8-26-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE:

About the radio show

Join 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 Thursday at 7PM EST.

Visit the @ the Chalk Face radio main page for more information on the show and syndication.

Elizabeth Green’s Building a Better Teacher, the Rabbi, and the Chicken

The first half of Elizabeth Green’s Building a Better Teacher recounts the rise and fall of modern academic teacher improvement efforts, as well as the way that Japanese elementary schools, at least, learned from this (seemingly) quintessential American movement. I am not qualified to comment on Green’s discussion of Japanese schools, but this is the […]

3 by John Thompson / 1h 

.@EngageNY Modules: Out of Alignment

A year ago I criticized the ELA curriculum modules found on NYSED’s EngageNY website and their “random” nature of content.  I expressed concern that many elementary schools have reduced or even eliminated instruction in Science and Social Studies in favor of the tested subjects of ELA and Math in this era of accountability via test […]

by Chris Cerrone / 51min hide  //  save

YESTERDAY

EdNext’s Paul Peterson: Common Core Got the Bum Rap– Just Like Poor NCLB Did

Education Next is a journal that strongly promotes the privatization of public education based upon standardized-test-driven outcomes. The folks at EdNext really love charters and vouchers that drain *authentic* public schools of their funding all the while escaping the “accountability” so-called “reform” demands of those flunky, traditional public schools. The EdNext editor-in-chief is Paul Peter

5 by deutsch29 / 10h 

8-25-14 @ 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

by mike simpson / 12h 

8-26-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Defend Gus Morales!

With A Brooklyn Accent:

Defend Gus Morales!

If you were going to "build a teacher" in a largely working class town where the majority of those enrolled in the public schools are students of color, one of the models you would work from would be Augustin Morales. Born in Holyoke Mass., part of that town's large Puerto Rican community, Gus spent several years in the military before returning to school to become a teacher. He was some

by Mark Naison / 4h  

8-23-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Love Letters to the BATS

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 comin

by mike simpson / 5h 

8-26-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness

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

“Other People’s Children” v. “They’re All Our Children”

Optimism, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel—these are not my proclivities. And while I wallow in the self-delusion that I am a Skeptic, the truth is that I have long ago slipped over into the abyss of cynicism. There are moments, however, when I hope. One such moment was during the Sandy Hook school shooting tragedy—when I wanted desperately to believe that President Obama’s call for seein

7 by plthomasedd / 47min

Illinois School Bans Discussions of Michael Brown’s Death | Alternet

Illinois School Bans Discussions of Michael Brown’s Death | Alternet

1 by plthomasedd / 38min 

8-25-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): Confessions of an Outlier in the Aftershock of FergusonThis is a reposting (slightly revised) from Daily Kos (16 December 2011), and offered in the context of the media and political demonizing of Michael Brown after he was shot, although unarmed, by a police officer. —

by mike simpson / 7h 

8-26-14 Hemlock on the Rocks

Hemlock on the Rocks:

Fwd: LA school district drops iPad pilot program a year after snubbing Microsoft Surface - GeekWire

LA school district drops iPad pilot program a year after snubbing Microsoft Surface by Blair Hanley Frank on 8/26/2014 at 12:41 pm | 1 Comment Share this: inShare13 The

by Rene Diedrich / 11min hide  //  save

The Gates Foundation Education Reform Hype Machine and Bizarre Inequality Theory

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by Rene Diedrich / 23min hide  //  save

The price of a 'free' public education turns out to be damn expensive

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by Rene Diedrich / 31min 

Do Over! LA Unified's $1 Billion iPad Contract Will Be 'Re Bid' | EdSurge News

| EdSurge News Chalk this up as perhaps the biggest mulligan in recent edtech history. The infamous $1 billion iPad deal between Los Angeles Unified School District, Apple and Pearson will be scrapped as the district will re-do the bidding process, marking yet another twist in a series of unfortunate--and embarrassing--events. Howard Blume, the dogged Los Angeles

by Rene Diedrich / 37min 

Deasy cancels LAUSD iPad program - SFVmedia.com

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by Rene Diedrich / 22min 

Publishing giant Pearson says LA school officials emails part of pilot project | 89.3 KPCC

Emails also show Pearson offered to hire four, full-time staff members to help train teachers – which would be an extraordinary expense for an eight-classroom pilot. "In addition, we would hire one elementary math and one elementary ELA and one secondary math and one secondary ELA to provide on site coaching," Codding wrote. "These people would be a LAUSD full time, 180 days per yea

by Rene Diedrich / 54min hide  //  save

YESTERDAY

iPad report shared only with LAUSD officials in secrecy

http://laschoolreport.com/ipad-report-shared-only-with-lausd-officials-in-secrecy/ iPad report shared only with LAUSD officials in secrecy A draft report on LA Unified's handling of the controversial iPad contract that was leaked to media outlets last week was made available to board members and

by Rene Diedrich / 7h 

Deasy canceled iPad program after records showed ties to vendors - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-ipads-lausd-deasy-20140825-story.html Deasy canceled iPad program after records showed ties to vendors

by Rene Diedrich / 7h 

8-25-14 Hemlock on the Rocks

Hemlock on the Rocks: New York Times Reports on Duncan’s Retreat from Test-Based Evaluations of Teachers | Diane Ravitch's blog@media print { .original-url { display: none; } } h1.title { font: -apple-system-headline; font-weight: normal; text-align: start; -webkit-hyphens: manual; } blockquote { color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); margin-left: 20px;by Rene Diedrich / 31min hide  //  saveThe Violence and H

by mike simpson / 8h 

8-26-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Cuomo Signed NYSUT Leadership Pension Giveaway At Same Time Evaluation Deal Was In Works

When I first learned about Governor Cuomo signing the NYSUT leadership double pension giveaway, I figured there was some quid pro quo going on between the governor and the union leadership to get him to sign off on it.Tonight we learn from Jessica Bakeman that there was indeed a quid pro quo:ALBANY—Under a law approved in the final days of this year's legislative session, New York State United Tea

by reality-based edu... / 1h 

UFT Decides Not To Challenge The "Stop Common Core" Ballot Line

Looks like UFT President Michael Mulgrew wanted to punch GOP gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino in the face over the "Stop Common Core" ballot line but decided not to:ALBANY – The major New York City teachers union considered challenging Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino’s attempt to create a Stop Common Core ballot line, but decided against it....“We challenge petitions

by reality-based edu... / 1h 

8-25-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: NYSED Looks To Make 40% of APPR Evaluations Based On State TestsThe APPR teacher evaluation system in New York is split so that 60% is based on "subjective" measures like classroom observations and (in some districts) student surveys while the other 40% is based on "student performance."The "student performance" APPR component is divided into 20

by mike simpson / 8h 

New Orleans: The Poor Pay the Highest Price for Charter School Experiments | Life at the Intersections

New Orleans: The Poor Pay the Highest Price for Charter School Experiments | Life at the Intersections:

NEW ORLEANS: THE POOR PAY THE HIGHEST PRICE FOR CHARTER SCHOOL EXPERIMENTS

AUGUST 25, 2014 BRETT DICKERSON

It’s now clear that not everyone in American society has suffered equally or at all from charter school experiments.

While claiming to help the poor and people of color, in fact, corporate charters and their management companies have done the poor the most harm where those charters were given the most freedom and protection from the state.

In those instances, charter school corporations have aggressivelypursued their own financial interests on the backs of taxpayers, while carefully avoiding accountability. And they have done this at the expense of poor children of color and their neighborhoods.

In this series of three posts –The Poor Pay the Highest Price for Charter School Experiments, I will focus on three instances of corporation schools experimenting with their organizational models at the expense of poor children with little regard for the children’s future.

Let’s start with the longest running example:

New Orleans

After years of phasing out all of its public schools and unlawfully firing around 7,000 predominantly African-American teachers and staff, this year all the City of New Orleans schools will be charter schoolscontrolled by state appointees. Residents of New Orleans will not have any democratically elected control of what was originally New Orleans: The Poor Pay the Highest Price for Charter School Experiments | Life at the Intersections:

BREAKING: Mixed Messages From Superintendent Deasy In Reply to KPCC Investigative Report on iPad Procurement:

BREAKING: Mixed Messages From Superintendent Deasy In Reply to KPCC Investigative Report on iPad Procurement

In breaking news after the initial revelation that cozy talks between Superintendent Deasy and his upper-level staffers and Apple Corporation/Pearson, KPCC is now reporting:

Deasy seemed to say that the emails unearthed by KPCC address a “pilot” rollout of iPads and not the final $1 billion plan, but the KPCC report pushes back on the timing, tenor, and scope of the LAUSD administrators’ conversations. From the report:

a total of eight classrooms were involved in L.A. Unified’s pilot: four at Mulhollland Middle School and four at Plummer Elementary.However,  May 24, Deasy, his deputy Jaime Aquino and Pearson sales representative Judy Codding discussed the sale of 25 courses – about two courses for every grade level, not just elementary and middle school.

“I cannot imagine any one else able to do this as cheaply with all the PD [professional development] and all the materials for 25 courses for the price we discussed,” Codding wrote.

Aquino questioned whether the district could afford to pay 2,000 teachers for the training schedule proposed by Pearson – many more than the eight teachers that would be involved in a pilot the size Pinette said Monday they were discussing.

Deasy announced what appeared to be a “cancellation” of the existing iPad program and the pivot to issue new RFPs. He further clarified in a series of Twitter messages to a Los Angeles Times reporter that it’s BREAKING: Mixed Messages From Superintendent Deasy In Reply to KPCC Investigative Report on iPad Procurement:

K12NN Open Government Initiative: Public Records Requests of the LAUSD iPad Requests For Proposals (RFP)

This is what we at K12NN do: we prod traditional corporate-owned media to rise to a higher level of investigative journalism when it comes to putting the public good and the well-being of public education front and center. Last fall, when the iPad story was first reported in the major Los Angeles-area news outlets, the coverage was shallow and uncritical. (See examples here.) News reports were dom

by K12NN Site Admin / 8h 

The University of Illinois Attacks Free Speech | Bill Ayers

The University of Illinois Attacks Free Speech | Bill Ayers:

The University of Illinois Attacks Free Speech

In mid-August the University of Illinois withdrew its appointment of Steven Salaita, formerly an English professor at Virginia Tech, as a tenured associate professorship at UIUC. Having cut his ties in Virginia (resignation from a tenured job, his spouse quitting her job, and the couple renting a house) Salaita was informed that the final hurdle of his appointment—the typically pro forma approval by the Board of Trustees—would not be cleared. The administration under instructions from the Board rescinded the offer. This group of wealthy business people—singularly unqualified to judge his scholarship, teaching, or collegiality—surely feared that Salaita’s presence on campus would put them in the position of upsetting other rich people. I write now in full solidarity with Professor Steven Salaita.
I’ll have more on this shameful episode in the next days, more, as well, on the importance of building a movement to resist and reverse this action, but first a bit of context: I’ve had my own run-ins with the U of I Board, and while noting that the consequences for Steven Salaita are much more serious and more despicable than anything I encountered, I think my experiences show a pattern of disregard for free speech and academic freedom, and a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of a public university in a supposed free society.
When I retired from the University of Illinois the Board of Trustees voted to deny me emeritus status—an honor initiated by the faculty and advanced on approval from the provost to the chancellor and then to the president and finally to the Board. This was a first in the history of the University, and ignited another round of weirdness—strange times.
I didn’t like the sound of it, emeritus, except when applied to noxious politicians—George Bush, emeritus…Yes! He was gone. And I didn’t like retired much either because the cultural construction and the social The University of Illinois Attacks Free Speech | Bill Ayers: