4-26-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter: 

 Schools Matter All Week

I met reactionary Fernando Espuelas' challenge, now will he demand the same of Gates, Zuckerberg, and Dell?

"Another issue involves concerns that charter schools may be screening students by requiring parents to provide information related to special education eligibility and services on the lottery application. Over the past two years, a review of applications has found a considerable number of schools requiring such information despite efforts by the District to eradicate this through oversight o

2 by Robert D. Skeels ... / 3h 

APR 24

Most Biased Poll Ever

The AP reported that according to a recent poll, 7 out of 10 Californians support the common core.  Those who took the poll first read a description of the common core:“The Common Core State Standards are a single set of K–12 English language arts and math standards that most states, including California, have voluntarily adopted. The state leaders who developed the standards say they are designe

3 by skrashen / 1d 

APR 23

Great Test Refusal Information Video for Parents

Much to learn here for New York parents as well as parents from other states:

3 by Jim Horn / 2d 

Tamara Shepherd for Knox County School Board

Among those running for school board this year in Knox County where I taught for 15 years, Tamara Shepherd stands head and shoulders above her opponents as an informed, articulate, and forceful voice for sane and humane public schools in Knox County.  Over the years, I have watched Tamara research the issues and take principled stands on education policy issues that reflect the best interests of c

by Jim Horn / 2d 

Amy Frogge Leads Effort in Nashville Metro to Save Schools from the Charter Zombies

The people of Metro Nashville have stopped listening to the CorpEd PR machine, and thanks to Board Member, Amy Frogge, they are getting some facts about the school privatization that is being led by the billionaires and hedge funders of Wall Street.  Below is a clip from the Tennessean and below that is Ms. Frogge's speech referred to in the piece:The Metro school board’s fiercest charter school c

89 by Jim Horn / 3d 

APR 22

The brave new technology

Sent to the Wall Street Journal, April 22, 2014I do not share the enthusiasm about new digital technology in education ("Founding principles in the digital age," April 22). There is no evidence that the brave new online tests that promise "real time testing" will be any better than those we have now. In fact, we have not even seen them in action: According to Fair Test (fairtes

2 by skrashen / 3d 

KIPP Counts on Teach for America for a Reliable Supply Chain of Expendable Teachers

Teach for America plays a crucial role in providing a never-ending supply of disposable teachers for KIPP and the other corporate welfare charter reform schools that are so popular among the cultural sterilization advocates and the vampires of Wall Street.  In the interview segment below, a survivor of KIPP discusses the ongoing teacher sacrifices to CorpEd's Great Maw.INT:  Let me ask you this qu

6 by Jim Horn / 3d 

How Much Will Shelby County Slash to Pay for the Increasing Burden of Charter Schools?

During this school year now winding down, Shelby County Schools will give up $67 million to corporate charter schools in Memphis.  Next year that amount will increase almost 16 percent to over $78 million, so that almost one dollar of every ten spent will be for charter schools.  That's $145 million in two years.The 39 charter schools will get more, then, than all monies in the budget for student

2 by Jim Horn / 3d 

APR 21

Former Teacher Describes KIPP's Special Ed Program as "a lawsuit waiting to happen"

The following excerpt is from another interview with a former KIPP teacher who was hired to solve the special education problem at one KIPP school.  This teacher served for two years at KIPP, and it was the day she ran into another car as she went to sleep on the way home after another 12 hour day that she finally decided to leave KIPP.  She offers many details about life at KIPP, including the cu

12 by Jim Horn / 4d 

Will Harry Be Held Back in Kindergarten?

Back in December I reported on Harry, a little boy I have come to know who goes to kindergarten in the leafy suburbs of Germantown, TN.  I talked with Harry's dad yesterday and got an update on how school is going, with only 4 weeks left in the year. Harry's dexterity has improved since December, so that now he is not being downgraded for not clicking in the answers on the computerized bubble shee

4 by Jim Horn / 4d 

APR 20

Cherry Blossoms

There's nothing like being in Washington, DC during Cherry Blossom season. The Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, the Capitol Building, the Washington Monument and the new World War II Memorial. There's the Vietnam Memorial, the Martin Luther King Memorial, the Holocaust Museum and so much more. The city is a shining light on the hill but the  Congress is dysfunctional, ineffective and embattled in

1 by freetoteach / 5d 

Newark Citizens United Against CorpEd Miseducation Plan

Signed by 77 local ministers:

10 by Jim Horn / 5d 

APR 19

Harvard Re-Kindles Its Eugenics Past with Embrace of KIPP's Richard Barth

In the 1920s Harvard was a beehive of activity aimed at segregation and sterilization of those deemed mentally and socially defective, based principally on classist and racist assumptions about the poor and the those of different ethnic backgrounds.   One of the Eugenics Movement rock stars, Charles Davenport, was a graduate of Harvard and instrumental in assuring the forced castration of a number

33 by Jim Horn / 6d 

All Week 4-26-14 @ THE CHALK FACE

@ THE CHALK FACE : 

All Week @ THE CHALK FACE 

California LOVES Common Core!

I’ve heard the title of this article proclaimed no fewer than five times in the past two weeks.  I hear it in response to those questions I ask about the validity, efficacy, and usefulness of the Common Core State Standards.  “Where’s the evidence?” I ask. You want evidence? CALIFORNIA LOVES COMMON CORE! There’s your evidence! […]

13 by Kris Nielsen / 2h 

Guest Post from Paul Horton. Standards?

National Standards not Common Core Standards Rather than permitting the issue of the Common Core Standards (CCS) to be a political hot potato in the upcoming election season, I call for our education secretary to establish a national commission on creating national standards. Currently, a few foundations, Microsoft, Pearson Education, and several governors, the Fordham Institute, and our education

2 by Timothy D. Slekar / 13h 

A Tale of Two NGA Press Releases, and Then Some

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are at the stormy center of unprecedented controversy regarding a supposed set of K-12 “standards.” The closest “standards storm” that I can think of as being somewhat similar to the current CCSS uproar occurred in 1994, twenty years ago, and concerned the national history standards. Let us pause and briefly […]

7 by deutsch29 / 20h 

APR 24

Cuomo: Education Conference without Educators.

Guest post from Bianca Tanis: Upstate NY Educator and Parent: Beginning on May 4th, Governor Andrew Cuomo will chair Camp Philos, a three day Adirondack retreat for “Education Reform Philosophers.” The event is being planned and facilitated by Education Reform Now, a non-profit that strongly supports charter schools and to date has donated over $60,000 […]

500+ by Chris Cerrone / 1d 

White Suprmacy: Alive and Well

Originally posted on Bill Ayers:The Supreme Court continued its long backward march yesterday, ruling 6-2 that Michigan could ban race as a factor in college admissions. Affirmative action is alive and well for white people, for the children of wealthy donors and alumni, but dead for people who suffered centuries of slavery, Jim Crow…

1 by Michael Paul Gold... / 1d 

APR 23

Those 24 Common Core 2009 Work Group Members

In May 2009, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and former State Education Superintendent Paul Pastorek signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). This CCSS MOU would become “Appendix B” for the US Department of Education’s (USDOE’s) Race to the Top (RTTT) program. In June 2009, the National Governors Association (NGA), […]

7 by deutsch29 / 2d 

Guest Post: Ken Derstine. “Talking Back to Mark Gleason”

The 2014 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, held in Philadelphia from April 3rd – 7th, has come and gone. The thousands of delegates have left town, but for the general public of Philadelphia, the most memorable and long lasting thing to come out of the conference was to get a glimpse of […]

1 by Timothy D. Slekar / 2d 

APR 22

The Week That Was – Oklahoma School Reform Comes Crashing Down

Six days into the week that may mark the end of test-driven school “reform” in Oklahoma, our state may foreshadow the way that corporate reform collapses nationally. As the parent/volunteer leader of Central Parent Legislative Action Committee, Meredith Exline  says, “the trend in Oklahoma is not isolated. ‘I really feel like any story I read […]

100+ by John Thompson / 3d 

REVIEW: Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems, James Baldwin

REVIEW: Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems, James Baldwin. via REVIEW: Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems, James Baldwin.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical

1 by plthomasedd / 4d 

APR 21

Vergara v. California Part One: Thoughts on Hannah Arendt, a New Totalitarianism and Completing The Circle of Domination

Originally posted on Raginghorseblog:The Vergara Nine surrounded by handlers. It is a peculiar, dark and unhinged world in which we dwell and it seems to grow more so all the time. Consider the extraordinary case of Vergara v. California, now winding down and awaiting a judgment. Here we have nine students, bankrolled by Silicon…

2 by Michael Paul Gold... / 4d 

Five Louisiana “Educators” Want Common Core

On April 21, 2014, the Baton Rouge Advocate ran an article by Will Sentell entitled, Educators Renew Support for Common Core and Its Tests. The first line of the article is comical: Five educators said Monday morning that they will urge state House and Senate members to support the Common Core academic standards and the controversial tests that go with […]

3 by deutsch29 / 4d 

A Panel Discussion You Don’t Want to Miss

  http://www.thefire.org/video-the-state-of-free-speech-in-america-with-lukianoff-fish-rauch-posner-rosen/   Or watch it now: http://youtu.be/DYs-1cGo28o    Filed under: MICHAEL PAUL GOLDENBERG: Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like an S.O.B.

2 by Michael Paul Gold... / 4d 

Legalizing Marijuana Offers Lesson for Changing Course in Education Reform

Legalizing Marijuana Offers Lesson for Changing Course in Education Reform. via Legalizing Marijuana Offers Lesson for Changing Course in Education Reform.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical

1 by plthomasedd / 5d 

APR 20

Common Core Prescription Will Not Heal Education

During my presentations, I make the case that the Common Core Standards are a prescriptive list of content standards, rather than a descriptive framework. The other night, in Santa Fe, one of my more well-known audience members disagreed, based on her opinion. What’s the difference? And why does it matter? First of all, let’s consider […]

100+ by Kris Nielsen / 5d 

@DCSDFagen pushing propaganda: “No Shelter” for Professional teachers.

In this video Liz Fagen (Douglas County Schools Superintendent in Colorado) attempts to spew mythology concerning market place tactics for employing and keeping teachers (pay for performance). First let it be known that since 1710, market principles such as merit pay have been tried to motivate and keep teachers. The result was a narrowed curriculum which […]

28 by Timothy D. Slekar / 5d 

Spend part of your holiday with us at 6PM EST as we speak to GA parents with a strange #optout story

Here’s the deets. Now listen to the story.Filed under: SHAUN JOHNSON, PHD: Musings from the Chalk Face Tagged: at the chalk face, opt out, testing

1 by Shaun Johnson / 5d 

My progressive friends prefer demagoguery over truth on education reform

My progressive friends in the broader media have it frequently wrong on corporate education reform, touting views that are hardly socially just. Instead, they mine their neoliberal connections to peddle the same corporate canards. It is obvious to me that mainstream progressive media are so disinterested in education that their reporting on the issue is […]

5 by Shaun Johnson / 6d 

My Easter Post

Today is Easter, the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Who claimed to be the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament. George Friedric Handel wrote about Him in the famous musical composition, Messiah, first performed on Easter Sunday in the Musick Hall in Dublin on April 13, 1742. I believe Jesus is the Messiah. On September 13, 1981, […]

7 by deutsch29 / 6d hide  //  save

APR 19

Let It Go for the test refusers

Originally posted on An Antique Teacher:I was making my way around the internet and found this, which was billed as a “parody”. I guess in the simplest terms, it is a parody, but sadly as I watched it, I realized that it was a video encouraging students to do their very best on the…

31 by antiqueteacher60 / 7d 

Two Americas: George W. Bush and Neil deGrasse Tyson

Two Americas: George W. Bush and Neil deGrasse Tyson. via Two Americas: George W. Bush and Neil deGrasse Tyson.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical

3 by plthomasedd / 7d