Segregation for More Students,” as well as two smaller regional reports, “The Western States: Profound Diversity but Severe Segregation for Latino Students,” and “Southern Slippage: Growing School Segregation in the Most Desegregated Region of the Country.”

Executive Summary

This report shows that segregation has increased seriously across the country for Latino students, who are attending more intensely segregated and impoverished schools than they have for generations.  The segregation increases have been the most dramatic in the West. The typical Latino student in the region attends a school where less than a quarter of their classmates are white; nearly two-thirds are other Latinos; and two-thirds are poor. California, New York and Texas, all states that have been profoundly altered by immigration trends over the last half-century, are among the most segregated states for Latino students along multiple dimensions.

In spite of declining residential segregation for black families and large-scale movement to the suburbs in most parts of the country, school segregation remains very high for black students.  It is also double segregation by both race and poverty.  Nationwide, the typical black student is now in a school where almost two out of every three classmates (64%) are low-income, nearly double the level in schools of the typical white or Asian student (37% and 39%, respectively).  New York, Illinois, and Michigan consistently top the list of the most segregated states for black students.  Among the states with significant black enrollments, blacks are least likely to attend intensely segregated schools in Washington, Nebraska, and Kansas.

School resegregation for black students is increasing most dramatically in the South, where, after a period of intense resistance, strong action was taken to integrate black and white students.  Black students across the country experienced gains in school desegregation from the l960s to the late l980s, a time in which racial achievement gaps also narrowed sharply.  These trends began to reverse after a 1991 Supreme Court decision made it easier for school districts and courts to dismantle desegregation plans. Most major plans have been eliminated for years now, despite increasingly powerful evidence on the importance of desegregated schools.

The Obama Administration, like the Bush Administration, has taken no significant action to increase school integration or to help stabilize diverse schools as racial change occurs in urban and suburban housing markets and schools. Small positive steps in civil rights enforcement have been undermined by the Obama Administration’s strong pressure on states to expand charter schools - the most segregated sector of schools for black students. Though segregation is powerfully 

Study: ‘Apartheid’ school segregation deepening in California, Texas and New York | The Raw Story

Study: ‘Apartheid’ school segregation deepening in California, Texas and New York | The Raw Story:

Study: ‘Apartheid’ school segregation deepening in California, Texas and New York

from Raw Story by Kay Steiger

Topics: African American students ♦ school segregation

 

A full 15 percent of African American students and 14 percent of Latino students are attending America’s “apartheid” schools, which have  student bodies that are less than 1 percent white, according to a new study by the Civil Rights Project published on Wednesday.

Additionally, the typical African American or Latino student attends school with twice the share of low-income students as their white or Asian peers. These segregation factors are most exacerbated in California, Texas and New York, “states that have been profoundly altered by immigration trends over the last half century.”

“We underscore the fact that simply sitting next to a white student does not guarantee better educational outcomes for students of color,” the report said. “Instead, the resources that are consistently linked to predominately white and/or wealthy schools help foster real and serious educational advantages over minority segregated settings.”

“Our political and educational leaders, who have passively accepted deepening school segregation, need to find some of the same courage that transformed our society in the mid-twentieth century,”

Raw Story (http://s.tt/1o0CS)

Other teacher contracts. « Fred Klonsky

Other teacher contracts. « Fred Klonsky:

Other teacher contracts.

from Fred Klonsky's blog by Fred Klonsky

This past couple of weeks national attention deservedly was focused on the Chicago Teachers Union battle with Rahm Emanuel over his corporate-backed reform plans and the strike for a fair contract.
Meanwhile, teachers in my old school district in the Chicago suburbs of Park Ridge approved a new Collective Bargaining Agreement by 96% of the vote and 98% of the members voting.
The school board is expected to approve the Agreement at their regularly scheduled meeting on September 24th.
It is a good contract. The teachers obviously agree. It contains a modest cost of living increase and adds 

This Week In Education: Media: Are You The West Coast Version Of Joy Resmovits?

This Week In Education: Media: Are You The West Coast Version Of Joy Resmovits?:

Media: Are You The West Coast Version Of Joy Resmovits?

Launched last month, LA School Report is an independent education news and commentary site focused on the Los Angeles public schools that has been taking the LA education scene  by storm.

In just the lat few weeks, we've tracked campaign funding and broken news about possible school board candidates. We've helped readers understand the issues and dynamics behind the use of student achievement in teacher evaluations. Our material has been picked up by the Huffington Post and others.

Now we're looking for a 

What ‘Won’t Back Down’ Gets Wrong About Parental Involvement in Schools | NEA Today

What ‘Won’t Back Down’ Gets Wrong About Parental Involvement in Schools | NEA Today:

What ‘Won’t Back Down’ Gets Wrong About Parental Involvement in Schools

September 20, 2012 by twalker  
Filed under Featured News, Top Stories

1 Comment

By Tim Walker

In school districts across the nation, parents are collaborating with educators, administrators, teachers unions and other community leaders to improve public education and find sustainable solutions that put children at the center of reform.

That’s the reality, but anti-public education activists are betting the American public will rather be told a fairy tale about how teachers and, especially, their unions are standing in the way of parents who are trying to do what is best for their child’s education. That’s the basic plot of the movie “Won’t Back Down,” which opens nationwide on September 28. Bankrolled by many of the same corporate heavies who were behind the pro-charter school documentary “Waiting for Superman,” “Won’t Back Down” is fiction but it’s “inspired by true events” tagline should give pause to anyone planning to see the film.

Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal in "Won't Back Down"

Which is not to say that “Won’t Back Down” doesn’t score as enjoyable entertainment. It does, says NEA President Dennis Van Roekel, who recently attended a screening. Van Roekel 

Morning UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 9-21-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

To Be Poor in America

by dianerav

Yesterday, I posted an article about growing income inequality in New York City. This morning, I posted an editorial from Bloomberg News claiming that the Census Bureau was overstating the extent of poverty by not counting transfers like food stamps.
A reader sent this story, which should remind us that it is no picnic to be poor in America.
Let me add a personal note. I am not poor. I have never been poor. But I hope I never reach a point when I stop caring about others less fortunate than I. I hope I never become so hard-hearted that I say, like some others do now, that the poor don’t know how lucky they are, or that poverty is just an excuse for bad teachers, or that 

If You Happen to Be in NOLA

by dianerav

If you happen to be in New Orleans this Saturday September 22, you won’t want to miss this fascinating panel discussion about “The Education Experiment: Petri Dish Reform in New Orleans and Louisiana.”
And even if you can’t get there for the panel discussion, open the link and see what they are talking about.
New Orleans is the first American city to wipe out public education and replace it with a charter system (80% of the students are in charters). Louisiana has passed legislation that will transfer $2 billion in public fund away from public schools to voucher schools.
Pay attention.

The Effects of “Reform”

by dianerav

Will Richardson has his own blog, where he writes about many topics, especially technology.
I invited him to write for us, and he graciously consented.
Will Richardson writes:
Last week I had the opportunity to work with a group of teachers and administrators in a state that is supposedly leading the way in education “reform” here in the US. It’s a state where schools are getting letter grades, where teachers are being assessed in large measure by results of student tests, and where not surprisingly, educators at the ground level are not given a very large voice in the conversation.
Two things struck me in my discussions with them over those two days. First, despite the barriers, these 100 or 

Fox News’ Conflict of Interest?

by dianerav

Some of the tests that Chicago teachers complained about, the tests on which their evaluations would depend, the tests at the heart of the strike—are administered by a subsidiary of Fox News.
Media Matters, a public-interest watchdog, pointed out that Fox News aired 89 segments about the strike in a one-week period without disclosing the financial ties between Fox News and Wireless Generation, both of which are part of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation empire.
Full disclosure might also imply the need to disclose that Murdoch donates significant sums of money to charter 

A Parent Trigger in Nashville?

by dianerav

Parents in an affluent section of Nashville are exploring the possibility of using the state’s “parent trigger” law to leave the school district and form their own charter. The councilwoman for the area is leading discussions.
This appears to signal the next phase of the charter movement. For years, as the charter movement grew, advocates utilized rhetoric about “saving” poor black and Hispanic children from their “failing” schools.
In this Nashville area, the children are not poor, not black and Hispanic, and their schools are high-performing

Mayors Support Rahm

by dianerav

Maybe it should not be a surprise, but the U.S. Conference of Mayors gave their strong support to Mayor Rahm Emanuel in his fight with the Chicago Teachers Union.
The mayors’ statement was apparently coordinated by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, husband of Michelle Rhee.
Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia signed the statement

The Good News About Poverty

by dianerav

Remember the story in yesterday’s New York Times that described the increase in income inequality in New York City? That’s the one that said that the gap between the richest quintile and the poorest quintile has not only grown but is one of the largest in the world, putting us in the same league as countries like Namibia.
Well, there is good news from Mayor Bloomberg’s own publishing house. Poverty is really not so bad in the U.S. because the Census Bureau didn’t count all the benefits and transfers that the poor get. So when you read that 

The Errors of an Anti-Union Blogger

by dianerav

During the Chicago strike, there was a lot of hostile media coverage. One of the critics of the strike and the union was Dylan Matthews, who blogs at the Washington Post.
This refreshing article shows how Matthews consistently misinterpreted research to reflect his own opinions. The author, Mike Paarlberg, is a Ph.D. candidate and lecturer at Georgetown University who understands statistics and reads research studies with care.
Paarlberg shows that Matthews doesn’t understand statistics and that he repeatedly misrepresented and 

A Hero of American Education: Richard Rothstein

by dianerav

When writing about Richard Rothstein, I scarcely know where to begin.
He has written several major books. Anyone who wants to understand the challenge of poverty in our society must read Rothstein’s seminal work, Class and Schools.
He was responsible for drafting the EPI paper that brought together nearly a dozen scholars to explain why value-

Obama’s Dreadful Education Agenda

by dianerav

The Washington Post has a good article about the aggressive way that the Obama administration has imposed its education agenda in the past three+ years.
The article notes, almost in passing, that there is no evidence for the success of any part of this agenda. No one will know for many years whether the Obama program of testing, accountability, and choice will improve education.
When reading the article, it is easy to forget that the U.S. Department of Education was not created to impose 

Our National Obsession with Data

by dianerav

Alfie Kohn on our obsession with metrics, in the current Education Week:
Schooling Beyond Measure
The reason that standardized-test results tend to be so uninformative and misleading is closely related to the reason that these tests are so popular in the first place. That, in turn, is connected to our attraction to—and the trouble with—grades, rubrics, and various practices commended to us as “data based.”
The common denominator? Our culture’s worshipful regard for numbers. Roger Jones, a physicist, called it “the heart of our modern idolatry … the belief that the quantitative description of things is paramount and even 

Reformers Buy $1 Million Ads to Spin the Strike

by dianerav

Fred Klonsky reports that Education Reform Now, the Wall Street hedge fund managers’ front group, spent $1 million on TV ads to try to persuade the public that the Mayor won. ERN is part of Democrats for Education Reform, the Wall Street boys who want Democrats to adopt Republican policies. DFER has cannily used its vast resources to reshape Democratic policy to align with those of the far-right in the Republican party.
Klonsky tried to imagine how many books or teachers’ salaries that $1 million would pay for. But groups like ERN/DFER don’t spend money on improving schools. They spend money to control schools.

The Fighting Profs at U. Of Texas

by dianerav

This parent supports the professors at the University of Texas, whose patient work is paying off. More than half the school boards in Texas have passed resolutions against high stakes testing, and the head of the state workforce commission just denounced it.
Thanks for their scholarship and courage!
The parent writes:
I love my alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin. This fine institution boasts the likes of Walter Stroup:

A Parent Activist Saw the Anti-Union Movie

by dianerav

Leonie Haimson, public school parent and founder of Class Size Matters, saw the anti-union movie “Won’t Back Down.” She saw it so you don’t have to. Here she tells you the details of the movie and describes a panel discussion that follows.
Leonie has been fighting for better public schools for years. She believes that parents and teachers should work together. Not to seize control of their school, but to press for smaller classes and an experienced staff. She knows what does not work: privatization and high stakes testing.

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Friday, September 21, 2012

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

Shuttle Endeavour goes sightseeing in California

Education Headlines

Friday, September 21, 2012

VISTA students scramble to find new schools

Bright and early this morning, Rongwei Huang will head to Stockton Early College Academy, a place that for her, paradoxically, will be both old and new.

Hacienda La Puente teachers at impasse with district over salaries, benefits

The teachers union representing the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District has walked away from the negotiating table and is expected to declare an impasse, union officials said Wednesday.

Treasurer calls for bill to ban costly school bonds

The California Legislature will take up a bill designed to prevent cities from issuing a Poway-style, 40-year bond with an enormous payback, San Diego County Treasurer-Tax Collector Dan McAllister said Thursday.

School districts offer online alternatives

A number of Inland Empire districts have added online programs alongside more traditional brick-and-mortar schools.

Chino Valley Unified board approves bringing back a number of programs and positions

Chino Valley Unified board members voted to bring back a number of programs and positions at tonight's board meeting.

San Juan voters asked to approve $350 million bond for school improvements

San Juan Unified needs money to fix leaky windows, replace aging portables and make schools more energy efficient, according to school district officials. They are asking voters to approve Measure N – a $350 million bond – on the Nov. 6 ballot.

View on same-sex marriage sinks Berkeley schools superintendent candidate

The final candidate chosen to run the city's schools backed out Monday after parents and teachers criticized his publicly stated views against same-sex marriage.

Moraga School District labors over abuse policy

A move to enhance school policy and clarify that all "mandated reporters" who suspect or know of child abuse must by law alert authorities is on hold, because of concerns over some of the proposed wording.

Baron: California leads effort to boost English learner success

About 59 percent of California’s 1.4 million English learners are considered long-term English learners, meaning they’ve been in school here for more than six years, yet are not academically fluent. Alarmed by those statistics, dozens of California school districts have been developing courses to end this educational stagnation. These efforts are showing promise and progress according to a new report, and have propelled California to the forefront a new nationwide movement.

Walters: California school cut warning looks real

If Proposition 30 doesn't pass, would Gov. Jerry Brown, et al., allow school cuts to take effect, or would they pull back, especially since they'd have the influential "education coalition," including the California Teachers Association, pushing them to reconsider? Brown has said that there would be no relief from school cuts because there's no other money available, and the budget he signed seems to bear that out.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Aging, polluting school buses remain on Calif. roads

Tens of thousands of California schoolchildren ride aging school buses that emit harmful pollutants, an analysis of state data shows.

Stockton charter closing after just 10 days

With enrollment less than one-third of what was expected, a charter high school that opened only last week in temporary space at Sherwood Mall will shut its doors for the final time Friday after a 10-day run.

Monterey school district reduces suspensions by rewarding positive behavior

Using rewards rather than punishment is one of the main components of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, an approach to managing student behavior that administrators at the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District credit with a dramatic reduction in school suspensions.

Mike Klonsky...: WTTW, Chicago Tonight, September 10, 2012

Mike Klonsky...: WTTW, Chicago Tonight, September 10, 2012:

WTTW, Chicago Tonight, September 10, 2012

SENATE BILL 7
Springfield passed ambitious education reform last year, intending to transform the system and make it harder for unions to strike. One year later, what’s changed? How did Chicago end up with a historic strike on its hands?

http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2012/09/10/attempts-education-reform-illinois

FOX News didn't reveal its ties to testing companies

by Mike Klonsky

In 89 segments between September 10 and 16, Fox News reported on the Chicago Teachers Union's strike without disclosing its financial ties to the educational technology company administering the standardized tests with which the union takes issue.  This according to Media Matters.

Fox News parent company News Corp. acquired a 90-percent stake in Wireless Generation in 2010. Last May, the company agreed to provide Early Mathematics Assessment Services and Early Literacy Assessment Services to Chicago Public Schools. These contracts total $4.7 million. A central reason the Chicago Teachers Union decided to strike is their objection to the 

“The Difficult Thirty Percent” Redux: The Equity Gap 2012 | Dailycensored.com

“The Difficult Thirty Percent” Redux: The Equity Gap 2012 | Dailycensored.com:

“The Difficult Thirty Percent” Redux: The Equity Gap 2012

by P.L. Thomas

Ralph Ellison, celebrated author of Invisible Man, spoke in September 1963 at a teachers’ conference “…to discuss ‘these children,’ the difficult thirty percent. We know this very well; it has been hammered out again and again.” Ellison was addressing the educational failures of African American children in U.S. public schools, including drop outs.

Rejecting the prevalent deficit perspective of his era, Ellison bravely asserted, “There is no such thing as a culturally deprived kid.” In his confrontation of stereotypes about race and poverty as well as the historical failure of public education to challenge the racism and inequity of mid-twentieth century America, Ellison concluded with:

I don’t know what intelligence is. But this I do know, both from life and from literature: whenever you reduce human life to two plus two equals four, the human element within the human animal says, “I don’t give a damn.” You can work on that basis, but the kids cannot. If you can show me how I can cling to that which