2-5-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:

John Dillon. A fair tax in Illinois. Facts and terms.

- By John Dillon. From his blog, Pension Vocabulary A Fair Tax in Illinois? Facts and Terms to Use. Graduated or Gradient? – Looking for Accuracy in a Fair Tax for Illinois “This season affects me most – psychologically,” my wealthy friend Ernesto uttered between sips of cognac the other evening. “It has been a brutal winter, Ernesto,” I offered hopefully, “but the end is coming with each day’s

2 by Fred Klonsky / 37min

Glen Brown. Responding to “Thank you Dan Montgomery…”

- Glen Brown   I remember attending a Naperville School Board meeting in April of 2011. Robin Steans presented, and IEA Jim Reed sat quietly acquiescent. I wrote about it: We have to be careful about hidden agendas and assumptions contained in ideological prejudices. We must examine faulty cause-and-effect reasoning commonly used to castigate teachers for students’ failure. We must reflect on how

by Fred Klonsky / 17min 

Thank you Dan Montgomery, Robin Steans and Ken Swanson.

Dan Montgomery, President of the Illinois Federation of Teachers. Robin Steans, Director of Advance Illinois. Ken Swanson, former President of the Illinois Education Association. At the signing of Senate Bill 7, which took away previous teacher seniority rights, tenure rights and tied teachers’ performance evaluation to student test growth scores (VAM). This past week’s parent and teacher blow-

1 by Fred Klonsky / 28min

Chicago reminder. Ralph Martire at de Paul.

by Fred Klonsky / 1min hide  //  save

Ten minute drawing. The death of David Koschman.

by Fred Klonsky / 50min 

Free Scott Reeder.

You’re not going to believe this, but I am feeling a tinge of sympathy for Scott Reeder this morning. Democratic Party boss and Speaker of the Illinois House has banned him from the General Assembly’s press box. So has Democratic Senate President John Cullerton. They are claiming that Reeder is not a real journalist, but a shill for the right-wing Illinois Policy Institute. Which he is. The Demo

by Fred Klonsky / 35min 

Ice the ISAT.

  Art: Ellen Gradman.

by Fred Klonsky / 2h 

2-4-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Ten minute drawing. I did not have sex with that bridge.by Fred Klonsky / 1h The Cartoonist Laureate of Vermont.  Congratulations to our old friend Ed Koren on having been named the Cartoonist Laureate of Vermont.by Fred Klonsky / 1h hide  //  saveA Chicago testing hornet’s nest. Boycott the ISAT.  Gr

by mike simpson / 7h 

2-4-14 Wait What?

Wait What?:

Hello CT and Hartford officials… Is there anyone who will confront the lawbreakers?

Are there any elected or appointed official in Connecticut who have the courage and conviction to actually ensure the laws of this state are equitably enforced? Student-athlete recruitment by interdistrict magnet schools such as Capital Prep Magnet Schools is illegal in Connecticut.  (For example, see Sec. 10-220d.of the Connecticut General Statues). According to the Connecticut State […]The post

by jonpelto / 1min 

Diane Ravitch features Madison Superintendent Tom Scarice’s powerful letter on “education reform”

Diane Ravitch, the nation’s leading pro-public education advocate, has used her blog to highlight the letter Madison Connecticut Superintendent of Schools Thomas Scarice sent to his legislators about the failed education reforms that are being pushed through in Connecticut.  The letter is one of the most powerful statements to date about the failure of the […]The post Diane Ravitch features Madiso

6 by jonpelto / 1h  

2-4-14 Wait What?

Wait What?: Another Former Capital Prep teacher speaks out…The Hartford Board of Education will meet behind closed doors during tonight’s meeting to discuss Capital Prep Principal Steve Perry.  Rather than attend to his duties as a Hartford public school principal, Perry has missed 20 percent of the school days this year as he gallivants around the country giving speeches for hire.  If he […]The p

by mike simpson / 7h

@ The Answer Sheet 2-5-14

The Answer Sheet:

Virginia Senate votes to cut number of SOLs, delay A-F school grading

The Virginia legislature is on its way to delaying some school reforms pushed by the former governor, Bob McDonnell, and reducing the number of Standards of Learning tests students are required to take. The state Senate on Tuesday passed bills to reduce by about 25 percent the number of SOLs students take — from 34 to […]    

2 by Valerie Strauss / 1h 

America’s school funding problems, state by state

A new report on school funding reveals how uneven and unfair public school funding is in states across the country. The report, titled “Is School Funding Fair? A National Report Card,” looks at funding data from 2007 through 2011, analyzing the condition of state school finance systems with a focus on the fair distribution of resources to the […]    

3 by Valerie Strauss / 1h 

Ravitch: The ‘White House’s obsession with data is sick’

Education historian and activist Diane Ravitch has been blasting the Obama administration for a long time for education policies that have expanded the importance of standardized tests and promoted the privatization of public education. She was just in Washington to talk with U.S. legislators about the dangers of corporate-influenced school reform and she made some of her […]    

2 by Valerie Strauss / 57min 

Text of report detailing $100 million-plus needed for Common Core tests in Maryland

I recently wrote about a Maryland Education Department report that said the vast majority of schools in many of the state’s counties are not technologically prepared to give new online Common Core-aligned standardized tests, and  at least $100 million will have to be spent by 2015 to get ready. The report, done for the state legislature, […]    

1 by Valerie Strauss / 34min 

Yes, teacher morale really is low — despite a report to the contrary

The Center for American Progress, a Washington D.C. think tank, released a report recently that declared that teachers really aren’t all that dissatisfied with their jobs, despite, apparently multiple polls that show morale has plummeted. In this post Barnett Berry looks at how much sense that report really makes. Berry is the founder, partner and […]    

2 by Valerie Strauss / 34min 

Obama smacks Bill O’Reilly on school vouchers

President Obama often says things about school reform that suggest he hasn’t read up on the effects of his policies, but he knew his stuff on vouchers cold during an interview with Bill O’Reilly, effectively smacking down the conservative commentator’s wishful thinking with the facts. The Obama administration has steadfastly opposed vouchers, which use public […]    

23 by Valerie Strauss / 5h 

@ The Answer Sheet 2-4-14

The Answer Sheet: J.K. Rowling, please keep any Harry Potter afterthoughts to yourselfShortly after the last Harry Potter novel — “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” — was published in 2007, author J.K. Rowling revealed that one of the main characters, Hogwarts headmaster and master wizard Albus Dumbledore, was gay. There was no indication in the books that this was the case, so her disclosure

by mike simpson / 7h 

2-5-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

The Story of How Corporate Welfare Child Prison Operators Got Rich in Pennsylvania

AMY GOODMANDEMOCRACY NOW! / VIDEO INTERVIEWFrom Nation of Change:Published: Wednesday 5 February 2014“Kids for Cash” is the shocking story of how thousands of children in Pennsylvania were jailed by two corrupt judges who received kickbacks from the builders and owners of private prison facilities.Today a special on "kids for cash," the shocking story of how thousands of children in Penn

by Jim Horn / 20min hide  //  save

De Blasio: Not Just Another Bullshitter

It has to feel like Spring in New York in the middle of a snowstorm:  a progressive mayor elected to serve the people that Wall Street predators and casino capitalists forgot.  From DNAInfo New York:". . . . De Blasio sparked a political showdown earlier this month by rejecting Cuomo's offer to provide $1.5 billion for universal pre-K across the state over the next five years. Instead of usin

by Jim Horn / 1h 

BREAKING NEWS: Florida

Breaking NewsFlorida legislators follow renaming Common Core by replacing "turd" with "dandelion" in official state dictionary.More as details become available.

2 by P. L. Thomas / 1h hide  //  save

YESTERDAY

An Olympics Musical Break: We're Barefootin', with Bare Putin

(With apologies to Robert Parker)Everybody get on your feet, We can’t search you when you in your seatTake off your shoes, your coat, and your shirt, Let’s see you dance and no one gets hurt,We're barefootin', with bare Putin, We're barefootin', with bare Putin, Went to a party at a swinging yurt, Long Tall Sergei was quite a flirtThrew way his wig, and his high collar, too, He was doin’ a dance w

2 by Jim Horn / 10h  

2-4-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter: International Education JournalPlease visit and read the outstanding new issue of International Education Journal: Comparative PerspectivesVol 12, No 2 (2013): The local vernaculars of high-stakes testingReaders of this blog will find the efforts to unmask high-stakes testing of value.by P. L. Thomas / 3h 2-3-14 Schools Matter All WeekSchools Matter: Children should not be allowed

by mike simpson / 7h 

2-5-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida ALL Week

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education:

Will Costs Crush Common Core?

Perry Chiamamonte of FOX News reports that “states are learning the cost of Common Core is uncommonly high.” States will spend up to an estimated $10 billion up front, then as much as $800 million per year for the first seven years that the controversial program is up and running. Much of the cost is on new, Common Core-aligned textbooks and curriculum, but the added expenses also include teacher

by Bob Sikes / 3h 

2-4-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida ALL Week

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education: Common Core is promising “tests worth teaching to.From John Thompson in the Huffington Post: Test-driven reform has largely failed but, until recently, it was as great of a public relations success as anything that the billionaires’ bounty could buy. They branded teacher

by mike simpson / 7h