Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 8/21/15

SPECIAL NITE CAP 

CORPORATE ED REFORM

‘LaPolitics’: Various groups poised to play in BESE races - Baton Rouge Business Report

‘LaPolitics’: Various groups poised to play in BESE races - Baton Rouge Business Report: ‘LaPolitics’: Various groups poised to play in BESE racesClick Here to Follow Flip BESE on Facebook LEE P.BARRIOS FOR BESE 1 Web SiteJASON FRANCE FOR BESE 6 Web SiteMIKE KREAMER FOR BESE 7 Web SiteThe elections for the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education around the state could become expensive if the s

by mike simpson / 1h 

Video: 10 Years After Katrina, Has New Orleans Recovered? by Laura Flanders — YES! Magazine

Video: 10 Years After Katrina, Has New Orleans Recovered? by Laura Flanders — YES! Magazine: Video: 10 Years After Katrina, Has New Orleans Recovered?This new documentary looks at gentrification in New Orleans, and its effects on the city's low-income communities.Ten years after Hurricane Katrina, a new documentary from The Laura Flanders Show and teleSUR English explores the race, class, and gend

by mike simpson / 2h 

Immigrant Students’ Rights to Attend Public Schools « NewsTaco

Immigrant Students’ Rights to Attend Public Schools « NewsTaco: Immigrant Students’ Rights to Attend Public Schools By Intercultural Development Research AssociationSchool Opening Alert – and ResourcesAugust 21, 2014 – As a new school year begins, this alert is a reminder that public schools, by law, must serve all children.See IDRA’s new eBook on Supporting Immigrant Students’ Rights to Attend Pu

by mike simpson / 2h 

State Issues Charge Against Holyoke Public Schools for Firing Union Leader - Badass Teachers Association

Badass Teachers Association: State Issues Charge Against Holyoke Public Schools for Firing Union LeaderThe state Department of Labor Relations (DLR) has found “probable cause” to believe that the Holyoke Public Schools illegally fired Holyoke Teachers Association (HTA) President Gus Morales because of his activism as a union leader.The DLR will hold a hearing on the complaint, which stems from a c

by mike simpson / 2h 

WE MUST TAKE BACK THE NARRATIVE LANGUAGE OF EDUCATION | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing

WE MUST TAKE BACK THE NARRATIVE LANGUAGE OF EDUCATION | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing: WE MUST TAKE BACK THE NARRATIVE LANGUAGE OF EDUCATION  Corporate Education Reformers and their ilk have usurped the positive language of education.Positive public perception is key to successfully getting across our message. If we are against things people perceive of as positive then we lose.We must regain

by mike simpson / 4h 

5 things parents did in one CNY district to get so many to opt out of state tests | syracuse.com

5 things parents did in one CNY district to get so many to opt out of state tests | syracuse.com: 5 things parents did in one CNY district to get so many to opt out of state testsIn New York Mills, a small school district in Oneida County, 77 percent of students opted out of the state's Common Core math test and 74 percent opted out of the English examination.The district had the highest percentag

by mike simpson / 5h 

The Teach For America Bait and Switch: From 'You’ll Be Making a Difference' to 'You’re Making Excuses' | naked capitalism

The Teach For America Bait and Switch: From 'You’ll Be Making a Difference' to 'You’re Making Excuses' | naked capitalism: The Teach For America Bait and Switch: From ‘You’ll Be Making a Difference’ to ‘You’re Making Excuses’By Jessica Millen, who graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2013. She was a 2013 Teach For America (TFA) corps member in New Orleans, where she taught third grade. S

by mike simpson / 5h 

Another Big Win for Opt-Out | Alan Singer

Another Big Win for Opt-Out | Alan Singer: Another Big Win for Opt-OutIt looks like Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and the national Democratic Party are getting nervous. Certainly Merryl Tisch, Chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, and Governor Andrew Cuomo are backing off. After months of threatening that high student opt-out rates on high-stakes Common Core aligned standardized

by mike simpson / 5h 

CURMUDGUCATION: Are You Ready?

CURMUDGUCATION: Are You Ready?: Are You Ready?It is one of my least favorite questions, particularly when asked in that tone of voice that says, "I'll bet you just hate the idea of stepping back into a classroom. Please tell me how much you hate your job."I can't think of any other profession that so relentlessly gets the "Don't you just hate to go to work" question. Do people

by mike simpson / 5h 

Charter School and Corporate Education Reform Industry lining up for Luke Bronin - Wait What?

Charter School and Corporate Education Reform Industry lining up for Luke Bronin - Wait What?: Charter School and Corporate Education Reform Industry lining up for Luke BroninReading Luke Bronin’s “education position statement” entitled “Closing the Achievement Gap” is actually very educational.Filled with lots of rhetoric, but not substance, Bronin makes it clear that he is either unwilling or un

by mike simpson / 6h 

Activist teachers challenge Sen. Bernie Sanders on corporate school reform - The Washington Post

Activist teachers challenge Sen. Bernie Sanders on corporate school reform - The Washington Post: Activist teachers challenge Sen. Bernie Sanders on corporate school reformEarlier this month, a group of activist teachers wrote an open letter to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is running for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination against front-runner Hillary Clinton and who has gained some un

by mike simpson / 6h 

Beware These Three Governors, All Republican Presidential Contenders | janresseger

Beware These Three Governors, All Republican Presidential Contenders | janresseger: Beware These Three Governors, All Republican Presidential ContendersAfter today, this blog will take a three week end of summer break.  Look for a new post on Monday, September 13!Campbell Brown is the far-right, former CNN anchor who has become an advocate against teachers’ unions and due process protections for t

by mike simpson / 6h 

Why young kids need less class time — and more play time — at school - The Washington Post

Why young kids need less class time — and more play time — at school - The Washington Post: Why young kids need less class time — and more play time — at schoolI have published a number of pieces over the last year or so on the importance of allowing young children to play in school rather than sit for hours at a desk laboring over academic tasks. Here is a new post making the case for why less cl

by mike simpson / 7h 

Republicans’ deep hatred for teachers can’t be denied — and they’re not even trying

Republicans’ deep hatred for teachers can’t be denied — and they’re not even trying: Republicans’ deep hatred for teachers can’t be denied — and they’re not even tryingJohn Kasich wants to take lounges away from teachers. He is just the latest Republican to make an enemy of America’s educatorsIt’s August, the heat is miserable, kids are going back to school and that means one thing for America’s c

by mike simpson / 7h 

Fired Broward teacher should be rehired, state judge says - Sun Sentinel

Fired Broward teacher should be rehired, state judge says - Sun Sentinel: Judge blasts Broward school leaders, defends fired teacherControversial math teacher was wrongly fired due to the actions of "incompetent, careless and biased" Broward school administrators and should be rehired, a state judge has recommended.Steven Yerks, 55, lost his job at Boyd Anderson High in Lauderdale Lakes

by mike simpson / 7h 

Elia says supporting opt-outs ‘unethical,’ vows to keep pushing feds for waiver | Chalkbeat

Elia says supporting opt-outs ‘unethical,’ vows to keep pushing feds for waiver | Chalkbeat: Elia says supporting opt-outs ‘unethical,’ vows to keep pushing feds for waiver The head of New York’s education department came down hard Thursday on teachers who encouraged the growing boycott of state tests this year.“I think opt-out is something that is not reasonable,” State Education Commissioner Mar

by mike simpson / 7h 

How Will Pearson Spend $2 Billion More On Education? : NPR Ed : NPR

How Will Pearson Spend $2 Billion More On Education? : NPR Ed : NPR: How Will Pearson Spend $2 Billion More On Education?Pearson was already the biggest education company in the world. Now its education business is getting even bigger. In the last several weeks the company has sold off its two major media brands, the Financial Times (for $1.3 billion), and The Economist(for about $730 million).Thi

by mike simpson / 8h 

The Founding Fathers Are Turning Over In Their Graves. | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing

The Founding Fathers Are Turning Over In Their Graves. | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing: The Founding Fathers Are Turning Over In Their Graves.The First Amendment of The Constitution of the United States says,“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the peo

by mike simpson / 8h 

Common Core: The Lego Kit of Education | Steve Nelson

Common Core: The Lego Kit of Education | Steve Nelson: Common Core: The Lego Kit of EducationI always hated kits.My Cub Scout career lasted two meetings. The handbook for knot tying was so much less interesting than my own efforts to hang the dog from a low branch, only to have the slipknot slip. I wasn't an animal abuser. He was the only nearby heavy object with a collar. Fortunately, my knot exp

by mike simpson / 8h 

ESEA Should Address the Impact of Child Poverty on STEM Performance | Commentary - Beltway Insiders

ESEA Should Address the Impact of Child Poverty on STEM Performance | Commentary - Beltway Insiders: ESEA Should Address the Impact of Child Poverty on STEM Performance “It is nothing short of a miracle that modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry.” That was Albert Einstein’s assessment of American education in 1949.As Congress prepares to comple

by mike simpson / 8h 

'Smell Something, Say Something!' Teachers' Unions Do Not Hurt Student Outcomes. | Jared Bernstein

'Smell Something, Say Something!' Teachers' Unions Do Not Hurt Student Outcomes. | Jared Bernstein: 'Smell Something, Say Something!' Teachers' Unions Do Not Hurt Student Outcomes.Welcome to the first edition of a new On The Economy feature, dedicated to the parting admonition of the great Jon Stewart: when it comes to BS, "smell something, say something!"To be clear, I'm not trying to e

by mike simpson / 9h 

“Lay us off now,” Chicago Teachers Union official says - World Socialist Web Site

“Lay us off now,” Chicago Teachers Union official says - World Socialist Web Site: “Lay us off now,” Chicago Teachers Union official saysThe Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the third-largest school district in the United States, hosted public hearings on the district’s budget on August 18. Hundreds of parents and teachers expressed their anger at continued cuts to neighborhood schools and described

by mike simpson / 9h 

Democratic Party Elites Abandoned Public Education | Al Jazeera America

Democratic Party Elites Abandoned Public Education | Al Jazeera America: Democratic Party elites have abandoned public educationToo many Democrats advocate education reforms that affect other people’s childrenFor years, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s children attended public school in Virginia. Now, he hasannounced that they will go to the University of Chicago Laboratory School, the pr

by mike simpson / 9h 

YESTERDAY

The Great Recession did not cause the "Teacher Shortage." THIS IS WAR! | BustED Pencils

The Great Recession did not cause the "Teacher Shortage." THIS IS WAR! | BustED Pencils: The Great Recession did not cause the "Teacher Shortage." THIS IS WAR!By now you have probably heard about the “teacher shortage.”  You may have also heard that simple supply and demand economics and the Great Recession can easily explain the “teacher shortage” phenomenon.However, let’s be

by mike simpson / 20h 

Washington Post Editorial Board Supports Bush in His Common Core Quandary | deutsch29

Washington Post Editorial Board Supports Bush in His Common Core Quandary | deutsch29: Washington Post Editorial Board Supports Bush in His Common Core QuandaryOn August 17, 2015, the Washington Post editorial board wrote a piece in which it “did not blame Mr. [Jeb] Bush from shying away from the term [Common Core].”Bush has his political career on his mind, and using the term “Common Core” is “po

by mike simpson / 21h 

Serial School Privatizer "Chainsaw Paul" Vallas Gets Ready For His Next Job | Black Agenda Report

Serial School Privatizer "Chainsaw Paul" Vallas Gets Ready For His Next Job | Black Agenda Report: Serial School Privatizer "Chainsaw Paul" Vallas Gets Ready For His Next Jobby BAR managing editor Bruce A. DixonNeoliberalism holds that all human interactions should to be disciplined and mediated by the market. Paul Vallas is the nation's neoliberal chainsaw man on public educat

by mike simpson / 21h 

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 8/20/15

SPECIAL NITE CAP CORPORATE ED REFORMMission High and the Full Beauty of the World | The Jose VilsonMission High and the Full Beauty of the World | The Jose Vilson: Mission High and the Full Beauty of the WorldLet me first recommend everyone read Kristina Rizga’s Mission High: One School, How Experts Tried To Fail It, and the Students and Teachers Who Made It Triumph (Nation Books, 2015). I would b

by mike simpson / 23h

‘LaPolitics’: Various groups poised to play in BESE races - Baton Rouge Business Report

‘LaPolitics’: Various groups poised to play in BESE races - Baton Rouge Business Report:

‘LaPolitics’: Various groups poised to play in BESE races

Click Here to Follow Flip BESE on Facebook 

LEE P.BARRIOS FOR BESE 1 Web Site

JASON FRANCE FOR BESE 6 Web Site

MIKE KREAMER FOR BESE 7 Web Site

The elections for the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education around the state could become expensive if the slate of so-called reform candidates from 2011 face serious challenges this go around. The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry estimates that 47% of its total election budget, which stands today at $675,000 but will grow, will be dedicated to BESE races only.

“We spent $30,000 in 2007, around $305,000 in 2011 and it’s looking like we’ll reach that level again soon for the current BESE races,” says Brian Landry, LABI vice president of political action.

At stake are the reform seats secured last cycle and the eight-vote bloc needed to keep—or remove—Education Superintendent John White next term. The reform group on the 11-member board has overhauled teacher tenure, boosted charter schools and championed private school vouchers.

Gov. Bobby Jindal and the Louisiana Republican Party played a big role in underwriting the election of those reform members in 2011. But Common Core, on which the reform members and White (in favor) and Jindal (against) are split, has also splintered the party and now neither are playing in the races. “We haven’t endorsed anyone in the races and most are Republican versus Republican. So as of now, no,” says state GOP Executive Director Jason Doré when asked whether the party would get involved.

—So who is picking up the slack? In addition to LABI, there’s the Alliance for Better Classrooms PAC, organized by businessman Lane Grigsby and directed by Dan Juneau, LABI’s former president. Juneau says he’ll have a better handle on just how active the races will be after qualifying, but he expects ABC to raise money in the high six figures or maybe even the low seven figures.

Empower Louisiana, on whose board Grigsby sits, may be the only super PAC in the field on the pro-reform side. While union groups from outside Louisiana aren’t showing much interest, opting instead to attack on the school board level, several national groups with Louisiana affiliates will be fighting for the reform candidates, including the pro-charter Stand For Children; Federation For Children, which has businessman Eddie Rispone attached; Democrats For Education Reform; and Black Alliance For Educational Options. The Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools, run by Caroline Roemer Shirley, is part of this coalition as well.

On the other side of the fence, so far, is only FlipBESE, which has been loosely organized by anti-Common Core parents. It has its own slate of candidates opposing the so-called reform campaign, and they’re being promoted primarily on a Facebook page. “There is no money involved in this whatsoever from our side,” said spokeswoman Amy Lemoine of Lafayette. “We want a board not tied to out-of-state special interests and candidates who realize the current education agenda is inadequate. We want a board that will get rid of John White. We want him gone.”

Another player to watch is the Network for Public Education, which was founded by activist and education historian Diane Ravitch of New York. The advocacy group, which opposes corporation-backed school reforms, endorsed Jason France of Baton Rouge this week in one of the local BESE races here. France, a former state Education Department employee, is running in District 6.

They said it: “Nachos and chocolate chip cookies.” —Gov. Bobby Jindal, on what his first White House meal would be, in the Huffington Post

Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or on Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com. ‘LaPolitics’: Various groups poised to play in BESE races - Baton Rouge Business Report:

Video: 10 Years After Katrina, Has New Orleans Recovered? by Laura Flanders — YES! Magazine

Video: 10 Years After Katrina, Has New Orleans Recovered? by Laura Flanders — YES! Magazine:

Video: 10 Years After Katrina, Has New Orleans Recovered?

This new documentary looks at gentrification in New Orleans, and its effects on the city's low-income communities.

Ten years after Hurricane Katrina, a new documentary from The Laura Flanders Show and teleSUR English explores the race, class, and gender outlines of the reconstruction of New Orleans. At least seventy-one billion dollars in federal money has been spent. But has every opportunity been seized to bring back not just the place, but its people, so they’re stronger and healthier than before?

In this documentary, The Laura Flanders Show explores, from the grassroots, systemic changes in housing, economic development, and policing. How have federal, state and city policies affected the people of New Orleans? 

Laura Flanders wrote this article for GRITtv. She is the executive producer, founder, and host of “GRITtv with Laura Flanders.” Follow her on Twitter @GRITlaura.  Video: 10 Years After Katrina, Has New Orleans Recovered? by Laura Flanders — YES! Magazine:

N.Y. schools commissioner: It’s ‘unethical’ for educators to support testing opt-out movement - The Washington Post

N.Y. schools commissioner: It’s ‘unethical’ for educators to support testing opt-out movement - The Washington Post:

N.Y. schools commissioner: It’s ‘unethical’ for educators to support testing opt-out movement

In New York state this past spring, some 20 percent of students refused to take the 2015 state-mandated Common Core standardized tests in math and English language arts, highlighting the growth of a high-stakes testing “opt out” movement around the country. That amounts to more than 200,000 students from grades 3 through 8, with some districts reporting more opt-outs than students sitting for the test.

Last April, Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch warned that school districts could lose funding — either by the federal government or the state — if enough students did not take the tests, and last week, state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia left open the possibility of sanctions. But the New York Times reported Thursday that Tisch said there would be no penalties for students opting out.

Still, the high percentage of opt-outs has apparently upset Elia, who was appointed this past May after being fired without cause as the award-winning superintendent of the Hillsborough County public school district in Florida. On Thursday, she made some controversial comments about the movement, and here’s a post about what she said by Carol Burris, the executive director of the nonprofit Network for Public Education Fund.

Burris retired in June as an award-winning principal at a New York high school, and she is the author of numerous articles, books and blog posts (including on The Answer Sheet) about the botched school reform efforts in her state.

By Carol Burris

I have been called many things during my 62 years on this planet — some nice, some not so nice. Some of the not-so-nice descriptors, such as “nerd” and more recently, “rebel,” I admit I have secretly liked. But I do not at all like the label that new Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia gave me on Thursday – unethical.

I suppose Ms. Elia felt safe to speak her mind before Educators4Excellence,an astroturf group funded in great part by the Gates Foundation. E4E has made it clear that it thinks accountability testing is just swell.  Or perhaps she believed that it is brave to come into a new state, without having the experience of giving or reviewing even one cycle of testing, and denounce Opt Out and those who support it in front of the press.

As reported by Chalkbeat New York, Elia said:

“I think opt-out is something that is not reasonable. I am absolutely shocked if, and I don’t know that this happened, but if any educators supported and encouraged opt-outs, I think it’s unethical.”

Well, Ms. Elia, be shocked. I am turning myself in to your ethics squad. I absolutely encouraged the opt-out movement last year. In fact, I did so right here on the Answer Sheet. I don’t think I could have been clearer when I wrote this:

But there comes a time when rules must be broken — when adults, after exhausting all remedies, must be willing to break ranks and not comply. That time is now. The promise of a public school system, however imperfectly realized, is at risk of being 

N.Y. schools commissioner: It’s ‘unethical’ for educators to support testing opt-out movement - The Washington Post: