Unschooling in the Art of Self-Direction | Lefty Parent

Unschooling in the Art of Self-Direction | Lefty Parent:

Unschooling in the Art of Self-Direction

by Cooper Zale

From my own experience and what I’ve read of the wisdom of others, directing ones own life is not a science that can be taught through instruction but an art that is best developed from self-initiated efforts. Unfortunately, conventional school up to now has not been a good venue for young people to learn to direct their own development, rather serving mainly as a venue for the larger community (or maybe more specifically the state) to attempt to program young people’s developmental path. Looking back at my own youth that was certainly the case. Most of the developmental experiences that helped me learn to direct my own life happened outside of the classroom and outside of the context of school.
Directing ones own life is one of the most critical skills you learn in the process of “unschooling”, whichWikipedia defines as…

A range of educational philosophies and practices centered on allowing children to learn through 

2013-14 Student Board Member Application - State Board of Education (CA Dept of Education)

2013-14 Student Board Member Application - State Board of Education (CA Dept of Education):

2013-14 Student Board Member Application

This State Board of Education packet explains the application and selection processes, and contains a copy of the application for student members.

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2013-14 Student Board Member Application Form (DOC; Updated 17-Oct-2012)
Application due date extended until October 24, 2012

Every summer, the Governor appoints one high school senior to the State Board of Education (SBE) for a one-year term. The student member functions as a regular voting member of the SBE. This packet explains the application and selection processes, and contains a copy of the application. Please feel free to copy and distribute it to any student who might be interested.

Additional Information

• 2013-14 Student Board Member Application Poster (DOC; Updated 17-Oct-2012)
• 2013-14 Student Board Member Application Brochure (DOC; Updated 17-Oct-2012)
• 2013-14 Student Board Member Request for Application Memo (Updated 17-Oct-2012) 

Attention Juniors

(2013-2014 Seniors)

	Position Open 2013-2014 Student Member California State Board of Education
►►► Apply NOW! ◄◄◄
Who is eligible to apply? Any student who is a California resident and enrolled in a public high school, will be a senior in good standing in the 2013-14 school year, and who will be available to attend a statewide student leader meeting November 3-7, 2012, is eligible to apply.
What is the position? The Student Member is a full voting member of the State Board of Education, the governing body that sets policy for the state’s public elementary, middle, and high schools.
What is the commitment? The Student Member is asked to (1) attend all meetings of the State Board (at least two days every other month, plus special meetings when needed) usually in Sacramento; (2) give sufficient time to review the items coming before the State Board; and (3) assume the responsibilities of a full member of the State Board.
When are applications due? Applications must be received in the State Board of Education Office no later than 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, October 24, 2012.
Where is more information available? Information is available on the Internet at http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/pn/pn/sbestudentmember2013.asp, or may be obtained by contacting the California State Board of Education, 2013-14 Student Member Application, 1430 N Street, Suite 5111, Sacramento, CA, 95814; by telephone at 916-319-0826, or by email at sbe@cde.ca.gov.

Teaching Career Pathways: Leading Professional Development « InterACT

Teaching Career Pathways: Leading Professional Development « InterACT:

Teaching Career Pathways: Leading Professional Development

by David B. Cohen

Note: in October 2012, Accomplished California Teachers will release the policy report “Promoting Quality Teaching: New Approaches to Compensation and Career Pathways.”  The following post is the first in a series of profiles showing how California teacher leaders are beginning to develop and follow diversified career pathways.  California teachers, and our peers around the nation, are looking for opportunities to innovate and lead in our field, but without having to leave the classroom.  Our argument is that educational leadership will improve the more its carried out by those still in the classroom, and that students will benefit from having more accomplished educators remaining the in classroom rather than taking on entirely non-teaching positions.  
This profile looks at the new approach to professional development and teacher leadership in San Mateo Union High School District.  ACT would like to thank Superintendent Scott Laurence, former Associate Superintendent Matt Biggar, and Professional Development Coordinator Genevieve Schwartz Thurtle for their assistance.

Teacher leaders reviewing and planning professional development at San Mateo Union High School District (May 2012; photo by the author)

It’s a Friday afternoon near the end of the school year – not anyone’s typical idea of the perfect time to do important work in education.  But in a conference room in the central office of the San Mateo Union High Scho

UPDATE: Diane in the Evening 10-17-12 Diane Ravitch's blog #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2

Diane Ravitch's blog:

TODAY IS THE DAY TO SUPPORT PUBLIC EDUCATION

by dianerav

Two weeks ago, in response to many readers who were frustrated by destructive federal policies, this blog launched a Campaign for Our Public Schools. The immediate goal was to stimulate an outpouring of letters and emails to the President to let him know the views of many teachers, parents, students, administrators, and concerned citizens. A hoped-for additional goal is to mobilize a citizens’ group to speak up for our public schools.
The target date for receipt of letters and emails is today, October 17. You can still send your emails to this blog or to anthony_cody@hotmail.com.
All the letters and emails will be collected by Anthony and posted for public review.
Please raise your voice against high-stakes testing and privatization.
Let the President know, let other elected officials know, let the media know how you feel, what you know, what you believe is the right path to improve our schools and the lives of children.
We must raise our voices. We must be heard. This is democracy in action. Join us.

Can 10 Very Rich People Change Public Education in Washington State?

by dianerav

Ten people have supplied 91% of the $8.9 million raised to promote a charter school referendum in Washington State.
Prominent among the super-donors are Bill Gates, Walmart heiress Alice Walton, Amazon Titan Mike Bezos, and venture capitalist Nick Hanauer.
It’s fair to say that none of these financial sponsors have a child in the public schools of Washington state or that 

Do You Care, Mr. President?

by dianerav

Dear Mr. President,
Throughout our country, the voice of the masses is being squelched. The changes needed in our public systems are in control of the powerful and influential entities, people who do not need these systems. Chicago and other major cities are ground-zero for these injustices. The public systems are breaking down for the disadvantaged, and your opponent is using the troubles of these systems to paint the entire system with a bad light.
It’s bad enough that your opponent and his party are trying to fatally wound the public school system, but there are instances where members of your own party are joining the ranks. Chicago is just one example of this. Do you see the injustice of supporting an appointed, not elected, school board in Chicago and other major cities? Where is the voice of the people?
Do you see the injustice of closing dilapidated and under-funded neighborhood schools and replacing them with “suddenly funded” charters that serve only a “select” portion of the population? What is left for the rest of the 

Fact-Checking Indiana’s Tony Bennett

by dianerav

Here’s a thankless task. A blogger in Indiana is trying to sort out facts from empty boasts by the state’s Superintendent of (Public) Instruction.

How to Respond to the Letter from the White House

by dianerav

Earlier today, I posted the form letter that the White House is sending to people who write to complain about the damage caused by Race to the Top.
The form letter shows clearly that no one read your letters indicting RTTT. The White House response is canned and insulting. There are hundreds of individual letters. Every one of those letters was written from experience. None was slapdash. Some were eloquent.
None deserved this shabby response from a President who needs our votes. At the very least, you would think 

Vote for Richard Flarend in Pennsylvania’s 79th District

by dianerav

I support all candidates who support public education.
In the 79th district in Pennsylvania, there is an exceptional candidate for the state legislature.
Richard Flarend is a physicist on the faculty at Penn State Altoona who has played an active role in civic matters.
This is what he says about education:
State funded public education is in the constitution, and for good reason. We need education to provide 

The Voice President Obama Should Hear

by dianerav

Whether the President listens or not, we won’t stop telling him to pay attention to the people who work in the nation’s classrooms and schools every day. His Race to the Top is NCLB 2.0. The original failed because its sponsors tried to impose their theories on practitioners without listening. When we get the President’s attention, he will learn from letters like this one.
October 17, 2012
Dear President Obama,
I believe you are passionate about the potential for education to change the future for children and thus our nation. But the innovations your administration is seeking are taking us down the wrong path. Some of us have been working to improve education for many years. We have studied learning, curriculum, the change process, and supporting children in poverty. We are the professional educators that have had no voice in this administration. We have been able to make important changes in various schools throughout the nation, but have never had the commitment of time and money necessary to make the level of change we seek. I believe you 

President Obama’s Disappointing Response

by dianerav

This is the disheartening response from the White House to a reader who wrote to complain about the destructive effects of Race to the Top.
So a letter that explains the pernicious consequences of RTTT gets a response saying it’s just a wonderful initiative. It’s all about the kids. It’s succeeding. Hello?
We have been wondering together: Will the President listen? Here is the answer:

