"I Wonder." guest post by UOO's Peggy Robertson. | BustED Pencils ‪#‎optout‬ ‪#‎revolution‬

"I Wonder." guest post by UOO's Peggy Robertson. | BustED Pencils:

“I Wonder.” guest post by UOO’s Peggy Robertson.

Working in a district that is under “accreditation watch” while also working in one of the district’s “turnaround” schools brings intense stress and high stakes mandates everywhere you turn.

I wonder if folks understand what it’s like to feel guilty about asking your school to purchase you a trashcan? Or – being told there are certain resources you need – but knowing there is no money to buy them.

I wonder if folks understand what it’s like to teach reading (as a reading interventionist) to vulnerable children who have attended under-resourced schools FOR YEARS and having to pick and choose which of those vulnerable children gets support? Can you imagine the guilt?

I wonder if folks understand what it’s like to know EXACTLY WHAT STUDENTS NEED and to be told again and again that your root cause is not following the standards – or some other lame excuse that ignores poverty, high class size, and under-resourced buildings. Having taught in wealthy schools and under-resourced and high poverty schools and knowing what this looks like/sounds like, I wonder if folks truly understand what it means to teach reading to children with books galore in their homes versus children who have no books, no computers, and also speak a second language – I wonder if folks really understand what teaching reading looks like in those two situations – I wonder if they understand what is ultimately required of teachers in urban diverse schools in terms of "I Wonder." guest post by UOO's Peggy Robertson. | BustED Pencils:

Join United Opt Out for the Education Revolution!

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Dorn Will Not Run Again

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Dorn Will Not Run Again:

Dorn Will Not Run Again

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn announced this morning that he will not seek reelection.  He said that he will continue to fight on to see schools fully funded because of his "extreme frustration" over the system of funding public education. 

But such a system doesn't exist to day, and I see little, if any, progress toward creating one."

He calls out the Govenor, the Legislature and even the Supreme Court for not imposing "sanctions meaningful enough to compel the Governor and Legislature to act." 

I told the legislative "listening group" that they should act before the Court forces their hand.  And I believe the Court is probably studying their options carefully. 

Speaking of the Supreme Court, it seems all quiet on the Western Front but they will have make some announcement soon.  The charter schools are only funded until the end of the month.  If they don't announce, the state will continue to fund them, pending the Court's ruling. 

My guess that the the Court will NOT reconsider their ruling but may encourage the state to fund until the end of the year.  Personally, I think if something is ruled illegal, it's illegal but since the Court made such a late ruling to start with, it's probably for the best. Seattle Schools Community Forum: Dorn Will Not Run Again:

Boys, Especially Minorities, Are Severely Hurt By Social, Economic, and “Reform Created”Educational Disadvantages | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing

Boys, Especially Minorities, Are Severely Hurt By Social, Economic, and “Reform Created”Educational Disadvantages | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing:
Boys, Especially Minorities, Are Severely Hurt By Social, Economic, and “Reform Created”Educational Disadvantages

For many years I have been speaking and writing about the difficulties boys have had in schools. I devoted a chapter on the subject in my book, Doing The Right Thing: A Teacher Speaks. Much of this comes from what I wrote there. In addition, A NYT article dated October 22, 2015 adds a new factor, disadvantage.

A little boy came home from his first day at kindergarten and said to his mother, “What’s the use of going to school? I can’t read, I can’t write, and the teacher won’t let me talk.”

The boy’s mother took him to a psychologist….

The receptionist says: “Doctor, there is a boy here who thinks he is invisible.” 


The Psychologist responds: “Tell him I can’t see him right now.”

And there is the problem. Can we really see boys and their issues?

My son was born in 1990. By the time he was approaching kindergarten, we had to decide if he was to be one of those male kindergarten redshirts, held back a year to “mature.” We decided against it. We felt holding him back would, indeed, hold him back. What happened was eye opening. In preschool and kindergarten, teachers thought he was “hyperactive.” My wife is a clinical psychologist. She and I knew better. He was a boy. He acted differently than Boys, Especially Minorities, Are Severely Hurt By Social, Economic, and “Reform Created”Educational Disadvantages | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing:

With A Brooklyn Accent: The Wrong School Policies for Hard Times

With A Brooklyn Accent: The Wrong School Policies for Hard Times:

The Wrong School Policies for Hard Times

These are hard times in the USA. According to the latest report, 51% of jobs pay $30,000 a year or less. Homelessness is growing in most US cities and families are living doubled and tripled up all over the nation even though foreclosures have left millions of homes empty. Young couples find it hard to purchase a home and many older workers and senior citizens live in fear of losing theirs.

