Is Michelle Rhee About to Take a Lance Armstrong Like Fall From Grace? | Scathing Purple Musings

Is Michelle Rhee About to Take a Lance Armstrong Like Fall From Grace? | Scathing Purple Musings:

Is Michelle Rhee About to Take a Lance Armstrong Like Fall From Grace?

by Bob Sikes

On Tuesday America will find out if Michelle Rhee’s DC miracle was a fraud. From Washington Post reporter Emma Brown:

Student standardized-test scores at an award-winning D.C. school dropped dramatically in 2011 after the principal tightened security out of concern about possible cheating, according to a new “Frontline” television documentary to be broadcast Tuesday.
The hour-long program raises questions about whether District officials have adequately investigated persistent suspicions that public school employees may have tampered with tests during the tenure of former schools chancellor Michelle A. Rhee.
Adell Cothorne was principal of the District’s Noyes Education Campus for one year, in 2010-11. 

Founding Fathers on Universal Public Education

Founding Fathers on Universal Public Education

Washington to Franklin, Adams and Jefferson, every one offered his ideas about the state of education and the best ways to build an informed citizenry — from the lowliest mechanic's son to the most exalted Harvard grad. Each called at least implicitly for public education.

Jefferson wrote of his Virginia education plan in a letter to his friend George Wythe, "The tax which will be paid for the purpose of education is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance."

George Washington called for a national university in his First Inaugural Address. 

John Adams asked his son in Europe to collect books and ideas for republican schools. He called for public schools as the great equalizer to secure democracy.

James Madison tracked the education efforts in Kentucky and praised innovations and challenging curricula there.

Noah Webster that, "Knowledge, joined with a keen sense of liberty and a watchful Jealousy, will guard our constitutions."

The Northwest Ordinance was written to govern United States territory north of the Ohio River. It read, in part: "Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."

Below are a few specific quotes – In the terms they understood each was calling for public education – there is no alternative understanding of these ideas. It was commonly held and understood among all:

Benjamin Franklin:

The good Education of Youth has been esteemed by wise Men in all Ages, as the surest Foundation of the Happiness both of private Families and of Common-wealths. Almost all Governments have therefore made it a principal Object of their Attention, to establish and endow with proper Revenues, such Seminaries of Learning, as might supply the succeeding Age with Men qualified to serve the Publick with Honour to themselves, and to their Country. (roposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania, 1749)

John Adams:

Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right, from the frame of their nature, to knowledge, as their great Creator, who does nothing in vain, has given them understandings, and a desire to know; but besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge; I mean, of the characters and conduct of their rulers. (Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1756)

Laws for the liberal education of the youth, especially of the lower class of the people, are so extremely wise and useful, that, to a humane and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant. (Thoughts on Government, 1776)

Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people, being necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties, and as these depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of education in the various parts of the country, and among the different orders of people, it shall be the duty of legislators and magistrates... to cherish the interest of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries of them. (Thoughts on Government, 1776)

Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom. (Defense of the Constitutions, 1787)

Samuel Adams:
No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders. (Letter to James Warren, Nov 4, 1775)


George Washington
The best means of forming a manly, virtuous, and happy people will be found in the right education of youth. Without this foundation, every other means, in my opinion, must fail. (Letter to George Chapman, December 15, 1784)
Knowledge is, in every country, the surest basis of public happiness. (First Inaugural Address)

[W]e ought to deprecate the hazard attending ardent and susceptible minds, from being too strongly, and too early prepossessed in favor of other political systems, before they are capable of appreciating their own. (Letter to the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, January 28, 1795)

Thomas Jefferson:
Cherish, therefore, the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. Do not be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim them by enlightening them. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress, and Assemblies, Judges, and Governors, shall all become wolves. (Letter to Edward Carrington, January 16, 1787)

People generally have more feeling for canals and roads than education. However, I hope we can advance them with equal pace. (Letter to Joel Barlow, December 10, 1807)

No one more sincerely wishes the spread of information among mankind than I do, and none has greater confidence in its effect towards supporting free and good government. (Letter to Trustees for the Lottery of East Tennessee College, May 6, 1810)

Enlighten the people, generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like spirits at the dawn of day. (Letter to Dupont de Nemours, April 24, 1816)

If a nation expects to be ignorant - and free - in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. (Letter to Colonel Charles Yancey, January 6, 1816)

To all of which is added a selection from the elementary schools of subjects of the most promising genius, whose parents are too poor to give them further education, to be carried at the public expense through the college and university. The object is to bring into action that mass of talents which lies buried in poverty in every country, for want of the means of development, and thus give activity to a mass of mind, which, in proportion to our population, shall be double or treble of what it is in most countries. (Letter to Jose Correa de Serra, November 25, 1817)

To give to every citizen the information he needs for the transaction of his own business; To enable him to calculate for himself, and to express and preserve his ideas, his contracts and accounts, in writing; To improve, by reading, his morals and faculties; To understand his duties to his neighbors and country, and to discharge with competence the functions confided to him by either; To know his rights; to exercise with order and justice those he retains; to choose with discretion the fiduciary of those he delegates; and to notice their conduct with diligence, with candor, and judgment; And, in general, to observe with intelligence and faithfulness all the social relations under which he shall be placed. (Report of the Commissioners for the University of Virginia, August 4, 1818)

All the States but our own are sensible that knowledge is power. (Letter to Joseph C. Cabell, January 22, 1820) Side note: Cabell and his descendents certainly thought he meant public education – The Cabell have used their fortune to support education – two buildings at UVa are named Cabell, the main library at VCU is Cabell Library and similar efforts have been made elsewhere by the family)

The truth is that the want of common education with us is not from our poverty, but from the want of an orderly system. More money is now paid for the education of a part than would be paid for that of the whole if systematically arranged. (Letter to Joseph Cabell, November 28, 1820)
The Northwest Ordinance - July 23, 1787

Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.

Noah Webster - On Education of Youth in America (1790)
It is an object of vast magnitude that systems of education should be adopted and pursued which may not only diffuse a knowledge of the sciences but may implant in the minds of the American youth the principles of virtue and of liberty and inspire them with just and liberal ideas of government and with an inviolable attachment to their own country.

James Wilson - Of the Study of the Law in the United States (circa 1790)
Law and liberty cannot rationally become the objects of our love, unless they first become the objects of our knowledge.

Thomas Paine - Rights of Man, part 2 (1792)
A nation under a well regulated government, should permit none to remain uninstructed. It is monarchical and aristocratical government only that requires ignorance for its support.

James Madison 
A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives. (Letter to W.T. Barry, August 4, 1822)

What spectacle can be more edifying or more seasonable, than that of Liberty and Learning, each leaning on the other for their mutual & surest support? (Letter to W.T. Barry, August 4, 1822)

The best service that can be rendered to a Country, next to that of giving it liberty, is in diffusing the mental improvement equally essential to the preservation, and the enjoyment of the blessing. (Letter to Littleton Dennis Teackle, March 29, 1826)

For more: http://www.cougaruteforum.com/showthread.php?t=22861

The secret e-mails about Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation to Newark schools:

The secret e-mails about Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation to Newark schools

Posted by Valerie Strauss on January 6, 2013 at 11:27 am

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A detail that got buried on the day that Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) announced he would not challenge Gov. Chris Christie (R) next year was the news that a judge had ordered the release of secret e-mails involving the Booker administration’s dealings involving Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation to city schools. City officials complied late on Christmas Eve by sending dozens of the e-mails to the Star-Ledger, apparently hoping the news would be buried by Santa. 

A refresher: Zuckerberg donated $100 million to Newark schools in 2010 after striking up a friendship with Booker. The two men went on the Oprah Winfrey show, along with Christie, to announce the donation and Christie’s decision to give to Booker some control of the school system, which has been run by the state for years. Zuckerberg’s donation — which called for matching gifts — came at the very same time as the release of the film “The Social Network,” the story of his founding of Facebook that portrays him in a negative light. (Coincidental timing?)

It is worth noting that city officials spent some time denying the e-mails existed, but the 

More On Rocketship Schools, by Barbara Miner « Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!

More On Rocketship Schools, by Barbara Miner « Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!:

More On Rocketship Schools, by Barbara Miner

by millerlf

Do Milwaukee’s children deserve art and music classes?
By Barbara Miner Jan. 5, 2013 View from the Heartland MJS Blog
Do young children deserve art and music classes?
Or, instead of art and music, should kindergarten and first-graders spend two hours a day in Dilbert-like cubicles, keyboarding answers into computers while uncertified aides monitor the room and maintain order?
Such questions should be part of a much-needed public discussion on the City of Milwaukee’s expectations for its charter schools.
A PBS Learning Matters report on Dec. 29 provided a fascinating glimpse at the privately run Rocketship 

U.S. public schools cut 11,000 jobs in December | Reuters

U.S. public schools cut 11,000 jobs in December | Reuters:

U.S. public schools cut 11,000 jobs in December

By Anna Yukhananov and Lisa Lambert

WASHINGTON | Fri Jan 4, 2013 4:44pm EST

(Reuters) - Local U.S. governments cut jobs for the fourth straight month in December, including 11,000 in public schools, dragging down the nation's fragile economic recovery, jobs data showed on Friday.

Local government jobs are now at their lowest level since October 2005, with the bulk of the decline coming from layoffs of teachers and other school employees, according to the Labor Department.

For more than a year, persistent declines in public sector employment - particularly at the city, county and school district level - have stood in contrast to steady job gains in the private sector.

Jan Eberly, the U.S. Treasury assistant secretary for economic policy, said recent improvements in state budgets may start to reverse some of the declines next year.

"There is some expectation that state and local budgets will start to improve as the economy is picking up, and we're seeing improvements in many states, though not in all states," Eberly told reporters on Friday.

Overall government employment in the United States fell by 13,000 last month, the Labor Department said. Those jobs were almost all lost in public schools. Local governments shed 11,000 school jobs, and loca

National Opt Out Day: January 7, 2013 | United Opt Out National

National Opt Out Day: January 7, 2013 | United Opt Out National:

National Opt Out Day: January 7, 2013

by admin

How will you opt out of corporate education reform on National Opt Out Day? How will you rebuild public schools and resist from within? There are many ways to opt out of corporate education reform through resistance and rebuilding. Share what you plan to do in the comment box. Review our Flyers and Handoutssection of the website to find materials to read and share. Here is a poster depicting various levels of opting out of corporate education reform; all levels are powerful and create change. Do what works for you in your particular situation and begin 2013 with an action that will preserve and improve public education for all children.

Download (PDF, 77KB)

Jersey Jazzman: A New Jersey Parent Nails It

Jersey Jazzman: A New Jersey Parent Nails It:

A New Jersey Parent Nails It

by Duke

Anthony Cody has been hosting a big, contentious discussion about education "reform" under a piece of his based on a controversial argument by Paul Thomas. I and many others weighed in, but my favorite respone is from NJ parent Tamar Wyschogrod, who runs NJ Parents Against Gov. Christie's School Budget Cuts.

Wyschogrod's response is so succinct, so insightful, and just so darned good that it deserves to be read far and wide in its entirety:

Much of what I described is not corruption, but hypocrisy of the sort often found among reformists and their allies. "No excuses" say the politicians who use the achievement gap as an excuse to deprive whole communities of the right to run their own schools, closing community schools against the will of the people and opening charters that increase segregation; "no excuses" say 

The Sunday Mail. « Fred Klonsky

The Sunday Mail. « Fred Klonsky:

The Sunday Mail.

by Fred Klonsky

Springfield Capitol Rotunda. Friday. Photo: IEA

Veteran teachers explain their view of the the pension issue. You won’t see this on the channel seven news.
There is no pension deal yet. Keep the pressure on. Call 888 412 6570.
Has the Newark Teachers Union brought on its own destruction? A lesson for union leadership everywhere.
Have today’s schools become penitentiaries of boredom?
A PBS Frontline documentary examines Michelle Rhee’s cheating legacy in DC.
And Rhee’s BS is too much for even top Democrats to stomach.
Standardized testing has made life so much easier for students, teachers, and society. It is not an exaggeration to say that it benefits the world as well. By limiting the knowledge that students obtain by applying stringent curriculums for classes, teachers can put in minimal effort in lesson planning, since the teaching 

Violence, Abuse Documented at Florida, Pennsylvania For-Profit Schools | Scathing Purple Musings

Violence, Abuse Documented at Florida, Pennsylvania For-Profit Schools | Scathing Purple Musings:

Violence, Abuse Documented at Florida, Pennsylvania For-Profit Schools

by Bob Sikes

The school privatization juggernaut – cloaked under a shroud of false benevolence (It’s about students first) – received some indefensible bad press this weekend in two state’s key to their movement. First from Florida in an Alexandra Zayas story in the Tampa Bay Times:

State officials asked a judge Friday to shut down an unlicensed Port St. Lucie children’s home that for years has been allowed to operate despite evidence it has hurt kids in its care.
In an 80-page petition, attorneys for the Department of Children and Families cataloged more than a dozen incidents in which its investigators found evidence children were neglected, injured or otherwise mistreated while in the care of Alan Weierman, the self-professed “colonel” who runs 

Lessons for a Principal from a 9 Year Old Boy | Connected Principals

Lessons for a Principal from a 9 Year Old Boy | Connected Principals:

Lessons for a Principal from a 9 Year Old Boy

by Sandra Trach

I assume you are one of the millions that are as inspired as I am by “Caine’s Arcade,” the endearing story of a boy who created his dream from the ground up – out of cardboard.  Every time I watch these videos, I flash back to my own childhood, where I fashioned tents out of sticks and blankets, and sailed homemade boats in puddles.  I flash forward to my students now, as I observe them engineer “houses wired with electricity” and “robots with solar system adaptations.”  Creativity is timeless.  It is without age, gender or demographic.  It can be executed independently or collaboratively.  It promotes critical thinking and reflection.  It magnetically connects people to people.

 Caine’s Arcade

 Caine’s Arcade 2: From a Movie to a Movement

(Website and video link: http://cainesarcade.com/)

I showed “Caine’s Arcade” to my own eight year old daughter and right away, she located a cardboard box and made her own arcade game.  Seven months later, she is still refining it.  She has adapted it for different age players and made homemade paper fortune tellers as prizes.  The game never gets old in our house, especially for her friends and little brother.
I took a chance and took “Caine’s Arcade” to another level.  For our opening year professional learning, our 

Texas school districts seek testing waivers:

Texas school districts seek testing waivers

Posted by Valerie Strauss on January 6, 2013 at 10:24 am

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There’s something almost poetic about this: In Texas, the state where the high-stakes standardized testing era began, a consortium of school districts is asking officials to grant them exemptions from both state and federal testing requirements.

Twenty-three members of the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium have asked state officials for waivers from testing mandates, the Dallas Morning News reported, so they can have flexibility as they create a new accountability system.

The schools are seeking not only testing forgiveness, but permission to set their own school calendars and graduation requirements, among other things. (The consortium was created in 2011 to attract high-performing schools who could help design best practices that other 

The Golden Age: Keynes, Marx, Malthus and the Post-Scarcity Vision - Online University of the Left

The Golden Age: Keynes, Marx, Malthus and the Post-Scarcity Vision - Online University of the Left:

The Golden Age: Keynes, Marx, Malthus and the Post-Scarcity Vision

by admin

The 15-hour working week predicted by Keynes may soon be within our grasp – but are we ready for freedom from toil?

By John QuigginSolidarityEconomy.net via Aeon Magazine

Sept 27, 2012 – I first became an economist in the early 1970s, at a time when revolutionary change still seemed like an imminent possibility and when utopian ideas were everywhere, exemplified by the Situationist slogan of 1968: ‘Be realistic. Demand the impossible.’ Preferring to think in terms of the possible I was much influenced by an essay called ‘Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren,’ written in 1930 by John Maynard Keynes, the great economist whose ideas still dominated economic policymaking at the time.

Like the rest of Keynes’s work, the essay ceased to be discussed very much during the decades of free-market liberalism that led up to the global financial crisis of 2007 and the ensuing depression, through which most of 

Analysis: Charter schools kick out far more problem students, but what is the alternative? | Get Schooled

Analysis: Charter schools kick out far more problem students, but what is the alternative? | Get Schooled:

Analysis: Charter schools kick out far more problem students, but what is the alternative?

by Maureen Downey

Many educators on this blog complain that charter schools enjoy a critical edge over their non-charter counterparts: They have far more freedom to kick out problem students.
The Washington Post decided to test that claim and found that the District of Columbia’s public charter schools expel students at a far higher rate than the city’s traditional public schools. Those problem kids often return to the traditional public school down the street, which has far greater pressure to keep all students.
I am not sure what the answer is here — should charter schools face more hurdles before they expel students or should traditional public schools face fewer? Should we hold public schools to a higher bar for the expulsion of younger students?  And where should be put those students once they are expelled? Are alternative programs 

Jersey Jazzman: How To Break a Teachers Union

Jersey Jazzman: How To Break a Teachers Union:

How To Break a Teachers Union

by Duke

I'm invincible!

The Newark Teachers Union has apparently sown the seeds of its own destruction:

As Newark’s landmark teachers contract begins to be implemented, only about 20 percent of district teachers who can opt to earn bonuses for exemplary evaluations and service in hard-to-fill slots have actually decided to do so. 

"Opt" is the key word here. New teachers and those with only bachelor's degrees are automatically enrolled in the program -- defined in a new salary guide -- which pays up to $12,500 in yearly bonuses. 

Under the groundbreaking Newark contract, however, teachers with advanced degrees -- about half of the city’s teaching force -- can choose to stay with the traditional salary guide, which rewards teachers according to experience and academic degree. 

With the last of the selections completed at the start of the new year, district officials said