Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 7/10/15

SPECIAL NITE CAP 

CORPORATE ED REFORM

Revisiting the Hullabaloo about the Civil War, Slavery, and Racism in Textbooks and Standards | Cloaking Inequity

Revisiting the Hullabaloo about the Civil War, Slavery, and Racism in Textbooks and Standards | Cloaking Inequity: Revisiting the Hullabaloo about the Civil War, Slavery, and Racism in Textbooks and StandardsThere has been allot of hullabaloo about the Civl War recently. Just yesterday, South Carolina voted to take down the confederate flag. However, there are still a variety of folks in the South

by mike simpson / 2h 

House GOP Betrayed Parents Passing the Student Success Act | Truth in American Education

House GOP Betrayed Parents Passing the Student Success Act | Truth in American Education: House GOP Betrayed Parents Passing the Student Success ActThe Republican leadership in the US House of Representatives has worked a tremendous disservice on its members and the American children, parents, and taxpayers.  Yesterday, after heavy wrangling by Republican leadership, the House of Representatives p

by mike simpson / 4h 

NEA Members Announce They Will Fight Institutional Racism. Do They Mean It?

NEA Members Announce They Will Fight Institutional Racism. Do They Mean It?: NEA Members Announce They Will Fight Institutional Racism. Do They Mean It?At the National Education Association’s recently concluded annual meeting—a gathering where the country’s largest labor union sets its policy priorities for the coming year—delegates passed several historic measures that committed the union to figh

by mike simpson / 5h 

This Week In Education: Thompson: What Explains the Remaining Support For NCLB Testing?

This Week In Education: Thompson: What Explains the Remaining Support For NCLB Testing?: Thompson: What Explains the Remaining Support For NCLB Testing?The Washington Post's Lyndsey Layton, in Even As Congress Moves to Strip His Power, Arne Duncan Holds His Ground, begins her portrait of the last days of Arne Duncan with an anecdote documenting the sincerity with which he approached his job as US

by mike simpson / 6h 

All Aboard the Opt Out Bus - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform

All Aboard the Opt Out Bus - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform: All Aboard the Opt Out BusThe #OptOutBus is currently traveling the country giving away free books to children! Follow their progress at their Facebook page and donate to their FREE Books for Kids fundraiser here.  Join them on Twitter @optoutbus.Susan and Shawn DuFresne write: We are taking the #OptOutBus

by mike simpson / 6h 

Children are more than test scores: This 10 miles is for our young giants the Newark Students Union

Children are more than test scores: This 10 miles is for our young giants the Newark Students Union:This 10 miles is for our young giants the Newark Students UnionCatching up to my dedications and thanks you today from Delaware for my Walking to DC blog.Day 15 on July 1, 2015 I dedicated 10 miles to my heroes the Newark Students Union > http://newarkstudentsunion.tumblr.com/about 

by mike simpson / 7h 

Superintendents and Legislators - Beware the SBAC Tsunami that is coming! - Wait What?

Superintendents and Legislators - Beware the SBAC Tsunami that is coming! - Wait What?: Superintendents and Legislators – Beware the SBAC Tsunami that is coming!An open letter to Superintendents and Legislators 7/10/2015;For more than a year and a half public education advocates in Connecticut have been delivering the message that the Common Core Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) test

by mike simpson / 7h 

Jersey Jazzman: Newark: Chris Cerf's Victory Lap

Jersey Jazzman: Newark: Chris Cerf's Victory Lap: Newark: Chris Cerf's Victory LapAnd so Chris Cerf, the architect of the transformation of Newark into a "portfolio" school district, is now officially in charge. I have to say I was a little surprised Cerf's confirmation was only one vote away from deadlock; then again, given his close ties to embattled former State Superintendent Cami An

by mike simpson / 7h 

The New GED: Making A Second Chance So Much Harder | janresseger

The New GED: Making A Second Chance So Much Harder | janresseger: The New GED: Making A Second Chance So Much HarderIn a book on expanding opportunity in higher education, Back to School: Why Everyone Deserves a Second Chance at Education, Mike Rose describes the GED exam and the students in adult education programs who have come back to school to try to improve their education and their credentia

by mike simpson / 8h 

Louisiana Educator: Your Guide to BESE Elections

Louisiana Educator: Your Guide to BESE Elections: Your Guide to BESE ElectionsWhy the John White Controlled BESE is Wrong for LouisianaAll elected seats for BESE will be up for election in the October 24, 2015 primary election. There are 8 elected members on BESE that run in districts similar to the old Louisiana Congressional Districts. Five of the present elected members have been closely aligne

by mike simpson / 8h 

As federal ed rewrite gains traction in Congress, here are some key changes schools may see - The Hechinger Report

As federal ed rewrite gains traction in Congress, here are some key changes schools may see - The Hechinger Report: As federal ed rewrite gains traction in Congress, here are some key changes schools may seeAs Congress considers bills to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the most heated debate has been over how to hold schools accountable for student performance, and w

by mike simpson / 8h 

Education and the Export of Jobs: Will All that is Public Become Private? - Living in Dialogue

Education and the Export of Jobs: Will All that is Public Become Private? - Living in Dialogue: Education and the Export of Jobs: Will All that is Public Become Private?by Stephen Stollmack, Ph.D.My life now seems to be on Fast-Track – so much more to learn about what’s going on in the world each day and more and more suspicion that the government has been hiding important things from us for years

by mike simpson / 8h 

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Wall St. public school strategy: Loot, pillage, burn...

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Wall St. public school strategy: Loot, pillage, burn...: Wall St. public school strategy: Loot, pillage, burn...Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va). - ReutersThe Senate has passed an amendment to new proposed federal legislation, which would steer hundreds of millions of dollars intended for impoverished school districts and classrooms, into the pockets of Wall Street consu

by mike simpson / 8h 

‘Good Intentions Gone Bad’ — excerpt from new book about Teach For America - The Washington Post

‘Good Intentions Gone Bad’ — excerpt from new book about Teach For America - The Washington Post: ‘Good Intentions Gone Bad’ — excerpt from new book about Teach For AmericaTeach for American founder Wendy Kopp (The Washington Post)A new book about  the 25-year-old Teach For America tells the story of the controversial organization through the eyes of alumni who share their experiences and insight

by mike simpson / 8h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Duncan's legacy

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Duncan's legacy: Duncan's legacy"It will take years to recover from the damage that Arne Duncan’s policies have inflicted on public education." -- Diane RavitchArne Duncan says he will remain at the D.O.E. "until the final bell". At this point, no one really cares. The damage is already done and with billions of Race To The Top money no longer in

by mike simpson / 8h 

Sen. Sherrod Brown seeks to stop waste, mismanagement of charter schools | cleveland.com

Sen. Sherrod Brown seeks to stop waste, mismanagement of charter schools | cleveland.com: Sen. Sherrod Brown seeks to stop waste, mismanagement of charter schoolsWASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown blasted Ohio's charter school system for having rampant waste and fraud Thursday as he spelled out the main goals of a national charter school accountability bill he proposed this week."We w

by mike simpson / 9h 

Some states would lose big money with proposed education funding changes - The Washington Post

Some states would lose big money with proposed education funding changes - The Washington Post: Some states would lose big money with proposed education funding changesCongress’s debate about rewriting the nation’s main education law has featured high-profile disagreements over testing, vouchers andschool accountability, but there is another issue that has just as much potential to derail the legi

by mike simpson / 9h 

Why America Demonizes its Teachers -- Part 4: The Role of the Home in Student Learning | Frank Breslin

Why America Demonizes its Teachers -- Part 4: The Role of the Home in Student Learning | Frank Breslin: Why America Demonizes its Teachers -- Part 4: The Role of the Home in Student LearningOne powerful influence on student learning, which federal and state governments refuse to acknowledge, is a student's home life, over which teachers have no control. Students who come from homes conducive to le

by mike simpson / 9h 

About the Warner Amendment to the Senate ESEA Bill | deutsch29

About the Warner Amendment to the Senate ESEA Bill | deutsch29: About the Warner Amendment to the Senate ESEA BillOn July 08, 2015, the Senate approved by voice vote an amendment to the Senate version of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015. The amendment in question,Senate Amendment 2086, sponsored by Senator Mark W

by mike simpson / 9h 

Congress Considers Expanding Charter Program Despite Millions Wasted on Closed Schools

Congress Considers Expanding Charter Program Despite Millions Wasted on Closed Schools: Congress Considers Expanding Charter Program Despite Millions Wasted on Closed SchoolsAs both the House and the Senate consider separate bills that would reauthorize and expand the quarter-billion-dollar-a-year Charter Schools Program (CSP), the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) has examined more than a deca

by mike simpson / 9h 

YESTERDAY

Scandal-Plagued Kevin Johnson's Fixers Are Just Making Things Worse

Scandal-Plagued Kevin Johnson's Fixers Are Just Making Things Worse: Scandal-Plagued Kevin Johnson's Fixers Are Just Making Things WorseKevin Johnson’s bizarre campaign to carry out a “coup” against the National Conference of Black Mayors, or NCBM, is looking more and more like his Waterloo.The former NBA All-Star and perpetually scandal-plagued Sacramento mayor, whose enthusiasms include charter

by mike simpson / 19h hide  //  save

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 7/9/15

SPECIAL NITE CAP CORPORATE ED REFORMDiane Ravitch’s devastating Arne Duncan critique: The education secretary earned his F - Salon.comDiane Ravitch’s devastating Arne Duncan critique: The education secretary earned his F - Salon.com: Diane Ravitch’s devastating Arne Duncan critique: The education secretary earned his FIt will take years to recover from the damage that Arne Duncan's policies have i

by mike simpson / 1d 

Revisiting the Hullabaloo about the Civil War, Slavery, and Racism in Textbooks and Standards | Cloaking Inequity

Revisiting the Hullabaloo about the Civil War, Slavery, and Racism in Textbooks and Standards | Cloaking Inequity:

Revisiting the Hullabaloo about the Civil War, Slavery, and Racism in Textbooks and Standards

There has been allot of hullabaloo about the Civl War recently. Just yesterday, South Carolina voted to take down the confederate flag. However, there are still a variety of folks in the South that are romanticizing Civil War and want to teach children that it was not about slavery. Back in 2010, there was an adoption of the new social studies standards in Texas. Jenn Gidman, at Newser sums up the reoccurrence of the standards and textbook issue in her piece New Texas Texts: Slavery Was ‘Side Issue’ of Civil War:

About 5 million Texas school children will get their hands on brand-new social studies textbooks when school starts up again, the Houston Chronicle reports—textbooks that USA Today says are “misleading, racially prejudiced, and, at times, flat-out false.” The beef with the new primers: They’re in keeping with state education standards adopted in 2010 that gloss over slavery as the main impetus for the Civil War, instead placing it as a peripheral factor behind “sectionalism” and “states’ rights,” reports the Washington Post. Slavery was merely a “side issue to the Civil War,” one member of the state’s board of education said when the standards—which include Moses and Solomon as prime influencers in the founding of our country—were greenlit in 2010. Per the Post, the new standards “barely address racial segregation,” and the state’s guidelines for history instruction have zip on the Jim Crow laws or the Ku Klux Klan.

Many critics aren’t on board with the new standards, revamped to correct what the board thought was a too-liberal stance on American history. Ex-Education Secretary Rod Paige tried to sway the board in 2010, saying, per the Texas Tribune, “I’m of the view that the history of slavery and civil rights are dominant elements of our history and have shaped who we are today. We may not like our history, but it’s history, and it’s important to us today.” But his pleas seemed to have fallen on deaf ears, because the standards were pushed through with the states’ rights angle. The Washington Post editorial board published its take on the matter Monday, writing that “by distorting history, Texas tells its students a dishonest and damaging story about the United States that prevents children from understanding the country today.”

Well the revisionist textbooks are about to hit classroom in Texas and ELSEWHERE. I discussed in the post Texas: The butt of many jokes that the Lone Star State is the second-largest purchaser of textbooks in the country followed by California. Thus public school districts in many other states follow Texas lead because texts are often mass-produced by the publisher.

Have you studied the representation of racism in standards? The cycle of peer reviewed work is quite long. It can take a year or two or more to originate an idea, conduct the research, write the article, submit to a journal for peer Revisiting the Hullabaloo about the Civil War, Slavery, and Racism in Textbooks and Standards | Cloaking Inequity:

House GOP Betrayed Parents Passing the Student Success Act | Truth in American Education

House GOP Betrayed Parents Passing the Student Success Act | Truth in American Education:

House GOP Betrayed Parents Passing the Student Success Act

The Republican leadership in the US House of Representatives has worked a tremendous disservice on its members and the American children, parents, and taxpayers.  Yesterday, after heavy wrangling by Republican leadership, the House of Representatives passed HR5, the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

By failing to eliminate or even curb the federal testing mandates, the bill instead serves the testing industry rather than the people.  Under NCLB, that industry has grown to a $2 billion per year industry. As reported by PR Watch:

School testing corporations have spent at least $20 million on lobbying along with wining and dining—or even hiring—policymakers in pursuit of big revenues from federal and state testing mandates under “No Child Left Behind” measures and the Common Core curriculum, according to new analysis detailed in this Reporters’ Guide by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD).

Sadly, standardized tests provide very little instructional value, take up an enormous amount of true instructional time, and cost the states enormous amounts of money.

Furthermore, HR5 amounts to an assault of child privacy interests.  It removes protection against socioemotional profiling in the statewide assessments (eliminating NCLB’s prohibition against including assessment items that “evaluate or assess personal or family beliefs and attitudes”). Not only does it fail to protect against psychological data-gathering, it actually dictates the type of Brave New World assessments that operate by compiling and analyzing psychological profiles on children.  Unlike NCLB, HR5 also requires assessment on behavioral/skills-based standards rather than solely academic standards.

HR5 also grants the US Department of Education power that it had appropriated for itself to advance its Race to the Top and NCLB waiver processes. There, the Department used grants and waivers to usher the states into the Common Core.  Those mechanisms were not guaranteed, as Texas never surrendered, but they were highly coercive and effective against just about every other state.  Under HR5, money is tied to the Department’s approval of a state education plan. The state plan must include an accountability structure based upon the adopted standards and assessments to ensure “that all public school students graduate from high school prepared for postsecondary education or the workforce without the need for remediation.”  The Department used this same language to define alignment with the Common Core Standards and required it for approval of NCLB waivers and grants. (HR5 reinforces this alignment criteria by including that House GOP Betrayed Parents Passing the Student Success Act | Truth in American Education:

NEA Members Announce They Will Fight Institutional Racism. Do They Mean It?

NEA Members Announce They Will Fight Institutional Racism. Do They Mean It?:

NEA Members Announce They Will Fight Institutional Racism. Do They Mean It?

At the National Education Association’s recently concluded annual meeting—a gathering where the country’s largest labor union sets its policy priorities for the coming year—delegates passed several historic measures that committed the union to fighting institutional racism.

Perhaps the most notable measure was New Business Item B, which passed unanimously. It opened with language stating that the NEA “acknowledge[s] the existence in our country of institutional racism—the societal patterns and practices that have the net effect of imposing oppressive conditions and denying rights, opportunity and equality based on race.” Allocating $277,000 to the effort, the union pledged to, among other things, focus on providing support for programs that can “end the school to prison pipeline” and expand professional development opportunities that emphasize “cultural competence, diversity, and social justice.” While this funding will last for one year, the measure includes a clause that says some money should go toward “researching implications for NEA’s Strategic Plan and Budget for 2016-2018,” which suggests that the union would consider devoting more resources to anti-racist efforts in the future.

EduColor—a relatively new movement to elevate public school advocates of color on issues of equity and justice—released a statement following the NEA’s conference. While EduColor’s members applauded the steps taken by the union to confront institutional racism, they pointed out that “it should humble all of us to some degree that it took such a long time to do what seemed so obvious to NEA members of color.” With school segregation, inequitable school funding, and shortages of black and brown teachers, EduColor said, “Now, we must go beyond statements and into the substance of our actions.” Making anti-racist work compulsory for their union, they argue, must “sit side-by-side with collective bargaining rights.”

Jose Vilson, the founder of EduColor, writing on his blog, said he hopes the NEA is committed to fighting racism because its members truly believe in social justice, and not because its members are afraid of being labeled as racists if they don’t. Vilson noted that the NEA introduced and passed bills that he “wouldn’t have thought possible even a few months ago”—a testament to the hard and difficult conversations taking place in their union and across the country—but that still, “we have to recognize that many of our colleagues aren’t ready to hear that they may NEA Members Announce They Will Fight Institutional Racism. Do They Mean It?:

EduColor on FACEBOOK:  http://on.fb.me/1eNFLB6

This Week In Education: Thompson: What Explains the Remaining Support For NCLB Testing?

This Week In Education: Thompson: What Explains the Remaining Support For NCLB Testing?:

Thompson: What Explains the Remaining Support For NCLB Testing?

The Washington Post's Lyndsey Layton, in Even As Congress Moves to Strip His Power, Arne Duncan Holds His Ground, begins her portrait of the last days of Arne Duncan with an anecdote documenting the sincerity with which he approached his job as US Secretary of Education. She also writes, "In a town where many like to talk, Duncan is regarded as a good listener. 'Arne is a great sounding board for the president,' said Valerie Jarrett, the president’s close friend and adviser."

It's too bad that Duncan listened so well to the Billionaires' Boys Club and ignored the professional judgments of teachers and education researchers. Now, even the Third Way, which seeks education policies consistent with corporate reform has to admit, “The question is not whether we’re going to put handcuffs on Arne Duncan,” said Lanae Erickson Hatalsky of Third Way, a centrist think tank. “The question is how many handcuffs.”

One top education expert, Jack Jennings, concludes in regard to Duncan's policies, “The record will show these policies brought about minimum improvement, ... They also did considerable harm.”

And that is the essence of Duncan's competition-driven reform and its test, sort, and punish approach to education. Some students may benefit but only at the cost of inflicting harm on other children. 

Its ironic that the market-driven movement - that still pretends it is a civil rights movement - is going out with such an ignominious whimper. Output-driven reform not only damaged poor children of color by treating them as test scores, it has undermined liberals and Democrats who seek a larger agenda of equity and justice. So, a crucial short term battle is the civil war between progressives, with teachers determined to prevent Hillary Clinton (or anyone else) from repeating Arne Duncan's agenda.

This week's conflict is over the reauthorization of ESEA, and the effort to pull feuding Democrats together to support the Senate's effort to minimize the harm done by NCLB-type testing. The National Journal's Fawn Johnson, in Senate Democrats Scramble to Avoid a Split on Education Bill, reports that one reason why Democrats can't reach an agreement is that "civil-rights groups feel they have an ally in their opposition to the bill because the Obama administration also is questioning the bill."

Language matters and it is important that Johnson (aptly) characterizes the civil rights coalitions' position of ESEA renewal as a "virulent rejection" of the Senate bill. That raises the question of why an unwavering commitment to punitive, bubble-in testing is still thought - by some - to be a civil rights value. Why do these civil rights leaders believe they can promote justice by continuing to attack some of their most loyal, long term allies in the battles for equality and fairness?

It is the leaders of the civil rights groups who promoted NCLB who still support its high stakes testing. Another 38 civil rights groups have joined 175 organizations in opposing high stakes tests.

I wonder how many people have met black or brown parents who don't have a vested interest in the NCLB political agenda but who support its testing because they have seen evidence that it improved their children's schools. Where is the groundswell of parents demanding more punitive measures be imposed on their children and teachers?  

I sure don't see support for No Child Left Untested by rank-in-file civil rights supporters. I see black, This Week In Education: Thompson: What Explains the Remaining Support For NCLB Testing?:

All Aboard the Opt Out Bus - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform

All Aboard the Opt Out Bus - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform:

All Aboard the Opt Out Bus

The #OptOutBus is currently traveling the country giving away free books to children! Follow their progress at their Facebook page and donate to their FREE Books for Kids fundraiser here.  Join them on Twitter @optoutbus.

Susan and Shawn DuFresne write: We are taking the #OptOutBus on a West Coast Tour from Washington state, through Oregon, California, and possibly Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado.

Along the way we will share the message ofwww.UnitedOptOut.com and provide FREE BOOKS for kids as we tour.

Your donations will go towards books that will help spread the #OptOut message to deny the corporate reformers their profits. Through civil disobedience we will end the corporate elite’s mission to create a permanent underclass.

We have a small bookshelf on the Opt Out Bus, but hope to keep refilling it and putting new books in the hands of children across America.

You may suggest favorite books and we will do our best to add them to our shelf, but the road is long… And we’ve never met a bookstore we didn’t like.  

Many thanks to Susan and Shawn for spreading the word of Opt Out!!! Happy Travels!!

All Aboard the Opt Out Bus - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform:

2016 United Opt Out Conference: Philadelphia, PA Feb 26-28, 2016

Transcending Resistance, Igniting Revolution