Young people are feeling the pinch. There is a heroin epidemic sweeping through small town and rural America and gang issues plague many urban areas. Gentrification has intensified racial profiling and police monitoring of low income youth. For some young people, avoiding violence, whether in their homes or in the streets is a daily challenge; for others, looking at what is happening to the adults around them, the future looks extremely grim.

In circumstances like this, where so many young peope live with stress and danger and worry, you would think it would be national policy to make schools suportive and nurturing places. There would be push for smaller class sizes, more counselors, time for excercise, sports and the arts. Multiple paths to graduation would be developed and vocational and technical programs created for those who are not ready or able to go straight to college Teachers who love, comfort and inspire their students would be valued; and special incentives created to encourage teachers to stay in their jobs for a long time and teach in the communities they live in .

instead, policy makers are doing the exact opposite. They are With A Brooklyn Accent: The Wrong School Policies for Hard Times:

Why Is Eva Moskowitz Taking On John Merrow Over Discipline Practices Widely Discredited? | janresseger

Why Is Eva Moskowitz Taking On John Merrow Over Discipline Practices Widely Discredited? | janresseger:

Why Is Eva Moskowitz Taking On John Merrow Over Discipline Practices Widely Discredited?

If I were Eva Moskowitz, CEO of New York’s Success Academy Charters, I wouldn’t want to mess with John Merrow, the just-retired reporter from the PBS NewsHour. Merrow is the dogged reporter who investigated Michelle Rhee’s test score cheating scandal in Washington, D.C., and created the momentum in the press that eventually discredited Rhee as a school leader. (You can see summaries of his reports on Rhee here and here.)  But Eva, New York’s charter school diva, seems determined to get the news slanted according to her own wishes, so earlier this week she sent an eight page letter to Judy Woodruff of the NewsHour to complain about John Merrow’s recent report on Success Academies’ far-above average rates of out-of-school suspension of very young children in Kindergarten and first grade. In her letter, Moskowitz demands a correction and an apology.

Moskowitz writes: “We allowed Mr. Merrow and his team to spend many hours videotaping our school as well as interviewing me on camera.  We answered every question he had. However, towards the end of this process, it came to our attention that he intended to cover the allegations of a parent whom we knew to be unreliable, but he refused to give us any opportunity to address these allegations.”  In a press release when the letter was made public, Success Academy’s spokesperson Amanda Powell explains, “The letter, sent on Friday, October 16, details Merrow’s “willful disregard for journalistic ethics and refusal to allow Success Academy to respond to false allegations of a former parent and student, who represent that the student was suspended for not tucking in his shirt and wearing red shoes and ‘losing his temper.'”

The PBS NewsHour has released a statement that it stands by Merrow’s report, though acknowledging that, “the NewsHour regrets the decision to include that particular mother and Why Is Eva Moskowitz Taking On John Merrow Over Discipline Practices Widely Discredited? | janresseger:

Status of Educators Still Reeling From Austerity, Political Attacks - NEA Today

Status of Educators Still Reeling From Austerity, Political Attacks - NEA Today:

Status of Educators Still Reeling From Austerity, Political Attacks

Finland, Singapore, and South Korea are well known for holding the teaching profession in high regard, and their students are the beneficiaries. How many other nations can say the same?

Unfortunately, a roll call of nations where educators believe they are held in very high esteem won’t take long. For every Finland, there are dozens of countries, including the United States, where public education has been degraded and educators have been demoralized – a combination of crippling austerity measures and hostile political climates that have introduced policies to de-professionalize the profession.

Education International (EI), the global union representing teachers and education workers worldwide, details the impact on educators in the 2015 Status of Teachers and the Teaching Profession report.

The study grew out of a six-month long survey of 73 education unions to measure how educators – in the wake of the global recession and ongoing political attacks – view their profession. Unfortunately, whether it’s about declining salaries, negative media portrayals, or deteriorating working conditions, the story is generally the same across continents.

“This status of teachers report is one more sign, one more piece of evidence that reveals the threats to the status of teachers from misguided ‘reforms,’ explains EI General Secretary Fred Van Leeuwen. “Given the intimate relationship between teaching conditions and learning conditions; those same threats endanger quality education.”

More than half the respondents reported a decline in teacher status, or occupational prestige or esteem, over the past ten years. Less than a third of unions in each sector besides higher education said teachers are accorded a high status and only five percent said teacher status was “very high.” Low status was reported more for Status of Educators Still Reeling From Austerity, Political Attacks - NEA Today:

Money Talks - By Ann Policelli Cronin at Real Learning Blog - Wait What?

Money Talks - By Ann Policelli Cronin at Real Learning Blog - Wait What?:

Money Talks – By Ann Policelli Cronin at Real Learning Blog

Ann Policelli Cronin is an education advocate and fellow blogger.  Many of her commentary pieces have been featured here at Wait, What? and in other Connecticut media outlets.  Ann is a Connecticut educator who taught middle and high school English and was named  Connecticut Outstanding English Teacher of the Year. She currently is a consultant in English education for school districts and university schools of education.  You can bookmark and read her blog at Real Learning CT.

In her piece entitled, Money Talks, Ann lays out the extremely troubling reality about how the wealthiest many in the world is undermining public education in the United States.  Ann Policelli writes,

At first, I felt empathy for Bill and Melinda Gates as they spoke about the Common Core in an interview with Gwen Ifill on the PBS NewsHour. I always feel for people who are talking publicly about something about which they know very little. I then reminded myself that these two people who know so little are actually in charge, almost single-handedly, of American education. That is profoundly wrong. Children and adolescents are entitled to the best education their society can provide. And in a democracy, it is unconscionable for the wealthy few to decide what that education will be.

You can watch the 9:54 minute interview with Bill and Melinda Gates here –  please click this link

1. Bill Gates says the Common Core sets high standards, but the Common Core Standards are not high. The Common Core Standards are judged to be harmful and developmentally inappropriate by the most respected early childhood professionals in the country. The math Common Core Standards prepare students for math at the community college level and do not equip students with the high school math to set them on the path for 

Money Talks - By Ann Policelli Cronin at Real Learning Blog - Wait What?:

Door Number Three | EduShyster

Door Number Three | EduShyster:

Door Number Three

Stacking up winners and losers in the Great Massessment Debate…

*I’ll take door number three, Monty.* Wait—there’s a door number three¿¿¿ I speak, of course, of the remarkable journey that has been the Great Massessment Debate. PARCC vs. MCAS. MCAS vs. PARCC. This week the path to college readiness suddenly reached a fork in the road, by which I mean a trident. But as any young Massessee who has fallen on the wrong side of the cut score can attest, there must be winners and losers in this particular contest. To the doors, reader! 

Poly-exam-ory (W)
You know how when you’ve been with someone (or something) for a while and you wake up one morning and find yourself thinking: *I wonder what’s behind that other door?* Only you don’t want to, like, move in behind the other door, you just want to maybe poke around a bit and identify the best bits, then combine those bits with the best bits of what you’ve currently got until, presto, whammo, you’ve got a hybrid, aka *door number three.* Now you know how Massachusetts Commissioner of College Readiness, Mitchell D. Chester felt this week, when after going steady with PARCC for three years, he announced that he was feeling a little, ahem, poly-exam-orous. Full disclosure: I didn’t come up with this bon motmyself. This guy did.

MBAE’s bae (L)
Speaking of going steady, PARCC has been MBAE’s bae since, well, they released that *study* last year declaring that PARCC trounced MCAS in the college readiness sweepstakes, even though no one had actually taken the PARCC test yet or gone to college. But whatevs. MBAE (which, for the acronymically disinclined, stands for the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education) took the news that the state may be seeing other assessments about as well as one would expect. *It sounds like sort of a Door Number Three | EduShyster:

Prioritizing Children in Public and Private Schools - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Prioritizing Children in Public and Private Schools - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

Prioritizing Children in Public and Private Schools

Deborah Meier continues her conversation with Harry Boyte. To read their full exchange, please visit here.

Dear Harry and friends,

One clarification, before responding. My last letter, "Teacher Judgment versus Family Authority," had a line about teachers mimicking parents. Actually I hope neither mimics anyone. But I do believe that teachers have a lot to learn about children's learning before they come to school and when they're not in school. And the relationships among family members are more conducive to trust, which is the hard-won imperative for a good learning place—especially in the early years.

That flows naturally into your point about mobilizing vs. organizing. We mobilize in schools most of the time, to get kids to do what we want on our terms. Maybe if we want something more transformative—changing and enlarging how and what we think about—teachers and organizers should be learning together more often.

Yes, good schools are sites of relationship-building, communities rather than institutions. Even the worst can't help but be such sites in fact. But we devote very little time to thinking about those relationships in most public institutions. We devote almost none in building relationships between schools and families, not much more between colleagues, and largely "relate" to children as a group for x minutes a day. The kids, in contrast, are thinking about relationships 99 percent of the time. 

The public vs. private question you pose is fascinating and I appreciate your distinction. However, private institutions also exist and they are not necessarily any less institutional in character than public ones. Private institutions are the vehicle for the expression of private ends—often money. It is in this latter sense that I worry about the privatization of schools and a lot of other organizations intended to further the common good. These do not as currently organized "belong" to the people who work in them, nor do they serve them or the community in which they are located. Their measure of success is not their accountability to their members/workers/community but to their ability to sustain themselves—make sufficient money to pay their expenses and themselves.

Factories that build Army tanks are generally publicly funded, but we would hardly claim they are therefore public. Finding a way to define a public/democratic institution in terms of schools is interesting. We've generally used the word "private" when talking about schools that charge tuition, are free to select some students and reject others and are free of most public regulation. Some are frankly in the business of making a profit, some not. Some are also in the business of teaching democracy. But they do not fit into my definition of democratic institutions accountable to their public (or the Catholic definition of subsidiarity). But neither do all schools we call public! 

Charters (of the mom and pop sort vs. chains), some private schools, and traditional public schools Prioritizing Children in Public and Private Schools - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Obama's choice of King, the worst possible

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Obama's choice of King, the worst possible:

Obama's choice of King, the worst possible

3,000 N.Y. teacher union delegates give King "no confidence" vote. 

“Throughout his term in New York, John King was notorious for his complete disconnect from parents, teachers, and school officials. Our only hope is that this bizarre move by the White House will have the same effect across the country, spreading the Opt Out movement to every corner of the nation.” -- NYSAPE

Pres. Obama's choice of John King to succeed Ed Sec. Arne Duncan, couldn't have been worse. Why did he do it? It's hard to find a more reactionary and divisive thinker or a practitioner in all Obama's realm than King.

As N.Y.'s Education Commissioner, King's top-down imposition of corporate-style reform policies, including Common Core testing mania, has led to a revolt among parents and teachers. If anyone deserves major credit for sparking the growing opt-out movement which has spread nationwide and represents the biggest single threat to Obama's own ed policies, it is King.

His push for teacher evaluations based mainly on student test scores even has usually compliant union leaders up in arms. He received a vote of "no confidence"Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Obama's choice of King, the worst possible:

CURMUDGUCATION: Gates Support

CURMUDGUCATION: Gates Support:

Gates Support

It is possible that the Gates folks just don't know the meaning of the word "support."

At Impatient Optimists, the Gates Foundation blog, well-traveled reformster Vicki Phillips starts out with a new twist on a classic teacher narrative trope.

Of all the teachers I had growing up, I think about Miss Marjorie the most. She was the hardcore head teacher of McQuady Elementary, the poor grade school near where I grew up in Falls of Rough, Kentucky. Miss Marjorie taught me hard work, how to treat my peers, how to respect my elders and how to hold myself accountable.

But it turns out that Miss Marjorie sucked. When Phillips got to college, she "wasn't ready." Which is why Phillips flunked out of college and failed to ever get a job. Ha! Not really. Vicki Phillips has two college degrees, spent time in a classroom, was a superintendent, and rose through various edu-supervisory positions to now act as the edu-mouthpiece for one of the richest men in the world. Damn that Miss Marjorie and the life of abject failure she condemned Vicki Phillips to.

What Miss Marjorie needed was "support." She "didn't have the tools." She wasn't "supported with high standards or insightful teacher evaluations or professional development to improve her practice."

By using our context clues and doing some close reading, we can quickly conclude that as used by Phillips, "supported" means "fixed."

This is one of the premises of the Gates Approach To Education-- teachers do not know what they're CURMUDGUCATION: Gates Support:





Did RttT Jump-start Edu-Change?

At Education Next, William Howells offers a rater scholarly look at the impact of Race to the Top in "Results of President Obama’s Race to the Top." (The URL says "Race to the Top Reform"-- I wonder what editorial impulse squashed the R word from the final title.)

In particular, Howells is interested in RttT's effect on the larger world of state education policy. "In its public rhetoric, the Obama administration emphasized its intention to use Race to the Top to stimulate new education-policy activity. How would we know if it succeeded?" Howell's is really interested in just that wonky policy question-- he doesn't address the quality or basis for the policy changes, and though he mentions standards, he does once mention Common Core by name. But he does come to the conclusion that the answer is, yes, Race to the Top jump-started policy revolution in the US.

The surge of post-2009 policy activity constitutes a major accomplishment for the Obama administration. With a relatively small amount of money, little formal constitutional authority in education, and without the power to unilaterally impose his will upon state governments, President Obama managed to jump-start policy processes that had languished for years in state governments around the country.

The always-thoughtful Andy Smarick (Bellwether) thinks that Howells may be suffering from a little 

Did RttT Jump-start Edu-Change?

To Become a Bully Free Nation: Identify. Intervene. Advocate. - Lily's Blackboard

To Become a Bully Free Nation: Identify. Intervene. Advocate. - Lily's Blackboard:

To Become a Bully Free Nation: Identify. Intervene. Advocate.

This blog post originally appeared on Huffington Post, you can read HERE.

Anyone who’s worked in a school — from elementary to high school — has seen the same thing. Popular kids sit together at “their table;” sports stars sit together at “their table.” Occasionally, but not nearly enough, we see a student being especially kind to a new kid.

My first job in a school was as a lunch lady, and more times than I would have liked, I saw a child who sat alone. I saw a child mock another child. I saw a child being tripped or pushed. I always intervened, but I never had any formal training on what to do when I saw bullying. I did my best, but today educators don’t have to guess. We know what works in preventing bullying.

First, we now know that ignoring bullying doesn’t help. We know that kids need to know that a caring adult will take action. And we know that that caring adult might be a teacher or a principal or any one of the army of education support professionals (ESPs) that surround that child.

I’ve seen the importance of our ESPs who interact with students on a daily basis–often in less structured environments on the school bus or playground or just walking down the hall. Bus drivers, lunch workers, custodians and para-professionals should all receive the same professional development as teachers, librarians and administrators to know the best way to stop bullying.

There’s no better time to start than now as this month marks National Bullying Prevention Month. NEA has updated its Bully Free: It Starts with Me campaign, which includes free resources for our members and other concerned adults on this important topic. As part of the campaign, we are asking all educators to sign the pledge to show your commitment to being a caring adult that can make a difference in a student’s life.

In addition to asking members to sign the pledge, NEA has created resources that help our members identify bullying, intervene in a bullying incident, and advocate for a bullied student.

I encourage you to sign the pledge today, and I hope you will ask colleagues to join you in signing the pledge. And perhaps together with colleagues, you can start a dialogue about sharing best practices and finding effective ways to make sure every child feels safe. Use the hashtag, #bullyfree, on social media so we can continue the dialogue.

It is time to create a bully free nation. NEA can provide the research and resources to help you take action. Everyone who signs the pledge will receive a free poster and pin, and will be part of a movement to make a real difference.

As I think back to my days in the school cafeteria, I wish there had been more resources and training to help me deal with bullying. I am grateful, however, that today we recognize bullying as an issue that affects students and school environments. Now, we must take advantage of the resources and training available to identify, intervene, and advocate to bring an end to bullying. Let’s demonstrate that we really believe “bully free begins with us”!

Help spread the word about Bullying Prevention Month! Download social media shareables here.  To Become a Bully Free Nation: Identify. Intervene. Advocate. - Lily's Blackboard:

Social Media Shareables

• Twitter (JPEG, 1024 x 512)
• Facebook (JPEG, 940 x 788)
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• Bullyfree ESP Quote Meme
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Web Banners

• Bullyfree Web Banner
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Infographics

• Bullyfree (JPEG, 720 x 556)
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Cyberbullying (JPEG, 790 x 610)

Posters

 

• NEW! Bullyfree It Starts With Me Poster ( PDF, 115 KB, 1 pg.)

• Bullyfree Poster en Espanol ( PDF, 577 KB, 1 pg.)
  
  

• Are You Being Bullied?
  (JPEG 660 x 510)

For Kevin Johnson, Sacramento Mayor, Abuse Claims Resurface - The New York Times

For Kevin Johnson, Sacramento Mayor, Abuse Claims Resurface - The New York Times:

For Kevin Johnson, Sacramento Mayor, Abuse Claims Resurface

SACRAMENTO — It should have been a high point in a career of high points: the premiere of a documentary chronicling how Kevin Johnson— the former N.B.A. All Star who, as mayor, helped rejuvenate this once-ailing capital city — kept the Sacramento Kings from leaving for Seattle with a gleaming new basketball arena.

But hours before the premiere last week, the ESPN network, which produced the documentary, “Down in the Valley,” announced it would delay indefinitely the national release of the film. The network cited the re-emergence of an issue that has shadowed Mr. Johnson since his first campaign in 2008: a claim by a woman that he sexually abused her 20 years ago, when she was 16 and he played for the Phoenix Suns.

On Tuesday night, Mr. Johnson, a Democrat, announced that he would not seek a third term next year, saying, “The city is headed in the right direction and is ready to embrace the exciting changes ahead.” No mayor in this city has ever served three terms.

“There are no truth to the allegations,” he said. “If you go back 20 years ago, they were investigated. Law enforcement obviously didn’t feel there was merit there. For me, I’ve just tried to move on and go forward.”

The Phoenix Police Department investigated the claim but closed the case without filing charges. Mr. Johnson entered a settlement that included a $230,000 payment to his accuser. The mayor declined to comment when asked why, if the charges were unfounded, he had agreed to make a payout.

What is different this time is a videotape of a police interview in which the girl, speaking in a calm voice, describes in disconcerting detail what she said Mr. Johnson did to her, including groping and undressing her. The release of the video, posted on Deadspin, a website devoted to sports news, put a young and vulnerable voice to claims that until now had been only a detached account found in court filings.

“People have so desperately wanted to believe in him that they’ve given him a pass on a lot of things, and I think that has worked out generally to the city’s advantage,” Steve Hansen, a Democratic City Council member and critic of Mr. Johnson’s, said before the announcement. “The wall of not knowing how to deal with his problems, but choosing to ignore the failures in hopes of the promise, has begun to collapse. Once you saw the video and read the story, it was hard to pretend it never happened.”

Mr. Johnson, 49, has long been a polarizing force in this city.

For his admirers, he is the vibrant face of a new Sacramento — epitomized by the $500 million arena going up on J Street, surrounded by a burst of construction inspired by the project. He is a former president of the United States Conference of Mayors and a regular guest of President Obama at the White House. He is married to Michelle Rhee, the high-profile school superintendent who, like Mr. Johnson, has a history of battling teachers’ unions.

He can barely walk from City Hall to a favorite hangout a block away, the Grange Restaurant and Bar, without getting stopped with a request for a photograph.

“These are minor distractions,” Rick Jennings, a member of the City Council, said of the allegation. “They are not in any way going to keep Sacramento from going forward. The people I’ve talked to don’t think it’s significant. They are looking at a 20-year-old issue versus what’s being done here now in Sacramento and what he’s done to make Sacramento a better place.”

For others, the videotape has only reinforced their aversion to this mayor. “This has been an ongoing issue in Sacramento,” said Kerri Asbury, who is For Kevin Johnson, Sacramento Mayor, Abuse Claims Resurface - The New York Times: