Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Independent movement carries Ras Baraka to victory in Newark

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Independent movement carries Ras Baraka to victory in Newark:

Independent movement carries Ras Baraka to victory in Newark

Speaking to the crowd, Baraka wished his mother a happy Mother's Day and said he knew his father, who died in January, was "in the room tonight." He urged the crowd to "be the mayor" and work for positive change, a reference to one of his campaign slogans, "When I become mayor, we become mayor." -- AP Wire

Yesterday's historic victory of Ras Baraka over corporate-backed Shavar Jeffries, following on the heels of progressive mayoral wins in New York, L.A. and a string of other cities, has meaning way beyond Newark. Harold Meyerson, writing on Bill Moyers' blog calls it, "the revolt of the cities." Baraka, who served as principal of Central High School, in addition to his duties as councilman, made opposition to school closings and corporate reform an integral part of his platform.

Despite millions of dollars being poured into Jeffries' superPAC by panicked DFER and other corporate school reformers, Baraka was able to ride the power of an independent Working Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Independent movement carries Ras Baraka to victory in Newark:

We Gave the Common Core Elites the Power. It is Time to Take it Away. | Missouri Education Watchdog

We Gave the Common Core Elites the Power. It is Time to Take it Away. | Missouri Education Watchdog:

We Gave the Common Core Elites the Power. It is Time to Take it Away.

inShare

Your children owe nothing to education reformers, federal agencies, third party researchers or the Chamber of Commerce. Not their data, not their allegiance, not the power to determine if they will be a good worker by kindergarten.  It is time to absolutely and utterly walk away.

We are trying to pass a bill against Common Core (HB1490) in Missouri that has morphed into a bill that doesn’t stop it, but rather slows it down.  Some folks are disappointed the bill is watered down while some folks understand the political reality of how hard it is to pass anything in Jefferson City.  The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a culmination of many years of introducing “school to work” concepts and learning how to mandate educational reforms, rather than passing laws through legislatures.  It has come from years and years of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) running an agency with little legislative oversight.   It has occurred because the Board of Education members and Commissioner of Education are appointed positions, held unaccountable to the voters.  It comes from the Federal Government telling states how they had to deliver education or (horrors!) they would lose money they needed to hire more bureaucrats to keep track of ever increasing Federal mandates the states/schools could never reach (think 100% proficiency).

We are primarily in this place because the rule of law means little to nothing.  Remember Governor Jay Nixon’s words onWe Gave the Common Core Elites the Power. It is Time to Take it Away. | Missouri Education Watchdog:

Weingarten Wants Common Core; Lewis Says We're Done | Mercedes Schneider

Weingarten Wants Common Core; Lewis Says We're Done | Mercedes Schneider:

Weingarten Wants Common Core; Lewis Says We're Done

In the spring of 1991, I completed my student teaching at Ascension High School in Gonzales, Louisiana. I taught Lord of the Flies, a creepy novel about the dangers of groupthink.

So often when I think of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) Unity Caucusmindset of unquestioned (and unquestionable) allegiance to a single position on an issue impacting teachers and the teaching profession, I think of Lord of the Flies.

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten hails from that Unity Caucus mindset, and it has shown itself time and again (and again and again) in her unwavering allegiance to the never-tested, secretly-c0ncocted, corporate-benefiting Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Then there is Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Karen Lewis.

CTU once had its own Lord of the Flies Unity Caucus. However, according to Lewis, the CTU Unity Caucus died with her re-election in 2013.

I can't imagine Lewis bending to groupthink.

I first came to "know" Lewis through writing my book, A Chronicle of Echoes. The book includes three chapters on the history of mayoral control of education in Chicago. Lewis is a major part of that history.

In February 2014, I had the pleasure of meeting Lewis for the first time during her travels to New Orleans for the AFT Executive Council meeting. We had dinner one evening, and I asked Lewis to dump CCSS. She told me that she needed to act in a manner that supported her constituency, and if her teachers were going to be saddled with CCSS, she would need to support them in that situation, which might include securing teaching materials.

In that conversation, it was clear to me that Lewis listens to and serves her constituency.

I cannot stand CCSS because I know what it is: a business deal designed to benefit Weingarten Wants Common Core; Lewis Says We're Done | Mercedes Schneider:

Doing Classroom Research | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Doing Classroom Research | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Doing Classroom Research

At a time when Big Data rules, I look for small answers to big questions about how policies get translated into classroom practices. Big Data can be seen in massive surveys when thousands of teachers respond to questions that pollsters ask. And yes, there are huge data sets derived from major projects that video teacher lessons as well as from students who answer questions about their teachers when taking national and international tests.

But if you really want to know and understand teachers, teaching, learning, and students, one must spend time in classrooms listening and watching the key actors who create good-to-poor lessons. Big Data go for the generalization overlooking the particular that often matters to policymakers, researchers, and practitioners.

Classroom research is crucial to understanding how policymaker decisions aimed at improving instruction and curriculum (think Common Core Standards, 1:1 tablets for kindergartners, Judging teachers on the basis of student test scores, and new courses teaching children to have “grit”) get put into practice. Unfortunately, as I scan the current research terrain, such labor-intensive  research–such Small Data–is done less and less. In this post, I want to describe how I do (and have done) classroom research and why, I believe, it is important to do so.

I have been a social studies teacher for 14 years and a district superintendent for Doing Classroom Research | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

How young is too young to be suspended from school? | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

How young is too young to be suspended from school? | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:

How young is too young to be suspended from school?

Deepa Fernandes | May 14th, 2014, 5:00am

Deepa Fernandes / KPCC

Norwalk preschool teacher, Stefanie Servin, reads to her class as her LAUP coach, Astrid Feist, observes and takes notes from the back of the classroom.

Last September, Ronan started at his forth school in two years. He did well for a few weeks, but then moments of aggression reappeared. He’s been sent home twice for acting out. One more and Ronan will be expelled yet again.

“You would never know about the bad days on the good days because he’s so charming,” said his mother, Juliane Crump, as he played with blocks a few feet away.

Ronan is 3-years-old and the schools that have expelled him are local private preschools. He’s never seriously hurt another child, but he can be trying.

Crump’s experience puts her at the center of a raging debate: is suspension or expulsion the right punishment for children who misbehave in school at any age, or is it just hampering their education?

In March, the U.S. Department of Education released statistics showing 5,000 preschoolers nationwide were suspended at least once during the 2011-12 school year. Half of them were suspended more than once.

That’s not even the complete picture; Those numbers only include children at public schools, not private preschools or home-run childcare centers like Ronan attended.

And one national expert doubts the federal numbers are accurate even for public school-based programs.

Some of the largest school districts in California – Los Angeles, Santa Ana, Oakland, San Francisco  – showed zero preschool expulsions in the 2011-2012 federal data, the first year the federal government required school districts to report it. The state doesn’t require school districts to break out expulsion reports by grade.

L.A. Unified has an unwritten policy against suspending or expelling preschoolers, said Maureen Diekman who runs the district’s early education programs.

“When there’s a child with challenging behavior, we work with the family and work to How young is too young to be suspended from school? | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:

Ras Baraka wins | Bob Braun's Ledger

Ras Baraka wins | Bob Braun's Ledger:

Ras Baraka wins

Mayor-elect Ras Baraka

                Ras Baraka, a high school principal and the son of a poet, yesterday easily defeated a Wall Street-backed promoter of school privatization to become the next mayor of Newark. Baraka’s victory repudiated the policies not just of his rival, Shavar Jeffries, but  those of Gov. Chris Christie,   former Mayor Cory Booker, and state-appointed superintendent Cami Anderson  who is trying to close neighborhood public schools and replace them with privately run charter schools.

“We are the mayor!” declared Baraka, 45. Jeffries, 39, a faculty member at Seton Hall Law School,  conceded shortly afterward.

              Baraka’s victory celebration at the downtown Robert Treat Hotel erupted into cheers shortly after 10 pm when it became obvious the son of the late poet and playwright Amiri Baraka, had won with strong backing from his home South Ward—which he serves as a councilman—and the predominantly African-American  Central and West Wards. His rival, also an African-American, was strongest in the predominantly white and Latino North and East Wards. Baraka won 54 percent of the vote.

           Baraka, an often tough-talking champion of the poorest residents of the city, had been the front runner for most of the race. But, in the last few days, Wall Street financiers and hedge-fund managers—strong supporters of former Mayor Cory Booker—poured $3 million into the Jeffries campaign, including $300,000 in street money that went to young men and women in the city, many of whom apparently took the money and then urged voters to vote for Baraka.

          “I have to admit, I was scared,” said Frank Barlaff, one of Baraka’s campaign aides, who was aware of recent polls that showed Baraka trailing Jeffries by three points. He attributed Baraka’s victory to the widespread unpopularity of the so-called “One Newark” plan, a state-imposed effort to close neighborhood public schools and replace them with privately-operated charter schools. He also said Jeffries, while popular among  some rich white people outside Newark, was barely known inside the city.

          Baraka has been consistently critical of the Christie/Anderson “One Newark” plan, a position that had become increasingly popular among Newark residents who discovered their children might be transferred to schools across town. Jeffries, a close associate of Anderson, finally did repudiate her plan but it was too late in the race. In any event, the money pouring in from pro-charter school New York financiers gave the lie to Jeffries’ insistence that he did not support Anderson.

                Robert Duffey, a leader of the state Working Families Alliance, a big Baraka supporter, said last night be believed the victory was “the beginning of a surge of Ras Baraka wins | Bob Braun's Ledger:

Mother Crusader: Baraka Triumphs Over Wall Street Ed Reform Juggernaut

Mother Crusader: Baraka Triumphs Over Wall Street Ed Reform Juggernaut:

Baraka Triumphs Over Wall Street Ed Reform Juggernaut

Ras Baraka has won the election! The DFER/Education Reform Now money was all for naught!

And they kept pouring it in until the very last minute.

Since I last wrote about the DFER money filling the coffers of the Jeffries campaign, more reports have been filed with the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC). 

And wow. Just wow.

Education Reform Now's total, as of May 9th, stands at over 3 MILLION DOLLARS!

And look who dropped in close to half a million, just 4 days before election day.

Michael Bloomberg.

But tonight proved that their money was unable to buy the hearts and minds of the people of Newark.

Jeffries canvassers hold up 'V' for Victory
with Ras Baraka

This is a huge victory for the people of Newark, and a massive loss for the plutocracy that tried to steal this election out from underneath them.

And this is a tremendous win for public education advocates, and they are rejoicing all over the Mother Crusader: Baraka Triumphs Over Wall Street Ed Reform Juggernaut:

In revised budget, Gov. Brown details costly 30-year plan to fix teacher pensions | EdSource Today

In revised budget, Gov. Brown details costly 30-year plan to fix teacher pensions | EdSource Today:

In revised budget, Gov. Brown details costly 30-year plan to fix teacher pensions

May 13th, 2014 | Add a Comment | 
By John Fensterwald

3

Gov. Brown points to a chart showing the possible insolvency of the CalSTRS pension fund for teachers and administrators in 30 years unless the state, teachers and school districts contribute more money to wipe out the $74 billion deficit. Source: Webcast of Brown’s press conference.

Gov. Jerry Brown is predicting that the state will take in $2.4 billion more in revenue in 2014-15 than initially estimated, but highly expectant education leaders won’t get a piece of it to implement the Common Core state standards or make a down payment for universal preschool. They can count on the double-digit spending increase that the governor proposed in January  – but not much more.

Instead, consistent with his philosophy of fiscal restraint and a commitment to pay down long-term debts, Brown is proposing in the revised May budget to make a down payment on the $74 billion shortfall in the pension program for teachers and administrators, the California State Teachers Retirement System, or CalSTRS. His proposed 30-year payment plan, subject to negotiation with the Legislature, would cost an additional $5 billion per year by the time it’s fully phased in over seven years. The bulk of it – $3.7 billion annually – would be the burden of school districts, potentially eating away between one-seventh or more of the increased funding they had expected under the Local Control Funding Formula (see Department of Finance summary of budget revision, starting on page 66).

In a press conference Tuesday, Brown made clear the state cannot duck this responsibility. In revised budget, Gov. Brown details costly 30-year plan to fix teacher pensions | EdSource Today:

Gov. Brown proposes change in tallying of low-income students for funding formula - by Jane Meredith Adams

In his May budget revision, Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday proposed a change that will allow school districts to more broadly define who is eligible for a free or reduced-price meal and, by association, who ... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit the Edsource Today website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

by Jane Meredith Ada... / 2h 

College Dropout Bill Gates, Who Spends Millions on Harvard, Gets Honorary Doctorate | deutsch29

College Dropout Bill Gates, Who Spends Millions on Harvard, Gets Honorary Doctorate | deutsch29:

College Dropout Bill Gates, Who Spends Millions on Harvard, Gets Honorary Doctorate

May 13, 2014

In 2007, Bill Gates spoke at Harvard University’s graduation.

Gates dropped out of Harvard to start Microsoft.

In 2007, Harvard awarded Gates an honorary doctorate.

Gates has never had to follow a predetermined program of study in order to earn a college degree via traditional coursework.

Moreover, since 1996, Gates has donated $262 million to Harvard in the form of 97 grants.

Talk about “paying” for a college degree.

Keep in mind that this is the same Bill Gates who is paying billions to impose the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) on American education, complete with curriculum, assessments, and data collection, to enable “powerful market forces” to drive American education– and not just k-12 education– education from preschool through college.

.

In this six-minute clip of Gates’ speech at Harvard, he states, “Though I left early, I was transformed by my years at Harvard.”

So it is possible for a student to choose  to drop out and still acknowledge that leaving without completing a degree had nothing to do with deficient teaching??

This idea really puts a kink in using student “outcome data” to “assess teacher effectiveness.”

Gates even jokes that it is good that he was not invited to speak at orientation, the implication being that he might have tried to talk other young Harvard students into dropping out.

I realize that this is Harvard, where Gates admits “being in the midst of so much College Dropout Bill Gates, Who Spends Millions on Harvard, Gets Honorary Doctorate | deutsch29:

Mulgrew Confesses The Truth southbronxschool.com

http://www.southbronxschool.com:

Mulgrew Confesses The Truth

Yes, we here at SBSB have not been to kind to UFT President Mike Mulgrew in the past. We don't

think it has ever been personal, just business. Yes, an argument can be made to tone down the snarkiness and sarcasm, but that is what makes this blog so neat.

But as was told an SBSB groupie yesterday, we will defend Mulgrew when he needs defending, as when "lawyer" Joy Hochstadt decided to rope in a naive teacher, Andrew Ostrowsky, and sued Mulgrew. We vehemently defended Mulgrew and exposed Hochstadt. The Crack Team is not aware of what became of the suit, but with Joy leading the legal team, one can only assume...

 So now is another time we here will defend Mulgrew for remarks he made at the UFT Delegate Assembly last week as reported with a great deal of hyperbole in this past Friday's New York Post, "A Union Boss Confesses."

Now, we here at SBSB while having no qualms with taking advantage of recording those affiliated with the Dark Side of the DOE, we do have qualms with whomever recorded the DA and passed it along tohttp://www.southbronxschool.com:

Ras Baraka Wins Newark Mayoral Race - Hit & Run : Reason.com

Ras Baraka Wins Newark Mayoral Race - Hit & Run : Reason.com:

Ras Baraka Wins Newark Mayoral Race

Ed Krayewski|May. 13, 2014 9:37 pm

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rasjbaraka.comSouth Ward Councilman Ras Baraka, son of the beat-era poet Amiri Baraka, won today’s mayoral election in Newark, N.J. today. Baraka ran against Shavar Jeffries, a former school board president who campaigned as an education reform advocate. Education played a major role in the election, which was seen as a referendum on reform .

Baraka served as principal of Central High School while holding his city council position, bringing his income into six-figures, something his opponents have criticized him for. The Newark City Council as a whole has beencriticized for the high pay and spending involved.

Baraka’s supporters accused Jeffries, who helped found the TEAM Academy charter school in Newark, of being supported by the same kind of outside money that’s helped make the charter school experiment a success in Newark. Outside groups spent money onboth candidates, a departure from previous election cycles in the city. Baraka has been criticized for not having an alternative to charter schools or education reform for Newark’s failing public school system. He was endorsed by the Newark Teacher’s Union.

Baraka has organized regular anti-violence protests in Newark for years. Here’s a video from 2011 shot by my girlfriend at the time where Baraka spoke about the shooting death of a Virginia teacher who had bome back home to Newark in the summer. In it he advocates a kind of vigilanteism toward the young men who commit the bulk of murders in Newark. Watch below:

Baraka succeeds Luis Quintana, who has been acting mayor of Newark since the election to the U.S. Senate of Cory Booker. Booker, a Democrat, bucked party line by supporting school vouchers when running for mayor in 2006, nurturing charter schools while in office and using his celebrity star power to promote and bring money into Newark’s schools. Booker succeeded Sharpe James, who was mayor of Newark for 20 years before serving two years in jail after being convicted on corruption-related charges by then U.S. Attorney Chris Christie. Baraka ran against James in 1994 when he was 24 years old. James was first re-elected in 1990 with no opponentsRas Baraka Wins Newark Mayoral Race - Hit & Run : Reason.com: