Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION: FL: Children and Opt Out Win

CURMUDGUCATION:

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION

FL: Children and Opt Out Win

200+by Peter Greene / 3h

When last we cast our gaze at the sunshine state, its deep love of testing had gotten it dragged into court. Florida's indefensible third-grade retention rule says that a student can't move on to fourth grade without passing that test, and while some districts saw an alternate path in portfolios and other alternative assessments, other districts collided with opt out families . If the child has no

YESTERDAY

Guest Post: Is Integration Too Much Bother?

25by Peter Greene / 1d

It's my pleasure to feature a guest post from Rita Rathbone, a teacher and blogger in NC. She writes regularly at Patiently Impatient. The debate over charter schools has slowly spread into wider and wider circles of public discourse. In response to data supported concerns that charter schools are contributing to the resegregation of our schools, the NAACP and Black Lives Matter have expressed co

Should We Close Schools for Low Performance?

8by Peter Greene / 1d

Over at Rick Hess's EdWeek blog, guest blogger Deven Carlson (Poli Sci, Oklahoma U) considers the question of whether or not schools that show low performance . In the process, he illuminates some of the deeply flawed premises under which reformsters operate. He opens by noting that school closure has been a popular policy approach since the days of No Child Left Behind. The logic of closing low-p

AUG 25

Alan Watts: Life Is Not a Journey

15by Peter Greene / 1d

I've encountered this quoted material from Alan Watts, specifically his lecture Out of Your MInd, multiple times in the last few days in a video featuring the audio from the lecture and cobbled-together clips from Tree of Life. I don't really want to repeat the "borrowing" of the film clips, though Watts's delivery is pretty special. You can quibble with his use of "journey,"

PA: Open Letter To My Legislators

32by Peter Greene / 2d

To Senator Scott Hutchinson and Rep. R. Lee James Dear Scott and R. Lee: It is long past time to regulate the cyber charter school industry in Pennsylvania. Perhaps you saw the news yesterday that Nicholas Trombetta finally pled guilty to federal tax conspiracy charges. Trombetta was the founder of the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School in Beaver County, a business that he used to steal at least $8

AUG 24

13 Deadly Sins of PD

300+by Peter Greene / 2d

In my neck of the woods, this is the magical week in which teachers go back to balance their time between finishing room preparation and sitting through year-launching professional development sessions. Some sessions can address useful topics, and some are unfortunate choices (my wife's district decided to welcome their teachers back for the year by starting their first day with a session about su

Voting with Their Feet

28by Peter Greene / 3d

One feature of "unleashing the power of the free market" in education is supposed to be a sort of regulation by the market's infamous invisible hand. Customers will "vote with their feet," driving the bad actors out of business. In this country, there will always be an argument to be had about how well this really works. It's one of the dances of freedom and commerce that we ha

AUG 23

Can We Filter Out Bad Teachers?

10by Peter Greene / 4d

Last February, Chad Aldeman and Ashley LiBetti Mitchel, working at Bellwether Partners (a right-tilted reformy-favoring thinky tank) released a report that asked the question "Is it possible to ensure teachers are ready on day one?" and answered that question in the title: " No Guarantees. " Now Aldeman is back with a look at some specific tools for filtering out the chaff, rai

Why Are Teachers Burning Out?

200+by Peter Greene / 4d

It has been half a year since Campbell Brown took over the LA School Repor t, but the site still occasionally publishes something that's not bunk. Reader Bill Spangler brought this next piece to my attention, and it's worth a look. " Why Teachers Are Burning Out " is the second in a five-part series about teacher turnover. The first piece in the series looked at how high the LA turnover

Let The Vergara Whining Begin

21by Peter Greene / 4d

Vergara is dead (probably, mostly). The California lawsuit brought by gabillionaire anti-union, pro-charter reformsters has finally had a well-deserved stake driven through its non-existent heart. When the appeals court shot it down, the determined that while one might imagine that in some imaginary alternative universe without tenure laws, students might get better teachers, the statutes do not a

John Oliver on Charter Schools

82by Peter Greene / 4d

I hope you've seen this by now. But if you haven't, or you just lost the link, or you were going to get around to it someday, then watch it now. Oliver does not address the philosophy behind charters, the types of charter malpractice like No Excuses, or the ways that charters leech money from public schools. But boy does he nail the corruption, the lack of oversight, and the distinction-without-a-

AUG 22

How Do Unions Really Affect Schools?

100+by Peter Greene / 4d

Back in February, Eunice Han at Wellesley College put out a paper entitled " The Myth of Unions' Overprotection of Teachers: Evidence from the District-Teacher Matched Panel Data on Teacher Turnover ." Han reaches some really interesting and, perhaps for some folks, counter-intuitive findings, and they're worth a look. But full disclosure right up front-- I can't really make sense out of

AUG 21

Resolve To Be Present

3by Peter Greene / 5d

For the next couple of weeks, as the beginning of my school year approaches. I'm going to write to renew my resolve to keep focus in my practice. This is one of that series of posts. If teaching is about relationship (and I believe most definitely that it is), then it must follow the First Rule of Relationships, which is that the first thing one must do to be in a relationship is show up. There a

Feds Testing Plan, Part II (Still Clueless)

42by Peter Greene / 5d

You may recall that almost a year ago, President Obama and his administration announced that they'd noticed that testing was out of control in schools, and maybe somebody should do something about that. (Actually, if your memory's good, you may recall they had the same epiphany two years ago .) This led to the announcement of a Testing Action Plan that did not so much rearrange deck chairs as it c

Education and Profit

53by Peter Greene / 6d

Even as many charter fans are backing away from the idea of for-profit schools, last month found US News running this piece arguing that profit-making and education go together like a horse and carriage. The author is Ian Lindquist , a 2009 graduate of St. John's College (the read great books people), former charter school teacher, and current fellow at AEI. Lindquist wants us to know that the pro

ICYMI: Mid-August Edition

8by Peter Greene / 6d

I'm embarrassed that I haven't been saying this all along, but if you find something on this list that speaks to you, be sure to share it on your own networks. Amplifying voices is important, and you can do that just by tweeting and posting anything you find that you like directly. Don't share this post (not just this post) but share the original post that I've linked to. Teacher Education and a C

AUG 20

PA: Charters Spend Less on Teaching

100+by Peter Greene / 6d

This week the Pennsylvania School Boards Association released a report looking at what charter schools are doing with all that taxpayer money. Short answer-- spending a whole lot of it on administration, and not quite so much on actual 

CURMUDGUCATION:

Why school is a ‘confusing mental mish-mash’ for kids - The Washington Post

Why school is a ‘confusing mental mish-mash’ for kids - The Washington Post:

Why school is a ‘confusing mental mish-mash’ for kids

Marion Brady is a veteran educator who has long argued that public education needs a paradigm shift. Here is a new piece in which he explains why schools need a complete transformation in what and how students learn, and why the Common Core State Standards, standardized tests and other elements of corporate-influenced school reform can’t accomplish this.

Brady says that “it frustrates” him enormously” that so many high-profile politicians who consider themselves liberal and progressive are fans of the Common Core State Standards and of the high-stakes standardized tests the standards enable.  He invites public responses to this post from the advocacy group Democrats For Education Reform and other organizations convinced of the adequacy of the Common Core State Standards.

By Marion Brady

Answer Sheet newsletter

Education questions and answers, in your inbox weekly.

The federal and state education reform initiatives kicked off about a quarter-century ago by theNo Child Left Behind legislation assume the following: that the institution itself is basically sound, that teachers bear major blame for poor school performance, that the Common Core State Standards tell teachers what to say and kids what to remember, that bringing market forces to bear will make them do it, and that high-stakes tests monitor what’s important.

Those six assumptions shape American education policy, and they’re all false. Today’s reform initiative began with a wrong diagnosis of what ails the institution and, by its own measure — standardized testing — the initiative has failed. By all other measures, the initiative hasn’t just failed, it has been an institution-destroying catastrophe.

Responding to public protest, Congress recently went through the motions of loosening its grip on schooling. But not understanding the problem, it refused to abandon the sixth assumption, that standardized tests measure what’s important.

They don’t because they can’t.

Here’s why

Consider, please, this paragraph:Why school is a ‘confusing mental mish-mash’ for kids - The Washington Post:

Washington and Hartford FAILING on college affordability - Wait What?

Washington and Hartford FAILING on college affordability - Wait What?:

Washington and Hartford FAILING on college affordability

In Connecticut, and across the country, public universities and colleges have traditionally served as the primary vehicle for ensuring the state’s children get a quality college degree.  However, a new study conducted by ProPublica reveals that the dream of a college education has become prohibitively expense for more and more students and their families.

As a result of inadequate public funding, failed student financial aid programs and increasing costs, soaring tuition is making college unaffordable for many.

ProPublica reports that from 2000 to 2014, the average cost of in-state tuition and fees at the University of Connecticut rose by more than 66 percent.

However, during that same time period, the median income for Connecticut residents increased only 2 percent.  Take out the Wall Street executives who live in lower Fairfield Country and Connecticut’s household income has remained flat for 15 years while tuition and fees at public colleges and universities have skyrocketed.

The rate of increase at the universities of the Connecticut State University System is even higher, with tuition and fees up nearly 75 percent, all while Connecticut’s families struggle to simply make ends meet.

Add in the cost of room, board and textbooks and the cost of attending one of Connecticut’s public institutions of education is getting more out of reach for thousands of Connecticut students.

The long-term impact of unaffordable higher education will be catastrophic

But unfortunately, the response to this crisis by Federal and state officials has been revolting.

Instead of doing more to ensure that college is affordable, the national and state Washington and Hartford FAILING on college affordability - Wait What?:

 

REVOLVING DOOR: Former NY deputy commissioner now running Jeb Bush’s ed reform group Badass Teachers Association

Badass Teachers Association:

REVOLVING DOOR: Former NY deputy commissioner now running Jeb Bush’s ed reform group

By:  A N.Y. BAT

After all the suffering New York students, parents and educators have gone through in rejecting top-down education reform, it’s insulting to see the official dubbed “NY’s teacher evaluation czar” trying to imply she “raised achievement” during her tenure here. Welcome to elastic reality, where chaos, waste and mass protest become “improved quality”.

Chiefs for Change was created by Jeb Bush to promote school choice, charters, vouchers, online charter schools, the Common Core, and high-stakes testing. They reorganized as Bush stepped away for his short-lived 2016 presidential run, but he has since announced a return to ed reform. So who runs the organization now? The former deputy commissioner who oversaw NY’s teacher evaluation debacle.

REFORMERS REWARDED: As Steven Singer reported, Jeb Bush has been raising money for education reform “infrastructure” from billionaires, corporations and Wall Street investors for years. In 2012, DC’s biggest lobbyist John Podesta (who is running the Hillary campaign today) joined Jeb onstage in a bipartisan truce to announce they were recruiting teachers and politicians willing to “stick out their necks” for corporate reform, promising an amplified voice, career grooming and ample remuneration.

Podesta is credited for picking Arne Duncan for Secretary of Education, so he means it when he says he wants to promote reformers. Today, they need figureheads badly as most US states have changed education leadership in the last year as the transition to ESSA begins. Prominently featured on the Chiefs for Change website is this:

“As Chief Operating Officer, Julia Rafal-Baer, Ph.D., develops our organizational capacity for sustained growth, strengthens our decision-making processes and goal-setting, and drives the strategic direction of Chiefs for Change.

Prior to joining our team, Julia was Assistant Commissioner of the New York State Education Department where she was responsible for the strategy, management, and implementation Badass Teachers Association:

Superintendents Going For Teacher Gold

Superintendents Going For Teacher Gold:

Superintendents Going For Teacher Gold

The 2016 Summer Olympics may be over, but school superintendents in America are still going for the gold. If you are a creative teacher, you need to be careful and know your ideas will become the property of the school district. And they can make money on them. It is called “intellectual property” or IP for short.

This is especially important if a teacher develops software, but anything special a teacher does, including work that aligns with standards, may be used by the school district to make money.

I’ve mentioned this before, but it is worth noting again. Superintendents are looking for teacher-made ideas to turn into commercial products to make money for the school district.

They are passing the word that teachers have something they can use to make the Superintendents Going For Teacher Gold:

With A Brooklyn Accent: The Genius of Donald Trump: Marketing White Racial Resentments

With A Brooklyn Accent: The Genius of Donald Trump: Marketing White Racial Resentments:

The Genius of Donald Trump: Marketing White Racial Resentments

Donald Trump, if nothing else is a genius at marketing. Early in the Obama Presidency, he sensed the profound discontent many whites in the US felt about having a Black president, and began appealing to their fear and paranoia by questioning the President's citizenship, his religious beliefs, even his qualifications for getting admitted to top colleges. In the short run, this didn't work. Trump was quickly sidelined as a Republican candidate in the 2012 primaries. But by the final year of the Obama Presidency, Trump's positioning himself as the ultimate Anti-Obama candidate had begun to pay dividends with the traditional Republican constituency and some blue collar Democrats. Make no mistake about it, Donald Trump's major political currency is an appeal to whites who fear they are losing "their" country due to immigration and changing marriage patterns which are leading to the gradual "browning" of America, a phenomenon perfectly embodied by a mixed race President who managed to win two terms in office.

I wish this were not the case. I wish the Trump campaign was built around an array of principled issues regarding the direction of US foreign and domestic policy. Those elements are there. But anyone who ignores the symbolic subtext of white racial resentments that Mr Trump has shrewdly tapped is missing a powerful source of passion and energy in his campaign- most visible in his rallies, but also there for anyone to see on social media.

Where those white racial resentments come from is a subject that requires deep exploration, with liberal and left wing condescension to blue collar and poor whites being one contributing force. But the power of the white racial resentments Mr Trump is tapping should be a warning that we are living in difficult times, when it comes to race, and those times will not be improving any time soonWith A Brooklyn Accent: The Genius of Donald Trump: Marketing White Racial Resentments:

Mónica García on El Camino: Ignorance or Insincerity?

Mónica García on El Camino: Ignorance or Insincerity?:

Mónica García on El Camino: Ignorance or Insincerity?

Oversight: “the job of checking that a process or system is working well”

–Macmillan Dictionary

Before the LAUSD School Board began debate on the Issuance of Notice of Violations for El Camino Real Charter High School (ECRCHS) “requesting the charter school remedy violations by September 23, 2016”, the public had an opportunity to speak. Other than a three minute time limit, there is little formal structure to this comment period and speakers are free to bring up anything that they feel is relevant to the subject at hand. During this time, ECRCHS’ case was presented by their lawyer, several teachers (who were at the Board meeting instead of teaching their students), a couple of parents and the charter’s Chief Business Officer, Marshall Mayotte. Notably absent was David Fehte, the “Executive Director” who has been at the center of the controversy surrounding the charter.

Ironically, one of the first speakers used the analogy of Charlie Brown’s repeated attempt to kick Lucy’s football to make her case against the resolution at hand. She was trying to make a case that the LAUSD Charter School Division (CSD) had been moving the goal post so that ECRCHS could not meet the terms of the Notice to Cure that was issued in October. However, it was the speakers who engaged in diversionary tactics as they tried to take the emphasis off of the “financial shenanigans” by focusing on the academic achievements of the charter, the incompetence of the CSD and wild conspiracy theories that the District is trying to “take down” ECR because they “are thriving too much.” Despite evidence that ECR has violated the law and “generally accepted accounting principles” compiled by both the CSD and the Los Angeles Daily News, the speakers each requested that the Board not issue a Notice of Violations.

As noted by Board Member Scott Schmerelson, ECRCHS was a great school before it was charter and continues with the same tradition. Despite the assertions of the speakers, ECRCHS is also not a victim; great academic achievement does not excuse the purchase of a “$95 bottle of fine Syrah wine” or “first-class airfare and luxury hotel rooms with [a] school issued credit card.” The charter’s supporters who proclaim that they “expect support” in return for the “over $1 million” that the state has paid the LAUSD to oversee the operations of the Mónica García on El Camino: Ignorance or Insincerity?:

 Carl J. Petersen for LAUSD School Board, District 2 because:

All Kids Are Our Kids!

• The LAUSD School Board needs a parent's perspective. None of the current Board members has a child enrolled in the district.
• One size education does not fit all. The District must provide opportunities to all students, not just those who are college bound. We will fight to block the closure of special education centers and return funding to vocational education.
• Eli Broad's plan to privatize education must be stopped. Unlike Mónica García's campaign, this campaign will not be funded by the charter industry. I will answer to the parents and students of the district, not corporate donors.

 CHANGE IS COMING!

March 7, 2017

Carl J. Petersen for LAUSD School Board 2017 (ID# 1384794) - http://www.changethelausd.com/

StudentsMatter Is Millions in Debt from Vergara Lawsuit, Yet It Keeps on Suing | deutsch29

StudentsMatter Is Millions in Debt from Vergara Lawsuit, Yet It Keeps on Suing | deutsch29:

StudentsMatter Is Millions in Debt from Vergara Lawsuit, Yet It Keeps on Suing

 On August 22, 2016, the California Supreme Court denied reviewing the appellate court decision in Vergara et al. vs. State of California et al. The appellate court decided in April 2016 that Vergara did not prove constitutional violation of equal protection. Vergara was originally filed in 2012; four years later, it had reached its litigious end.

The following day, on August 23, 2016, the same group responsible for astroturfing education litigation like Vergara, StudentsMatter.org, filed a fresh, corporate-reform-promoting lawsuit in Connecticut, Martinez vs. Malloy. In short, the goal of Martinez is not to improve Connecticut’s “failing” public schools; it is to promote a dual school system in which those who choose to “escape the failing schools” are provided with magnet and charter schools to which to flee.

StudentsMatter is a corporate reform lawsuit factory, and the organization is okay with that. From its home page:

Our Mission

Students Matter promotes access to quality public education through impact litigation, communications and advocacy.

StudentsMatter has an advisory board, and interestingly, at the top of the board bio web page, StudentsMatter offers this disclaimer:

Note: The individuals below are representing themselves on Students Matter’s advisory board and not representing the organization for which they work.

The corporate reform litigation factory does not want to be held responsible for its own board. That’s funny.

Board members include

• former StudentsMatter policy director and former Parent Revolution exec directorBen Austin;
• former Chief of School Family and Parent/Community Services for Los Angeles Unified School District Maria Casillas;
• former LAUSD superintendent John Deasy;
• former California state senator Becky Morgan;
• former chief of staff to VP Joe Biden and former chief domestic policy advisor to former Pres Bill Clinton, Bruce Reed;
• investment banker and venture capitalist Arthur Rock, and
• former chairman of the National Venture Capital Association and founding CEO of Fortify, a pioneer in the software security market, Ted Schlein.

StudentsMatter lists a single staffer, David Stanley:

David Stanley leads major gifts fundraising at Students Matter. He enlists philanthropists to serve as key partners to Students Matter and helps sustain 

StudentsMatter Is Millions in Debt from Vergara Lawsuit, Yet It Keeps on Suing | deutsch29: