NPE Webinar: Uncovering the Truth About Education Reform – June 4, 2013 | The Network For Public Education ← NPE News Briefs

NPE Webinar: Uncovering the Truth About Education Reform – June 4, 2013 | The Network For Public Education ← NPE News Briefs:

NPE News Briefs

NPE Webinar: Uncovering the Truth About Education Reform – June 4, 2013 | The Network For Public Education

by NPE News Briefs

Learn from the Experts: Mercedes Schneider and Michael Corwin Are you frustrated when corruption goes on and nobody even seems to notice? Do you want to learn how to uncover the truth about what is happening to our schools? We are presenting a special webinar where two outstanding experts will share tips and techniques. Michael ...read more

NPE Endorsement: Marie Corfield for New Jersey State Assembly – Election June 4th. | The Network For Public Education

by NPE News Briefs

The Network for Public Education has endorsed another candidate. Marie Corfield is running for the state assembly, in an election that will take place on June 4th. Marie became an art teacher in 2001, and has taught at Robert Hunter Elementary School in Flemington since 2004. She Vice President-elect of the Flemington-Raritan Education Association and ...read more

Philly HS Senior Asks the Big Question | Jersey Jazzman

by NPE News Briefs

by Jersey Jazzman – I am increasingly convinced that the resistance to corporate reform that is most effective is being led by students. It certainly was in Newark, and it looks like it was in Philadelphia. Here’s a clip of the Philly walkout, including a senior who boils it all down to one important question: ...read more

Adventures in Late Koppitalism | EduShyster

by NPE News Briefs

by EduShyster – Creative destruction Creative destruction is basically a fancy way of describing the process of making expensive organic lemonade out of the ashes of a now shuttered lemonade stand. But Koppitalism also sees promise (and profit) where others see only despair. Take Philadelphia, for example, where 23 public schools are closing and the ...read more

On Common Core: The Leading Groups Are Wrong Again | Diane Ravitch’s blog

by NPE News Briefs

by a reader to Diane Ravitch’s blog; posted by Diane Ravitch – Yesterday I posted a statement endorsed by leading education organizations that endorsed the Common Core but called for more time to implement the new standards. ############## This reader disagrees. The reader commented: “The joint statement issued by the National School Boards Association, National ...read more

Homeschool Academy Launched to Teach Science From Biblical Worldview | toteachornototeach

Homeschool Academy Launched to Teach Science From Biblical Worldview | toteachornototeach:

Homeschool Academy Launched to Teach Science From Biblical Worldview

by aristotlethewise

Innovative New Home-school Academy
Launched to Teach Science From Biblical Worldview

By Garrett Haley
DAYTON, Tenn. – In 1925, a historic court case forever changed the way many Americans view science and religion. Today, nearly 90 years later, two professors are launching a new Christian science organization less than a mile from where that momentous trial unfolded all those many years ago.
In the early 20th century, as the theory of evolution was gaining popularity, several states passed bills that banned the teaching of evolution in state-funded schools. One such state was Tennessee, where lawmakers decreed that the teaching of any origin theory other than Creation was unlawful in public schools.
This law was challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who persuaded John Scopes, a part-time science teacher in Dayton, to defy the law by using pro-evolution science textbooks in his class. Scopes was arrested for his offense, but immediately the ACLU hired prominent atheist lawyer Clarence Darrow to lead an aggressive defense team. In the trial, later nicknamed the “Scopes Monkey Trial,” Darrow went head-to-head with prosecutor William Jennings Bryan—a staunch Christian politician.
Even though the anti-evolution team led by Bryan technically won the trial, the proceedings were generally seen as a major victory for evolutionists, because Darrow publicly posed several key questions about the Bible’s 

Saturday coffee. | Fred Klonsky

Saturday coffee. | Fred Klonsky:

Saturday coffee.

by Fred Klonsky

The sun rose over a partly cloudy Illinois this morning and teachers still had their pensions intact.
The attempt to allow Chicago to short their obligation to the teacher pension fund failed in spite of the attempts by both Madigan and Cullerton to pass a bill allowing another so-called pension holiday. 
That would be a holiday for the political hucksters. Not the teachers.
Illinois public employees keep their constitutionally guaranteed benefits.
What a David and Goliath battle that was.
On the one side were the forces of the Civic Committee, the corporate media (led by the financially and morally bankrupt Chicago Tribune) and the leadership of the Republican and Democratic Parties. Included among those 

Adventures in Late Koppitalism | EduShyster

Adventures in Late Koppitalism | EduShyster:

Adventures in Late Koppitalism

by edushyster2012

Like its better known elder sibling, Koppitalism is increasingly global and relies upon a vast army of foot soldiers.

No doubt you are familiar with capitalism, the economic system that has more Facebook likes than any other. But another powerful profit-making system is also making some waves. Known as Koppitalism, it has much in common with its better known elder sibling. Like capitalism, Koppitalism has a well-known figure head at its helm, is guided by an invisible hand and directs its benefits primarily to the less fortunate among us. The currency at the heart of Koppitalism is “excellence,” which is accumulated by individuals at the top of the excellence scale and then trickles down upon those who have the misfortune of living in a zipcode on the wrong side of the excellence gap. Now, like capitalism, Koppitalism is poised to go global, leveraging scalability on a global scale. Here’s a look…
Murky back story
Capitalism’s back story, with its unpleasant detours through slavery, child labor and environmental destruction is quite a downer. But Koppitalism also has a back story that is rarely discussed in polite reform circles.
Creative destruction
Creative destruction is basically a fancy way of describing the process of making expensive organic lemonade out of the ashes of a now shuttered lemonade stand. But Koppitalism also sees promise (and profit) where 

Jersey Jazzman: Philly HS Senior Asks the Big Question

Jersey Jazzman: Philly HS Senior Asks the Big Question:

Philly HS Senior Asks the Big Question

by Duke

I am increasingly convinced that the resistance to corporate reform that is most effective is being led by students. It certainly was in Newark, and it looks like it was in Philadelphia.

Here's a clip of the Philly walkout, including a senior who boils it all down to one important question:

Popout

(1:24) If you are unable to take care of us now, how do you expect us to take of you later?

Word.

Blue Jersey:: NJ Education News Round-Up, 6/1/13

Blue Jersey:: NJ Education News Round-Up, 6/1/13:

NJ Education News Round-Up, 6/1/13

by Jersey Jazzman

Here's this week's NJ education news round-up:- NJ School Funding Getting Increasingly Unequal
This is disturbing: according to Bruce Baker at Rutgers, New Jersey's school funding system - once considered one of the "fairest" systems for addressing the funding gap between rich and poor districts - is getting increasingly unequal:

We may or may not begin to see the fallout - the real damages - of these shifts this year, or even next. But there will undoubtedly be consequences. Current policy changes, such as the use of bogus metrics to rate and remove mythically bad teachers will not make it less costly for high poverty districts to recruit and retain quality staff.  In fact, it may make it more expensive, given the increased disincentive for teachers to seek employment in higher poverty settings, all else equal. Nor will newly adopted half-baked school performance rating schemes. Nor will the state's 

The Pedagogy-Public Opinion Gap | Connected Principals

The Pedagogy-Public Opinion Gap | Connected Principals:

The Pedagogy-Public Opinion Gap

by Johnny Bevacqua

This post was originally published by J. Bevacqua on Figuring It Out
I contend that there is a Pedagogy-Public Opinion Gap in education.  For the sake of this post, I would define this Pedagogy-Public Opinion “gap” as:
The gap in understanding between what professional educators and researchers, who work with students on a daily basis, see as “best practice” in education (teaching, learning and schooling) and those “outside” the world of professional education – whose ideas, understanding and opinions about teaching (pedagogy), learning and school are formed, primarily, from their own personal experiences and memories.
I also wonder if this “gap” is widening.
I invite you to read some of these examples and draw your own conclusions:

• The “No Zeros” Debate – check out these articles and comments –  here and here

• Check out these public opinion comments on the Homework Debate?

• Should we stop giving grades to students when reporting learning?  Check this on-line “vote” and comments on the CBC website

• Awards in School?  Check out the hundreds of comments related to the story of a high school principal 

CHICAGO TRIBUNE, ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, NAZI GERMANY, AND THE NATIONAL DEBT | Teachers Fight Back

CHICAGO TRIBUNE, ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, NAZI GERMANY, AND THE NATIONAL DEBT | Teachers Fight Back:

CHICAGO TRIBUNE, ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, NAZI GERMANY, AND THE NATIONAL DEBT

by alkleen

I want to thank the Chicago Tribune for contributing to the many reasons that “pension reform” didn’t happen during this recent Illinois General Assembly.  I believe the Tribune’s constant bullying and belittling of Illinois legislators helped to defeat “pension reform”.  The Tribune wrote dozens of editorials blasting legislators and trying to intimidate them into passing a pension law which would have deprived teachers of their full pensions and would have done nothing about the millions of dollars in stolen pension money. I believe several legislators who would have voted for “pension reform” failed to do so just out of spite because they were so tired of being bullied and humiliated by the Tribune.  Go ahead, Tribune, keep characterizing the legislators as cowards and incompetent fools for not passing “pension reform”.  We need all the help we can get.
If I was like the Tribune, I might compare the Illinois General Assembly to Nazi Germany before World War II.  Nazi Germany owed money to several nations and just decided they were not going to pay what they owed. The debt holding nations did little or nothing about the German actions. The Illinois General Assembly “borrowed” 

solidaridad: Right-wing groups stand behind Parent Revolution and Ben Austin—The FreedomWorks Teabaggers

solidaridad: Right-wing groups stand behind Parent Revolution and Ben Austin—The FreedomWorks Teabaggers:

Right-wing groups stand behind Parent Revolution and Ben Austin—The FreedomWorks Teabaggers

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene

Right-wing groups stand behind Parent Revolution and Ben Austin—The FreedomWorks Teabaggers. #LAUSD #parenttrigger twitter.com/FreedomWorks/s…
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) June 1, 2013

While the community and social justice activists protest Ben Austin and his neoliberal wrecking crew, the birchers, birthers, and teabaggers have lined up behind them and their deceptive, divisive, and duplicitous charter trigger law.
Arch-reactionaries FreedomWorks bill themselves as supporting "Lower Taxes, Less Government, More Freedom! Educating and equipping a grassroots army for liberty." FreedomWorks joins a bevy of extreme right-wing groups supporting the Walton Family Foundation backed Parent Revolution and their Parent Trigger law, including The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and The Heartland Institute. The link to their pro-

The in box. What a pack of Wily Coyotes. | Fred Klonsky

The in box. What a pack of Wily Coyotes. | Fred Klonsky:

The in box. What a pack of Wily Coyotes.

by Fred Klonsky

From my pal, Mark Stefanik:

The war for our rights is far from over, but the GA’s salvo of dud bills did more damage to that chamber’s prestige than any session in recent memory.

Schemes to excuse their malfeasance and renege on pension covenants failed.

What a pack of Wily Coyotes.

A bill to recognize same sex marriages fails in the House after passing in the Senate.

What a flock of poliboobs.

And yet, they still manage to pass a bill allowing concealed weapons in a state rife with violence.

What a shame for Illinois.

They’re reloading already.

Senator Danny Bisstake gives fair warning.  He’ll re-submit his bill “57″ times to get it passed.

To be or not to be a drama major in this economy: Chancellor... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com

To be or not to be a drama major in this economy: Chancellor... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com:

Get Schooled: To be or not to be a drama major in this economy: Chancellor and drama major disagree

 By Maureen Downey

Georgia higher education Chancellor Hank Huckaby recently gave a speech in Athens about the problems filling jobs in Georgia. According to the Athens Banner-Herald, Huckaby said large numbers of jobs are going unfilled “because students are studying the wrong things. If you can’t get a job, and you majored in drama, there’s probably a reason."

The drama remark led to this blog posting from 2004 University of Georgia drama graduate Emily Paige Ballouwho works in theater in New York.  I am sharing her blog post today with her permission. You can read more of her blog here.

So the chancellor of the University System of Georgia Hank Huckaby caused a slight kerfuffle among my alumni community this past week when he said, in reference to the fact that apparently large numbers of jobs in Georgia are going unfilled, that “students are studying the wrong things,” and that “If you can’t get a job, and you majored in 

The clueless tweet of TFA’s Wendy Kopp:

The clueless tweet of TFA’s Wendy Kopp

By Valerie Strauss, Published: June 1, 2013 at 11:43 amE-mail the writer

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Wendy Kopp (TFA)

Teach For America founder Wendy Kopp actually published the following tweet on the same day that Philadelphia’s School Reform Commission approved a budget without funding for things such as paper, new books, athletics, arts, music, counselors, assistant principals and more.

In Philadelphia today.So much more to be done, but I can’t get over the progress in this city’s schools in the last decade!
— Wendy Kopp (@wendykopp) May 30, 2013

Philadelphia parents and education activists couldn’t get over just how clueless she was about what is really going in Philadelphia’s public schools. Even some TFA supporters

Mermaids: the official U.S. position (yes, there is one)

by Valerie Strauss

Yes, there is an official U.S. government position on mermaids and the existence thereof.
Mermaids were in the news in recent days after Animal Planet broadcast a show called "Mermaids: The New Evidence," a follow-up to last year's "Mermaids: The Body Found." The new show earned the station its largest audience ever, my colleague Lisa de Moraes reported here. And, of course, that means Animal Planet won't leave the subject alone and is now considering the next twist in the story.
Read full article >>

Philadelphia passes ‘doomsday’ school budget

by Valerie Strauss

It isn’t called a “doomsday” budget for nothing: Philadelphia’s School Reform Commission approved a budget this week that includes cuts so drastic that if they are implemented, schools will be forced to open in the fall without funding for things … Continue reading →

Safe Harbor in the Fight Against VAM | United Opt Out National

Safe Harbor in the Fight Against VAM | United Opt Out National:

Safe Harbor in the Fight Against VAM

by admin

The United Opt Out administrators realize that many educators are fearful of engaging in direct actions against state and district policy mandates that are not conducive to quality teaching and learning.  The use of Value Added Measure (VAM) is one such mandate that most educators realize is a faulty and unfair method to evaluate teacher effectiveness.  They also know using VAM has an impact on teaching and learning resulting in a narrowed curricular focus, pervasive cheating, increasing de facto segregation, and other negatives that are difficult to accept.

An Economic Policy Institute Report reveals “For a variety of reasons, analyses of VAM results have led researchers to doubt whether the methodology can accurately identify more and less effective teachers. VAM estimates have proven to be unstable across statistical models, years, and classes that teachers teach. One study found that across five large urban districts, among teachers who 

1/3 of kindergarten class banned from promotion ceremony because of school policy | news10.net

1/3 of kindergarten class banned from promotion ceremony because of school policy | news10.net:

1/3 of kindergarten class banned from promotion ceremony because of school policy

Kindergartener Sierra was banned from her promotion ceremony at John Cabrillo Elementary School.

SACRAMENTO, CA - A third of the kindergarten class at John Cabrillo Elementary school are banned from participating in an end of the year promotion ceremony.

"It breaks my heart," Maria Peterson said.

Peterson's daughter Sierra, 6, will move on to the first grade, but without the pomp and circumstance.

It's the school's policy that any kindergartner who misses more than 10 days of school can't take part in the ceremony.

Sierra has been absent 21 days.

"It's because of fever and illness and because of our car issues," Peterson explained.

It's not a new policy. Parents, including Peterson, have known about it since the beginning of the school year.

A total of 17 kids were banned from the promotion ceremony.

Peterson has reached out to the Sacramento City Unified Schools District, but officials there stood by the principal's policy.

"We have to have a culture shift at some of our schools," District Spokesperson Gabe Ross said. "Which is to reinforce at an early age that you have to be in 

Missouri Education Watchdog: Will Your Child's Iris Scans Head for the Clouds....Like the Army's?

Missouri Education Watchdog: Will Your Child's Iris Scans Head for the Clouds....Like the Army's?:

Will Your Child's Iris Scans Head for the Clouds....Like the Army's?

by stlgretchen

What is the Learning Registry gathering and sharing?

Why is the Department of Defense partially funding the Learning Registry?

The practice of iris scans being taken on children for "bus information and safety" was confirmed by the Polk County Board of Education.  These scans were performed and parental consent was not asked for nor given before the scans took place.  The company has assured parents the information has been destroyed but how does a parent know if this is true?  If information is sent to the cloud or stored elsewhere electronically, is it ever eliminated completely?  Who/what has access to this student biometric information?  Is there a digital footprint (or eye scan) student dossier hovering somewhere?

Gathering of biometric information and storing it in the cloud is not confined to the education industry.  The Army is also utilizing iris scans for data.  From Army’s Fingerprint and Iris Databases Head for the Cloud:

The next time U.S. soldiers snap a picture of your eye or scan your face, they’re likely to 

UPDATE: School Board Retreat + Definitions Seattle Schools Community Forum: Teens and Drunk Driving

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Teens and Drunk Driving - It's Prom and Graduation Season:

School Board Retreat

by Charlie Mas

The Schools Board met in retreat with the senior staff today to discuss, primarily, the Strategic Plan. While I could easily list a couple dozen quibbles (I could, don't challenge me on this), the meeting was, for the greatest part actually productive and useful. They did some tangible work, but they also did some very important intangible work today. The group went a long way towards coming together as a team. That's critical if this plan is going to be successful.

In the morning and early afternoon they spoke about the Strategic Plan. It isn't bad, it has some focus, and the staff appears sincerely committed to performing an effective implementation. That's all you can hope for.

From the mid-afternoon on, the talk was about working together. It was more candid than I expected. Respectful, 

Definitions

by Charlie Mas

At today's School Board Retreat a sheet with definitions was part of the packet. Some of the definitions may surprise you.


Academic Assurances provide students with equitable access to services, including general education, special education, English language learners, and state-defined highly capable education.

This is interesting because now you are only assured of what the law mandates. We used to have 

Teens and Drunk Driving - It's Prom and Graduation Season

This very sad video was made by the Issaquah Police Department and Eastside Fire and Rescue and was performed at Issaquah High School.

Watch it.  Show your teen.  Don't shrug and say "Kids will be kids" or "I trust my kid."

When my mother would express concern for me when I was a teen driver, I would tell her I was a good driver.  (I also did not ever drink in high school.)  She would look at me and say, "It's not your driving I'm worried about - it's the other guy's."

This video uses that concern to very good effect.

Schooling in the Ownership Society: While public ed suffers, private D.C. contractors ask, 'What sequester?'

Schooling in the Ownership Society: While public ed suffers, private D.C. contractors ask, 'What sequester?':

While public ed suffers, private D.C. contractors ask, 'What sequester?'

by Mike Klonsky

Life in the Ownership Society

Public education and the public sector in general is being devastated by sequester's budget ax.

But today's WSJ reveals how private sector federal contracting has created a new "gilded age" and  a new class of super-rich in and around the nation's capital. Journal writer Elizabeth Williamson describes an incredible mansion built in the suburbs of D.C. by technology billionaire Frank Islam who shrugs at the word sequester.

The sprawling compound is a product of Washington's Gilded Age—a time of lush business profits initially fueled by government outsourcing and war. Some demographers predicted the boom here would ebb as federal spending shrank amid troop withdrawals from the Middle East and efforts to trim the deficit...The explosion in government outsourcing has shoveled federal dollars from Capitol 

How About a Peoples' Policy Conference? - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

How About a Peoples' Policy Conference? - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

How About a Peoples' Policy Conference?

by Nancy Flanagan

So the future-policy-for-Michigan confab at Mackinac Island has wound down. The media's preferred word to describe the 2013 Mackinac Policy Conference seems to be "confab," so I'm going to go with that. Consider this: "confab" is short for "confabulation" which has two basic meanings: "an informal, private conversation" and"filling in mental gaps with fabrications one believes are facts."
So--confab is exactly right.
The usual confabulatory suspects were present and speaking, around this year's theme: How can we fix our utterly failed public education system which is not producing revenue for entrepreneurs?* The Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce chose K-12 Inc. Jeb for their keynote. Naturally, Michelle Rhee made an appearance. And the crowd went wild.
The Detroit Chamber has been sponsoring the conference for thirty-plus years, whisking politicians, journalists and gadflies on both sides of the aisle to a midweek, perk-fueled talk-fest that's supposed to generate new solutions for life's persistent questions--or at least, big issues in Michigan. Evidently, this requires lots of open