The path forward: Q&A with Helen Gym of Parents United | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

The path forward: Q&A with Helen Gym of Parents United | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

The path forward: Q&A with Helen Gym of Parents United

By Bill Hangley Jr. on Aug 5, 2014 01:11 PM

Helen Gym ranks among Philadelphia’s best-known education advocates, and one of the most vocal critics of education reform as practiced in the city.

A co-founder of Parents United for Public Education, she has said she feels that the city is now going through “some kind of sick social experiment,” pointing to the failure of reform efforts to address systemwide inequities even as they are exacerbated by budget cuts.

Recognized this year by the White House as a “Cesar Chavez Champion of Change,” she is convinced that the conversation about education needs to be fundamentally shifted away from the goal of expanding “choice,” and back towards the goal of ensuring “equity.”

“This is a state obligation, plain and clear,” she says. “Our essential responsibility as parents is to reframe and refocus the discussion on the constitutional mandate and the moral obligation.”

In the wake of this year’s budget process, we asked Gym to reflect on the message from Harrisburg, the role of charters and the teachers’ union, and Parents United’s strategy for shaping the debate in the months to come. 

What did this year’s education budget debate look like from where you sit?

It was extraordinarily reductive – it’s not addressing the fundamental issues that districts across the state are dealing with. Elected officials were doing the least possible, and the public was demanding so much more.

Take the cigarette tax – it was the least that could be done, and it couldn’t even make it through in a timely manner.

What did it tell you when you saw totally unrelated amendments being attached to the cigarette tax bill, like the one to allow some cities to raise hotel taxes?

What was sad is that basic human needs were being exploited. The more desperate the situation, the more politicians jumped on it to exploit it for other political purposes. It’s an eye-opening thing. If we’re not active, this is where this stuff ends up. 

And this does not have to be a partisan issue. Plenty of people feel both sides of the aisle in the state of Pennsylvania have fallen down – and the city of Philadelphia has failed its The path forward: Q&A with Helen Gym of Parents United | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The last laugh is the best laugh

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The last laugh is the best laugh:

The last laugh is the best laugh

Getting a late start this morning after doing the Patti Vasquez show on WGN Radio last night. Didn't get home til after 1 a.m. I really like her format and WGN's big late-night (11:00pm-2:00am) audience. Patti, a local  stand-up comedian, likes quick, both humorous and serious banter back and forth on topical issues of education and politics. Last night we wound from the mayor and gov races, to CPD's fudging of violence numbers, to Byrd-Bennett's waiving of principal eligibility requirements so that Ald. Pat O'Connor's sister, could be appointed as Gray’s interim principal. What fun!

'LAUGHABLE'...That's how the Little Emperor's courtiers responded to current polls showing Karen Lewis giving Rahm a run for his (obscene) money in next year's election. Austin Weekly columnist Arlene Jones offers the proper response to their guffawing.

When the witty people on the mayor's staff were told of the poll results, their response was loud and clear: Laughable. Now I must confess that I did agree with Rahm's staff. The image of a mayoral race featuring Karen Lewis vs. Rahm Emanuel did have me laughing. I was rolling all over the floor laughing at the image of Karen Lewis giving him her size eight Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The last laugh is the best laugh:

Kimble's Corner: Reforming Education Must Be Our Number One Priority

Kimble's Corner: Reforming Education Must Be Our Number One Priority:



Reforming Education Must Be Our Number One Priority

To look at it, it's not a very imposing school building.  It almost looks more like a home or a lodge than an educational institution.  You wouldn't find a computer lab or a playground for the little ones, but Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie School is exactly the type of education that we must try to provide for all of our country's children.  How influential was it?  Here's a sampling of quotes I found:

The Encyclopedia of Chicago defines the Prairie School by saying, "[it] began in Chicago yet rapidly spread across the Midwest. Ultimately its influence was felt around the world—most especially in north-central Europe and Australia. Its origins date from the 1890s."

 Asia-Pacific Journal says, "The influence of Frank Lloyd-Wright's prairie school on Japan cannot be overlooked."

It's worth noting that Japan has one of the highest achieving school systems in the world.   Now, the Prairie School was not inside a school district.  In fact, I've had a hard time finding its location other than Kimble's Corner: Reforming Education Must Be Our Number One Priority:

8-5-14 The Whole Child Blog — Homework in a Flipped Classroom

The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education:

Homework in a Flipped Classroom

ASCD author Aaron Sams explains how flipped classrooms use class time to practice and apply skills learned during prerecorded lectures. Homework becomes classwork, and lectures and other content traditionally presented during class time are viewed outside of class, at home, on a personal device, or in a school-based resource room. Copyright 2010 by TechSmith In the excerpt "Does Flipping Yo

by ASCD Whole Child ... / 25min 

8-2-14 THE WHOLE WEEK @ The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education

The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education:THE WHOLE WEEK @ The Whole Child Blog Leading and Learning as a PrincipalPost written by Ashley Allen, a master's student in communication management with an emphasis on marketing at the University of Southern California. She received her bachelor's degree from San Jose State University last spring and hopes to use her writing skills to make a differenc

by mike simpson / 45min 

Student-Centered Learning with a POP | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity

Student-Centered Learning with a POP | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity:

Student-Centered Learning with a POP

Posted on: Tuesday August 5th, 2014

Here's How We Get Student-Centered Learning Right
A Blueprint for Developing "Personal Opportunity Plans"

Download the executive
summary here!

What if we could design our nation's public education system to meet the individual needs of each and every child?

Personalized learning might be hard to imagine in today's era of high-stakes testing and punitive accountability systems, but a new report shows how we could move our public education system in a new direction.

"Conditions and Considerations for Effective Development and Implementation of Personal Opportunity Plans" was written by Educators for Social Responsibility with support from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation and the Schott Foundation. The report evisions "Personal Opportunity Plans" (POPs) as a tool for connecting students to key wraparound services, such as tutoring, healthcare or college counseling, to support their success.

In March, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights released a comprehensive set of data detailing the stark inequalities in our nation's public schools. Across the board, students of color and students from low-income families lack access to key opportunities like pre-k, rigorous coursework and resources for English language learners.

POPs would help educators and professionals connected to schools to identify and address those inequities and many others, both inside and outside the classroom. Though the report was written with Massachusetts in mind, it has wide applicability for other states and cities across the country. It illustrates a vision of what our schools can be – and shows how we can get there.

Read the executive summary here.
And download the full report here.

Student-Centered Learning with a POP | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity:

Geaux Teacher!: Should a Gubernatorial Candidate Be FOR or AGAINST Common Core?

Geaux Teacher!: Should a Gubernatorial Candidate Be FOR or AGAINST Common Core?:





Should a Gubernatorial Candidate Be FOR or AGAINST Common Core?

Louisiana folks know that John Bel Edwards is a Democrat running for Governor against a group of Republican candidates vying for "The Most Conservative" title. 

Arguably one of the most important issues currently being debated in this campaign is the adoption, or not, of Common Core Standards. 

While the adoption of Common Core Standards did not begin as a political issue (it is and always has been all about the $$money$$),  it has been "elevated" to that level by those who would use the issue in hopes it will improve their otherwise same ole same ole "lies and misdemeanors" campaign strategy.  Well, in a manner of speaking anyway, because in Louisiana we often have convicted felons, sexual perverts and thieves in elected office or running for elected office.  Just read the newspaper any given day. 

As for CCSS, candidates are ill advised to "pick a side" on this issue for any number of reasons.

 Besides being a very hot topic that sports top level supporters and opponents on BOTH ends of the political spectrum, it is a subject that NONE of the candidates hold expertise in.  So rising to the top of the cesspool created by CCSS will only improve your status in that venue!

Candidates will find, and have found,  it very difficult to keep their hooves out of their mouths when confronted by the exponentially growing number of parents and teacher opponents who are either trained education professionals or have made it a point to educate themselves to protect their most previous possessions - their children. 

And it doesn't matter whether their wallpaper consists of copies of The Constitution or Bob Dylan posters, they are determined that THEIR CHILDREN are not human capital that should be standardized or mesmerized in front of computers where "personalized learning" means the old computer is the new person.  These education "experts" in and out of the classroom do not have a vision of education as a global COMPETITION with their children, teachers and schools being labelled as winners or losers! They SIMPLY, yes simply, want for their children what we should all want for  EVERY child - a safe, encouraging, supportive environment where they can be introduced to all the world and life have to offer so that when they are ready to make the determination FOR THEMSELVES , they have a foundation to build their futures using their own blueprints. 

I compare the last few years of so-called education reform in our state to our history of invasive species brought here usually by Geaux Teacher!: Should a Gubernatorial Candidate Be FOR or AGAINST Common Core?:

Bill of Rights Fifth Amendment: Due Process | ALL Americans, Including Teachers have a Unalienable Right to Due Process of Law

Bill of Rights Institute: Fifth Amendment: Due Process | Bill of Rights Institute:

Fifth Amendment: Due Process

The government may not deprive citizens of “life, liberty, or property” without due process of law. This means that the government has to follow rules and established procedures in everything it does. It cannot, for example, skip parts of trials, or deny citizens their rights as protected by the Bill of Rights and by law. This protection helps to ensure justice.

Due process protection has its roots in the Magna Carta when King John promised that “[n]o free man shall be taken or imprisoned … or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.”

The language of this amendment is echoed in the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.

The education-reform movement is too white to do any good - The Washington Post

The education-reform movement is too white to do any good - The Washington Post:

The education-reform movement is too white to do any good

At this point, it seems like everyone agrees what “education reformer” means. The phrase conjures Teach for America: messianic, white Ivy Leaguers wearing thick-rimmed glasses and speaking in questions, or the Maggie Gyllenhaal vehicle “Won’t Back Down.” For some, the hallowed education reformer battles the forces that are reluctant to change — which, in too many minds, looks like black and brown families under the hallucinogenic spell of labor unions, unwittingly fighting against their own interests.

This is ludicrous. There’s not quite yet an internecine war within the current crusade, but black education reformers are beginning to revolt. A group of us convened on the 60th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education this month to identify the most pressing challenges in the reform movement — and to reclaim the brand and identity of “reformer.”

Let’s stipulate that, yes, change is badly needed. Call it “reform” if you like: Charter schools, curriculum changes (Common Core), testing, and accountability are not inherently bad things. They can bring justice.

But let’s also stipulate that overwhelmingly white movements pursuing change for black and brown communities are inherently paternalistic. The great educator Benjamin E. Mays famously said, “I would rather go to hell by choice than to stumble into heaven.” Reform is being done to communities of color. That’s why saying you’re a black education reformer effectually elicits charges of “acting white” from black communities.

One of the meeting’s attendees, Sharhonda Bossier, co-Founder and chief fellowship officer of Families for Excellent Schools, believes black and brown communities want change, but those very communities are skeptical of tokenism and duplicity. She said parents essentially say, “Don’t think you can fool us just because you put a black face on a white agenda.” Bossier reacted, “Sometimes I have to look back and ask myself, ‘Am I The education-reform movement is too white to do any good - The Washington Post:

8-5-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):

From Deasy: RFK, apartheid, Chavez and an Oprah moment

From Deasy: RFK, apartheid, Chavez and an Oprah moment In his annual State of the Schools address, LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy today called to mind Robert F. Kennedy, apartheid in South Africa, Cesar Chavez and national immigration reform. He even hammered home this year’s theme, “My Brother’s and Sister’s Keeper,” with an Oprah-like moment. Deasy instructed every LA Unified employee in t

by Vanessa Romo / 21min 

After early surge, LAUSD autonomy school growth slowing

After early surge, LAUSD autonomy school growth slowing After a strong start in the number of autonomy model schools over the last two years, the pace of growth has slowed. For the school year opening next week, LA Unified is adding only a handful of Pilot, Local Initiative Schools (LIS), and Expanded School-Based Model Management (ESBMM) schools. LA Unified and the teachers union, UTLA, signed an

by Yana Gracile / 2min

Deasy on UTLA’s talk of a strike: ‘breathtakingly irresponsible’

Deasy on UTLA’s talk of a strike: ‘breathtakingly irresponsible’ As LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy prepared to deliver his “State of the District” speech to school leaders and educators at Garfield High School today, he sat for a wide-ranging interview with LA School Report yesterday, addressing the possibility of a teachers strike, implementation of Common Core, his relationship with the bo

7 by Vanessa Romo / 39min 

Morning Read: Education bills pile up for returning CA lawmakersMorning Read: Education bills pile up for returning CA lawmakers Lawmakers face long list of education bills Standardized testing inaccuracies, funding for new adult education programs and new Common Core assessments for students with disabilities are among the education proposals left to be decided upon by legislators returning from summer recess Monday. S&I Cabinet Report Number of AP tests

2 2min  

8-4-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District): Morning Read: Renowned trial lawyer takes on teacher tenureMorning Read: Renowned trial lawyer takes on teacher tenure Celebrated trial lawyer to head group challenging teacher tenure David Boies, the star trial lawyer who helped lead the legal charge that overturned California’s same-sex marriage ban, is

by mike simpson / 22h 

The Public School Counterinsurgency Field Manual | T. Elijah Hawkes

The Public School Counterinsurgency Field Manual | T. Elijah Hawkes:

The Public School Counterinsurgency Field Manual

Extreme Campbell Brown

PRIVATIZATION EXTREMISTS

Their means may not be military, but across this great land, insurgent extremists are at work attacking public institutions and undermining the citizenry's confidence in the same. Our public schools are on the front lines.

In certain regions, the school casualties mount. Witness the "murder" of public schools in Philadelphia, the cyber attacks by virtual ed. corporations on brick-and-mortar schooling in Tennessee, the "policy of neighborhood school closing in Chicago", and the battles being fought in Milwaukee, "ground zero for school privatization."

Yes, the forces against us are strong. And while our public school foundation is solid, we mustn't let the insurgency gain further foothold in our communities.

THREAT ASSESSMENT

Our intelligence agents have determined that the private sector itself is not the enemy. Main Street businessmen and women are our allies. It is the privatization extremists, driven by free-market fundamentalism and greed, whose influence on the general populous we must neutralize.

To defeat the extremists, public school defenders need a counterinsurgency approach. Our brothers and sisters in uniform have something to teach us.

The Army's Counterinsurgency Field Manual classifies insurgencies as struggles "designed to weaken the control and legitimacy of an established government." Affirmative. Our fight is for legitimacy, for the people's confidence in an essential government institution, our schools. This is a battle for hearts and minds.

Unfortunately, the insurgents are skilled at information war, and many innocent Americans have succumbed to the "hoax" that privatization is good for the public school system. Many believe, for instance, that since some charter schools do a good job then you must be a charter school to do a good job. On the contrary, the positive attributes of some privately-run charter schools - like energetic and mission-driven teachers, innovative scheduling, etc. - are common in public schools. Consider the much-lauded Expeditionary Learning network: some schools are charters, many are not. (WHEELS, the EL school praised in our President's 2014 State of the Unionaddress, was not a charter.)

Alas, when good educators take advantage of the policy convenience of charters to start a new school, it can unwittingly advance the agenda of insurgent profiteers who are using charter schools and other tools to pad their billfolds with dollars designated for the care of children. Privatizing core public infrastructure is their aim. To understand grim reality of this threat assessment, one need look no further than theAmerican Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a clever and vigorous organization, deliberately chipping away at public institutions across the country.

STRATEGY

What strategies can public school defenders use to thwart the agile ALEC and the privatization fundamentalists that are fueling this insurgency? To answer this The Public School Counterinsurgency Field Manual | T. Elijah Hawkes:

8-5-14 The New Living in Dialogue | hosted by Anthony Cody

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Living in Dialogue | hosted by Anthony Cody

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From the AFT Convention, Looking Forward

Notes on building our movement and the AFT following the Los Angeles convention By Kipp Dawson (rank-and-file delegate to the AFT convention from Pittsburgh) This is a life-or-death time for the American Federation of Teachers. The July 12-14, 2014, convention reflected both positive movement, and continuing obstacles, for our union. As we take on the challenges we all face with the opening of sch

by Anthony Cody / 3min 

8-4-14 The New Living in Dialogue | hosted by Anthony Cody

Living in Dialogue | hosted by Anthony Cody: Chicago Teachers’ New Political AwakeningBy Michelle Gunderson. What would our city look like if it were run by Chicago teachers alongside other labor and community groups? This was the thought that kept running through my head as we gathered to support the launch of the new United Working Families political organization in Chicago. I have strong hope t

by mike simpson / 35min 

The Two Worlds of Education | My Island View

The Two Worlds of Education | My Island View:

The Two Worlds of Education

August 5, 2014 by Tom Whitby @tomwhitby

Being connected as an educator offers a unique perspective. It is almost as if there are two different world’s in education, and a connected educator must travel within both. Technology in our computer-driven society has enabled collaboration to occur at a level and pace never before available in the 19^th and 20^th century versions of education. For the modern educators who have embraced the idea of connectedness, the world of education looks very different from it has been in previous centuries.

Regardless of technology, many educators express a curiosity about what it would be like to talk to and engage people from history. How often have we heard the expression “ I wish I could pick his/her brain for ten minutes”? The whole idea would be to collaborate with individuals who in some way have made a mark on history or education. We could all benefit from discussing and reflecting on the successes and failures of valued individuals who have proven their worth in their profession. That is what is done everyday in the connected world of education. It does not involve picking the brains of historical people, but those of education practitioners.

It is social media in the 21^st Century that has boosted collaboration to a scale never before experienced. It enables educators the ability to collaborate beyond their own borders and way beyond their local connections to a global reach. Such collaboration forces transparency. Pedagogy, methodology and policy are all topics of discussion amongst educators worldwide. Education is being analyzed and scrutinized under a huge magnifying glass with the results, blemishes and all, being shared globally.

The overall result is that educators are beginning to adopt that which shows The Two Worlds of Education | My Island View:

Louisiana Educator: Teachers Need Due Process (Tenure) Now More Than Ever

Louisiana Educator: Teachers Need Due Process (Tenure) Now More Than Ever:

Teachers Need Due Process (Tenure) Now More Than Ever

I have received many confidential emails from individual teachers over the last year expressing concern that they were in danger of losing their jobs because of pressures caused by our so called education reforms. Some teachers were being pressured to give passing grades to many students who were refusing to perform even the minimum required in the classroom. Principals are being subjected to extreme pressure to demonstrate success by all students even if none exists. They then often transfer that pressure to teachers.

One teacher wrote me that the principal in examining the teacher's grade book asked about all the zeros given some students for homework. The teacher explained that he was mainly giving credit to students who showed a sincere attempt at their homework, and that accuracy was not part of the grade. One of the reasons the teacher assigned homework was to allow students to improve their overall grade particularly when test scores were very poor. He said that students received zeros because they were refusing to even make an effort at the homework. The principal responded that the teacher had better find a way to remove those zeros from the grade book!

The above is an example of the loss of academic freedom by many teachers in today's high pressure environment. The system of accountability we have in Louisiana often has the unintended consequence of pressuring dedicated educators to show false progress. Without tenure, teachers who try to Louisiana Educator: Teachers Need Due Process (Tenure) Now More Than Ever:

And Now Another Word from Our Sponsor, K12 | EduShyster

And Now Another Word from Our Sponsor, K12 | EduShyster:

And Now Another Word from Our Sponsor, K12

 Operators are standing by…

The soul-searching phase of the summer has arrived, reader—when one has no choice but to confront a fiercely urgent question: what to watch now that the Bachelorette’s journey has at last reached its end. There is Big Brother, of course, but one was already watching that, not to mention #Richkids of Beverly Hills, which one should probably not confess to watching. Which is how it is that I came to find myself on a recent weeknight viewing Welcome to Sweden, an odd-ish comedy staring Amy Poehler’s brother Greg because, well, meritocracy. But the real star of the show wasn’t the Swedish subtitles but the endless ads for K12,online public schools that provide powerful choices for parents across the U.S. And thanks to the wonders of DVR technology, I had no choice but to watch the ads again and again.

Channel changers
You can view K12’s latest for yourself here. (Note: to replicate my viewing experience, watch ad 11 times in a row, pairing with any beverage with an alc/vol of 13.5% or above). Of course, advertising is nothing new for the company that has been *putting our students first* since 2013, when they made that the official tagline of their annual report.  K12 spends And Now Another Word from Our Sponsor, K12 | EduShyster: