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A Farmer Navigates Heated Moms’ Meetings About School Lunches

Arwen Donahue at MomsRising Blog - 4 minutes ago

As a small-scale organic farmer who believes in the grass-roots power of the local food movement, I find Michelle Obama’s food activism inspiring. When I heard about her reforms to public school lunches, of course I thought it was a step in the right direction. Just a step, mind you: ultimately, I’d like to see [...]

Building A Kitchen, Building Community

Leon Johnson at MomsRising Blog - 4 minutes ago

As a child the primary location of refuge, of passionate conversation and perfumed well-being was at, or occasionally under, the green Formica table my Mother kept scrupulously clean in the corner of her kitchen. Regardless of the terrors that lay immediately beyond the house or, indeed as it was more often than not, the volatile [...]

In Food We Trust

Antonio Diaz at MomsRising Blog - 4 minutes ago

It is almost the new year, and I am starting to reflect back on 2012, which has been the year of making choices. Aside from launching my passion project (Life & Thyme), I also made a concerted effort to eat healthier, buy from farmers markets as much as possible, cook often and for others, but [...]

Report From The Lunch Line

Aaliyah Kellog at MomsRising Blog - 4 minutes ago

I’m a 5th grader at in Minnesota. My school has a very healthy lunch program, offering a lot of well balanced meal choices. We have six different meal stations: The Main Ingredient, Stock Exchange, Improvisations, Classic Cuts Deli, Seasonings, and the Baking Company. The Main Ingredient is the first station on the line. It features a complete meal with [...]

Pasta con Pollo al Limón y Tomate #MamaSabeMas

Ericka Sanchez at MomsRising Blog - 4 minutes ago

Esta receta se publicó en mi blog bilingüe Nibbles & Feasts. For English, click here. Algunas de las comidas más sencillas y rápidas son las mejores. Me gusta sobre todo aquellas que tienen la perfecta cantidad de verduras, proteínas y carbohidratos. Los días ventosos y noches frías de otoño de California están aquí y hay [...]

Lemon-Tomato Chicken Pasta #MamaSabeMas

Ericka Sanchez at MomsRising Blog - 4 minutes ago

This recipe originally appeared in my bilingual blog Nibbles & Feasts. Para español, haga clic aquí. Some of the simplest and quickest meals are the best tasting. I especially love those that are balanced with veggies, protein and the perfect amount of comfy carbs. The breezy warm days and chilly autumn nights of California are [...]

Forget the Holidays. For Some Students, Unhealthy Snacks are around All Year Long.

Elizabeth Brotherton at MomsRising Blog - 28 minutes ago

It can be tough to eat healthy during the holidays. Coworkers bring sugar cookies to the office, a neighbor drops off a pie as a gift – and then there are all those treats served during holiday parties. There’s a lot of talk about all the extra calories Americans consume during the holiday season, and [...]

Cooking With Winter’s Bitter Bounty

Dawn Undurraga at MomsRising Blog - 28 minutes ago

When the weather turns, the days get shorter and it’s time to get out the winter clothes, it’s also high season for the Brassicaceae, or mustard family, on your family’s dinner table. The Brassica oleracea species in particular is the sturdy progenitor ofbroccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower and kale. Many of these vegetable varieties are in peak season in North America [...]

Losing the Sweet Tooth

Grace Hwang Lynch at MomsRising Blog - 28 minutes ago

Sometimes, though, you just know when it’s time to make a change. I could feel it when I struggled to button up my jeans (the ones I saved for thosedays). I could feel it when I went hiking with my family this summer, and had to stop and rest on the side of the trail [...]

Food marketing to children: What can you do?

Carol Hazen at MomsRising Blog - 28 minutes ago

Eighty six percent of the food marketed to our children is for unhealthy products so it’s no surprise that researchers have found links between food marketing exposure and the rapid increase of childhood obesity and related diseases. Let’s face it, food marketing works. If it didn’t the food and beverage industry wouldn’t spend over $1.6 [...]

Food Traditions: Smashed Cauliflower and Potatoes

Vanessa Bell at MomsRising Blog - 28 minutes ago

Ever wonder why the mashed potatoes you eat at home don’t taste the same as those you eat anywhere else? We have a few food traditions over here that I haven’t told you about. Your Momma loves to sneak veggies into so much of what you eat. So, this would be why your mashed potatoes [...]

The Duchess Throws Up

Joan C. Williams at MomsRising Blog - 1 day ago

In a snarky article, the newspaper of record confirms what we already know: Kate Middleton is pregnant. She’s so nauseated that she’s in the hospital on an intravenous drip. She’s just lucky she’s not an American gal. U.S. employers regularly fire pregnant women when they need modest accommodations to keep doing their jobs. When women become [...]

We Can Avoid the “Fiscal Cliff” Without Turning Our Backs on Our Most Vulnerable

Janet Murguia at MomsRising Blog - 1 day ago

Like most voters, Latinos cited jobs and the economy as their greatest concern in the days leading up to the election . The pressing importance of these issues led to an historic turnout of Hispanic voters in the 2012 election and overwhelming support for President Obama’s reelection. In the post-election period, Latinos are looking to [...]

Breastfeeding Challenges for a New Mom

Tasha Mitchell at MomsRising Blog - 2 days ago

During my pregnancy, I’d watched so many online video tutorials on how to breastfeed. Never mind going to an actual breastfeeding class when I can just search Google for what I need to learn. There was no way I could get this wrong. All I had to do was get my baby to latch on, [...]

Non-Toxic Holiday Shopping Guide!

Cassidy Randall at MomsRising Blog - 2 days ago

Women's Voices for the Earth's Non-Toxic Shopping Guide has everything you need to make responsible choices without compromising the fun and excitement of gift-giving. With this Guide, you can use your consumer power to tell and show companies that you demand safer products!

An Open Letter to Superintendent Randy Dorn Regarding Initiative 1240 | Seattle Education

An Open Letter to Superintendent Randy Dorn Regarding Initiative 1240 | Seattle Education:

An Open Letter to Superintendent Randy Dorn Regarding Initiative 1240

Posted on December 6, 2012 by seattleducation2011 | Leave a comment

Dec. 5, 2012

To Superintendent Dorn:

Parents Across America of Washington State, the local chapters of the national organization dedicated to the preservation of public education, has concluded that Initiative 1240 is in violation of the Washington State Constitution on multiple counts.

We therefore urge the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to pursue a legal challenge to I-1240, based on the following grounds:

1. I-1240 would establish a charter school commission comprised of politically appointed members with no election by, or accountability to, the general public. It would allocate authorization and accountability for charter schools to this commission, circumventing state-mandated oversight of our public schools by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and local school boards. (Yet this commission would cost taxpayers an estimated $3 million.) The creation of such a commission would be in violation of state law which requires public oversight of all public schools. (See: Article III, Section 22, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Duties and Salary. “The superintendent of public instruction shall have supervision over all matters pertaining to public schools, and shall perform such specific duties as may be prescribed by law.”)

2. Charter schools would not meet the definition of “common schools.” Since 1909, a “common school” has been defined as “one that is common to all children of proper age and capacity, free, and subject to, and under the control of, the qualified voters, of a school district.” Sch. Dist. No. 20, Spokane County v. Bryan, 51 Wn. 498, 99 P. 28 (1909). The state constitution also mandates a 

Morning UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 12-6-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Michelle Rhee Advising Governor Kasich in Ohio about Funding

by dianerav

This Ohio blogger reports that Michelle Rhee is now advising the anti-public school administration of Governor John Kasich and the Republican legislature about how to fund education.
Given the predisposition of the leadership in Ohio, the outcome is predictable and it won’t be good for public education.
Ohio has a flourishing landscape of charters and a growing voucher program.
The charter landscape is very profitable for certain big-time charter operators, but charters do not outperform 

How Eva’s Success Academy Thrives

by dianerav

A high school for at-risk students in Manhattan, now located in a beautiful state-of-the-art facility, will be relocated to make room for Eva Moskowitz’s charter empire to grow.
The students at Innovation Diploma Plus high school will be relocated to a 90-year-old school with no science labs or gym.
Success Academy recently raised its management fee to $2,000 per student. It has a wealthy and powerful 

Charlie Crist Renounces His Support for Vouchers

by dianerav

Charlie Crist, former governor of Florida, switched from Republican to independent to Democrat.
It is rumored that he may run for governor as a Democrat.
In an interview recently, he said he was wrong for supporting vouchers.
Angry conservatives don’t like

Indiana: “One Last Stab at Teachers”

by dianerav

Karen Francisco is an outstanding writer for the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette in Indiana.
For her fearless coverage of the right-wing attack on public education, she joins our honor roll.
Unlike so many journalists who report what is in the press release, she digs deeper and informs the public
In her most recent column, she explains that defeated State Superintendent Tony Bennett was using his last days in office to continue his attack on the teaching profession. Before the election, in which he was decisively defeated, he proposed to lower standards for new teachers and for principals. Her column appeared before

NY Superintendent to President Obama: “Stop the Madness”

by dianerav

Jere Hochman, superintendent of the Bedford schools, has written an eloquent plea to President Obama.
He supported President Obama.
Now, he says, its time to put the brakes on the testing frenzy that is enveloping students, teachers, and schools.
He begins:
I do not doubt that your intentions and those of Mr. Duncan and others are sincere. I do doubt the intentions of 

A Petition to the President

by dianerav

A group of educators asked me to post this petition. You may recall that Linda Darling-Hammond was President Obama’s education spokesman when he ran for office in 2008.
Dear Concerned Educators,
The Coalition for Justice in Education (CJE) has started the petition “President Barack Obama: Replace Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, with Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond” and needs your help to get it off the ground. CJE believes it’s time that we let President Obama know how we feel about the education policies he and Mr. Duncan are enacting.
Will you take 30 seconds to sign it right now? Here’s the link:

http://www.change.org/petitions/president-barack-obama-replace-secretary-of-education-arne-duncan-with-dr-linda-darling-hammond?utm_source=guides&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=petition_created

Here’s why it’s important:
The Obama/Duncan education policies have been totally unsuccessful in terms of creating significant, positive changes to help students become proficient citizens and scholars.
You can sign CJE’s petition by clicking here.
Thanks!
Dan Drmacich, Chairman
Coalition for Justice in Education
ps: Please help with this effort by sending it to friends & organizations who might sign it as well. Thanks for your help!

Baker: New York Educator Evaluation Is Fundamentally Flawed

by dianerav

Bruce Baker of Rutgers says that New York state’s educator evaluation system is biased, inaccurate and unfair. Even the consultants who created the system, he writes, acknowledged the high rate of error. But the state says “full speed ahead.” Baker urges educators to “just say no.”

Florida Botches New Teacher Evaluation Reports

by dianerav

Florida’s Department of Education rolled out its much-anticipated teacher evaluation reports, and only hours later, withdrew them. Most teachers were rated effective or highly effective, but the reports had numerous errors.
At some point, after hundreds of millions of dollars have been wasted trying to standardize a process that requires human judgement, after thousands of excellent teachers have abandoned a profession they once loved, 

Another Great Public School Targeted for Closure in NYC

by dianerav

The Bloomberg administration continues its path of closing schools rather than helping them.
Read more here on the New York City parent blog.
Only 13 years ago, DeWitt Clinton High School was rated one of the best in the nation. It was once an honored 

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

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 50 minutes ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: Half of Michigan’s African Americans Lose Self-Government by dianerav Eclectablog daily digest UPDATED: Are over half of Mich African Americans about to be under the control of an Emergency Financial Mgr UPDATED: Are over half of Mich African Americans about to be under the control of an Emergency Financial Mgr? Posted: 05 Dec 2012 11:23 AM PST Look out, Detroit! It’s coming right for ya! The Detroit Free Press is reporting this afternoon that an Emergency Financial Manager is being called *LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 12-5-12 Diane Ravitch's blog* coopmike48... more »

Education Research Report: Charter Schools Under-Enroll Students With Special Needs, New Review Finds

Education Research Report: Charter Schools Under-Enroll Students With Special Needs, New Review Finds:

Charter Schools Under-Enroll Students With Special Needs, New Review Finds

by Jonathan Kantrowitz

Several recent reports, including one from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, have found that charter schools generally under-enroll special education students when compared to conventional public schools. A new report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education, however, asserts that charter schools’ special education rates are much closer to those of district public schools than is described by these other recent reports.

A review of that new report concludes that, even though it was touted as reaching different conclusions – more favorable to charter schools – than past research, in fact the results are very much consistent. It confirms that charter schools are systematically under-enrolling students with special needs.

The report, New York State Special Education Enrollment Analysis, by Robin Lake, Betheny Gross, and Patrick Denice, was reviewed for the Think Twice think tank review project by professor Bruce Baker of Rutgers 

Ed Notes Online: My Speech at UFT Exec Bd Urging They Take a Dive Off Edu Cliff and Not Succumb to Cuomo Blackmail - And I Get Sick From the Food as a Reward

Ed Notes Online: My Speech at UFT Exec Bd Urging They Take a Dive Off Edu Cliff and Not Succumb to Cuomo Blackmail - And I Get Sick From the Food as a Reward:

My Speech at UFT Exec Bd Urging They Take a Dive Off Edu Cliff and Not Succumb to Cuomo Blackmail - And I Get Sick From the Food as a Reward

by ed notes online

OK. I plead guilty to breaking my own rule -- avoiding UFT Ex bd meetings. But since MORE had a meeting in the neighborhood beforehand on Monday night, I figured I might as well head over for the free dinner. And then I thought I might as well call up and ask for a few minutes of speaking time on the ed eval cliff which James Eterno talked about on the ICE blog and got lots of comments (LOOKING INTO THE CRYSTAL BALL ON THE NEW EVALUATION SYSTEM & CONTRACT).

I came equipped with research. Carol Burris (LOOKING INTO THE CRYSTAL BALL ON THE NEW EVALUATION SYSTEM & CONTRACT) and Gary Rubinstein (VAM gets Slammed: Teacher Evaluation Not A Game of Chance). A principal and a teacher who point out the junk science of VAM and the entire ed eval process. It is interesting that when you bring up the deficiencies of VAM you get doubletalk (from Randi/AFT/Mulgrew/UFT) or blank states (E4E).

Well, I'm happy to report that all I got as I spoke to the UFT Exec Bd were E4E-like blank stares. Here is an 

Many math students are flailing, repeating courses without success | EdSource Today

Many math students are flailing, repeating courses without success | EdSource Today:

Many math students are flailing, repeating courses without success - by John Fensterwald

by John Fensterwald

A big reason California students are pushed to take higher math in high school is to see that they satisfy the admission requirements to a state four-year university. And yet 68 percent of students who haven’t passed one of the required courses, Algebra II, by the end of 11th grade don’t even enroll in math as seniors, giving up on the possibility of applying to a UC or CSU school.

That puzzling statistic is among the data from an extensive research study by San Francisco-based research organization WestEd’s Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning of math courses that 24,000 students in two dozen districts took – or didn’t take – in middle and high school. Those findings point to great success for a minority of students – about one out of five – who take Algebra I by the end of eighth grade, geometry by the end of ninth and Algebra II by the end of tenth; many 

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: WalMart Schools and Kevin Johnson

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: WalMart Schools and Kevin Johnson:

WalMart Schools and Kevin Johnson

by Duane Campbell

WalMart schools in Sacramento

A fine by the California Fair Political Practices Committee (FFPC) against Mayor Kevin Johnson revealed that the Mayor has received  $500,000 dollars from the Walton Family – the owners of WalMart- for his advocacy through the organization StandUP. 

The money did not go to the public schools but to advocacy for specific positions. Mayor Johnson has a number of well known positions on “school reform” starting with his initial role in privatizing Sacramento High School as a charter.   He serves as Chair of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s Education Reform Task Force.

Applying the WalMart perspective to schools would privatize  the public institutions.  WalMart is notoriously anti union and exploits its workers for the family’s own gains.  Low wages; pushing wage scales down: few benefits; passing  costs such as  adequate food and health care of workers off to the public programs; and an authoritarian even totalitarian management environment  are mainstays of WalMart stores.  I don’t think they will be able to import the teachers from China, but they will be able to cut wages, benefits, and job security. See http://forrespect.org.

One way you could improve schools would be to adequately fund them, however during the recent vital election to  fund the schools through California Prop. 30, Mayor Johnson and his wife Michelle Rhee were occupied in campaign events in other states. http://choosingdemocracy.blogspot.com/2012/11/what-was-kevin-johnson-doing-during.html

Kevin Johnson’s approach to school change is consistent with the anti teacher  efforts of Democrats for Educational Reform (see prior posts). Also see https://sites.google.com/site/democracyandeducationorg/

Parents groups, NAACP to file ethics complaint over school district consultant - Philly.com

Parents groups, NAACP to file ethics complaint over school district consultant - Philly.com:

Parents groups, NAACP to file ethics complaint over school district consultant

December 05, 2012|By Kristen A. Graham and Jeff Gammage, Inquirer Staff Writers

Members of two parent groups and the city's NAACP chapter plan to file a city ethics complaint Wednesday alleging that William Penn Foundation-funded work that a consulting firm did for the Philadelphia School District this year constituted lobbying.

For several months, the Boston Consulting Group studied the district's operations. It came up with an extensive set of recommendations on how to cut costs and restructure operations in a school system hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.

Parents United for Public Education, the Philadelphia Home and School Council, and the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP say William Penn, which paid BCG more than $1 million for its work, essentially wrote a check for BCG to lobby the district on a pro-charter-school agenda and to target dozens of schools for closure.

Story continues below.

The complaint comes after the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia completed an analysis last 

Why I Hate School But Love Education | toteachornototeach

Why I Hate School But Love Education | toteachornototeach:

Why I Hate School But Love Education

by aristotlethewise

‘Why I Hate School But Love Education’ Viral Video
Points To Stupid In America And All The Wrong Questions 

by Emmeline Zhao
English rapper-poet Suli Breaks is out with a video that’s taking the Internet by storm, and young people are loving it.
“Why I Hate School But Love Education” has received nearly half a million views since it was posted to YouTube 

FDOE Pulls Back SB736 Teacher Data Marking Third Flawed Data Roll Out This Year | Scathing Purple Musings

FDOE Pulls Back SB736 Teacher Data Marking Third Flawed Data Roll Out This Year | Scathing Purple Musings:

FDOE Pulls Back SB736 Teacher Data Marking Third Flawed Data Roll Out This Year

by Bob Sikes

It was there. Then it was gone. Writes Joey Flechas in the Gainesville Sun:

The Florida Department of Education released statewide data on the new teacher evaluations Wednesday only to pull it back in the afternoon.
After officials in Hillsborough County reported problems with the numbers, which contained duplicate records, the DOE took the report off its website to review the records.
The DOE released this statement late Wednesday afternoon:
“Hillsborough County Management Information Systems staff notified the Department of Education 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: un·der·uti·lize

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: un·der·uti·lize:

un·der·uti·lize

by Mike Klonsky

Underutilize is one of those fabricated words, like fiscal cliff, that politicians grab onto when they want to do nasty things to us. According to Mirriam-Webster, the first known use of the term took place in 1951. The dictionary doesn't say where or why the term was used was first used, but I suspect it had to do with somebody taking something away from somebody because they didn't think they were using it enough.

1951

Let's see, 1951 -- OK in 1951 U.S. nuclear scientists set off the world's first thermonuclear reaction in a test at the mid-Pacific atoll, Eniwetok. They probably thought that the Marshall Islanders were underutilizingEniwetok anyway, so they used their homes and magnificent coral reefs as an atomic testing ground and used them and their children as radiation guinea pigs. I guess you could say, Eniwetok was turned around.

OK, I'm not really equating nuclear testing with Chicago school closing, some of which may be 

Jersey Jazzman: StudentsFirst: Wrong About Newark AND Chicago!

Jersey Jazzman: StudentsFirst: Wrong About Newark AND Chicago!:

StudentsFirst: Wrong About Newark AND Chicago!

by Duke

I knew this would happen: the corporate reformers finally got a union to give in on merit pay bonuses, and now they want to shove them down everyone else's throat:

Teachers in Newark just OK’d one of the nation’s most progressive collective-bargaining agreements. It rewards great teaching and treats educators as true professionals, whose effectiveness in the classroom makes a big difference in the futures of their students.

It’s the first contract in New Jersey to reward highly effective teachers — particularly those teaching hard-to-staff subjects or serving in high-needs schools — with higher pay, and the first to end the traditional system of compensation in which longevity alone determines salary increases. It puts “merit pay” in its proper context: not as a driver of test scores, but as a tool to focus limited