ALEC Legislators up for re-election in Washington State | Seattle Education

ALEC Legislators up for re-election in Washington State | Seattle Education:

ALEC Legislators up for re-election in Washington State

by seattleducation2011

From the Color of Change:

Washington State ALEC legislators who are up for re-election.

U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings (R-4)

U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-3)

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-5)

–

Rep. Jan Angel (R-26)

Rep. Mike Armstrong (R-12)

Rep. Kevin Parker (R-6)

Rep. Charles R. Ross (R-14)

Rep. Joe Schmick (R-9)

Rep. Matt Shea (R-4)

–

Sen. Randi Becker (R-2)

Sen. Don Benton (R-17)

Sen. Michael Carrell (R-28)

Sen. Brian Hatfield (D-19)

Sen. Mike D. Hewitt (R-16)

Sen. Linda Evans Parlette (R-12)

From ALEC Exposed:

Through ALEC, corporations, ideologues, and their politician allies voted to spend public tax dollars to subsidize private K-12 education and attack professional teachers and teachers’ unions by:

• Promoting voucher programs that drain public schools of resources by using taxpayer dollars to subsidize private school profits, and specifying that those schools must remain unregulated. Voucher programs have been pushed in the following ways:

• Offering private school vouchers with “universal eligibility” (using taxpayer dollars to subsidize private schools for the rich and others);“means-tested eligibility,” (using poverty as the first domino in an effort to privatize public schools); and “universal eligibility with means-tested scholarship.” (Here, “scholarship” means using taxpayer dollars to pay private school tuition and/or profits.)
• Giving tax credits to parents who send their kids to private schools, (see this bill, this bill, and this bill) and to corporations that donate to scholarships for private schools.
• Creating a scheme to deem public schools “educationally bankrupt” to rationalize giving taxpayer dollars to almost completely unregulated private schools (charter schools), rather than addressing any problems.
• Back-dooring privatization by creating voucher programs to subsidize unregulated, for-profit schools or religious schools for specific subsets of students, such as foster children, or children of military families.
• Evading requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) by preying on parents of children with special needs through subsidies for unproven and profit-driven private schools, which are not covered by the IDEA. (See this bill, this bill, and this bill.) Nearly identical bills have been introduced in Wisconsin and other states.
• Taking charter school authorization away from local school boards in favor of a statewide advisory committee, that a governor can pack with pro-voucher people. (Example: Initiative 1240.)
• Promoting climate change denial in education (see also this bill)
• Certifying individuals with no education background as teachers, a move that would weaken the quality of education, that fails to recognize there is more to teaching than knowledge of a subject, and that would undermine the role and competitiveness of professional teachers (see also this bill). (Example: Teach for America)
• Eliminating tenure for teachers in favor of “performance”,allowing districts to fire older teachers in favor of lower-cost young teachers.
• Undermining teacher’s unions indirectly through the above bills, and directly through bills like this one, this one, and this one. See also the anti-union bills on the Worker Rights page.

My recommendation is to contact these legislators and ask them if they are still part of the ALEC organization. If they answer in the affirmative, don’t vote for them!

Dora

Is Test Mania Killing Interest in Science Teaching? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Is Test Mania Killing Interest in Science Teaching? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Is Test Mania Killing Interest in Science Teaching?

by Anthony Cody

Last week I got some disturbing news from a science educator in Kansas. John Richard Schrock is a biologist who works at Emporia State University in Kansas, preparing science teachers.

In September he wrote about a visit from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan,and shared this graph, with the following caption:

The number of new licenses awarded by Kansas State Department of Education KSDE to biology, chemistry, physics and earth science teachers over the last decade, all show a dramatic drop immediately after No Child Left Behind was imposed, and remain low under Duncan. The biology graph is representative. The science teacher pipeline declined dramatically over the last decade with the imposition of NCLB and standardized testing.

I was very curious about this. After all, one of the greatest concerns we hear about education is that we are not 

Obama and The Boss in Madison, Wisconsin : blue cheddar

Obama and The Boss in Madison, Wisconsin : blue cheddar:

Obama and The Boss in Madison, Wisconsin

November 6, 2012

By bluecheddar

Image from brucespringsteen.net

What Bruce Springsteen said in Madison:

“Let me begin with a shout out to all of our neighbors in the Northeast who are reeling from Hurricane Sandy and its immense impact. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

So, it’s good to be here with you today–and it will be great to feel the power of your votes and voices tomorrow.

I’m here today for Wisconsin, America, and for President Obama. For the last 30 years I’ve been writing in my music about the distance between the American dream and American reality. I’ve seen it from inside and outside: as a blue collar kid from a working class home in New Jersey–where my parents struggled, often unsuccessfully–to make ends meet–to my adult life, visiting the 9th Ward in New Orleans after Katrina, or 

What's at Stake in This Election - Bridging Differences - Education Week

What's at Stake in This Election - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

What's at Stake in This Election

by Pedro Noguera

Hi Deb,
I'm glad you followed up about the election, and I was impressed to hear how much you are doing to get the vote out. I've been involved too in some local and regional races. It's hard for me to think about anything else these days. So much is at stake today, and I'm worried that Barack Obama may suffer from a loss of enthusiasm at the polls.
Mitt Romney has done an amazing job at re-creating himself during this campaign. He went from a "severe right" (his words) Republican during the primaries to a moderate during this fall's election. His campaign manager told us this would happen, calling it an "etch-a-sketch" move. But it should be clear to anyone paying attention that if the Republicans win this election education the Tea Party will be driving the administration hard to the right, and the social safety net for children (and adults) will be in serious trouble. Under the guise of balancing the budget, they will cut away at every major program in education, including Head Start, Title I, Trio programs like Upward Bound, and Pell grants. Romney hasn't spoken too much about education except for touting his 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 11-6-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Destructive Reforms Fail

by dianerav

Teacher/poet Glen Brown points out what is obvious to educators yet utterly unknown to our nation’s leaders:
The privatization movement (aka “reform”) is failing.
It demoralizes teachers.
It punishes children who don’t give the answers the test makers want.
It is wrong.
It is antagonistic to good education.
It is failing, failing, failing.
It has no constructive ideas.
Only carrots and sticks.

District Reform: No Sit-Downs

by dianerav

Teachers in Magnesia, Texas, were in for a big surprise when they reported to their schools one day recently and found their chairs had been removed.
They quickly learned that they were on the cutting edge of the latest reform idea.

How “Reform” Affects a Special Education Classroom

by dianerav

A reader writes:
I could not agree more with this letter. As a Special Education Teacher, I can say that no one sees the fear and tears more than those in the special education realm. My students, who have been identified and have IEPs stating that they are not intellectually capable of completing grade level work, are required to take the same tests along side their peers.
Yes, I can read the content area exams to them, but it doesn’t help if they are unable to retain the information. The ELA exams are even more upsetting because I am forced to put grade-level text in front of them, read the 

Shadowy Groups Back Prop 32 in California

by dianerav

Far-right groups sent $11 million to try to crush labor unions in California.
No surprise there. Need to know more about real donors.
Too many billionaires in this country trying to silence voices of working people, especially teachers.

Help! Someone Collect All the Elections that Privatizers Are Buying

by dianerav

I keep seeing articles about elections influenced by out-of-state and out-of-district contributions.
Sometimes, as in Los Altos, California, and in New Orleans, the elections are for local school board.
Sometimes, as in Louisiana, the election is for state school board.
Sometimes, as in Indiana and Idaho, the election is for state superintendent.
Sometimes, the election is a ballot initiative, as in Georgia, which is voting on whether to give the Governor the authority to create a commission to authorize charter schools even if the local school board objects; and in 

Please Vote. Your Vote Matters.

by dianerav

If you live in one of the battleground states, I urge you to vote to re-elect President Obama.
Though many of us oppose his Race to the Top, please vote for him for other reasons.
We can’t allow a reactionary, backward-looking Republican Party to take charge of this nation’s future. We can’t allow a rightwing administration to shape the Supreme Court.
I urge you to vote for President Obama. Once he is re-elected, we will continue to pressure him to strengthen our 

