In era of high costs, humanities come under attack | Hechinger Report

In era of high costs, humanities come under attack | Hechinger Report:

In era of high costs, humanities come under attack

by Jon Marcus

Oregon State University President Ed Ray flinched when a stranger confronted him to say his daughter had just graduated from the school with a degree in philosophy. “I thought, ‘Oh my God,’” says Ray, who expected he would have to fend off yet another diatribe about the questionable value, in a weak employment market, of majoring in philosophy and other humanities subjects. In fact, the man wanted to thank him, Ray says. His daughter, he said, had just gotten a good job as an ethicist at a hospital. Ray’s anxiety was understandable. As rising tuition and student debt makes prospective income a bigger part of choosing a major, humanities disciplines such as philosophy and history are under attack in favor of such fields as engineering and business, which students, parents, and policymakers like because they offer jobs and salaries that justify the cost of university tuition. “Higher education has really pressed this idea that if you have a college education, you’ll make more,” says Ray, who is an economist by training. That strategy has backfired, he says. “Shame on us. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that the next step is, which major pays the most.” That question is now driving a 

The five most important ed-tech trends at SXSWedu

by Anya Kamenetz

 I've been on the ground in Austin for the South By Southwest EducationConference & Festival 22 hours. In that time I've interviewed six people, chatted with many more, and hit the Java Jive in the Hilton four times. Here's what I see as the biggest trends coming out of the conference.

1. Data and analytics. There seems to be a consensus, which Bill Gates will no doubt highlight in his keynote tomorrow, that the most important potential--as yet unrealized--contribution of technology to teaching and learning is the ability to extract meaningful insights from the myriad information that students generate as they travel through life on their learning journeys: diagnostics, individualized goals and plans, demographic information, performance evaluations, and on and on from cradle to mortarboard. Companies like InBloom and Engrade envision a teacher working like a doctor, synthesizing reams of test 

Joy Resmovits: Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee Group Opens South Carolina Outfit; Common Core Supporters Strike Back: Ed Today

Joy Resmovits:  Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee Group Opens South Carolina Outfit; Common Core Supporters Strike Back: Ed Today:

 Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee Group Opens South Carolina Outfit; Common Core Supporters Strike Back: Ed Today

by Joy Resmovits

Michelle Rhee Sets Up Shop In SC StudentsFirst, the former D.C. chancellor's national lobbying group, is branching out into South Carolina, reports the Post and Courier. The paper notes that SC received a "D" grade on SF's recent policy report card -- not exactly stellar. On the group's SC agenda: turnarounds, teacher evaluations, charter school accountability, and the parent trigger.

Oh, and here's how one Carolina teacher reacted to the news. Though it should be noted that the SF teacher fellow quoted by the P&C was more positive.

Different Goals For Different Races? Under No Child Left Behind waivers, 34 states have been approved to have accountability plans that differ from the blunt yardstick of annual yearly progress ("AYP") as determined by the law. In fact, as you can see on this map created by Education Nation, many states have different academic goals for different races or ethnic groups. This variation set off major alarm bells in places like Virginia last year. 

MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 3-7-13 Breaking News: New Group to Oppose Corporate Reforms Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Privatization Accelerates in UK

by dianerav

Want to see the hand-writing on the wall?
Look at what is happening in the U.K.
The minister of education, Michael Gove, is moving rapidly to increase privatization of state schools.
There is lots of talk about choice, competition, testing, accountability.
Consider this account:
“This is a story about England’s schools, but it could just as well describe the razing of state provision throughout the world. In the name of freedom, public assets are being forcibly removed from popular control and 

New Mexico Scraps Skandera’s Grading System

by dianerav

In the midst of debate about whether to confirm Hanna Skandera as State Secretary of Education, the New Mexico State Senate voted to eliminate the school grading system that Skandera had created.
No one understood it.
She said it was designed by “experts,” but even one of her spokesmen admitted that very few people understood 

Idaho Will Use Khan Academy Videos

by dianerav

Idaho will introduce Khan Academy videos to 10,000 students in 47 schools, a mix of public, private, and charter.
The videos will teach math, science, history, and art. The project is underwritten by a local Idaho foundation.
I would like to hear from teachers who have reviewed the Khan Academy videos. What do you think of them?

NBCT Teacher Beats Rhee Candidate in West Sacramento

by dianerav

National Board Certified Teacher Sarah Kirby-Gonzalez won a hard-found election to the school board in West Sacramento, beating a man who works for Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst.
As we saw in Los Angeles and earlier in Louisiana, the corporate reformers have decided that they can use their huge funds to buy state and local school boards.
It worked in Louisiana, where their conquest of the state school board cleared the way for vouchers and charters 

Texas Officials: Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader?

by dianerav

Jason Stanford writes a great blog about Texas politics. He has developed a special interest in education. After all, Texas was once home to the “Texas miracle,” and gave the nation No Child Left Behind.
In this column, he reports on what happened when a friendly legislator tried some questions on the fifth grade math test and found the wording to be confusing. He gave the same question to some of his colleagues, and the language puzzled them too. People with law degrees couldn’t understand the question. What should have been a 

Anthony Cody Announces Network for Public Education

by dianerav

Anthony Cody writes a great blog. He is very likely the nation’s most eloquent spokesman for the teaching profession. He is a National Board Certified Teacher who taught middle-school science for many years in Oakland.
Today, he joined me in releasing the news of the Network for Public Education.
Let me be the first to say that Anthony is doing the heavy lifting. I write and speak. Anthony organizes and makes things happen. He is a teacher.
If you are in an organization that is supporting your local public schools, please contact Anthony and join our network. If you are an individual who wants to know “how can I help?” Contact Anthony.
He is at anthony_cody@hotmail.com
The Network has been created by the willing hands of volunteers. Every member of the board has worked hard to 

Breaking News: New Group to Oppose Corporate Reforms

by dianerav

Dear Friends,
It is time to organize to support our children, our schools, and our educators against the well-funded attacks on them.
Please join me and a group of education leaders from across the country in building a movement for improving and strengthening our schools with research-based reforms, not fads and sanctions.
Today we announce the creation of the Network for Public Education. We invite you to join as an individual. We invite you to join as an organization. We will create a huge social network of parents, students, teachers, administrators, school board members, and all others who believe in public education and sane educational policy that focuses on a full and rich education for all children.
Diane
Here is the press release:
For Immediate Release
March 7, 2013
Contacts:
Anthony Cody, 707-459-2147, 510-917-9231 (cell) Anthony_cody@hotmail.com
Leonie Haimson, 917-435-9329, leonie@classsizematters.org
Today marks the public launch of a new network devoted to the defense and improvement of public education in the US. Led by renowned education historian, Diane Ravitch, the Network for Public Education will bring together grassroots activists and organizations from around the country, and endorse candidates for office, with the common goal of protecting and strengthening our public schools.
Diane Ravitch said, “The Network for Public Education will give voice to the millions of parents, educators, and other citizens who are fed up with corporate-style reform. We believe in community-based reform, strengthening our schools instead of closing them, respecting our teachers and principals instead of berating them, educating our children instead of constantly testing them. Our public schools are an essential democratic institution. We look forward to working with friends and allies in every state and school district who want to preserve and improve public education for future generations.”
Our nation’s schools are at a crossroads. Wealthy individuals are pouring unprecedented amounts of money into state and local school board races, often into places where they do not reside, to elect candidates intent on undermining and privatizing our public schools. The Network for Public Education will collaborate with other groups and organizations to strengthen our public schools in states and districts throughout the nation, share information and research about what works and what doesn’t work, and endorse and grade candidates based on our shared commitment to the well-being of our children, our society, and our public schools. We will help candidates who work for evidence-based reforms and who oppose high-stakes testing, mass school closures, the privatization of our public schools and the outsourcing of core academic functions to for-profit corporations.
Renee Moore, former Mississippi Teacher of the Year, said, “One of the greatest gifts the U.S. has given to the world is the promise of quality public education. It is also an unfulfilled promise. Public education is a critical part of America’s legacy, and the key to our future. We must defend and constantly improve it.”
According to Anthony Cody, retired California teacher and columnist for Education Week: “As a teacher in Oakland I saw the effects of our obsession with tests first hand. Our students are learning less, and losing the chance to think for themselves as we put more and more pressure on them to perform well on tests. It is time for the millions of us who know better to challenge those who have put our schools on this path. This Network will allow us to learn from and support one another as we push for real school change.”
Leonie Haimson, NYC parent advocate and head of Class Size Matters, said: “With all the billionaire cash trying to buy elections, we need to amass people power to ensure that individuals who care about preserving and strengthening our public schools are elected to positions of power. As the recent Los Angeles school board election shows, when we are organized we can overcome the forces of the privateers and the profiteers, intent on pillaging and dismantling our public schools.”
According to Arizona parent activist and director of Voices for Education, Robin Hiller: “No school was ever improved by closing it. Every community should have good public schools, and we believe that public officials have a solemn responsibility to improve public schools, not close or privatize them.”
Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig of the University of Texas stated “This new network will seek to empower communities nationwide to unite to be more influential than the powerful. The network will also be an important vehicle for the latest data and research on the strengths and weaknesses of reform fads espoused by a multitude of talking heads.”
Phyllis Bush, a retired teacher from Indiana, said “Public schools are under assault in this country. Now more than ever it is imperative that concerned citizens unite to save the public school system. Our group, Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education, and other grassroots groups helped to elect Glenda Ritz to become our Superintendent of Public Instruction, a huge victory against rampant and destructive education policies. With the creation of the Network for Public Education, we will reach out to others across the nation to fulfill the promise of public education.”
Added board member and Alabama education activist Larry Lee, “From my view, a lot more “ed reform” is because of the love of money, not the love of children. The result is that kids have become a very poor rope in a political tug of war. The only way to turn this tide is with the collective voices of the American public saying, ‘Enough is enough.’”
The Network invites individuals to join as members and welcomes other organizations to become our allies, to fight with us to preserve and strengthen our public schools.
The group’s website is http://www.networkforpubliceducation.org
and the Twitter feed is at https://twitter.com/NetworkPublicEd
###

Diane in the Evening 3-6-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Nashville: Charter School Sticker Shock by dianerav The Metro Nashville school board was surprised to learn that new charter schools will absorb millions of dollars from the district’s budget, with more on the way. The state legislature is about to approve legislation to override the veto of local school boards, so Nashville is sure to get more charters than it wants or needs. TFA Wins Award for Hubris by dianerav Louisiana is in a budget crisis, and Governor Bobby Jindal has been closing hospitals that serve... more »

http://www.networkforpubliceducation.org/

It's website is here, http://www.networkforpubliceducation.org

The Facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/networkforpubliceducation

You can follow the tweets here: https://twitter.com/NetworkPublicEd

UPDATE: Daily Kos: What about the most vulnerable?

Daily Kos: What about the most vulnerable?:

The Network for Public Education

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

was announced today.   If you care about saving public education from privatization, from the so-called "reformers" like Jeb Bush and Michelle Rhee, the corporatizers like Joel Klein, this is an organization you should join and support.
Allow me to quote in full their Mission:

The Network for Public Education is an advocacy group whose goal is to fight to protect, preserve and strengthen our public school system, an essential institution in a democratic society. Our mission is to protect, preserve, promote, and strengthen public schools and the education of current and future generations of students. We will accomplish this by networking groups and organizations focused on similar goals in states and districts throughout the nation, share information about what works and what doesn’t work in public education, and endorse and rate candidates for office based on our principles and goals. More specifically, we will support candidates who oppose high-stakes testing, mass school closures, the privatization of our public schools and the outsourcing of its core functions to for-profit corporations, and we will support candidates who work for evidence-based reforms that will improve our schools and the education of our nation’s children.

Please keep reading.

What about the most vulnerable?

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

The pain of the sequester is that kind that lurks: a slow, creeping disaster mainly affecting those Americans on the fringes who are barely inching their way back into a still-bleak job market — or hopelessly locked out of it — and poor Americans too old or too young to participate in it.That is how the effects should always have been framed: not as a danger to air travelers and contractors, but as a prowling danger to the most vulnerable in our flock.
Not framing it this way harkens back to a larger problem in our culture: a failure, or outright unwillingness, to acknowledge America’s poor — both working and not — and to appreciate their struggle.

The words are by Charles M. Blow, from a New York TImes op ed titled Cry About the Real Wolf.In it Blow uses the fable of the little boy who cried wolf to call the Obama administration to task for how it handled the politics of the sequester.
He then pivots to write about his hometown in Louisiana, with a median family income of under $30,000, 

Victorious LAUSD incumbent vows to keep challenging Deasy | EdSource Today

Victorious LAUSD incumbent vows to keep challenging Deasy | EdSource Today:

Victorious LAUSD incumbent vows to keep challenging Deasy - by John Fensterwald

by John Fensterwald

Having presented the Los Angeles School Board election races as a referendum on Superintendent John Deasy’s future, the club of six- and seven-figure donors in Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s Coalition for School Reform may have succeeded in making Deasy’s life more complicated.

Steve Zimmer won a second term in Tuesday’s election despite being outspent more than 4 to 1. Photo courtesy of LA School Report. (Click to enlarge)

For the $3.6 million it raised, the Coalition did end up helping to elect one candidate it supported, Board President Monica Garcia. A second,Antonio Sanchez, is the leader heading into the runoff election later this month. But in the race into which it threw the most money, the Coalition failed to unseat incumbent Steve Zimmer.  If a polarized election pushes Zimmer closer to those responsible for helping to get him re-elected – chiefly United Teachers Los Angeles – there may be more uncertainty and new challenges for Deasy.

Zimmer’s 4 percentage point victory over civil rights attorney Kate Anderson left Zimmer feeling “validated” to keep challenging Deasy on some of the superintendent’s priorities: teacher 

State’s first career-tech center faces potential demise - by Susan Frey

by Susan Frey

The superintendent of the state’s oldest regional occupational program is warning that an unintended consequence of the governor’s Local Control Funding Formula could lead to its demise. An official from the Department of Finance says his department will look into the problem. Christine Hoffman, superintendent of the Southern California Regional Occupational Center (SoCal ROC) in Torrance, is...

Gym: Where is the vision for public education? | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Gym: Where is the vision for public education? | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

Gym: Where is the vision for public education?

by Helen Gym

Thursday's School Reform Commission vote on the recommended closure of nearly 30 schools will undoubtedly have a major impact on the future of the city's public school system. In advance of the vote, the Notebook asked prominent Philadelphians to offer their thoughts, using new data and maps on school attendance patterns in the city as a starting point.
​Read the responses from:
Mark Gleason and Mike Wang of the Philadelphia School Partnership
Sandra Dungee Glenn, former School Reform Commission chair

---

One of the biggest challenges our schools face has as much to do with a lack of vision around public education as it does with a lack of resources.
read more

Diane Ravitch Announces New Network for Public Education - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Diane Ravitch Announces New Network for Public Education - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Diane Ravitch Announces New Network for Public Education

by Anthony Cody

This morning Diane Ravitch announced the launch of a new organization to connect supporters of public education across the country. This could not come at a better time.
Tuesday's election in Los Angeles showed the raw power of the money driving corporate education reform. Supporters of corporate reform, including Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp, Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg poured close to $4 million into the race. In spite of this mammoth spending, and a barrage of TV ads, Zimmer won. His supporters, including the Los Angeles teachers union, walked the precincts and made thousands of phone calls to help voters understand what was at stake. This shows us the path forward to defeating corporate power is not through money, but through grassroots organization.

And in West Sacramento, another race pitting National Board certified teacher Sarah Kirby-Gonzalez against a candidate backed by Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst also ended in a victory for the grassroots campaign. Kirby-Gonzalez said, "I'm not for the status quo. I'm for change. All teachers are for change, but from people who really '

http://www.networkforpubliceducation.org/

It's website is here, http://www.networkforpubliceducation.org
The Facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/networkforpubliceducation
You can follow the tweets here: https://twitter.com/NetworkPublicEd

DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: They Say That School is a Bad Mother...I'm Talkin About Garfield High!

DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: They Say That School is a Bad Mother...I'm Talkin About Garfield High!:

They Say That School is a Bad Mother...I'm Talkin About Garfield High!

by Lisa M

WELL, WE CAN DIG IT!

I admire the teachers of Garfield High so much! What they have done, are still doing is amazing! Not only amazing, but very brave. In the scheme of things, everyone might not see what they are doing as heroic.

However, as an educator, in this economy, in this toxic environment, the fact that these teachers stood up, and against, standardized testing by saying, "No, we won't!" is heroic in my eyes!

I wish I could be as brave as they are. I realize we each have our own level of bravery,of courage. I proudly pasted my sticker on my bumper. And no, I don't turn my car around,so that is hidden from the view of those entering the building. :)

We have our anonymous heroes, like Mr.Mell, who created the bumper sticker. People 

NYC Educator: The Myth of the Powerful Teacher Union

NYC Educator: The Myth of the Powerful Teacher Union:

The Myth of the Powerful Teacher Union

by NYC Educator

There's a piece in Gotham Schools about the incredible power of the teachers' union.  It focuses on Lobby Day. Now I've been to Lobby Day, once. Basically the UFT picks people, gives them a message, and the rest of us are supposed to follow that person and nod our heads as he gives the union message, whatever it may be. In fact, I was trying to organize a demonstration at my school so I broke away, found our local pols, and got them to agree to appear. Haven't been back since. As good as the rubber chicken was, our local pols are available locally.

Union causes have included things as repugnant as mayoral control, and most recently the as-yet dormant evaluation system, based on Bill Gates' druthers, that will surely cause good teachers to lose their jobs. The 

The Cracks Are Beginning to Show in the Cult of Lucy Calkins.southbronxschool.com

http://www.southbronxschool.com:

The Cracks Are Beginning to Show in the Cult of Lucy Calkins

by noreply@blogger.com (Bronx Teacher)

What a week it has been for Lucy Calkins and her cult of failure. Aside from being vilified on these pages twice inone week, yours truly had inquired, when confronted with "the students are not reading and writing" by a self important person high up the NYC DOE chain with the answer, "so why are we using a program like TC then?" Of course that question was met with silence.

But then lo and behold what is it that is gracing the pages of in the Op-Ed section of today's Daily News? Simply, a great piece by former NYC teacher at PS 277 in District 7, Robert Pondiscio ( I wonder if I know him from back in the day).

Robert brought up some really great points in his piece; in fact he educated me a great deal.  Without stepping on his toes, I would like to comment on some of the points he made.

....And the big news is that the Teachers College Reading and 

Mayor Nutter’s Door | Parents United for Public Education

Mayor Nutter’s Door | Parents United for Public Education:

Mayor Nutter’s Door

by rebeccapoyourow

Mayor Nutter didn’t come out the front door of his office in City Hall last night.  I’m sure mayors have good reason to have alternate exit routes available, and it may be that he uses that other door regularly, rather than just yesterday.  I’m not sure, since I’m not in the habit of sitting outside his office.  However, I do know for sure that he didn’t come out the front door last night.
If Mayor Nutter had come out the front door of his office last night, he would have encountered our group of public schools advocates, which included several parents, a retired teacher, a former principal, the head of the Philadelphia branch of the NAACP, and a 7^th grade student at a school targeted for closure.  We were sitting outside his office in order to underscore the message that thousands of Philadelphians have been trying to send to him and to the SRC over the last year:  that mass closings of Philadelphia’s public schools undermine our children’s educational prospects, compromise kids’ safety, contribute to the drop-out crisis, uproot communities, and destroy jobs and neighborhoods—all for little to no savings.
Earlier in the day, members of the NAACP, Black Clergy, Action United, and Parents United for Public 

Missouri Education Watchdog: Common Core Example? A Humorous Assessment of David Coleman's SAT

Missouri Education Watchdog: Common Core Example? A Humorous Assessment of David Coleman's SAT:

Common Core Example? A Humorous Assessment of David Coleman's SAT

by stlgretchen

Need a chuckle?  Read this piece from The Washington Post SAT to be updated and this tongue in cheek assessment fashioned in the language of Common Core:

Guess the grade level of this Common Core homework. – @ the chalk face

Guess the grade level of this Common Core homework. – @ the chalk face:

Guess the grade level of this Common Core homework.

by Chris Cerrone

Scroll down beyond my brief rant to find the answer.
Let me start off by saying that I believe in challenging my 7th grade students and want the same for my own children.  There is a significant difference between getting kids to strive beyond the basics and crossing the line to complete a task that is inappropriate for a certain age group.
At the Chalkface has explored the issue of the Common Core and its appropriateness a great deal recently. Kris Nielsen showed us a sample of student work  and I did a piece about my son’s second grade math homework.  I 

School Tech Connect: The Queen of Failure

School Tech Connect: The Queen of Failure:

The Queen of Failure

First the Koch brothers fail. Now Bloomberg and Rhee.

Every day people, who actually send their kids to public schools, are on to the fact that these people are doing a hell of a lot more harm than good.