4-3-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

PEF President Wants To See Someone From Left Primary Cuomo

Can you imagine anybody from the Mulgarten-controlled AFT/UFT (and perhaps soon to be NYSUT) saying anything like this?The state Democratic and Working Families parties should find a primary challenger to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the president of one of the state’s top public-employees unions said today. Susan Kent, the president of the Public Employees Federation, said the Democratic governor hasn’t li

by reality-based edu... / 4min 

This Would Get Under Cuomo's Skin

From State of Politics:Former New York City Councilman Charles Barron this week filed paperwork with the state Board of Elections to run for the state Assembly seat vacated by his wife, Inez, records show. The move for Charles Barron is not unexpected. Barron, left the Council due to term limits, and had been telegraphing for months he would run for the Brooklyn-based district. The former Black Pa

by reality-based edu... / 1h 

What Did The UFT Leadership Get To Look The Other Way On Cuomo's Charter Deal?

Michael Fiorillo on the news confirmed today by the NY Times that the UFT leadership did nothing to fight the charter school protections Cuomo wanted enshrined in the budget that give charters unlimited expansion rights, free rent in NYC public school buildings or the tab picked up by the NYCDOE and other goodies that the charter entrepreneurs wanted:Does this (mis)leadership ever fight anything?S

by reality-based edu... / 0min 

Cuomo Was Behind The Organization Of The Eva Moskowitz/Success Charter School Rally

There have been some stories out that it was Governor Cuomo who pushed for the charter school giveaway rally in Albany - those stories are now confirmed in the NY Times:It was a frigid February day in Albany, and leaders of New York City’s charter school movement were anxious. They had gone to the capital to court lawmakers, but despite a boisterous showing by parents, there seemed to be little cl

by reality-based edu... / 1h hide  //  save

UFT Didn't Fight Cuomo's Charter School Giveaways

In this morning's Times analysis of how and why Cuomo pushed through so many charter school protections is this:A lot was riding on the debate for Mr. Cuomo. A number of his largest financial backers, some of the biggest names on Wall Street, also happened to be staunch supporters of charter schools. According to campaign finance records, Mr. Cuomo’s re-election campaign has received hundreds of t

1 by reality-based edu... / 3h 

4-2-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Don't Accept Minor Tweaks To APPR Teacher EvaluationsAndrew Cuomo issued a statement yesterday saying he and the legislature will revisit the APPR teacher evaluation component that is tied to Common Core tests now that the CCSS tests have been de-linked from high stakes for children for a couple of years.There was much surprise around the Internets and the Twitterverse and n

by mike simpson / 9h 

Public housing authorities pilot education programs | EdSource Today

Public housing authorities pilot education programs | EdSource Today:

Public housing authorities pilot education programs

April 2nd, 2014 | Add a Comment | 
By Lillian Mongeau

8

Americorps member Chia Vang helps Imani Conley, 2, with a finger-painting of a coconut tree during a class at the little girl’s public housing complex in Fresno. Credit: Lillian Mongeau, EdSource

In an effort to improve literacy rates among children from low-income families, public housing authorities across the state are piloting programs that help parents prepare their children for school and increase their access to books.

In Sacramento, children living in public housing will soon have access to a new library, designed especially for them. In Oceanside, north of San Diego, public housing officials now distribute books instead of toys at the annual holiday party. In Oakland, the housing authority is working with the school district to improve attendance and bring parents living in public housing into their children’s schools more often.

“We’re not just about bricks and mortar, a roof over a head,” said Preston Prince, the executive director of the Fresno Housing Authority and president of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. “To be successful, children need additional help and the environment of where a child lives has a pretty major impact on how they do in school.”

Prince has led the effort to get more city and county housing authorities in California to provide on-site educational programs for children. Prince said he was convinced by research showing that children who are reading at grade level by 3^rd grade are more likely to stay on track in middle school and graduate from high school on time. Prince credits Kendra Rogers, executive director of Fresno County’s First Five Commission and a housing authority board member, with helping him understand that children who are read to as infants and toddlers have stronger reading skills in   Public housing authorities pilot education programs | EdSource Today:

Report: Foundation funding widens the gap between California's 'rich' and 'poor' schools | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

Report: Foundation funding widens the gap between California's 'rich' and 'poor' schools | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:

Report: Foundation funding widens the gap between California's 'rich' and 'poor' schools

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez | April 3rd, 2014, 5:30am

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/KPCC

The Irvine Public Schools Foundation raises money to pay for all K-3 music classes, and covers some of the costs of music classes for 4tn, 5th, and 6th graders in Irvine Unified schools.

Southern California researchers are finding that foundations, set up to raise money for public schools, are reintroducing funding inequality that was supposed to be eliminated back in the 1970's, when the California Supreme Court ruled on the Serrano vs. Priest case.

“The court said spending needs to be equitable between school districts, you can’t have Beverly Hills spending twice as much as the other guys, per pupil, because a child’s education should not be dependent on the wealth of the area in which they happen to live,” said Cal State Fullerton professor Sarah Hill.

She and two colleagues have compiled  information from about 1500 education foundations and other fundraising groups such as booster clubs and PTAs, along with Internal Revenue Service data, to create a database Hill said is the first of its kind.

“We’re doing more of a sophisticated analysis looking at how wealth matters for which school districts are able to raise money. How demographics matter,” she said.

Some Northern California public school foundations are raising additional funds of about $2,000 per student. Researchers say that figure is a significant addition to the roughly $8000 per student the state gives public schools each year. California's current level of per pupil spending is the second lowest in the country.

Seven of the 15 foundations that raised the most money in California are in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Manhattan Beach’s foundation, according to Hill’s data, raised $7.5 million in 2011 to boost instructional programs for roughly 6800 students in the district. Irvine Unified’s foundation is number three on Hill’s list, with $5.1   Report: Foundation funding widens the gap between California's 'rich' and 'poor' schools | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:

Charles Koch responds to Harry Reid - sort of -

Charles Koch responds to Harry Reid - sort of -:

Charles Koch responds to Harry Reid - sort of -

byteacherkenFollow

 
 
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in a very self-serving way, in this Wall Street Journal op ed.

I said it was self-serving.  It is also self-justifying.

It begins like this

I have devoted most of my life to understanding the principles that enable people to improve their lives. It is those principles—the principles of a free society—that have shaped my life, my family, our company and America itself.

Unfortunately, the fundamental concepts of dignity, respect, equality before the law and personal freedom are under attack by the nation's own government. That's why, if we want to restore a free society and create greater well-being and opportunity for all Americans, we have no choice but to fight for those principles. I have been doing so for more than 50 years, primarily through educational efforts. It was only in the past decade that I realized the need to also engage in the political process.

From there we learn that all that is wrong is the fault of collectivists, which somehow allows him to connect all that with Saul Alinksy - an indirect slap perhaps at the President for his former job as a community organizer, hired by a disciple of Alinsky?  If you have any doubt read this:

The central belief and fatal conceit of the current administration is that you are incapable of running your own life, but those in power are capable of running it for you. This is the essence of big government and collectivism.

He never names Harry Reid, but clearly Reid's attacks have stung.

The key part of his argument is in this penultimate paragraph:

Instead of fostering a system that enables people to help themselves, America is now saddled with a system that destroys value, raises costs, hinders innovation and relegates millions of citizens to a life of poverty, dependency and hopelessness. This is what 

Jersey Jazzman: Dear Bill Maher: Here's Why You're Wrong About Tenure

Jersey Jazzman: Dear Bill Maher: Here's Why You're Wrong About Tenure:

Dear Bill Maher: Here's Why You're Wrong About Tenure

Jersey Jazzman Jammin' All Week

Dear Bill Maher,

Let's dispense with the fanboy stuff first: I think you're great, I really liked Religulous, I think ABC screwed you over, and you come closer than anyone around today to keeping the spirit of America's greatest political philosopher, George Carlin*, alive.

But on teacher tenure you are just dead wrong:

What exactly is the argument for teacher tenure? According to the teacher's union's lawyer, "Tenure is an amenity, just like salary and vacation, that allows districts to recruit and retain teachers despite harder working conditions, pay that hasn't kept pace and larger class sizes." 

...Okay, but so is offering them a car. That's not an argument for why the teaching profession should be virtually immune from the normal threat of termination that just about every other employee in the nation lives under. Additionally, Hollywood writers, producers, and directors all have unions, but none provide any sort of protection like tenure; they mainly exist to argue for compensation and benefits. If you don't do your job, you still get fired. As it should be. Because this is America, and some amount of job insecurity is a good thing. It's why when you go to Greece or Italy you find yourself in a line 15 people deep because the person behind the desk doesn't really care about helping you. Because they're never getting fired. 

Shouldn't teachers' unions drop tenure and focus on compensation and benefits too? 

Let's start with this: I don't see anyone offering me a guaranteed new car every year in exchange for my workplace protections. In your construction, Bill, we teachers will give up

- See more at: http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2014/04/dear-bill-maher-heres-why-youre-wrong.html?spref=fb#sthash.rmIZYNn8.dpuf

The Common Core License: Open for NGA and CCSSO Alteration | deutsch29

The Common Core License: Open for NGA and CCSSO Alteration | deutsch29:

The Common Core License: Open for NGA and CCSSO Alteration

April 2, 2014

The so-called Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are being billed as “Preparing America’s Students for Success“; as “important for your child”; indeed, as The American Education Solution:

The Common Core is a set of high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy (ELA). These learning goals outline what a student should know and be able to do at the end of each grade. The standards were created to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they live. [Emphasis added.]

What if CCSS doesn’t work?

Who is responsible?

Not the copyright holders, the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).

Yes, these two groups formally get the credit for owning CCSS. Indeed, they insistupon it:

NGA Center/CCSSO shall be acknowledged as the sole owners and developers of the Common Core State Standards, and no claims to the contrary shall be  The Common Core License: Open for NGA and CCSSO Alteration | deutsch29:

All Things Education: In truth, there is hope

All Things Education: In truth, there is hope:

In truth, there is hope

My last two posts have been attempts to address matters of race in (largely progressive) public education advocacy circles. Michael Lopez had a very thoughtful response to my post and Sabrina Joy Stevens wrote a powerful post related to the topic.

In the meantime, I have been following the recent conversation between Jonathan Chait and Ta-Nehesi Coates, especially the references to "middle class" norms. I had a brief blog-based conversation with Matt Ygelsias surrounding this topic about three years ago as it has to do with education reform. Though we only talked about poverty and not about race. I remember making a conscious choice not to refer to race in those posts. Yglesias hadn't mentioned race and I guess I felt that my criticisms of his point of view were strong enough without pointing to race. I also wasn't sure that I as a white woman in conversation with a white man should say, your argument is lacking because race. I didn't want to use race as a rhetorical device.

Then commenter @MDS said, "we can not continue this conversation without confronting race." I didn't disagree but I didn't utter any regrets about it either. Now in retrospect I wonder if I was cowardly to not bring up race or if I "failed" to bring up race. I am certain that it was a neglected and necessary part of the conversation.

In any case, I have been drinking up every post that Coates has written lately and especially the posts he has written in response to Jonathan Chait about culture, poverty, and race. I have been so disappointed with Chait's responses and with other posts from white men. But then again, I have always found Chait's writing, especially on education, to be disappointing, so much so that I can hardly stand to read him. Nor do I find that he is particularly progressive or liberal, though I am starting to grow tired of such labels and am finding them more and more to be of limited use. So I started 

All Things Education: In truth, there is hope:

My Review of The First Review of My Book This Is Not A Test - The Jose Vilson

My Review of The First Review of My Book This Is Not A Test - The Jose Vilson:

My Review of The First Review of My Book This Is Not A Test

by JOSE VILSON on APRIL 2, 2014

in JOSE

Let me say, for the record, that I haven’t been excited yet. Not with the endorsements, the hundreds of folk who’ve pre-ordered it, the publisher’s ridiculously good execution with the basics (and then some), meeting Arundhati Roy through my publisher, the exclusive book party and eminent book clubs, or getting my first set of review copies for the five people I already had in mind to receive them anyways. Much of it stems from a childhood humility, one that assumes that I honestly don’t deserve the blessings I receive, so when I do, I don’t know how to react. The second stems from an understanding that I’m far from done with whatever it is that’s going on with me right now. I can’t describe it, but it’s all working well for some reason.

That’s the lens I used with Audrey Watters of Hack Education’s review of my book This Is Not A Test, a humbling tribute to a friend and a great writer, at least in her eyes. I’m still working on owning some of the latter.

She said:

“What then do we make of coming-of-age stories, particularly those that crack open experiences – or expectations of experiences – with schooling? Perhaps our task as readers and critics can be to see how certain stories might reclaim or decolonize these older genres, how they highlight the power dynamics and the cultural values we don’t often recognize or confront, and how they prompt us to consider not just whose stories get told but how these stories get told.”

True. And yet:

There is no fixed or singular identity here either. There are border crossings and hyphenations. Dominican, but not. Haitian, but not. Black Latino. Father. Poet. One of the fiercest writers I know. One of the most tender. Back-and-forth between Spanish and English. Rakim name-dropped

- See more at: http://thejosevilson.com/review-first-review-book-test/#sthash.ugA7rdem.dpuf

Sacramento News & Review - A strong move - Bites - Opinions - April 3, 2014

Sacramento News & Review - A strong move - Bites - Opinions - April 3, 2014:

A strong move

Bites was the only reporter inside last week's strong-mayor debate

By Cosmo Garvin 
cosmog@newsreview.com

When the AstroTurf group Sacramento Tomorrow rebooted the strong-mayor effort last year, it said it had nothing to do with Kevin Johnson.

And yet there was Boss Johnson on Wednesday night, March 26, at a town hall meeting, saying, “I hope you will support me in November” with a vote to approve the strong-mayor plan.

Johnson tag-teamed with Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Iron Workers Local 118 president Kevin Ferreira, facing off against former MayorHeather Fargo, Sacramento City Unified School District Board of Education candidate Anna Molander, and Oak Park activist Michael Benjamin.

The forum was put on by SEIU Local 1000, the state workers’ union. It was standing-room only and open to the public. But at the request of the mayor’s people, reporters were turned away at the door. Well, some reporters were turned away. Hell with that.

You know the basics of the strong-mayor plan by now. It would make the mayor an executive separate from the city council. He would introduce the budget and could veto any action by the city council. The council would need a super-duper majority of six out of eight votes to override—giving the mayor a much stronger veto than the California governor or the U.S. president. The mayor would hire and fire the city manager, making him the head of the city bureaucracy. The council’s power would be token at best, more likely they’d be a rubber stamp for whoever sits in the mayor’s office.

It’s never been clear what real-world problem the strong-mayor plan is supposed to fix. Johnson’s special brand of word salad doesn’t help. “What it all boils down to is this: At the end of the day, you have two different visions. And I would ask you to allow Sacramento to evolve with this vision going forward, where we can take our community to the next level.”

Got that?

Johnson’s teammate Ferreira told the union crowd that strong mayor would 

Sacramento News & Review - A strong move - Bites - Opinions - April 3, 2014:

Related stories:
Strong mayor is a weak priority for Sacramento
The mayor and his supporters have successfully diverted attention from the very real problems our city faces to instead address his signature issues.SN&R, 11.14.13.

On Strong Mayor 4.0
SN&R worries Sacramento Tomorrow’s latest executive-mayor pitch will still be unconvincing.SN&R, 08.08.13. 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Door cracks open to stripping Rahm of mayoral control of the schools. Travis' near win reverberates.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Door cracks open to stripping Rahm of mayoral control of the schools. Travis' near win reverberates.:

Door cracks open to stripping Rahm of mayoral control of the schools. Travis' near win reverberates.

DID YOU HEAR THAT... The House opened the door ever so slightly Tuesday to strippingMayor Rahm Emanuel and any of his successors of the sole authority to appoint the Chicago public school system's board of education.  By a 108-5 margin, the House approved legislation sponsored by Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, to create a task force to study whether the board should be appointed, elected or mixed. Ford’s bill now moves to the Senate.

... Some legislators are nervous about voting for Rahm's pension-busting bill because of Jay Travis' CTU-backed near defeat ofChristian Mitchell. This according to Chicago Sun-

 

At the Hideout

The HideoutWe stopped by one of my favorite watering holes, The Hideout, last night to hear the great Ben Joravsky and Mick Dumpke do their political schtick. But ducked out when it looked like it was being turned into the Dick Mell Show. All the repartee with that smirking racist machine bastard was making me nauseous. When he started blaming last month's low-voter turnout on bloggers and tweete

3 by Mike Klonsky / 11h hide  //  save

Rahm's allies duck out on his pension raid

Fred Klonsky artThe word on Clout Street is that Rahm's own allies and machine pals are distancing themselves from the mayor's pension-busting plan. The latest to duck out of the pension raiding party seems to be Ald. Patrick O’Connor who is usually Rahm's ramrod in the City Council. O'Connor basically admitted yesterday, that Rahm's proposed pension cuts and property-tax increases won't produce t

4 by Mike Klonsky / 12h 

A look at who's being left behind in the 'Race for Results'

An important new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation highlights the widening gap in opportunity between white and children of color. The report, called "Race for Results," created a new index that uses 12 educational, health, and economic factors to rank how children from major racial and ethnic groups fare in every state.The report points out that last year, for the first time, mo

7 by Mike Klonsky / 14h 

empathyeducates – On Children and Childhood

empathyeducates – On Children and Childhood:

On Children and Childhood

By Paul L. Thonas, Ed.D. | Originally Published at The Becoming Radical. April 2, 2014

children guessed (but only a few)

and down they forgot as up they grew

“[anyone lived in a pretty how town],” e.e. cummings

In one of those early years of becoming and being a teacher, when I was still teaching in the exact room where I had been a student (a school building that would eventually be almost entirely destroyed by a fire set by children), it was the first day of school, and I was calling that first roll—a sort of silly but important ritual of schooling for teachers and students.

Toward the back of the room and slightly to my left sat a big young man, a white male student typical of this rural upstate South Carolina high school in my home town; like me, he would accurately be considered in that context as a Redneck.

Just about everyone knows everyone in my hometown, and we are very familiar with the common names of that town. So when I came to this young man’s name—Billy Laughter (it rhymes with “slaughter”)—I said “Billy Laughter” (rhyming the last name with “after”).

Smiling, I scanned the room and then turned my eyes back to Billy; he was red-faced and on the edge of having a very bad first day, one that was likely going to result in his being punished for my having done a very stupid thing. I raised my hand, palm facing him, and said, “Billy, my mistake. I’m sorry. I was trying to be funny but it wasn’t.” And then I said his name correctly.

Billy had suffered a life of people mangling his name, and he wasn’t in any mood for my being clever on the first day of school.

Several years laters, when I was teaching a U.S. history class as part of my usual load as a member and chair of the English department, while I was having students form small groups, two young white males bumped