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Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 1/3/17


Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 1/3/17

Featured Post

John Thompson: Can the School Reform Wars Be Scaled Down? | The Huffington Post




Fake Trump Tweets – A Fun Way To Face The Coming Trumpocalypse | gadflyonthewallblog
by mike simpson / 36min
Fake Trump Tweets – A Fun Way To Face The Coming Trumpocalypse | gadflyonthewallblog : Fake Trump Tweets – A Fun Way To Face The Coming Trumpocalypse Forgive me. I couldn’t help it. Someone made a Website that allows you to make your own fake Donald Trump tweets, and I went to town. I must have made a hundred of these suckers. Can you blame me? It’s so hard to resist making that narcissistic blow
Schools Matter: Kids in Cubicles: The Wonderful World of Work
by mike simpson / 38min
Schools Matter: Kids in Cubicles: The Wonderful World of Work : Kids in Cubicles: The Wonderful World of Work Eliminate sharing and student communication ! Order before midnight tonight! Remove Distractions With These Portable Student Desk Privacy Shields! Keep students' eyes on their own work with these attractive and functional privacy shields made of economical, long-lasting, corrugated cardbo
A teacher’s nine wishes for 2017 - The Washington Post
by mike simpson / 1h
A teacher’s nine wishes for 2017 - The Washington Post : A teacher’s nine wishes for 2017 Peter Greene is a veteran teacher of English in a small town in Pennsylvania who write about all kinds of education-related topics on his Curmudgucation blog. He has, for example, written recently about Betsy DeVos, President-Elect Donald Trump nominee for education secretary, whom Greene called unqualified
Rotting School Buildings and Magical Digital Learning Transformation
by mike simpson / 1h
Rotting School Buildings and Magical Digital Learning Transformation : Rotting School Buildings and Magical Digital Learning Transformation The key issue to watch in 2017 is the spiraling drive to privatize public schools through digital learning. One way this is done is through charter schools. Another strategy could be by not funding the upkeep of public school facilities then recreating them a
SFUSD Responds to Hate and Intolerance in Schools - SF Public School MomSF Public School Mom
by mike simpson / 1h
SFUSD Responds to Hate and Intolerance in Schools - SF Public School MomSF Public School Mom : SFUSD Responds to Hate and Intolerance in Schools You may have missed it, but last year, as one of their final acts as of 2016, Commissioners Matt Haney and Shamann Walton proposed an important resolution calling on the superintendent to define clear protocols for schools in addressing hate and bias in
Educators Have to Step Up | The Merrow Report
by mike simpson / 2h
Educators Have to Step Up | The Merrow Report : Educators Have to Step Up As schools reopen in the New Year and Donald Trump’s inauguration draws near, the reality of dramatic increases in hate speech and hate behavior cannot be ignored. Educators need to know that merely reacting to offenses will not be adequate. The adults in charge need to step up and be proactive. They must draw some very cle
Seattle Event: Closing the Opportunity Gap Detracking and De-Testing. An evening with Carol Burris and Wayne Au | Seattle Education
by mike simpson / 3h
Seattle Event: Closing the Opportunity Gap Detracking and De-Testing. An evening with Carol Burris and Wayne Au | Seattle Education : Seattle Event: Closing the Opportunity Gap Detracking and De-Testing. An evening with Carol Burris and Wayne Au Wednesday, January 11, 2017 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM Garfield High School Quincy Jones Performing Arts Center 400 23rd Avenue Seattle, WA 98122 This event is su
Boycott Carl Paladino
by mike simpson / 3h
Boycott Carl Paladino : To the best of our knowledge, these businesses are owned and/or operated, in part or in total, by Carl Paladino and/or Ellicott Development. While we take pity on the employees of these businesses, we feel no one should work for a known racist . Charter Schools (read more about Paladino’s charter school dealings here ) Aloma D Johnson Community Charter School Applied Techn
New Year, New Congress - Lily's Blackboard
by mike simpson / 5h
New Year, New Congress - Lily's Blackboard : New Year, New Congress We Urge Members to Hear Our Voices. However painful 2016 was, a new year offers a fresh start. This year, we will take nothing for granted. The challenges we will inevitably face may mean that we can see new strategies and new solutions that would have eluded us in the past. 2017 marks the start of the 115th Congress , and we’re
John Thompson: Can the School Reform Wars Be Scaled Down? | The Huffington Post
by mike simpson / 7h
Can the School Reform Wars Be Scaled Down? | The Huffington Post - Linkis.com : Can the School Reform Wars Be Scaled Down? As 2016 comes to a close, we must think deeply and communicate sincerely about the lessons to be learned from the election of Donald Trump. During the holidays, I forbade myself from writing on policy so I wouldn’t be distracted by specific policy issues, as opposed to contem
Hasta La Vista Arne! Duncan’s Failed Education Legacy | The Progressive
by mike simpson / 7h
Hasta La Vista Arne! Duncan’s Failed Education Legacy | The Progressive : Hasta La Vista Arne! Duncan’s Failed Education Legacy A s the Obama administration winds down, it’s only natural that some officials make their legacy statements. So here comes former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to sum up what, exactly, we have to show for his eight years in office. This may seem like a pointles
Keeping Schools Safe, Happy Places for Everyone - NEA Today
by mike simpson / 7h
Keeping Schools Safe, Happy Places for Everyone - NEA Today : Keeping Schools Safe, Happy Places for Everyone When you walk into school in the morning, you want the climate to be happy, welcoming and supportive. But what if you are unable to feel any of those things? In some schools, hostilities seethe under the surface and boil over into bullying and fights. Rather than connection there’s a sens
Girding For The Education Fight Ahead
by mike simpson / 7h
Girding For The Education Fight Ahead : Girding For The Education Fight Ahead If you want to get an idea of what kind of education policies to expect from a Donald Trump administration, Wall St. has a clue for you. A report from BuzzFeed explains, online charter schools are “gearing up for a boom during the Trump administration, judging by where investors are placing their bets.” The article poin
Education issues to watch in 2017 – and predictions of what to expect | EdSource
by mike simpson / 8h
Education issues to watch in 2017 – and predictions of what to expect | EdSource : Education issues to watch in 2017 – and predictions of what to expect The first week in January is like the first day of spring training: Everyone’s an expert on predicting what Gov. Jerry Brown will sign and veto and who’ll win the World Series. Some forecasters, though, are more clairvoyant than others. A year ag
Claudio Sanchez Predictions For What Will Happen In Education In 2017 : NPR Ed : NPR
by mike simpson / 8h
Claudio Sanchez Predictions For What Will Happen In Education In 2017 : NPR Ed : NPR : 5 Education Stories To Watch In 2017 NPR Ed's Claudio Sanchez gives us his top five education predictions for 2017. LA Johnson/NPR Every year for the past few years, I've dusted off my crystal ball and offered a few predictions for the new year. Back on November 9 though, I threw out the ones I had been working
A MUST READ for 2017 - FIRST DO NO HARM – Progressive Education in a Time of Existential Risk
by mike simpson / 8h
A MUST READ for 2017 - FIRST DO NO HARM – Progressive Education in a Time of Existential Risk by Steve Nelson - Wait What? : A MUST READ for 2017 – FIRST DO NO HARM – Progressive Education in a Time of Existential Risk by Steve Nelson Our future depends on preparing today’s young women and men to be thoughtful, creative, engaged citizens. They must be fully alive, in love with the natural world a
Bailed-out Oakland schools are back in financial trouble - San Francisco Chronicle
by mike simpson / 8h
Bailed-out Oakland schools are back in financial trouble - San Francisco Chronicle : Bailed-out Oakland schools are back in financial trouble Well before the state had to bail out the Oakland Unified School District in 2003, fiscal experts warned school officials that their overspending was going to land them in big trouble. That didn’t stop the district from running up a $37 million deficit, res
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: It's Trump who should be worried. #NoDAPL shows up in Pasadena
by mike simpson / 9h
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: It's Trump who should be worried. #NoDAPL shows up in Pasadena : It's Trump who should be worried. #NoDAPL shows up in Pasadena Lots of folks are worried about the fate of the #NoDAPL movement once Trump takes office. I understand their fears. But from my vantage point, it looks like Trump and Dakota Access Pipeline are the ones who should be worried. They thought t
Important Perspectives on the Danger of Betsy DeVos | janresseger
by mike simpson / 9h
Important Perspectives on the Danger of Betsy DeVos | janresseger : Important Perspectives on the Danger of Betsy DeVos As Donald Trump begins his presidency, a danger is that those of us who care about public education will give up and neglect to stand up for this institution that has defined our society. Maybe—when the Affordable Care Act and stability in the Middle East and civil rights protec
Seattle Schools Community Forum: What happened when Washington Middle School dissolved Spectrum?
by mike simpson / 9h
Seattle Schools Community Forum: What happened when Washington Middle School dissolved Spectrum? : What happened when Washington Middle School dissolved Spectrum? Washington Middle School decided, some time ago, to dissolve its Spectrum classes. Spectrum-eligible students at Washington would no longer be in self contained classes for English and Social Studies, but would be mixed in with the gene
Guarding Democracy « Dad Gone Wild
by mike simpson / 9h
Guarding Democracy « Dad Gone Wild : GUARDING DEMOCRACY A few weeks ago, the Tennessee Department of Education released an early Christmas present: last year’s TNReady scores . In case you are not familiar with TNReady, it is Tennessee’s version of an annual standardized test. I know, you are probably like me and thinking, “What the hell good are scores from last year in the middle of December?”
Big Name Charters Flee Tennessee’s ASD | Gary Rubinstein's Blog
by mike simpson / 9h
Big Name Charters Flee Tennessee’s ASD | Gary Rubinstein's Blog : Big Name Charters Flee Tennessee’s ASD Tennessee’s Achievement School District, or ASD for short, is one of the most high profile education experiments in the country. In 2011, fueled by winning a Race To The Top grant, then education commissioner and former TFA vice president and former husband of Michelle Rhee, Kevin Huffman hire

YESTERDAY

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 1/2/17
by mike simpson / 23h
Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 1/2/17 Featured Post Christian fundamentalist schools put kids ‘at risk’ with exorcisms and marriage grooming: inspectors CURMUDGUCATION: Test Prep Abroad by mike simpson / 8min CURMUDGUCATION: Test Prep Abroad : Test Prep Abroad Because I search for 

Top Posts This Week


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Fake Trump Tweets – A Fun Way To Face The Coming Trumpocalypse | gadflyonthewallblog

Fake Trump Tweets – A Fun Way To Face The Coming Trumpocalypse | gadflyonthewallblog:

Fake Trump Tweets – A Fun Way To Face The Coming Trumpocalypse

donald_trump_twitter_birds-620x412
Forgive me. I couldn’t help it.
Someone made a Website that allows you to make your own fake Donald Trump tweets, and I went to town.
I must have made a hundred of these suckers.
Can you blame me?
It’s so hard to resist making that narcissistic blowhard say whatever you want!
And it wasn’t just me.
It was all over my Facebook feed this weekend. All my virtual buddies were getting in on the act.
Perhaps that says something about me – I’m the kind of person that chooses to associate with people who would spend their precious leisure moments pretending to make the President-elect say stuff on Twitter.
But whatever. I guess that’s me.
Trump is the perfect target for ridicule. He’s going to be the chief executive of the United States, the Leader of the Free World, and he’s such a shallow, conceited asshole.
He got into office exploiting middle America’s sexism and racism and, yes, economic hopelessness. These are the same folks who chide black people in Ferguson for rioting when a white cop gets off murdering a black teen. And then these same working class white folks go ahead and throw a brick through our collective Fake Trump Tweets – A Fun Way To Face The Coming Trumpocalypse | gadflyonthewallblog:


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Schools Matter: Kids in Cubicles: The Wonderful World of Work

Schools Matter: Kids in Cubicles: The Wonderful World of Work:

Kids in Cubicles: The Wonderful World of Work


Eliminate sharing and student communication!  Order before midnight tonight!

Remove Distractions With These Portable Student Desk Privacy Shields!

Keep students' eyes on their own work with these attractive and functional privacy shields made of economical, long-lasting, corrugated cardboard. Great for everyday classroom use, computer labs, and writer's workshops, they make a fun way to set up "offices" for your students, too.

Ideal for both pencil-and-paper and computer-based testing (including PARCC and other standardized tests), privacy shields are a must have for any teacher or testing coordinator. These shields come in an assorted 12 pack of red, blue and green, fold easily for storage, andSchools Matter: Kids in Cubicles: The Wonderful World of Work: 


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A teacher’s nine wishes for 2017 - The Washington Post

A teacher’s nine wishes for 2017 - The Washington Post:

A teacher’s nine wishes for 2017


Peter Greene is a veteran teacher of English in a small town in Pennsylvania who write about all kinds of education-related topics on his Curmudgucation blog. He has, for example, written recently about Betsy DeVos, President-Elect Donald Trump nominee for education secretary, whom Greene called unqualified for the job, as well as about standardized testing, challenged books, teacher evaluation and a lot more. Here is his piece on his wishes for public education in 2017. See if they match yours in any way. This appeared on his blog, and he gave me permission to republish it.

By Peter Greene
When you find that you must concentrate on calling out and pushing back against the many, varied attacks on public education these days, it is easy to forget to articulate what you actually want to see occur to improve schools. So as a New Year’s palate cleanser of sorts, let me lay out what things I want to see happen in the world of public education in the year ahead.
I should note that this is an ideal wish list, and I recognize that it’s a really long journey to get from where we are to reach these goals. But even if we can’t get there, these are the stars we should steer by.

1) The end of Big Standardized Testing
We are achieving literally nothing by forcing kids to take high-stakes standardized tests, other than wasting huge amounts of time and money, and twisting the entire sense of public education’s purpose. If I could only achieve one wish on this list with a wave of my magic wand, it would be this one. Test-centric education is a poisonous acid, eating education from the inside out.
I’d settle for some sort of initiative to find systems of accountability that would give taxpayers the assurance that their money is being well-spent, to replace the test-centric system that does not actually deliver anything that it promises. Other goals that have been given by test A teacher’s nine wishes for 2017 - The Washington Post:



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Rotting School Buildings and Magical Digital Learning Transformation

Rotting School Buildings and Magical Digital Learning Transformation:

Rotting School Buildings and Magical Digital Learning Transformation

screen-shot-2014-01-17-at-11-22-37-am

The key issue to watch in 2017 is the spiraling drive to privatize public schools through digital learning.
One way this is done is through charter schools. Another strategy could be by not funding the upkeep of public school facilities then recreating them as blended learning schools.
Allowing schools to crumble in order to justify all-digital learning programs is a concern.
Remember Detroit? They had schools with mold growing out of their walls and other horrors. Local and state school administrators claimed there was no money in the midst of corruption.
School conditions impact student learning. You can be the best teacher in the world, but if your students are taking a test in an overheated classroom, under a leaky roof, worried about rats, or not getting a break due to lousy playground equipment, or Rotting School Buildings and Magical Digital Learning Transformation:


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SFUSD Responds to Hate and Intolerance in Schools - SF Public School MomSF Public School Mom

SFUSD Responds to Hate and Intolerance in Schools - SF Public School MomSF Public School Mom:

SFUSD Responds to Hate and Intolerance in Schools

Related image


You may have missed it, but last year, as one of their final acts as of 2016, Commissioners Matt Haney and Shamann Walton proposed an important resolution calling on the superintendent to define clear protocols for schools in addressing hate and bias in our schools, and provide more support for site staff in creating safe and inclusive learning environments for all students.
While this is a continuation of the district’s ongoing work since it outlined “access and equity” as one of the three main goals of its Strategic Plan, many years ago, it is also a response to the rise in hate speech and bias related incidents being witnessed in our schools across our nation as a result of Trump’s election.
Thank you to all our Board members for unanimously approving this important resolution!

The work continues…

As anyone involved in social justice work knows, this work is ongoing. No system (or person) will ever be perfect. The work will never stop…
Nonetheless, I am hopeful we can move farther “beyond the talk” (as the district proposed many years ago) to tangible, measurable actions, that will ensure all our kids and families feel they are valued and respected members of our school communities. Even though we have come a long way in this regard, since I first became an educator over 20 years ago, there is still much work to be done.
As the Interim Superintendent, Myong Leigh, wrote in a letter to the SFUSD community last fall:
“We believe strongly in social justice, which means we fight against systemic oppression. We stand up for those who are vulnerable and hope others will do so for us when we need them. We put students’ needs first, and we will protect them now.”
It will “take a village” as the African saying goes to ensure this resolution is fully SFUSD Responds to Hate and Intolerance in Schools - SF Public School MomSF Public School Mom: 
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Educators Have to Step Up | The Merrow Report

Educators Have to Step Up | The Merrow Report:

Educators Have to Step Up

Image result for Title IX clearly prohibits sexual harassment
As schools reopen in the New Year and Donald Trump’s inauguration draws near, the reality of dramatic increases in hate speech and hate behavior cannot be ignored. Educators need to know that merely reacting to offenses will not be adequate. The adults in charge need to step up and be proactive. They must draw some very clear lines about what behavior will not be tolerated.  It’s not enough to offer counseling and sympathetic hugs after the fact!
Why? Not just for the right reason–to support vulnerable students–but also to cover their own butts, because ‘after the fact’ actions, no matter how warm and supportive, are insufficient, inappropriate and almost certainly illegal.
The law is very much on the side of the victims, and school authorities ought to know that they are obligated under federal law to protect young people. I am not referring to anti-bullying legislation, which differs to state to state, but to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, sometimes known as ‘That damned sports law.’  Title IX clearly prohibits sexual harassment, and, even when bullying is ostensibly directed against an individual’s race, ethnicity or religion, it almost invariably includes sexual references.  Girls are called “sluts” and “hos,” boys are called “fags’ and other names.  Sexual rumors and comments are frequent.  And the above behavior violates the granddaddy of all laws in this area, Title IX.
Title IX also prohibits these behaviors outside the school, such as when personal computers are used, when the behavior is disruptive to learning or affects a student’s ability to partake of the opportunities for learning and in other opportunities provided by the school.  In short, schools and school administrator, under Title IX, are obligated to stop sexual cyber-bullying. Moreover, they stand to lose federal funding if Educators Have to Step Up | The Merrow Report:
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