Big Education Ape: Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 4/15/15

Special Nite Cap - Catch Up on Today's Post 4/15/15

Special Nite Cap 

CORPORATE ED REFORM

Project Lead - The National Superintendents' Campaign

National Association of School Superintendents: PROJECT LEADTHE NATIONAL SUPERINTENDENTS' CAMPAIGNRESTORE PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN OUR COUNTRY’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND USWe have a superintendent with an audience in every community in America. It’s time to use our voice!VIDEO INTRODUCTION by Colorado Superintendent Don HaddadCLICK TO LEARN MORE ABOUT PROJECT LEAD  National Association of School Superintend

1 by mike simpson / 1h 

Schools Matter: Is CNCA paying parents to support CCSA's Ref Rodriguez's LAUSD Board campaign?

Schools Matter: Is CNCA paying parents to support CCSA's Ref Rodriguez's LAUSD Board campaign?: Is CNCA paying parents to support CCSA's Ref Rodriguez's LAUSD Board campaign?“Walmart fortune heiress, Carrie Walton Penner, is currently the CCSA Board Vice-Chair (term ending 6/30/2017). By most accounts Walton Penner is close to both profiteer "Ref" Rodriguez of the PUC Charter School Corp

1 by mike simpson / 2h 

Real Problems in Education and Teachers Who Cheat

Real Problems in Education and Teachers Who Cheat: Real Problems in Education and Teachers Who CheatAPRIL 15, 2015 BY NANCY BAILEY LEAVE A COMMENTIn Memphis, a man who was helping an elderly woman into her car was attacked by a group of young people at a gas station across the street from a charter school. In another part of town a mom worries about gang retaliation at her child’s high school.Memp

1 by mike simpson / 2h 

Infographic: LAUSD ditching Pearson iPad program software, demanding multimillion dollar refund | 89.3 KPCC

Infographic: LAUSD ditching Pearson iPad program software, demanding multimillion dollar refund | 89.3 KPCC: LAUSD ditching Pearson iPad program software, demanding multimillion dollar refundLos Angeles Unified told Apple Inc. this week that it will not spend another dollar on the Pearson software installed on its iPads and is seeking a multimillion-dollar refund from the technology giant.If an ag

1 by mike simpson / 2h 

BustED Pencils Trending News: Seattle Opt Out press conference; A child's voice; Teacher Moral plummetting | BustED Pencils

BustED Pencils Trending News: Seattle Opt Out press conference; A child's voice; Teacher Moral plummetting | BustED Pencils: BustED Pencils Trending News: Seattle Opt Out press conference; A child’s voice; Teacher Moral plummettingPosted April 15, 2015 by Tim SlekarSeattle’s NAACP stands up against targeted performance testing! WooHoo!! Education Chair, Rita Green, says “costs tied to the test thi

1 by mike simpson / 3h 

Merryl Tisch Shows How Test Supporters Get It Wrong - View From the Cheap Seats - Education Week Teacher

Merryl Tisch Shows How Test Supporters Get It Wrong - View From the Cheap Seats - Education Week Teacher: Merryl Tisch Shows How Test Supporters Get It WrongNew York Chancellor of the Board of Regents Meryl Tisch stopped by All In with Chris Hayes to avoid answering some pointed questions about high stakes testing and the opt out movement in New York. She had the additional disadvantage of sitting

by mike simpson / 3h 

Accountability for Whom? | Pedro Noguera

Accountability for Whom? | Pedro Noguera: Accountability for Whom? So much is wrong about the cheating scandal in Atlanta: the miscarriage of justice in the verdict rendered by Judge Jerry Baxter, the unwillingness of policymakers to recognize their own culpability in the scandal, the lack of attention to the educational needs of the children in Atlanta and hundreds of other communities where fail

by mike simpson / 3h 

Alexander on Bipartisan Legislative Agreement to Fix No Child Left Behind - YouTube

Alexander on Bipartisan Legislative Agreement to Fix No Child Left Behind - YouTube: Alexander on Bipartisan Legislative Agreement to Fix No Child Left Behind  At the start of the Senate education committee markup today of bipartisan legislation to fix No Child Left Behind, Chairman Lamar Alexandersaid the bill reflects “remarkable consensus” about how to fix the problems with the law. Alexander s

19 by mike simpson / 4h 

High Stakes Testing? It’s all about the power and the money – again. | Reclaim Reform

High Stakes Testing? It’s all about the power and the money – again. | Reclaim Reform: High Stakes Testing? It’s all about the power and the money – again.Posted on April 14, 2015by Ken PrevitiFlorida Gov. Rick Scott and the state legislature continue to play power games with high stakes testing while pretending to save the children and all of public education from testing harm.This political post

2 by mike simpson / 6h 

Atlanta Schools Cheating Scandal - When Justice is a Crime

Cheating on a Standardize TestConvicted of Charter School FraudOIG Investigative Reports, Charter School Owners Sentenced for Defrauding School to Pay for Lavish Lifestyle http://1.usa.gov/1FLBPqSCharter school founder convicted on tax charges http://on.freep.com/1FLC1pXSC charter school head guilty of embezzlement | The State The State http://bit.ly/1FLC8SlCharter school founders sentenced in mis

2 by mike simpson / 6h 

Politicians Try to Union-Bust Their Way to the White House

Politicians Try to Union-Bust Their Way to the White House: Politicians Try to Union-Bust Their Way to the White House Fiery labor icon Mother Jones cannot be resting peacefully beneath the crabgrass in the Union Miners’ Cemetery, not far from Springfield, Illinois, where Bruce Rauner, the recently elected Republican governor, has launched an unprecedented attack on organized labor. Rauner, a form

1 by mike simpson / 9h 

'Historic': First Katrina state takeover school returns to New Orleans control | NOLA.com

'Historic': First Katrina state takeover school returns to New Orleans control | NOLA.com: 'Historic': First Katrina state takeover school returns to New Orleans control Almost 9 1/2 years after the Louisiana Recovery School District took over 100 New Orleans schools, the first one has moved back. The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education stamped its OK in committee Tuesday (April 14)

1 by mike simpson / 9h 

Illinois Governor Suggests Bankruptcy for Chicago Public Schools | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!

Illinois Governor Suggests Bankruptcy for Chicago Public Schools | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!: Illinois Governor Suggests Bankruptcy for Chicago Public Schools Rauner likes ‘bankruptcy’ to cure CPS financial woesBy Melissa Sanchez and Sarah Karp 4/15/15 Catalyst ChicagoTo resolve Chicago Public Schools’ crippling financial problems, Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday suggested a polemic

1 by mike simpson / 10h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rhee sentenced to 20 years for erasing grades -- Just a dream.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rhee sentenced to 20 years for erasing grades -- Just a dream.: Rhee sentenced to 20 years for erasing grades -- Just a dream.They're whistling Dixie in Atlanta this morning. I had a strange dream last night. Michelle Rhee was standing in front of a crazed, media-hungry judge who sentenced her to 20 years in the penitentiary under RICO statutes for "racketeering

1 by mike simpson / 10h 

Rethinking Schools Editorial: The Gathering Resistance to Standardized Tests

Rethinking Schools Editorial: The Gathering Resistance to Standardized Tests: Editorial: The Gathering Resistance to Standardized TestsU.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan touched off a torrent of criticism last November when he told a group of state school superintendents that opposition to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) was coming from “white suburban moms who—all of a sudden—their ch

1 by mike simpson / 10h 

Research that Counts (Susan Ohanian Speaks Out)

Research that Counts (Susan Ohanian Speaks Out): The Mismeasure of Education: A ReviewSusan Notes:This essay review of The Mismeasure of Education by Jim Horn and Denise Wilburndoes what a good review should do: Offer insights to the reader about an important book. As Garrison points out: Few educational professionals are aware of the force of assessment history and how the current reform efforts

by mike simpson / 11h 

Teachers have been working without a contract for nearly a year. | NBC 7 San Diego

Teachers Plan Rally Amid Labor Dispute | NBC 7 San Diego: Teachers Plan Rally Amid Labor DisputeTeachers have been working without a contract for nearly a year.San Diego Unified educators are calling on the school board to settle the remaining five issues standing in the way of a new contract for teachers. Teachers have been working without a contract for nearly a year.The union representing teach

1 by mike simpson / 11h 

One of Georgia's longest-ever criminal trials is over, and it's sending teachers to prison for up to 7 years - Yahoo Finance

One of Georgia's longest-ever criminal trials is over, and it's sending teachers to prison for up to 7 years - Yahoo Finance: One of Georgia's longest-ever criminal trials is over, and it's sending teachers to prison for up to 7 yearsEight former Atlanta educators have been sentenced to between one and seven years in prison for participating in a massive cheating ring, Reuters is reporting.The cri

1 by mike simpson / 11h 

White parents in North Carolina are using charter schools to secede from the education system - The Washington Post

White parents in North Carolina are using charter schools to secede from the education system - The Washington Post: White parents in North Carolina are using charter schools to secede from the education system It is hard, at first, to find anything wrong with the idea that some public schools should have the freedom to be a little different. This was the original pitch for charter schools, as thi

1 by mike simpson / 11h 

Senate bill to rework No Child Left Behind would allow states to drop Common Core testing | NOLA.com

Senate bill to rework No Child Left Behind would allow states to drop Common Core testing | NOLA.com: Senate bill to rework No Child Left Behind would allow states to drop Common Core testingSen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Sen. Lamar Alexander discuss education issues during a 2014 conference. WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee Tuesday (April 14) began work on legislation backers say will fix the "

19 by mike simpson / 11h 

Fed-up parents revolt against state's standardized tests - NY Daily News

Fed-up parents revolt against state's standardized tests - NY Daily News: It's not multiple choice, it's a resounding no as fed-up parents revolt against New York's standardized exams in historic fashion The entire structure of high-stakes testing in New York crumbled Tuesday, as tens of thousands of fed-up public school parents rebelled against Albany’s fixation with standardized tests and refuse

1 by mike simpson / 11h 

Why an award-winning principal feels she must retire early - The Washington Post

Why an award-winning principal feels she must retire early - The Washington Post: Why an award-winning principal feels she must retire early Carol Burris is the award-winning principal of South Side High School in the Rockville Centre School District in New York. Before she took that position in 2000, she taught at  the middle and high school levels and earned a doctorate from Teachers College, Co

by mike simpson / 11h 

The Learning Power of PISA?

Click on Wales » Blog Archive » The Learning Power of PISA?: The Learning Power of PISA?Professor Alma Harris says a blind spot has emerged with a focus on PISA as a target. While we want better educational outcomes and life chances for the young people of Wales, the question remains, at what cost? The current international obsession with PISA and its league tables of the ‘top performing education

by mike simpson / 12h 

YESTERDAY

Teaching Grief: A Reflection | Young Teachers Collective

Teaching Grief: A Reflection | Young Teachers Collective: Teaching Grief: A Reflectionstephrrivera / 2 days agoBy: Jacob Chaffin**Trigger Warning: Suicide, DeathWhat follows is a reflection of the toughest week I have experienced in my first year as a teacher. Names have been changed and some events intentionally have details missing in order to respect the families involved.A few weeks ago I woke

1 by mike simpson / 21h hide  //  save

Big Education Ape: Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 4/14/15

Special Nite Cap - Catch Up on Today's Post 4/14/15Special Nite Cap CORPORATE ED REFORMDiane Ravitch will debate testing & opt out with Chancellor Tisch -To test or not to test All In with Chris HayesAll In with Chris Hayes on msnbc:To test or not to testOn the first day of Common Core assessments in New York state this year, thousands of students refused to take the exam - 70% in one district

4 by mike simpson / 23h 

2015 National Conference – Chicago

The Countdown to Chicago Has Begun!

The Network For Public Education | 2015 National Conference – Chicago 

http://bit.ly/1FQFcQM

PROJECT LEAD - THE NATIONAL SUPERINTENDENTS' CAMPAIGN

National Association of School Superintendents:

 PROJECT LEAD

THE NATIONAL SUPERINTENDENTS' CAMPAIGN

RESTORE PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN OUR COUNTRY’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND US

We have a superintendent with an audience in every community in America. It’s time to use our voice!

VIDEO INTRODUCTION by Colorado Superintendent Don Haddad

CLICK TO LEARN MORE ABOUT PROJECT LEAD 

 National Association of School Superintendents:

TWEET!  TALK!  WRITE!

 CLICK for your NASS PROJECT LEAD Tweet List
CLICK for your AASA PROJECT LEAD Tweet List

 National Association of School Superintendents:

US EDUCATION IS BETTER THAN EVER BEFORE

LEARN THE FACTS FROM DIANE RAVITCH

Bill Gates describes U.S. education as a system that is “broken” and Condoleeza Rice has called U.S. schools “a grave threat to national security".  Diane Ravitch explains why these statements are "absolute, total nonsense". Click for her video and learn more!

 

Diane Ravitch is Research Professor of Education at New York University and a historian of education.  Her blog is dianeravitch.net and has received more than 17 million hits in 30 months. 

CLICK for her biography.

 National Association of School Superintendents:

Schools Matter: Is CNCA paying parents to support CCSA's Ref Rodriguez's LAUSD Board campaign?

Schools Matter: Is CNCA paying parents to support CCSA's Ref Rodriguez's LAUSD Board campaign?:

Is CNCA paying parents to support CCSA's Ref Rodriguez's LAUSD Board campaign?

“Walmart fortune heiress, Carrie Walton Penner, is currently the CCSA Board Vice-Chair (term ending 6/30/2017). By most accounts Walton Penner is close to both profiteer "Ref" Rodriguez of the PUC Charter School Corporation, and the well-heeled Ana Ponce of the Camino Nuevo Charter School Corporation.” — Robert D. Skeels

Charter industry profiteer Refugio "Ref" Rodriguez, and his California Charter Schools Association's (CCSA) ruthless campaign to capture the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board of Education seat for District 5 has had every advantage. Rodriguez is backed with millions of dollars from an assortment of billionaires ranging from right-wing extremists like the Walton Family Fortune (Walmart) heirs to anti-public-commons ideologues including Reed Hastings, Eli Broad, and Michael Bloomberg. He has received uncritical press from all the major Los Angeles corporate media outlets. Rodriguez has waged a dishonest campaign that viciously mocked the incumbent school board member's disabilities, and went as far to makedeplorable accusations of racism. With essentially unlimited funding at his disposal, one would think that the profit hungry corporate charter school executive wouldn't need any more advantages. However, Rodriguez and his CCSA allies are leaving nothing to chance in defense of their lucrative profits. Profits that have been threatened by an incumbent who has insisted that the charter industry serve all students, not just the ones that are "cheap" to educate.

Evidence of possible further impropriety was provided by Cheryl Ortega. Ortega is the Director of Bilingual Education at United Teachers Los Angeles, has taught in the community for nearly half a century, is a member of the Greater Echo Park Elysian Neighborhood Council, and was recently honored as the 28th Congressional District Woman of the Year. Given her long-standing ties to the community, parents frequently use her as a clearinghouse for education issues. For example, this revelation that she posted on her Facebook feed:

Interesting and shocking fact regarding the Kayser - Rodriguez LAUSD school board race. A long time friend and former school parent at Logan Elementary School, told me that parents at the Sandra Cisneros/Camino Nuevo Charter Corp School in Echo Park were paid to attend political meetings to help elect Ref Rodriguez. They were told that Bennet Kayser would "close down their school" if elected to the school board. I am not surprised at Camino Nuevo's message given their record of "misleading" parents.

Asking around, I've been informed that these parents are being paid in kind (not cash), with expensive dinners, trips to Starbucks, etc. These reports corroborate each other, and with definitive proof that CCSA and Rodriguez are chasing profits, their purported "payment" of parents to sway this election makes perfect sense. Who is doing it makes sense too.

Camino Nuevo Charter Corporation's profits depend on market share

Camino Nuevo Charter Academy Corporation (CNCA) has a long record of duplicity. Their fourteen member Board of Directors, comprised mostly of hedge fund/investment managers, venture capitalists, brokers, and bankers, is wholly Schools Matter: Is CNCA paying parents to support CCSA's Ref Rodriguez's LAUSD Board campaign?:

Real Problems in Education and Teachers Who Cheat:

Real Problems in Education and Teachers Who Cheat

APRIL 15, 2015 BY NANCY BAILEY LEAVE A COMMENT

In Memphis, a man who was helping an elderly woman into her car was attacked by a group of young people at a gas station across the street from a charter school. In another part of town a mom worries about gang retaliation at her child’s high school.

Memphis is not alone. No matter what city you look at, you can find frightening stories, about what’s happening to America’s young people and how it is affecting their communities. There are serious problems with our youth everywhere.

High-stakes testing is not the answer to these problems.

Going after teachers for fudging answers on high-stakes tests to save their jobs, even wanting bonuses, is no answer either. It is terribly punitive at best, considering the high-stakes culture of test-taking, and is far off the mark of the real problems facing students and this nation.

In fact, the culture of high-stakes testing is adding to the problems in our public schools and in the country. Tests waste time and resources. More importantly, tests are impersonal. They are merely a tool even when they are done right. They don’t get to the heart of who students are and what they can become if given the right support.

Most tests today don’t provide information that can practically assist teachers in directing better instruction. Teachers don’t get the information back until it is too late. This doesn’t help students!
High-stakes tests are all about comparing schools and blaming them for what they aren’t doing right.

They don’t provide any answers on how those schools can improve. The scores are also more about arbitrarily firing teachers and closing public schools. If this weren’t the case the goals would be much different, and teachers would be included in the decision-making surrounding their jobs.

The Atlanta case played into the continuous drone that an unforgiving public, and the Real Problems in Education and Teachers Who Cheat:

Infographic: LAUSD ditching Pearson iPad program software, demanding multimillion dollar refund | 89.3 KPCC

Infographic: LAUSD ditching Pearson iPad program software, demanding multimillion dollar refund | 89.3 KPCC:

LAUSD ditching Pearson iPad program software, demanding multimillion dollar refund

Los Angeles Unified told Apple Inc. this week that it will not spend another dollar on the Pearson software installed on its iPads and is seeking a multimillion-dollar refund from the technology giant.

If an agreement cannot be reached, the nation's second-largest school district could take Apple to court. 

"While Apple and Pearson promised a state-of-the-art technological solution for ITI implementation, they have yet to deliver it," David Holmquist, the school district's attorney, wrote in a letter to Apple's general counsel. The ITI, or Instructional Technology Initiative, is the district's name for its iPad program.

Holmquist said the district is "extremely dissatisfied" with the work of Pearson on its technology initiative to get computers into the hands of each of the district's 650,000 students.

"As we approach the end of the school year, the vast majority of students are still unable to access the Pearson curriculum on iPads," he wrote.

L.A. Unified's $1.3 billion iPad program has been fraught with problems, from issues getting the technology to work in the classrooms to questions about how the tablets were procured.

The FBI launched an investigation into the purchase in December, carting out 20 boxes from the district office on bidding material, communications and other records involving Apple and Pearson. 

An investigation published by KPCC last August found former Superintendent John Deasy and top district staffers had close ties with Pearson executives before the contract was awarded.

District officials purchased Pearson's software even though it was unfinished, and teachers complained the material seemed rushed: lessons were missing math problems and reading material and included errors. The software also lacked many interactive elements that were promised, teachers said.

“[Pearson] missed the whole point of technology — individualized  instruction, all the material in the palm of your hand," said Ben Way, a math teacher at Alliance Cindy & Bill Simon Technology Academy, a charter school that also purchased Pearson's iPad app. 

Pearson and Apple executives could not be immediately reached for comment, but Pearson representatives maintain they have held up their end of the deal.

"The course content has been complete for over a year," wrote then-Pearson spokesman Brandon Pinette in an email to KPCC in September. "Yes, there are important enhancements to add as there always will be. We will add twice a year. No digital product should ever be considered complete."

LAUSD iPads: Timeline of a troubled program

Click Here: Infographic: LAUSD ditching Pearson iPad program software, demanding multimillion dollar refund | 89.3 KPCC: