LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-2-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Protest in Australia Against Our Corporate Reformers

by dianerav

Here is a website in Australia that keeps watch on the damage done to Australian education by bad ideas imported from the USA.
The question is why Australia–which ranks above the US on those international tests–should be copying the methods of the US.

The Treehorn Express

Treehorn is the hero of an easy-to-read, sad children’s book, “The Shrinking of Treehorn” by Florence Heidi Parry. She cleverly exposes adults’ couldn’t-care-less attitude towards the needs of children, even when the circumstances of mal-treatment of children are patently obvious…vomiting, sleeplessness, crying etc. Treehorn found that parents, teachers and principals only pretend to care. What do you 

Jersey Jazzman Deconstructs Joel Klein’s Record

by dianerav

Joel Klein served as Chancellor of the New York City public schools for eight years. He had no previous experience as an educator. But he came to the job with a determination to reinvent the system and wipe out whatever he found. He has often boasted of the dramatic gains that occurred under his leadership, at the same time that he claims that public education is in terrible shape due to teachers’ unions and tenure laws that protect incompetent teachers.
Here Jersey Jazzman begins a multi-part dissection of Klein’s record as leader in New York City.

Teachers in Hawai’i Speak Up

by dianerav

A reader responded to my roundup of the good news of 2012 and chided me for not mentioning the courage of teachers in Hawai’i, who have stood up and spoken up for their profession. And then I received this comment from a teacher in Hawai’i:
Aloha! Hau’oli Makahiki Hou — 2013! Thanks for a terrific blog, Diane! As well as being an Inspiration! Remember… you’re always welcome to come visit, speak, stay with us in Hawai’i ! What started out as a one-

A Personal Invitation to Join a Protest in DC

by dianerav

Should I go?
This video was made by Peggy Robertson, who is a leader in the National Opt Out movement.
What a fabulous invitation to join the Opt-Out protest on April 4-7 on the steps of the US Department of Education!
Who could resist Sam and Luke?
I will be there on April 4 at 3 pm.
Thanks, Sam and Luke.
To all the readers of this blog: Join me.
Read this link to learn about Occupy the DOE.

MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-1-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 8 hours ago

"May the Force be with you"

Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] My News for 2013 by dianerav Faithful readers of the blog may recall that I started a new book last June. I am pleased to announce that it will be published next fall by Knopf, the finest publishing house in the United States. The title is under wraps for now. If you have been reading the blog, you know what it’s about. EduShyster’s Predictions for 2013 by dianerav EduShyster, that merry prankster of edu-reform offers her predictions for the New Year. She says 2013 will be the year of the edupreneur. This is... more »

Federal cuts to education left unresolved | EdSource Today

Federal cuts to education left unresolved | EdSource Today:

Federal cuts to education left unresolved - by John Fensterwald

by John Fensterwald

Congress’ New Year’s Day drama, ending a stalemate over extending tax cuts for all but the wealthy, delays rather than resolves an across-the-board 8.2 percent decrease in federal education spending. That’s the spending piece of the “fiscal cliff” that Congress decided to put off deciding until early March.

For California districts, that means a two-month reprieve from facing potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in funding cuts to special education programs and Title I aid for low-income students, along with tens of millions in cuts to the preschool program Head Start, career and technical education and grants for teacher training.

Even if all of those cuts were to happen, districts would have months to prepare for them. Except for Head Start, the cuts would happen starting July 1, the beginning of the next fiscal year for schools. The cuts to Head Start and to subsidies for school districts that serve families working at federal facilities, like Naval Base San Diego, were to take effect Jan. 1.

The reprieve from cuts to defense and most domestic spending programs will coincide with the 

Why California must lead the way in closing underperforming charter schools - by Jed Wallace

by Jed Wallace

Many of California’s charter schools are among the best public schools in the state, if not the nation, but some are also among the worst. It is time for the charter community to fix the failings in the sector so that more children have the chance to attend a great school. The second state in the nation to allow charter schools, California has long been at the forefront of education reform. We...

Congress Pushing College Students Over Fiscal Cliff | toteachornototeach

Congress Pushing College Students Over Fiscal Cliff | toteachornototeach:

Congress Pushing College Students Over Fiscal Cliff

by aristotlethewise

Congress Pushing College Students Over Fiscal Cliff 

by Sheila SimonThe clock is ticking as we approach the “fiscal cliff,” and it is important to understand how falling over the cliff will hurt college students — and Illinois’ future job prospects.
If Congress fails to act in the coming hours on President Obama’s plan, student aid experts predict middle- and low-income students will pay about $5,000 more per year for college, before rising tuition, fees or other costs are even taken into account.
This extra $5,000 could force thousands of existing students to “stop 

Engaging Parents In School… » This week’s #PTchat On Twitter

Engaging Parents In School… » This week’s #PTchat On Twitter:

This week’s #PTchat On Twitter

by Larry Ferlazzo

Guest post by Joe Mazza

On Wednesday, January 2, 2013, weekly #ptchat returns with a goal setting conversation. We’ll discuss short and long term family engagement goals from the classroom, administrative and parent leadership lens. How can we best involve student voice to maximize our engagement goals? Join us at 9PM EDT for our first conversation of 2013. Happy New Year!

New to Twitterchats?

After logging on to Twitter, visit Tweetchat and simply enter “ptchat” in the box at the top. Follow along, just watch and/or participate as you as much as you like to join others around the world in this weekly chat. We look forward to engaging your unique and important parent/teacher/student perspectives. 

UPDATE: Daily Kos: Loyalty Oaths

Daily Kos: Loyalty Oaths:

Please trust me on this one

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

My good friend Diane Ravitch put out a blog post titled "Love is the Answer" from which I am going to borrow two links, those links being the point of her post.
I am going to ask you first to take 12 minutes from your life to watch Wright's Law, an award-winning video.
Only then should you read Laws of Physics Can’t Trump the Bonds of Love.
Trust me, you will be glad you did both.
But watch the video first.

senior former CIA interrogator - torture does not work

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

Given the opening scenes in Zero Dark Thirty, which presents the case that it was the water-boarding of Khaled Sheikh Mohammed that provided the information that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden, people will want to read Zero Dark Thirty -- Torture Is the American Way? by Glenn L. Carle, a retired CIA interrogator and author of the book The Interrogator.
Let me offer a few snips.

Do not be misled. Pay attention: The men and women who hunted, found, and killed Osama bin Laden -- and heroes they are -- did not need to use torture. Torture is un-America. It is evil. We found bin Laden using painstaking intelligence work, not waterboards.

Understand this, from someone who had some involvement in our "enhanced interrogation" program and who worked on terrorism issues for years (see my book, The Interrogator, which 

Loyalty Oaths

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

To some younger readers of this blog, the title of this post may seem strange.  They do not realize how many lives and careers were wrecked because people refused to sign loyalty oaths.   Today seems an appropriate time to revisit this topic, to offer some history as a cautionary.
Why?
On this date in 1962 the Weavers, a popular folk-singing quartet which included  others the great Pete Seeger, Lee Hayes, Fred Hellerman, and Ronnie Gilbert, were barred from appearing on the Jack Paar Show because they refused to sign a loyalty oath.
During the period of McCarthyism with its passion to root out Communists, both Hays and Seeger were called to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities.  Both refused to testify on whether or not they were or had been members of the Communist Party,   Hays citing the 5th Amendment and Seeger the 1st.  They and the other members of the group found themselves barred from appearing on TV and radio, and Seeger was handed a conviction and had his activities limited until his conviction was overturned in 1961.
And yet, for all of our focusing on the use of loyalty oaths as an artifact of McCarthyism, they long pre-date the 1950s and continued well into the 1960s.
I do not propose to give a thorough history of loyalty oaths.  Understand that such an oath is distinct from the Pledge of Allegiance, and was considered a legally binding statement, which if you swore falsely either about 

Newtown shooting demands we consider our “call of duty” as parents | Get Schooled

Newtown shooting demands we consider our “call of duty” as parents | Get Schooled:

Newtown shooting demands we consider our “call of duty” as parents

by Maureen Downey

Snow-covered stuffed animals with photos attached sit at a memorial in Newtown, Conn. On Dec. 14, Adam Lanza walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown and opened fire, killing 26, including 20 children, before killing himself. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

I admire Fred Assaf, head of Pace Academy in Atlanta, because he doesn’t shy away from the tough issues. Here is another example of his willingness to speak out on behalf of children.
In the wake of the Newtown school shooting, Assaf questions the popularity of violent video games, which many kids received as Christmas gifts last week.
Please note that all comments to the blog will be moderated and appear only after they are read and approved.

By Fred Assaf
Because I come to know 6-year-olds every year by having lunch with them in our Lower School, I 

UPDATE: Robbed and Judges look at whether charter schools are public by Valerie Strauss

Robbed:

Judges look at whether charter schools are public

by Valerie Strauss

Charter schools are publicly funded but increasingly people are asking whether many of them more resemble private schools. Here's a different look at this notion from Julian Vasquez Heilig, an award-winning researcher and Associate Professor of Educational Policy and Planning at the University of Texas at Austin. A version of this appeared on his Education and Public Policy blog.
Read full article >>

Robbed

by Valerie Strauss

To start off the new year, here’s a personal look at the problems that face public education  from Brock Cohen, a teacher and student advocate in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Cohen believes that school reform begins with social justice and that school reformers everywhere have to stop trivializing the role that poverty plays in student achievement. His students were featured in this NPR piece.

By Brock Cohen

I stared into the now unlocked and vacant steel filing cabinet drawer that formerly contained three valuable tools of my trade as a high school English-Hanguage Arts and Humanities teacher: an LCD projector, an Elmo projector, and a Macbook Pro – all resources that I had fully incorporated into my daily instruction. Now they were gone. My classroom had been robbed.

After reporting the incident, I was informed that the perpetrator likely acquired a duplicate 

Ten Edu-Stories We'll Be Reading in 2013 :: Frederick M. Hess

Ten Edu-Stories We'll Be Reading in 2013 :: Frederick M. Hess:

Ten Edu-Stories We'll Be Reading in 2013

Last year, I took a shot at predicting some of the key edu-headlines we'd be reading in 2012. You can check 'em here to score my accuracy for yourself. Meanwhile, here's a guess at some of the key edu-headlines we'll be reading in 2013:

10] "The Common Core fight turns increasingly nasty, as embattled Tea Party conservatives lash out at Republicans who they see as apologizing for Obama administration overreach. A few additional states opt out of the standards, while many more express 'concerns' about the implementation, cost, and quality of the assessments, and announce that they're hitting the 'pause button' while waiting for the smoke to clear."

9] "With $17.83 that U.S. Department of Ed staff scrounged from couches in the building's staff lounge, Secretary Duncan enthusiastically announces a new grant competition: 'Race to the Top- Rural Census Tracts of the Midwestern Plains Edition.'"

8] "Republican governors enviously eye Michigan's right-to-work law and consider proposing similar legislation. Two to three states indicate that they are prepared to move forward, sparking bitter Wisconsin-style standoffs with public employee unions. The fallout deepens the partisan divide between Republican reformers and Democrats for Education Reform, who work hard to make it clear that they side with the unions in these clashes."

7] "The College Board continues its 2012 hiring binge by snatching up Apple's education division, Jeb Bush, Melinda Gates, and the animation team at Pixar. College Board president David Coleman allows, 'We're done 

Happy New Year! Suggestions for a Successful School Year! « Diary of a Public School Teacher!

