5-16-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education:

Many Florida Districts Underfunded By Convoluted, Unequal FEFP System

So much for that level playing field. From WTSP reporter Noah Pransky: Florida’s Constitution requires the state appropriate funds to school districts in an equitable – but not necessarily equal – way. Since 1973, the legislature has used the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) to determine how much money each district gets from the state. Because the state requires local districts to collec

by Bob Sikes / 3h 

5-15-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education: Florida Teachers Union Urges Scott to Veto Voucher Expansion BillGovernor Rick Scott saw what happened to Charlie Crist when he vetoed SB6, republicans first attempt at imposing a test-based teacher evaluation bill. There’s no chance Scott will veto voucher expansion. Bu

by mike simpson / 8h 

5-16-14 Wait What? Pelto Could Upend Gubernatorial Race As 3rd-Party Candidate - Wait What?

Wait What?:

Stunning Report Rejects School Closures, Charters, and Paternalism of School Reformers

Where is Governor Dannel “Dan” Malloy, Commissioner Stefan Pryor and their corporate education reform allies taking Connecticut?  The following article pulls the curtain aside so we can see. Fellow pro-public education blogger Jan Resseger highlights the findings of a new report released by Journey for Justice, a national coalition dedicated to pushing back the corporate […] The post Stunning Repo

8 by jonpelto / 2h 

5-15-14 Wait What? Pelto Could Upend Gubernatorial Race As 3rd-Party Candidate - Wait What?

Wait What?: Additional media coverage of potential gubernatorial candidacyHere are links to some of the latest news article and news segments about my potential candidate for governor. CT News junkie: Malloy Tries to Look Past Possible Third Party Challenger FOX CT News: Former Democrat Pelto May Run As Third Party Candidate For Governor NBC Connecticut News: Possible Third Party Candidate News 8

by mike simpson / 8h 

5-16-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet:

Are we abandoning public education 60 years after historic Brown ruling?

May 17 is the 60th anniversary of the famous U.S. Supreme Court  Brown v. Board of Education ruling, the 1954 decision that banned the “separate but equal” doctrine that allowed states and school districts to designate some schools “whites-only” and others “Negroes-only” and helped launch an era of civil rights activism. I recently published a report by […]

4 by Valerie Strauss / 15min 

Where Gates money is going in education world this year

Where in the education world has Bill Gates been putting his foundation’s money this year? A look at some of the biggest grants awarded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — by far the largest philanthropy in the world — shows millions of dollars being spent to foster “cooperation” between traditional public schools and […]

6 by Valerie Strauss / 5h 

5-15-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet: Pushback on standardized testing around the country getting strongerTo get an idea of what is going on around the country in regards to the growing anti-standardized testing movement, look at the following collection of stories that have come out in the last week or about the growing resistance around the country to high-stakes standardized testing. This list was issued by the Na

by mike simpson / 8h 

5-16-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

Hoosier School Heist author Doug Martin sings his new song "When ISTEP Was a Famous Dance"

Hoosier School Heist author Doug Martin sings his new song "When ISTEP Was a Famous Dance."  Kim Fidler's ISTA 2C District Council Meeting, Courtyard by Marriott (Airport Location), May 14, 2014, IndianapolisFor some reason, the video won't post to this website.  I will try again later.  For now, see the video at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6WXTzVP40YWhen ISTEP Was a Famo

1 by Doug Martin / 4h 

5-15-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter: Schools on Closure List Outperforming Local KIPP SchoolsA recent Diane Rehms segment dealt with the continued segregation and resegregation of American schools.  One of the guests and charter school supporter argued that segregation is not so bad: after all, look at the KIPP schools for examples of how poor urban children can have soaring scores in segregated environments. Predicta

by mike simpson / 4h

5-16-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE:

The Conversation: Racial segregation returns to US schools, 60 years after the Supreme Court banned it

The Conversation: Racial segregation returns to US schools, 60 years after the Supreme Court banned it. via The Conversation: Racial segregation returns to US schools, 60 years after the Supreme Court banned it.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical

1 by plthomasedd / 2h

5-15-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: Congratulations Mayor Baraka and Newark!Congratulations Mayor Ras Baraka! Thank you Newark! Congratulations to all of you who help assume mayoral responsibilities! Ras Baraka and the students, teachers, and families of Newark have risen up and handed a pivotal defeat to corporate reformers. Your grassroots efforts repelled the last minute infusion of cash from the Billionaires’ B

by mike simpson / 8h 

5-16-14 the becoming radical A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University):

The Conversation: Racial segregation returns to US schools, 60 years after the Supreme Court banned it

Racial segregation returns to US schools, 60 years after the Supreme Court banned it

1 by plthomasedd / 2h 

5-15-14 the becoming radical A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): My Speech to the Graduates: Don’t Listen to Graduation SpeakersNo institution has invited me to be the speaker at graduation, and none is ever likely to do so. But I feel compelled to offer this speech to gradates. So in the spirit of Kurt Vonnegut—great American novelis

by mike simpson / 4h 

5-16-14 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION:

Computer Shmomputer

You do know, don't you, that today' students have been around computers their lives, right? So why do some folks still think that a boring worksheet will suddenly be cool if it's on a computer? Or that a lecture from a teacher who can't be questioned is more interesting if it's on a computer?I tell you what. For every fifteen year old you find me who says, "Wow! This instruction is on a compu

by Peter Greene / 17min 

Jack Schneider & That Woman

Jack Schneider is my hero.Over at EdWeek, he has spent the last month co-authoring, "Beyond the Rhetoric." The other co-author of the blog is She Who Will Not Be Named. In the opening piece, Schneider talks about the considerable tension created by the forces surrounding the fight for public education:Sometimes this tension has been fruitful—leading to the adoption of policies for which

by Peter Greene / 2h 

5-15-13 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION: US DOE Ambassadors!US Department of Edumacation press releaseThere has been much discussion lately of our Principal Ambassador program, a program in which US DOE-indoctrinated principals are inserted into school settings where they can sort of work for the school district while spreading the good word of Common Core Etc. This was spun off of our successful Teacher Ambassador progra

by mike simpson / 8h 

Breaking the Cycle; Finding the Stairway - Student Voice

Breaking the Cycle; Finding the Stairway:



Breaking the Cycle; Finding the Stairway





 My informant, Michael, and I had immensely different upbringings in contrasting socioeconomic environments and, as a result, our lives, goals, and attainments have been constructed accordingly.  These socioeconomic factors contributed in shaping two diverse paths to personal as well as eduational attainments. I will analyze how family background and dynamics including race, community, class, family structure, and peer groups have affected and influenced our pathways into adulthood. Although each factor is distinct with its own unique characteristics, these factors can link together to construct social patterns and assist in forming a continual, cyclical process that is difficult to escape. Essentially, one factor contributes to the next and thus a repetitive cycle is born in which a social hierarchy is established; wealth and resources to opportunities such as higher education, stay in the hands of those who can afford it and those who cannot are left wanting.

Michael Davis is a 17 year old African American male. His mother grew up in Oakland, California, and his father in the nearby urban city of Richmond. His mom received a high school degree, but did not attend college. His father was a high school dropout who joined a gang at the age of 17, was arrested for selling drugs and remained mostly absent from Michael’s life. Michael’s mom, Tracy, did the best she could to give him a good life and raised him in Oakland. They moved to several homes they could not afford, and were subsequently evicted from, until they eventually settled in a small two-bedroom apartment in a predominantly poor, African American neighborhood. Michael and his mom are considered to be in the lower second fifth, lower class, and an in-person server household. Michael attends a local public high school and hopes to one day play football professionally. However the biggest obstacle Michael must face first is getting into college. Michael describes, “The high school I go to, most kids end up dropping out. If they do graduate, only a few go to college.” Michael and his football teammate, Darius, have their eyes set on a scholarship. Michael explains, “Most of my friends cannot afford to go to college. Darius and I are hoping to work hard enough to receive football scholarships so we can one day go pro. Without a scholarship, I wouldn’t go to college. No one in my family ever has.”

Contrastingly, I am a white female and live in Walnut Creek, California. My family lives comfortably and is able to afford a higher standard of living. Both of my parents achieved a college degree which allowed them to attain steady jobs after graduating. My mom graduated on an academic scholarship from St. Mary’s College and my dad worked two jobs to Breaking the Cycle; Finding the Stairway:

Louisiana Special Education Bill Would Segregate Students With Disabilities, Advocates Say:

Louisiana Special Education Bill Would Segregate Students With Disabilities, Advocates Say

Should schools expect students with a disability to know the same things as other kids their age to advance and graduate?

This decades-old question, which strikes at the heart of the civil rights movement for students who have disabilities, has provoked a debate in Louisiana that's dividing advocates.

Legislation unanimously approved by the Louisiana House now being considered by the Senate potentially would lower expectations for students with disabilities by allowing teachers and administrators to promote or graduate them without regard for state standards, according to several national advocacy groups and Louisiana's schools chief. But local politicians and the Louisiana Developmental Disabilities Council say the bill would put Louisiana on par with other states by providing students with disabilities a clearer path to graduation.

"I'm for Louisiana having a more flexible path to a diploma for students with disabilities that are truly leading to persistent academic struggles," John White, the state education commissioner, told The Huffington Post. "What I am not for is a bill saying students with disabilities can't achieve traditional standards and even more than that, that we as adults shouldn't be held accountable for helping them achieve traditional standards."

The bill was introduced in February by Rep. John Schroder, a Republican who represents Covington, across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans. It was part of a flurry of legislation state lawmakers introduced to tap into rising popular sentimentagainst the state's implementation of the Common Core State Standards. Schroder's other bills would tweak the standards, but wouldn't revoke them.

Schroder's special education bill aims to make it easier for students with disabilities to graduate. It does so by placing promotion and graduation decisions for students with disabilities who fail to meet required scores on state tests entirely in the hands of the school-based teams that work on students' individualized education plans, or IEPs. IEP teams could grant diplomas to students they deem incapable of meeting state and local graduation requirements, if they meet their IEP standards. The legislation would exclude those students from state tests used to judge school performance, but would reward schools for each student who meets the IEP goals.

"It's not fine to say that our accountability of adults should be contingent on Louisiana Special Education Bill Would Segregate Students With Disabilities, Advocates Say:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: It's the new, improved Rahm. 'Doesn't believe in personal insults...'

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: It's the new, improved Rahm. 'Doesn't believe in personal insults...':

It's the new, improved Rahm. 'Doesn't believe in personal insults...'

Here's Blaine Principal Troy LaRaviere laying it all out on Chicago Tonight.

PARTY LINE...You can always tell when the line comes down from the 5th floor at City Hall. It's picked up quickly and echoed down the halls and through the cubicles at Clark Street -- "That LaRaviere guy and those other principals are in league with Karen Lewis and the teachers union."

But by the time flack Sarah Hamilton's message reaches the end of the line, it doesn't always come out the way it was intended. Yesterday it was first mouthed clumsily by Rahm's attack dog, John Kupper who came right out and called CPA Pres. Clarice Berry, "a CTU shill". Yes, and that was the message coming from Hamilton's newly-created version of the warm, fuzzy ("I welcome principals' concerns and ideas") Rahm.

After Berry fired back with both barrels, Rahm made Kupper apologize.

“I regret my reckless remark and offer Dr. Berry my public apology,” Kupper Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: It's the new, improved Rahm. 'Doesn't believe in personal insults...':

 

Devastating Report Condemns Corporate Reform as Civil Rights Fraud - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Devastating Report Condemns Corporate Reform as Civil Rights Fraud - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Devastating Report Condemns Corporate Reform as Civil Rights Fraud

By Anthony Cody on May 16, 2014 8:11 AM

As the 60th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education arrives, a report has been released by the Journey 4 Justice Alliance, a coalition of community, youth and parent-led organizations, which declares corporate education reform a civil rights fraud.

"Death by a Thousand Cuts: Racism, School Closures and Public School Sabotage, Voices from America's Affected Communities of Color,"  ought to be required reading for every citizen and policy maker in the nation. While the nation is capable of identifying racism in the words of an 80 year old basketball team owner, we seem to have lost the ability to stop the re-segregation of our schools,  and those who claim to be "civil rights" leaders are sometimes contributing to the problems.

The report begins by explaining the source of destructive policies:

Right-wing conservatives have long sought to eliminate public goods such as public education, and dismantle organized labor, especially teachers' unions. Thus, for decades they have advocated - often successfully - for cutting spending to public schools. They have also long pursued the replacement of public schools with non-unionized, privately managed schools that receive public funds, either through a voucher system or a system of charter schools. Their privatization proposals received little support until they were joined by billionaires willing to invest heavily in education reform such as Bill Gates, Eli Broad, and the Walton family; members of the business community, especially Wall Street and large corporations, who realized there is considerable profit to be made by outsourcing education to private management; and Democratic policymakers who bought into (or were at least willing to promote) the unproven assertion that privatization and "school choice" would create improved educational opportunities for students. As a result of this political shift, there emerged a well-organized and extraordinarily well-funded group of individuals and organizations that has exploited any political opening they could find to destabilize neighborhood public schools - almost exclusively within communities of color - and instead promote the expansion of charter 

Devastating Report Condemns Corporate Reform as Civil Rights Fraud - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Feds remind charters of civil rights obligations :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet

Feds remind charters of civil rights obligations :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:

Feds remind charters of civil rights obligations

by Tom Chorneau

(District of Columbia) Despite the claims of some critics that charter schools are largely unaccountable to key education mandates, the U.S. Department of Education issued clear noticethis week that federal civil rights protections apply to all public schools.

That is, charters must comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which broadly prohibit discrimination based on race or sex. Charters are also bound by the requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

“Charter schools play an important role in the educational landscape and are serving more and more students all over the country,” said Catherine E. Lhamon, assistant secretary for civil rights, in a statement.

“Since our last guidance on the topic in 2000, thousands of new charter schools have opened,” she said. “This guidance underscores that charter schools must satisfy the requirements of the federal civil rights laws.”

National data generally shows that charter schools struggle with federal civil rights mandates as often and in many of the same ways as traditional public schools. But there are some notable exceptions when it comes to admission policies as well as services to students with disabilities and English learners.

Just this month in fact, federal investigators confirmed a probe into the enrollment procedures at two charters in the Washington D.C. area after complaints were made that both improperly excluded immigrant children.

Court intervention was also sought last year by civil rights groups in Louisiana in response to Feds remind charters of civil rights obligations :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:

Aligning common core with common sense

Testing based on Common Core State Standards may well be the most ambitious national reform in the history of performance measurement but there is a growing misconception among educators that it will accurately gage the progress of all students.

by Lee Funk / 5h 

Marie Corfield: Teacher Appreciation Week Followup: The good, the bad and the ugly

Marie Corfield: Teacher Appreciation Week Followup: The good, the bad and the ugly:

Teacher Appreciation Week Followup: The good, the bad and the ugly

Although Teacher Appreciation Week is officially behind us, I did promise you a Part 2 of my NJ BOE post—the testimony. But some other stuff happened after Part 1, and as a mom and teacher with only 5 weeks left of school, there's only so much I can fit into one day. I promise I'll get to it this weekend. 

In the meantime, here's what happened in the past week or so...

The good: Newark has a new mayor: educator Ras J. Baraka! He not only understands public education and the challenges inner city school districts face, but he lives, eats, breathes and sleeps it as principal of Central High School. He turned that school around the old fashioned way, through building a dedicated staff, providing meaningful professional development, and investing time and effort in students—not tests! I was honored to be asked to help spread the word about his campaign. I wish him much luck. All education eyes on both sides of the debate, and from all corners of the Garden State (and Wall St. and beyond) will be watching Newark under a microscope to see how he can steer that ship back into the hands of parents and community members and their public schools.

Great news out of Trenton! The Assembly Education Committee unanimously passed the bipartisan bill A3081. According to NJEA:

A-3081 calls for a variety of measures to ensure that any implementation of new standards, testing, and teacher evaluation is carried out thoughtfully. This bill includes:

• An Education Reform Review Task Force to look at how the CCSS are being implemented, use of PARCC assessments, and the implementation and potential effects of the teacher evaluation system. NJEA would be represented on this task force. 

• Student growth percentiles (SGPs) to not be included in the annual summative ratings of teachers for Marie Corfield: Teacher Appreciation Week Followup: The good, the bad and the ugly:

Stunning Report Rejects School Closures, Charters, and Paternalism of School Reformers | janresseger

Stunning Report Rejects School Closures, Charters, and Paternalism of School Reformers | janresseger:

Stunning Report Rejects School Closures, Charters, and Paternalism of School Reformers

Posted on May 16, 2014 by janresseger

Death by a Thousand Cuts: Racism, School Closures, and Public School Sabotage, a stunning report released this week by Journey for Justice (J4J), cuts through the ideological babble on school “reform” and lets us listen as “voices from America’s affected communities of color”—parents, students, and community leaders—tell us how school closures and privatization are affecting them, their neighborhoods, and their children.

J4J is a broad alliance of 36 grassroots community, youth, and parent-led organizations in 21 American cities that include Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Oakland, Los Angeles, Boston, New Orleans, Camden, Paterson, New York City, and Washington, D.C., many of them places listed by school “reform” promoters as part of the Portfolio School Reform Network, where public schools are now being managed— often by appointed school boards and mayoral or state oversight—through school closure and privatization.

Listen to J4J’s commentary: “To justify this radical transformation… the proponents of these policies have taken to talking about them as matters of racial and social justice… As the residents of the communities most affected by school closures and charter school expansion, we must take issue with this rhetorical description.  First, it is appalling that anyone would dare to equate the billionaire-funded destruction of our most treasured public institutions with the grassroots-led struggles for racial equality to which many of our elders and ancestors made heroic sacrifices.  Second, we simply cannot tolerate anyone telling us these policies are for our own good… The communities they’re changing so rapidly are our communities, and our experience with school closures and charter school expansion confirms what an abundance of research has made quite clear: these policies have not produced higher-quality educational opportunities for our children and youth, but they have been hugely destructive…  Third, while the proponents of these policies may like to think they are implementing them for us or even with us, the reality is that they have been done to us.”

The report, whose release was accompanied by the filing of three civil rights complaints (protesting discrimination in Newark, New Orleans, and Chicago) with the Department of Stunning Report Rejects School Closures, Charters, and Paternalism of School Reformers | janresseger: