Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: In Pearson we trust. Really? But our blood is never blue.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: In Pearson we trust. Really? But our blood is never blue.:

In Pearson we trust. Really? But our blood is never blue.

by Mike Klonsky

Remember back in April, when a single insipid test question sparked thepineapple rebellion and shone a light, not only on current standardized testing practices, but on the whole testing industry and its leading profiteer, Pearson Publishing? With lives, careers and the very existence of schools hanging in the balance, we have become totally reliant on Pearson and the testing companies to measure and arbitrate truth and correctness. Even more so, with the era of the Common Core curriculum at hand. But what happens when Pearson is wrong -- either in the content of their texts or in the proscribed answers on their tests?

Check out this exchange between Chicago Science/Math Teacher Oscar Newman and Pearson.

November 17, 2012 

To Whom It May Concern, 

My school recently purchased Pearson's Interactive Science for our middle school students (6-8 Grades). While preparing for a lesson, I happened upon the following quote, from the Interactive Physical Science book 1 TE, p.119 Under "Science and Society": "The influx of oxygen changes blood's color from blue to red...Have students examine their arms to see if they have any blue 

Could Connecticut's state deficit really jump from $60m to $365m in a month? That would be a No - Wait, What?

Could Connecticut's state deficit really jump from $60m to $365m in a month? That would be a No - Wait, What?:

Could Connecticut’s state deficit really jump from $60m to $365m in a month? That would be a No

by jonpelto

According to Connecticut law, by the twentieth day of each month, the Governor’s Office of Policy and Management must provide the Office of the State Comptroller with a statement of “revenues and expenditures for the General Fund.”

Using this information, and his own budget experts, the State Comptroller then produces the state’s official financial statement that is released on the first of each month.

A couple of weeks before the election, OPM reported that the projected deficit was $60 million.

A couple of weeks after the election, OPM reported that the projected deficit was $365 million.

As to the question of whether a state deficit could leap from $60 million to $365 million in 

Mother Crusader: Have You Heard The One About The Kid From Camden, The Tea Partier And The Rabbi?

Mother Crusader: Have You Heard The One About The Kid From Camden, The Tea Partier And The Rabbi?:

Have You Heard The One About The Kid From Camden, The Tea Partier And The Rabbi?

by darciecima

A Trenton Times guest opinion column was brought to my attention this morning by a sister Save Our Schools NJ Organizer, and from all of my research on issues related to Tikun Olam and Hatikvah I had some knowledge of the author of the piece.

His byline says "Israel Teitelbaum serves as secretary of Alliance for Free Choice in Education"  Check out the link.  Thin on content, heavy on rhetoric.  

So is his column.  

Seems it was inspired by the E3 sponsored Camden parents class action complaint seeking the immediate 

Data-driven to distraction in school reform:

Data-driven to distraction in school reform

Posted by Valerie Strauss on November 21, 2012 at 4:00 am

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“Data-driven reform” is one of the mantras of the school reform movement. Just howannoying has it become? Esther Quintero, research associate at the non-profit Albert Shanker Institute, located in Washington, D.C., tells us. A version of this post originally appeared on the institute’s blog.

By Esther Quintero

In the education community, many proclaim themselves to be “completely data-driven.” Data Driven Decision Making (DDDM) has been a buzz phrase for a while now, and continues to be a badge many wear with pride. And yet, every time I hear it, I cringe.

Let me explain. During my first year in graduate school, I was taught that excessive attention to quantitative data impedes – rather than aids – in-depth understanding of social phenomena. In other words, explanations cannot simply be cranked out of statistical 

A case against closing 20 D.C. schools

by Valerie Strauss

D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson has released her plan to close 20 schools,

prompting a hailstorm of criticism from parents (though the Washington Post editorial board approved it, here). The following post, written by Peter MacPherson, a DCPS parent and schools activist, explains why many people oppose the move.
Read full article >>

Schools Matter: Rhee Announces Teachers Should Suffer During Holidays, Too

Schools Matter: Rhee Announces Teachers Should Suffer During Holidays, Too:

Rhee Announces Teachers Should Suffer During Holidays, Too

by Jim Horn

Exclusive: Michelle Rhee Takes Aim at Teachers During Holidays The former D.C. chancellor, leader of Michelle First,  believes that if we’re going to use tenure to retain teachers, we must do it 'based on measures that matter' to Eli Broad and Bill Gates Read More >>

When you get on the Waiting for Superman email list like I did, you get an uninterrupted supply of propaganda, with headlines, stories, and pics like the one above (slightly altered) of Eli Broad's poisonous puppet, Michelle Rhee, in one her most Hitlerian poses, complete with backlighting spots.

The ad agencies that handle the corporate reform schoolers' accounts have made an art form of preying on unsuspecting newbie teachers trained to be parrots of the 19th Century teaching gospel of Doug Lemov or the behavioral sterilization therapies of KIPP's David Levin.  These new entrepreneurial pedagogues are the same ones who are being chewed up and spit out by the system that Mad Michelle created in DC before she left under the cloud of a cheating scandal that won't go away.

Here a few clips from an AP story by Ben Nuckols in September on the wreckage that Rhee left behind in DC 

karen lewis lashes out against corporate leaders - chicagotribune.com

karen lewis lashes out against corporate leaders - chicagotribune.com:

Teachers union chief slams 'top-down' reform

Says deadline for school-closing announcements shouldn't be extended

 By Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, Chicago Tribune reporter

10:19 p.m. CST, November 20, 2012

Showing the same combativeness that was on display during the recent strike, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said Tuesday that the wealthy backers of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's efforts to overhaul the city's troubled schools should donate money to support public education but otherwise butt out.

"I think they should do what they do when they give money to the Lyric Opera," Lewis said during a City Club of Chicago lunch. "I don't believe they give money to the Lyric Opera and then go tell the singers how to sing. ... Give your money and walk away, buddies. When you don't know something, don't dilettante your way into it."

Lewis' criticism was directed at people like school board member Penny Pritzker, a member of one of Chicago's richest families and a supporter of education reform, and Bruce Rauner, a retired private equity executive who has helped lead the drive for privately run charter 

NYC Educator: The Law Is the Law, Says UFT Leadership

NYC Educator: The Law Is the Law, Says UFT Leadership:

The Law Is the Law, Says UFT Leadership

by NYC Educator

That's what I keep hearing. Don't you know about the law? Do you want us to break the law? We all have to respect the law and never, ever question it, no matter what, because it's the law.

That's why, apparently, it was vital that we agree to give up February break immediately, with no consultation whatsoever with rank and file. It appears that the State Education Department has the power to waive the 180-day requirement, but can only do so when all vacation days are exhausted. That's true. It's in the UFT Q and Athat came out yesterday, and will doubtless be a talking point used against folks like me who wonder why we were so quick to capitulate.

However, there is another way to waive the requirement. This, apparently, escaped the attention of whoever wrote the UFT Q and A. The State Legislature can vote to do so, and in fact did so as recently as last year. In fact, on November 1st, they were considering just that.

School districts would face a loss of state aid if they were to have fewer than 180 days of classes. 

Modern School: Unions Collaborate With Obama to Squeeze American Workers

Modern School: Unions Collaborate With Obama to Squeeze American Workers:

Unions Collaborate With Obama to Squeeze American Workers

by Michael Dunn

Image from Flickr, by DonkeyHotey

With the country moving ever closer to the “fiscal cliff,” the Obama Administration is doing everything it can to strike a “grand bargain” that appeases the ruling elite. The grand bargain is a euphemism for an austerity package that will maintain low taxes for the wealthy and subsidies for their business by slashing social spending and services that help keep the rest of the country from sinking further into poverty.

Union leaders met with the president on Tuesday to give their support for his plan which will include large cuts to social programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, food stamps and other welfare programs, the WSWS reported this week. Because there is broad support 

Education Cuts for California Despite Prop 30 Victory

by Michael Dunn

Image from Flickr, by Double-M

The California Teachers Association (CTA) lobbied heavily for passage of Proposition 30, mobilizing thousands of teachers to phone bank and canvas neighborhoods. Together with other state unions, they spent $50 million to get the initiative passed. They claimed it would save public education and restore funding to the schools. However, with more than $18 billion slashed from K-12 education since the recession began, the $6.6 billion in projected revenues from Prop 30 won’t even come close to restoring public education funding to pre-recession levels, especially considering the state budget deficit is now estimated at more than $15 billion. It will do nothing to bring back the 80,000 teaching jobs lost since the recession began 

Today in Labor History—November 21

by Michael Dunn

Revolte des Canuts - Lyon 1831(public domain)

November 21, 1831 – Silk workers went on strike in Lyon, France. However, the entire city rose in insurrection when the National Guard killed several workers. (From the Daily Bleed)