Happy New Year! Suggestions for a Successful School Year! « Diary of a Public School Teacher!:

Happy New Year! Suggestions for a Successful School Year!

by Oldschoolteach

Have a wonderful 2013!

I share these ideas twice a year. At the beginning of the school year, and the beginning of the year. I’ve made some changes to my list.

 

Some suggestions for the new year:

1. treat all students fairly, regardless of race, gender, age, behavior, a parent’s nasty attitude, the comments from last year’s teachers, or a seemingly lack of interest in learning 
2. to realize that all children can learn, but not always at the same pace.
3. stop using sarcasm as a disciplinary tool, no matter how effective it may seem.READ MORE

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Break's over...

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Break's over...:

Break's over...

by Mike Klonsky

As I head out the door this cold Chicago morning, free from fear of the fiscal cliff, why does that old "Break's over -- Everyone back on their heads" joke keep popping into my head?

Obama was the big winner over the T-Party fiscal-cliff  ferrets. It's a tiny taste of what happens when the message is framed as the 99% vs. the 1%. Thanks Occupy! But we the people remained largely as spectators to the grand deal and as a result, the deal falls short on making up for the revenue lost due to the Bush tax cuts. This has got to change as the next phase of the battle begins in the weeks ahead.

Paul Krugman writes:

If Obama stands his ground in that confrontation, this deal won’t 

UPDATE: Malloy affiliated Political Action Committee cashes in on education reform bill: - Wait, What?

Malloy affiliated Political Action Committee cashes in on education reform bill: - Wait, What?:

Hartford’s Capital Preparatory Magnet School Principal Steve Perry out as CNN commentator?

by jonpelto

Categories: Steve Perry Capital Preparatory Magnet School Tags: Capital Preparatory Magnet SchoolEducation ReformSteve Perry He calls himself “America’s Most Wanted Educator” and is a member of the Premiere Motivational Speakers Bureau. (See www.dr-steveperry.com) His biography describes his approach as one in which, “every single detail matters. T’s are always crossed, I’s are always dotted. Shirts are always buttoned and tucked in. As the principal of Hartford’s Capital Preparatory Magnet School he brags [...] (Read more...)

Malloy affiliated Political Action Committee cashes in on education reform bill:

by jonpelto

In the financial world, I think they call it Return on Investment, or, in the parlance of Wall Street ROI.

On May 29, 2012, Governor Malloy’s education reform bill became Public Act 12-116.

Twenty-four hours later, Malloy was ensconced at the 10,000 square foot, $8.5 million, Greenwich, Connecticut home of corporate education reform financier Jonathan Sackler for a fundraiser that netted the Malloy affiliated Prosperity for Connecticut Political Action Committee more than $41,000.

Sackler, who helped Malloy’s Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor, create Achievement First Inc., the large Charter School management company that owns at least 20 schools in Connecticut and New York, also played a pivotal role in forming Connecticut Coalition for Education Now Inc. (ConnCAN), Connecticut Coalition for Education 

Schools Matter: Bloodless Abstractionism

Schools Matter: Bloodless Abstractionism:

Bloodless Abstractionism

by Storm

A dedicated advocate for putting the reality of a living being, a child, back into the actuarial equations of our political considerations, Peg With Pen posts this on the first day of 2013:

Teachers, as you plan how to resist corporate education reform and rebuild public schools on National Opt Out Day (Jan.7th)  - or any day for that matter - here is one way to do it - do not allow others to refer to children based on their test scores. Children cannot be called "UnSats" or "Partials" or any other label attached to a number.

It is beyond disrespectful and allows teachers to become removed from the actions they are taking, therefore, they/teachers are less likely to wake up to the pain and suffering inflicted on 

Fiction/nonfiction debate a diversion from the big question: Should we have common core standards?

by skrashen

Posted as a comment at: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2012/12/literature_versus_nonfiction_d.html#comments

The debate over fiction vs. non-fiction in the Common Core is diverting us from a more important question: should we have common core standards?

The rational for the standards is the belief that our schools are "broken." There is no evidence this is true: Middle class American students who attend well-funded schools score at the top of the world on international tests. Our unspectacular scores are because US has such a high percentage of child poverty, 23.1%, the second-highest 

The "real hurdle" in educational reform: Poverty

by skrashen

Protecting children from the impact of poverty

Sent to the Chicago Sun Times, January 1, 2013

Yes, poverty is the “real hurdle to education reform” (Dec. 29).

We can protect children from some of the impact of poverty immediately and inexpensively. Poverty means inadequate diet, inferior health care, and lack of access to books at home, in school and in the community, among other things, and each of these has a devastating effect on school performance. 

Jersey Jazzman: Millionaires' Spawn to Teachers & Cops: Suck It!

Jersey Jazzman: Millionaires' Spawn to Teachers & Cops: Suck It!:

Millionaires' Spawn to Teachers & Cops: Suck It!

by Duke

America speaks! Inflation adjustments for her...

I just saw this about the latest fiscal cliff deal. And you people have got to be freakin' kidding me:

As for estate taxes, the rates will rise from 35 percent to 40 percent for estates valued at over $5 million dollars, however the Republicans did succeed in building in a provision which allows the amount of the exemption (currently five million dollars) to be indexed to the rate of inflation. [emphasis mine]

Because we have to make sure the spawn of our millionaires aren't paying more than they might owe due to inflation: that would be horrible!

Of course, middle-class retirees will have to take one for the team:

In a victory for Gov. Chris Christie’s pension revisions, a Superior Court judge has ruled that about 800,000 retired public employees are not entitled to increases 

NYC Educator: Geniuses at Work

NYC Educator: Geniuses at Work:

Geniuses at Work

by NYC Educator

One of the reasons I voted for President Obama in 2008 was his promise to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. At first, he ignored that promise. Later he made a deal and extended them. He's finally changed that, to an extent, and has protected people who've made up to 450K per year. Apparently, they cannot pay any more or they will move to Australia.

However, President Obama neglected to extend cuts to the payroll tax, and that effectively cuts the income of working people by 2%, immediately. For me, not having had a raise in four years, that's a tough pill to swallow. Apparently people who actually have to work for a living were not a priority for this President or this Congress.

Even worse for those of us who were devastated by 

Your Student’s Privacy | Seattle Education

Your Student’s Privacy | Seattle Education:

Your Student’s Privacy

by seattleducation2011

This article, without the sidebars provided at the end of this post, was originally published on August 27, 2012 at EducationNews.com and is republished here with permission from the author.

Parents Need to Know About Student Data Privacy

Trusting Parents

When enrolling or filling out forms during the school year, parents give schools personal information about themselves and their child. A school employee 

CTA'S PRESIDENT KAREN LEWIS & THE RELENTLESS ATTACK ON PUBLIC EDUCATION - Perdaily.com

CTA'S PRESIDENT KAREN LEWIS & THE RELENTLESS ATTACK ON PUBLIC EDUCATION - Perdaily.com:

CTA'S PRESIDENT KAREN LEWIS & THE RELENTLESS ATTACK ON PUBLIC EDUCATION

by Leonard Isenberg

Take a moment and listen to Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Karen Lewis talk about "the class war between rich and poor in Chicago, Los Angeles, and the rest of the country" that is being carried out in our public schools that has made the "American dream a scary nightmare." It is hard to be one nation under g-d or under anything that even remotely resembles an equitable democracy without the fundamentally important institution of public education, which is under unrelenting siege. Without public education, vacuous and superficial neoliberal rhetoric that refers to 21st century robber barons as "job creators" passes without scrutiny or exception that could only be exercised by fully sentient beings who see themselves and all around them through the perspective which that education has given them. The goal must be to be one among equals, who