Jersey Jazzman: Transparency For Thee, Not For Me

Jersey Jazzman: Transparency For Thee, Not For Me

Transparency For Thee, Not For Me

by Duke

Whitney Tilson is sick - sick, I tell ya! - of these paid union shills who won't tell us where they get their money!

I’m going to be writing a lot about the book in future emails, but I want to start with the most important revelation: Diane Ravitch has been getting paid A LOT of money by the unions in the form of speaker fees – Brill estimates $10,000 per appearance and $200,000 over the past year – which by itself isn’t a problem EXCEPT that: a) she’s never disclosed these large payments, which anyone listening to her should know about; and b) she’s a total hypocrite for criticizing reformers like me for supposedly making a lot of money from our activities (when in truth I’ve never taken a SINGLE PENNY and have instead given

This Week In Education: Update: So DFER Is Liberal & Pro-Union Now? and pigs fly

This Week In Education: Update: So DFER Is Liberal & Pro-Union Now?

Update: So DFER Is Liberal & Pro-Union Now?

The Obama administration and many school reform organizations and talking heads were noticably AWOL during the Wisconsin decertification debate last winter, or appeared on the scene only belatedly to offer their support for collective bargaining rights. So it was interesting to hear DFER's Joe Williams express what sounded like pretty strong concerns about the linkages between reform and anti-unionism in Claudio Sanchez' NPR piece last night: "The notion that education reform could get wrapped up so closely with attempts

Schools Flagged for Earthquake Risks Left Unchecked voiceofsandiego.org: Education

voiceofsandiego.org: Education

Schools Flagged for Earthquake Risks Left UncheckedBy Emily Alpert and Kyla Calvert | Comments | 5:30 am

Nearly a decade ago, state experts flagged thousands of school buildings that might be vulnerable in an earthquake. Engineers cautioned school districts that more inspections were needed to tell if the buildings were in trouble.

But here in San Diego County, many of those inspections never happened. Only about 100 of the 320 school buildings countywide that raised concerns have been reviewed, repaired or demolished.

That means that children go to school in about 200 buildings across the county where earthquake safety is still an unanswered question, the result of a long string of shortcomings in how California and its school districts have handled seismic safety.

Roughly half of those buildings are in South Bay Union School District. It passed a $59 million bond three years ago to upgrade fire alarms, renovate restrooms, ensure schools are accessible to the disabled and make other repairs. Yet it has not checked nearly 100 buildings for seismic safety.

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Testing, Testing. What Do You Want to Know?Comments | 12:06 pm

State test scores are slated to come out next week. What should we look for?

Are there any schools that have been trying new and interesting things where you're waiting to see the test scores? Any questions you have about how testing works or how to understand the numbers? Please send me your suggestions by email, Twitter or via the blog before the deluge of data comes out!

Emily Alpert is the education reporter for voiceofsandiego.org. What should she write about next? Please contact her directly at emily.alpert@voiceofsandiego.org. Follow @emilyschoolsyou

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Freedom from No Child Left Behind? There’s a CatchComments (4) | 10:49 am

The big news in the edu-world this week is that the feds are dangling something juicy in front of states sick of No Child Left Behind: A chance to wave aside the law's stringent testing goals.

The big catch is what they want in return and whether California is prepared to deliver it.

No Child Left Behind sets targets for student testing that critics say are unrealistic. Because the bar rises every year, more and more schools are considered failing, so many that the label is losing meaning. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan called it "a slow-motion train wreck" in The New York Times.

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MSNBC covers #SOSmarch and Rita Solnet of Parents Across America « Parents Across America

MSNBC covers SOS march and Rita Solnet of Parents Across America « Parents Across America

MSNBC covers SOS march and Rita Solnet of Parents Across America

by leoniehaimson

Great coverage of the SOS march and Rita’s speech starts it off.

OTL Campaign Blog: When you get what you pay for

OTL Campaign Blog: When you get what you pay for

When you get what you pay for

by otlcampaign

It is often said, in certain circles, that “money doesn’t matter in education.” But, as that well-known social commentator, Deep Throat, observed, to understand what’s going on, we need to “follow the money.”

This chart shows the dramatic per pupil spending differences between some of our nation’s largest school districts, a sample of wealthy public school districts and three of our most prestigious private schools.

The three schools on the far right are well-regarded private schools, the American equivalents of Eton and

My Fulbright to México: Creating Safe Schools for All « Feminist Teacher

My Fulbright to México: Creating Safe Schools for All « Feminist Teacher

My Fulbright to México: Creating Safe Schools for All

by feministteacher

My Fulbright presentation at UNAM on LGBT youth in schools in Mexico City.

Every now and then, teachers get the opportunity of a lifetime.

I know I did when I was selected to be a member of the second cohort of Distinguished Fulbright Award in Teaching (DAT) recipients. Still a fairly new addition to the family of Fulbright awards, the DAT Fulbright provides experienced teachers the chance to conduct research in a host country in an area of education about which they feel passionate.

I’ve just recently returned from Mexico City after having spent six months as a guest researcher in the gender studies program, Programa Universitario de Estudios de Género (PUEG) at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). My research focused on interviewing high school-aged LGBT youth on themes relating to

Corporate Funding of Urban League, NAACP & Civil Rights Orgs Has Turned Into Corporate Leadership | Black Agenda Report

Corporate Funding of Urban League, NAACP & Civil Rights Orgs Has Turned Into Corporate Leadership | Black Agenda Report

Corporate Funding of Urban League, NAACP & Civil Rights Orgs Has Turned Into Corporate Leadership

Tue, 08/09/2011 - 21:18 — Bruce A. Dixon

• Black Misleadership Class |
• National Urban League |
• ba radio commentary

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A Black Agenda Radio Comentary by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

How did billionaire Bill Gates, who is heavily involved in the hijacking of Africa's food supply, and the privatization of education here in the US get to be the keynote speaker at the National Urban League's annual meeting in Boston the week before last? The answer is that the Urban League is utterly dependent on the generosity of corporate donors, and Bill Gates is potentially among the biggest.

Corporate Funding of Urban League, NAACP & Civil Rights Orgs Has Turned Into Corporate Leadership

by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

“Not only is Bill Gates a cousin,” gushed academic Henry Louis Gates at the

Is Education Reform Effective? Depends on the Definition - Education - GOOD

Is Education Reform Effective? Depends on the Definition - Education - GOOD

Is Education Reform Effective? Depends on the Definition

Here’s the dilemma for people who write about education: Certain critical principles need to be mentioned again and again because policymakers persist in ignoring them, yet faithful readers eventually tire of the repetition.

Consider, for example, the reminder that schooling isn’t necessarily better just because it’s more “rigorous.” Or that standardized test results are such a misleading indicator of teaching or learning that raising scores can actually lower the quality of students’ education. Or that using

Can Teachers Alone Overcome Poverty? Steven Brill Thinks So | The Nation

Can Teachers Alone Overcome Poverty? Steven Brill Thinks So | The Nation

Can Teachers Alone Overcome Poverty? Steven Brill Thinks So

Dana Goldstein

Steven Brill, the journalist and media entrepreneur, has come a long way since he helicoptered onto the education beat in 2009.

That’s when The New Yorker published Brill’s exposé of the New York City “rubber rooms,” where the Department of Education parked the one-twentieth of 1 percent of the city’s 80,000 public school teachers—about forty people—who had been accused of gross negligence and removed from the classroom. As they awaited the due process hearings guaranteed in their union contracts, rubber room teachers received full pay and benefits, sometimes for up to three years.

The article sparked outrage among readers, who were appalled that millions of tax dollars were spent annually paying the salaries and arbitrating the cases of teachers who came to work inebriated or practiced corporal punishment. Despite the fact that the Department of Education and the United Federation of Teachers shared responsibility for creating the clumsy and cumbersome arbitration process, Brill laid the blame solely at the union’s doorstep.

A

He followed up with his hyperbolically titled May 2010 New York Times Magazine feature “The Teachers’ Unions Last Stand,”

This Week In Education: Reform: Smearing Ravitch Will Likely Blow Up In Reformers' Faces

This Week In Education: Reform: Smearing Ravitch Will Likely Blow Up In Reformers' Faces

Reform: Smearing Ravitch Will Likely Blow Up In Reformers' Faces

by Alexander Russo

How much do Michelle Rhee, Joel Klein, and Geoff Canada get paid for their appearances at various conferences and events, by whom -- and where are these payments disclosed to those who are listening and to the public? How much did Steve Brill get paid to write his book and who was it who first suggested to him that he should look into Diane Ravitch's speaking fees? These are some of the questions that come to mind in light of the attacks on Diane Ravitch in Brill's book that are the focus of Whitney Tilson's emailings this morning (see below). I have issues with Ravitch -- earlier this year she demanded to have her blurb removed from the back of my book over my my expressing

This Week In Education: Standards: New Report Undercuts Duncan Waiver Argument

This Week In Education: Standards: New Report Undercuts Duncan Waiver Argument

Standards: New Report Undercuts Duncan Waiver Argument

by Alexander Russo

The WSJ's Stephanie Banchero and Huffington Post's Joy Resmovits both use the release of a new report from NCES to describe about how state assessments have gotten more rigorous in recent years, though they still vary widely and are too many of them too easy. This shows two things that are important to note in light of the Duncan waiver proposal: First, that states are already many of them moving in the right direction in terms of more rigor. ( Eight states have raised standards for reading and math in recent years. SC is the only state to drop standards. Two more states -- NY and TN -- have raised them more recently than the report parameters allow.) Second, letting states create their own

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: More on Duncan's Law

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: More on Duncan's Law

More on Duncan's Law

"But to maintain a law [NCLB] that is so fundamentally broken that teachers and principals and students reject and are rebelling against because it doesn't make sense, to just sit here passively in Washington and do nothing, to me, would be the height of arrogance or the height of tone-deafness." -- Interview with John Hockenberry

Arne's right of course. The problem is, he wants to replace the "fundamentally broken" NCLB with something even worse -- a Race To The Topthat maintains the worse features of No Child's reliance on standardized testing, basing teacher

Batman and Robin and Ignoring the Education Success Models You Tout | Scathing Purple Musings

Batman and Robin and Ignoring the Education Success Models You Tout | Scathing Purple Musings

Batman and Robin and Ignoring the Education Success Models You Tout

by Bob Sikes

(What follows is a re-publish of my March 27, 2011 post titled Batman and Robin Starring in “Pay No Attention to that Model We’re Ignoring.” To understand the context it was written, the reader should know that I wrote this during the spring 2011 Florida legislative session in the run-up to the passage of SB736, the state’s radical education reform bill. My love of satire inspired me to frame this as a circa 1960′s Batman and Robin episode. I use the speech from South Korea’s Minister of Education that StateEdWatch’s Sean Cavanaugh reported on in March as the basis for my post. South Korea is one of the success models that corporate school reformers cite to justify their agenda.

As Florida rushes along at break-neck speed toward testing as a final solution, another model sure to be ignored by Florida’s Republicans comes from South Korea. The nation’s former minister of education, science

Solidarity Forever in Honor of the Wisconsin 14 - Lily's Blackboard – Lily's Blackboard

Solidarity Forever in Honor of the Wisconsin 14 - Lily's Blackboard – Lily's Blackboard

Solidarity Forever in Honor of the Wisconsin 14

Aug 11th, 2011

by LilysBlackboard.

Time for some good music! Lily sings Solidarity Forever in of the Wisconsin legislators who stood up for working people against attacks on collective bargaining and union rights.

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