October 17, 2012 at 2:47 pm
Diane,
I mailed my letter this Saturday. I got this response via email. They must have had my email in their database. I suppose everyone will be getting this form letter. I handwrote a note saying I did not want a RTTT form letter. I suggested they save the paper, stamp and the staff person’s time and buy a book for a D.C. child instead.
Well, I guess they didn’t read my note or they didn’t really care.
Here is a cut and paste of the email letter I just received.
October 17, 2012
Dear Linda:
Thank you for writing. My Administration is working to ensure all America’s young people have educational opportunities worthy of their potential, and I appreciate hearing from you.
There is no stronger foundation for success than a great education. We must provide our children with the world-class schools they need to succeed and our Nation needs to compete in the global economy. Our classrooms 

Feel Good About America: A Public School in Mississippi

by dianerav

Michael Vandveckhoven is a proud parent of a student in the public schools of Meridian, Mississippi.
This is a video that shows his son’s school. The school is half white, half black, about 40% low-income.
For someone like me, who grew up in the age of legal segregation, this is a heartwarming sight.
This is American public education at its finest. It’s not about test scores, it is about building a better society for our future.
Michael is a businessman. He iis strongly opposed to charters because he worries that they will restore segregation and ruin his son’s good public school.

How Michelle Rhee Became Isolated from the Democratic Mainstream

by dianerav

Jeff Bryant has written an insightful article about Michelle Rhee’s increasingly strained effort to promote the policies of the far-rightwing and ALEC, while claiming to be a Democrat. Rhee goes from state to state, funding GOP candidates and a few Democrats who are anti-teacher, anti-union, and anti-public education. She is not a centrist Democrat but a conduit for major corporate interests who are pushing a reactionary agenda of privatization.

If Teachers Ran Their Classes Like NYC Runs Schools, Then….

by dianerav

A reader in New York City offers a thought experiment. He invites you to participate:
If teachers ran their classes the way New York City runs its schools…
• Students would get their grades 4-5 months after they finish the teacher’s class. (Progress Report grades for schools are distributed 4-5 months after the end of the previous school year).
• The grades students are given would have no connection to the actual quality of the work they did/the effort they put in. (The school report cards have been shown to rely on questionable use of standardized exams and suffer from irredeemable methodological flaws http://garyrubinstein.teachforus.org/2012/10/05/i-dont-know-about-art-but-i-know-what-i-dont-like/.)

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 10-17-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Today Is the Day to Support Public Education by dianerav Two weeks ago, in response to many readers who were frustrated by destructive federal policies, this blog launched a Campaign for Our Public Schools. The immediate goal was to stimulate an outpouring of letters and emails to the President to let him know the views of many teachers, parents, students, administrators, and concerned citizens. A hoped-for additional goal is to mobilize a citizens’ group to speak up for our public schools. The target date ... more »

UPDATE: Diane in the Evening 10-16-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 13 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: A MODEL LETTER FOR OCTOBER 17 by dianerav The deadline to send emails to the President to support the Campaign for Our Public Schools is October 17. Here are instructions about where to send them. Send them either to this blog or to Anthony Cody at Anthony_Cody@hotmail.com. Below is a model letter for teachers. It can be revised to make it appropriate for parents or anyone else. Write your own letter, in your own words. New Jersey Parents Write a Letter to President Obama by dianerav Parent activists in New Jersey have written the President. Please read. ... more »

TCRecord: Effects of Inequality and Poverty vs. Teachers and Schooling on America’s Youth

TCRecord: Article:

Effects of Inequality and Poverty vs. Teachers and Schooling on America’s Youth

by David C. Berliner — 2014

Background/Context: This paper arises out of frustration with the results of school reforms carried out over the past few decades. These efforts have failed. They need to be abandoned. In their place must come recognition that income inequality causes many social problems, including problems associated with education. Sadly, compared to all other wealthy nations, the USA has the largest income gap between its wealthy and its poor citizens. Correlates associated with the size of the income gap in various nations are well described in Wilkinson & Pickett (2010), whose work is cited throughout this article. They make it clear that the bigger the income gap in a nation or a state, the greater the social problems a nation or a state will encounter. Thus it is argued that the design of better economic and social policies can do more to improve our schools than continued work on educational policy independent of such concerns.
Purpose/Objective/Research Question: The research question asked is why so many school reform efforts have produced so little improvement in American schools. The answer offered is that the sources of school failure have been thought to reside inside the schools, resulting in attempts to improve America’s teachers, curriculum, testing programs and administration. It is argued in this paper, however, that the sources of America’s educational problems are outside school, primarily a result of income inequality. Thus it is suggested that targeted economic and social policies have more potential to improve the nations schools than almost anything currently being proposed by either political party at federal, state or local levels.
Research Design: This is an analytic essay on the reasons for the failure of almost all contemporary school reform 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: The Stranger Says NO to 1240

Seattle Schools Community Forum: The Stranger Says NO to 1240:

The Stranger Says NO to 1240

by Melissa Westbrook

In their usual no-nonsense manner, The Stranger laid out its opposition to 1240, pretty much calling it smoke and mirrors.

If there were a single credible, independent, peer-reviewed study to suggest that charter schools do a better job of educating children than traditional public schools, we might drop our opposition to this measure. But there isn't. A widely cited Stanford University study finds that 17 percent of charters do substantially better, while 37 percent do substantially worse. Maybe it's our public-school education, but we don't like those odds.

I-1240 would draw scarce funding from existing public schools, while handing control over these dollars from elected school boards to private boards. A petition signed in secret by a majority of a school's parents could initiate the conversion of your neighborhood school to a charter school, but there's no like provision to convert a charter school back to a public school. Charters are nominally nonprofit, but there's nothing to stop them from contracting operations to for-profit companies. There's a lot of money to be made off of I-1240, hence the $8.3 million backing it got from the likes of Alice Walton, the Bezos family, Paul Allen, and Bill Gates. (The idea that 

Shanker Blog » Which State Has "The Best Schools?"

Shanker Blog » Which State Has "The Best Schools?":

Which State Has “The Best Schools?”

by Matthew Di Carlo

I’ve written many times about how absolute performance levels – how highly students score – are not by themselves valid indicators of school quality, since, most basically, they don’t account for the fact that students enter the schooling system at different levels. One of the most blatant (and common) manifestations of this mistake is when people use NAEP results to determine the quality of a state’s schools.
For instance, you’ll often hear that Massachusetts has the “best” schools in the U.S. and Mississippi the “worst,” with both claims based solely on average scores on the NAEP (though, technically, Massachusetts is statistically tied with at least one other state on three of the four main NAEP exams, while Mississippi’s rankings vary a bit by grade/subject, and its scores are also not statistically different from several other states’).
But we all know that these two states are very different in terms of basic characteristics such as income, parental education, etc. Any assessment of educational quality, whether at the state or local level, is necessarily 

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Wednesday, October 17, 2012

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

Engaging Parents In School… » Munger Comes To Her Senses

Education Headlines

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Lodi Unified School District trustees upset by lack of enrollment in general-level courses

A lack of students enrolled in general courses at one Lodi Unified School District high school caused members of the board of trustees to grow visibly agitated during Tuesday's board meeting.

Special ed teachers say e-mail broke law

A San Francisco Unified School District administrator raised the possibility of not offering summer school to some special education students as a way to cut costs, a move that special education teachers and attorneys say violates federal law.

EdSource offers infographic to clarify Props. 30/38 confusion

If you are confused about the differences between Propositions 30 and 38, the competing initiatives that will raise billions of dollars for California public schools, you are not alone.

$25 million gift to make Bay Area center for blending online instruction into school day

The scion of the Gap, Inc. fortune has jumpstarted a $25 million fund with the goal of turning the Bay Area into a national hub for blended learning, the promising school model that combines individualized online learning and face-to-face classroom instruction.

With court win, 'parent trigger' school reform moves to crucial vote

About nine months ago, at a small park playground a few hundred feet from their children’s struggling school, a group of parents chanted, cheered and delivered passionate speeches about their growing frustration with Desert Trails Elementary. On Thursday, that same park is set to become a makeshift polling place where those parents will make history.

Each $1 from bonds to cost schools $18

Rancho Cordova taxpayers eventually will pay $9.1 million to retire just $514,000 in capital appreciation bonds issued by the Folsom Cordova Unified School District – about $18 in payments for every $1 borrowed. The bonds paid for school upgrades and construction in Folsom Cordova's Improvement District 4, the same area that is the focus of a $68 million bond measure on the ballot this November.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Five candidates vie for three school board seats

Panama-Buena Vista Union School District board of trustee candidates are campaigning for votes in an election that for the first time will feature "by-trustee-area" seats as opposed to the previous system in which all candidates ran "at-large."

Three seek two seats on Sausalito Marin City School District board as change looms

Three candidates are vying for two seats on the Sausalito Marin City School District board as the district looks to make major changes in its structure.

Torrance Unified seeks applicants to monitor bond funds

The Torrance Unified School District is seeking qualified applicants to fill 10 vacancies on a citizens committee to monitor the spending of money generated by a voter-approved construction bond initiative.

Teaching to CCSS: Making Bricks Without Straw? « The Core Knowledge Blog

Teaching to CCSS: Making Bricks Without Straw? « The Core Knowledge Blog:

Teaching to CCSS: Making Bricks Without Straw?

by Robert Pondiscio
October 17th, 2012

Tags: Common Core State Standards, history, Teaching, writing
Posted in Curriculum, Education Practice, Literacy, Parents | No Comments »

The following post originally appeared on Schoolbook, the education blog of WNYC, New York City’s public radio station.  It appears here with the permission of the author.  – rp

Bricks Without Straw
By Matthew Levey

A decade into the education reform movement in New York, we have doubled our school budget to $24 billion. We’ve focused on teacher quality, and how to measure it. We’ve created many new, often smaller, schools.  Unfortunately our students’ scores on the key tests like the SAT and NAEP haven’t budged.

Frustrated reformers have pinned their hopes on new Common Core State Standards (CCSS ) that make explicit what a college-ready student should be able to do in math, reading and writing. The CCSS say content matters, but the authors didn’t dictate whichcontent to teach or how to deliver it.

Under CCSS, third graders “develop an understanding of fractions, beginning with unit fractions” but the CCSS do not say how. Eighth graders should be 

UPDATE: For voters in Chicago, there’s another pension ballot item. It’s a hoax. « Fred Klonsky

For voters in Chicago, there’s another pension ballot item. It’s a hoax. « Fred Klonsky:

For voters in Chicago, there’s another pension ballot item. It’s a hoax.

by Fred Klonsky

For voters in the City of Chicago there will be two public pension issues on the ballot on November 6th.
The first one you will see is Mike Madigan’s Constitutional Amendment. I have written about it. So have others. We will have more to say.
Vote no.
When I got my sample ballot, there was another pension issue down on the bottom of the first page.

“Shall the State of Illinois provide funding for the normal cost of pensions for Chicago teachers in the same manner as the State pays for the normal cost of  teacher pensions in every other school 

Anthony Borrelli, the Park Ridge Watchdog, voted no to $86 a paycheck.

by Fred Klonsky

I know that some of you might feel that this is all extremely local news. But I think it’s worth talking about.
It’s about Park Ridge school board member Anthony Borrelli and a little group of self-described Park Ridge tax watchdogs.
I’m not linking to them, but you can Google if you want to.
The Park Rich watchdogs are all excited because Anthony Borrelli, a wealthy local foot doctor, got elected to the

Ten minute drawing. An exaltation of skylarks.

by Fred Klonsky

Click on drawing to enlarge.

This Week In Education: Update: The Narrow Absolutism Of Diane Ravitch

This Week In Education: Update: The Narrow Absolutism Of Diane Ravitch:

Update: The Narrow Absolutism Of Diane Ravitch

by Alexander Russo

I was surprised to see that Diane Ravitch commented on my recent paper about TFA, HQT, and the use of political power - but then I realized that she hadn't actually read it, or if so only for narrow ideological purposes.  (She did the same with my book about Locke High School, for what it's worth -- boiling the story down into a single "turnarounds don't work" sound bite.)
In her very brief post, Ravitch describes my TFA paper as a piece about "how TFA has managed to have unusual influence inside the Beltway," but that's actually not what the piece is about.  Exactly the opposite, really.The piece is about how TFA for a long time lacked any real Capitol Hill chops, and still exercises its power mostly in the narrow pursuit of programmatic interests (appropriations, authorizations related to TFA).
I pointed this out in the comments on her site last night, and the comment has been removed.  What's it like, I wonder, for Ravitch followers when she does things like this?  They must cringe a little bit, then justify it as only what reformers have done to Ravitch.  Some might argue that I've done her wrong as well for my heartfelt but skeptical post about her evangelical change of heart.