Who Created Excuses for Michelle Rhee? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Who Created Excuses for Michelle Rhee? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Who Created Excuses for Michelle Rhee?

by Anthony Cody

Educators are living an absolute nightmare of absurd accountability. Guided by the misguided notion that teachers are capable of singlehandedly overcoming the blight of poverty, "reformers" have created systems that have them evaluated based on test score growth, sometimes even for students they have never even taught. Yet when it comes for taking accountability for their own actions, some people are willing to give the reformers all sorts of excuses. It seems as if we have the soft bigotry of low expectations all over again.
The latest example of this is John Merrow's blog post, "Who Created Michelle Rhee?" He starts out well enough. Clearly, Michelle Rhee herself is a prime candidate. Nobody forced her to misrepresent her own students' achievement until she was called on it. She alone is responsible for her ambitious drive to dominate first a large urban district, and now an entire nation's schools, with her draconian policies.
Then he takes a bit of responsibility himself, for doing twelve segments on her - more than two hours of primetime coverage on PBS Newshour. While he deserves a lot of credit for his most recent report revealing the missing memo, he is correct that he should have been far more skeptical about her "miracle gains" the first year. This calls for more than a passing mention. Why was he willing to accept this without real question? It suggests a willingness to believe the driving reform narrative - that teachers can work miracles if properly motivated (or terrified!).

UPDATE: Breaking: They won’t call the pension bomb to a vote this time. Next try is the week of April 29th. | Fred Klonsky

Data driven. | Fred Klonsky:

Breaking: They won’t call the pension bomb to a vote this time. Next try is the week of April 29th.

by Fred Klonsky

They still don’t have the votes in the Illinois House to ignore the state’s constitution.
The House adjourned today.
HB3411 wasn’t called.
HB34511 cuts the cost of living adjustment and raises the age when retirees can receive it, limits pensionable earnings and creates a 3rd tier of TRS employees that would have their defined benefit turned into a defined contribution.
The House sponsors of HB3411 are  Tom Cross - Elaine Nekritz - David Harris - Sara Feigenholtz - Darlene J. Senger, Michael J. Zalewski, Carol A. Sente, Robyn Gabel, William Davis, Greg Harris, Luis Arroyo, Elizabeth Hernandez,Kelly Burke, Deborah Mell, David McSweeney, Timothy L. Schmitz, Ed Sullivan, Jr., Ron Sandack,Sandra M. Pihos, Kay Hatcher, Joe Sosnowski, Thomas Morrison, Barbara Wheeler, JoAnn D. Osmond, Patricia R. Bellock, Jim Durkin, Renée Kosel, Jil Tracy, Pam Roth, David R. Leitch, Jim Sacia and Kenneth Dunkin.
If they had the votes to pass it, the bill would have been called.
No further bills will be considered by the IL House until the April 29th.

Who doesn’t like Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky?

by Fred Klonsky

Jan Schakowsky is the Congresswoman from Chicago’s 9th Congressional District. The 9th District all of Evanston, Skokie, Lincolnwood, Golf, Park Ridge, and Wilmette; portions of Morton Grove, Des Plaines, and Glenview; and much of the north and far northwest side of the City of Chicago. The district now also includes all Winnetka, Kenilworth, and Northfield, and portions of Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect, Prospect Heights, and Northbrook.
It is solidly Democratic. She is well-liked and will be re-elected for as long as she wants to run.
She is a leader of the progressive Congressional caucus. She has a reputation as a defender of those who are the most needy, of Social Security and Medicare.
So here is the Bizarro World thing about the 9th Congressional District.
In includes the state senatorial districts and state house districts of Democrats Dan Biss, Elaine Nekritz, Kelly Cassidy and Robyn Gabel.
If you are regular readers of this blog then you know that these are the pension bombers – the group who 

Data driven.

by Fred Klonsky

Popout.
I woke to crazy news this morning.
I had MSNBC on as I showered, dressed and did my stretching exercises. I heard Mika Brzezinski on Morning Joe say something about how we have a whole new situation now where the terrorists may be living among us.
Like she was talking about The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Jeez, Mika. What? Was Timothy McVeigh from Venezuela?
I just turned the crap off.
Instead I had coffee and Bob’s Red Mill hot cereal with Paul Krugman’s

Rhee's Credibility Questioned as High-Stakes Testing is Exposed Again | California Progress Report

Rhee's Credibility Questioned as High-Stakes Testing is Exposed Again | California Progress Report:

Rhee's Credibility Questioned as High-Stakes Testing is Exposed Again

by callen

By Lisa Schiff

Last week, high-stakes testing queen Michelle Rhee, was exposed. Thanks to the impressive investigative work of reporterJohn Merrow, the final dots have been connected making it clear that when Rhee was superintendent of Washington D.C.'s public schools, serious levels of cheating were occurring spurred on by the unrealistic pressure she put on principals and that she was fully aware of what was happening. This news comes on the heels of the Atlanta Public School cheating scandal in which the principals and teachers acted together to change students' test answers in order to improve standardized test scores under the pressure of threats by that district's superintendent, Beverly Hall.

Hall and the others went to jail earlier this month once their malfeasance was exposed - but only after receiving tremendous accolades from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and President Obama about the "success" represented by these test score gains. The value of those gains would have been questionable on their own, but the fact that they were fabricated and that Hall's resultant professional success came at the expense of children's education is reprehensible. Because of public exposure, those involved in Atlanta are being held accountable, and the same should be done for Michelle Rhee, especially given her 

NPE Webinar #2: How to Organize a Student Group | The Network For Public Education

NPE Webinar #2: How to Organize a Student Group | The Network For Public Education:

NPE Webinar #2: How to Organize a Student Group

by admin

NPE Webinar #2: How to Organize a Student Group - Tuesday, April 30, 8:30 pm Eastern
Featuring student activists Stephanie Riviera, Sarah Smith and Israel Munoz, plus guests from the Newark student walkout!
These dynamic students will discuss the ways they have taken action to affect change around their own educational futures, and provide suggestions and advice for other students who want to do the same.
Stephanie is enrolled at Rutgers, and is a founder of Students United for Public Education. Sarah Smith participated in protests at the state capital of Wisconsin against Scott Walker, and now attends the University of and is active in
Israel Muñoz is a high school student in Chicago, active in Chicago Students Organized to Save Our Schools. He has been involved in the fight to stop the closing of more than fifty schools there.
Register here . https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/99HKRMB  You will be emailed a link to the webinar a day or two before the event.

UPDATE: GUEST POST: Nipping Dissent + ANNOUNCEMENT: At the Chalk Face and Schools Matter to join forces – @ the chalk face

ANNOUNCEMENT: At the Chalk Face and Schools Matter to join forces – @ the chalk face:

GUEST POST: Nipping Dissent, By Edwin Mayorga and Julie Gorlewski

by plthomasedd

Nipping Dissent: The Hollow Centrality of Neoliberal Democracy and Multiculturalism
By Edwin Mayorga and Julie Gorlewski (with support from reclaimAERA)

“I am weary of the abuse of social media by writers hurling anonymous, venomous insults—a practice that encourages the general retreat to intellectual neighborhoods. Our work and our interactions with one another should model productive conversation about the nature of education, schooling, and reform. The conference gives us an opportunity to demonstrate very publicly how thoughtful disagreements can take place. I hope that in the invited addresses, the presidential sessions, the myriad papers, roundtables, and posters, and in my own presidential address, we will challenge our own assumptions rather than simply reconfirm what we think we know.” – Bill Tierney, President of AERA

Recently, AERA President Bill Tierney sent a mass email to us, the members of AERA, calling on us to engage 

ANNOUNCEMENT: At the Chalk Face and Schools Matter to join forces

APRIL 19, 2013 BY CHALK FACE, PHD LEAVE A COMMENT

To our readers: vaunted education blog Schools Matter is joining At the Chalk Face. The transition is already underway, but will be completed for a Monday “release.” The website will be down for a time on Sunday in order to reorganize our content. We want to preserve the identities of both as we host them both from one place.

I want to thank everyone from Schools Matter for your willingness to consolidate our messages so that teachers, parents, students, and community members can find what they need to know about education reform, without mainstream media complacency, cough cough, Education Week, cough.

Sorry about that fit of sorts. In any case, things might get a little funny here and there as I test out some new functions. But we are very excited about this and thank you for your support.

Teacher/Parent conflicts: how do we resolve these?

by Chalk Face, PhD

Our special episode of At the Chalk Face with a NJ teacher/parent is rescheduled for this evening at 6PM EST.
Appropriately enough, I received an email from another teacher/parent with some frustrations that seem very difficult to resolve. How do other teachers who are also parents negotiate this minefield?
Here’s this teacher’s tale over a few emails that I am permitted to share. Although, identifying details have been removed.

I teach and am being forced to score exams.  My daughter took one and has Asperger’s.  The district is trying to force my compliance with signing a confidentiality agreement that wouldn’t allow me to discuss the exam with my child.  I am really irate and have taken it to the union, who is seeming to support me.
I am frustrated as a parent and a teacher.  By the way, my daughter attends my school.  I can’t 

A thought experiment on #homeschooling… #choice

by Chalk Face, PhD

What if we enacted “choice” for homeschool students and parents? That is, kids and parents could walk into any house they wanted, or join any family they wanted, to receive a “better” education.
I’ve often argued that homeschooling, while a viable option for some, is not for all, and we therefore need a free and equitable system of public education as one of the panoply of options. And public schools must be adequately funded so it is indeed a viable option.
But if a parent, for ideological reasons or perhaps religion, wanted to homeschool but couldn’t because they have 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: NYT: More cops in schools wrong approach to school safety

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: NYT: More cops in schools wrong approach to school safety:

NYT: More cops in schools wrong approach to school safety

by Mike Klonsky

Thank you, New York Times Editorial Board, for affirming what many of us have been arguing for years. School violence is not mainly a policing problem, and adding more cops in schools doesn't make those schools any safer. Instead, it tends to criminalize students, especially students of color, and raises the expectation of violence, contributing to a culture that is antithetical to teaching and learning.

According to today's NYT editorial, "Criminalizing Children":

The National Rifle Association and President Obama responded to the Newtown, Conn., shootings by recommending that more police officers be placed in the nation’s schools. But a growing body of research suggests that, contrary to popular wisdom, a larger police presence in schools generally does little to improve safety. It can also create a repressive environment in which children are arrested or issued summonses for minor misdeeds — like cutting class or talking back — that once would have been dealt with by the principal. 

Children as young as 12 have been treated as criminals for shoving matches and even adolescent 

Missouri Education Watchdog: The "Stop Common Core" Movement Consists of Right Wing Whackos and Third Party Whackos. It's All Good.

Missouri Education Watchdog: The "Stop Common Core" Movement Consists of Right Wing Whackos and Third Party Whackos. It's All Good.:

The "Stop Common Core" Movement Consists of Right Wing Whackos and Third Party Whackos. It's All Good.

by stlgretchen

The growing displeasure about the adoption/implementation of Common Core has united disparate groups of folks concerned about the privatization and centralization of education.  Edweek.com featuredA Progressive and a Conservative Find Common Ground Opposing the Common Core and how different political philosophies are set aside by two folks working together to defeat CCSS. 

Susan Ohanian (a self proclaimed "third party whacko") writes she agrees with the "right wing whackos" on their opposition to Common Core and explains why.  She ties it in nicely with an article she wrote 13 years ago on Goals 2000, another educational reform model that attempted to implement national standards and increase centralized education.   From Republican National Committee passes resolution to shut down Common Core curriculum:

******************************************************************************* 


Ohanian Comment: Finding myself in agreement with the Republican National Committee, Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin, and a host of other right wing whackos comes as no surprise. Been there. Done that. Here's an excerpt from a cover story I wrote for Phi Delta Kappan, January 2000: Goals 2000: What's in a Name? 

Liberals and Conservatives Join Hands 
"Are you a Republican yet?" My husband asked me that question a couple of months ago. 

» AFT Report Highlights Hedge Fund Managers Who Secretely Work to Undermine Pensions

» AFT Report Highlights Hedge Fund Managers Who Secretely Work to Undermine Pensions:

AFT Report Highlights Hedge Fund Managers Who Secretely Work to Undermine Pensions

by Chaz Bolte

AFT President Randi Weingarten

A new report from the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) lists 34 executives at hedge funds and investment firms who help make contributions to or are leaders of organizations with a negative view on traditional pensions. In naming these executives the union is hoping to persuade other unions to stop investing the flow of pension funds to groups with close ties to those who want to radically change pensions.
Among the more notable figures listed is “financial whiz” Dan Loeb. Loeb is currently being accused of playing both sides of the teacher pensions game, courting pension systems while simultaneously being involved with Students First, an extreme anti-union group. Now, unions want action in stopping this vicious cycle of greed.
Michael Powell, an assistant to AFT President Randi Weingarten told the Wall Street Journal:
“Does the American Federation of Teachers think they should divest [from firms named in the report?] The answer would be yes.”
The combined assets of the American Federation of Teachers nationwide is around $800 million. Pension 

MORNING UPDATE LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 4-19-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Handwriting Expert to NC and SC: Don’t Mandate Cursive Writing

by dianerav

In their eagerness to drag the schools and children of their states back to the early 20th century, legislators in North Carolina and South Carolina want to mandate the teaching of cursive writing. (North Carolina Los wants to pass a law mandating that all children memorize the multiplication tables.) these legislators usually spend their time coming up with ways to privatize public schools.
In this comment, handwriting expert Kate Gladstone explains why the cursive mandate is a bad idea.
Kate Gladstone writes:
The NC cursive bill is ill-advised and ill-motivated. Below are the most explainable reasons it is so: and all 

Secret Group in Michigan Plans Voucher-Style “Reform”

by dianerav

A secret group commissioned by reactionary elements in Michigan crafted a plan to voucherize education funding. The plan will be submitted to Governor Snyder. Note that the purpose of the plan is not to provide better education, but to cut costs.
The article describes the plan as “reform,” but as usual, the real intent of this treat eggy is to abandon public education. When the privatizers say “the money should follow the child,” what tpthey mean is that the funding 

DC City Council Will Hire Law Firm to Reform Schools

by dianerav

Every once in a while, I read an article that convinces me that education policymaking in this country is insane.
This is one of those articles.
The head of the DC City Council education committee has found the answer to fixing the city’s still troubled school system: He will hire a law firm to find the solutions! A law firm!
The law firm will help figure out how to improve achievement and more:
“Major targets for Catania include streamlining enrollment lotteries for parents, adjusting how schools are funded and allocating more dollars for poor children, setting performance targets for schools and consequences when they consistently fall short, and outlining a way to decide the fate of vacant school buildings.”

Michigan Debates Common Core

by dianerav

Michigan is debating the Common Core, which it already agreed to adopt.
The curious thing in the debate and in the article is the repeated claim by “experts” that the Common Core will fix all the disparities and problems in American education. It will close the gap between low-perming and high-performing students and lift the performance of American students to the top on international tests.
What is the evidence for their views? How do they know? The standards have been imposed without any test of their value, their feasibility, or their consequences for real-live students. No one actually knows how they will work. What we do know is that full implementation will cost billions of dollars. States are buying new technology 

How Ordinary People Get Good Results

by dianerav

David Kirp recently led a discussion of his new book “Improbable Scholars” at the Center for American Progress in Washington.
One of his findings is that schools can be improved by collaboration and sound ideas. No charters. No school closings. No TFA.
Here Esther Quintero of the Shanker Institute explores the social science that supports collaboration rather than the disruption favored by the reform crowd.

Will TFA Be Able to Meet California’s High Standards?

by dianerav

The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing has raised the standards for those who teach English language learners. Noon get will uncertified interns be allowed to teach these students who need well-prepared teachers.
This is a problem for Teach for America because California has

Teacher: Report from Inside a Cyber Charter

by dianerav

A reader sent this comment:
“I work at a cyber charter. It is ironic that the administrators at these charters make us work twelve hours a day doing inane busy work, and yet the quality of education is much worse than in public schools.
I just got home from doing state testing. At one point during the day one of the third graders raised his hand to get my attention, he had just finished the multiple choice section and was stuck on the first open-ended question. He asked me what he was supposed to do. I just told him to answer the question, we are not allowed to do much more.
After he stared at the page for fifteen minutes one of the other teachers went over to give him some 

Diane in the Evening 4-18-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 4 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Karen Lewis Teaches Torah in Evanston by dianerav Karen Lewis taught a powerful lesson from the Torah at a synagogue in Evanston. This is the rabbi’s account of her moving reading of Numbers, in which she connects the Biblical story to recent events in Chicago. “Her portion, Shelach Lecha (Numbers 13:1-15:41) relates, among other things, the story of the twelve scouts send by by Moses to report on the Promised Land. Ten of them return with words of discouragement – they reported that they saw giants in the land.... more »

Louisiana Educator: Jindal Tries to Resurrect Act 1

Louisiana Educator: Jindal Tries to Resurrect Act 1:

Jindal Tries to Resurrect Act 1

by Michael Deshotels

Dear Educator:

Next Wednesday April 24 at 1:00 PM could be the most important day of the legislative session for teacher issues.  If you care about the future of the Education profession, you should contact the members of the House Education Committee about several important bills that are scheduled to be heard, especially if you live and vote in any of their districts!  (Click here to go to the Ed Committee web site where you can get the email address of members by clicking on each name.) This committee determines what bills will go to the full House of Representatives. The membership of this committee was carefully stacked in favor of Governor Jindal when it was formed last year. But things have changed for the Goverrnor (Approval rating down to 38%) and educators may have a chance to talk sense to their legislators who serve on this critical committee. Do not write any of them off yet!

The following bills are very bad for teachers and one is bad for school boards. I hope you will ask them to defeat the following bills which will mandate most of the legislation passed by Jindal as part of Act 1, last year. These were all ruled unconstitutional by district court because the legislature is only allowed to have one subject in a bill. So now, by putting these issues in different bills, they may succeed in making these new laws constitutional. Here they are:

HB 478 by Champagne takes away all teacher seniority in the event of a layoff and ranks teachers according to 

Daily Kos: Boston Police Commissioner announces Black Hat dead (Updates below fold)

Daily Kos: Boston Police Commissioner announces Black Hat dead (Updates below fold):

Boston Police Commissioner announces Black Hat dead (Updates below fold)

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

5:58:  I will no longer update this diary.   Someone else can keep up with the ongoing news.
Now 5:29.  I will put future updates below this line in pushdown fashion, LIFO
5:47basically now a lockdown of much of the area just west of Boston -  Newton, Waltham, Cambridge, Allston, Brighton, as well as Watertown.  Watertown on total lockdown.   Situation is described as "Grave."
5:45 The Boston Globe ‏@BostonGlobe 30s
BREAKING: All #MBTA service currently cancelled - @GlobeMetro
Expand
 Boston Police Dept. ‏@Boston_Police 1m
All MBTA service has been suspended until further notice
Expand
5:41 - MS-NBC and other outlets saying that there are multiple possible explosive devices on the street.   MS_NBC saying officials know who the perpetrators are -  I think Mika said they know their names.  Not clear.
5:37  MS-NBC  reporting (Isikoff) that police are concentrating on one office building.  

Common Core Standards attacked by Republicans:

Common Core Standards attacked by Republicans

Posted by Valerie Strauss on April 19, 2013 at 4:00 am

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Republicans have launched an attack on the Common Core State Standards, an initiative that more than 45 states and the District of Columbia signed onto but that has been facing increasing opposition in recent months from both right and left.

This new effort could undermine what has largely been bipartisan cooperation on the Core and is coming even as some states are already implementing the Common Core Standards in English Language Arts and math, and giving students high-stakes Core-aligned standardized tests.

Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, has just started a bid to to eliminate federal funding for the effort, which has come out of the Education Department budget. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has supported the standards, and gave $360 million to two multi-state consortia to develop standardized tests.

Grassley’s Wednesday letter to colleagues comes a few days after the Republican National Committee passed a resolution bashing the standards, calling them an “inappropriate 

Ed Notes Online: MORE's Patrick Walsh: Fear and Loathing and the Common Core

Ed Notes Online: MORE's Patrick Walsh: Fear and Loathing and the Common Core:

MORE's Patrick Walsh: Fear and Loathing and the Common Core

by ed notes online

... everything about the Common Core State Standards 

Initiative, beginning with its name, stinks to high heaven. Everything about this privately funded, privately owned, secretly created scheme, sponsored by the un-elected National Governors Association and given pseudo academic legitimacy by the equally unelected but lofty sounding Council Of Chief State School Officers, is meant to obscure or hide altogether what the Common Core is, why it exists and how it came — ready or not –  to be rammed down the throat of almost every school kid in American — including the ten year olds I saw pointlessly suffer through  it the  past three days. --- Patrick Walsh

While MORE as an organization has not delved into the common core waters, most MOREs like Patrick are strongly against it. I for one am against it because people like Susan Ohanian and Leonie Haimson are against it