9-9-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Bill Thompson Hit The Brooklyn Streets Yesterday With Al D'amato Trolling For Votes

Bill Thompson left his UFT friends behind on this trip he took to Brooklyn to meet his neo-con friend, Al D'amato:At 4 p.m. yesterday, he gathered with a former Republican senator and conservative Jewish leaders in a roped-off avenue in Crown Heights. An hour later and just a mile away, he was standing in a Bed-Stuy shopping plaza, rallying with liberal African-American congressmen and members of

by reality-based edu... / 3min 

Bill Gates - No Tech Genius, Just A Ruthless Operator

Barry Ritholtz looks at why Microsoft is in such trouble and decides that it's because their monopoly status no longer holds.He then looks at how they got their monopoly status in the first place:Gates’s true genius was not as a tech visionary. It was his business acumen in leveraging a monopoly position in operating systems to become the dominant U.S. tech company. IBM gave the world its first PC

by reality-based edu... / 6min 

Bloomberg Wasted Millions On 911 System

He tried to hide the waste, mocked an audit that was to look at his vaunted 911 system upgrades - and now we see why:Less than a year after Mayor Bloomberg derided an audit of the 911 system as “stupid,” his own review revealed poor bookkeeping that resulted in up to $24 million in unnecessary payouts.The KPMG review, commissioned by the Mayor’s Office of Citywide Emergency Communications, conclud

by reality-based edu... / 19min 

Christine Quinn No Longer Leads With Any LV Demographic - Not Even Manhattan Voters

Azi Paybarah pointed this out on Twitter in the WSJ article about the Marist poll:Ms. Quinn no longer leads among any group of likely Democratic voters. Strikingly, in her home base of Manhattan, Mr. de Blasio is beating her 40% to 30%.Not much to say except "How the Mighty Quinn has fallen."

by reality-based edu... / 9min 

Final Quinnipiac Poll: De Blasio 39%, Thompson 25%, Quinn 18%

From Bloomberg News:Bill de Blasio has support from 39 percent of likely Democratic voters, just shy of the 40 percent he needs in tomorrow’s election to avoid a runoff with his closest competitor, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.De Blasio, 52, elected four years ago to the citywide watchdog office of public advocate, retains the lead among seven candidates. Former city Comptroller Willi

by reality-based edu... / 0min mark as read  //  save

NY Post: Andrew Cuomo Has Most To Fear If Spitzer Is Elected

A Post analysis of what happens if Spitzer is elected:Spitzer will take office owing nobody of consequence anything — which is another way of saying he’ll be free to settle old scores by the boatload.And that he will do, with gusto, predict a half-dozen veteran Spitzer watchers — not one of them willing to publicly cross a man on the cusp of regaining real power, a man who long ago raised vendetta

by reality-based edu... / 40min 

2013 Election: Predictions And Endorsements

Well, we're one day away from the Democratic primary.It has been one long, long, long primary battle.We have gone from Christine Quinn as the presumptive favorite to Anthony Weiner's toying with entering the race to the Anybody But Quinn folks launching anti-Quinn ads in April to Weiner jumping in the race in May to Weiner going ahead in the race in late June to beginning to look like a Quinn/Wein

by reality-based edu... / 2h 

9-8-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: NY Post Publishes Devastating Article About NYC Economy - Never Once Mentions Bloomberg As The CulpritHere's a taste of the Post article:New York City is stuck in the economic misery lane of middle-class jobs flight and an unemployed and underemployed class faced with long-term joblessness and rising hunger, according to the latest economic research. The city is emerging fro

by mike simpson / 9h 

9-9-13 Wait What?

Wait What?:

News Flash: Mystery solved: Pryor’s appointment of Adamowski as state employee will push up Special Master’s pension!

Governor Malloy and his Commissioner of Education have figured out a way to circumvent the Connecticut General Assembly and push up Special Master Steven Adamowski’s pension. As a result of a 2006 change in the Connecticut State Statutes, Steven Adamowski was able to serve for five years as the uncertified superintendent of schools in Hartford, […]The post News Flash: Mystery solved: Pryor’s appoi

5 by jonpelto / 14min 

Achievement First Inc. pushing Finch/Vallas slate in Bridgeport Democratic Primary

Bridgeport’s Democratic Primary to select Board of Education candidates will be held tomorrow and campaign finance reports filed last week reveal that Achievement First Inc., the charter school management company co-founded by Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor, continues to play a dominate role in the effort to control Bridgeport’s public education system. The latest effort […]The post Achie

4 by jonpelto / 33min 

9-8-13 Wait What?

Wait What?:  Commissioner’s Network Turnaround Plan: Strategy #1: “Increase fidelity”…As if calling Steven Adamowski a “Special Master” wasn’t odd and disturbing enough, a recent document coming out of Commissioner of Education Stefan Pryor’s office highlighted the bizarre, and quite frankly demeaning, approach taken by the corporate education reform industry when it comes to public education and

by mike simpson / 4h 

Forever young: the new teaching career:

Forever young: the new teaching career

By Valerie Strauss, Published: September 9 at 5:00 amE-mail the writer

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www.liveluvcreate.com

“Given that the focus of so much school reform is rightly on poor kids in underserved schools, and some charter organizations and Teach For America are particularly concerned about making a difference with such children …advocacy of brief teaching careers gets perilously close to moral quicksand.” So writes Mike Rose in the following post about how the teaching profession is being redefined by reformers who don’t think much of experience. Rose is a professor at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and author of several books. His latest book is “Public Education Under Siege,” which he co-edited with Michael B. Katz.

By Mike Rose

Imagine that you are about to move to a community where every service is provided by people who have four years or less of experience doing their work, and in many cases, the only training they received was on the job—so their training is included in that four years.  Your physician has a bachelors degree in biology—let’s even say a masters—and has been seeing patients for three years, learning by doing, in a clinic staffed by equally-experienced peers.  Your lawyer read the law for a summer and is in her second year of 

IDEAS THAT CAN GET YOU LABELED A RACIST AT LAUSD - Perdaily.com

IDEAS THAT CAN GET YOU LABELED A RACIST AT LAUSD - Perdaily.com:

IDEAS THAT CAN GET YOU LABELED A RACIST AT LAUSD

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

If knowledge is power, then understanding what is going on at LAUSD and in our public schools throughout the U.S. is the first step to real empowerment of those who seek to do something more than saying "Ya Basta".

To start out with, folks need to understand some of the basic and regrettable principles upon which the public education system is still based in 2013:

1. Those running public education in predominantly poor, inner-city communities of color throughout the U.S. have exactly the glorified daycare- not rigorous- public education system they want, which is necessary to keeping them in power.

2. If you educate the Latino in the manner that other immigrants coming to this country were educated over the previous two centuries, you will lose your cheap labor source and white people will have to take care of their own children and mow their own lawns.

3. If you want to sabotage the innate intelligence of Latinos whose ancestors built a civilization that lasted four times longer than the Roman Empire, understood astronomy, and had the zero for use in advanced math you must, at a very early age, make sure that students of color are inoculated with self-doubt from the moment they enter school.  This assures they will never reach their potential. 

4. The glue that keeps purposefully-failed public education together to ensure children of color and the poor do not reach their potential is the use of social promotion to move students through grade after grade without ever dealing with their deficits or providing mastery of the foundational skills they will need to be successful later on in

What I Will Say to My Son at the Beginning of this Strange New School Year | Parents United for Public Education

What I Will Say to My Son at the Beginning of this Strange New School Year | Parents United for Public Education:

What I Will Say to My Son at the Beginning of this Strange New School Year

Posted on September 9, 2013 by SHAI GLUSKIN1 Comment

Author Shai Gluskin with son Gabriel

I’ve been thinking of what to say to my son at the beginning of this strange new school year. Of course he and I have been talking a lot already, most of it in mutually outraged tones about the injustice of the situation.

But I feel there is another conversation needed in advance of my son walking into Central High School tomorrow.

I want to tell him about the horribly contradictory feelings I’m having. On the one hand, I desire disaster and chaos. Wouldn’t that prove to all the leaders who have let us down that you can’t starve schools and expect there to be anything like school! On the other hand, I want my son’s life to go forward in the most normal way it can; I don’t want him to get hurt or suffer because of the folly of state and local politicians.

There is no answer to that sense of internal conflict I have. And my son certainly doesn’t need to do anything to fix my turmoil. But I want him to know what I’m feeling.

And I want to learn from my son how he is feeling in advance of school. What are his fears? What are his hopes?

I want to warn him that the low staffing will put a lot of pressure on the adults, which means it is more likely that, out of their overwhelm, teachers/non-teaching assistants and administrators are more likely to make mistakes, like getting on his case for no legitimate reason. I’ll encourage him to give his teachers and all the adults as 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Duncan pleads ignorance on Justice Dept. civil rights suit against La. school vouchers

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Duncan pleads ignorance on Justice Dept. civil rights suit against La. school vouchers:

Duncan pleads ignorance on Justice Dept. civil rights suit against La. school vouchers

Louisiana school deseg suit? He claims he never heard of it. 

Arne Duncan came close to channeling the old-line southern segregationists last week, by publicly opposing so-called, "forced racial integration."  That was bad enough. But it also brought back horrifying memories of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, when Duncan called the devastating storm that killed thousands and displaced thousands more, “the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans.” 

What had enamored him with the storm was that by laying to waste the city's public education system, Katrina opened the door for Duncan's mentor Paul Vallas to crush the teachers union, fire every teacher in the district, and implant a system of privately-run charter schools. Post-Katrina New Orleans under Bush, would soon become the model for "reforming" school districts like Detroit, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

Duncan would later apologize for the transparency of his Katrina outburst. I know that there are some in his camp who are counseling him to "clarify" his forced integration statement, 

UPDATE: Twas the Night before Philly Schools Start - Philly in Focus

Twas the Night before Philly Schools Start - Philly in Focus:

Parents question safe routes to Philly schools

by Holly Otterbein for NewsWorks Safely steering kids to and from school is never an easy task. In Philadelphia, there's an extra challenge this year. As the School District faces an unprecedented financial crisis, about 9,000 of the city's 134,000 students will be heading to a new school because their former one was closed or consolidated in June. That means kids will be traversing through unfami

by thenotebook / 8min 

Twas the Night before Philly Schools Start

PHILLY DRUMMER ON DEMAND - FLOOD THE DRUMMER®'S GREATEST HITS An Ode to Philadelphia Schools

By Christopher “Flood the Drummer®” Norris

9.8.13: Philadelphia – (Education/Politics): ‘Twas the night before Philly Schools start and all through the city, tax-payers share the feeling of worry, confusion and pity.

The lies of the politicians were crafted with care; to make tax-payer believe long-term solutions will soon be here.

Unsuspecting students rest snuggled in their beds, while visions of music and arts classes danced in their heads.

With overcrowded classroom and no new books in sight, skeleton crews are already bracing themselves for the daily fist fights.

With not enough staff to tend to the matter, the only art on the walls will be a result of blood splatter.

Do you think this a game? Do you think this is funny? The only potential politicians see in our kids is the ability to make the jailhouse money.

Wise up my city and wake from your slumber, our politicians are getting richer and our kids are getting dumber.

With less than 1% of Black kids graduating from the School District with interest in STEM, the future our children under 

9-8-13 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

Seattle Schools and Arts Education - Part Two

(Forgot I wanted to fire this off so it's on the fly.)When we last left this discussion, the district had received a $1M grant from the Wallace Foundation to improve arts education in SPS.  The money was enough to allow surveys among parents and school staff, create a plan and then plan how to roll it out.The district did not get the implementation grant money (very few districts did) BUT the City

by Melissa Westbrook / 1h 

Grants Available for Family Engagement/Books

(Yes, I know I'm supposed to be gone but I saw this in my mail and wanted to pass it along to any interested groups.)The W.K. Kellogg Foundation yesterday announced a $5 million investment to identify and expand promising family engagement efforts that support early childhood educational success.Given your interest in education and family engagement issues, I thought you might be interested in sha

by Melissa Westbrook / 44min mark as read  //  save

School Board Retreat report

I spent all of Saturday - from 10:30am to 5:00pm - at the School Board Retreat along with the school board directors (except Director Martin-Morris who was at a school board directors conference in Washington, D.C.) and much of the senior staff.The morning session was focused on relationship and trust. The afternoon session was focused on setting the Board's priorities for the coming school year.

by Charlie Mas / 2h 

9-7-13 Seattle Schools This Week Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Charlie in ChargeDear Readers,I'm taking a brief, scheduled hiatus and have decided to not check in/post while I am gone. So Charlie will carry the banner for the blog.  He does have a full-time job so it's harder for him to post.  But I'm sure he will get the Tuesday and Friday Open Threads going. If you want to guest post, send it to him, he'll vet it and likely

by mike simpson / 2h 

NYC Public School Parents: Obama Taps DOE for Syria Plan B

NYC Public School Parents: Obama Taps DOE for Syria Plan B:

Obama Taps DOE for Syria Plan B

September 8, 2013 (GBN News): If Congress fails to approve an attack on Syria, President Obama is ready with a “Plan B”, according to a high level Administration source. Under this scenario, the President will put the bombing campaign under the auspices of the US Department of Education rather than the Defense Department.

In the President’s view, by using the DOE, the Administration could get around the war powers requirement simply by having Mr. Duncan grant the operation a No Child Left Behind waiver, which would not require Congressional approval. According to the source, the DOE has prepared thousands of Common Core Curriculum bombs, which are armed and ready to be delivered on cruise missiles by the US Sixth Fleet.

Some Middle East experts are saying that Mr. Obama’s plan could actually tip the balance in the Syrian civil war. J. Fredrick Mugson, political science professor at Manhattan University and a recognized authority on educational warfare, told GBN News that Syrian President Bashar Assad is reportedly panicked at the prospect of being 

John White Shoots Self in Foot with Loaded SLTs | deutsch29

John White Shoots Self in Foot with Loaded SLTs | deutsch29:

John White Shoots Self in Foot with Loaded SLTs

September 8, 2013

Former-TFAer and Broad-trained Louisiana “Superintendent” John White must broadcast something data-ish to demonstrate that He Is Right and Reforms Are Working. Mind you, his reforms are not working; they are a repeatedly demonstrated con perpetrated on Louisiana’s education system. Nevertheless, White insists on issuing the following press release regarding the “usefulness” of Louisiana’s first student learning target (SLT) result. White actually released this statement. I bolded the Dodo-race nonsense White promotes as Proof That the Reforms Are Working:

The Department of Education today released a list of schools across the state that had successful student outcomes and set a high bar for what students would learn during the school year. Yesterday, the Department released a list of schools with a high bar for excellence in classroom teaching, and today’s release highlights schools that have made a similar commitment to setting a high bar for the progress students are expected to achieve.

Each of the schools on the list was in the state’s top 10 percent for student improvement or overall achievement and at the same time had 20 percent fewer 

John White Shoots Self in Foot with Loaded VAM

Former-TFAer and Broad-trained Louisiana “Superintendent” John White must broadcast something VAM-ish to demonstrate that He Is Right and Reforms Are Working. Mind you, his reforms are not working; they are a repeatedly demonstrated con perpetrated on Louisiana’s education system. Nevertheless, White insists on issuing the following press release regarding the “usefulness” of Louisiana’s first val

26 2h 

More to come from… but speaking of Arne Duncan, CCSS and testing | Reclaim Reform

More to come from… but speaking of Arne Duncan, CCSS and testing | Reclaim Reform:

More to come from… but speaking of Arne Duncan, CCSS and testing

Posted on September 8, 2013by Ken Previti

Expect more insights to come with Diane Ravitch’s new book, Reign of Error. Arne Duncan’s machinations must be substantially updated considering how damaging he and his leadership have been to public education in the previous three years since Ravitch’s last book.

Arne Duncan was in charge of Chicago Public Schools for the years which are now pointed to as years of abject failure; that was when high stakes testing scores were plunging. Now 

UPDATE: Michelle Rhee’s Teacher Town Hall… Through A Student’s Eyes « inspirEDucation

Michelle Rhee’s Teacher Town Hall… Through A Student’s Eyes « inspirEDucation:

Michelle Rhee’s Teacher Town Hall… Through A Student’s Eyes

Michelle and I after the event when she spoke directly to me. Taken by Alexis Estioko.

Last Thursday, I met Michelle Rhee for the first time. After months of writing about her, researching her, and reading her book (which I couldn’t finish out of boredom), I finally got to see in person the woman I once adored and now completely mistrust. Not only that, but I got to speak directly to her. Needless to say, it was quite an interesting encounter.

Thanks to my network of support on and off line you’ve probably already heard about the speech that I gave to Michelle Rhee, Steve Perry, and George Parker during the Los Angeles Teacher Town Hall. But a lot went on before and after that I would like to bring light to now, especially for the folks who plan to attend the Teacher Town Halls in Birmingham, Alabama on 9/12 or Philadelphia on 9/16. 

Please use my experience to help you plan some sort of resistance. We need our voices to be heard.

In summary, the event was a complete disappointment. I came in expecting a vibrant and balanced discussion with equal opportunity for both sides to speak. After all, the word “conversation” was on the screen behind the panelists the entire night. By the end of the night, I seriously wondered if they even understood the concept of a conversation at all. 

Here’s a bullet-point breakdown of what happened:

Before

• In my apartment before the event, I made this poster:

• I also bought masking tape that I planned to put over my mouth during the event. I meant to allude to the incident where Michelle Rhee taped the mouths of her 1st grade students.
• When I arrived, I was greeted by members of United Teachers Los Angeles (LA’s teachers’ union) who were passing out flyers and holding up signs outside the library where the event was held. One of them was my friend Noah, who I met a few weeks back and am currently working with on a campaign called Schools LA Students Deserve. I also met the one and only activist teacher Alex Caputo-Pearl, who was recently fired from Crenshaw High for leading an educational program that taught students to *gasp* think for themselves and learn through a social justice/civic