Sunday, December 30, 2012

by kenpreviti

Social Security that is unsocial and insecure.
Pensions entrusted to state governments that cannot be trusted to govern a trust.
Representatives who do not represent.
Legislators who do not write or read legislation.
Leaders who follow.
Public services cut for corporate tax reduction.
Public schools for private profit.
The list goes on and on in the world’s wealthiest country that claims it cannot afford human services which are for citizens who have already paid for them.
Public reform that is neither.
What did President Ronald Reagan say about cutting Social Security to reduce the national debt?
Watch this 37 second video from Oct. 7, 1984 as Reagan states in no uncertain terms the reality that has today become spun into the destructive lie called CHAINS.
PopoutThe Illinois General Assembly meets in January to raid public employee pensions for present teachers and retirees. Democratic super-majority members of both the Illinois Senate and the House of Representatives continue the lies as they steal from and betray their own public servants.
Isn’t it about time that we demand to reclaim reform?

Ed Notes Online: PEP Hearing, 12/20/2012 by SOSfromEVA (Save our Students from Eva Moskowitz)

Ed Notes Online: PEP Hearing, 12/20/2012 by SOSfromEVA (Save our Students from Eva Moskowitz):

PEP Hearing, 12/20/2012 by SOSfromEVA (Save our Students from Eva Moskowitz)

by ed notes online

The Eva/Success scam exposed. Watch resources in the Success network flow to the rich white kids whose parents want to use public funds instead of paying for private school. Really, a brilliant business model to drain funding from public schools and remove those pesky kids of color from neighborhoods where they are not wanted. One day the parents in Harlem will see that very clearly.

Great work by Thomas who has been one of the leading lights in the struggle against Eva's invasion of Washington Irving -- a foothold in tony Grammercy Park, which indicates that the poor kids are no longer on the table for Success Charter.
Popout
PEP Hearing, 12/20/2012 by SOSfromEVA (Save our Students from Eva Moskowitz) from SOSfromEVA onVimeo.

The NYC Department of Education's PEP decided to ignore the public input and opinion of all the affected communities, teachers, principals and students. They approved ALL proposals and hand Eva Moskowitz's

Diane in the Evening 12-30-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Time for Action

by dianerav

In response to Katie Osgood’s post, “A Message to Reformers,” Maureen Reedy wrote the following:
“Katie, Diane and Friends,
I am loving your article Katie, it is right on in every way.
No more! No MORE!!! NO MORE!!!!
I have contacted Ed Schultz, a production company in California, Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow who teaches at Ohio State, state senator and superintendents in Michigan, I have a panel ready to go with the media when we get someone to pick up the ball and run with it.
I have been in touch with Parents Across America about a project based on “Hands Across America,” where, state by state, we join together, simultaneously, on the same weekend afternoon, and celebrate public education and present the cold, hard facts of privatization to the public, across America… remember “This land is your land, this land is our land?”
I have been relentless since running for state rep in Ohio as former Ohio Teacher of the Year and being kept out of the Statehouse by a malicious 1.5 million dollar ad campaign the last 2 weeks of the election of which Michelle Rhee was a player. I am determined to join others and take action from the Outside/ In where ever, whenever and however we can.
As a 29-year veteran educator and supporter/supervisor/facilitator for over 250 IEP/IAT meetings in my elementary school each year, you have got it right!!!
These are perilous times for our kids who are fragile, vulnerable and at risk. Taking the experts out of the equation and ping-ponging children across town in the name of for-profit avarice and greed is destroying our children and their crucial connection to community.
We ALL have momentum and the power to get moving on CIVIL / HUMAN rights issue of our time, namely, protecting our children and preserving public education.
It is time to take action from the Outside/ In.
Keep contacting people in a position to bring Katie’s facts to light, keep going with reaching your contacts, newspaper columnists, talk show hosts, etc.
Keep moving with your words, your expertise, your stories, your ACTIONS.
Keep doing what you can to save our children and public education.
Thank you Katie, thank you Diane, thank you to all friends who are fighting for our precious children, the real victims of corporate reform.
Maureen Reedy
Parent/29 year Public School Teacher
Columbus, Ohio

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 12-30-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Should Public Schools Depend on Charity? by dianerav A reader asks a good question: Call me a socialist, but I am totally against any & all fundraising for public schools. We as a nation should provide all our children equally with the highest possible standards we as a nation can afford. Private schools can do their own thing, whatever they can afford. (though it is my understanding that private schools pay teachers less than public schools). I don’t support or contribute in any way to fund raisers for e... more »

First Focus: Will Congress push America's kids over the cliff? - California's Children

First Focus: Will Congress push America's kids over the cliff? - California's Children:

First Focus: Will Congress push America's kids over the cliff?

December 27, 2012: First Focus, a Washington, D.C.-based, bipartisan advocacy nonprofit dedicated to making children and families a priority in federal policy and budget decisions, released its analysis just last week on how the "fiscal cliff" -- also known as "sequestration" -- would affect specifically affect children in the U.S. At left is the graph, breaking out the specific cuts, totalling $6.4 billion, that will impact American families -- particularly those who are already teetering on the edge of poverty and survival.

In a letter sent to Congress that accompanied the analysis, First Focus president Bruce Lesley wrote:

"...this is the worst possible time to cut initiatives that protect children..."

...Failing to extend the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the report finds, will hit 6.5 million families with children with a $500/annual increase in taxes, and failing to extend the Child Tax Credit (CTC) will raise the tax liability by $800 for 12 million families with children. It would also deny the CTC to as many as 5.5 million children whose parents file federal tax returns with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. Families affected by this provision earn an average of $21,000 per year. The federal poverty line for a family of four is just over $23,000.

[Proposals by House Republications] would also cut billions from federal initiatives that meet children’s basic needs:

School House to White House Some of the Presidents attended neighborhood public schools, and some of them learned in rural classrooms

School House to White House:

School House to White House: The Education of the Presidents

Larger Version

First-grader Richard Nixon sits at the end of the first row. (Nixon Library)

Our modern Presidents received educations and participated in school activities in ways as diverse as their backgrounds and their political philosophies.

Some of the Presidents attended neighborhood public schools, and some of them learned in rural classrooms; others studied under tutors and attended prestigious private schools. Many of the Presidents participated in extracurricular activities and organized sports while they attended school.

The challenges of studying various subjects, completing homework, forming new ideas, participating in extracurricular activities, and making friends are part of the common heritage of an American education shared by everyone—including our Presidents. This is the premise of a new exhibit opening at the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., called "School House to White House: The Education of the Presidents." It charts the educational experiences of our Presidents from Herbert Hoover to William J. Clinton and includes several items from President George W. Bush's childhood.

Larger Version

Bill Clinton (far left) at Miss Mary's Kindergarten in Hope, Arkansas. (Clinton Library)

Through the records of the presidential libraries—archival material, museum objects, and photographs as well as audio and visual material—"School House to White House" gives the public a new perspective on the presidency. It allows visitors to make connections and comparisons between their own education and the variety of educational experiences of our leaders.

Developed jointly by the museum and archival staffs of the presidential libraries and the museum staff of the National Archives Experience in Washington, D.C., the exhibit explores these future Presidents' activities in grade school, high school, college, and after graduation. Other

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School Tech Connect: Exciting New Choices...

School Tech Connect: Exciting New Choices...:

Exciting New Choices...

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman)

There's a whole generation of kids of color who have grown up not having any idea what a comprehensive secondary education looks like. They get these things instead. Or these things.

I'm really shocked that the elites have not moved back into the city to attend the lawyer-prep charter school. It's almost as if they think their kids deserve more than field trips to law firms. And I don't know how the private schools, or the selective enrollment public schools, stay in business with these options.

By the way, as for the Rocketship schools with their online curriculum..... let me just say this. I've worked in some rather "elite" places. The schools I've worked at are places where parents invest--- either through property taxes or through tuition--- in comprehensive schooling. In each of those places, there were online programs. I

The Sunday Mail. « Fred Klonsky

The Sunday Mail. « Fred Klonsky:

The Sunday Mail.

by Fred Klonsky

Close the School of the Americas.
Remembering Don Cornelius. In 1973 we would roll up the carpet at Dennis and Roberta’s Garfield Boulevard apartment on the South Side and dance to Love Train.
New Jersey’s Governor Christie started his rule attacking teachers. It’s a gateway drug.
Poor kids don’t need Art and Music education. What?
An online petition for an elected school board in Chicago, the only Illinois school system that doesn’t have one. Sign it. Pass it on.
The pension rallies are on. See you in Springfield on Thursday.
The Chicago Teachers Union’s Jackson Potter tells the Sun-Times that we don’t won’t billionaires running our still-public schools.
I work in a psychiatric hospital in Chicago. Unlike many teachers out there who see only their small window of

Ten minute drawing. Working on a Sunday.

by Fred Klonsky

Click on image to enlarge.

The Weekly Update: Teachers Speak Up | Parents Across America

The Weekly Update: Teachers Speak Up | Parents Across America:

The Weekly Update: Teachers Speak Up

by DoraTaylor

The Weekly Update for the news and views you might have missed.

This week has been a slower news week than usual for obvious reasons but the internet is burning up with announcements of new Facebook pages sprouting up started by an array of parents and teachers from around the country standing with their teachers and students and against the privatization of their schools. Just this morning I was invited to like four Facebook pages related to education. They are:

Parents: What Colorado School Grades Doesn’t Want You to Know

Parents & Educators against the Daniels & Bennett Educational Reform

Indiana Coalition for Public Education

Edushyster

Now on to the news and views.

“Only a crisis, actual or perceived, produces real change”
Milton Friedman
“For Freidman and his followers, disaster was not just a chance to get rich but an opportunity to

Schools Matter: The Hoover Institute's Amazing Discoveries

Schools Matter: The Hoover Institute's Amazing Discoveries:

The Hoover Institute's Amazing Discoveries

by John

I previously characterized much of the research published by "reformers" as evidence-influenced, as opposed to evidence-driven. I cited criticisms by Bruce Baker and Julia Sass Rubin of the new Hoover Institute CREDO study of New Jersey charter schools. Today, however, I would like praise the conservative think tank.

“Charter School Performance in New Jersey,” includes a repudiation of everything that the Hoover Institute has advocated. It compares outcomes for 77% of their study's charter school students with those of their peers in traditional public schools (TPS). It finds that in four of the five major cities with the most charters (Camden, Trenton, Jersey City, and Paterson) that charter students learn significantly less than their (TPS) peers in reading, and there are no differences in learning gains in math. CREDO’s charter school advocates acknowledge that, “much of the motivation for developing charter schools aims at improving education outcomes for students in poverty," as they report that low income charter students received no significant benefits in reading.

A City Education: Why Afterschool Programs Are Key to Student Success | Education on GOOD

A City Education: Why Afterschool Programs Are Key to Student Success | Education on GOOD:

A City Education: Why Afterschool Programs Are Key to Student Success

In our A City Education series, City Year corps members share their experiences working as tutors and mentors in schools in hopes of closing the opportunity gap and ending the dropout crisis.
The hours after school can be very dangerous for students who do not have a structured space to go. Many students have parents who are still at work during afterschool time, and these students have free time to spend however they choose. In the South Bronx, this free time may lead to dangerous activities for my students. Amajor part of my service with City Year takes place from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., when I provide my students with a safe space in which to complete their homework, participate in enriching clubs, and learn about their community.
The first hour of after school is dedicated to homework help. We give the students the opportunity to finish all their homework, and provide support to those who need help doing so. I work with the fifth graders, and every day

new years resolutions for parents of 2008 birthday children - my sidewalk chalk blog - nyc school help

new years resolutions for parents of 2008 birthday children - my sidewalk chalk blog - nyc school help:

new years resolutions for parents of 2008 birthday children

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2012 AT 10:14AM

1. Don't panic. There is no need and people who panic drown. Stay calm and centered and when "that mom" at the playground tells you that you are screwed because you didn't do this-and-such or didn't get into "the" school. Drop her. She is trouble and she is not correct, and your poor spouse will have to spend a week talking you down, when you should have been laughing with your child.

2. Tour. Even though it is universally known among your neighbors that your zone school is a "disaster" - tour. A lot of this is rumor. Many of these parents that speak with conviction have not toured or attended the schools. You need a baseline. You may find that your school has more things to love than not. Before you go watch this awesome video by InsideSchools.org

3. Support the people that support you. Send a check to your school's PTA AND toInsideSchools.org (the awesome non-profit that will support you in public school for the

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Charter schools have become huge business for CMOs

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Charter schools have become huge business for CMOs:

Charter schools have become huge business for CMOs

by Mike Klonsky

"What we are having now is private control of public schools." -- Prof. Gary Miron

Eleanor Chute writes in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ("Charter schools now big business nationwide") about how charter schools have been transformed into huge, often profitable business enterprises since their inception in the early 1990's.

The early charter schools in Pennsylvania were largely the product of passionate parents or community groups, who sometimes planned their dream schools around the kitchen table. But the picture has changed dramatically since the charter school law was passed in Pennsylvania in 1997, with an expansion of education management organizations that bring big money and clout into the picture.

Chute's article has good quotes from corporate-style reform critic, Gary Miron and research data from the

Learning from Mick Wilz « Cooperative Catalyst

Learning from Mick Wilz « Cooperative Catalyst:

Learning from Mick Wilz

by pamelamoran

“Don’t just talk about change. Show it.”
Mick Wilz’s post in The New York Times is a simple, but rich and complex, narrative that sense-makes the teaching and learning process from an alternative point of view. I’d like to think that any professional educator who takes the time to read his story would find both reinforcement for – and cause to question what s/he does each day.
“I WAS born in 1956. I should have been reading in grade school, but I’m dyslexic — I have trouble reading, writing and spelling — and few people knew much about the condition in those days. My mother realized that something was wrong, but she didn’t know what. She advocated for me at school and told my teachers not to give up on me. I attended five grammar schools because my mother was constantly looking for something to help me. It was a lonely childhood, and I hate to think how I might have ended up if she hadn’t been so supportive.”
I really appreciate Wilz’s efforts to create a visual workplace, a kind of Ira Socol “toolbelt” space, framed through

UPDATE: Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day “Google Maps Streetview Player” Is Just What I’ve Been Looking For! | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

“Google Maps Streetview Player” Is Just What I’ve Been Looking For! | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…:

“Google Maps Streetview Player” Is Just What I’ve Been Looking For!

by Larry Ferlazzo

I’ve written a lot, both here in my blog (see A Lesson Highlighting Community Assets — Not Deficits) and in one of my books, about one of my favorite lessons.

In short, after students identify the qualities that are most important to them in where they want to live, they compare our lower-income school neighborhood with the Fabulous Forties, commonly considered the most wealthy area of Sacramento, and they decide which neighborhood is the better one. Typically, about 95% of my students choose our neighborhood (though last year the percentage was a little lower — about 80$ choose the school neighborhood).

We used to both do a tour of our local neighborhood and physically visit the Fab Forties, though visiting the

More Info On Student Cellphone Use In Class Research

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 7 minutes ago

Last week, I wrote about a new study suggesting that 94% of students use their cellphones in class for personal purposes (see The Best Posts On Student Cellphone Use In Class). Reading, Writing and… Facebook? is a new article on … Continue reading →

“Google Maps Streetview Player” Is Just What I’ve Been Looking For!

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 39 minutes ago

I’ve written a lot, both here in my blog (see A Lesson Highlighting Community Assets — Not Deficits) and in one of my books, about one of my favorite lessons. In short, after students identify the qualities that are most … Continue reading →

More “Words Of The Year” Resources

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 2 hours ago

Here are new additions to The Best “Words Of The Year” Features For 2012: What new words were created in 2012? is a video from The BBC. 25 wonderful words and phrases we learned in 2012 is from The Week. … Continue reading →

The New York Times Has Discovered The Perils Of Being Data-Driven — I Just Wish Arne Duncan Would, Too

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 2 hours ago

I have written regularly about the dangers of being “data-driven” instead of being “data-informed.” In fact, I have a lengthy, and popular, post titled The Best Resources Showing Why We Need To Be “Data-Informed” & Not “Data-Driven.” Here’s my previously … Continue reading →

This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Useful Education Policy Posts & Articles

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 11 hours ago

Here are some relatively recent useful articles and posts on education policy issues: Perpetuating Inequity: New Study Shows Attrition a Huge Problem for TFA recruits is from Reconsidering TFA. I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles Raising Concerns … Continue reading →

Guns & Schools

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 21 hours ago

I have a number of good commentaries on the National Rifle Association’s ridiculous response to the Sandy Hook shootings at A Collection Of Resources On The Sandy Hook Shooting. Here are two more: Arming Teachers Isn’t the Answer is from … Continue reading →