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Sunday, March 19, 2017

Special Late Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 3/19/17


Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 3/19/17
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Teachers, Teachers Unions, and the Charter School War





‘Your child is safe’: Schools address deportation fears among immigrant families - The Washington Post
by mike simpson / 7min
‘Your child is safe’: Schools address deportation fears among immigrant families - The Washington Post : ‘Your child is safe’: Schools address deportation fears among immigrant families The schools superintendent in Harrisonburg, Va., was meeting parents this month when a mother broke down in tears, explaining that she was undocumented. What would the school do, she asked, if she became separated
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Gates Foundation and Their Education Failures
by mike simpson / 26min
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Gates Foundation and Their Education Failures : Gates Foundation and Their Education Failures When thinking of the Gates Foundation's work in the public education arena, there are not many wins to point to except for Common Core. Of course, that's quite a large win even though many publications either don't know Gates funded that whole mission or they just leave i
Book Review: Savage Kingdom: Recommended for high school students, with a caveat, and adults | Seattle Education
by mike simpson / 31min
Book Review: Savage Kingdom: Recommended for high school students, with a caveat, and adults | Seattle Education : Book Review: Savage Kingdom: Recommended for high school students, with a caveat, and adults Editor’s note: This book review was originally posted at Literary Leisure and written by Taylor Baysinger. “And thy blush being turned to indignation, thou shalt wash, hast washed thy feet in
If You Teach And No One Learns, Did You Really Teach? | The Jose Vilson
by mike simpson / 34min
If You Teach And No One Learns, Did You Really Teach? | The Jose Vilson : If You Teach And No One Learns, Did You Really Teach? This past week, my school had parent-teacher conferences. It’s like Christmas four times a year… Sidenote: When I said this aloud to one of my classes, one of my students said “Doesn’t that mean you have Christmas five times a year including Christmas?” I responded, “Nah
NYC Public School Parents: How Trump's budget cuts will affect class size- here in NYC and nationwide
by mike simpson / 37min
NYC Public School Parents: How Trump's budget cuts will affect class size- here in NYC and nationwide : How Trump's budget cuts will affect class size- here in NYC and nationwide Trump’s proposed budget would slash overall education funding for the Department of Education by $9 billion, and roll back education funding (excluding Pell Grants) to pre-2002 levels, despite 8.6 million more students i
Why Bad Teachers Are Hard to Find - Teacher Habits
by mike simpson / 40min
Why Bad Teachers Are Hard to Find - Teacher Habits : Why Bad Teachers Are Hard to Find Bad teachers need to be fired. You hear it all the time. It’s part of most education reformers’ guiding philosophy. Most people would have a very hard time justifying any opposition to it. Sometimes, in order to appease actual teachers and soften the harsh message, the phrase “after being given an opportunity t
Are “Big Data” and “metrics” the new religion in education reform? | Eclectablog
by mike simpson / 58min
Are “Big Data” and “metrics” the new religion in education reform? | Eclectablog : Are “Big Data” and “metrics” the new religion in education reform? Graphic credit: Gerd Leonhard As anyone watching the corporate education reform movement can attest to, Big Data and metrics have become the coin of the realm to the reform community. Let any conversation between reformers and defenders of public ed
Seven Reasons You Probably Don't Suck (For Teachers) | Blue Cereal Education
by mike simpson / 1h
Seven Reasons You Probably Don't Suck (For Teachers) | Blue Cereal Education : Seven Reasons You Probably Don't Suck (For Teachers) Well, it’s that time of year. Spring Break has passed – the last landmark of rebootage and rejuvenation. Many of us are returning without much idea what we’ll be doing in class this week. Maybe you feel behind again, and have big plans for getting things ‘back on tra
Gulen Scandal Continues: District alleges fraud in charter school application
by mike simpson / 5h
District alleges fraud in charter school application : District alleges fraud in charter school application Two petitions had street addresses that don't exist within the city limits. Another listed a vacant lot. And yet another bore the name and address of a resident who said she had never seen the document, much less signed it. All of these – and more – were found on petitions supporting the cr
What Bill Gates and Donald Trump will discuss when they meet on Monday — Quartz
by mike simpson / 6h
What Bill Gates and Donald Trump will discuss when they meet on Monday — Quartz : We’re wondering what exactly Bill Gates and Donald Trump will have to talk about tomorrow On March 20, Bill Gates will meet with president Donald Trump. The agenda hasn’t been revealed, but the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation hinted at what would be discussed in a statement: “The foundation has a long history of wor
CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Quiet Sunday Edition + Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION
by mike simpson / 7h
CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Quiet Sunday Edition (3/19) : ICYMI: Quiet Sunday Edition (3/19) Here's some reading for your lazy Sunday. Remember to pass on what you find useful! Did Betsy DeVos Just Ask States To Ignore Part of Federal Law? Nobody did a better job this week of explaining the problem with DeVos's comments on just who gets included in ESSA work than Valerie Strauss Damning a Student's Fu
The Weekend Warrior Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
by mike simpson / 7h
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all : The Weekend Warrior Diane Ravitch's blog A site to discuss better education for all What to Ask About Russian Hacking in the Hearings Tomorrow 3 by dianeravitch / 43min Tomorrow, the House of Representatives intelligence committee will hold hearings to investigate allegations of links between the Trump campaign and the Russian go
Sacramento teachers square off with district |
by mike simpson / 7h
Sacramento teachers square off with district | : Sacramento teachers square off with district On March 16, the Sacramento City Teacher’s Association picketed in front of the district office. Over 350 teachers, paraprofessionals, students, parents and other members of the community came out to voice their anger over the district’s decision to reject every single one of the Union’s 12 demands for t
Teachers, Teachers Unions, and the Charter School War
by mike simpson / 7h
Teachers, Teachers Unions, and the Charter School War : Teachers, Teachers Unions, and the Charter School War Please join Internet radio host Dr. James Avington Miller Jr. for a close look at our teachers, our teacher unions, and the charter school war. Joining Dr. Miller is the rest of the War Team - Joan Kramer and Jo Lieb . Together we will uncover who are friends of public education and who a
Opt Out Reminder: It's Still a Powerful Act of Civil Disobedience + DeVos Dump. | BustED Pencils
by mike simpson / 7h
Opt Out Reminder: It's Still a Powerful Act of Civil Disobedience. | BustED Pencils : Opt Out Reminder: It’s Still a Powerful Act of Civil Disobedience. Guest Post: Anne Burn Thomas, Ph.D. SUNY Cortland. Why I’m opting out of the state assessments. In the past few months, the idea of resisting as protest to a range of policies and ideas has populated headlines, Twitter streams, and even in-person
Understanding the Legal Challenges Facing Parents Post-Incarceration | NewBlackMan (in Exile)
by mike simpson / 8h
Understanding the Legal Challenges Facing Parents Post-Incarceration | NewBlackMan (in Exile) : Understanding the Legal Challenges Facing Parents Post-Incarceration 'Journalist Victoria Law examines the intersection of mass incarceration and child custody laws - from the Clinton-era law that stripped the most vulnerable parents of their custodian rights, to the class-based barriers preventing poo
Schools Matter: Anti-Child Advocate, Neil Gorsuch (Mr. de minimis)
by mike simpson / 8h
Schools Matter: Anti-Child Advocate, Neil Gorsuch (Mr. de minimis) : Anti-Child Advocate, Neil Gorsuch (Mr. de minimis) If America's special needs schoolchildren are damaged beyond measure in the near future by the judiciary, you can thank the preppy fascist now in line to become the next Supreme Court justice: At the Supreme Court podium in January, lawyer Neal Katyal was hit with a series of qu
The Sunday Times. | Fred Klonsky
by mike simpson / 8h
The Sunday Times. | Fred Klonsky : The Sunday Times. This week’s podcast features Bill Iacullo, president the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 143 in conversation about privatization at CPS and progressive political strategists Joanna Klonsky and Brian Sleet. Next week our guests will be Diane Ravitch and Kevin Coval. It was 1964 and we were walking home from Fairfax High School d
SKrashen: Krashen Santa Fe 3: Fiction, heritage language
by mike simpson / 8h
SKrashen: Krashen Santa Fe 3: Fiction, heritage language : Krashen Santa Fe 3: Fiction, heritage language FICTION The power of fiction: The UK study Fiction = great vocabulary builder Sullivan and Brown, 2014: vocabulary test 1. Reading at age 42 counts, independent of reading at 16 or younger & previous vocabulary. 2. Fiction counts (more than nonfiction), but not "low-brow" 3. Music counts a li
NYC Educator: The Art of Co-Teaching
by mike simpson / 8h
NYC Educator: The Art of Co-Teaching : The Art of Co-Teaching A lot of people complain about supervisors. I hate to admit it, but I tend to get along well with mine. Whenever we have a conflict, she sits me down and talks until I agree with her. I actually recognize what she's doing, but she manages to persuade me, and once I actually agree with her there isn't much left to argue about. But she a
High Noon For The Delaware State Board of Education On Tuesday – Exceptional Delaware 2017
by mike simpson / 8h
High Noon For The Delaware State Board of Education On Tuesday – Exceptional Delaware 2017 : High Noon For The Delaware State Board of Education On Tuesday We can do it better ourselves but we won’t tell them that. The Delaware State Board of Education could be shut down as of Tuesday. They face the Delaware Joint Legislative Overview and Sunset Committee. The State Board was put under review by

YESTERDAY

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 3/18/17
by mike simpson / 1d
Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 3/18/17 Featured Post Vouchers do not improve student achievement, Stanford researcher finds | Stanford News Rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry dies, age 90 by mike simpson / 8min Rock 

Top Posts This Week



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‘Your child is safe’: Schools address deportation fears among immigrant families - The Washington Post

‘Your child is safe’: Schools address deportation fears among immigrant families - The Washington Post:

‘Your child is safe’: Schools address deportation fears among immigrant families

Image result for sacramento city safe schools

The schools superintendent in Harrisonburg, Va., was meeting parents this month when a mother broke down in tears, explaining that she was undocumented. What would the school do, she asked, if she became separated from her children?
“I remember walking up to her and putting my arm on her shoulder and saying, ‘Your child is safe at our school,’ ” said Scott Kizner, the city schools chief. But he also advised those at the meeting in the Shenandoah Valley that any parents worried about deportation “need to make plans.”
Across the country, President Trump’s promise to crack down on illegal immigration is leading schools with large immigrant communities to consider how to care for children whose parents could be detained in federal raids. Parents, teachers and administrators have raised questions about how schools should respond if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents come to a school to take away students or obtain records — even though the agency’s policy restricts enforcement actions on school grounds.
Officials in Sacramento, Denver, Chicago and Miami have declared their schools havens, out of reach of ICE agents without special permission or a warrant.
The Los Angeles school board voted days after the November election to resist any Trump administration attempts to use student data against students or families in immigration matters. A Wisconsin school district sent information home advising parents to keep their doors shut, stay silent and refuse to sign anything if ICE agents visit their home.
In Virginia, the state schools chief urged local superintendents this month to ensure schools have current emergency contact information for parents and to prepare for situations in which children are stranded at school. The Maryland State Department of Education has not issued similar guidance, but a spokesman said the state’s long-standing policies mirror Virginia’s. D.C. Public Schools put out a statement in six languages urging advance preparation: “Discuss ‘Your child is safe’: Schools address deportation fears among immigrant families - The Washington Post:
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Seattle Schools Community Forum: Gates Foundation and Their Education Failures

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Gates Foundation and Their Education Failures:

Gates Foundation and Their Education Failures


 When thinking of the Gates Foundation's work in the public education arena, there are not many wins to point to except for Common Core.  Of course, that's quite a large win even though many publications either don't know Gates funded that whole mission or they just leave it out of their writing about Common Core. 

I may have printed this editorial that appeared in June of last year in the Los Angeles Times  before but it bears repeating because of what the Gates Foundation says about itself.  About Common Core:

The Gates Foundation strongly supported the proposed Common Core curriculum standards, helping to bankroll not just their development, but the political effort to have them quickly adopted and implemented by states.

