6-10-13 @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:

Why Do We Need 1.4 Million Corporate State Spies?

by Jim Horn

If you divide the number of K12 teachers (2.8 million) in the U. S. by 2, you get the number of corporate geeks and geekettes with top secret U. S. Government clearance who have privileges to invade our privacy in ways we never imagined. Booz/Allen/Hamilton, which is 70% owned by the infamous Carlyle Group from, […]

Can Someone Explain This NYSED Policy?

by antiqueteacher60

So, here’s the deal ………. in NYS, if you as a student, want a Regents Diploma with Advanced Designation, you MUST score 65 or better on a Regents Exam in a Language Other Than English. But, wait, in 2011 – NYS DROPPED FOREIGN LANGUAGE REGENTS EXAMS!! How does a student manage to get “Advanced Designation” […]

#Commoncore defenders, own it! It is a curriculum, and that’s that.

by Chalk Face, PhD

I have no problem with unvarnished assent to the common core. That’s between you and your therapist. But let’s get some things very, very clear. Actually, might I suggest some close reading of all the press, research, and commentary on the subject, because I’m not sure you’d be such a fan? In any event, the […]

Bill Gates and the Incubators

by Jim Horn

I know–it’s a great name for a band, but it is distinctly unmusical and no fun.  It’s about destroying public schools and the teaching profession in urban areas where children of the poor will be grown and behaviorally groomed in segregated corporate welfare hothouses. Who makes these cozy corporate nests possible? The oligarchs, of course, […]

Activism is the alternative

by Barbara Madeloni

Last week I was on a local radio program, Bread and Roses, to discuss the assault on public education in its various nefarious forms, and the possibilities of resistance, especially through grassroots union organizing. As I was discussing the ways that educators are being boxed in by shock doctrine tactics of depleted resources on the […]

6-9-13 @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 9 hours ago

@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER: [image: gears] A new one from @mornamcdermott, is it the blue or the red pill? #highered by Chalk Face, PhD Once again, a well-researched and detailed piece from Educational Alchemy. Quick question, and this is for higher ed: why the hell would college syllabi need to be aligned to common core? I thought being college and career ready meant you were, you know, ready for college and we could move on? Whose ridiculous idea is […] Another experiment: #edreform news briefs as WW2 propaganda reels by Chalk Face, PhD As if I don’t have other thing... more »

How Do You Keep a Scandalous Secret? |

How Do You Keep a Scandalous Secret? |:

How Do You Keep a Scandalous Secret?

from Student Activism by Angus Johnston

One thing about teaching community college history is that you wind up hearing quite a few conspiracy theories — some true, some mythical, some indeterminate.
When the subject of conspiracy comes up in my classes, one thing I sometimes say is that there are three basic ways to keep a scandalous secret a secret. First, you can make sure that very few people know it. Second, you can let a lot of people know it, but make sure they’re committed to keeping quiet. And third, you can let a lot of people know it, but set things up so that they don’t consider the secret scandalous.
The first of these three is the safest, of course. Someone who doesn’t know your secret can’t betray it. But it’s often hard to get a really good conspiracy going with a really small group of conspirators. This is a big reason that I’ve concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald probably acted alone — all of the posited alternative theories I’ve seen that account for all the circumstances of the assassination attempt require conspiracies so broad as to be likely unsustainable. Big secrets are hard to keep secret when lots of people know them.
Which brings us to the third, often neglected, way of maintaining a secret — don’t treat it as a big deal. The Tuskeegee syphilis experiments went on for four decades with an ever-growing list of practitioners, bureaucrats, 

UPDATE: Park Ridge schools don’t pay a living wage + The in box. Illinois’ spending cuts hurt the state’s economy. | Fred Klonsky

The in box. Illinois’ spending cuts hurt the state’s economy. | Fred Klonsky:

The in box. No living wage at the high schools either.

by Fred Klonsky

Fred,
Unfortunately the same is pretty much true at the high school level. I worked at a wealthy south suburban high school where paraprofessionals, cafeteria workers, and school secretaries were in a union. The highest IMRF pension earned is $26,995 for 35 years of service. The notable exception was an executive secretary at the administrative center who coincidentally was married to the superintendent and not in the union because she supposedly handled “confidential” information. After 39 years her pension is over $71,000 while her husband, the superintendent, earns over $195,000 after 37 years of service. He’s the highest pension earner in my former district. I won’t even go into what happened to the former custodians and maintenance workers who worked for 

Park Ridge schools don’t pay a living wage.

by Fred Klonsky

An article in NEA Today describes little-known national scandal. And a local one.

Had Marianne Murray taken an entry-level job at a fast food restaurant instead of with West Aurora School District 129 in Illinois, she might be earning a living wage by now.
“At McDonald’s, I might have gone into management,” says Murray, an office assistant to the principal at West Aurora High School. “By now, who knows where I’d be.”
Murray’s 33-year marriage ended last year, leaving her with only one paycheck to cover 

The in box. Illinois’ spending cuts hurt the state’s economy.

by Fred Klonsky

From the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.

ANALYSIS OF ILLINOIS FISCAL YEAR 2014 BUDGET General Fund Spending Cuts Harm Illinois Many of the fiscal problems that have plagued Illinois over the last decade remain apparent in the FY2014 General Fund budget the Illinois General Assembly passed. As detailed in the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability’s analysis of the state’s recently enacted FY2014 General Fund budget (Available here), these problems include an accumulated deficit ranging from $8.4 – $8.9 billion, a failure to invest adequately in basic core services like educating our children or caring for vulnerable members of society, and an ongoing structural imbalance between General Fund revenue

The in box. Did you take part in the ’63 Chicago Freedom Day school boycott?

by Fred Klonsky

PopoutKartemquin Films is making a film on the 1963 Chicago Freedom Day school boycott.
Did you participate?
If you did, they want to hear your story.

63 Boycott chronicles the Chicago Public School Boycott of 1963 when more than 200,000 Chicagoans, mostly students, marched to protest the segregationist policies of CPS Superintendent Benjamin Willis, who placed mobile school units on playgrounds and parking lot

Tony at the Red Line Tap.

by Fred Klonsky

“Three Floyds Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout.”
“I’m out,” said Marty.
“Hmmm. Russian River Pliny the Younger.”
“Didn’t get a delivery.”
“Jesus Christ. How about a Närke Konjaks Stormaktsporter?”
“Bingo!” says Marty.
“Room temperature,” I asked?
“Room temperature,” said Marty.
“Where

Ten minute drawing. The Huberman Clause.

by Fred Klonsky

Click on image to enlarge.

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 6-10-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Breaking News: Texas Governor Signs Bill to Reduce Testing

by dianerav

In a huge victory for students, parents, educators, and local school boards, Governor Rick Perry signed HB5, a bill that reduces the quantity of state-mandated tests. Up until the last minute, activists were fearful he might veto it. But Perry deferred to the huge public outcry against high-stakes testing.
Here is a statement by TAMSA, known popularly as Moms Against Drunk Testing:
Dear TAMSA members:
Today at 12:30pm, House Bill 5 became law with Governor Perry’s signature. Texas public schools can now 

Teacher: Governor Walker’s Punitive Policies

by dianerav

A high school teacher in Wisconsin looks at what Governor Scott Walker and the state legislature have in store for public schools. It bears mentioning that Wisconsin public schools have the highest graduation rate in the nation.
He writes:
I teach at a wonderful high school in La Crosse, WI. Here is what is coming for us as an early Christmas

For-Profit Operator in Ohio Wins Big Increase

by dianerav

David Brennan of White Hat Management operates a few dozen mostly low-performing charter schools for profit in Ohio. Since 1999, he has collected nearly $1 billion for his operations, which include virtual charters. Oh, yes, he is also a major contributor to Republicans, especially Governor John Kasich and legislative leaders. In budget

Jay Matthews: Why the Common Core Standards Will Fail

by dianerav

Jay Mathews writes a regular blog about education for the Washington Post. He has been writing about education for decades. His most recent book celebrates KIPP. He has been the guiding force behind the idea of ranking high schools by the number of students who take AP courses. One of the things I like best about him is that he changes his mind when the evidence changes. He gets enthusiastic about big ideas, but is willing to 

Camins: Two Roads Diverged in a Wood…..

by dianerav

“Two roads diverged in a wood,” begins one of Robert Frost’s most famous poems.
Arthur Camins wrote in 2011 about the fateful choice confronting American education. In 2011, he wrote:
“U.S. education is at a transformational moment. The choices we make will determine whether our schools become collaborative and democratic or prescriptive and authoritarian. The policies proposed by the federal government for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act will create some good 

Is It Possible to Do the Wrong Thing in the Right Way?

by dianerav

Here is a puzzlement (as the king said in “The King and I”).
Is there a right way to do something that is inherently wrong?
I think that it is wrong to judge “teacher quality” by student test scores.
Doing so undermines the quality of education.
It narrows the curriculum only to what is tested.
It encourages districts and states to attempt to test subjects that cannot be

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitch's blog 6-8-13 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG 

DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG

Diane in the Evening 6-9-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 10 minutes ago

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Schneider: Jindal in Hot Water in Legislature by dianerav Mercedes Schneider summarizes what happened to education bills in the Louisiana legislature this session. The good news is that the legislature is no longer rolling over for Jindal. Some of the damage of last year was undone by the courts and the legislature. Most surprising was the enactment of a “reverse parent trigger,” allowing charter parents to return their school to the district *LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 6-9-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discus... more »

Too big to certify: The Paul Vallas and Stefan Pryor Story - Wait, What?

Too big to certify: The Paul Vallas and Stefan Pryor Story - Wait, What?:

Too big to certify: The Paul Vallas and Stefan Pryor Story

by jonpelto

In Connecticut, your child’s school teacher must be certified by the State Department of Education.  Their guidance counselor must be certified.  Their school nurse must be certified.  Their school principal must be certified. The coach of their school sports team must be certified.

In fact, in order to serve as a school teacher or administrator in a Connecticut public school you must hold one or more of the certifications provided by the Education Department.  That is unless you are a “public” charter school.  Thanks to a $100,000 a year lobbying contract, charter schools managed to convince our elected officials, a few years back, to pass legislation that allows them to only have 70% of their staff certified.

But for the rest of us, the law is clear – 100% of the teachers and administrators must be certified.  You can find the all the various types of certification at the end of this blog post.

Where the National Security Agency isn’t so secret: Schools:

Where the National Security Agency isn’t so secret: Schools

By Valerie Strauss, Published: June 10, 2013 at 4:00 amE-mail the writer

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(www.nsa.gov)

The National Security Agency is the super-secret organization that has beenin the news because of disclosures that it has, for years, been conducting U.S. surveillance programs. But in at least one area, the NSA hasn’t tried to be so secret:schools.

The work of the NSA is based on highly advanced math, and the agency is the largest employer of mathematicians in the country. To advance its interest in seeing that more students graduate with high-level skills to do the kind of cryptological work done at the agency, it has outreach programs for students at every grade level.

The agency’s Web site provides the details, including a kids’ section called “America’s Cryptokids: Future Codemakers and Codebreakers.”

There is an entire academia section with links to programs that include:

What’s An Education Thought Leader? | My Island View

What’s An Education Thought Leader? | My Island View:

What’s An Education Thought Leader?

by tomwhitby

The position of education thought leader is not a job that someone applies for. There is no “thought leader certification”, nor is there a license required for the position. It is also not a job that one applies for. It is a title bestowed upon someone by other educators. For many years the quickest path to become an education thought leader was to become an author on an education topic. There were also speaker bureaus that would, for a fee, supply education thought leaders as inspirational, or keynote speakers at conferences or schools. Administrators attending large conferences would often return to their districts with the names of thought leaders that they had met or listened to for the purpose of bringing them into their own district to inspire or teach their faculty.
The process was fairly simple and understood by the people who controlled the policies and purse strings that secured the thought leaders for their speaking gigs. This was the way it was done for a long time until the computer slowly replaced the publishers’ self appointed position as the “determiner” of the thought leaders. The leaders group was not a large group, and very slow to grow. Consequently, it was possible to see the same 

“Education Will Break Your Heart” (Alex Russo) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

“Education Will Break Your Heart” (Alex Russo) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

“Education Will Break Your Heart” (Alex Russo)

by larrycuban

This is the season of commencement speeches. Most are forgettable but a few go beyond the familiar homilies of this annual ritual. Alexander Russo wrote  about one that triggered many thoughts about my half-century involvement in school reform. Russo is a journalist who publishes “This Week in Education.” He also wrote about the turning around of Los Angeles’s Locke high school in “Stray Dogs, Saints, and Saviors:Fighting for the Soul of  America’s Toughest High School.”
The best and most important commencement speech of the year was given by author Jonathan Franzen, not Conan O’Brian or Stephen Colbert. Franzen’s remarks at Kenyon College in Ohio were witty and smart like those of Conan and Colbert, but they were also much more intensely personal and human — and more powerful as a result. Even more importantly, they contained a message of great importance for educators and school reformers about how to tolerate such a daunting, heartbreaking endeavor.
In his speech, which the New York Times thought good enough to publish as an op-ed, Franzen delves into a key but usually unexamined issue around us: the psychological challenges of caring deeply about an issue that may or may not seem interesting or relevant or fixable to the rest of the world, and that may (probably) break our 

Jersey Jazzman: Jonah Rockoff Testifies at NJBOE: Part II

Jersey Jazzman: Jonah Rockoff Testifies at NJBOE: Part II:

Jonah Rockoff Testifies at NJBOE: Part II

by Duke

Here's Part I of this series: Rockoff talks teachers and baseball.

Let's get back to Jonah Rockoff's testimony at the NJ State Board of Education.

Popout

Rockoff's most famous piece of research is a paper he coauthored with Raj Chetty and John Friedman that was released last year: "THE LONG-TERM IMPACTS OF TEACHERS: TEACHER VALUE-ADDED AND STUDENT OUTCOMES IN ADULTHOOD" It is admittedly a fascinating piece of work, and I certainly wouldn't argue with its conclusions: teaching quality does matter and yields small but real and (somewhat) lasting effects in a student's life.

No, the problem with Chetty, Friedman, Rockoff isn't the paper itself; it's how the paper's conclusions were abused. As both Matt DiCarlo and Bruce Baker pointed out at the time - and as the paper itself cautioned - there was no reason, based on this study, for policy makers to start firing teachers based on their value-added scores. 

NYC Educator: Mayor Mike Says, "Children First, Always," Unless They Come From Queens

NYC Educator: Mayor Mike Says, "Children First, Always," Unless They Come From Queens:

Mayor Mike Says, "Children First, Always," Unless They Come From Queens

by NYC Educator

There's a federal program called Title 1 that's supposed to give support to kids who need it. Specifically, this is governed by how many kids in a given school are entitled to free lunch due to family income. I don't recall exactly how much it is, but last time I looked it was around 20K for a family of four.

But reformy Mike Bloomberg doesn't need no stinking rules, so he changes 'em. After all, if he didn't know everything about everything, why would he have all that money? So a few years back, Mayor Mike decreed that every school in the city needed to prove it had 60% of students eligible for free lunch in order to qualify for Title 1 funds. That's a big deal because another way Mayor Mike put Children First, Always is by relentlessly slashing their budgets.

However, in Staten Island, only 40% of students need to be eligible for a school to receive funds. Why? Who knows? Could it be because the PEP rep from Staten Island is the only one who tends to vote with Bloomberg'