November 21, 1863 – Workers across the country were striking and protesting 

MOOCs and Hype Again | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

MOOCs and Hype Again | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

MOOCs and Hype Again

by larrycuban

I have a confession to make. I dropped out of a Massive Open Online course (MOOC) on Artificial Intelligence at Stanford university in the Fall of 2011. There were over 160,000 other students in the class from all over the world. I listened to the two professors on my laptop give mini-lectures, watched fast hands scrawl quickly and cleverly over whiteboards to graphically display the concepts they were teaching. I found the information fascinating. I took a few quizzes. Then I fell behind and realized that I couldn’t keep up, given the other things I was doing so I dropped out. End of story about my first encounter with a MOOC. Turns out, however, that about 138,000 others dropped out also since only 14 percent completed the course and received a certificate.
MOOCs have soared in popularity as the “disruptive innovation” that will revolutionize higher education. Called the “Most Important Educational Technology in 200 Years” by the head of a new consortium of Harvard and MIT offering MOOCs, forecasts of fundamental changes in higher education are as common as iPads in a Starbucks. Stanford University President John Hennessey says “there’s a tsunami coming.”
Right before our eyes we are experiencing the very beginning of the hype cycle. For many academic 

Jersey Jazzman: Newark vs. Chicago

Jersey Jazzman: Newark vs. Chicago:

Newark vs. Chicago

by Duke

No, this is not a post about hockey.

Earlier today, I posted the latest statement about the Newark teachers contract from a group of rebels within the union, the NEWCaucus. They are not happy:

After listening to and talking to fellow education workers, we have come to the conclusion that this contract was passed NOT because we believed that this contract is in the best interest of teachers and students, but because the membership did not have confidence that the NTU leadership has a plan, a will, or the ability to fight for something better. The membership reached this decision after witnessing attacks from the federal, state, and local governments for the past several years without any plan on the union’s part to fight back. The membership has seen statewide budget cuts, the closing of schools, hundreds of teachers’ robbed of their jobs and labeled EWP’s (Educators Without Placements), and a barrage of criticism from the media and political elites – all without a real response from their union. On top of this, NTU’s parent union, the American Federation of Teachers under Randi Weingarten, worked overtime to persuade, manipulate, and scare the membership 

A Rigorous Thanksgiving « InterACT

A Rigorous Thanksgiving « InterACT:

A Rigorous Thanksgiving

by David B. Cohen

This blog post is re-posted for your reading pleasure, after originally appearing a few years ago at the CTQ Teacher Leaders Network.
With Thanksgiving arriving, we begin to hear and read commentaries about all that we are thankful for. As a teacher, I am mindful of the role teachers have played in my own life. Of course, the climate and values in education have changed somewhat since the 1970s, and what I once may have believed about schools and teachers when I was a naïve child must be tested against the rigorous standards of today.
I attended two different American military schools in Germany for kindergarten through second grade. Perhaps due to moving around a fair amount as a child, I find it hard to reconstruct memories of the teachers from those years. I’m told I was a skilled reader at an early age. Had anyone asked at the time, we would have likely attributed my facility for reading to my parents’ constant encouragement and the many high-interest books in our home. I now have to assume that although I can’t remember my earliest primary-grade teachers, they must have been brilliant educators. As we are frequently reminded in education these days, “the teacher is the most important factor in student success.” Thank you to those Armed Services teachers, whoever and wherever you may be.

Me, age 8.

In third and fourth grade, I was living in Colorado Springs. My dominant educational recollection is that my fourth-

Seeking Common Ground, for Schools & Walmarts - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Seeking Common Ground, for Schools & Walmarts - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

Seeking Common Ground, for Schools & Walmarts

by Deborah Meier

Editor's note: Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, Deborah Meier's post for this week is being published one day early. Happy Thanksgiving all!
Dear Pedro,
Strategy has to follow from where adults and young people are—that's the big lesson I learned from being a classroom teacher, especially of 4- and 5-year-olds. Kindergarten, I'm reminded, would be like trying to keep 30 corks simultaneously under water at one time. (Mark Twain?) But since children are not corks, there's another answer: listening to them in action.
This means that we won't and can't have a thoroughly consistent set of "progressive" school demands—since different cities and communities and groupings are differently affected by the new "deforms." This requires us to be kind to each other as we sometimes take different paths to shared goals. It's what community organizing often fails at—uniting communities organized around different priorities!
The workers at Walmart are engaged in strike action. It won't end up with great concessions, I suspect. But 

Quinn goes after collective bargaining again. Terminates AFSCME contract. Most anti-labor governor ever. « Fred Klonsky

Quinn goes after collective bargaining again. Terminates AFSCME contract. Most anti-labor governor ever. « Fred Klonsky:

Quinn goes after collective bargaining again. Terminates AFSCME contract. Most anti-labor governor ever.

by Fred Klonsky

Rich Miller’s Capitolfax broke the story this evening.
But is just supports what I have been saying for months: Pat Quinn is the most anti-labor governor in the history of Illinois.
While the Republican Scott Walkers of this world have their own ways of going after union collective bargaining

Black Friday. Boycott Walmart. Support the workers.

by Fred Klonsky

Schools Matter: Health hazard: Drs. Schack & Mehra: Teens not getting enough sleep because of school schedule & pressure

Schools Matter: Health hazard: Drs. Schack & Mehra: Teens not getting enough sleep because of school schedule & pressure:

Health hazard: Drs. Schack & Mehra: Teens not getting enough sleep because of school schedule & pressure

by skrashen

Mira Costa will look into zero-period, start time to address teen sleep issues
The Beach Reporter, November 14, 20
http://tinyurl.com/b4f7bvu

by Carley Dryden
Local doctor Linda Schack, an adolescent medicine specialist, had grown concerned.
High school students flooded her practice complaining of headaches, abdominal pain and fatigue. When she asked how much sleep they got on weekdays, she received the same answer: six hours. But on weekends, they would sleep until noon or 1 p.m.
Alarmed by the local teens’ sleep patterns and ailments, Schack and fellow doctor Mini Mehra reviewed scientific literature on the topic and presented their findings to the Manhattan Beach Unified School District’s Medical Advisory Board last year. Schack and Mehra found that schools with later start times reported less tardiness, better grades, less visits to the nurse’s office, and fewer disciplinary problems. Jessamine County, KY saw a 16.5% reduction in motor vehicle accidents in 2003, when the high school start time moved 50 minutes later.
“This is affecting the health of our kids,” Schack said. “That’s why we’re concerned. It’s a medical health issue.”

School Tech Connect: Best Practice

School Tech Connect: Best Practice:

Best Practice

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman)

I saw these two remarks on the Twitter tonight, and I thought, "Good questions."

Notice I didn't say, "and I thought to myself." That's one of my pet peeves, when people write that. Who else are you going to think to?

Anyway, what indeed are these "best practices?" If the charters are supposed to "transmit" (I think that's the 

St. Louis Fed Adds Free Educational Materials for Economics and Personal Finance

Personal Finance Education Resources | Economic Education Resources:

St. Louis Fed Adds Free Educational Materials for Economics and Personal Finance 

Economics and Personal Finance Education Resources

We have award-winning, FREE classroom resources for K-16 educators to use to teach about money and banking, economics, personal finance and the Federal Reserve. We also have FREE resources for consumers and others who want to learn about economics, personal finance and the Federal Reserve.

Feature

ST. LOUIS  ― The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis has added a dozen new materials to an already-robust supply of free personal finance and economic education resources for students and consumers.

The new materials can be found at the St. Louis Fed’s Econ Lowdown web site for economic education resources.  They include online courses, simulated online chats, videos, an audio podcast, and a mobile app.

The number of states requiring personal finance curriculum in public high schools is on the rise, and adults of all ages are often overwhelmed by choices when trying to decide how to save for retirement.

With the St. Louis Fed’s latest tools, students and consumers alike can learn about anything from choosing between retirement plans, to completing a W-4 form, to the basics of supply and demand.

“With the nation still recovering from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, it’s crucial that everyone—particularly our students—prepare themselves for a healthy financial future,” said Mary Suiter, economic education officer at the St. Louis Fed.

Here is a complete list of the new materials:

• Supply and demand course: One version for high school students and another for consumers
• Personal Finance 101 simulated online chats: Resume 101; Car Insurance; Buy Here, Pay Here; Completing a W-4; andInterviewing Tips
• The second episode  in the No Frills Money Skills video series: “Ways to Save: 401(k) and Roth 401(k)”
• The third episode of the Econ Lowdown video podcast series: “Equilibrium”
• The 12th episode of the Econ Lowdown audio podcast series: “Price Signals”
• An updated Econ Lowdown mobile app: Beat the Expert
• A monthly newsletter for teachers of economics and personal finance that offers information on professional development opportunities and new classroom materials

Econ Lowdown also has a new and improved, more user-friendly and searchable web site, plus social media accounts.  On the Econ Lowdown Facebook and Twitter pages, followers can find personal finance tips, information on new classroom materials, and economics context for headlines in the news.  

The St. Louis Fed offers free downloadable lesson plans, interactive whiteboard activities, and online courses for classrooms ranging from elementary school to college.  The organization reaches 275,000 students with its online tools and programming.  Materials also are available to help the general public understand anything from inflation to saving for retirement.

Visit http://www.stlouisfed.org/education_resources/ to see the complete collection of free online educational tools.