Tuesday, October 30, 2012

by Nancy Flanagan

One of the best blogs I've read in a long time--with bonus points for the headline--was written by Katie Osgood, the Chicago special education teacher who penned Paul Tough is Way Off Base. And Stop Saying 'Grit.'Osgood's piece points out that Tough's "new" premise--character matters more than data upticks in eventual outcomes for American kids--is hardly a novelty, or surprising to teachers. And "grit," the buzzword that summarizes student perseverance, is beyond annoying--it's somewhere between disingenuous and offensive.
There are a lot of words like "grit" out there in the market-based pizzazz vocabulary of school reform. It's as if the right innovative plan and the right catchy language would cause our students, rich and poor, to soar to the top of international rankings--the benchmark du jour. Never mind that students in top public schools are already there.
The pitch: once we start thinking of education as an "opportunity culture," where grit and entrepreneurial spirit are materially rewarded, the real cultural surround of inequity and anti-intellectualism will simply melt away. If all

The Missing Link « My Island View

The Missing Link « My Island View:

The Missing Link

by tomwhitby

One of the many things that I love about my job is my freedom to attend national education conferences for the purpose of meeting with educators and commenting on trends and changes in the education system many of which are introduced, and explored at these conferences. I wish I could say that I could objectively report on the influences these conferences have on education, but my personal bias as a long, long time public educator prevents that from happening. I will always view these through the eyes of a classroom, public school educator. If after that introduction, you are still with me, here is my reflection on iNACOL Virtual School Symposium. This conference is described as The Premiere K-12 Online and Blended Learning Conference.
I have always been a fan of distance learning, beginning back in the day when we had to hook up modems to the computers for connectivity. I also remember the resistance by administrators when teachers tried to get professional development credit for taking online courses. It was often viewed as an attempt to game the system

Powerful Coalition Opposes NCLB Waivers in New Jersey - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Powerful Coalition Opposes NCLB Waivers in New Jersey - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Powerful Coalition Opposes NCLB Waivers in New Jersey

by Anthony Cody

A remarkable coalition of individuals and organizations, many of them with deep roots in the African American and Latino communities, is calling upon the Department of Education to abandon plans to implement new policies associated with NCLB waivers in the state of New Jersey.
In the past, some leaders in the African American and Latino communities have supported NCLB, believing it would result in improved outcomes for students. The Department of Education has relied on this support to press its case that closing schools on the basis of test scores is in the interest of students. This letter reveals a different stance on the part of these leaders.
Rosie Grant, Program Director at the Paterson Education Fund, explained their stance in a press release issued

DHS Proposes Cybersecurity Education to Begin in Kindergarten

DHS Proposes Cybersecurity Education to Begin in Kindergarten:

DHS Proposes Cybersecurity Education to Begin in Kindergarten

Written by Brian Koenig

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In an effort to embolden the next generation of cyber professionals, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is devising an initiative to encourage and equip young Americans with knowledge and skills in the science of cybersecurity. Writing a blog entitled, “Inspiring the Next Generation of Cyber Professionals” DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced a plan to extend “the scope of cyber education” beyond the federal labor force through the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, targeting students from kindergarten all the way up to post-graduate school.

In detailing the plan, the DHS emphasizes the need to educate young Americans about technology — primarily for the use of cybersecurity — alongside the traditional subjects of science, engineering, mathematics, reading, and writing.

Napolitano spoke at the Women in International Security conference on Thursday, hosted by the Center for Strategic and

MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 10-30-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch

The Biggest Problem in U.S. Education Is….?

by dianerav

Chris Lehman has written an excellent post pulling together solid data about the “reformers’” solutions and the issue that refuse to address: poverty.
What is the problem in U.S. education? What is the cause of low test scores? Is it bad teachers, as the reformers claim?
Or is it poverty, where the U.S. leads the advanced nations of the world?
Can school reform cure poverty? Has it?
If you don’t address the causes, you will never solve the problem of low academic performance.
Nice job, Chris.

This Union Is a Hero of Public Education

by dianerav

The United Teachers of Los Angeles has steadfastly refused to allow its members to be evaluated by the test scores of their students. Unlike the district leadership, UTLA understands that scholars have found that value-added assessment is inaccurate, invalid and unstable. By this method, excellent teachers may be labeled “ineffective,” and poor teachers who teach to the test may be labeled “effective.”
Despite intense pressure by the Los Angeles Unified School District leadership and the federal government, UTLA has insisted that its members should be evaluated by evidence-based methods, not by “value-added assessment” that has not been proven to work anywhere.
UTLA refused to sign off on the district’s request for $40 million in Race to the Top funding, which would have subjected its members to value-added assessment.
UTLA recognizes that accepting $40 million for RTTT would eventually cost the district hundreds of millions of

Conservative Think Tank: Unions Are Powerful and Dangerous

by dianerav

Teachers these days are confused by the high volume of attacks on the profession. Members of teachers’ unions are beset by the frequent, virulent attacks on the very idea of collective bargaining.
In conservative states, governors and legislatures are doing whatever they can to weaken or eliminate collective bargaining. Two Hollywood movies in the past two years have cast the unions as the evil force that protects incompetent, lazy teachers and causes poor children to get low test scores. Without unions, it seems, our test

Missouri Public Schools Under Siege

by dianerav

Citizens in Missouri have awakened to the rapid advance of the privatization movement. They have formed an organization called Missouri Public School Advocates to awaken the public and push back against the privatizers.
Missouri Public School Advocates
A Strong Voice for Missouri Public Schools
Calling All Public School Supporters!
The Public Schools are under siege throughout this country.
In Missouri, serious efforts by the State General Assembly to dismantle quality Public School programs date

Dear Dr. King: A Heartfelt Letter to the State Commissioner of Education

by dianerav

Tony Sinanis, a father of a third grade student in New York and principal of a school, writes a moving and sincere letter to John King, the state commissioner of education.
With all due deference to the state commissioner, he asks a series of questions about the purpose and quantity of tests now raining down on schools across the state.
Teachers are teaching to the test; children are concluding that are “no good” because they are not good at the testing.
Is this in the best interest of children?
Read the letter. Here is a sample:
First of all, our children are feeling overwhelmed, stressed out and they are starting to doubt their own abilities

Taiwan tries to recruit California students to its universities | toteachornototeach

Taiwan tries to recruit California students to its universities | toteachornototeach:

Taiwan tries to recruit California students to its universities

by aristotlethewise

Taiwan tries to recruit California students to its universities

Taiwan’s minister of education,Wei-Ling Chiang, travels to California
to encourage Taiwanese American students to enroll at its universities.
By Frank Shyong
Taiwan’s minister of education, Wei-Ling Chiang, traveled toCalifornia last week to address a rarely discussed trade imbalance with theUnited States.
“Just 3,561 American-born students are enrolled in Taiwaneseuniversities, while about 24,000 Taiwanese students enroll in universities inthe U.S,” Chiang said. “We really have to address the situationnow.”
Concerned about a brain drain, Taiwanese education officials andtop public universities are renewing their efforts to enroll more internationalstudents. A dozen Taiwanese college information centers have opened in ninecountries in the last few years, including a Michigan office in August.
And in the San Gabriel Valley, Taiwan’s university recruiters havebegun to target a new demographic: the

Boards, teachers must be careful to toe the line on advocacy | EdSource Today

Boards, teachers must be careful to toe the line on advocacy | EdSource Today:

Boards, teachers must be careful to toe the line on advocacy

October 30th, 2012 | Add a Comment |
By John Fensterwald

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The humanities professor from California State University, Monterey Bay who was sued by the conservative Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association this month for urging his students in an email to vote for the tax initiative Proposition 30 ran afoul of the state law (Government Code Section 8314) that bans the use of public resources for campaign activities.

CSU acknowledged as much, calling Professor Ernest Stromberg’s message over the campus email system, which urged students not only to vote for Prop 30, but to work to pass it, “inappropriate and unfortunate.”

On your own time, on your own dime is the watchword for teachers campaigning for tax initiatives and other ballot issues.

The suit raised the complex issue of just what forms of advocacy are appropriate for public employees and elected officials on behalf of ballot issues. While Stromberg’s action appeared improper, other circumstances may not be as clear-cut: the teacher who wears a “No On Prop 32″ button to school; the parent group that wants to buy an ad on a school website for Prop 38, the initiative raising the income tax to bring in $10 billion to K-12 schools and preschools; the school

No Competion Allowed

Texas, California do compete – in funding race to the bottom - by Peter Schrag

by Peter Schrag

Steve Murdock isn’t a household name in Sacramento – but maybe he should be. Murdock is the former state demographer in Texas. This month, he testified in a trial in which hundreds of Texas school districts are suing the state for failing in its constitutional obligation to adequately fund its schools. The suit was prompted by the $5.4 billion the Legislature cut from public school funding and...