Please Help Hurricane Victims

by dianerav

Families on the south shore of Long Island were devastated by the hurricane.
Many lost everything.
Principal Carol Burris is collecting supplies for children and families at South Side High School.
Here is the address.
South Side HS
140 shepherd st.
Rockville centre, NY 11570
carol Burris writes:
What the kids need is warmth. We near the shore have been living without power and heat for over a week in damp houses. On long beach island, where many of my teachers live, it is worse…they have no water or working toilets.. There are many little ones who are poor…about 25% of Long Beach students receive free or reduced 

MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 11-5-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] A Teacher Grades the Houston Independent School District by dianerav This teacher in Houston reviews what is happening in HISD schools. Anyone know the HISD superintendent Terry Grier? The teacher’s evaluation: **Another transplanted North Carolina education experience. I teach in Texas in the largest school district that has inherited one of North Carolina’s education mediums, T. Grier. In his ready, shoot, aim masterplan, all teachers are graded on the growth of their students on a year to year basis, as th... more »

Diane in the Evening 11-5-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 6 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: *Don't Forget to Vote For PUBLIC Education* DC Teacher to Washington State Voters by dianerav Erich Martel retired as a much-respected veteran social studies teacher in the DC public schools. He offered this warning to voters on the other side of the continent, in Washington State: From: Erich Martel To: voters in Washington State November 5, 2012 Charter Expansion (Ballot Initiative I-1240) Will Harm, Not Help, Public School Students in Washington State: Insights from the Other Washington, the Washington (DC) Public Schools - Charter schools are private scho... more »

The tangled webs of private influence on public school reform:

The tangled webs of private influence on public school reform

Posted by Valerie Strauss on November 6, 2012 at 5:00 am

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Last February, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit organization called In the Public Interest, submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for private emails and other files from Indiana school superintendent Tony Bennett and the Indiana Department of Education in an effort to track the extent of private influence on public education policy. Indiana, as public school teacher Doug Martin details in this article on the Schools Matter website, has stonewalled.

 

A similiar FOIA request was made in Maine, where officials released documents that helped show that a big part  of Maine’s digital education agenda is being led by private outside companies. They include the nation’s two largest online education providers, K12 Inc. of Herndon, Va., and Connections Education, a Baltimore-based subsidiary of Pearson — which stand to earn a great deal of money from the Maine digital initiative, the Portland Press Herald reported in this story.

 

In September the newspaper described more than 1,000 documents that had been obtained concerning 

The problem with economically fixated reform

by Valerie Strauss

School reform in recent years has taken a decidedly corporate bent. Here Chris Gilbert, who teaches English at a high school and community college in North Carolina, explains why economically fixated reform is a problem. He has published several articles in the National Council of Teachers of English's English Journal.
Read full article >>

UPDATE: Jersey Jazzman: Yet Another TFA Alum Puffs Up Her Resume

Jersey Jazzman: Yet Another TFA Alum Puffs Up Her Resume:

Yet Another TFA Alum Puffs Up Her Resume

by Duke

It's a fine TFA alumni tradition started by none other than Michelle Rhee:

Sell yourself as a teaching genius by gussying up your two or three years in the classroom with statistics showing your "success."

Rhee used to make this dramatic claim: "Over a two-year period, moved students scoring on average at the 13th percentile on national standardized tests to 90 percent of students scoring at the 90th percentile or higher." Unfortunately for this modern day saint, G.F. Brandenberg got hold of her actual test scores and exposed her as a serial exaggerator. It's a sad comment on our national media that the woman continues to be treated as an expert on education when she clearly dissembled about her own accomplishments.

Now, we have TFA alum Allison Serafin, who is running for the Nevada State Board of Education.

During her time with Teach For America, she taught 6th and 7th grade English and Social 

More TFA Alumni Resume Puffery

by Duke

I'm beginning to suspect that, if I wanted to, I could spend most of my blogging time debunking claims made by Teach For America alumni about their "successes" during their two or three years of teaching.

The most famous TFA resume puffer is Michelle Rhee, whose outrageous claims were debunked - hard - last year. Then we had Allison Serafin, candidate for the Nevada BOE, who bragged on her test scores without mentioning she taught at a selective magnet school.

