Big Education Ape

Monday, April 8, 2013

Special Late Nite Cap UPDATE 4-8-13 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2

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CORPORATE ED REFORM

Newark's Students Fight Back Tomorrow!

by Jersey Jazzman

Now that's what I'm talking about:Popout

First things first: if any of the yahoos on talk radio or in the press decide to make a big stink about these kids cutting classes tomorrow, remind them of this:

This past week, pro-voucher forces in New Jersey bussed kids in from local Catholic schools to rally in support of a school voucher bill.

Quote Of The Day: “I Was Tired Of Giving In”

by Larry Ferlazzo

There’s an excellent review of a new biography of the late Rosa Parks in The New York Times, including this great quote:

What Then Must We Do?

by Gar Alperovitz

My new book, What Then Must We Do? Straight Talk About the Next American Revolution is beginning to hit bookstore shelves, and should be available to ship online next week. In the meantime, here’s an interview with Laura Flanders exploring the themes of the book:

You can read the transcript of the interview here. And mark your calendars for May 12th, when I’ll be answering your questions in the FDL Book Salon.

Sunset High School principal and dad protests large class sizes

by Wendy Owen, The Oregonian

A 4-foot by 7-foot sign in the back of Sunset High School Principal John Huelskamp's truck tells drivers along NW Cornell Road that 52 kids in a class is too many

Original enclosure (52kidsjpg-da041f321a88c19f.jpg)

Grassroots Report: Indiana Grassroots Member Writes Her Senators

by admin

This letter was written by North East Indiana Friends of Public Education co-founder, Donna Roof, who will be sharing ideas this coming Saturday (April 13, 2013) about how to organize a grassroots group. Please join us. You can find more information here.

Here is a moving letter to our senators from NEIFPE .

Dear Indiana Politician:

I am a public school teacher. I am a breast cancer survivor. I dreamed as a little girl of the day I would be a teacher. I never dreamed as a woman that I would one day be a cancer survivor. So now I am both and proud that I am.

I write to you today as both, for you see there are times these days that my role as an educator are more challenging, more stressful, more worrisome than my days as a cancer patient/survivor. I never ever in my

UCLA report: public school suspension policies do more harm than good

by Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

A report released Monday by UCLA's Civil Rights Project finds that suspensions affected as many as one-in-nine students beyond the elementary level. The report, titled "Out of School & Off Track: The Overuse of Suspensions in American Middle and High Schools" looked at U.S. Department of Education data for 26,000 schools across the country.

Researchers found that while suspension rates for Asian and white students remained largely unchanged between 1973 and 2010, suspension rates for African-American and Latino students doubled.

The study's co-author, Dan Losen, said the findings reminded him of his elementary school teaching days in Massachusetts 25 years ago.

"When I started teaching I was sending kids to the principal’s office right and left for all sorts of things," Losen said. It was mostly, he said, because he didn’t have good classroom management skills, and little training on

National Urban League Calls Attention to Financial Aid Issues From African-American Perspective

by cmaadmin

Tapped by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to contribute to the Reimagining Aid Delivery & Design (RADD) project, the National Urban League (NUL) has released “Education Transforms Lives: Postsecondary Affordability Survey and Focus Groups,” a survey paper that largely discusses the views of African-Americans on financial aid and college access. The paper is intended to bring the views of African-Americans to the Gates Foundation-sponsored effort to shape reform of the U.S. college financial aid system, according to NUL officials.

“We know that we bring a needed voice to the conversation—on behalf of students who—due to income level, financial aid literacy, and historic underrepresentation—are most in need of higher education financial aid and

Student Loan Rate Set to Rise, Despite Lack of Support

by By TAMAR LEWIN

On Tuesday, student advocacy groups are releasing an issue brief charging that the government should not profit from loans, while more and more students bear a crushing debt burden.

Slight Dip in Number of Children Eligible for New York City’s Gifted Schools

by By AL BAKER

The decrease comes after a change to the tests given by the Department of Education, which has been trying to address a surge in the number of students who qualified.

CourseSmart E-Textbooks Track Students’ Progress for Teachers

by By DAVID STREITFELD

Educators from nine universities are testing technology from a Silicon Valley start-up, CourseSmart, that allows them to track their students’ progress with digital textbooks.

Another Nice Review Of My New Book

by Larry Ferlazzo

Empowering Self-Driven Learners is the latest positive review of my new book, Self-Driven Learning: Teaching Strategies for Student Motivation.

It’s written by educator Julie Dermody and appears in Middleweb.

Tin foil hatters unite!

by bluecheddar

PPP decided to poll people across the nation on 20 conspiracy theories. Did you know that 6% of voters believe Osama bin Laden is still alive? Or that 4% of voters say they believe “lizard people” control our societies by gaining political power? I find this one disturbing: 13% of voters think Barack Obama is the anti-Christ, including 22% of Romney voters I find this one comforting (in comparison to the anti-Christ one, anyway): 20% of voters believe there is a link between childhood vaccines and autism, 51% do not Check out the rest of the results right here. You just finished reading Tin foil hatters unite!! Consider leaving a comment!Visit bluecheddar.net for more news and opinion. You can contact blue cheddar through twitter or facebook. Blue Cheddar is a progressive blog

“How Code-Switching Explains The World”

by Larry Ferlazzo

How Code-Switching Explains The World is a great NPR story discussing code-switching, which they describe as:

In one sense, code-switching is about dialogue that spans cultures. It evokes the conversation we want to have here.

Linguists would probably quibble with our definition. (The term arose in linguistics specifically to refer to mixing languages and speech patterns in conversation.) But we’re looking at code-switching a little more broadly: many of us subtly, reflexively change the way we express ourselves all the time. We’re hop-scotching between different cultural and linguistic spaces and different parts of our own identities — sometimes within a single interaction.

It’s made for an IB Theory of Knowledge class discussing language. It includes some excellent videos, including

Keeping Your Child's Data Safe and Private

by Oregon SOS

Former Beaverton school board member, parent, electrical engineer, and member of Oregon Save Our Schools, Lisa Shultz (purple sweater, far left), testified today to the House Education Committee in Salem regarding HB 2666: Data Privacy.

Lisa has been following the escalation of the collection, sharing, and selling of our children's and teachers' data

What GOP Education Committee Chair Tells Schools that Can't Cut Anymore: "The Pockets are Empty"

by bluecheddar

By Jud Lounsbury Republican State Senator Luther Olsen told the Oshkosh Northwestern over the weekend that if he’s asked for more money from schools that have already cut to the bone, he will tell them, “the pockets are empty.”* *Unless you’re a roadbuilder or are wealthy and looking for a tax cut.

Blogger Shines Light On State Fee Flim-Flam

by bluecheddar

Hat tip to the blog Jake’s Economics TA Funhouse for pointing out how the Walker administration is hanging on to obscure fees collected from phone and cable bills - – monies that could be returned to local governments to fund library or school communications services: This cut meant You just finished reading Blogger Shines Light On State Fee Flim-Flam! Consider leaving a comment!Visit bluecheddar.net for more news and opinion. You ca

An Open Letter From The Trenches [To Education Activists, Friends, and Haters] | The Jose Vilson

An Open Letter From The Trenches [To Education Activists, Friends, and Haters] | The Jose Vilson:

An Open Letter From The Trenches [To Education Activists, Friends, and Haters]

by Jose Vilson

To my fellow education activists:

I’ve come across a few pieces that concern me and others in the last few months, and we got some shit to talk about.
On normal days, I wake up at 5:30am hellbent on kicking butt at work, metaphorically of course. The stirring in my belly long after my butter toast and coffee is the passion with which I approach my students, whether or not they believe they’re ready to learn, or society thinks so for that matter. Despite the troubling nuances of advocating for a more holistic approach to assessment and schooling after work hours, I still have to work with the reality of keeping my job i.e. working with standards I didn’t write, administering tests I didn’t create, and yes, working in a system that consistently clashes with my ideals.
The key here is, whoever walks through my door, whenever, and however, I accept them. That’s how we build

School 'Discipline Gap' Explodes As 1 In 4 Black Students Suspended, Report Finds

School 'Discipline Gap' Explodes As 1 In 4 Black Students Suspended, Report Finds:

School 'Discipline Gap' Explodes As 1 In 4 Black Students Suspended, Report Finds

by Joy Resmovits

For years, education advocates have highlighted the dire importance of closing the achievement gap of academic performance between students of different ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Now, another group of advocates is drawing attention to the discipline gap of unequal punishments to different groups of students.

The Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the University of California, Los Angeles Civil Rights Project, releasedtwo reports on Monday that show the increasing gap between suspension rates of black and white students.One million -- or one in nine -- middle school and high school students were suspended in 2009-2010, including 24 percent of black students and 7.1 percent of white students.

Most of the suspensions came not in response to violent behavior, but for minor infractions such as dress code violations or lateness. The research also found that suspensions increase the likelihood kids will drop out of school and commit crimes.

School districts that suspend students are hurting themselves, said Damon Hewitt, the director of education

A collection of links from Occupy the DOE 2.0 #uoodc13 – @ the chalk face

A collection of links from Occupy the DOE 2.0 #uoodc13 – @ the chalk face:

A collection of links from Occupy the DOE 2.0 #uoodc13

by Chalk Face, PhD

As the dust finally settles on a great event, there’s still work to be done. Namely, collecting coverage of the event. I’m going to start posting links here. If I’ve missed any, please let us know in the comments. We’re expecting some long form pieces in the coming days, so they’ll be updated.
Democracy Now!
Mother Jones
Truth Out
MSNBC’s The Cycle [Although, I must say, that we at no point in any of our work contacted the United Way for any reason, so I have NO idea why they would have had someone from that organization on the show. I was in touch with a producer, offered to join them at their DC affiliate, but no dice.
The Washington Post Answer Sheet.
Education Opportunity Network
Education Week [although, this was a HUGE bunch of garbage]
The Marc Steiner Show (Baltimore)
The Rick Smith Show (PA) [Major shout out to them who came all the way down and got lots of great interviews)

It's a Wrap! California Father | Occupy DOE 2.0: The Battle for Public Schools unitedoptout.com #uoodc13

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago

California Father | Educating Sullivan: [image: California Father] Watch live streaming video from califather at livestream.com *Look for More about Occupy DOE 2.0: The Battle for Public Schools * *http://unitedoptout.com/*

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Is Thatcher's ghost haunting the White House?

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Is Thatcher's ghost haunting the White House?:

Is Thatcher's ghost haunting the White House?

by Mike Klonsky

Margaret Thatcher with her pal PW Botha in 1984. Botha was first leader of the Apartheid regime accorded the privilege of a state visit to UK since 1961, a diplomatic coup for the white supremacist regime in South Africa. via @Tobias Agricoltore

I know that diplomacy dictates that when a former head of state passes on, our president has to pay his respects and not say anything critical. But today's statement by Pres. Obama on the death of Margaret Thatcher went way beyond the diplomatic call. It was instead, a paean to racism and imperialism.

With the passing of Baroness Margaret Thatcher, the world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty, and America has lost a true friend...And as an unapologetic supporter of our transatlantic alliance, she knew that with strength and resolve we could win the Cold War and

Sometimes truth is… – @ the chalk face

Sometimes truth is… – @ the chalk face:

Sometimes truth is…

by Chris Cerrone

Back a few weeks ago I created a quick graphic for a post asking for examples of test prep and Common Core assignments using an online graphic generator. This picture went viral as parents and teachers passed it on via social media.

I created this picture to gain a few laughs and make a statement about the amount of time that is lost to testing in our schools. Detractors might say my creation is a piece of propaganda, but sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, or pretty darn close. Schools in my state of New York will be starting their grueling two weeks of testing starting April 16. So how much “real education” will take place from April 16 through May 1st?
Here is a look at what students in grades 3-8* will face:

*The kind folks at NYSED decided to reduce grades 3 & 4 testing to 70 minutes for this year. More appropriate for 8 and 9 year olds? No.
How much time is lost for real learning opportunities? After students are burned out from testing are they ready for instruction in the afternoon? Should they be? If a student has art, music, library, or physical education

Daily Kos: Principal warns parents: ‘Don’t buy the bunk’ about new Common Core tests

Daily Kos: Principal warns parents: ‘Don’t buy the bunk’ about new Common Core tests:

Principal warns parents: ‘Don’t buy the bunk’ about new Common Core tests

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

That is the title of this post at the Answer Sheet Blog of the Washington Post, run by Valerie Strauss. The author is Carol Burris, an award-winning principal in Long Island who originally supported the idea of Common Core but has become increasingly concerned about the damage it will do as she has watched it take shape, particularly with respect to the assessments that will go with the Common Core. As Burris puts it,

New York’s Common Core tests, designed to measure whether 8-14 year olds are on the path to college readiness, will soon begin. The stakes have never been higher, since teachers and principals are now being evaluated in part by student scores. Like the teacher evaluation system, Common Core testing is a plane being built in the air — a plane in which the passengers are children.

She warns parents not to be taken in, and offers four key points:

My discussion with Matt Barnum Part 1 | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

My discussion with Matt Barnum Part 1 | Gary Rubinstein's Blog:

A few weeks ago I was invited by Matt Barnum to discuss various issues in education reform through a series of letters. Matt is a TFA alum who is now in law school. He has written several articles in various newspapers about the complexity of improving education. Most recently he wrote something about how it is time for TFA to fold.

My first thought was that since we have so much in common, these discussions would not have enough conflict to make them very interesting reading. Matt says that he is generally on the ‘reform’ side of these discussions, though, so I asked him to ‘start’ the exchange. It is interesting to be on the receiving end of one of these ‘open letters’ as I’ve initiated so many of them. I can see why so many people didn’t respond to mine. By the nature of the process, the recipient is likely to feel and seem like he is on the defensive.

Here is his letter, followed by my response:

3/29/2013

Dear Gary,

It was about two and a half years ago that I started reading your book, ‘Reluctant Disciplinarian’. I had just finished TFA’s institute and was a couple weeks away from my first day teaching English at a middle school in Colorado. I remember thinking your book was a bit cynical and a bit negative.

Fast forward a couple months. I wished I’d taken your book more seriously, and I realized the

Zorn may think I’m contemptible. But he really hates CTU Prez Karen Lewis. I call that good company. | Fred Klonsky

Zorn may think I’m contemptible. But he really hates CTU Prez Karen Lewis. I call that good company. | Fred Klonsky:

Zorn may think I’m contemptible. But he really hates CTU Prez Karen Lewis. I call that good company.

by Fred Klonsky

Scorned by Zorn

Eric Zorn took a few minutes out of his busy schedule chasing down leads to send me an email calling me contemptible for objecting to his ugly discourse on race and school closings.
But just to remind readers where Zorn is coming from, here’s a Trib column of his from November of 2011.

Karen Lewis should step down as president of the Chicago Teachers Union.
Her latest gaffe — delivering several ill-chosen remarks during a speech in Seattle last month, then responding this week to the controversy over those remarks with grudging defiance — isn’t resignation-worthy on its own.
True, in her address she mocked a sibilance in the voice of U.S. Education Secretary Arne

NYC Public School Parents: More on inBloom, including parent right to opt out denied and potential costs to states and districts

NYC Public School Parents: More on inBloom, including parent right to opt out denied and potential costs to states and districts:

More on inBloom, including parent right to opt out denied and potential costs to states and districts

by Leonie Haimson

Many NY parents received an email from Commissioner King last week, in response to their request to opt their children’s personally identifiable confidential educational records out of the inBloom database and shared with vendors without their consent. He made it clear that he does not intend to honor any requests from parents to opt out. Though he claims the purpose of sharing of this highly sensitive data is

Ed Notes Online: Leonie Haimson Offers Parents Real Choice: Low class size, rich non-test driven curriculum

Ed Notes Online: Leonie Haimson Offers Parents Real Choice: Low class size, rich non-test driven curriculum:

Leonie Haimson Offers Parents Real Choice: Low class size, rich non-test driven curriculum

by ed notes online

There is no little irony in the Daily News assault on Leonie Haimson for sending her son to a private school while supposedly denying choice to other parents without that option open to them.

Leonie has been such a thorn in the side of the deformers, they must disparage her work. How interesting that they chose one of their funding darlings, Gotham Schools and writer Geoff Decker, to do the initial dirty work. And of course their rise and shine linked to the DN piece today. Ka-ching.

Leonie advocates for all parents to have the choice of low class size, a rich curriculum not driven by standardized tests for kids (in the womb), parent and teacher involvement and other real reforms. You know, the kinds of schools leading ed deformers like Gates, Bloomberg, Arne Duncan and others send their kids to but deny that option to the 99%.

A Daily News opinion piece, Don't let the classroom door hit you on the way out, brands Leonie as an advocate "for the bogus cure-all of hiring thousands of additional teachers to reduce class sizes."

The Daily News supports not giving parents choice but removing their choices. Their choices of whether to have

Saturday, 4/13: MORE GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING, Sunday, Julie and Jesse at Earth School

by ed notes online

An exciting MORE weekend with a monthly meeting on Saturday and a forum on testing resistance on Sunday with Julie Cavanagh and Seattle test boycott leader Jesse Hagopian. MORE doesn't just "call" for things, it makes things happen.

Find out what all the excitement is about. You won't see any other caucus make a public announcement and open invitations to their meetings. MORE might even tackle an initial discussion about mayoral candidates but in an open and democratic manner. Organizationally, things are still somewhat fuzzy in MORE and people showing up for the first time, even non-members feel welcome to join in the discussions.

Phone banking for the election will also take place.

With the elections coming to a close, it is also time for MORE to get down to the work of organizing internally and externally. In the past elections the post-election energy drop was noticeable. In fact people sort of just stopped for the rest of the year and then the next Sept it was back to where we were if not behind based on

Low test scores are the symptom, not “The Cause” | Crazy Crawfish's Blog

Low test scores are the symptom, not “The Cause” | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:

Low test scores are the symptom, not “The Cause”

by crazycrawfish

Problem solved!

Recently my posting has started dropping off because of some nasty fatigue issues that seemed to come out of nowhere. (Hopefully you haven’t noticed the lull too much, as I have quite a few pieces I’m working on at any given time, and researching others.) Sometimes a recent event or flash of insight drives me to squeeze one out in the wee hours of the morning, so I assumed that was the cause of my fatigue issues – and other aches and pains. Things got a lot worse all of a sudden and I decided I needed to go the doc to have him check me out.
Apparently I looked like I felt. First my PCP and then the specialist he sent me too (and every nurse in between) commented immediately on how crappy I looked and how horrible I must feel.
Usually I only go to the doctor when I have a bad sinus infection or cold, or for the occasional physical (or lightning strike like this summer), so I was a little taken aback by these declarations. I didn’t feel great, but this was “my normal” these days so didn’t think of myself in the context of unhealthy. I was just my new normal, basically.
After checking me over the doctor shook his head and dryly asked me if I wanted to continue living. I replied that I hadn’t made any other plans, so thought I’d try sticking around for a while, you know, at least until something

I’m Angry | Cooperative Catalyst

I’m Angry | Cooperative Catalyst:

I’m Angry

by robinclane

It’s Monday, and I’m angry.
I’m angry because, after a weekend of careful planning, after differentiating an assignment for students who have mastered skills at different levels, after catching up on all of my grading, after getting my lesson plans in on time with the TEKS and the Reading Comprehension standards and the ELPS, I couldn’t print anything I needed for class because our copy machine is broken. Again. I’m angry because I had to make something up on the fly, putting my students further behind from where we should be right now. I’m angry that this roadblock put me in such a foul mood that I snapped at one of my students when he asked to show me his medal from the 10K he ran this weekend.
I’m angry because my 7th graders are taking their reading STAAR in a few weeks, and I am mandated to use Pearson’s test prep books at least two periods a week. I’m angry because this is disrupting their amazing theatre projects. I’m angry because Pearson is making money off of my students’ wasted learning time.
I’m angry because my 8th graders are being pulled daily from DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) to receive STAAR test prep for their science test in a few weeks. I’m angry because the school is telling them that bubbling in answers is more important than reading books they care about.
I’m angry because my school does not offer membership in a union, because Texas is an at-will employment state, and I could literally be let go for no reason and have no legal redress. I’m angry about teachers in other

This past week, pro-voucher forces in New Jersey bussed kids in from local Catholic schools to rally in support of a school voucher bill.

Chris Christie condemned that rally; he thinks it is wrong to take kids out of school for a protest:

"The schools did a lousy job in really permitting all these students to walk out in the middle of the school day. Their parents send them there not to protest. They send them there to learn. And I have no problem with students protesting. They have absolutely every right to exercise their first