Big Education Ape: Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 4/23/15

Special Nite Cap - Catch Up on Today's Post 4/23/15

Special Nite Cap 

CORPORATE ED REFORM

Dueling Disabilities and the Hijacking of Special Education Services

Dueling Disabilities and the Hijacking of Special Education Services: Dueling Disabilities and the Hijacking of Special Education ServicesAPRIL 23, 2015 BY NANCY BAILEY 1 COMMENTSenate education committee members recently argued about an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, put forward by Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. The amendment was to provide teachers with training to work with

by mike simpson / 8min 

Educators 4 Excellence – Because teachers NEED their own “Education Reform” front group - Wait What?

Educators 4 Excellence – Because teachers NEED their own “Education Reform” front group - Wait What?: Educators 4 Excellence – Because teachers NEED their own “Education Reform” front group Some teachers and public school advocates have heard about Educators 4 Excellence, aka E4E.  For those that haven’t, you probably will as the organization continues to expand across the country.Calling themselv

1 by mike simpson / 39min 

Demonizing Teachers, Privatizing Schools: The Big Lies and Big Plans Behind the Atlanta School Cheating Scandal | Black Agenda Report

Demonizing Teachers, Privatizing Schools: The Big Lies and Big Plans Behind the Atlanta School Cheating Scandal | Black Agenda Report: Demonizing Teachers, Privatizing Schools: The Big Lies and Big Plans Behind the Atlanta School Cheating Scandal Should we be wondering if the prosecution of cheating Atlanta teachers for racketeering was racist? Or should black parents and educators be leading a mo

9 by mike simpson / 1h 

Christie warns parents opting out of PARCC could trigger reduced services, higher local taxes | NJ.com

Christie warns parents opting out of PARCC could trigger reduced services, higher local taxes | NJ.com: Christie warns parents opting out of PARCC could trigger reduced services, higher local taxesCEDAR GROVE — Gov. Christie on Thursday strongly cautioned parents against opting out of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test, warning that schools with high rates of

1 by mike simpson / 1h 

Opt out courage, threats and cowardice. | Fred Klonsky

Opt out courage, threats and cowardice. | Fred Klonsky: Opt out courage, threats and cowardice. | I was proud that my newly elected State Representative Will Guzzardi’s first bill was one that clarified and supported the right of parents to opt their children out of high-stakes tests like PARCC.With Will Guzzardi working with his Springfield colleagues and pressure from parents around the state, H

1 by mike simpson / 1h 

Why are teachers leaving Oakland? | KALW

Why are teachers leaving Oakland? | KALW: Why are teachers leaving Oakland?By Jeremy DalmasOakland High SchoolListenListening...9:09It’s 8:08am, the Friday before spring break, and under other circumstances Kathleen Byrnes would already be at work.“We would be in our classrooms preparing for the day, which is where we would rather be,” she says.But instead, she’s out in front of Oakland’s Clevelan

1 by mike simpson / 1h 

solidaridad: Daily Censored: Why won’t Ref Rodriguez tell the truth?

solidaridad: Daily Censored: Why won’t Ref Rodriguez tell the truth?: Daily Censored: Why won’t Ref Rodriguez tell the truth?Reporters, parents, and community activists have been trying to get the facts about wealthy charter industry executive Refugio “Ref” Rodriguez. They have called, emailed, and even asked Rodriguez campaign workers at their doorsteps simple, but important questions. They are b

1 by mike simpson / 2h 

A White Suburban Dad Named Arne Duncan Needs Out This Week In Education: Thompson

This Week In Education: Thompson: A White Suburban Dad Named Arne Duncan Needs Out: Thompson: A White Suburban Dad Named Arne Duncan Needs Out New York  Board of Regents Chancellor Meryl Tisch says that "it’s been well over a year since I’ve had someone talk to me about instruction and curriculum. Everyone has talked to me about evaluations."Well duh!We are in the middle of a wonderful d

8 by mike simpson / 2h 

To Meet New Student Standards, We Must Support and Empower Teachers | Ellen Moir

To Meet New Student Standards, We Must Support and Empower Teachers | Ellen Moir: To Meet New Student Standards, We Must Support and Empower Teachers We have at our doorstep, a once in a century opportunity for education in America. Almost every state in America is introducing higher, more rigorous standards for all students. New assessments that strive to assess students' critical thinking and pr

by mike simpson / 2h 

The Queen of Soul and The Supremes at the NPE Conference In Chicago

The Queen of Soul and The Supremes at the NPE Conference In ChicagoCan't Make it to theNPE Conference In Chicago this Weekend?You Can "Virtually" Be There!!!THE NETWORK FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION NATIONAL CONFERENCEI know not everyone can make it to Chicago this weekend -- but you can still be part of the action via the Livestream that will broadcast on as many as three channels. All the keyno

1 by mike simpson / 4h 

The Deliberate and Intentional Lie About the Disappearance of Elective Courses in Public Schools | M. Shannon Hernandez

The Deliberate and Intentional Lie About the Disappearance of Elective Courses in Public Schools | M. Shannon Hernandez: The Deliberate and Intentional Lie About the Disappearance of Elective Courses in Public Schools (0)I am honored to feature D.A. Russell on the blog today. Don is exposing more of the truth about what is really happening in urban public schools around the country. Through years

by mike simpson / 5h 

Parental Choice, Magical Thinking, and the Paralysis of Indirect Solutions | the becoming radical

Parental Choice, Magical Thinking, and the Paralysis of Indirect Solutions | the becoming radical: PARENTAL CHOICE, MAGICAL THINKING, AND THE PARALYSIS OF INDIRECT SOLUTIONS Parental choice #1: Seeking a school for their white children so they will not have to attend classes with black or brown children.Parental choice #2: Seeking a school where their wealthy children will not have to attend class

1 by mike simpson / 5h 

Hillary Clinton should champion public schools : Wsj

Ruth Conniff: Hillary Clinton should champion public schools : Wsj: Ruth Conniff: Hillary Clinton should champion public schoolsIn the video announcing her run for president, Hillary Clinton declares, “Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion.” To make that campaign slogan credible, Clinton needs to take a clear position defending public schools.All over the country, a gr

1 by mike simpson / 5h 

Jon Stewart: Cheating teachers go to jail. Cheating Wall Streeters don’t. What’s up with that? - The Washington Post

Jon Stewart: Cheating teachers go to jail. Cheating Wall Streeters don’t. What’s up with that? - The Washington Post: Jon Stewart: Cheating teachers go to jail. Cheating Wall Streeters don’t. What’s up with that? (AP Photo/Brad Barket, File)This is one of those videos that make you want to laugh and cry at the same time. I you didn’t watch it, take a few minutes, and if you did see it, watch it ag

200+ by mike simpson / 7h 

Beyond Education Wars - NYTimes.com

Beyond Education Wars - NYTimes.com: Beyond Education WarsFor the last dozen years, waves of idealistic Americans have campaigned to reform and improve K-12 education.Armies of college graduates joined Teach for America. Zillionaires invested in charter schools. Liberals and conservatives, holding their noses and agreeing on nothing else, cooperated to proclaim education the civil rights issue of

1 by mike simpson / 7h 

I CRIED TODAY! - Badass Teachers Association

Badass Teachers Association: I CRIED TODAY!By:  Robyn Brydalski I cried today. Tears streamed down my face as I entered the sterile hallway to walk the dreaded tests to the secure return location. I cried for my students. For three solid days and over two hundred minutes, these bright eyed eight year olds gave it their all. I cried for the teaching profession. In the fifteen years I have dedicated

1 by mike simpson / 8h 

Superintendent Nyland, threatening teachers isn’t a growth mindset. | Seattle Education

Superintendent Nyland, threatening teachers isn’t a growth mindset. | Seattle Education: Superintendent Nyland, threatening teachers isn’t a growth mindset.Both of my children attend schools with amazing teachers. Educators who teach to the whole child, not just the parts which can be measured by standardized tests.That’s why it burns me up that Superintendent Nyland is threatening Nathan Hale’s t

1 by mike simpson / 8h 

Anti-‘Common Core’ activists leak state’s English exam online | New York Post

Anti-‘Common Core’ activists leak state’s English exam online | New York Post: Anti-‘Common Core’ activists leak state’s English exam onlineA copy of the state’s English Language Arts test that students took last week was leaked online Wednesday in an apparent act of sabotage by anti-testing activists.More than three dozen photographs of the exam appeared Wednesday morning on theFacebook page “Edu

by mike simpson / 8h 

California bill would require union buy-in for teacher evaluations - Yahoo News

California bill would require union buy-in for teacher evaluations - Yahoo News: California bill would require union buy-in for teacher evaluations SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - The degree to which student test scores in California could be used to evaluate teachers' job performance would be decided in union negotiations rather than by school districts or lawmakers under a bill that advanced Wedn

1 by mike simpson / 8h 

Teachers right about testing | Miami Herald Miami Herald

Teachers right about testing | Miami Herald Miami Herald: Teachers right about testingAfter 20 years of pushing, expanding and replacing standardized tests, the Florida Legislature has taken its first baby step to reverse the trend. Legislators don’t want to make a big deal of it, though, because one might jump to the conclusion that they caused the mess in the first place.After ignoring the voice

1 by mike simpson / 8h 

Mayor Kevin Johnson and his staff use private email for public work—and there's no rule saying they can't

Sacramento News & Review - Mayor Kevin Johnson and his staff use private email for public work—and there's no rule saying they can't - News - Local Stories - April 23, 2015: Mayor Kevin Johnson and his staff use private email for public work—and there's no rule saying they can'tThe city of Sacramento has no policies about the use of emails The Hillary Clinton email controversy brought public a

by mike simpson / 8h 

30 of the City's 3,021,588 families push Cuomo, Albany for more charter schools - NY Daily News

City families push Cuomo, Albany for more charter schools - NY Daily News: 30 of the City's 3,021,588  families push Cuomo, state Legislature to allow more charter schools About 30 city families called on Gov. Cuomo and the state Legislature Wednesday to allow more charter schools to be created.Cuomo had sought to include a provision for more charters in the state budget, but the issue was dropped

1 by mike simpson / 9h 

Don't Pop Champagne Over Senate's No Child Left Behind Rewrite Yet - US News

Don't Pop Champagne Over Senate's No Child Left Behind Rewrite Yet - US News: Put Away the ChampagneThere's still work to be done on the Senate's No Child Left Behind rewrite. Last week, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee unanimously approved the Every Child Achieves Act, a bill to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, or NCLB. After the vote, the committee memb

7 by mike simpson / 9h 

PPIC Statewide Survey: Californians and Education

Statewide Survey Interactive Tools: PPIC Statewide Survey: Californians and EducationMark Baldassare, Dean Bonner, Lunna Lopes, and Sonja PetekApril 2015Full Report[PDF, 581K]Press Release[HTML]Some findings of the current survey:A strong majority of Californians support the Local Control Funding Formula; fewer than half favor the Common Core State Standards.Most public school parents say they hav

by mike simpson / 9h 

California parents are ill-informed about school reforms, poll finds - LA Times

California parents are ill-informed about school reforms, poll finds - LA Times: California parents are ill-informed about school reforms, poll finds California has ushered in new academic standards, statewide testing and school finance reform in recent years, but the majority of public-school parents remain ill-informed about them, a new poll has found.In an effort to promote deeper understanding

1 by mike simpson / 10h 

California Teachers Association Pres. Looks to the Future - On California - Education Week

California Teachers Association Pres. Looks to the Future - On California - Education Week: California Teachers Association Pres. Looks to the FutureDean Vogel, the popular president of the California Teachers Association, has tirelessly crisscrossed the state trying to broaden the union's appeal to rank and file classroom teachers and increase their participation in the organization.  He turns ov

1 by mike simpson / 10h 

YESTERDAY

TBT Thursday 1984 - The Test

TBT Thursday 1984 - The Test BY N. P. EducationCan't Make it to theNPE Conference In Chicago this Weekend?You Can "Virtually" Be There!!!THE NETWORK FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION NATIONAL CONFERENCEI know not everyone can make it to Chicago this weekend -- but you can still be part of the action via the Livestream that will broadcast on as many as three channels. All the keynotes and many of the

3 by mike simpson / 20h 

BustED Pencils: Education Activism's Punk Rockers | The Progressive

BustED Pencils: Education Activism's Punk Rockers | The Progressive: BustED Pencils: Education Activism's Punk Rockers It was education and punk rock that brought Randy Hurley and Tim Slekar together, as college freshmen with a mutual love for Husker Du and The Sex Pistols. Thirty years later, they’re finding punk rock is a surprisingly great tool in the fight to save public education, and they’ve

1 by mike simpson / 22h 

Big Education Ape: Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 4/22/15

Special Nite Cap - Catch Up on Today's Post 4/22/15Special Nite Cap CORPORATE ED REFORMWhat if they gave the SBAC and no one took it? Ask the folks at Nathan Hale High School in Seattle | Seattle EducationWhat if they gave the SBAC and no one took it? Ask the folks at Nathan Hale High School in Seattle | Seattle Education: What if they gave the SBAC and no one took it? Ask the folks at Nathan Hale

5 by mike simpson / 23h 

Can't Make it to the

NPE Conference In Chicago this Weekend?

You Can "Virtually" Be There!!!

THE NETWORK FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION NATIONAL CONFERENCE

I know not everyone can make it to Chicago this weekend -- but you can still be part of the action via the Livestream that will broadcast on as many as three channels. All the keynotes and many of the workshops will be available live, starting Saturday at 8:30 am central time at   www.schoolhouselive.org

 Please tweet with the hashtag ‪#‎NPEChicago‬ and help us trend #1 again like we did twice last year.

LIVE FROM CHICAGO, APRIL 25-26

THE NETWORK FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION NATIONAL CONFERENCE

CHECK OUT ALL THREE CHANNELS!

http://www.schoolhouselive.org/

Dueling Disabilities and the Hijacking of Special Education Services:

Dueling Disabilities and the Hijacking of Special Education Services

APRIL 23, 2015 BY NANCY BAILEY 1 COMMENT

Senate education committee members recently argued about an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, put forward by Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. The amendment was to provide teachers with training to work with students with dyslexia. It turned into a dispute between parent groups and policymakers. No one seemed to realize that special education services in public schools were hijacked a long time ago.

On one side you had the National Center for Learning Disabilities, the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, and Decoding Dyslexia who wanted the teacher training. The National PTA, National Down Syndrome Society, and the NEA opposed it. Some parents didn’t like the amendment. Their students with autism and ADHD are not under the label of learning disabilities (even though the disabilities could overlap), so they didn’t think it was fair.

All of this made me scratch my head for a number of reasons.

First, remember P.L. 94-142 or IDEA? In order to receive federal funds, states must develop and implement policies that assure a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to all children with disabilities.

This doesn’t say a free appropriate public education for only students with autism, oronly students with dyslexia, or only any other student disability group. It says a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to all children with disabilities.

Emphasis “all” and “free appropriate.”

I also remember when an appropriate education meant a student with disabilities had access to a teacher trained for the particular disability area. Special ed. teachers had to take about thirty credit hours from an accredited university in the special area–in this case learning disabilities–to be credentialed.

Now, when I hear there is a struggle to train teachers, I realize it is the result of years of education reform which stripped public schools of the necessary services students with disabilities should have been, and still should be, getting in their public schools. Regular education teachers, on top of everything else they do, must address special education. Specialists have been increasingly pushed out of the picture.

That Cassidy believes he needs an amendment for teacher training to assist students with dyslexia demonstrates this point. Furthermore, Cassidy and his wife started a charter school for students with dyslexia to help their daughter who apparently has dyslexia. Cassidy made the point that there are only three charters in the country that deal with dyslexia.

And why do we need charter schools? Why aren’t public schools addressing dyslexia Dueling Disabilities and the Hijacking of Special Education Services:

Educators 4 Excellence – Because teachers NEED their own “Education Reform” front group - Wait What?

Educators 4 Excellence – Because teachers NEED their own “Education Reform” front group - Wait What?:

Educators 4 Excellence – Because teachers NEED their own “Education Reform” front group

 Some teachers and public school advocates have heard about Educators 4 Excellence, aka E4E.  For those that haven’t, you probably will as the organization continues to expand across the country.

Calling themselves Educators 4 Excellence (E4E), they claim to speak for teachers – although most E4E organizers don’t have more than a year or so of teaching experience – and what little actual teaching experience they have is usually the result of a short stint with Teach for America.

But the New York-based Educators 4 Excellence, originally created in 2010 using funds from the Gates Foundation, managed to pull in over $7.4 million from the corporate education reform industry in their first two years of operation.

Among the “teacher advocacy group’s” major funders is Education Reform Now, another corporate funded advocacy group that spends its money promoting charter schools and an end to tenure and “seniority-based layoff.”

In 2010 Education Reform Now ran a rather infamous television commercial in New York State that included a “parent” saying, “Stop listening to the teachers union.”

E4E’s fundraising has reportedly skyrocketed since 2012 allowing them to expand, including into Connecticut.

The Gates Foundation alone dropped another $3,000,695 into E4E’s coffers in July 2013.

Here in Connecticut…

When Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy took to the microphone on April 17, 2015 to announce that he was dropping the word “interim” from Dianna Wentzell’s title as “interim” Commissioner of Education, Educators 4 Excellence was quick to announce their support for the Common Core and Common Core testing aficionado writing,

“Dr. Roberge-Wentzell…was a critical member of [former Education] Commissioner Pryor’s team, which worked to secure funding for struggling schools where resources are needed most….We look forward to working with her in the years ahead…”

The reference that Wentzell deserved to be appointed Connecticut’s Commissioner of Education because she was a “critical member of Commissioner Pryor’s team,” the co-founder of the Achievement First, Inc. Charter School Management Company, reveals a lot about Educators 4 Excellence’s mission and purpose.  Public funding for charter schools skyrocketed as a result of Governor Malloy and Commissioner Pryor’s policies over the last three years, with Pryor’s charter school management company receiving the lions’ share of the money.

With co-CEOs each enjoying compensation packages in excess of $150,000, Educators 4 Excellence explains their reason for existence by saying,

“For far too long, education policy has been created without a critical voice at the table – the voice of classroom teachers. Educators 4 Excellence (E4E), a teacher-led organization, is changing this dynamic by placing the voices of teachers at the forefront of the conversations that shape our classrooms and careers.”

Educators for Excellence now has chapters in Connecticut, Chicago, Los Angeles and Minnesota and the have pledged to expand even further.

According to their “official” version of events, Educators 4 Excellence (E4E) began,

“As a group of New York teachers who wanted to change the top-down approach to policy-making, which largely alienated teachers like us from crucial decisions that shaped our classrooms and careers.”

Their propaganda fails to explain that their initial funding came in November 2010 when the Gates Foundation funneled $160,000 through Stand for Children, a multi-million dollar corporate education front group to set up “Educators 4 Excellence.”

According to the grant announcement, the Gates Foundation explained that the group was being funded to, “build an authentic, alternate teacher voice.”

Stand for Children is a leading player in the “education reform” movement, with a special focus on moving corporate funds into political campaigns in order to reward candidates who support their cause and punish those who aren’t on the school privatization  bandwagon.

Jonah Edelman, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Stand for Children, says the organization now has eleven state affiliates (AZ, CO, IL, IN, LA, MA, OK, OR, TN, TX, and WA).

According to Edelman’s biography,

“Jonah’s personal stand for children began during college, when he taught a six year-old bilingual child to read.”

Like a number of his fellow corporate education reform industry elite, Edelman graduated Educators 4 Excellence – Because teachers NEED their own “Education Reform” front group - Wait What?:

Beware of AstroTurf Ed Reformers 

Just Like Michelle Rhee's Students first only BETTER

Astroturf lobbying refers to political organizations or campaigns that appear to be made up of grassroots activists but are actually organized and run by corporate interests seeking to further their own agendas. Such groups are often typified by innocent-sounding names that have been chosen specifically to disguise the group's true backers

Just Like Michelle Rhee's

 Students first Astroturf lobbying (only Better) 

Other Astroturf lobbying groups

DON'T FORGET THE TAX BENEFITS

Just Like Michelle Rhee's

 Students first Astroturf lobbying (only Better) 

Demonizing Teachers, Privatizing Schools: The Big Lies and Big Plans Behind the Atlanta School Cheating Scandal | Black Agenda Report

Demonizing Teachers, Privatizing Schools: The Big Lies and Big Plans Behind the Atlanta School Cheating Scandal | Black Agenda Report:

Demonizing Teachers, Privatizing Schools: The Big Lies and Big Plans Behind the Atlanta School Cheating Scandal

 Should we be wondering if the prosecution of cheating Atlanta teachers for racketeering was racist? Or should black parents and educators be leading a movement against high-stakes standardized testing as the gateway tool to privatizing public education in black and brown communities across the country?

Demonizing Teachers, Privatizing Schools: The Big Lies and Big Plans Behind the Atlanta School Cheating Scandal

by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

When drama queen Fulton County judge Jerry Baxter demanded public post-conviction apologies from Atlanta teachers already convicted of racketeering lest he hand them double digit sentences, it struck raw nerves in parts of black America. Black pastors and community leaders called press conferences. They held rallies and issued stern statements. They denounced the judge for making “common criminals” out of black teachers. Inevitably, they wondered whether white teachers would have been prosecuted or subjected to post-conviction humiliation of this kind.

They're asking the wrong question. What they ought to ask is why the teacher perp walk is being served up in the first place. They need to ask who profits from the continuing crisis in public education in black and brown communities? The answers are not hard to find.

The whole thing, from the indictment of Atlanta Public Schools superintendent Beverly Hall,who died before the trial was complete, to the posturing of public officials and corporate media about “cheating the children” is the latest act of a long, long fake crisis. Judge Baxter's histrionics too, in which he called the cheating scandal “the sickest thing that's ever happened to Atlanta,” were a great contribution to the story our billionaire-owned media wants to paint about public education.

The one-percenters need us to believe public education in our communities is some new kind of sewer infested with incompetent teachers who are cheating children and the public every week they draw paychecks. The long, long crisis of public education has been designed, engineered and provoked by powerful bipartisan forces to justify their long game, which is the privatization of public education. That's the Big Plan.

Since at least 2001, when George W. Bush's conservative Republicans teamed up with Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy's liberal Democrats to pass and implement the No Child Left Behind Act, it's been the policy of both capitalist parties implemented by the federal Department of Education to create, to provoke and to exacerbate a phony educational crisis. This program of crisis-creation has been backed by Wall Street, by banksters and hedge fund types, by giant corporations like Wal-Mart and powerful right wing interest groups like the US Chamber of Commerce as well as the so-called philanthropic tentacles of corporate America like the Gates, Broad, Heritage and Walton Family Foundations. The solution to the fake crisis has been the whole industry of testing experts, turnaround consultants, diploma mills for fake principals, lucrative charter school companies and their contractors, and the private but government sanctioned agencies that rate school districts. Even the agencies that rate school districts are staffed by the same “run the school like a business” experts approved by the US Chamber of Commerce who were employed to write President Obama's Race to the Topprogram, which punishes school districts that don't privatize or implement “run the school like a business 'reforms'” fast enough.

High stakes standardized testing, like the tests educators cheated on in Atlanta, is an essential tool in provoking the crisis, but it's a big lie. These kinds of tests don't reflect student progress or teacher competency. They track to family income, and family income in the US correlates largely to race. So as Glen Ford put it back in 2012

“The standardized tests were bombs, designed to explode the public schools and the teaching profession. Everyone involved knew that inner city kids would fail the tests in huge numbers, setting the infernal machine in motion for the closing of schools and the wholesale firing of teachers...”

The bombs were planted not just in Atlanta, but in thousands of school districts across the nation, with predictable results. A 2012 story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution revealed that the same suspicious patterns of radical test score improvement seen in Atlanta could be found in more than 200 school districts across the country, from Philly to Portland, and from Alaska to Alabama. Clearly, cheating teachers and principals in Georgia were and likely still are doing the same things the same way as their colleagues across the country.

It's also very true that Atlanta's teachers were singled out. Other teachers in other states were merely stripped of their jobs and professional licenses. Teach For America alums Michelle Rhee and Kayla Henderson both headed Washington DC's public schools when massive cheating scandals occurred, but unlike Atlanta's Beverly Hall, neither they nor their subordinates are in any danger of prosecution. Atlanta on the other hand, is closely associated with the notion of African Americans running big cities, so making the example of black educators in Atlanta makes perfect political sense for those orchestrating the crisis. Still we shouldn't feel too sorry for the Atlanta teachers. Beverly Hall turned big chunks of Atlanta's public schools over to privatizers, and even helped divert $140 million a year for more than 20 years away from Atlanta's public school children to line the pockets of developers and gentrifiers in a lucrative boondoggle Atlantans know as “the Beltline.”

If the black political class and black educators really stood for the interests of their students and communities they would be educating black parents and students across the country abouttheir right to opt out of tests that serve no legitimate educational purpose, as teachers in Chicago and Seattle are already doing.

But that's problematic too. Opposing standardized testing would place the black political class in conflict not with the slippery nebulous demons of institutional racism, but biting some of the very real and easy-to-find hands in corporate America that feed it. Taking issue with Demonizing Teachers, Privatizing Schools: The Big Lies and Big Plans Behind the Atlanta School Cheating Scandal | Black Agenda Report:

Christie warns parents opting out of PARCC could trigger reduced services, higher local taxes | NJ.com

Christie warns parents opting out of PARCC could trigger reduced services, higher local taxes | NJ.com:

Christie warns parents opting out of PARCC could trigger reduced services, higher local taxes

CEDAR GROVE — Gov. Christie on Thursday strongly cautioned parents against opting out of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test, warning that schools with high rates of refusal would face "ramifications out of my control."

Addressing a question at a town hall in Cedar Grove from Colleen Martinez, a Montclair parent who said that her daughter had opted out of the PARCC test and would continue to do so "as long as it's administered," Christie noted that in schools that fell below a certain threshold, sanctions could flow from both the federal government and the state of New Jersey.

Christie admonished the crowd of 200 at the Essex County College Public Safety Academy to remember that "the penalties that occur for opting out of testing aren't just state penalties — they're federal penalties. ... Federal money is connected to that testing."

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MORE: Christie accuses Dems of 'suing themselves' over pension shortfall they created, approved

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More, because of New Jersey's 2 percent cap on the annual increases of property taxes, the effects of such federal educational funding shortfall will be borne by local schools systems, which could be forced to either reduce services, hike property taxes, or both.

"There's nothing I can do to stop you," said Christie, "But then don't complain later that you're not getting the money that you used to. I have no problem with people making declarations of independence. It's a great country. But, those declarations of independence always have ramifications."

On Thursday, the New Jersey Education Association president Wendell Steinhauer blasted Christie's education commissioner David Hespe for issuing similar warnings, and called on Hespe not to withhold state aid from districts where parents "followed their conscience" and refused the PARCC test.

"The (Education) Department needs to listen to parents," said Steinhauer, in an email sent to media on Thursday, "not threaten their children's schools. It should stop Christie warns parents opting out of PARCC could trigger reduced services, higher local taxes | NJ.com:

Opt out courage, threats and cowardice. | Fred Klonsky

Opt out courage, threats and cowardice. | Fred Klonsky:

Opt out courage, threats and cowardice. |

 

I was proud that my newly elected State Representative Will Guzzardi’s first bill was one that clarified and supported the right of parents to opt their children out of high-stakes tests like PARCC.

With Will Guzzardi working with his Springfield colleagues and pressure from parents around the state, HB306 got out of committee. It appears to be headed for a floor vote in the House in next couple of days before going over to the Senate side.

Greg Hinz is reporting today that the Governor has threatened to veto the bill.

Guzzardi, in an interview, said children nationwide are balking at tests “and will continue to do so” whether officials like it or not. Rather than creating “chaos in the classroom “—and “bullying” students by forcing them to sit in an empty classroom for a day if they refuse the test—officials should recognize reality and let parents have the final say, Guzzardi said.

But Rauner has a different take. His secretary of education, Beth Purvis, late today sent lawmakers a memo saying that the state could lose $1 billion a year in federal aid and control over federal anti-poverty funding if more than 5 Opt out courage, threats and cowardice. | Fred Klonsky:

Why are teachers leaving Oakland? | KALW

Why are teachers leaving Oakland? | KALW:

Why are teachers leaving Oakland?

By Jeremy Dalmas

• Oakland High School

Listen

Listening...

9:09

It’s 8:08am, the Friday before spring break, and under other circumstances Kathleen Byrnes would already be at work.

“We would be in our classrooms preparing for the day, which is where we would rather be,” she says.

But instead, she’s out in front of Oakland’s Cleveland Elementary School with her fellow teachers -- not working. They’re waiting seven minutes until 8:15 am exactly. Since February, teachers have been protesting low pay by working from only from 8:15 to 3 pm -- the minimum hours required by their contract. It’s called work-to-rule. And it means things that parents expect, like student evaluations, are not making their way home. They are sitting unfinished in baskets.

“And they've been sitting in baskets for about a month, because I don't have time to get to them,” explains Byrnes.

Nobody thinks that being a public school teacher is an easy profession, or a lavishly paid one. But teachers in Oakland have really been feeling the pinch. Despite working in one of the least affordable housing markets in the country, teachers in the Oakland Unified School District have gotten only a few percent raise in the past decade. They’re currently the lowest paid public school teachers in Alameda County. And close to a fifth of them leave the district every year. Teacher turnover is a national issue as well, but in Oakland things have been getting more heated as contract negotiations drag on.

The union wants teachers to get a raise, smaller classes, and more school counselors. The district understands all that but says it doesn’t have the resources to go as far as the union is pushing.  And even without the contract problems, many, many teachers are unhappy in the Oakland Unified School District. Seventy percent of teachers stop teaching in Oakland in their first 5 years. Seventy percent. Nationwide that number is between 40% and 50% - which is already huge.

The money...

Just a few blocks up the hill from Cleveland Elementary, right where Park Boulevard meets 580, is Oakland High School. Here, teachers are still working more than the minimum hours, though they did protest by closing their classrooms to students  during lunch.

US History teacher Jesse Shapiro grew up in Oakland. Like a lot of Oaklanders, he’s committed to his city. He’s been a teacher for eight years, six of them here.

“Finally I've reached a point where it's like I have a stride, where I can do the other nuances of teaching other than planning,” he says. “I'm able to give better feedback to students, help them out socially and emotionally. Kids come into the classroom and they know they're going to get a good product because people know who I am around here. I've earned that.”

He’s also finally gotten the classroom he’s always wanted.

“Most of the classrooms don't have windows, you can see that I have one,” he says. “The lovely corner penthouse suite that I inherited from Steven Moreno, who was our department head, who fled to a higher paying district just a few years ago.”

Right there is one of the main reasons that Oakland is losing its talent. With an average salary of $55,000, teachers like Shapiro could drive a few miles to San Leandro and get an immediate $15,000 raise. The teacher that left this room was one of Shapiro’s mentors. Shapiro says his mentor is now making close to six figures teaching in Redwood City. And if this teacher called him up --

“And said ‘hey, we've got a job out here, I want you out here, will you come?' It would be pretty difficult for me to say 'no, I love Oakland so much that I'm going to stay here and take a $40,000 pay cut.' You know?”

...And beyond the money

Beyond pay, many teachers feel that the district doesn’t support them and doesn’t respect them. When she stops by Shapiro’s classroom, special education teacher Jessie Muldoon says she can’t afford classroom supplies. She has to use an online donations site.

“It feels pretty crummy that you're begging from your friends and family to subsidize your job basically,” she says, adding that she thinks about leaving the district all the time.

Social studies teacher Emily Macy complains of not having enough support Why are teachers leaving Oakland? | KALW:

solidaridad: Daily Censored: Why won’t Ref Rodriguez tell the truth?

solidaridad: Daily Censored: Why won’t Ref Rodriguez tell the truth?:

Daily Censored: Why won’t Ref Rodriguez tell the truth?

Reporters, parents, and community activists have been trying to get the facts about wealthy charter industry executive Refugio “Ref” Rodriguez. They have called, emailed, and even asked Rodriguez campaign workers at their doorsteps simple, but important questions. They are being ignored.

Q1: It’s known that Rodriguez attended Catholic schools, did he ever attend a public school?

Q2: We know Rodriguez has worked for charter schools and Catholic schools. Has he ever worked at a public school? Volunteered at one?

Q3: Lacking public school experience he wants to be elected to our school board. Will Rodriguez ever open up his charter chain’s board to public elections?

Curious? Ask him yourself. Call (310) 968-5729

In addition to dodging the simple questions above, Rodriguez never disclosed that his California Charter School Association (CCSA) boasted“30% profit margins… with 20-30% lead generation and 20-50% close ratios.” He won’t discuss his relationship with the secretive Gülen cult charter network. Rodriguez has avoided discussing how much money his charter chain spends on advertising instead of students. That’s a lot of secrets! Los Angeles Unified School District students deserve honest, forthcoming school board members, not ones with so many things to hide.