Let's look at another TFA alum running for a school board seat: Josh Reimnitz, a 26 year-old candidate for the Minneapolis school board. EduShyster gives us the lowdown:

The school board race pits TFA alum Reimnitz against an actual life-long educator who is at a distinct disadvantage as she is not known to have ever high-fived a minority student. Reimnitz is running on the grounds that the achievement gap is the civil rights issue of our time. (Note: If you are playing the EduShyster drinking game at home, sip now). But 

Missouri Education Watchdog: Agency Based Education - The Ultimate Local Control

Missouri Education Watchdog: Agency Based Education - The Ultimate Local Control:

Agency Based Education - The Ultimate Local Control

by Anngie

Today as we go to the polls to exercise our right to vote, most of us feel a sense of accomplishment. This is the time we can stop complaining about government and actually do something about it. We tend to feel better when we are proactive and do something.

In the world of politics we can either vote for someone who believes as we do, or spend time after they're elected trying to convince them that our point of view is best. Then we must wait for them to do their legislative or regulatory thing to achieve our goals. This is not a proactive approach and does not always work out for us. In fact, lately, it seems we rarely get the results we want. However, this is not all we can do about issues that we are passionate about. Sometimes, we must ignore politics all together and act locally to achieve the ends we want.

Agency Based Education is an organization that has a different blue print for education than the modern public 

Heavy load awaits new Common Core committee | EdSource Today

Heavy load awaits new Common Core committee | EdSource Today:

Heavy load awaits new Common Core committee - by John Fensterwald

by John Fensterwald

The  State Board of Education tomorrow is expected to appoint the 20 educators who will do the heavy lifting over the next 18 months of fleshing out the Common Core English language arts standards. Their document, the curriculum framework, will guide teachers’ instruction by offering examples of best practices, links to useful materials, and suggestions on how to teach critical thinking and good writing. It will also provide tips and techniques for teaching English learners, based on the new English Learner Development Standards, which the State Board also is expected to adopt tomorrow.

More than 100 educators applied for positions on the Curriculum Framework and Evaluation Criteria Committee (item 5 on the agenda), which will complete its work in May 2014.

There are fundamental similarities between the current California ELA standards and the Common Core ELA standards that should ease the minds of teachers. However, there are also key differences, with a sharp shift away from teaching literature to teaching informational texts – manuals, scientific articles, arguments, and analyses – in middle and high school. Common Core also encourages the integration of history and science in literacy instruction.

The Instructional Quality Commission, chaired by former State Superintendent Bill Honig, is 

UPDATE: Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: On the ground in Chicago

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: On the ground in Chicago:

On the ground in Chicago

by Mike Klonsky

This post was written by guest blogger Bob George. Bob is a member of the National Steering Committee of Save Our Schools (SOS).

A day in the life

Over the past several days I had the privilege of being involved in several Chicago education events with Parents, Students, Teachers, CTU and Core members. On Thursday evening, the Black Caucus of CTU sponsored a discussion with CTU President Karen Lewis, on the recent teachers strike, the implications for the community, and what’s next.

Several Black community leaders were on hand as Karen laid out the strike story.  Carl West the owner of Truth Be Told news service asked Karen to describe the process of how CTU came to Strike.
Karen said:

“The strike bubbled up from the Rank and File!” As the membership’s voice was heard they expressed their anger at the injustice of a system that treated children as numbers, regularly underfunded minority schools, had no books on hand to start the school year…  a system that is three times more likely to provides less than half a day of nursing services and social work services to poor and minority schools, a system that tests and tests and tests. The rank and file 

I hope I lose the election pool

by Mike Klonsky

Nearly all (except for one nabob of negativity) in the family election pool have Obama winning the electoral college vote handily. I'm the most conservative prognosticator at 290. I think the highest is 332. Chief concern is over the counts in Ohio and Florida where T-Party apparatchiks run the ballot counting and Rove's funny business circa '04 could tie things up for days or weeks. But early voting turnout is amazing and my favorite pollsters are saying it won't even be close enough to matter.

Here in Chicago, my vote in the presidential race is of little value to anyone but myself. But there are other important ballot measures. PLEASE VOTE NO on the Pension Amendment and VOTE YES on the Elected School Board referendum.

While I have been among the most critical of Obama/Duncan ed policies, I am more concerned with the threat of a right-wing electoral coup d'etat that the Romney campaign represents and especially the threat it poses for women, people of color, and to the rights of working people.

Side notes to the election:

Chicago already has registered more homicides than it did during all of last year. But the Sun-Times reports that cops are leaving the force and retiring at a record pace. Could it be that there worried about pension 

Reopening Schools in the Aftermath of the StormSave Our Schools

Reopening Schools in the Aftermath of the StormSave Our Schools:

Reopening Schools in the Aftermath of the Storm

by Server

Hurricane Sandy; Reopening Schools in the Aftermath of the Storm

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ADMINISTRATORS AND TEACHERS
By Denny Taylor
Originally Published on November 3, 2012

Recommendations for Administrators and Teachers Responding to Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy has created long lasting catastrophic conditions in the North East of the United States. People are making heroic efforts to respond to the emergency. At hospitals in New York City nurses arrived on Sunday and did not leave until Wednesday evening. On Monday Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of NYC, called on New York teachers to be first responders in public shelters in the city. Teachers are strong, capable, compassionate, and always ready to take care of children and their families, but, unlike doctors, nurses, the police, firefighters and EMT’s, teachers receive little or no training. Nevertheless teachers are leading the way.
One teacher from Long Beach writes, “I have been running our medical triage where we assess patients and then dispatch them to ambulances or to busses to be transported to shelters. We also have a doctor working off of a trolley trying to see as many people as he can to get medication and vaccinations out to the people who need it. The outreach has been amazing”.
“I am wondering what they are doing about the public schools here?” the same teacher writes. “They got a lot of

On the ground in Chicago; A day in the life

by Server

Karen Lewis and Carl West

On the ground in Chicago; A day in the life

By Bob George. Save Our Schools
Originally Published on November 4, 2012
Over the past several days I had the privilege of being involved in several Chicago education events with Parents, Students, Teachers, CTU and Core members. On Thursday Evening the Black Caucus of CTU sponsored a discussion with President Karen Lewis of CTU on the recent Strike, the implications for the community and what’s next. Leadership from the Black community was on hand as Karen laid out the Strike Story.
Carl West the owner of Truth Be Told news service asked Karen to describe the process of how CTU came to Strike. Karen said:

“The strike bubbled up from the Rank and File!” As the membership’s voice was heard they expressed their anger at the injustice of a system that treated children as numbers, regularly 

How Many Strikes? or Wither Accountability? #2 | AMPS

How Many Strikes? or Wither Accountability? #2 | AMPS:

Vote to be heard!

by Thomas J. Mertz

Digna Lewis, 2004. Click through here for more of this collection:

Chis Stamey and Yo la Tengo, “Vote” (click to listen or download)

Check the Wisconsin League of Woman Voters for all your voting information, including your rights, your polling place, the candidate answers, referendum information, and same day registration.
VOTE TO BE HEARD!
Thomas J. Mertz

How Many Strikes? or Wither Accountability? #2

by Thomas J. Mertz

The Isotopes – “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” (click to listen or download)

A recent post  –  Who cuts the barber’s hair? or Wither “accountability”?  — centered on some of the failings of the new Wisconsin “Accountability” system designed by team led by  Scott Walker and Tony Evers and adopted in order to gain an NCLB waiver from Arne Duncan and what we as citizens can do to hold them accountable for the bad choices they have made.  With the second iteration of the “Accountability Requirements for Achievement Gap Plan” on the agenda of the Madison Metropolitan School District Board of Education Student Achievement and Performance Monitoring Committee this Monday (11/5, 5:30 PM, rm 103, Doyle Blg) I thought it would be a good idea to do something similar on the “Accountability” work being done by MMSD.  This time via an extended and at times strained baseball metaphor.
Who’s at bat?
Or who should be held accountable for the accountability design work being done by MMSD? These aren’t easy questions.  Accountability is confusing, maybe not as confusing as the Abbott and Costello routine, but confusing (who should or should not be held accountable for the results of accountability measures is even more