The in box. Who does TRS Executive Director Dick Ingram speak for? « Fred Klonsky

The in box. Who does TRS Executive Director Dick Ingram speak for? « Fred Klonsky:

The in box. Who does TRS Executive Director Dick Ingram speak for?

by Fred Klonsky

Richard Ingram

The story that you see below appeared in the Springfield State Journal-Register this morning.  When the executive director of an public body speaks, especially on  a substantive issue, it is a logical assumption that he is speaking not just for himself but for the board that he represents.   Director Ingram’s remarks having to do with the reduction of benefits do not represent the position of the Teachers’ Retirement System and the Board.  They are contrary to the TRS Board’s position that benefits can not be diminished and are protected by the Illinois Constitution.  They are contrary to a discussion that took place on Thursday and Friday of this week in open discussion at our annual retreat.  This story is already reverberating across the state and it will be picked up by other media outlets.  The quotes from Tom Cross below already show that Director 

Broadie Class of 2011 Dallas ISD board names Mike Miles lone superintendent finalist | Dallas ISD Blog | dallasnews.com

Dallas ISD board names Mike Miles lone superintendent finalist | Dallas ISD Blog | dallasnews.com:

MIKE MILES

The Broad Superintendents Academy Class of 2011
Superintendent
Harrison School District, Colorado

“Educating at-risk students is the most important work of our time. Public education needs more than incremental reform; it needs a transformation. As a life-long public servant, I hope to continue to provide the vision, leadership, and tough decision making required to transform our school systems.”

Mike Miles currently serves as superintendent of the Harrison School District in Colorado Springs, Colo. Miles has served the public interest as a soldier, statesman, and educator. A former officer in the Army Ranger Battalion, his military experience includes leading counter terrorism training operations. Miles later served in the U.S. State Department as a Soviet analyst and member of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. He then served as a Diplomat to Poland and Russia at the end of the Cold War, finishing his State Department work as the Special Assistant to the Ambassador to Russia. Miles continued his commitment to public service as a teacher and principal. As an instructional leader and professional developer, he has also helped teachers and administrators statewide and in school districts nationally to improve instruction and raise student achievement. Miles holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point; a bachelor’s degree in Slavic languages and literature from the University of California at Berkeley; and a master’s degree in international and public affairs from Columbia University. Miles is a graduate of the 2011 class of The Broad Superintendents Academy.

Dallas ISD board names Mike Miles lone superintendent finalist

By

Matthew Haag/Reporter 

mhaag@dallasnews.com | Bio

4:00 PM on Mon., Apr. 2, 2012 | Permalink

Update | 4:18 p.m. From his official Harrison School District Two bio:

Mike Miles, 55, formerly the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction of the Fountain-Ft. Carson School District is Harrison School District Two's superintendent.

After graduating from West Point in 1978, Miles entered the ranks of the officer corps at Ft. Lewis, Washington, where he served in the Army's elite Ranger Battalion and commanded an Infantry Rifle Company. After the Army, Miles studied Slavic languages at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Leningrad in Russia. Miles then pursued advanced study of Soviet affairs and public policy at Columbia University after being selected as a Mellon Fellow in the Humanities and winning a National Science Foundation Graduate Scholarship.

Miles graduated from Columbia University in 1989 and joined the U.S. State Department as a Presidential Management Intern. He handled a portfolio usually reserved for more senior 

Educator Excellence Task Force - Initiatives & Programs (CA Dept of Education)

Educator Excellence Task Force - Initiatives & Programs (CA Dept of Education):

Educator Excellence Task Force

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson has appointed an Educator Excellence Task Force to focus on the Educator Quality element of A Blueprint for Great Schools.

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State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson has appointed an Educator Excellence Task Force to focus on the Educator Quality element of the Blueprint for Great Schools (released in August 2011) and designed to strengthen California’s teacher corps.

The task force will be a joint effort between the California Department of Education and the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. It will be co-chaired by two nationally recognized education leaders: Stanford University's Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, and Superintendent Chris Steinhauser of Long Beach Unified School District, the third largest district in California.

The task force members include:

• Co-Chair: Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University, Co-Director of Redesign Network, Stanford University School of Education
• Co-Chair: Chris Steinhauser, Superintendent, Long Beach Unified School District
• Matthew Alexander, Principal, June Jordan School For Equity, Unified School District
• Mark Archon, Director, Madera County Office of Education
• Donna Artukovic, Parent, PTA Member
• Debbie Ashmore, Principal, Musick Elementary School, Newark Unified School District
• Rafael Balderas, Principal, Los Angeles Unified School District
• Constance Blackburn, CTC Commissioner & Teacher
  Assemblymember Susan Bonilla, California State Assembly
• Maureen Burness, Retired Administrator, Special Education, Folsom Cordova Unified School District
• Rebecca Cheung, Academic Coordinator, University of California, Berkeley
• Carole Cobb, Curriculum Designer, Program Developer, Teacher, Compton Unified School District
• Paula Cordeiro, Dean of the School of Leadership and Education, University of San Diego
• Larry Ferlazzo, Teacher, Burbank High School, Sacramento City Unified School District
• Roberta Furger, Associate Director, PICO
• Ken Futernick, Director, WestEd
• Cindy Gappa, Induction Regional Director, Tehama County Office of Education
• Jeff Gilbert, Lead Principal, Marrakech House at Hillsdale High School
• Victoria Graf, Professor, Director of Special Education Program, Loyola Marymount University
• Cynthia Grutzik, Associate Dean, School of Education, CSU Dominguez Hills
• Carol Hansen, Assistant Superintendent, ABC Unified School District
• Martha Infante, Teacher, LA Academy Middle School, Los Angeles Unified School District
• Holly Jacobson, Director, Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning at WestEd
• Daly Jordan-Koch, Teacher, Vallejo City School District
• Tara Kini, Staff Attorney, Public Advocates
• Kelly Kovacic, Teacher, Preuss School at University of California, San Diego
• Debbra Lindo, Superintendent, Emery School District
• Senator Alan Lowenthal, California State Senate
• Meera Mani, Director, Packard Foundation
• Kim Mecum, Assistant Superintendent, Fresno Unified School District
• Ellen Moir, Executive Director, New Teacher Center
• Doreen Osumi, Assistant Supt. Ed Services, Yuba City Unified School District
• David Rattray, Senior Vice President of Education & Workforce Development, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce
• Gary Ravani, President, EC/K-12 Council, California Federation of Teachers
• Sue Rich, Assistant Superintendent, Stanislaus County Office of Education
• Francisco Rodriguez, President, Mira Costa College
• Maria Santos, Deputy Superintendent, Oakland Unified School District
• Ilene Strauss, Member, State Board of Education
• Page Tompkins, Executive Director, Reach Institute
• Merrill Vargo, Executive Director, Pivot Learning Partners
• Roxanna Villasenor, Vice Principal, Valley High School
• Dean Vogel, President, California Teachers Association
• Sue Westbrook, Retired Teacher, Ocean View School District
• Angelo Williams, Assistant Executive Director, Policy and Programs, California School Boards Association
• Beverly Young, Vice Chancellor, California State University

News Release

• January 20, 2012: Torlakson Launches Effort to Boost Educator Excellence

Support PURE! » What’s next? Evaluating pediatricians based on patient “growth”?

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » What’s next? Evaluating pediatricians based on patient “growth”?:

What’s next? Evaluating pediatricians based on patient “growth”?

by admin

Judging pediatricians on the changes in the height and weight of their young patients as measured at their annual physicals from one year to the next makes just as much sense as using student “growth” on annual standardized reading and math tests to evaluate teachers.
But that’s just what the Chicago Public Schools will be doing beginning this fall, despite warnings from some 100 local education experts, who spoke out last week about the dangers of this evaluation model. Chicago Public Schools is rushing into a system in which test scores will soon account for up to 40% of a teacher’s job evaluation.
Here’s how that would look if we did it to doctors. You would bring your child in for her annual physical where she 

Missouri Education Watchdog: Arne Duncan's Education Reform = Doublespeak Nonsense

Missouri Education Watchdog: Arne Duncan's Education Reform = Doublespeak Nonsense:

Arne Duncan's Education Reform = Doublespeak Nonsense

by stlgretchen

Following yesterday's April Fool's posting comes a tongue in cheek, yet serious post on the education reforms set forth by Arne Duncan and the DOEd and how they impact education.  The author sets forth a much different scenario than does Arne Duncan.  While he states this reform is America's blueprint for educational success, this is not the belief of the blog writer; she believes this system is designed to fail.

 The only suggestion I would make would be the revision of opening sentence.  Instead of "don't panic"....it should read:

"We have a crisis on multiple levels!  We need a dramatic change!" (quote from Arne Duncan)  This cry is the permission (apparently circumventing legislative approval on the federal and state levels) for this administration to put forward reforms including mandates that are unconstitutional, unproven, untested and unfunded.

In the video below, Duncan states the US became complacent and this is the reason for our drop in global 

Check Out Parents Across America - You Will Be Glad You Did!

Parents Across America:

Austin Independent School District Battles On for Charter IDEA In-District against the Will of Parents and the Community

Lorie Barzano at Parents Across America - 15 hours ago

By Lorie Barzano Co-Chair of CoalitionSAUS (Strengthen Austin Urban Schools) A parent led group representing inner-city public schools working to ensure accessible, quality Public Education for all children and healthy, thriving Public Schools in Austin’s urban core In a special meeting on December 19, 2011, over the loud, repeated protests of thousands of parents and [...]

The Gulen Movement’s connection to the largest US charter network

leoniehaimson at Parents Across America - 20 hours ago

By Sharon Higgins, founding member of Parents Across America Note: This is an expanded version of a guest post published in The Washington Post under Valerie Strauss’s column, The Answer Sheet, on March 27, 2012. The largest charter school network in the United States is operated by people in and associated with the Gulen Movement [...]

South Carolina Parents Oppose Corporate Ed Reform

leoniehaimson at Parents Across America - 5 days ago

South Carolina: Parent Opposition and Resistance on Ed Reform Initiatives For Immediate Release March 27, 2012 Contact Person: Sarah Johnson Phone: (803) 920-4058, (843) 819-8933 Email: CVedu20@gmail.com Local Parent/Teacher Advocacy Group Welcomes US Secretary of Education to Town Charleston, SC – Charleston Area Community Voice for Education, an affiliate of Parents Across America, extends a [...]

CT Gov proposes to take the public & parents out of public education

leoniehaimson at Parents Across America - 1 week ago

by Wendy Lecker, cross-posted from the Stamford Advocate. The Connecticut Education Commissioner, Stefan Pryor, is a co-founder and former board member of Achievement First chain of charter schools. If the Governor’s bill passes, Pryor will have the power to take over any struggling school in the state, eviscerating the power of the local school governance [...]

New research supports PAA LSC model

pureparents at Parents Across America - 1 week ago

Last week PAA celebrated alongside Florida parents with the defeat of so-called “parent trigger” legislation, which would have allowed parents in “low-performing” schools to vote to close it, fire all the staff, or turn it into a charter school. But that doesn’t mean that we are completely satisfied with our schools and see no need [...]

Media Alert: PARENT PRESS CONFERENCE in Baton Rouge today

leoniehaimson at Parents Across America - 1 week ago

PARENTS PRESS CONFERENCE in Baton Rouge When: 2:00 p.m. today, March 22, 2012 Where: Steps of the Capitol, Baton Rouge, LA Reference: H B 976 Contact: Karran Harper Royal, with “Parents Across America” Phone: 504-722-8174 E-mail: karranroyal@yahoo.com Attached and copied below is a press release for a Parents’ Press Conference, featuring several organizations of parents [...]

Dissents from the status quo Council on Foreign Relations report

leoniehaimson at Parents Across America - 1 week ago

The report released yesterday was written by a task force of the Council on Foreign Relations, co-chaired by Joel Klein, former head of the NYC Department of Education and now working for Murdoch’s News Corp, and directed by Julia Levy, former PR flack for DOE. The task force was stacked with privateers, including Wendy Kopp [...]

ACLU letter & Moratorium on Charter Schools needed in Delaware!

leoniehaimson at Parents Across America - 2 weeks ago

The follow is written by Annalisa Ekbladh, one of the founders of Communities 4 Education, a new affiliate of Parents Across America. For more information or to join the organization, email her at aekbladh@verizon.net The Delaware ACLU recently issued a letter to Delaware Secretary of Education Lillian Lowery (see below), prompted by the controversy surrounding [...]

Maryland students protesting school conditions met with attack dogs

leoniehaimson at Parents Across America - 2 weeks ago

See this interview of Ashley Pinder and Erin James, activist students at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, Maryland. On March 1, the students planned a walk-out of the school because of class sizes of up to 40 students per class — “We’re not learning” says Erin — unappetizing and non-nutritional school lunches, and the deporting [...]

President Obama’s education budget priorities wrong

pureparents at Parents Across America - 2 weeks ago

PAA has serious concerns about President Obama’s education budget. Here is a one-page comparison chart detailing our positions regarding the President’s budget proposal. We sent a letter to members of the House and Senate education committees today which included the following comments, with our chart attached: Our general concern is that the budget seems to [...]

Clear Creek TX school board resolution vs. high-stakes testing

leoniehaimson at Parents Across America - 2 weeks ago

At least 40 Texas school boards have passed this resolution against high-stakes testing, “strangling our schools.” Here is the wording of the resolution passed by Clear Creek School District, a large district near NASA. It has been called “The shot heard around the county.” Why not around the country? If Texas school boards can pass [...]

Gov.Jindal has a death wish agenda for K-12 education in Louisiana

leoniehaimson at Parents Across America - 3 weeks ago

Things are bad everywhere but nowhere is it worse than in Louisiana, where Gov. Bobby Jindal and State Superintendent John White threaten to annihilate the state’s public schools with budget cuts, vouchers, the expansion of virtual charters, the erosion of teacher rights, and other forms of noxious corporate reform. The following is by Don Whittinghill [...]

California charter school aims to shut down successful public school

CarolineSF at Parents Across America - 3 weeks ago

Guest post by Molly Black, parent, Los Altos, Calif. Founding Member of LASDVoices Los Altos, Calif., is a sleepy little town in a quiet part of Silicon Valley where shops close by 6 p.m. and the few restaurants in town are dark by 9 p.m. Families move to Los Altos to take advantage of the [...]

Parents Across America hails defeat of Florida’s Parent Trigger bill

leoniehaimson at Parents Across America - 3 weeks ago

For immediate release: March 10, 2012 Contacts: Rita Solnet, Boca Raton: (561) 289-7333; rsolnet@aol.com Caroline Grannan, San Francisco: (415) 412-5758; cgrannan@gmail.com Parents Across America hails defeat of Florida’s Parent Trigger bill: A victory of parents over forces that would privatize and profit from our public schools Public education and true parent empowerment were the winners [...]

Education forum sponsored by PAA Charleston affiliate

leoniehaimson at Parents Across America - 3 weeks ago

Sponsored by our newest affiliate, Charleston Area Community Voice for Education: Beyond CCSD’s Vision 2016: A Community Conversation about Testing and Accountability Do Performance and Achievement = Learning? Charleston Area Community Voice for Education presents Ceresta Smith -Free to the public- Monday, March 12th at 7:00 p.m. Seacoast Church 750 Longpoint Road, Mt. Pleasant, SC [...]

From the PAA Store: I test under duress

andreamerida at Parents Across America - 3 weeks ago

I test under duress: say no to standardized testin by ParentsAcrossAmerica Browse other t-shirt designs made on zazzle.com With great thanks to Colorado opt-out activist, Conny J., here’s a great t-shirt for your kid, and maybe yourself, to express your opposition to the high-stakes decisions made with standardized test scores. We know that schools are [...]

Attempted coup by ConnCAN and TFA in Bridgeport: a cautionary tale

leoniehaimson at Parents Across America - 3 weeks ago

Very often the corporate reformers appear to view elected school boards as getting in the way of their plans to privatize public education. Matt Miller, who wrote a famous article called “First Kill All the School Boards” that argued that “local control has become a disaster for our schools” was recently selected to write the first [...]

Florida Parent Groups Frustrated by Lack of Access

leoniehaimson at Parents Across America - 3 weeks ago

Check your pockets when a Corporate Education reformer claims to care about parent empowerment; nearly always, as in this case, they are working for their own private ends. For immediate release.Tallahassee, Florida On Saturday, March 3, 2012, for the third time in a matter of weeks, a real Florida parent was cut off mid-sentence during [...]

A corporate reform coup d’etat in Bridgeport

leoniehaimson at Parents Across America - 4 weeks ago

By Norm Pattis, the attorney who litigated this case, cross-posted from his blog. An Open Letter to the Connecticut General Assembly In re: Bridgeport’s Schools A call came in moments ago. Mayor Bill Finch and his aides are busy at work in Hartford, lobbying lawmakers to pass legislation retroactively justifying the disbanding of the elected [...]

Texas Lives Up to Moniker as Lone STARR State

Lorie Barzano at Parents Across America - 5 weeks ago

In March, the STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) will replace the TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) test, which Texan students have taken annually since the implementation of No Child Left Behind. The STAAR test promises to have a higher degree of difficulty than the TAKS test and comes with more [...]