UPDATE: Does Head Start work for kids? + Is school reform about replacing blackness?

Is school reform about replacing blackness?:

Does Head Start work for kids? The bottom line

by Valerie Strauss

Head Start, the most important education program for 3- and 4-year-olds in the country, is in the news again, not only because there are concerns about how many children will be negatively impacted as a result of federal budget cuts … Continue reading →

Is school reform about replacing blackness?

Posted by Valerie Strauss on March 5, 2013 at 8:00 am

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Fifth-graders from D.C.’s  Watkins Elementary School  (By Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images News)

Here is an original look at the modern school reform movement. It was written by Natalie Hopkinson is a Washington-based writer, and author of “Go-Go Live: The Musical Life and Death of a Chocolate City”. This appeared on The Root D.C., where she is a contributing editor. She can be reached at NHopkinson@hotmail.com.

By Natalie Hopkinson

I was among a group of writers, musicians and scholars of go-go music presenting at aseminar for D.C. social studies teachers last month when moderator Kenny Carroll asked me a provocative question.

He was sharing some reactions to the renewed attention being paid to go-go—D.C.’s unique brand of funk that has been popular among generations of working-class black 

SO MUCH FOR ACCOUNTABILITY

Oklahoma’s school A-F grading system called ‘misleading’

Oklahoma's A-F school accountability grading system is, researchers say, so flawed that it needs to be replaced.

By Valerie Strauss 3 hours ago

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DID IT WORK?

Jeb Bush’s A-F school grading scheme: The facts

Jeb Bush instituted a questionable A-F school grading system in Florida when he was governor and has persuaded a number of other states to do it too. Did it work in the Sunshine State?

By Valerie Strauss 4 hours ago

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'PROMISE IS DYING'

Principal: ‘I was naïve about Common Core’

An award-winning principal who wrote a book in support of the Common Core now says she was "naive" about the standards' implementation.

By Valerie Strauss 22 hours ago

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BILLIONAIRES CHIP IN MILLIONS

Big outside money pouring into L.A. school board races

Here's why school reformers are spending millions on three local school board races in Los Angeles and why they are worried about the results.

By Valerie Strauss March 4, 2013

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NOTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS

How George Orwell might explain school reform

School reform through George Orwell's world view? It's a scary view. Take a look

UPDATE: The Myopic Menace of Order Schools Matter: What Happens If the Billionaires Boys Club Takes Over Los Angeles Schools?

Schools Matter: What Happens If the Billionaires Boys Club Takes Over Los Angeles Schools?:

The Myopic Menace of Order

by Storm

White man got no dreaming,
Him go 'nother way.
White man, him go different.
Him got road belong himself.

I have never been able to discover any Aboriginal word for time as an abstract concept.  And the sense of 'history' is wholly alien here....

...The Dreaming conjures up the notion of a sacred, heroic time of the indefinitely remote past, such a time is also, in a sense, still part of the present.  One cannot 'fix' The Dreaming in time: it was, and is, everywhen....

Clearly, The Dreaming is many things in one.  Among them, a kind of narrative to things that once happened; a 

What Happens If the Billionaires Boys Club Takes Over Los Angeles Schools?

by John Thompson

Educators have grown increasingly concerned that the "Billionaires Boys Club's" plan for test-driven "reform" of schools is more than misguided. Basically, it advocates "disruptive innovation" to destroy the "status quo" and so that schools can overcome the legacies of poverty. So many of their theories are so silly that many teachers worry that their real plan is to privatize schools.

On one hand, I respect the careful scholarship of Sarah Reckhow, who has documented the edu-philanthropists' strategy of "convergence" or their coordination of funding. She worries about the consequences of that trend, as she expresses concerns that they join together to pursue policies that are not well-grounded in research. But, her "Philanthropy Critique Can Obscure Key Differences" suggests that some are exaggerating the dangers of billionaires banding together.

On the other hand, the outcomes of two California disputes could pose a threat to the democratic governance of 

UPDATE: Has it come to this…? + Vallas Gets Illegal 3 year contract on 5 to 4 vote - Wait, What?

Vallas Gets Illegal 3 year contract on 5 to 4 vote - Wait, What?:

And last but not least, in Finch/Vallas land…

jonpelto at Wait, What? - 13 minutes ago

Categories: - Bridgeport - Mayor Bill Finch - Paul Vallas Speaking of $100,000 After helping Mayor Finch and five of the six Democrats on the Bridgeport Board of Education push through an illegal 3 year contract for Paul Vallas on a vote of 5 to 4, Joshua Thompson, Finch’s “education point person” continues to have a biography up on a national website calling himself; Deputy [...] *(Read more...)*

And while cutting essential services, Malloy gives $100,000 to a Stamford Brewery

jonpelto at Wait, What? - 13 minutes ago

Categories: - Budget Cuts - Corporate Welfare - Malloy Tags: Budget cutsCorporate WelfareMalloy In a tribute to modern American politics, while Sunday’s newspaper featured the article by the father of the 28-year-old intellectually disabled daughter who wrote, “Amid Stark State Cuts, A Father’s Plea: Who Will Care for Katie?”; the Monday paper featured a photo-op of Governor Dannel Malloy in his hometown of Stamford celebrating a grant for [...] *(Read more...)*

Has it come to this…?

jonpelto at Wait, What? - 13 minutes ago

Categories: - Budget Cuts - Human Services - Malloy - State Budget - Taxes Tags: Budget cutsGeneral AssemblyHuman ServicesMalloyState BudgetTaxes Over the weekend, there was a heart-wrenching commentary piece in the Hartford Courant that was written by the father of a 28-year-old intellectually disabled daughter. His daughter’s name is Katie and he wrote, “She lives at home with my wife, Donna and me. She is the love of our lives and we embrace the gifts [...] *(Read more...)*

Vallas Gets Illegal 3 year contract on 5 to 4 vote

jonpelto at Wait, What? - 4 hours ago

Categories: - Bridgeport - Education Reform - Malloy - Mayor Bill Finch - Paul Vallas - Stefan Pryor Tags: BridgeportEducation ReformMalloyMayor Bill FinchPaul VallasStefan Pryor The Bridgeport Board of Education, with Mayor Bill Finch, Faux “Deputy Mayor for Education” Joshua Thompson, Finch’s Chief of Staff Adam Wood and Pryor’s chief of Staff Adam Goldbarb in attendance, voted 5 to 4 to make Paul Vallas Bridgeport’s Superintendent of Schools, instead of Acting Superintendent, and give him a three-year contract. Last legislative [...] *(Read more...)*

Bridgeport Board of Education votes 5-4 for illegal contract for Paul Vallas

jonpelto at Wait, What? - 11 hours ago

Categories: - Bridgeport - Malloy - Mayor Bill Finch - Paul Vallas - Stefan Pryor Tags: BridgeportMalloyMayor Bill FinchPaul VallasStefan Pryor Full report in the coming days, but with Mayor Finch, his faux Deputy Mayor for Education, his chief of staff and Commissioner Pryor’s chief of staff looking on, the Bridgeport Board of Education voted for an illegal contract that not only backs Commissioner Pryor into a corner but leaves Vallas twisting in the wind. It [...] *(Read more...)*

It gets worse….

jonpelto at Wait, What? - 20 hours ago

Categories: - Achievement First/ConnCAN - Bridgeport - Charter Schools - Education Reform - Ethics - Malloy - Mayor Bill Finch - Paul Vallas - Stefan Pryor Tags: Achievement FirstBridgeportCharter SchoolsEthicsMalloyPaul VallasStefan Pryor One of the votes in favor of extending Paul Vallas’ contract as Superintendent of Bridgeport Schools tonight will certainly be Democrat Reverend Kenneth Moales, Jr. Unlike the spectacular “It Gets Better Project” which communicates to youth around the world that it gets better, and seeks to create and inspir... more »

Vallas Gets Illegal 3 year contract on 5 to 4 vote

by jonpelto

The Bridgeport Board of Education, with Mayor Bill Finch, Faux “Deputy Mayor for Education” Joshua Thompson, Finch’s Chief of Staff Adam Wood and Pryor’s chief of Staff Adam Goldbarb in attendance, voted 5 to 4 to make Paul Vallas Bridgeport’s Superintendent of Schools, instead of Acting Superintendent, and give him a three-year contract.

Last legislative session, Governor Malloy’s Education Reform bill included a special provision to allow Commissioner of Education Stefan Pryor to waive Vallas’ lack of proper credentials under limited circumstances.  The contract approved last night by the 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Vallas pulls a fast one in Bridgeport

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Vallas pulls a fast one in Bridgeport:

Vallas pulls a fast one in Bridgeport

by Mike Klonsky

Vallas

They pulled a fast one in Bridgeport last night. At a "special" meeting of the board, called to head off any further debate, school privatizer/profiteer Paul Vallas was handed a new 3-year contract. The 5-4 vote came just days after the Connecticut Working Families Party mounted an all-out campaign to derail a contract extension for Vallas. Board members Maria Pereira, Sauda Baraka and John Bagley, all members of WFP, voted against the extension, along with Democrat Bobby Simmons.

"This is just one more example of Bridgeport politicians undermining democracy,” said Andre Baker, a Bridgeport City Councilor. “This is an ongoing process with an important outcome and calling a special meeting at the last minute is a blatant attempt to keep parents and citizens out of the process." 

Former State Senator Ed Gomes, who represented Bridgeport, said "as soon as questions were raised about 

Jersey Jazzman: Another Day; Another Reformy Smear!

Jersey Jazzman: Another Day; Another Reformy Smear!:

Another Day; Another Reformy Smear!

by Duke

Good mroning, America! So, what are you going to do today for our nation's children?

Me, I'll be destroying American society by indoctrinating the tykes in socialist rhetoric from my cushy, union-protected, ultra-high-paid job-for-life as a public school teacher!

But maybe you'll spend your day nobly saving the kids from lazy and evil teachers like me! You'll be promoting excellence and accountability by suing protectors of the status quo for talking to their town councilperson...

or lurking around a protector of the status quo's parking lot with a camera...

or taping a protector of the status quo without her knowledge, but with the approval of a powerful governor...

or trying - and miserably failing - to entrap a protector of the status quo by lying to him about who you are...

or repeatedly using quotes presented with no context to make people think a protector of the status quo has said something outrageous...

or following a protector of the status quo around with a recorder and then feeding her words to the press for a hit 

'Blackboard Wars': Oprah's Education Reality Show Reveals Reform Isn't Always Students-First | Education on GOOD

'Blackboard Wars': Oprah's Education Reality Show Reveals Reform Isn't Always Students-First | Education on GOOD:

'Blackboard Wars': Oprah's Education Reality Show Reveals Reform Isn't Always Students-First

As an educator in New Orleans, I've been asked dozens of times, "What do you think of Blackboard Wars," the documentary series featured on Oprah's OWN Network about troubled John McDonough High school.
My first and most enduring reaction to Blackboard Wars is fatigue. I'm simply tired of New Orleans education reform, the spectacle. This is not because the series is not well produced. Without a doubt, Blackboard Wars is gripping television. The show has everything you want in television: an engaging protagonist with a fatal flaw (Principal Dr. Thompson), a damsel in distress (Ms. Cobb), people needing salvation (students), high stakes, community unrest, and love.
Viewers can't look away from the high-flying drama at John Mac, which can be found in schools throughout the 

REALITY, NOT THEORY, WHY LAUSD IS HIRING SUBSTITUTES - Perdaily.com

REALITY, NOT THEORY, WHY LAUSD IS HIRING SUBSTITUTES - Perdaily.com:

REALITY, NOT THEORY, WHY LAUSD IS HIRING SUBSTITUTES

by Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

L.A. Subs website has several posts under the title: "Theory Why LAUSD Is Hiring." There is no theory as to why the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is hiring substitute teachers- it's a financially motivated reality. They are hiring lots of subs to take the place of top of the salary scale teachers like many of you that they got rid of, because it's much cheaper with subs than with veteran teachers at the top of the salary scale with full benefits- this is no theory. It is also much easier to monitor substitute teachers as they approach the 100 days necessary to get them medical benefits in any given year and cut them off, 

March 14th: Colorado Students Stand Up for Education | United Opt Out National

March 14th: Colorado Students Stand Up for Education | United Opt Out National:

March 14th: Colorado Students Stand Up for Education

admin at United Opt Out National - 1 hour ago

March 4th, 2013 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WHAT : Students standing up for our education WHEN : March 14th, 2013 from 11am – 2:30pm WHERE : West Steps of the Colorado State Capitol On February 23rd, students gathered to discuss what … MORE

Bess Altwerger: Why I am Coming to Occupy the Dept. of Ed. in DC

admin at United Opt Out National - 1 hour ago

How could I NOT come to Occupy the DOE in DC? At this pivotal moment in history when failure to act will mean the virtual collapse of public education there is nothing more important for any of us to do … MORE

Ruth Rodriguez: Why I am Occupying the Dept. of Ed. in DC

admin at United Opt Out National - 1 hour ago

Hi Soldiers of this War, I’m returning to Occupy to lend my voice with my co-soldiers in the war against our children and community; as Rose Sanders so passionately stated, “This is the worst war fought on American soil, not … MORE

Ruth Powers Silverberg: Why I am Coming to Occupy the Dept. of Ed. in DC

admin at United Opt Out National - 1 hour ago

I occupy because I believe that the cure for HIV and the Middle East crisis and hunger are now or already were in the minds of our children and when someone told them to be quiet they were. I occupy … MORE

Pam Zich: Why I am Coming to Occupy the Dept. of Ed. in DC

admin at United Opt Out National - 1 hour ago

I am coming to D.C. to report on the mockery high-stakes testing has made of individualized education for children with special needs. I will describe some of the bizarre practices taking place as educators attempt to mass produce passing test scores from a segment … MORE