NYC Public School Parents: Quinn's speech on education: high and low points

NYC Public School Parents: Quinn's speech on education: high and low points:

Quinn's speech on education: high and low points

by Leonie Haimson

Speaker Christine Quinn, thought to be thefrontrunner in the race to replace Mayor Bloomberg, gave a major speech on education yesterday at the New School. The full transcript is here; there’s also a Video, including a brief Q and A by Clara Hemphill of InsideSchools.   

I highly recommend people read the speech and watch the video of the entire event.

Some observations:  The speech was pretty comprehensive and its strengths were that she did express skepticism on many of the worst of Bloomberg policies: rampant school closings and obsessive testing, and she at least implied we don’t need any more charter schools, though she said she wouldn’t make them pay rent when they occupy space in school buildings.  (When she said that would mean the end of charter 

UPDATE: Florida Charter Schools Are Trying to Exploit School Safety Issue + Pinellas SB Member on SB 736: “We are building on a very flawed and invalid system” | Scathing Purple Musings

Pinellas SB Member on SB 736: “We are building on a very flawed and invalid system” | Scathing Purple Musings:

How Florida Charter Schools Are Trying to Exploit School Safety Issue to Get More Funding

by Bob Sikes

From Sherri Ackerman’s post in redefinED:

Some charter school supporters, meanwhile, are worried about the costs of new safety measures, especially if lawmakers mandate them. That could become a financial burden for charters, which already receive less in per-student funding than districts, and little in the way of capital outlay dollars, said Lynn Norman-Teck of the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools.
“It’s going to hurt,’’ Norman-Teck said, and it’s really not right. If lawmakers are going to look at ways to make schools safer, including allocating more dollars to public school districts, she said, they need to “bring charter schools to the table. They need to look at them [charters] as public schools because they are public schools.’’
Student safety has dominated discussions among parents, school leaders, politicians and safety 

Pinellas SB Member on SB 736: “We are building on a very flawed and invalid system”

by Bob Sikes

From Tampa Bay Times reporters Curtis Krueger and Lisa Gartner:

The School Board unanimously voted on Tuesday to tweak the system Pinellas uses to evaluate teachers — but that doesn’t mean members are happy.
“We are building on a very flawed and invalid system,” board member Linda Lerner said. “I’m voting for this because I think it’s a little better — not because it improves what we have to work with.”
The Florida Legislature required most school systems this year to radically transform how they evaluate teachers, relying on a complicated measure of teacher performance called the “value added measure,” or VAM.
But the plan has come under fire, because many teachers are evaluated based on the performance 

Diane in the Evening 1-16-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Over 300 Schools Teaching Creationism with Public Funding

by dianerav

Zack Kopplin was honored earlier by this blog for his efforts to expose the teaching of creationism in voucher schools in Louisiana. He is a student at Rice University. He is not letting up on his efforts to expose the abuse of science by schools receiving vouchers.
Here is a press release sent by him:

Over 300 Schools Teaching Creationism on the Taxpayer Dime

Over 300 Schools Teaching Creationism on the Taxpayer Dime

For Immediate Release

Contact:

Zack Kopplin

Zsk1@rice.edu

www.creationistvouchers.com

225-715-5946

Baton Rouge, LA — (January, 16, 2013) – Over 300 schools in school voucher programs across the country are teaching creationism as science and receiving tens of millions in public money.

These schools are in nine states (Florida, Indiana, Georgia, Ohio, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Colorado, Utah, 

When an Elected Official Opposed Charters in Mississippi…

by dianerav

Linda Whittington writes from Mississippi to explain what happened because of her opposition to chartre schools:
As a member of the Mississppi House of Representatives, I agree and am doing what I can to stop the charters from coming into our state. So much so that the Speaker of the House removed me from the House Education Committee where I had served since 2007. No sitting member had ever been removed without consenting to the 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-16-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] NC Teacher: This Is How Democracy Ends by dianerav Kris Neilsen wrote an amazing post (“NC Teacher: I Quit“) a few months back, which was opened by 150,000 people, at a minimum. He continues to teach and to write. He has recently written a series called “This Is How Democracy Ends.” In this post, he expresses his profound opposition to the Common Core State Standards. He believes that the corporate reform movement has foisted the Common Core standards on the schools, with Maine Charter School Commission: ... more »

Higher-Education Attainment Racial Gap: UNCF Chief Weighs In

Higher-Education Attainment Racial Gap: UNCF Chief Weighs In:

Education Is the 21st-Century Liberator Black Leaders on Education: UNCF's chief notes today's freedom struggle, 150 years after slavery. By: Michael Lomax | Posted: January 16, 2013 at 12:12 PM

 

Thinkstock

(Special to The Root) -- Continuing their historical practice of working together to address issues of concern to the African-American community, the NAACP, National Urban League, United Negro College Fund and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund are working cooperatively to improve educational opportunities for all students. This week we will run op-eds by the leaders of each organization that address a crucial aspect of what it will take to prepare our young people to succeed in life. Today: The president of the NAACP addresses college readiness and the gap in four-year-college graduation rates. See previous essays in the series here.

Jan. 1 marked the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. But has a century and a half of progress lived up to the freedom for all races that the proclamation and constitutional amendments that followed seemed to augur?

Two years after the proclamation, as chronicled by the current film that bears his name, President Abraham Lincoln would succeed in passing through Congress the 13th Amendment to the Constitution that formally 

District shares rationale behind each school closing recommendation | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

District shares rationale behind each school closing recommendation | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

District shares rationale behind each school closing recommendation

by Dale Mezzacappa on Jan 16 2013 Posted in Latest news

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At the three regional community meetings held so far on school closings, the District has been displaying information explaining the reasons for each decision.

Wednesday morning, officials shared three PowerPoint presentations and haveposted them on their website. (The presentation for the Northwest planning area can be viewed below, and the two North-central region ones can be found hereand here.) 

Normally, at the beginning of the legally-mandated 90-day period between an announcement and the actual vote, the District would have held individual school meetings with all this information. But, officials said, because of the sheer number of recommended closings -- 37 -- as well as other changes that will impact the 

Teacher Takes on StudentsFirst Machine in Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee's Back Yard - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Teacher Takes on StudentsFirst Machine in Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee's Back Yard - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Teacher Takes on StudentsFirst Machine in Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee's  Back Yard

by Anthony Cody

Michelle Rhee has made her home in Sacramento, ever since she married the city's mayor, former basketball player Kevin Johnson. Since landing here, she has been working to expand the influence of her lobbying group, StudentsFirst. Last fall, a school board member resigned in nearby West Sacramento, too late to be replaced in the fall election. School board members appointed a replacement, but an ally of Kevin Johnson, West Sacramento mayor Christopher Cabaldon, mounted a campaign to force a special election, which will cost of $100,000. And guess who is running to fill the seat? Francisco Castillo, an employee of none other than StudentsFirst.
Local school board races used to be small town affairs. But recently, as money has flowed into education reform across the country, we have seen local races take on national significance. And StudentsFirst clearly cares about the outcome of this local election, right in Michelle Rhee's back yard.
The only real antidote to well-funded astroturf operations like StudentsFirst is real grassroots activism. And 

How the privatizers work: SFCC: a teacher speaks out!:

How the privatizers work: SFCC: a teacher speaks out!

By Danny Weil on January 16, 2013 5:43 pm / no comments

I recounted the very recent past employment of the interim chancellor because the new things I’ve learned about her have led me to believe that she is part of the effort to privatize CCSF and all community colleges. Her consulting job with ACCT right before coming to CCSF shows her clear connection with and membership in a group funded by the very corporations that are trying to take control of and, I believe, finally take down public higher education–Gates, Lumina and ALEC. I have also read articles that were forwarded to us on the EFF that link the ACCJC to the same privatizers.
ACCT and ACCJC are not accountable to voters–except–and this is a very big except–Marty Hittleman of AFT in a passionate and indisputably correct letter to Jack Scott (Mr. Student Success himself) charged the ACCJC with violating California law in regards to collective bargaining. Hittleman was defending the California legislation on faculty evaluation (Senate Bill AB 1725).

Sen. Scott Schneider reintroduces bill to withdraw state from Common Core standards | Indianapolis Star | indystar.com

Sen. Scott Schneider reintroduces bill to withdraw state from Common Core standards | Indianapolis Star | indystar.com:

Sen. Scott Schneider reintroduces bill to withdraw state from Common Core standards

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Tuesday, January 15, 2013, Jamie Gass, director, Center for School Reform, Boston, Mass. (foreground) along with Indiana State Senator, Scott Schneider (R-Indianapolis), and Williamson Evers, held a news conference in support of Senator Schneider,s new proposal to withdraw Indiana schools from Common Core State Standards. (The news conference was held within Statehouse Senate Committee Room 431). / Frank Espich / The Star

Indianapolis mom Erin Tuttle says she knew she had a problem when she opened her third grader’s new math book.

The way the math was taught, Tuttle said, was not what she considered standard practice.

“There was a reintroduction of something called reform math, ‘fuzzy math,’ popular in the ‘70s and ‘80s, I think,” Tuttle said. “It’s basically a less traditional math curriculum.”

The curriculum, Tuttle said, was reintroduced because of the Common Core State Standards Initiative — a national set of standards designed to create a uniform set of expectations for kids in kindergarten through 12th grade across the United States.

But Tuttle says it’s actually hurting her kids’ education. Now, her concerns will be taken to the Indiana State Senate, where the Common Core standards might be overturned.

Sen. Scott Schneider R-Indianapolis, is reintroducing a bill today 

Arming teachers will not make schools safer | Lily's Blackboard

Arming teachers will not make schools safer | Lily's Blackboard:

An alternative to arming teachers…Con mucho gusto

by Lily

An alternative to arming teachers…Con mucho gusto

Jan 16th, 2013 

by Lily.

We are struggling to make sense of the senseless violence in an elementary school in Connecticut. Good people all over the world are thinking about how to prevent another tragedy and coming to very different conclusions. A friend, a devoted father, said he’d been thinking. “So, what’s wrong with just arming a few teachers in every school? When bad guys know there’re guns around, they stay away. I’ve got lots of guns in my home. My house is the safest place on the block.”

I took a deep breath. I reminded him the “bad guy” in Connecticut wasn’t a burglar. He was a crazy person with a death wish. I reminded him that tragedies like Connecticut were amazingly rare in a school, but what was amazingly common in a school were situations of kids fighting and angry parents chewing out a teacher for a kid’s not making the team or even students confronting a teacher with threats.

How would schools be safer with a few teachers facing those everyday, stressful, sometimes volatile situations with a loaded gun? I reminded him that the Army’s response to the horrific shootings at Ft. Hood (where, one might argue, 

UPDATE: Seattle Schools Community Forum: In The News

Seattle Schools Community Forum: In The News:

Seattle Student Senate Supports MAP Opposition

by Melissa Westbrook

From Dexter Tang, President of the Seattle Schools Student Senate from their meeting at Ingraham High School:

The Seattle Student Senate, the main student advocacy organization of Seattle Public Schools, supports the opposition to the MAP test.  

The MAP test inefficiently uses district resources and consumes valuable instruction time.  We support alternative methods of student evaluation.  We encourage the district o explore alternative methods of assessing student academic achievement that are efficient and align with the classroom curriculum. 

Furthermore, representatives of the Seattle Student Senate would like to participate in the selection process of a new alternative assessment.

District Provides Three Options for NE Middle School Capacity

by Melissa Westbrook

The district put out a new options list for addressing the capacity management issues for the NE middle school region for 2013-2014.  The Operations Committee meeting of the Whole is tomorrow, the 17th starting at 3:30 pm.

There are three options:

• Creation of a sixth grade academy
• Creation of a new Jane Addams Middle School with changes to Hamilton and Eckstein attendance areas and boundaries (note: this option does not mention co-location with JA K-8 but I assume that is so)
• No feeder pattern or boundary changes - use technology and improved support to manage capacity

The detail gives Benefits and Concerns for each.

6th grade academy would treat all Eckstein and Hamilton students the same and addresses capacity management issues at both schools.  However, it would be the highest cost option and they do admit "limits access of 6th graders to advanced courses and sports." 

In The News

by Melissa Westbrook

Some pretty funny (and not surprising) public education items in the news.

First up in the category of "well, that didn't take long", the Washington Policy Center opines on Senator Ross Hunter's idea that the state should take over failing schools.  (This is a similar idea to what happens in many other states - the schools become "turnaround" schools.)

Lawmakers should remove the cap that limits the number of charter schools that can open to only eight a year, up to a total of 40.

We don't even have ONE charter and they want the limit raised.  Unbelievable.

They do use the thought that Charlie had:

Removing the cap would benefit all children, because just the possibility of a parent takeover would motivate school officials to improve services for children before that option arises. That, in turn, would give parents the leverage they need to seek positive change in education.

Imagine this message from parents, “Give our kids the education you promised or we’ll look into starting our own 

UPDATE: FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Wednesday, January 16, 2013

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

11 elementary schools could be shuttered in Sacramento City Unified district

Education Headlines

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Sadness, solidarity on display as classes resume at Taft Union High School

Sadness, anxiety and even some hope were evident Tuesday as Taft Union High School resumed classes for the first time since Thursday's shooting left a student in critical condition and another facing attempted murder charges.

Lodi Unified administrator's 'out-of-the-box' promotion saves $175,000

The Lodi Unified School District has made another reorganization among its top administrators, eliminating an assistant superintendent position.

Campus safety on Stockton USD hearts and minds

Given Stockton crime rates and the horrific school shootings last month in Connecticut, it was no surprise that security at district campuses was a prime topic at the board's first meeting of 2013.

Monterey's Bay View Academy proposes to double size

Less than two years after opening, officials at Bay View Academy charter school in Monterey are launching plans to expand the school and eventually double its size.

Baron: Debunking mediocre performance of U.S. students

The conventional wisdom that American students lag far behind top performers like Finland and South Korea in academic achievement is oversimplified.

OUSD increases building fees, plans dual-language kindergarten

The cost of building homes in the Oceanside Unified School District will increase slightly following a construction fee increase approved by trustees Tuesday night.

Hebrew-English charter school in Van Nuys approved by LAUSD

A proposed Hebrew-English charter school in Van Nuys won the approval Tuesday of the LAUSD board, which also OK'd the renewal of two landmark charters and the conditional approval of a third.

Mt. Diablo school board delays action on Brown Act violation allegations

The Mt. Diablo school board delayed action on two "cure and correct" Brown Act violation allegations until it meets again in closed session with a nonstaff attorney hired to advise the board on the issue.

L.A. Unified to overhaul struggling Crenshaw High

Calling Crenshaw the worst in the Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy gets the green light to turn the landmark campus into three magnet schools.

U.S. schools fare better in analysis

U.S. schools might not be as bad as previously thought compared with other countries across the globe - but are arguably leaving upper-class students behind.

11 elementary schools could be shuttered in Sacramento City Unified district

Faced with declining enrollment, Sacramento City Unified Superintendent Jonathan Raymond will propose at Thursday's board meeting that the district close 11 elementary schools at the end of the school year.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Suspect in Taft Union High shooting charged as adult

The suspect in last week’s shooting at Taft Union High School entered a not guilty plea at an arraignment Monday in Kern County Superior Court, where he is being tried as an adult.

Under-enrolled Sacramento distict may close multiple city schools

Trustees in the Sacramento City Unified School District will begin discussions this week on closing what one official said is a "significant" number of under-enrolled schools, nearly a year after the school board wrangled over closing three elementary campuses and ultimately voted to close just one.

After Connecticut shooting, Marin schools tweak safety procedures

A month after a gunman killed 26 people at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school, Marin schools are re-examining their safety procedures but appear unlikely to implement any sweeping changes.

UPDATE: Vallas walks out and Damn it’s that poverty thing again… - Wait, What?

Damn it’s that poverty thing again… - Wait, What?:

Vallas walks out on Bridgeport BOE (Again), CT Post implies it is the Board’s fault.

by jonpelto

At 11:41 pm on January 14, 2013, CT Post reported Linda Lambeck posted a story to her blog entitled, “Yes, Bridgeport BOE will still keep talking when staff and audience walk out.”

The CT Post reported, “Three hours into the city school board meeting Monday, and the panel still had not gotten to the heart of their agenda, which included a request to approve $200,000 in grants to help facilitate the opening of the district’s new high schools and a report on staff absenses (sic). The audience was dwindling. So Vallas and much of his staff got up and left (they did not “storm”, just left). Vallas said as he left that he wasn’t 

Damn it’s that poverty thing again…

by jonpelto

Following last week’s State of the State address, Wait, What? wrote Connecticut – The State of the State: But what about poverty?

The post pointed out the that ten years ago, Connecticut state government passed legislation creating a commission on poverty and pledged to cut the rate of poverty in Connecticut by 50 percent over the next decade.  However, ten years later, the rate of poverty in Connecticut has not gone down, in fact, it has gone up significantly.

Now CTNewsjunkie has a story about a new report about Connecticut’s working poor.

Jim Horan, the executive director of the Connecticut Association for Human Services, is quoted in the article and the underlying report indicating that, “Twenty-one percent of Connecticut’s working families are now low-income, increasing from 16 percent in just the past five years.”

Horan goes on to say, “Connecticut needs to invest in human infrastructure. We need to 

UPDATE: The inbox. Ralph Martire in Crain’s. A pension fix. and Tim Furman takes over WTTW’s Chicago Tonight. « Fred Klonsky

Ten minute drawing. Tim Furman takes over WTTW’s Chicago Tonight. « Fred Klonsky:

The inbox. Ralph Martire in Crain’s. A pension fix.

by Fred Klonsky

Crain’s

By: Ralph Martire
January 16, 2013

There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth when the recent lame-duck session in Springfield ended.
Why? No action was taken to address the $95 billion in debt owed to the state’s five pension systems.
This leaves the systems with just 40 percent of the funding they should have currently, which is well below the 80 percent generally deemed healthy for public systems. Good government groups and editorial boards alikelamented the Legislature’s failure to pass yet another proposal to reduce that ginormous obligation — this time by cutting almost $30 billion in benefits earned by current workers and retirees.
But rather than being dismayed, folks should be relieved. Here’s why.
A problem really can’t be solved unless the proposed solution addresses its true cause. And the 

Ten minute drawing. Tim Furman takes over WTTW’s Chicago Tonight.

by Fred Klonsky

Click on image to enlarge.
Tim Furman’s blog.

Mother Crusader: Dear Bernie, An Open Letter About Consolidation To A Charter Cheerleader. From, Darlene

Mother Crusader: Dear Bernie, An Open Letter About Consolidation To A Charter Cheerleader. From, Darlene:

Dear Bernie, An Open Letter About Consolidation To A Charter Cheerleader. From, Darlene

by darciecima

My post about the hullabaloo in East Brunswick attracted a new sparring partner named Bertin Lefkovic.  He has responded to my post both on Marie Corfield's Facebook page (sorry Marie!) and Diane Ravitch's blog (you can read the whole exchange there.)

I decided to post my latest response to him on my blog, well, because I have one and I can, but also because he brings up an issue that has always irked me, but I have never written about; charter supporters advocating for the consolidation of public school districts.

While Bertin Lefkovic took lots of time to craft responses, he didn't bother to get my name right and referred to me, without fail, as "Darlene."  

So Bernie, here's Darlene's response...

First, my name is Darcie…

Second, there are things upon which we agree, including the need to exclude “privatization privateers” in public education.

I also agree that if our property taxes were not so directly linked to school funding, many school funding arguments would be greatly diminished.

You take me to task for saying that the way charters are funded will