Friday, February 14, 2014

New Jersey’s Occupied School Districts

by MICHELLE RENEE MATISONS and SETH SANDRONSKY

With globalization, the expansion of capitalist production has doubled the planetary work force, and U.S. elites in New Jersey and other “blue and red states” are defunding urban education services and then conveniently refunding education through private market interventions. As corporate America flexes its political power by renting lawmakers at all levels, mass incarceration of the racialized populace has been a key social policy reflecting this trend of globalized class power. Like the War on Drugs that parallels it, the War on Public Schools directs public attention to a singular cause for the class inequality inherent in the capitalist system. Both “wars” masquerade as comprehensive solutions to crime and poverty, fixating on symptoms and not root causes of social problems.

Racialized class power is found everywhere in predatory reform targeting poor urban school districts. Like the War on Drugs, it disproportionately affects poor people of color, but poor urban and rural whites are casualties in both wars too. The bipartisan War on Public Schools picks up and exacerbates social outcomes created by the bipartisan War on Drugs: urban communities continually bear the brunt of a political system unified by racialized class power. Far from withering away, contemporary U.S. capitalism increasingly relies upon the state’s regulatory powers.

Police, prisons and schools in New Jersey municipalities, including deindustrialized Camden, are state sites to control and

Broadcasting School Events | Connected Principals

Broadcasting School Events | Connected Principals:

Broadcasting School Events

by jjohnson • February 14, 2014 • 0 Comments

A great new podcast that I love listening to is BrandEd hosted by Joe Sanfelippo and Tony Sinanis. Each episode shares ways that schools can communicate and share their positive news with parents/community. We all know that we can’t count on news reporters to share the positive things happening in our schools, because the negative stories are the ones that make sensational headlines. It is up to us to “tell our story” and share the great things we are doing in our school buildings.

I strive to “tell our story” by having a Principal’s Page on our website where I update pictures each month from my classroom walkthroughs to give parents a “window” into our school to see what our students are doing. I also maintain a school Facebook page to not only share reminders, but easily share pictures/video clips of great things parents may not otherwise hear about. (*If you’re wondering why I don’t have a Twitter account for our school it is because I surveyed parents and none of them were on Twitter).

On the most recent BrandEd podcast, they were joined by Joe Mazza who is well known on Twitter for starting #PTchat (parent teacher chat) and helping to pave the way for administrators and educators to open the door for connections with parents. In this interview with Joe, he shared the idea of broadcasting or having a livestream online from school events to allow parents to view even if they cannot attend in person.

I had heard of this idea before, but since I heard this podcast a week before a

2-14-14 With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs

With A Brooklyn Accent:

The Romance Is Gone From Predatory School Reform

Driving home from work today, I had an epiphany I wanted to share with you. And it is this. Even though terrible things are happening to teachers and students and families all over the nation, the Romance is gone from Predatory School Reform. It has been reduced to naked power, greed, and opportunism. And while this may bring little immediate relief to teachers having their pensions hijacked and t

by Mark Naison / 8min

2-13-14 With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs: Why NY Principals Founder Carol Burris sees the Ball/Zeldin Bill in the NY State Legislature as a Step Forward:

With A Brooklyn Accent: Why NY Principals Founder Carol Burris sees the Ball/Zeldin Bill in the NY State Legislature as a Step Forward:: Why NY Principals Founder Carol Burris sees the Ball/Zeldin Bill in the NY State Legislature as a Step Forward:It is the closest thing to a true moratorium that I have seen and it will strike a huge blow against standardized testing and evaluating teachers by tes

by mike simpson / 16h

2-13-14 THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG - Strong Relationships Are Key — Whole Child Education

Strong Relationships Are Key — Whole Child Education:

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

Strong Relationships Are Key

February 14, 2014 by Kristen Pekarek

Relationships have not only proven to be good for our physical health, but our spiritual and emotional health as well. It is through relationships with other human beings that we grow and evolve, as well as deepen and expand our love and meaning in life. As many of you are aware, today is Valentine's Day. Whether or not you like this holiday, it comes each year to provide time for each of us to reflect on and grow our personal and professional relationships.

In schools a strong relationship means building sturdy supportive foundations and committed partnerships to care for the well-being of students, staff, and the greater community. A whole child approach to education—which ensures students are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged—remains a sustainable approach through the development of these strong, healthy relationships; whether it be student-teacher, school-community, or peer-to-peer relationships—just to name a few.

Today as we reflect on our Whole Child Partner relationships, we encourage you to also look back and reflect

2-13-14 THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG - Insights on Building School Morale

Insights on Building School Morale — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOGInsights on Building School MoraleFebruary 13, 2014 by Klea ScharbergTeacher morale matters. So how can schools improve it? The February 2014 issue ofEducational Leadership explores why schools must become happier places for educators and how they can make it happen. Articles in this issue discuss both the reality that

by mike simpson / 19h

Update: Live at CATE! | Gatsby In L.A.

Live at CATE! | Gatsby In L.A.:

Live at CATE: The Tech Wave Is About To Knock Us Over

It’s coming at us. Don’t you feel it? Even if you have buried a nice hole in the sand for your head, surely you feel the rumblings of the massive wave of technological innovations, or supposed innovations, about to hit classrooms. 21st century education. Blended learning. Flipped classrooms. About all of this, I am an agnostic. As a person who loves class discussion, writing and human intera

by ellieherman3 / 5min hide // save

Live at CATE!

Things are heating up here—literally! It’s Valentine’s Day but who needs romance when you can cram into a tiny side room at a seminar with 40 or so English teachers at the California Association of Teachers of English convention in San Diego?

On the plus side, love may not be in the air (at least not for the four frazzled, middle-aged English teachers crammed into my row struggling to balance laptop, bagful of swag and handouts without elbowing each other) but it’s kind of awesome to look around a room and feel pretty sure that every single person you see has impeccable grammar. How often does that happen?

I’ve wanted to go to CATE for years and have never been able to pull it off. In palmier days, when schools had budgets devoted to anything other than bare survival, departments would often send their teachers to conferences where they could learn new techniques and learn from experts. By the time I hit the classroom, those days were over. And on a teacher’s salary, who could afford the $380 fee plus three nights at a hotel?

But since I’m taking the year off to learn, I treated myself and I’m here, blogging live from the conference right here at poolside at the charmingly un-hip Town and Country resort, a place chock-a-block with trellises, statues, fountains, palm trees and several million gazebos. My mom, a former English teacher, is with me; she left teaching in 1987 to become a psychologist. I’m extremely curious to hear her impressions of whether the

School Improvement Grant Report Revised, Still Shows One-Third Of Schools' Scores Decreased

School Improvement Grant Report Revised, Still Shows One-Third Of Schools' Scores Decreased:

School Improvement Grant Report Revised, Still Shows One-Third Of Schools' Scores Decreased

RTTT Working?

After an outside contractor bungled an analysis of a major federal school turnaround program, the U.S. Department of Education has issued corrected results -- and they're not much better.

Like the previous one, the new report shows that about one-third of schools in the program decreased their proficiency rates, and slightly less than two-thirds of schools showed an increase. But there were small changes between the two reports, too. The initial November 2013 report on School Improvement Grants found that in reading, 45 percent of students at schools in their second year in the grant program were proficient, up from 40 percent two years earlier. According to the corrected report, 46 percent of those schools were proficient, up from a starting point of 43 percent two years earlier.

But it's too early for the numbers to be conclusive. Since the comparisons rely on school-wide proficiency rates weighted by the number of test takers, they don't account for changes in the characteristics of student populations (though they have been adjusted to account for population size).

School Improvement Grants, a signature program of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, has poured about $5.9 billion into more than 1,500 schools. Duncan put the program at the center of his efforts to turn "around the bottom 5 percent" of the nation's schools. The program allows schools to choose from four models: closing schools; turning schools over to a charter school management organization; shifting evaluation and curriculum; or replacing some staff. Duncan has said he hopes these

DAYLIGHT DISINFECTANT | “IT’S NOT ABOUT MONEY IT’S ABOUT POWER!” – INTERVIEW WITH TEACHER’S UNION CHEIF NEGOTIATOR

DAYLIGHT DISINFECTANT | “IT’S NOT ABOUT MONEY IT’S ABOUT POWER!” – INTERVIEW WITH TEACHER’S UNION CHEIF NEGOTIATOR:

“IT’S NOT ABOUT MONEY IT’S ABOUT POWER!” – INTERVIEW WITH TEACHER’S UNION CHEIF NEGOTIATOR

Posted by Daylight Disinfectant

You would save the City money by allowing teachers to retire early with full medical. At least that’s what Marty Pavlik, the Portland Teacher’s Union Chief Negotiator would have you believe.

Dateline Portland Oregon – February 13, 2014 – Following a “Teacher’s Community Forum” held this evening at Union Headquarters for the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT), we score an exclusive interview with Marty Pavlik, the Chief Negotiator for the Union. According to Pavlik, it’s not about money it’s about power. By his calculations the City would save money by allowing teachers to retire early with full medical, and the

OOPS. PORTLAND TEACHER SPILLS BEANS ON STRIKE PLAN

Posted by Daylight Disinfectant

“Are we allowed to say anything about the rally?” Others seem unsure as a Portland teacher relays details of plans to shutdown the city at noon on February 20th.

Dateline Portland Oregon Thursday February 13, 2014 - At a public “Teachers Community Forum,” Lincoln High teacher Amanda Jane Elliot relays details of a plan to shutdown the city center. Teachers will walk out of classrooms and take public transportation to the center of the city rallying at Pioneer Courthouse Square on February 20th at noon. (Of course they have a permit and have secured the proper insurance right?) “Caleb” who is from the Portland Student Union chimes in. He promises a thousand students to join them and is “egged on” by Elliot. Portland Student Union is an organization of Public High School students who are in lock step with teachersplanning to shutter area schools. The group recently shut down a School Board Meeting using amplification equipment supplied by the International Socialists Organization (ISO), a Communist Organization which calls Portland State University Home. Well known ISO organizers were also involved in the disruption which caused the board to cancel the meeting.

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Friday, February 14, 2014

Nite Cap 2-14-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2

James Baldwin said it best:

"For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."

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