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Friday, August 22, 2014

Nite Cap 8-22-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT



James Baldwin said it best: 

"For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."


A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAP




8-22-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Creating Safety Without Guns-An Inner City Love Story
With A Brooklyn Accent: Creating Safety Without Guns-An Inner City Love StoryOne of the reasons I am haunted by the death of Michael Brown is that I have worked with young people in highly charged settings and have seen what they can accomplish when people who command their respect guide them, challenge them, inspire them and love them. This is a story that will help you understand where I am comi
Read the NY Times Book Review on "The Teacher Wars"
Read the NY Times Book Review on "The Teacher Wars": Read the NY Times Book Review of “The Teacher Wars”Read the whole review!In the New York Times Book Review, Claudia Wallis gives The Teacher Wars a thoughtful read and a rave:In “The Teacher Wars,” her lively account of the history of teaching, Dana Goldstein traces the numerous trends that have shaped “the most controversial professio
Hands Up, Don’t Shoot: Five Acts of Meaningful Solidarity with #Ferguson | Bill Ayers #MichaelBrown
Hands Up, Don’t Shoot: Five Acts of Meaningful Solidarity with #Ferguson | Bill Ayers: Hands Up, Don’t Shoot: Five Acts of Meaningful Solidarity with #FergusonFrom my friend and comrade, Alice Kim:“To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance.To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you.To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beaut
Internal emails show LA school officials started iPad talks with software supplier a year before bids | 89.3 KPCC
Internal emails show LA school officials started iPad talks with software supplier a year before bids | 89.3 KPCC: Internal emails show LA school officials started iPad talks with software supplier a year before bidsEmails obtained by KPCC show Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy personally began meeting with Pearson and Apple to discuss the eventual purchase of their pro
Parents and Citizens Are Key to Eradicating Federal Overreach Into Education | Truth in American Education
Parents and Citizens Are Key to Eradicating Federal Overreach Into Education | Truth in American Education: Parents and Citizens Are Key to Eradicating Federal Overreach Into EducationFiled in Common Core State Standards by Karen Schroeder on August 22, 2014 • 0 Comments246The Lyndon B. Johnson Building, HQ of the U.S. Dept. of Education, 2006Photo credit: Cool Ceasar (Wikimedia Commons)(CC-By-SA
Press Release: Schools will open but are they schools? | Parents United for Public Education
Press Release: Schools will open but are they schools? | Parents United for Public Education: Schools will open but are they schools? (On Friday, Superintendent William Hite, after weeks of speculation, announced that the Philadelphia schools will open on time. He also announced another $30 million in additional proposed cuts. An SRC vote on reducing SEPTA transpasses for high school students will
What Amendment 3 Really Means: A Look Into the Crystal Ball | Missouri Education Watchdog
What Amendment 3 Really Means: A Look Into the Crystal Ball | Missouri Education Watchdog: What Amendment 3 Really Means: A Look Into the Crystal BallinShareDon’t fall for the talking points from Teach Great, the Rex Sinquefield funded group pushing for Amendment 3 passage to end teacher tenure and require “teachers to be dismissed, retained, demoted, promoted, and paid primarily using quantifiabl
empathyeducates – Like Dred Scott, Michael Brown Was Denied His Right to Live—and to Live as an American
empathyeducates – Like Dred Scott, Michael Brown Was Denied His Right to Live—and to Live as an American: Like Dred Scott, Michael Brown Was Denied His Right to Live—and to Live as an AmericanBy Blair L.M. Kelley | Originally Published at The Root. August 14, 2014 6:32 PM | Photograph; Michael Brown | FacebookIn Dred Scott’s America—in the same part of Missouri where Brown was killed—black America
Nationwide Hands Up Walkout, Mon. Aug 25 |
Nationwide Hands Up Walkout, Mon. Aug 25 |: California Student Union - CASUNationwide Hands Up Walkout, Mon. Aug 25Posted on August 22, 2014 by CASTUDENTUNIONLeave a commentNationwide #HandsUp Walkout happening this Monday, August 25 in solidarity with Mike Brownand the Our Lives Matter Campaign. More info on how to join the walkout below –Hands Up Walk Out Conference CallFriday, August 22 @ 5 pm
Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s real legacy: Here’s what’s most shameful about her reign - Salon.com
Michelle Rhee’s real legacy: Here’s what’s most shameful about her reign - Salon.com: Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s real legacy: Here’s what’s most shameful about her reignThe "education reform" leader who just stepped down gets plenty of criticism. But people overlook thisMATT BRUENIGRhee-lated $tory: Michelle Rhee answers Ravitch in New Bookal$o $ee Rhee-lated $tory: Excerpts fr
“This is a test”: Educating to End the School-to-Grave-Pipeline in Ferguson and Beyond | I AM AN EDUCATOR
“This is a test”: Educating to End the School-to-Grave-Pipeline in Ferguson and Beyond | I AM AN EDUCATOR: “This is a test”: Educating to End the School-to-Grave-Pipeline in Ferguson and BeyondBy I AM AN EDUCATOR on August 22, 2014“We were at graduation, me and him, and we were talking. He said he wasn’t going to end up like some people on the streets. He was going to get an education.”–Hershel Jo
8-22-14 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: New report targets LAUSD’s iPad problemsMorning Read: New report targets LAUSD’s iPad problems LAUSD’s $1-billion iPad effort beset by problems, report finds The groundbreaking effort to provide an iPad to every Los Angeles student, teacher and school administrator was beset by inadequate pl
8-22-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Friday Open ThreadFeel like your child does not return your phone calls/texts in a timely manner?  One mom was frustrated with the low/no response of her own children and created, Ignore No More.  If your child doesn't answer, you have a code so that you can block incoming calls/texts and disable gaming on their cell phone.  That'll get their attention.Did you get
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 8-22-14
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: LAUSD REPORT FAULTS iPAD BIDDING, PLANNING & PROCUREMENTby Howard Blume, - LA Times http://lat.ms/1qxfCVW STUDENTS explore the possibilities with their new LAUSD-provided IPads. A new report says the district inadequately planned the distribution of an iPad to each student. (Bob Chamberlin, Los Angeles Times) Aug 22 2014  5AM  ::  The groundbreaking
Peter Greene: Why Teachers are Breaking Up with Common Core | deutsch29
Peter Greene: Why Teachers are Breaking Up with Common Core | deutsch29: Peter Greene: Why Teachers are Breaking Up with Common CoreAugust 22, 2014Pennsylvania teacher Peter Greene has written a fine post on why he believes that the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are going down the toilet in supposed “teacher popularity.”What I appreciate about Greene’s post is that he became aware of the CCSS
Exclusive: Students Tear Gassed Ferguson-style By Police While Protesting School “Choice” | Cloaking Inequity
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Accountability - ChangeTheLAUSD
Accountability - ChangeTheLAUSD:  AccountabilityBored of Education? Then Step AsideA Letter to Tamar Galatzan:It is readily apparent to anyone who has attended a LAUSD board meeting over the last few months that you have lost your passion for the job. You fulfill the requirements for receiving your second government paycheck by physically showing up for these meetings, but show little interest in
NEA Back to School Tour Spotlights College Affordability Crisis | NEA Today
NEA Back to School Tour Spotlights College Affordability Crisis | NEA Today: NEA Back to School Tour Spotlights College Affordability CrisisCalling college affordability “the universal cause that will unite educators, students, parents and communities,” NEA President-Elect Lily Eskelsen García spent the second day of NEA’s Back-to-School Tour shining the spotlight on Degrees Not Debt, the national
I KNOW GREAT TEACHING WHEN I SEE IT: A Book Excerpt | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing
I KNOW GREAT TEACHING WHEN I SEE IT: A Book Excerpt | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing: I KNOW GREAT TEACHING WHEN I SEE IT: A Book Excerpthttp://www.amazon.com/Doing-Right-Thing-Teacher-Speaks/dp/1460225481Who remembers their favorite test from school? You know, the one that inspired you to become who you are now, or saved you from the wrong part of yourself? Who remembers the test that made yo
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Public support for Obama's school policies is plunging
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Public support for Obama's school policies is plunging: Public support for Obama's school policies is plungingThat's the good news.If you combine Bush and Obama, which is easy to do when it comes to education policy, we're coming up on 15 years of No Child Left Behind/Race To The Top (with waivers).That will make 15 straight years of corporate-style, top-down, metric
8-22-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher
Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: RUN KAREN RUNGlen Brown. IRTA asks judge for summary judgement based on ISC Kanerva v. Weems.- From the Illinois Retired Teachers Association (IRTA): This motion filed in Sangamon County asks Judge Belz to make a summary judgment on the lawsuit in lieu of a trial due to the Illinois Supreme Court ruli
8-22-14 @ The Chalk Face
@ THE CHALK FACE: About the radio showJoin Drs. Shaun Johnson and Tim Slekar LIVE Sundays at 6PM EST and Wednesdays at 7PM EST on Blog Talk Radio for progressive, pro-public education talk radio. Call in to speak live with Tim and Shaun during the show, (805) 727-7111. You can also listen to our Monday "Sunday-Replay" at 7PM EST, and re-broadcasts of the archives every Tuesday and Thursd
JUSTICE FOR ROUSEMARY AND JESUS!! - Badass Teachers Association
Badass Teachers Association: JUSTICE FOR ROUSEMARY AND JESUS!! Office of the Mayor121 N LaSalle StreetChicago City Hall 4th FloorChicago, IL 60602Dear Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public School Board of Education:It has come to our attention that an active and involved parent, Ms. Rousemary Vega, has been banned from attending school board meetings and can only meet with members during office hours. B
Morning Wink 8-22-14 AM Posts #edchat #edreform
BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTSLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 8-22-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for allDiane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: As of 1 P.M. Today, More Than 14 Million Page Views on This Blog! | Diane Ravitch's blog http://bit.ly/1BukgwpAndrea Gabor On Elizabeth Green’s New Book on TeachingElizabeth Green, one of our le
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 8-22-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
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8-22-14 Ed Notes Online
Ed Notes Online: The Indypendent: What's A Cop To Do?Good cops, dedicated and skilled ones, learn how to look for signs of criminal behavior instead of profiling by race ...good policing requires judgment, being able to tell the difference between a black teenager in sneakers who’s running because he just snatched a purse and one who’s running because his mother said he had to be home for dinner b
8-22-14 Answer Sheet
Answer Sheet: And now, final exams for kindergartners. Really.Just when you think things can’t get any worse for kindergartners, they do. It used to be that kindergartners could play  — which is how early childhood development experts say young children learn and are socialized best.  Today 5- and 6-year-olds are forced to sit for hours at a time doing academics, often with little […]84 by Valerie
8-22-14 Schools Matter
Schools Matter: Americans again rate local schools higher than schools of the nationGroundhog Day: Americans Again Rate Local Schools Higher than Schools of the NationStephen KrashenAs is the case every year, the PDK/Gallup poll (September 2014) found that people rate their local schools much more positively than they do schools in the US in general.  The differences, as usual, were striking: Fift
8-22-14 Hemlock on the Rocks
Hemlock on the Rocks: Ruth Perez Resigns to become LAUSD Dep. Supt., Memos sent, Media Covered But the BOE will noyt Approve until Tuesday? ANNOTATED PRESS RELEASEby Rene Diedrich / 4h hide  //  saveYESTERDAYLAUSD's $1-billion iPad effort beset by problems, report finds - LA Timeshttp://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ipad-bidding-20140821-story.htmlwww.hemlockontherocks.comby Rene Diedrich /
8-22-14 Curmudgucation
CURMUDGUCATION: Another Solution: ESEAThere is, of course, another way out of this.The tightly wound spring that keeps Race to the Top and waivers (RttR Lite) ticking away is the ESEA. Instead of dealing with the federal mandate-ish sort-of-regulations that have made Common Core and high stakes testing and data collection the kind-of-law of the land, we could address the underlying mess.The ESEA w
8-22-14 Perdido Street School
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solidaridad: SKrashen: Opposition to the common core
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Police Brutality is an Education Justice Issue | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity
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In These Times: The Con Artistry of Charter Schools | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!
In These Times: The Con Artistry of Charter Schools | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!: In These Times: The Con Artistry of Charter SchoolsFiled under: Charter Schools — millerlf @ 9:05 am The Con Artistry of Charter SchoolsWednesday, 20 August 2014 09:15 By Ruth Conniff, In These TimesThere’s been a flood of local news stories in recent months about FBI raids on charter schools all over

YESTERDAY

Why LA sends failing students on to the next grade | EdSource
Why LA sends failing students on to the next grade | EdSource: Why LA sends failing students on to the next gradeAugust 21, 2014 | By Molly Callister/Hechinger Report | No Comments When Alberto Cortes was held back in fourth grade because of low math skills, he thought his world had come to an end.“The first day of going back to fourth grade, I see all my friends with new teachers there in fifth g
Opt Out Orlando group holding webinar Sunday - Orlando Sentinel
Opt Out Orlando group holding webinar Sunday - Orlando Sentinel: Opt Out Orlando webinar will give Florida parents tools to skip testingLauren RothSentinel School Zone8:00 a.m. EDT, August 21, 2014EmailShare46Pinterest0Opt Out Orlando is co-hosting a webinar Opt Out Orlando, a group that opposes standardized testing, is holding a webinar this weekend to provide step-by-step instructions for parent
Nite Cap 8-21-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT
James Baldwin said it best: "For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAPNo Teacher Is An Island |No Teacher Is An Island |:No Teacher Is An Island This week in The Shanker Blog, authors lan Daly (Professor, University of California San Diego) and Kara Finnigan (Associate Professor, the University of Rochester) publis



8-22-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Creating Safety Without Guns-An Inner City Love Story

With A Brooklyn Accent:









Creating Safety Without Guns-An Inner City Love Story

One of the reasons I am haunted by the death of Michael Brown is that I have worked with young people in highly charged settings and have seen what they can accomplish when people who command their respect guide them, challenge them, inspire them and love them. This is a story that will help you understand where I am coming from.The year is 1994. The crack epidemic is still with us, hip hop has en


8-19-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Ferguson Protests Highlight Link Between Growing Poverty and Militarized Policing
With A Brooklyn Accent: Ferguson Protests Highlight Link Between Growing Poverty and Militarized PolicingThe problems of America's poor have been "off the grid" for some time. Politicians of both parties reserve their concern for the middle class, fearing that any reference to poverty will destroy their electoral appeal. The one mass movement against social inequality we have had, Occupy

Read the NY Times Book Review on "The Teacher Wars"

Read the NY Times Book Review on "The Teacher Wars":



Read the NY Times Book Review of “The Teacher Wars”



Read the whole review!

In the New York Times Book Review, Claudia Wallis gives The Teacher Wars a thoughtful read and a rave:
In “The Teacher Wars,” her lively account of the history of teaching, Dana Goldstein traces the numerous trends that have shaped “the most controversial profession in America.” Along the way, she demonstrates that almost every idea for reforming education over the past 25 years has been tried before — and failed to make a meaningful difference. … ideas about what to teach and how to measure learning are subject to politics and passing fads. …
One of the incidental pleasures of this book is discovering how many historic figures better known for other achievements logged time in the front of a classroom. These include Susan B. Anthony, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville and Lyndon B. Johnson. …
Stressing accountability, with no ideas for improving teaching, Goldstein says, is “like the hope that buying a scale will result in losing weight.” Read the whole review!

UPDATE: Hands Up, Don’t Shoot: Five Acts of Meaningful Solidarity with #Ferguson | Bill Ayers #MichaelBrown

Hands Up, Don’t Shoot: Five Acts of Meaningful Solidarity with #Ferguson | Bill Ayers:





Hands Up, Don’t Shoot: Five Acts of Meaningful Solidarity with #Ferguson


Michael Brown

From my friend and comrade, Alice Kim:

“To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance.
To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you.
To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair.
To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple.
To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand.
To never look away. And never, never to forget.”
Arundhati Roy

As Ferguson rages on, as police and public officials continue to devalue and disrespect Black life, as the movement grows, I look to the words of the great writer and global activist Arundhati Roy for hope and to the ever-growing acts of meaningful solidarity with Ferguson for sustenance. Here are just a few examples.

1. Lauryn Hill dedicates “Black Rage” to the people of Ferguson via Twitter: “An old sketch of Black Rage, done in my living room. Strange, the course of things. Peace for MO.”

“Black rage is founded on two-thirds a person
Rapings and beatings and suffering that worsens,
Black human packages tied up in strings.
Black rage can come from these kinds of things.
Black rage is founded on blatant denial
Squeezed economic, subsistence survival,
Deafening silence and social control.
Black rage is founded on wounds in the soul….”

Set to the tune of “These are a Few of My Favorite Things,” Hill’s lyrics are eerily ironic and haunting. Listen to “Black Rage.”

2. Asking the world to “Activate your love & your rage and support the efforts in Ferguson in a tangible way,” poet & educator Britteney Conner, playwright Kristiana Colón, and activist & journalist Ferrari Sheppard launched the #LetUsBreathe campaign to raise money and organize efforts to supply people on the ground in Ferguson with gas masks and water bottles over the coming days. In just two days, #LetUsBreathe raised over $10,000 and the first delivery is already on its way to reaching the people of Ferguson.

To Britteny, Kristiana, and Ferrari, thanks for activating our love and rage and helping us to collectively breathe.

3. Poetry has the power to nurture the soul and elucidate moments of being and feeling. Poets are lifting up Michael Brown by writing and dedicating powerful poems in his honor.

Danez Smith composed “not an elegy for Mike Brown” shortly after the police shooting of Mike Brown of Ferguson and was featured on Split This Rock, a national network of socially engaged poets, as poem of the week.

Inspired by a demonstration in Ferguson on August 16, eighteen-year old Unique Hughley wrote this poem.

And, to dive deeper into the issues at play in Ferguson and to explore how they related to the experiences of young people, The Off/Page Hands Up, Don’t Shoot: Five Acts of Meaningful Solidarity with #Ferguson | Bill Ayers:


Police violence is out of control!
From my old comrade Bob Tomashevsky:


“The US has every right to defend itself against continued terrorist attacks from unarmed black teenagers,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.