Thursday, August 21, 2014

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 8-21-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:

IF YOU GIVE A KID AN iPAD: The ACLU is suing a school district in Massachusetts for letting only low-income kids take home school-issued tablets.

by Annie Baxter Featured in: NPR Marketplace Morning Report for Thursday August 21, 2014 | http://bit.ly/1ljrRJI Brad Flickinger/Flickr Hear Radio Story Thursday, August 21, 2014 - 05:45 :: As iPads and other technologies make their way into more classrooms, unforeseen consequences are also on the rise. There's the need for more IT workers. There's the need for bigger security budgets.

by smf / 0min hide // save

7 stories: A bunch of other California Education News…

from Rough&Tumble 21 August 2014 School superintendent with unusually high compensation fired -- The Centinela school board voted Wednesday to dismiss Supt. Jose Fernandez, who came under the scrutiny of the FBI and Los Angeles County district attorney's office this spring for a compensation package that exceeded $750,000 last year. Sara Hayden in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/21/14 Cal

by smf / 20min

Gov. Brown Should Spell Out How He’D Fund School Construction

“The state kitty for school building and modernization is dry …. but, for Brown, this is the year for reelection, not school construction.” by George Skelton, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/1v1fg0y L.A. Unified Supt. John Deasy attends the first day of instruction at Baldwin Hills Elementary School in Los Angeles last week. It seems Gov. Jerry Brown doesn't like the idea of

by smf / 32min

Lcap/Lcff: L.A. County Questions Lausd Spening On Poor Children

Alleged “improper calculation” and conflation of Special Ed with Special Needs students in accountability plan By Thomas Himes,Los Angeles Daily News http://bit.ly/1toT0uu Posted: 08/20/14, 7:37 PM PDT :: Los Angeles Unified officials will have to explain how they spent $700 million to help needy children last year, before county education officials approve a proposed three-year plan for

by smf / 4min

L.A. Unified Teachers Decry New Student Tracking System

Some L.A. Unified schools face packed classes, roaming students as new $20-million student database falters By Stephen Ceasar, LA Times | LA Times http://lat.ms/1ljiKbJ "We don't have anything to gain from exaggerating -- we want the problem fixed," says teachers union President Alex Caputo-Pearl of LAUSD's new student tracking program. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) Aug 21, 2014 ::

by smf / 17min hide // save

NORWALK/LA MIRADA TEACHER’S MESSAGE: “Good luck with that!! …but I don't think she was too terribly bad.

forwarded text message from someone in norwalk/la mirada unified 20 August 2014 :: Yes. Ruth Perez is/was the super. Good luck with that!! Apparently, not what I or others perceived to be super "teacher friendly." I can't really speak with a lot of authority. It was a shock when she got hired about 6 years ago. I heard the board wanted her to bust the union. Union did not like her, but I

by smf / 39min

NORWALK/LA MIRADA SUPERINTENDENT’S MESSAGE: “The District is about to embark on an exciting year with so many positive changes” …oh …and I’m outta here!

Norwalk/La Mirada Superintendent’s Message by Ruth Perez, in DowneyBeat.com | http://bit.ly/1ogAP4R Wed, Aug 20, 2014 :: The lazy days of summer haven’t quite reached the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District as we are all busy at work to gear up for the upcoming school year, which is just around the corner. This summer, the

by smf / 56min

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 8-20-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: COUNTY OFFICE OF ED WITHHOLDS APPROVAL OF LAUSD LCAP, Questions spending on low-income, English learner and foster studentsBy Louis Freedberg | ED SOURCE TODAY | http://bit.ly/1tpNtD4 August 19, 2014 | updated at 11:30 a.m. :: The Los Angeles County Office of Education is withholding approval of the Local Control and Accountability Plan drawn up by t

by mike simpson / 5h

8-21-14 Hemlock on the Rocks

Hemlock on the Rocks:

Mayor Sam's Sister City - Home of Los Angeles Politics: Support the Right of Betty Pleasant to exercise her Freedom of Journalistic Expression in South LA

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by Rene Diedrich / 51min

The Ruling Party: Scenes From George McKenna's Winning Night | Cakewalk | SoCal Focus | KCET

by Rene Diedrich / 1h

The strategic campaign needed to save public education — in nine steps - The Washington Post

by Rene Diedrich / 18min

An Appropriate Rumination on Tenure and Due Process By A. Scapegoat

When I became a teacher, I was kind of appalled by seniority and tenure for the reasons most are, but came to understand why it was needed when we lost a very strong by the book leader who was scary but only if you were screwing up. And we all do because we have to be professionals who are also caregivers personalizing instruction . We hear out students who come to us for advice, we care about

by Rene Diedrich / 15min

8-20-14 Hemlock on the Rocks

Hemlock on the Rocks: In NYC the Scandals have Sex in classrooms , alien lesson plans and threats of violence thanks to Mulgrew'Sex coverup' with counselor should force UFT President Mulgrew out: foesBy Reuven FentonMay 21, 2012 | 4:00amModal TriggerWOE! Then-guidance counselor Emelina Camacho-Mendez allegedly had sex with UFT chief Michael Mulgrew (above) at Grady HS in 2005.Photo: Daniel Shapiro

by mike simpson / 8h

8-21-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Duncan Threatened NY Over Test-Based Teacher Evals, Now Says "Fine For Another Year"

Back in June:New York might lose out on $300 million if last-minute negotiations on teacher and principal evaluations untie Common Core test scores from final ratings, federal education officials warned Tuesday.That’s how much New York is due to receive to implement a new evaluation system as part of its participation in Race to the Top, a competitive grant program launched by the U.S. Department

by reality-based edu... / 1h

Andrew Cuomo: "I am the government, but I'm not my own campaign."

You can't make this stuff up: Gov. Cuomo passed Thursday morning on saying whether he'll debate Fordham law professor Zephyr Teachout before the Sept. 9 Democratic primary. The hands-on Cuomo said he's leaving the decision to the campaign. "I'd leave that to the campaigns to work out, whatever they decide," said Cuomo during a soggy appearance at the state Fair opening in Syracuse. When

by reality-based edu... / 17min

New NYSUT Leaders Revive Their Own Pensions

Norm Scott at Ed Notes Online reported this story last night:NYSUT officers got their pals, Klein and Skelos, to pass this law giving them leaves of absences at full pay, all of it pensionable, and get Cuomo to sign it at the speed of light - for the NY State legislature.AN ACT to amend chapter 675 of the laws of 1984 relating to providing fringe benefits for certain employees of school districts

by reality-based edu... / 32min

Campaign To Drive Down Confidence In Public Schools A Success

The headline in the PDK/Gallup poll released yesterday was how much support Common Core has lost with both the general public and parents of children of school age.But we shouldn't lose sight of these poll findings either:The wide-ranging survey also showed that trust in the nation’s public school system has evaporated, as a consistent majority of Americans approve of charter schools that operate

by reality-based edu... / 55min

8-20-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School: Cuomo Remains Hidden In The ShadowsA few of us on Twitter were wondering if anybody has seen Andrew Cuomo since he returned from his Israel trip.It seems like every morning, this is schedule (as it is for today):Gov. Andrew Cuomo is in New York City with no public schedule.And why not stay hidden and work things from the shadows?It certainly isn't hurting his poll numbers, a

by mike simpson / 8h

UPDATE: Common Core Chaos, Loss and Betrayal | Crazy Crawfish's Blog

Common Core Chaos, Loss and Betrayal | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:

Crazy Crawfish's Blog

So LDOE’s website went down, how did that go down?

On Monday the 18th the LDOE website, Louisianabelieves.com went down for a few hours in the middle of the day. This was immediately tweeted about by Will Sentell and covered in the Advocate and KATC-TV 3 and nefarious reasons were given for this brief outage. The implications of the articles covering this story were that this was somehow related to the Jindal administration’s ongoing pseudo-fight

by crazycrawfish / 34min

Common Core Chaos, Loss and Betrayal

Posted on August 21, 2014

Recently I was interviewed by WAFB about the latest developments in Louisiana’s Common Core lawsuit saga and the recent court loss. You can see the full story here:http://www.wafb.com/story/26328975/common-core-debate-continues

On a personal note, I was amused that this was a story I’d watched earlier in the day while working out, but without sound. I remember wondering what the folks were saying, but figured it was just a bunch of face saving and sparring . . . and that I’d probably never know. I wasn’t far off of my analysis, but I was wrong about not seeing it again. A few hours later I was weighing in on the situation myself and ended up appended to the same video. Lol. That’s a strange feeling to be sure. Earlier in the week I was contacted by Motoko Rich at the New York Times to provide some background and commentary. I actually didn’t know I would end up being quoted, I’ve been contacted by reporters at various times and outlets to provide background info from a local perspective and I usually try to point reporters to other folks if I can. Tonight I was contacted by a producer from Al Jazeera, America to explain some of the complex issues and nuances in our Common Core battle. I’ve gotten some feedback that this contact makes people a little uneasy, but I try to keep an open mind. Maybe that’s my strength (or my Achilles Heel)? I prefer to think of it as the former.

Ultimately I can’t control what any of these folks do with the info I provide them, but I feel it is important to provide a counterpoint to the corporately funded Reform line on so many issues important to our community. Mainstream coverage is important and my blogging helps me break into that market. For instance, without mainstream media coverage by folks like Stephanie Simon at Reuters, I have little doubt that inBloom would still be in business selling out children’s data to not just the highest bidder, but any bidder.

Once this information gets out there, it’s going to be abused. There’s no doubt in my mind,” said Jason France, a father of two in Louisiana.

In case you were wondering, I think the above linked article by Stephanie Simon was perhaps the most important story in terms of raising national awareness of this issue as an issue that we should all be concerned about. We can’t know who our next Stephanie Simon will be ahead of time though.

I’ve provided info and interviews to folks at the Advocate, Reuters, LPB, Monroe News star, NPR, Common Core Chaos, Loss and Betrayal | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:

Don’t Turn Kindergarteners Into Test-Taking Minions | Truth in American Education

Don’t Turn Kindergarteners Into Test-Taking Minions | Truth in American Education:

Don’t Turn Kindergarteners Into Test-Taking Minions

Filed in Common Core State Standards by Shane Vander Hart on August 21, 2014 • 0 Comments

An excerpt:

Channel 9′s Lori Brown found out that the state is requiring districts to develop tests for every subject taught in kindergarten.
The state law requires Orange County to develop 15 different tests for kindergarteners.
The subjects 5-year-olds will be tested on will range from physical education to art.
Most kindergarteners will be required to take seven of the tests.
“Turning a child into a test taking minion at the age of 6 or 7 is not good for a child,” said parent Kathleen Oropeza.

That is absolutely horrifying. State Legislators who think that is a good idea should first have their head examined, and then drummed out of office when they are up for reelection.

On a similar note, there are schools in Iowa, starting this school year will start teaching kindergarteners how to code. I kid you not.

All of this on top of standards that are developmentally inappropriate.

This is not the Kindergarten of my childhood, and it is no wonder that child psychologists, child Don’t Turn Kindergarteners Into Test-Taking Minions | Truth in American Education:

Common Core Repeal Bill Filed in Pennsylvania House

State Representative Gordon Denlinger earlier this month filed legislation that would repeal the Common Core State Standards in the Keystone State.From a press release that he sent out:“On Nov. 21, 2013, by a vote of 3-2, the Commonwealth’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) adopted key revisions to Pennsylvania Core Academic Standards in lieu of national Common Core standards. While

by Shane Vander Hart / 2h

Am I Wrong For Thinking We Could Be Something For Real? - The Jose Vilson

Am I Wrong For Thinking We Could Be Something For Real? - The Jose Vilson:

Am I Wrong For Thinking We Could Be Something For Real?

This afternoon, I happened upon a situation that most New Yorkers don’t. I found myself walking into the ocean with maybe 50 people over a half-mile stretch of beach to my left and my right. The more I walked into the ocean, the less people I saw around me. I didn’t even notice that, after a few more feet of walking in, I had no one next to me, just me and the razor-sharp horizon in front of me. The once boisterous conversations around me became nothing but a din as the water crashed against my chest.

I don’t usually get moments like this, contrary to popular belief about teachers’ summer vacations, yet I couldn’t help but notice the metaphor laid out by nature in front of me. With this consternation around Ferguson, and the resulting calls for reverberation and leadership from folks who are always asking us to rethink our education advocacy, I wonder whether our calls for teachers to speak up is truly in vain.

How do you fight back against what seems like an insurmountable ocean of inaction? How do you keep swimming with the salty waters constantly thwarting your plans, pushing back against the progress you seek?

Why ask anyone to speak up at all when the people who can take the leadership on speaking up are the people asking for folks to speak up? Sadly, all of us can fall into the trap of asking leaders (supposed or otherwise) to take leadership on items that they probably won’t, like the incidents in Ferguson. I’m starting to see that new and responsive leadership is ultimately necessary, a leadership that’s reflective of what we seek.

I wonder if I’m wrong to ask people with huge followings, with lots of books to sell, and with influence in their communities to do anything, much less do more than what they may or may not do already. Instead, those of us who do say, “Enough is Am I Wrong For Thinking We Could Be Something For Real? - The Jose Vilson:

School Discipline Policies are Where the Anger Begins for Too Many Black Americans | Life at the Intersections

School Discipline Policies are Where the Anger Begins for Too Many Black Americans | Life at the Intersections:

SCHOOL DISCIPLINE POLICIES ARE WHERE THE ANGER BEGINS FOR TOO MANY BLACK AMERICANS

AUGUST 20, 2014 BRETT DICKERSON

Ferguson, Missouri protest, Aug 16th, Credit: CBS News

What we are seeing in Ferguson, Missouri and in other cities is, in part, a direct outgrowth of misguided school suspension/expulsion policies over the last 50 years.

Those protests have revealed to others what black people have been living with for nearly half a century now — a whole generation of black men who believe that the game is rigged so that they will lose no matter what they do. To them it is normal to see excessive arrests, informal executions by the police who claim self-defense, or formal executions by a “justice” system that is not just to African-Americans.

In too many cases, that highly negative belief system develops from kindergarten through the last year that black students are in public schools, whatever year that may be.

Excessive Suspensions/Expulsions of Black Students

Local data was generated in several cities around the U.S. starting around 2011. But, nation-wide evidence of excessive suspensions of black students compared to other racial groups in public schools was quantified and reported in March by the US DOE Office for Civil Rights. You may download a PDF file of their report, Data Snapshot: School Discipline HERE.

A series of serious attempts at correcting the problem were instituted around the country in public school districts that showed disproportionately high numbers of suspensions and expulsions of black students.

One such attempt was made with funding changes in California. It is described in this report from the San Diego newspaper Voice & Viewpoint: “Suspension Rate for African American Students in California Alarming”.

A significant set of reports was aired on KUT the NPR affiliate public radio station in Austin, Texas by their education reporter Kate McGee.

In the first installment, she reported “Black Students Are Eight School Discipline Policies are Where the Anger Begins for Too Many Black Americans | Life at the Intersections:

empathyeducates – A White Sheriff, His Black Son; Kitchen Table Conversations About Race

empathyeducates – A White Sheriff, His Black Son; Kitchen Table Conversations About Race:

A White Sheriff, His Black Son; Kitchen Table Conversations About Race

Beyond Ferguson there are countless race-related conversations. We are also talking about the police. When the two come together…Well, what do you think? A White Sheriff, His Black Son…What might the two say when they sit down to dinner? Race. Justice. Might a kitchen table conversation help us to better understand the links? Consider this family’s story. And again, please tell us what do you think.

White Sheriff Talks Race, Police With His Black Son

Guests: Kevin Fisher-Paulson | Produced By: Arwa Gunja and Jillian Weinberger | Originally Published at The Take Away. August 20, 2014
Photograph; Kevin Fisher-Paulson with his husband Brian and his sons Zane (right) and Aiden. (Stephanie Boone)

Join Takeaway Host John Hockenberry today at 6:00 PM Eastern/3:00 PM Pacific for a Twitter chat on Ferguson, race, justice, and America. Follow @TheTakeaway and use the hashtag #BeyondFerguson.

Last October, a police officer in Santa Rosa, California, shot and killed a 13-year-old boy named Andy Lopez. The Latino teenager was carrying a toy gun, which the officer said he believed was real. An hour away, at a home in San Francisco, Zane Fisher-Paulson was in shock.

“My son Zane sat at the kitchen table as we were listening on the radio about it and he started crying,” recalls Kevin Fisher-Paulson, Zane’s father. “And I said, ‘Zane, why are you crying?’ And he said, ‘Could that happen to me?’”

Fisher-Paulson is a deputy sheriff in San Francisco. He and his husband, Brian, are both white. Zane, 11, the older of their two adopted sons, is black.

For Fisher-Paulson’s multiethnic family — including 9-year-old Aiden, who’s mixed-race — Lopez’s death sparked a conversation about police and race that he’d never had to consider while growing up in a “pretty insular white, Irish-Catholic family.” Now the dinner table where he heard the news has become a frequent forum for race issues.

“Raising a black child has certainly awoken my awareness to race in America,” Fisher-Paulson says.

He’s had that awareness since he and Brian first adopted their children. The pair watched as strangers empathyeducates – A White Sheriff, His Black Son; Kitchen Table Conversations About Race:

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