2-6-14 GoPublicSchool.com « An open discussion of public school issues. GoPublicSchool.com

GoPublicSchool.com « An open discussion of public school issues. GoPublicSchool.com:

Horrifying! Testing culture – Over the edge…

Family of dying Orange County student asked for proof from hospice to exempt him from FCAT test… WFTV-9  in Orlando, Florida… Read it. What do you think? Read and share comments here… The post Horrifying! Testing culture – Over the edge… appeared first on GoPublicSchool.com.

by GPS / 2min hide  //  save

Portland teachers vote to walk out Feb. 20

From Newschannel 8′s KGW.com “Teachers at Portland Public Schools voted to strike Wednesday night. A spokesman for the Portland Association of Teachers told KGW the vote was nearly unanimous. Teachers are required to give the district at least 10 working days notice before they could walk off the job. They voted to set the walkout date for Thursday, Feb. 20. If the district’s teachers walk off th

by GPS / 2min 

Blame and bully – Teachers unfairly forced out…

Kurt Kuban in Michigan’s Observer and Eccentric… “… The implication was the teachers informed their students to do poorly on the test so they would show improvement when they took the test again in the spring. As a result of this conclusion, the district offered Warnock and Traxler a deal – resign and get paid for the rest of the year. With little union backing, they decided to accept the deal, wh

by GPS / 1min 

Vergara v. California: The agendas, the facts…

Ben Spielberg at 34Justice… “Ted Boutros believes corporations that destroy lives with reckless policies should suffer minimal financial penalties in court.  Boutros’s partner, Marcellus McRae, proudly defends white-collar criminals.  Eli Broad pretended to support Proposition 30, a ballot initiative designed to prevent massive cuts to public education, while secretly funding the No on 30 movement

by GPS / 4h 

Teacher commitment that cannot be evaluated…

John Nichols in The Nation… “Teachers, parents and students are pushing back against high-stakes testing, over-testing and the fantasy that education is made better by preparing for, conducting and evaluating tests…” Read it. What do you think? Read and share comments here… The post Teacher commitment that cannot be evaluated… appeared first on GoPublicSchool.com.

by GPS / 4h 

NJ – First ratings for 20,000 teachers

Leslie Brody at NorthJersey.com… “The New Jersey Department of Education ushered in a new era for teacher evaluations statewide Tuesday by issuing ratings for roughly 20,000 teachers tied to students’ growth on state tests. Education Commissioner Chris Cerf said these ratings served as a “trial run” and would not count this year. Even so, many teachers in tested subjects have been anxious to see t

by GPS / 4h 

Truth about Shanghai schools: They’re terrible

Saga Ringmar in The Guardian… “The western world watches China’s rise as a formidable world-power with a mixture of awe and apprehension. Sci-fi films depict a futuristic world where Baidu.com is the new Google and Mcdonalds has been replaced by Grandma Wang’s Dumpling Emporium. And yet again Shanghai is number one on the Programme for International Student Assessment’s (Pisa) 2012 ranking list of

by GPS / 4h 

Many teachers blame students’ study habits…

Donna St. George in The Washington Post… “Many Montgomery County teachers blame student study habits for the high failure rates on math exams, according to a survey that also revealed educators’ concerns about grading policies that make it possible to fail a final exam but still pass a course. As county schools officials continue to delve into the causes of students failing some math finals at a r

by GPS / 4h 

A call to ignore exams when evaluating educators…

Al Baker in The New York Times… “A year after a switch to new standardized tests for public school students caused passing rates to plummet, leaders of both political parties in the New York Legislature on Tuesday called on the state to back away from plans to use those exams to grade teachers. In synchronized statements, Democratic leaders of the State Assembly joined Republicans in the State Sen

by GPS / 4h 

So just who is Tiffany Hardrick?

From Bob Braun’s Ledger… “Daryn Martin, the leader of the parent-teacher organization at Ivy Hill School, may go to jail because of a criminal complaint filed by Tiffany Hardrick, an assistant superintendent of schools in Newark who co-founded a New Orleans charter school.  So it’s a good time to ask just who this Dr. Hardrick is, why is she in Newark, and why she left New Orleans. The answer is–s

by GPS / 4h 

2-5-14 GoPublicSchool.com « An open discussion of public school issues. GoPublicSchool.com

GoPublicSchool.com « An open discussion of public school issues. GoPublicSchool.com: Tech’s diversity problem Is apparent as early as high school…Claire Cain Miller in The New York Times… “In three states, not a single girl took the Advanced Placement exam in computer science last year. In eight states, no Hispanic students took it. And in 11 states, no black students took the test…” Read it. What

by mike simpson / 8h 

2-6-14 empathyeducates - Trayvon’s Birth Date Marked With Possible ‘Stand Your Ground’ Case

empathyeducates:

Teflon, Fatalism, and Accountability

By Paul L. Thomas, Ed.D. | Originally Published at The Becoming Radical. February 6, 2014 One legacy of Ronald Reagan’s presidency is his being tagged the Teflon president, as Patricia Schroeder explained: As a young congresswoman, I got the idea of calling President Reagan the “Teflon president” […]

by empathy / 18min 

Down With Textbooks

Amy Conn-Gutierrez/AP Photo By David Cutler | The Atlantic. January 31, 2014 When it comes to teaching history, nothing destroys student interest faster and more completely than a heavy reliance on textbooks. During my first three years of teaching high-school history I would see students’ eyes glaze […]

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Trayvon’s Birth Date Marked With Possible ‘Stand Your Ground’ Case

Photograph; Sybrina Fulton’s Birthday Homage Tweet to her son Trayvon Martin Our children are dying by our own hand and we sanction their slaughter. Some may say standardized-tests do our young in. But what of the killings? What of the guns and the “ground” on which we […]

by empathy / 7h

empathyeducates – Common Core: The Standard That Dares Not Speak Its Name

empathyeducates – Common Core: The Standard That Dares Not Speak Its Name: Common Core: The Standard That Dares Not Speak Its NameHouse K-12 Subcommittee Chairwoman Janet Adkins proposed deleting Common Core from Florida Statutes so all the state’s education standards will be under one name. File photo by John IarussiBy James Call| Originally Published at The Current. January 31, 2014It’s not as O

by mike simpson / 8h 

Where inBloom Wilted | EdSurge News

Where inBloom Wilted | EdSurge News:



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Where inBloom Wilted

Lessons from inBloom’s difficult first year

Creative Commons

Judging by this recent headline in the Washington Post, inBloom is anything but in bloom.

Back in March 2013, inBloom had a big coming-out party at SXSWedu, with a posh room filled with suede white couches and promises of a game-changing data warehousing tool for U.S. school districts. The nonprofit had lined up nine state partners and was expected to spend the subsequent year building secure data services while wooing customers and edtech application providers. Optimism for the program was squelched, however, when Stephanie Simons of Reuters dropped an article that raised questions--and stirred concerns--about the non-profit, aptly titled “K-12 student database jazzes tech startups, spooks parents.”

“Spook” turned out to be a gentle way of putting it. InBloom wound up spending much of the past 12 months battling a bonafide mediastorm. Education reform critic Diane Ravitch  suggested that the non-profit is engaged in identity theft. Leonie Haimson, a parent advocate of 20+ years and founder of Class Size Matters, spearheaded efforts to get districts to cut ties with inBloom.

The bad press has proven costly. Six of those original nine state partners have cut official ties. Massachusetts is still deliberating over whether to use 

How Gates Foundation Helps Shape Public Education Policy | janresseger

How Gates Foundation Helps Shape Public Education Policy | janresseger:

How Gates Foundation Helps Shape Public Education Policy

Posted on February 6, 2014 by janresseger

Stephanie Simon has written a major article for Politico on the growing political influence of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Simon describes the Foundation’s investment in driving policy in public education: “About $400 million is spent in the U.S.—most of that on projects intended to transform education.  Those grants go to hundreds of research and advocacy groups that often work together to amplify the foundation’s voice and extend its reach into statehouses, schoolhouses and the U.S. Department of Education.”

Jim Shelton, now a deputy secretary to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and Margot Rogers, Duncan’s chief of staff during President Obama’s first term, both moved directly from the Gates Foundation into jobs at the U.S. Department of Education. “Both were granted waivers from conflict-of-interest policies to allow them to continue to work closely with the Gates Foundation  after joining the Education Department.”

What has the Gates Foundation accomplished in terms of its policy objectives?  “In K-12 education, Gates gets substantial credit—or in some quarters, blame—for the explosion in charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately managed.  He’s transformed the way educators are evaluated, putting much more emphasis on student test scores as a measure of 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The Whitenizing of Detroit

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The Whitenizing of Detroit:

The Whitenizing of Detroit

I'm heading to Detroit next week for the annual meeting of the North Dakota Study Group. I used to attend every year for at least part of the meeting. But since it was moved from near Chicago to Motown, I haven't been able to make the trip. But withdrawal has been tough. I miss hanging out with some of the best progressive educators and public intellectuals in the country who are doing some of the best democratic education and social-justice work -- people like 98-year old movement hero, Grace Lee Boggs, who will once again welcome NDSG to Detroit. So it's back on the road. Hope to see some of you there.

******

As everyone knows, Detroit has become the poster child for post-industrial urban devastation, corporate dis-investment (forced bankruptcy) and white abandonment. In Detroit and other hard-hit cities in Michigan, voters no longer have the power to elect their own local government and school systems have been privatized and handed over to corporate operators. I can still remember the chilling headline in the Detroit Free Press a couple of years back, which asked: "Is Detroit Public Schools worth saving?" 

Detroit’s population loss may even leave Michigan without a black representative in Congressfor the first time since 1955, a shift that would punctuate the erosion of African-American power in a region.

Michigan's Tea Part Gov. Rick Snyder

Now Michigan's Tea Party Gov. Rick Snyder is putting the finishing touches on his plan to whitenize(ethnic cleanse?) Motown by the further push-out of thousands of African-Americans and their systema

Portland Public Schools teachers vote to authorize a strike, walkout set for Feb. 20 | OregonLive.com

Portland Public Schools teachers vote to authorize a strike, walkout set for Feb. 20 | OregonLive.com:

Portland Public Schools teachers vote to authorize a strike, walkout set for Feb. 20

Portland Public Schools teachers gathered Wednesday to vote to authorize a strike. They've been negotiating with district leaders since April. (Emily Jan/The Oregonian)

Portland Public Schools teachers have authorized the first strike in the history of Oregon's largest school systems and set a walkout date: Feb. 20.

Hundreds of Portland Association of Teachers members gathered behind closed doors at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall Wednesday and emerged after about an hour with a firm yes vote to OK a walkout.

"We are sad but empowered," said Rosa Parks Elementary teacher Stephanie Windham. "It was an uproar. We are united."

The precise language they endorsed -- "PAT shall call a legal strike" -- sounds definitive, but the vote does not automatically trigger a walkout. Schools will be open and fully staffed Thursday.

Instead, Wednesday's decision gives union negotiators permission to authorize a strike if continued negotiations do not yield a contract. PPS leaders and union representatives are scheduled to meet in another mediation session Sunday. Union leaders will submit the required 10 day notification of a strike and plan to date the walkout Feb. 20, teachers at the meeting said. 

“We’re hoping that ... they’ll understand that we’re unified, and they’ll try to resolve this quickly,” said Michele Huffman, a second-grade teacher at Whitman Elementary in Southeast Portland.

In fact, Lewis & Clark law professor Henry Drummonds said, strike votes sometimes help labor and management come to a deal by upping the pressure to 

PPS CONTRACT TALKS

• Portland Public Schools teachers vote to authorize a strike, walkout set for Feb. 20
• Portland Public Schools teachers contract: Day of strike vote (live updates)
• Portland Association of Teachers to take vote that could lead to district's first-ever strike
• Portland teacher strike scenarios, peanut-free school debate: Parenting news in Portland and Oregon
• Portland Public Schools and teachers union finish Friday night mediation without a deal, plan to meet in February

solidaridad: Stoner Public Elementary School community to hold protest against corporate charter school co-location

solidaridad: Stoner Public Elementary School community to hold protest against corporate charter school co-location:

Stoner Public Elementary School community to hold protest against corporate charter school co-location

Press release – Stoner Elementary community to hold protest against charter school co-location that is creating segregation and safety issues on and around campus. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The Stoner Elementary community is mad and is fighting back against a planned expansion by the co-locating charter, Citizens’ of the World Charter Mar Vista (CWC), on the Stoner Elementary Campus. CWC has requested more classrooms and it is possible that they will take the Stoner computer lab, the speech & occupational therapist room, the book room and parent’s room. Taking anyone of these resources would devastate Stoner, a Title I school. The parents are also concerned that the co-location creates segregation on campus bring about many safety issues for their children. This week 168 signed letters from Stoner Parents were submitted to LAUSD this week pointing out their concerns regarding segregation and safety on campus. LAUSD has not responded. A PDF of the letters is attached. This will be the 3rd protest held against the CWC co-location at Stoner Elementary. WHAT: Stoner Elementary Community is holding a:       RALLY FOR STONER ELEMENTARY: better, safer school for our children WHEN: Friday, February 7, 2013 at 2:30 – 4 pm WHERE: on the corner of Stoner Avenue and Lindblade Street, 90230. [map] Media is invited to attend. There will be speakers. There will be signs. There will be chanting and drums. Most importantly, there will be calls for better schools, a safer neighborhood, and unity in the community. For more information visit: http://cwcmarvista-co-location-stoner-lausd.blogspot.com/ ___________ Stoner Elementary School has worked hard over the past few years to make itself a better school. We brought our API up to 811 and added two pre-K classes; We’ve had new murals painted beautifying our campus and old junk removed, providing more play space for our children; We’re looking to bring dual language and music programs to the school. Stoner is doing and looking a lot better, and I am proud to send my child to our community school, Stoner Elementary, but all the progress we have made might be derailed by the charter school co-location on campus. The co-location creates many problems for our children, parents and teachers including segregated conditions on campus, safety issues, and a lack of respect for our community. We have the following concerns: 1.      Our biggest concern is that since the two schools cover the same grades at the same location, they will be competing for enrollment of our community students. 2.      Stoner Elementary is Title I schoolwide. This means that large majority of our students come from an economically disadvantaged back ground. The co-location siphons key resources from our Title I school, depriving students of resource rooms, playground space, and library time. 3.      CWC is currently under-enrolled, yet has asked for more classroom space next year. It is possible that they will take the Stoner computer lab, the speech & occupational therapy room, the book room and parent’s room. 4.      The co-location creates segregated conditions on campus a.       LAUSD “…officials determined that the Braddock option [Main entrance] was not safe for the charter students.“? http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-karma-parking-20131104,0,2119984.story         i.      Why is the Braddock entrance not safe for CWC, but safe for the Stoner Children? b.      CWC threw a rock concert that could be heard throughout campus while our students were taking state standardized tests. CWC friends & family were invited. Even though they could hear the concert going on all morning and see the commotion during recess, Stoner students were not allowed to attend. The concert was a disruption and Stoner teachers reported the most bathroom requests ever during the event. Students reported having trouble concentrating on the standardized test, thus effecting the school and student’s future. 5.      CWC continues to endanger our students and has displayed a pattern of increasingly reckless behavior, including allowingsexual expression by CWC students a.       CWC allowed its parents to enter the shared school restroom in direct violation of posted signs stating “STUDENT RESTROOMS ONLY – NO ADULTS ARE PERMITTED IN THE RESTROOM” b.      CWC allowed sexual expression by students on campus: A Stoner parent found two CWC female students outside of class kissing, fondling each other and lifting up their shirts. When the Stoner parent reported it to the nearest CWC official, the parent was told that CWC would not do anything because CWC children are free to express themselves. c.       CWC has displayed a pattern of reckless behavior in regards to their entrance that has place Stoner students at risk.         i.      From Oct-Dec 2013, CWC had a combination lock on its gate and gave the combination to all CWC parents. This meant over 200 CWC parents had uncontrolled access to our students and campus.       ii.      After being ordered to remove the combination lock, CWC has been caught multiple times leaving its gate open and unattended for the convenience of CWC parents while disregarding Stoner student’s safety.     iii.      Recently, CWC officials were found leaving the gate open and unlocked to go on coffee run. 6.      Further lack of respect for our community and students a.       A CWC teacher had his class on the playground during Stoner student’s time. When the CWC teacher was asked to leave, instead of walking around the waiting Stoner students, the teacher marched the CWC students straight tough the group of Stoner Elementary Students, trampling the Stoner students backpack packs and sweaters. b.      CWC parents have harassed Stoner parents for voicing their concerns about the co-location, going as far as following Stoner parents home in an attempt to intimidate them and silence their concerns. ____________ WHAT DO WE WANT:             The Stoner parents are requesting that LAUSD deny CWC’s request for more classrooms for next year and are requesting that CWC’s co-location be terminated at the end of this school year. Since the co-location will continue this year, the Stoner parents are asking that LAUSD address the security issues immediately by rescinding CWC separate gate access, and requiring CWC to enter thought the main gate on Braddock. As a Lindblade Street, Del Rey resident, and Stoner Elementary parent, I invite members of the press to come and cover theRALLY FOR STONER. Adam C. Benitez Stoner Elementary Parent 11859 Lindblade St. Culver City, CA 90230 310-922-1176 adambenitez@yahoo.com

Stoner CWC Protest by Robert D. Skeels

Petition to Stop CWC Colocation at Stoner by Robert D. Skeels

All Standards will Be In Effect Until the Next Earthquake | Gatsby In L.A.

All Standards will Be In Effect Until the Next Earthquake | Gatsby In L.A.:

All Standards will Be In Effect Until the Next Earthquake

Posted on February 5, 2014

“The times, they are a-changin’,” Carlos Gordillo warns via email as we arrange for me to visit his Special Ed English class.  Since I talked to him a month ago, one of the small schools on his site has been closed, a charter middle school has made plans to move in, the principal has become site director, one assistant principal has abruptly been bumped up to principal and the other assistant principal has decamped for a job at a place simply called the Office of Instruction.

When Carlos meets me in the sunny administrative office of the sprawling Roybal campus, he shrugs, philosophical, when I ask him to explain.  The campus itself is a sprawling complex of gleaming modern buildings occupying 35 acres only a few blocks from downtown.  Begun in the late 80’s in collaboration with a prestigious architecture firm as part of a plan to ease overcrowding at Belmont High, a school in a high-poverty community serving mostly Latino and African-American students, whose enrollment had surged beyond 5,000, the LAUSD discovered almost a decade into the plans that the north side of the site had once housed an old oil field and was contaminated with methane and hydrogen sulfide.  Because methane in high concentrations can be explosive and hydrogen sulfide, if inhaled, can be toxic, the plans for the new Belmont High stalled.

You would think that when contemplating the relocation of thousands of children, a school district would decide not to expose these children to potentially toxic and explosive gases. You would be wrong.  Instead, the project was renamed, a sleight of hand commendable for its sheer ballsiness.  Don’t worry about those toxic, explosive gases!  Those were at