10-3-13 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:

Portelos Hearing Update: DOE Lawyers Pass DOE Employees from OEO As "Public" While SCI Harass Portelos' Wife in Her School

...while SCI investigators harrass Portelos family members.SCI investigators have visited my father-in-law at his job during the summer and more recently visited my mother-in-law the day before my termination hearing started. Well, apparently SCI  Investigators Mr. Romano and Mr. Martucci are still going around visiting my family, including my wife today at her school.... Francesco Portelos @ Prot

13 by ed notes online / 27min 

Fred Smith Discovers Test Question About Bloomberg for Kindergarten Exam

This item was in consideration until the final edit of the pre-test that will be given in Kindergarten this month: Cartoonists often make a statement through caricature, which is defined as a representation, especially pictorial or literary, in which the subject's distinctive features or peculiarities are deliberately exaggerated to produce a comic or grotesque effect.Please study these two depict

1 by ed notes online / 7min 

Shame on "Journalists" Supporting E4E Closed Meeting Where All Had to Sign "The Pledge"

Panelists included journalists Ben Max (Decide NYC), Lindsey Christ (NY1), Sarah Garland (Hechinger Report) and Sarah Darville (GothamSchools). What does this say about these journalists? Teachers who do not agree with the E4E position are banned. We know that E4E supports every Bloomberg ed deform position and those allowed to attend must agree with the E4E position. So what are people who call t

1 by ed notes online / 6h 

Thursday Oct 3: Rally to Save I.S. 2 Staten Island

And the beat of co-location goes on. Thursday October 3rd @ 5:30 pm(Outside I.S. 2 on Midland Ave)Followed by a DoE PUBLIC HEARING @ 6:30PMat I.S. 2 in the AuditoriumWe need every student, parent, teacher, elected official and community member on Staten Island to raise their voice and be heard!Laura E. Timoney(O) 718.987.6411(C) 917.667.2711Laura@Timoney.com

2 by ed notes online / 6h mark as read  //  save

Video: Leonie Haimson and Jia Lee at CEC 15 High Stakes Testing Forum

Everyone knows Leonie. More and more people are getting to know Jia, who represented Change the Stakes and MORE on the panel. Amazing that I only met Jia in April 2012 when she attended a GEM/CTS forum with Carol Burris, Leonie, Gary Rubinstein and more. I'm posting the video in small chunks. More to come.

2 by ed notes online / 6h 

Join Me and Other MOREistas This Saturday at MORE Brunch

Do I have to tell you if you are a NYC teacher that the only way to have a chance to turn the tide of ed deform is to capture leadership of the UFT/AFT. Now that may be a long march I may not live to see but the first step is building a viable democratically run alternative with a MORE rep in as many schools as possible. Let me emphasize "democratic." If we could win power by being like

1 by ed notes online / 6h 

9-30-13 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: TODAY: Portelos Hearing, Protest Eva Invasion of Seth Low, High Stakes Test Forum at PS 51KOy! On a beautiful day that I would love to be spending in my backyard contemplating my little garden construction project that has become my obsession (contemplate, not do actual work on it -- but look for a photo soon to show where I am at with it) I am about to leave for the Portelos hear

by mike simpson / 3h 

10-3-13 @ THE CHALK FACE

@ THE CHALK FACE:

Secretary Duncan Answers Critics

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan—who has no experience in education except through political appointments (and being a student himself)—has in the last several months chastised newspaper editors and what Duncan has labeled “armchair pundits” (who, for the record, tend to be k-12 public school teachers, teacher educators, education historians, scholars, and researchers; in other words, […]

5 by plthomasedd / 7min 

More on LAUSD: Bond Money, Aquino, Broad, and (Again with) Pearson

Yesterday, I wrote a post on some of the conflicts of interest and obvious profiteering posed by the involvement of Deasy, Apple, Pearson, and Gates in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) iPad fiasco. In this post, I examine more of the situation as I reflect upon issues raised by the June 2013 Los Angeles Daily News article cited […]

by deutsch29 / 44min 

10-2-13 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: Dear Secretary Mister Duncan, SirMy name is Jill O’Malley Conroy, and five months ago today I became one of those “arm chair pundits” you described to our fellow Americans yesterday. My alternate name in this “alternate universe”, or “blogosphere”, as you also dubbed it, is The Indignant Teacher. My goal as such right now is to make sure our […]by jillconroy / 51min 10-1-13 @ The

by mike simpson / 7h 

10-3-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Bloomberg In The Sky With Soft Drinks

Just a little reminder of all the goodness that Mike Bloomberg has brought us as mayor.

by reality-based edu... / 12min mark as read  //  save

No Wonder The Education Reformer Don't Want Kids Reading Literature Anymore

From the NY Times:Reading Chekhov for a few minutes makes you better at decoding what other people are feeling. But spending the same amount of time with a potboiler by Danielle Steel does not have the same effect, scientists reported Thursday. A striking new study found that reading literary fiction – as opposed to popular fiction or serious nonfiction – leads people to perform better on tests th

by reality-based edu... / 1h 

NYCDOE To Put Statues Of Mayor Bloomberg In Every City School Before Bloomberg Leaves Office On December 31

Following the news that the NYCDOE gave a performance assessment test to seventh graders asking the students to rate the success of our Dear Leader, Mayor Bloomberg, Perdido Street School blog can reveal that the NYCDOE has drawn up plans to put a bronze statue of their hero, Mayor Bloomberg, in every school in the city before Bloomberg leaves office at the end of December.The statues will depict

by reality-based edu... / 1min 

Bloomberg DOE Makes Mayor Bloomberg Subject Of City Test That Will Be Used To Evaluate Teachers

All hail our Dear Leader, the Great Bloomberg!New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is often the subject of debate — but now he’s the subject of an essay question that forces students in the schools he controls to rate his career.The question, part of new city-created exams being administered in public schools this fall, asks seventh-graders to read a recent speech made by Bloomberg and write about whe

by reality-based edu... / 13min 

De Blasio Up 50 Percentage Points In Q Poll

I thought the race would tighten, especially after all the attacks on de Blasio.Judging by thenumbers in the new Q-poll, I was wrong about that:Democrat Bill de Blasio is leading Joe Lhota 71-21% among likely voters in a Quinnipiac Poll released Thursday morning, a stunning 50-point lead that could prove difficult to overcome with just weeks to go in the mayor's race."These numbers say Public

by reality-based edu... / 30min 

More Andrew Cuomo Corruption News - Moreland Commission Edition

Cuomo said the Moreland Commission could look at anybody's campaign fundraising - including his own.But he's hiding something here: Gov. Cuomo’s anti-corruption commission killed a subpoena to the Cuomo-controlled state Democratic party, the Daily News has learned. The subpoena was to seek information on the party’s spending from its “housekeeping” account, sources said. The account raised millio

by reality-based edu... / 1h mark as read  //  save

De Blasio Very Skillfully Ties Lhota To The Tea Party

Last night I posed that I thought de Blasio should attack Joe Lhota for his temperament rather than his past allegiance to Barry Goldwater and William F. Buckley Jr., saying that many New Yorkers may not care about Conservative icons from the past and what Lhota's allegiance to them says about his candidacy.But de Blasio managed to hit Lhota over this yesterday very skillfully: In a blistering bro

by reality-based edu... / 4h 

10-2-13M Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Cuomo To Appoint Pataki, McCall To "Tax Cut Task Force"Anybody who thinks a Mayor de Blasio is getting a tax increase on rich people in Governor Andrew Cuomo's re-election year should take note of this news: ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo is turning to the Republican who defeated his father to come up with ways to cut taxes, the Daily News has learned. In a surprising announc

by mike simpson / 10h 

Happy Connected Educator Month: A Day in the Life | toteachornototeach

Happy Connected Educator Month: A Day in the Life | toteachornototeach:

Happy Connected Educator Month: A Day in the Life 

by Rob Furman

October has been deemed “Connected Educator Month” by the U.S. Department of Education. In an effort to do my part, I wanted to share a thought about the current state of technology — or maybe you could call it a dream.

Futurists discuss the certainty of our students using only tablets for everything in school in the very near future. If every child had a tablet, think of the possibilities.

Let me share the dream:

The students arrive at homeroom and check in to school via their tablets. They then choose their lunch options and, via the tablet, the information for attendance and lunch count end up in the office.

Math is the first subject on the schedule and every student is getting differentiated instruction via their tablet that is custom designed for their needs. At one point the teacher of the flipped classroom pauses the class and asks everyone to go to an app and watch a 

Diane Ravitch on the great education-reform swindle - Sacramento News & Review - October 3, 2013

Sacramento News & Review - Diane Ravitch on the great education-reform swindle - Bites - Opinions - October 3, 2013:

Diane Ravitch on the great education-reform swindle

This country's schools aren't failing. In fact, students are performing better than ever.

By Cosmo Garvin 
cosmog@newsreview.com

Read 1 reader submitted comment

This article was published on 10.03.13.

Advertisement

Public-school advocate Diane Ravitch came to the Memorial Auditorium last Friday, supporting her new book, Reign of Error. The local press decided this wasn’t newsworthy. Sure, Ravitch is a major figure in education policy right now, and, sure, Reign debuted at No. 10 on The New York Times Best Sellers list.
And, sure, there’s a strong local connection. The book includes a whole chapter on Sacramento’s own self-styled “radical” reformer Michelle Rhee. Mayor Kevin Johnson appears in the book as well, when Ravitch explains how he pushed charter schools at the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
The Sacramento Bee had more important things to cover last week, however. For example, Bites counted at least five Bee bylines all over Shaquille O’Neal’s visit to the Capitol. Rather than covering Ravitch, the Bee instead gave a chunk of opinion-page space to the CEOs of two charter-school advocacy groups, so they could pan the book and tell readers how great charter schools are.
Not surprising then, that Ravitch finds the media are mostly terrible at reporting on education issues. By her lights, they are actively perpetuating the hoax that “our schools are failing” and must therefore be turned around, shut down, privatized, 

solidaridad: An event with both FairTest's Monty Neill, and MAP boycott organizer Jesse Hagopian? Yes!

solidaridad: An event with both FairTest's Monty Neill, and MAP boycott organizer Jesse Hagopian? Yes!:

An event with both FairTest's Monty Neill, and MAP boycott organizer Jesse Hagopian? Yes!

A recent fact sheet from FairTest challenges some of the myths about the coming Common Core tests:
http://fairtest.org/common-core-assessments-factsheet

Myth: Common Core tests will be much better than current exams, with many items measuring higher-order skills.
Reality: New tests will largely consist of the same old, multiple-choice questions.
Proponents initially hyped new assessments that they said would measure – and help teachers promote – critical thinking. In fact, the exams will remain predominantly multiple choice. Heavy reliance on such items continues to promote rote teaching and learning. Assessments will generally include just one session of short performance tasks per subject. Some short-answer and “essay” questions will appear, just as on many current state tests... The prominent Gordon Commission of measurement and education experts concluded Common Core tests are currently “far from what is ultimately needed for either accountability or classroom instructional improvement purposes” (Gordon Commission, 2013).

Jesse Hagopian, a teacher at Garfield High School in Seattle, will describe how he and his colleagues decided to embark on a risky boycott of a mandated standardized test that was to be used as part of their evaluations, how they gained national support, and how they won.  Here's an interview with Jesse from Democracy Now!http://www.democracynow.org/2013/5/20/seattle_teachers_students_win_historic_victory.  As the Garfield teachers wrote in their boycott statement:

"We are not troublemakers nor do we want to impede the high functioning of our school. We are professionals who care deeply about our students and cannot continue to participate in a practice that harms our school and our students. We want to be able to identify student growth and determine if our practice supports student learning. We wish to be evaluated in a way so that we can continue to improve our practice. The MAP test is not the way to do any of these things. We feel strongly that we must decline to give the MAP test even one more time."

Hope you can join us to hear from Monty, Jesse, and our other amazing panelists tomorrow night!

Teaching for Liberation or Teaching to the Test?
Thursday, October 3rd from 6-8pm. 
UTLA auditorium at 3303 Wilshire Blvd. 
Refreshments and childcare will be provided.

Featured speakers include:

• Jesse Hagopian, a leader of the Seattle testing boycott
• Maday Martinez-Molina, student activist from the Schools LA Students Deserve Campaign
• Martha Ramirez and Stephany Ortiz, student activists with the Politics and Pedagogy Collective
• Cathy Garcia, formerly of Crenshaw High, activist in Progressive Educators for Action
• and Monty Neil from FairTest, a national organization that fights against unfair high-stakes testing

Here are some links with more information on each of the panelists and a flyer to invite others to this event:

Politics and Pedagogy Collective: https://www.facebook.com/politics.pedagogy

Jesse Hagopian, a leader of the successful Seattle teachers' boycott against the MAP test:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/05/16/seattle-teachers-boycotting-test-score-a-victory/

Monty Neil of FairTest - an organization that fights against unfair high-stakes testing: http://fairtest.org/

Cathy Garcia formerly of Crenshaw High School: http://rethinkingschoolsblog.wordpress.com/2012/11/13/crenshaw-high-and-the-battle-over-school-reform/  and PEAC: http://www.progressiveeducatorsforaction.com/

Schools LA Students Deserve Campaign: http://www.schoolslastudentsdeserve.com/

Sponsored by Progressive Educators for Action, Coalition for Educational Justice, The Schools LA Students Deserve Coalition, Politics and Pedagogy Collective, and the Union Power Coalition. 

UPDATE: Who’s minding the people who are supposed to be minding the schools?

Who’s minding the people who are supposed to be minding the schools?:

Who’s minding the people who are supposed to be minding the schools?

By Valerie Strauss, Published: October 3 at 5:00 amE-mail the writer

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(David Paul Morris / Bloomberg)

Who’s minding the people who are supposed to be minding the schools?

Let’s look at two debacles involving schools, one on the West Coast and one on the East, that are symptomatic of problems around the country.

My colleague Emma Brown wrote in this story that  three former managers of the Options Public Charter School in Northeast Washington — the city’s oldest charter school — have been accused of enriching themselves with at least $3 million of public money that was supposed to be used to help some of the District’s most troubled teens and students with disabilities. The managers created for-profit companies that won contracts from the school and charged very high prices.

A civil lawsuit alleges that they did this with the help of a senior official at the D.C. Public Charter School Board, which is a non-elected entity that has financial oversight over charter schools in the District of Columbia. Charter schools, which operate outside of the traditional public school district, have their own administration and boards. They now enroll more than 40 percent of D.C. students and get more than $500 million in public funds every year to operate.

And it turns out, according to the lawsuit, that salary and bonuses for the chief

Stop blaming James Madison for the shutdown

James Madison, the principal author of the U.S. Constitution and the fourth president of the United States, is suddenly getting prime-time attention over his supposed role in the current government shutdown (even though he died 177 years ago). Read full article >>    

1 by Valerie Strauss / 9min 

The ‘grand illusion’ in reading

This is the fourth in a series of posts I have run over the past month or so about the “reading wars,” or, how to most effectively teach students to read. The wars were long fought between proponents of direct … Continue reading →    

2 by Valerie Strauss / 4h 

Parents United sends hundreds of complaints to PA Secty. of Education | Parents United for Public Education

Parents United sends hundreds of complaints to PA Secty. of Education | Parents United for Public Education:

Parents United sends hundreds of complaints to PA Secty. of Education

Posted on October 2, 2013 by PARENTSUNITEDPHILALeave a comment

Today, Parents United for Public Education and the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia fed-exed 260 individual complaints to the PA Secretary of Education about program and curriculum deficiencies we believe to be in violation of the Pennsylvania code. We expect to mail another 100 claims at the end of this week. The complaints were collected in just two weeks time and is a bare indicator of the scope of harm happening to public school children in Philadelphia.

The documentation of the direct harm of irrational and arbitrary budget cuts demands immediate relief from the state and its agent, the SRC. Gov. Tom Corbett today sits on $45 million in federal funds designated for Philadelphia. It is unconscionable and we believe illegal for the governor to deny children the basic education outlined in the Pennsylvania state code and constitution.

Tomorrow, we will be unveiling an online complaint site where parents, students, staff, volunteers, and concerned Philadelphians can file complaints. The site was done with the assistance of Media Mobilizing Project. Numerous organizations citywide are supporting this effort to help families and others file formal 

 

File an online complaint! www.myphillyschools.com

File an online complaint today at http://www.myphillyschools.com   Today, Parents United for Public Education, Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, and Media Mobilizing Project unveil a new website designed to take online complaints: www.myphillyschools.com MyPhillySchools.com will allow you to file a complaint from anywhere. The complaint will be sent directly to the Acting Secretary of Ed

by parentsunitedphil... / 6h