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

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

GPS Reader Viewpoint – Mike Weston…

Hillsborough County, FL (Tampa) is home to the 8th largest district in the country with 15,000 teachers and a $3 billion budget. The Gates funded teacher evaluation system is an emotional nightmare for teachers… Here is Florida BAT Admin. Mike Weston with some note on what is coming soon to your district… If Excessive testing is worthwhile, it must be worth doing to excess! How the nation’s eighth

by GPS / 1h 

Big $ – Who exactly is buying our public schools…

Jessie Ramey at Yinzercation… “The way some of them throw around the green stuff, you’d think corporate-style education reformers were made of money. Oh wait. Some of them are. As Big Money plays a bigger and bigger role in shaping public education, it can be hard to keep all the players straight – from wealthy individuals, to foundations, superPACs, astroturf groups and corporations. Here’s a han

9 by GPS / 4h 

Are our high schools are a disaster?

Laurence Steinberg at Slate… “Every once in a while, education policy squeezes its way onto President Obama’s public agenda, as it did in during last month’s State of the Union address. Lately, two issues have grabbed his (and just about everyone else’s) attention: early-childhood education and access to college. But while these scholastic bookends are important, there is an awful lot of room for

3 by GPS / 4h 

S.F. seen as model in bilingual education…

Jill Tucker in The San Francisco Chronicle… “In the 15 years since voters essentially banned bilingual education in state schools, teaching English learners to read, write and do arithmetic first in their native language has nearly disappeared from California classrooms. Since Proposition 227 overwhelmingly passed in June 1998, it’s been all about learning English, first and foremost – but not in

by GPS / 4h 

The school that Is changing American education…

Rana Foroohar at Time.com… “Two years ago, I visited a school in Brooklyn called P-TECH, the Pathways in Technology early college high school, which seemed very much like the future of education to me. It knitted together educators and job creators, and gave kids not only a high school degree, but a two-year associates degree and a job guarantee at one of the country’s top blue chip firms, IBM. In

by GPS / 4h 

Common Core – Asphyxiating education…

Robert Koehler at The Huffington Post… “Things are getting worse in the American classroom, not better. The experts and the special interests purporting to fix the educational system are continuing, instead, to asphyxiate it… Read it. What do you think? Read and share comments here… The post Common Core – Asphyxiating education… appeared first on GoPublicSchool.com.

7 by GPS / 4h 

Snow Day? That’s Great. Now Log in. Get to Class.

Al Baker in The New York Times… “As classrooms become more electronically connected, public schools around the country are exploring whether they can use virtual learning as a practical solution to unpredictable weather, effectively transforming the traditional snow day into a day of instruction…” Read it. What do you think? Read and share comments here… The post Snow Day? That’s Great. Now Log in

by GPS / 4h 

2-14-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

De Blasio Has His Work Cut Out For Him

Everywhere I went today, I kept hearing variations on the same theme:De Blasio is an idiot.Heard it at Starbucks, heard it on the train, heard it in the elevator in my building, heard it at work - de Blasio is in over his head, we miss Bloomberg.In the past, I might have defended Mayor de Blasio and pointed out Bloomberg's past foibles, including the "Go See A Broadway Show" debacle from

by reality-based edu... / 18min 

What The UFT Should Do Over Snow Day Debacle

James Eterno at ICEUFT blog has a great idea:What are the UFT and other school worker unions going to do about making us whole?What the unions should be demanding now is that people who made it in should be given an extra day in their sick banks and those who stayed out should not have a day deducted from their sick banks for missing school.Alas, I doubt very much the UFT leadership will make thes

by reality-based edu... / 1h 

Here's Hoping The Snow Debacle Is Not An Indication Of The Future Direction At Tweed

I bet Carmen Farina's wishing she stayed retired right about now- here's how the Daily News framed yesterday's "It's A Beautiful Day!" debacle: Ten inches of snow. School buses colliding with cars. Half empty schools. “It’s absolutely a beautiful day out there,” beamed New York Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña. The clueless chancellor added insult to inclement weather with that head-scr

by reality-based edu... / 4min 

Sheriff Andy Smiling Today

After de Blasio's self-inflicted school closure mess, Sheriff Andy is smiling wide:Gov. Cuomo on Thursday said  Mayor de Blasio’s city-centered plans for prekindergarten will not pass muster with state lawmakers. Cuomo, during a conference to update reporters on storm conditions, used some of his strongest language to date to criticize the mayor’s Pre-K proposals and predicted it would not win app

by reality-based edu... / 5h

2-13-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Craig Allen: Worst Of The Snow To Come, No Time To "Play A Hero"Just heard Craig Allen on WCBS 880 that the worst of the storm is yet to come, we will be getting heavy bands of snow through late morning or early afternoon before the rain line finally hits the city.He actually said this is no time to play a hero just because a boss, like the NYC school system, wants

by mike simpson / 8h 

A Peek into How the Education Sector Works | janresseger

A Peek into How the Education Sector Works | janresseger:

A Peek into How the Education Sector Works

Posted on February 14, 2014 by janresseger

Many of us have the sense that profit has become increasingly involved in the world of education, but while the term “education sector” has come into our lexicon, we have only the vaguest idea about the many ways profit is driving privatization in and around our public schools.  Nor do we really understand how the for-profit education sector is wound together with the operation of laws and policies like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.

A new article, For Education Entrepreneurs, Innovation Yields High Returns: Learning from Larry Berger, Jonathan Harber, and Ron Packard, posted on the website of conservativeEducation Next, helps fill in the gaps about the growing role of venture capital and for-profit corporations in education.

Writer Julie Landry Petersen describes the struggles and frequent failures of many private education companies over the past 25 years, but contends that, “the economics of education investing are changing.  Schools are now wired and have accountability incentives to invest in technology to boost student achievement, while teachers are ready to experiment with new tools.  For start-ups, hardware costs have come down and software is cheaper than ever to develop.  Longtime education banker Michael Moe of GSV Capital says a higher quality of entrepreneurs is entering the space. Consequently, education technology companies raised $1.1 billion in funding from venture capitalists in 2012, more than double the amount raised 

Correcting the Oklahoma Chamber’s False Claims About Common Core | Truth in American Education

Correcting the Oklahoma Chamber’s False Claims About Common Core | Truth in American Education:

Correcting the Oklahoma Chamber’s False Claims About Common Core

Filed in Common Core State Standards, Education at State Level by Jenni White on February 14, 2014 • 0 Comments

• 2

Recently, the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce produced a brochure called, "Preparing Students for Success"

Please note the blue square in the bottom of page 2 which says, "Case Study".  This is a case study on Kentucky.  Here, the Chamber of Commerce gives us the exciting CLAIM that Kentucky’s educational scores have risen dramatically since the Common Core State Standards were fully implemented in Kentucky. 

After just one year, the percentage of Kentucky students graduating college and career ready increased from 34 percent to 47%, and for the first time, the state scored above the national average on national tests, including the ACT.

Having at least a working knowledge of statistics, I KNOW there is no way to extrapolate (let alone determine) any correlation among something as diffuse as standards (or curricula) and educational achievement on national tests in one year’s time.  There are simply too many moving parts – too 

Testimony Regarding Proposed Nebraska English Standards

This is testimony given by Henry Burke to the Nebraska State Board of Education on February 3, 2014.  They had studied their standards alignment with the Common Core State Standards.  Henry Burke is a Civil Engineer  with a B.S.C.E. and M.S.C.E.  He has been a Registered Professional Engineer (P.E.) for 37 years and has worked as a Civil Engineer in construction for over 40 years. Proposed Nebrask

by Shane Vander Hart / 7h 

New professional standards for CA principals approved :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet

New professional standards for CA principals approved :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:

New professional standards for CA principals approved

by Tom Chorneau

(Calif.) Setting a clear expectation that schools should be a place of safety and fairness, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing adopted Thursday new standards for school principals that embrace restorative justice practices.

The standards, adopted more than a decade ago as some of the first in the nation to set comprehensive goals for school leaders, are intended to serve as a basis for measuring competence throughout the career of today’s site principals, district administrators and county level managers.

Although a key element of the new standards is a series of non-binding example indicators, architects of the program said the detailed description of desired activity should prove valuable to school managers as well as parents and policy makers.

“We spent a lot of time discussing whether these should be sample indicators or required elements – we want to be clear, these are items that you could use to evaluate but there are others,” said Teri Burns, a senior policy director at the California School Boards Association and a member of the work group that designed the standards update.

“This is the kind of document that allows members of a school board to say this is what we expect from our folks in the field,” she said. “And the kind of document that will help us explain it to parents.”

Known as the California Professional Standards for Educational Leaders, the management protocols were originally adopted by the CTC in 2001, based largely on conduct goals developed 

Model school district policy on suicide prevention offered

(N.Y.) Suicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. among middle and high school age-youth – yet many school districts do not have comprehensive policies and procedures in place to reduce risks of or respond to these tragic incidents.

by Kimberly Beltran / 5h

Goose Network Message To Fethullah Gulen Cult Members

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS

 WEBSITE

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS

A compilation of news articles about charter schools which have been charged with, or are highly suspected of, tampering with admissions, grades, attendance and testing; misuse of funds and embezzlement; engaging in nepotism and conflicts of interest; engaging in complicated and shady real estate deals; and/or have been engaging in other questionable, unethical, borderline-legal, or illegal activities. This is also a record of charter school instability and other unsavory tidbits.

Keep checking

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS

Be sure to check out two other Great blogs:

-THE BROAD REPORT (as in Eli)
-THE PERIMETER PRIMATE

John Thompson: Vergara Show Trial Highlights Gates Foundation Snake Oil - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

John Thompson: Vergara Show Trial Highlights Gates Foundation Snake Oil - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

John Thompson: Vergara Show Trial Highlights Gates Foundation Snake Oil

By Anthony Cody on February 13, 2014 10:57 PM

Guest post by John Thompson.

I hope the judge in Vergara v. California understands that the plaintiffs want to do more than strike down five laws that protect the rights of the state's teachers. It is a part of a corporate assault on unions, collective bargaining and, perhaps, even on public education. The trial is a venue for market-driven reformers' high-dollar publicity campaign, for presenting adorable images of students who they claim are victims of the due process rights of teachers. That is why expert witnesses, like the Gates Foundation's Tom Kane, present so many beautiful multi-colored graphics bolstered by misleading numbers.

Ed Source's Louis Freedberg is particularly good at following the money behindVergara. Freedberg explains that Silicon Valley entrepreneur David Welch founded Students Matter, apparently for the purpose of filing the lawsuit. He filled the organization's board with venture capitalist luminaries  and longtime advocates for market-driven school reform. Vergara's media blitz was choreographed by the communications firm of Griffin/Schein. Freedberg described the kickoff of the media campaign:

Within minutes of the trial's opening at 10 a.m., reporters received an email "live from the courtroom" with a 54-slide Power Point outlining the plaintiffs' case, as well as a"Trial Tracker" that promised daily highlights and quotes, as well as footage from the trial. Before 6 p.m., at the end of the day, another email blast declared that "California Students Get Their Day in Court."

I previously explained the ways that two of Tom Kane's Powerpoint slides actually are based on evidence that argues against Vergara. Kane uses value-added modeling to argue that the legal 

Reflections on My Common Core Debate for the West St. Tammany Chamber | deutsch29

Reflections on My Common Core Debate for the West St. Tammany Chamber | deutsch29:

Reflections on My Common Core Debate for the West St. Tammany Chamber

February 13, 2014

Below is a post that I wrote for Brietbart regarding my February 4th debate on Common Core. The debate occurred in the Louisiana parish in which I both live and teach, St. Tammany. (The somewhat-edited version posted in Breitbart can be found here.)

St. Tammany has had a solid reputation among southern Louisiana teachers for as long as I have been in the profession (1991).

Today a colleague referred to St. Tammany as “the best of the worst,” and she cited the oft-used stat that Louisiana ranks 49th educationally, only behind Mississippi.

I touch on the issue of a Louisiana “49th ranking” in my post below; however, I would like to take this moment to add some more information on Louisiana’s and St. Tammany’s education status and economic ranking.

Concerning the USDOE 2010-11 cohort graduation rate, Louisiana ranks 44th out of 51 (DC included)– 71% of Louisiana students graduated in four years. Interestingly, Louisiana tied with Jeb Bush’s ultra-reformed Florida, and Louisiana outscored reform vixen Michelle Rhee’s DC.

Louisiana is lower ranked on this cohort statistic. Nevertheless, Louisiana is not “the 

DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: If You Tell Them They're Stupid: Our Kids Hear Every Word!

DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: If You Tell Them They're Stupid: Our Kids Hear Every Word!:

If You Tell Them They're Stupid: Our Kids Hear Every Word!

Sometimes I get frustrated with my class when it seems as if they are not listening to me.

You know. When 6 of them ask a question which had already been answered. Or when they ask you for directions after you have just given them.

I have my methods for dealing with those situations, but, it is frustrating, nonetheless.

The other day we were watching a video.

Let me backtrack. This year I started this "thing" that whenever we watched a video or read a story, when applicable, I would say, "This is a career!" I know they're 5th graders. I know they're 10-12 years old. I know some of them don't have a clue what they want to do when they grow up. But I want them to know that any number of careers is open to them. Therefore, I follow up with, "This is a career!"

Back to the video. So, we're watching this video on Wonderopolis. I can't remember what it was about. The video finished and my kids yelled out, "This is a career!"

"Yes, yes, it is!"  You know I was beaming.

They listen. Not only were they listening to me, but they were applying what I said to their lives.

Which made me think.

We need to be careful what we say about, and to, our children. They are listening.  And just as they listen to the positive, they hear the negative as well. And the negative probably digs in a lot 

Make Teachers Your Valentines | Reclaim Reform

Make Teachers Your Valentines | Reclaim Reform:

Make Teachers Your Valentines

Posted on February 13, 2014by Ken Previti

Teachers deserve all the love and recognition they can receive. Make ALL of the teachers in your life your Valentines.
Remember those teachers who influenced you, who met your needs? If you don’t know how to contact them, make the nearest teachers you meet your Valentines. Teachers need all the hugs and love they can get.

Your child’s teachers are indeed important to your child. Make those teachers your Valentines.

Teachers should make their own past teachers and fellow teachers their Valentines. Support each other every day