“Unfortunately, our foundation underestimated the level of resources and support required for our public education systems to be well-equipped to implement the standards,” (CEO Sue) Desmond-Hellmann wrote. “We missed an early opportunity to sufficiently engage educators — particularly teachers — but also parents and communities, so that the benefits of the standards could take flight from the beginning.

Remember that thought from Ms. Desmond-Hellmann because you'll hear it again about InBloom.

Also, this thought:

“We’re facing the fact that it is a real struggle to make systemwide change,” wrote the foundation’s CEO, Sue Desmond-Hellman. And a few lines later: “ItSeattle Schools Community Forum: Gates Foundation and Their Education Failures:

Bill in Legislature -

This will affect several hundred Seattle High School students.
There are two bills currently moving through the legislature that would require 4 year colleges and universities in the state to grant credit for AP exam scores of 3 or better.


SB 5234  and HB1333


The bills do not mention IB.


If you have a feeling about this, please call or email your legislative team about this.  On their webpages there is a place where you can send a message – 1000 character limit.


Things are moving fast – please let them know your feelings about this.

If you need more info, you might want to reference that there are 23 IB high schools in Washington, and 19 of them are public schools.  Many of the public schools are in very diverse/high poverty areas communities, like South Seattle/S. King County, Tukwila, Tacoma, and Kennewick. 
(School list from the IB website.  I looked up some of the schools’ websites to determine what their FRL numbers looked like.  Kennewick is 70% FRL, Thomas Jefferson in Fed Way is 55% FRL for example.)
To find your district


Bill in Legislature -

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Book Review: Savage Kingdom: Recommended for high school students, with a caveat, and adults | Seattle Education

Book Review: Savage Kingdom: Recommended for high school students, with a caveat, and adults | Seattle Education:

Book Review: Savage Kingdom: Recommended for high school students, with a caveat, and adults

Editor’s note: This book review was originally posted at Literary Leisure  and written by Taylor Baysinger.

jamestown
“And thy blush being turned to indignation, thou shalt wash, hast washed thy feet in the blood of those native unnatural Traitors, and now becomest a pure English Virgin; a new other Britain, in that new other World; and let all English say and pray, GOD BLESS VIRGINIA.”
Samuel Purchas, Purchas his Pilgramage (1623)
641710
Savage Kingdom: The True Story of Jamestown, 1607, and the Settlement of America
by Benjamin Woolley
★★★★☆
Four centuries ago, and fourteen years before the Mayflower, a group of men — led by a one-armed ex-pirate, an epileptic aristocrat, a reprobate cleric and a government spy — left London aboard a fleet of three ships to start a new life in America. They arrived in Virginia in the spring of 1607 and set about trying to create a settlement on a tiny island in the James River. Despite their shortcomings, and against the odds, they built Jamestown, a ramshackle outpost that laid the foundations of the British Empire and the United States of America.
Drawing on new discoveries, neglected sources and manuscript collections scattered across the world, Savage Kingdom challenges the textbook image of Jamestown as a mere money-making venture. It reveals a reckless, daring Book Review: Savage Kingdom: Recommended for high school students, with a caveat, and adults | Seattle Education:



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If You Teach And No One Learns, Did You Really Teach? | The Jose Vilson

If You Teach And No One Learns, Did You Really Teach? | The Jose Vilson:

If You Teach And No One Learns, Did You Really Teach?

Image result for a tree falling in the forest

This past week, my school had parent-teacher conferences. It’s like Christmas four times a year…
Sidenote: When I said this aloud to one of my classes, one of my students said “Doesn’t that mean you have Christmas five times a year including Christmas?” I responded, “Nah, because it’s not exactly Christmas, but it’s like Christmas, though.” He scratched his head and got back to work. He might be right, though.
… Anyways, I love these conferences. Contrary to popular belief, I love the idea of meeting parents face-to-face instead of through the phone. I love that I leave my door open for rolling appointments with members of this community. I love the nervousness from students beforehand, and the incessant question “What are you going to tell my parents?”
“Well,” I’d say, “If you do what you need to do during … nevermind. I’m gonna tell them you’re failing!”

“I’m not!”

Well, OK, then.
I love the long-ish day, starting out with warm feedback, flaunting my Spanish skills, and listening as I get insight for how parents talk to their children. I do wince when children get in trouble, but I smile when parents of my more successful students say, “Yeah, but we still got a ways to go.” I see you. I love telling parents how I’m working with them and their students to make sure they’re learning because they need to hear that.
Even when it looks opaque, I like to leave on a positive note. Teaching is tough, but parenting is harrowing.
On Thursday, for example, a parent informed me that she heard through the grapevine that little to no learning was taking place in my classroom. I hadn’t heard anything like that in my 12 years of teaching, so my face must have contorted some. Plus, her student had just earned a 90 on his report card. Her son then explained that it came from a parent whose student If You Teach And No One Learns, Did You Really Teach? | The Jose Vilson:

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NYC Public School Parents: How Trump's budget cuts will affect class size- here in NYC and nationwide

NYC Public School Parents: How Trump's budget cuts will affect class size- here in NYC and nationwide:

How Trump's budget cuts will affect class size- here in NYC and nationwide

Trump’s proposed budget would slash overall education funding for the Department of Education by $9 billion, and roll back education funding (excluding Pell Grants) to pre-2002 levels, despite 8.6 million more students in our classrooms according to the NEA.

The Trump budget has a huge number of damaging cuts, but the biggest one in K12 education is the total elimination of Title IIA funds at about $2.4 billion. 

This funding goes to states for teacher training -- or to pay for teachers to reduce class size. More commonly these days, the funding is being used to avoid sharp class size increases. All states and districts receive these funds currently, though districts with more disadvantaged kids get a larger share.

These cuts would be especially devastating considering class sizes are already very high in NYC and elsewhere around the country, as school budgets have still not recovered from the huge cuts made during the great recession.  

Nationwide, while the number of public K-12 teachers and other school staff fell by 221,000 since 2008, the number of students increased by 1,120,000.  In NY state, the total number of teachers in New York state public schools fell by about 26,000 between 2008-2015, according to NYSED statistics. 

In NYC, where we already had the largest classes in the state, we have lost about 10,000 K12 general education teaching positions since the recession.   The result is that general ed and inclusion class sizes are even larger than before – in K-3, bigger than in 1999; in 4-8th grades,  than in 2004.

The Title IIA program has existed at least since Eisenhower administration, and until the year 2000 was used mostly for teacher training.  Then President Clinton created a separate funding stream to help districts lower class size, that was folded into Title IIA teacher training funds by George W. Bush when he became President. In 2014, about 30% of Title IIA funds were being used to hire teachers or keep them on staff.

You can see how much your state currently receives in Title IIA funds here; or if you live in NY state, how much your district was allocated , for a total of $178 million. 
In NYC, contrary to several news reports, the entire Title IIA amount of $101 million was distributed to schools this year for the specific purpose of avoiding further class size increases, according to this DOE allocation memo.
In addition, Trump wants to cut spending on afterschool programs by $1.2 billion as well as many worthwhile higher ed programs.  He also wants to increase funding to private schools and charter schools by $1.4 billion: $1 billion for Title I portability – so poor kids can take their funding directly to charter schools; $250 million for a new private school voucher program; and a direct increase of $168 million for charter schools.  

Of course, the ultimate goal of Trump and Betsy DeVos is by increasing class size, they will manage to drive more children into charter and private schools.  Already parents cite smaller classes as one of their top reasons for choosing charters. Soon I will post an Action Alert regarding how to fight these egregious cuts.

Meanwhile, check out the below for the proven benefits of small classes – which not only increase achievement, and improve non-cognitive skills, parental involvement and school climate but also to significantly reduce disciplinary problems and teacher attrition rates.






 NYC Public School Parents: How Trump's budget cuts will affect class size- here in NYC and nationwide:
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Why Bad Teachers Are Hard to Find - Teacher Habits

Why Bad Teachers Are Hard to Find - Teacher Habits:

Why Bad Teachers Are Hard to Find


Bad teachers need to be fired. You hear it all the time. It’s part of most education reformers’ guiding philosophy. Most people would have a very hard time justifying any opposition to it. Sometimes, in order to appease actual teachers and soften the harsh message, the phrase “after being given an opportunity to improve” is added after the word “teachers,” but the sentiment is the same: Our education system would be so much better if only we could fire the crappy teachers.
What strikes me most is what happens after someone says it. Never is the logical follow-up question asked:
Just what exactly is a bad teacher?
Teachers are unique. I’m not just saying that because I am one. Unlike many jobs, there is no one metric that can be used to assess a teacher’s performance. If you’re a salesperson and you don’t sell stuff, you’re a bad salesperson. If you’re a lawyer who can’t get clients, you won’t be a lawyer for long. If you’re a preacher whose sermons cause parishioners to switch churches, you probably went into the wrong line of work. If you make widgets and nobody buys them, you’re going to go out of business. If you’re a chef that makes food nobody wants to eat, you’re not a good chef.
Reformers want to equate teaching to other jobs because it makes their agenda easier to accomplish. So they have to come up with a metric and the one they’ve settled on is:
 If you’re a teacher and your students don’t learn, then you’re a bad teacher.
The need to have a single metric creates some other problems that garner a lot of attention. You have to be able to say how much learning is the right amount. Then you have to have a way to figure out if students learned that much. Right now the US uses standardized test results to provide the numbers that are necessary to justify the labeling of teachers (and schools) as bad. Putting aside for a moment all of the problems inherent in rendering a verdict based on the results of a single test, the method has other obvious flaws, all of which stem from the initial error of viewing teachers the same as other professionals.
Let me know which of the following four teachers is bad. Which ones would you fire?
Ms. Jackson is young, smart, and energetic. Just out of college, she Why Bad Teachers Are Hard to Find - Teacher Habits:


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Are “Big Data” and “metrics” the new religion in education reform? | Eclectablog

Are “Big Data” and “metrics” the new religion in education reform? | Eclectablog:

Are “Big Data” and “metrics” the new religion in education reform?

Graphic credit: Gerd Leonhard

As anyone watching the corporate education reform movement can attest to, Big Data and metrics have become the coin of the realm to the reform community. Let any conversation between reformers and defenders of public education go on long enough and the reformer will eventually blurt out the magic words: “But…accountability!”

This worldview seems informed by the belief that any problem, no matter how complex or complicated, can be solved by crunching enough numbers. The problem is that when dealing with actual, living human beings, numbers don’t always–or ever–mean what we think they mean.
In honor of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, let’s look at an example from the world of sports. Let’s say we have two hypothetical college hoops teams, the “Reformers” and the “Defenders,” and both teams finish the season with identical records of 20-15. Based on their numerical records, the teams are equal, right?
Not quite. Because the Reformers play in the Big Corporate Conference, or BCC, which has been, historically, one of the most competitive in the country, while the Defenders compete in the Ivory Tower League, or ITL–an organization of universities that strongly values academics, teaching, and scholarship, and sees participation in athletics as just one part of their institutional mission (I know, I know–this kind of conference would never exist in real life–let me dream!). As a result, each of the Reformers‘ victories are given more relative weight, or value, in the complex statistical formula used by the national rankings experts, while the Defenders‘ victories are given less “credit”. So, even though both teams finished the regular season with the same record, the Reformers were ranked in the top 25 and awarded a 6 seed, while the Defenders finished the season unranked and missed the tournament. Sounds fair, right?
Well, not so fast my friend!


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Seven Reasons You Probably Don't Suck (For Teachers) | Blue Cereal Education

Seven Reasons You Probably Don't Suck (For Teachers) | Blue Cereal Education:

Seven Reasons You Probably Don't Suck (For Teachers)

Anya Fights

Well, it’s that time of year. Spring Break has passed – the last landmark of rebootage and rejuvenation. 
Many of us are returning without much idea what we’ll be doing in class this week. Maybe you feel behind again, and have big plans for getting things ‘back on track.’ Or maybe all that stuff you were gonna do better this year has already kinda fizzled, and you’re just hanging on until term ends. Some of you are excited about seeing your kids again – which is weird. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for you… but it’s still seriously weird. 
So maybe you’re optimistic, or maybe you’re sad break is over, or maybe…
Maybe you don’t actually know anymore. Maybe you had the best intentions ever, but when it’s quiet and you’re alone, you wonder…
Oh god, do I suck at this? Maybe I’m not cut out to be a teacher. I mean, I like it sometimes… often, really. I just thought I’d be better at it. It’s like I can’t quite… they just aren’t… I wish… *sigh*.
I get it. Whatever variation taunts you, I hear you. I don’t really do nurturing or warm fuzzies, but I am a fan of reality – so let’s be candid for a moment, shall we?
You don’t suck at this teaching thing. 
I mean, it’s possible, I suppose. Some teachers do. But most of the ones who DO suck don’t realize or care that they suck. They certainly don’t read education blogs hoping for insight or inspiration. So it’s very, very unlikely that you suck. 
Buffy Is The PlanStatistics say, in fact, that you’re probably pretty good. Once you control for poverty and upbringing and factors well-beyond your control, the reality is that most American public school teachers are at least adequate, and many are quite impressive much of the time. If this is your first year, you’re probably not as good as you will be in two more; if this is your twentieth, it’s possible you’ve lost some of the passion of your first fifteen. But overall, I suspect you’re a miracle worker every day and simply don’t see it.


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Gulen Scandal Continues: District alleges fraud in charter school application

District alleges fraud in charter school application:

District alleges fraud in charter school application





Two petitions had street addresses that don't exist within the city limits.
Another listed a vacant lot.
And yet another bore the name and address of a resident who said she had never seen the document, much less signed it.
All of these – and more – were found on petitions supporting the creation of a charter school in Union County, one in a growing group of publicly funded charters that has its roots in New Jersey’s Turkish community.
Documents show this and other evidence were submitted to the New Jersey Education Department last year by Linden public school officials who were then – and still are today – alleging fraud in the proposal for the Union Arts and Science Charter School.
The state, which under Gov. Chris Christie’s leadership has looked to expand the charter school movement, approved the application and, after the allegations landed in Trenton, reaffirmed its decision.
The state official who contacted the firm behind the new charter about Linden’s claims now has an executive job with that firm.
The charter school is actively recruiting students in anticipation of opening in the new school year.
Linden district officials, meanwhile, have claimed in letters and a lengthy affidavit that an overwhelming number of the petitions purportedly signed by city residents in support of the Union Arts and Science Charter School were bogus, “either forged or were completely fictitious.”
In many cases when attendance officers – including a retired city policeman – knocked on doors, residents simply said they didn’t know the person who had signed the petition.
“They would say that’s my address, but I’ve lived here for the last so many years and nobody by that name lives here,” said John Horre, a district attendance officer who served three decades on the Linden police force.
In fact, in a spot-check of the petitions, The Record and NorthJersey.com found one was signed with the name and address of a woman who a widely used commercial database shows died in 2007; the forms were submitted to the state in October 2015 as part of the charter’s initial application.
The revelations come on the heels of an investigation by The Record and NorthJersey.com that raised questions about charter school oversight and showed how a growing group of schools that receive tens of millions of dollars in public funding have some leaders and founders with ties to the movement of a controversial Islamic cleric, Fethullah Gulen.
A spokesman for the state Education Department said Linden’s “comments” were “reviewed” and the decision to approve the charter school application “was confirmed.”
A spokeswoman for the nonprofit management organization behind the charter – Elmwood Park-based iLearn Schools Inc. – said that when the state inquired aboutDistrict alleges fraud in charter school application: 

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What Bill Gates and Donald Trump will discuss when they meet on Monday — Quartz

What Bill Gates and Donald Trump will discuss when they meet on Monday — Quartz:

We’re wondering what exactly Bill Gates and Donald Trump will have to talk about tomorrow
On March 20, Bill Gates will meet with president Donald Trump. The agenda hasn’t been revealed, but the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation hinted at what would be discussed in a statement:
“The foundation has a long history of working with officials on both sides of the aisle to pursue shared priorities like global health and development and domestic education. Bill will meet with congressional leaders and members of the administration to discuss the tremendous progress made to-date in these areas and the critical and indispensable role that the United States has played in achieving these gains.”
Gates and Trump previously met at Trump Tower in December to discuss innovation. He walked away from the meeting saying that Trump had the opportunity to be like John F. Kennedy. “But in the same way President Kennedy talked about the space mission and got the country behind that,” Gates said after the meeting, “I think whether it’s education or stopping epidemics … [or] in this energy space, there can be a very upbeat message that [Trump’s] administration [is] going to organize things, get rid of regulatory barriers, and have American leadership through innovation.”
Despite Trump’s appointing a climate-change denier to run the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Gates optimistically predicted that investment in energy R&D would continue to be a bipartisan issue. Clean energy is among his personal causes: Late last year he established the $1 billion investment vehicle Breakthrough Energy Ventures, along with Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Michael Bloomberg, and other business leaders.
Will he retain that optimism for tomorrow’s meeting? His tone changed on March 16, when the Gates Foundation said that it was “deeply troubled” by the president’s 2018 budget request, released that morning. The proposal included deep cuts to both the EPA and non-military overseas aid. The next day, Gates responded with an article on the Gates Notes blog, “How Foreign Aid Helps Americans.”
Gates is, however, among the few tech industry leaders still trying to talk to the president. Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick left Trump’s advisory council (paywall) in February after a backlash, and Silicon Valley leaders have been taking a more cautious stance since December’s meeting of select tech CEOs at Trump Tower. Gates, though, no longer leads Microsoft, so he doesn’t have to answer to employees or shareholders who might object to his having close ties with Trump.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is among those who continues to meet with the president—he, too, was bullish that he could influence Trump’s stance toward innovation. No word as yet whether the big funding cuts to scientific research on which American industry depends have blunted Musk’s enthusiasm.What Bill Gates and Donald Trump will discuss when they meet on Monday — Quartz:


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 Here's some reading for your lazy Sunday. Remember to pass on what you find useful! 

Did Betsy DeVos Just Ask States To Ignore Part of Federal Law?

Nobody did a better job this week of explaining the problem with DeVos's comments on just who gets included in ESSA work than Valerie Strauss

Damning a Student's Future with Old Data

Nancy Bailey looks at one of the big problems with the work of our Data Overlords

Joel Klein Reflects in His Legacy as NYC Schools Chancellor

Well, that's something that could use some reflecting. As you might imagine, Klein has a bit more insight about some reflections than about others.

NJ Charter School Fools Gold Rush

Jersey Jazzman has been taking a look at charters cashing in in New Jersey

Dumping ESSA Regs Is Not a Big Deal But...

Leonie Haimson takes a look at what the dumping of Obama's ESSA regs really means-- and what it doesn't.

Charter School with 38% High School Completion Rate Brags About 88% College Completion Rate

Many of us were passing around a USA Today article seemingly critical of charters. Gary Rubinstein took the time to drill down a little further down to get the evene worse parts that USA Today skipped.

To The Parents of Children Who Stare at My Disabled Daughter

You might not always read Daniel Willingham because he's not often on our side of issues, but this piece-- personal and heartfelt-- deserves your attention.

The Reclusive Hedge-Fund Tycoon Behind the Trump Presidency

Not strictly about education, but if you want to get a better sense of the ideology moving some of the people who helped push Trump on us, this profile of Robert Mercer by Jane Mayer in the New Yorker is an important read.

Albert Camus's Letter

From the indispensable blog Brain Pickings, a piece about Camus's letter of gratitude to his teacher

Rest in Peace, EVAAS Developer William Sanders

At VAMboozled, an obituary for and recap of the developer of EVAAS, one of the widely used VAM models. If you want the incredible story of where this thing came from, here it is (with links, for advanced students).  

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