Rheespawnding: Toxic Michelle Rhee-group adds two more lobbyists as push continues for anti-teacher laws

The Turner Report: Michelle Rhee-group adds two more lobbyists as push continues for anti-teacher laws:

Michelle Rhee-group adds two more lobbyists as push continues for anti-teacher laws

StudentsFirst, the ironically (and misleadingly) named Michele Rhee-led organization that is pushing anti-teacher legislation has increased its lobbying contingent in Missouri to nine, according to Missouri Ethics Commission documents.

The organization added two lobbyists, Ximena Hartsock and Adam Childers, to its roster Monday.

StudentsFirst suffered a setback Wednesday when it failed to receive House approval of one of the centerpieces of the bills it is pushing across the U. S. requiring that at least 50 percent of teacher evaluations be based on student scores on standardized tests.

But another portion of that bill, which would eliminate any use of seniority in determining 

Stand ON Children First: New AstroTurf from Teacher in the Box

Just Like Michelle Rhee's Students first only BETTER

Astroturf lobbying refers to political organizations or campaigns that appear to be made up of grassroots activists but are actually organized and run by corporate interests seeking to further their own agendas. Such groups are often typified by innocent-sounding names that have been chosen specifically to disguise the group's true backers

Just Like Michelle Rhee's Students first Astroturf lobbying (only Better) 

The in box. IEA finally responds to the ABC Big Lie. « Fred Klonsky

The in box. IEA finally responds to the ABC Big Lie. « Fred Klonsky:

The in box. IEA finally responds to the ABC Big Lie.

by Fred Klonsky

48 hours after the ABC Big Lie story, repeating the talking points of the anti-union Illinois Policy Institute, the IEA finally responds.

Colleagues:
We wanted to provide information about a particularly bad pension story aired by the top TV news operation in Chicago this week.
On Wednesday night, in what was claimed to be an “investigative report,” WLS-TV/Channel 7 broadcast the lie that has been peddled for months by the “Illinois Policy Institute” — that teachers generally pay little or nothing toward their retirements.
This is a charge IEA has countered many times in the last year, in interviews or in letters to the editor. Heres a story from last October http://www.myjournalcourier.com/articles/teachers-35839-pensions-shell.html 
What was unusual about the TV story this week was the failure of the reporter to seek a comment from IEA, IFT or TRS. Any representative would have explained why it’s false to claim teachers 

The Educated Reporter: Atlanta Journal-Constitution: `Cheating' Series' Methodology is Valid

The Educated Reporter: Atlanta Journal-Constitution: `Cheating' Series' Methodology is Valid:

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: `Cheating' Series' Methodology is Valid

by Emily Richmond

I received the following statement from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in response to Thursday's Educated Reporter blog about criticism of the newspaper's "Cheating Our Children" series:


     "The criticisms that have emerged about our methodology are similar to those we heard from Atlanta when we first began writing about cheating in 2008 and 2009. They are similar to what the Dallas Morning News heard when they wrote about cheating in 2004. The chief complaint -- that we are identifying districts with high student mobility, not suspicious test-taking -- is not supported by the data. The data shows no correlation between high mobility and more suspicious test scores.


     Statistical and erasure analyses are always simply screening tools -- they don't tell you what happened or who changed answers. As federal officials have said, it is incumbent on states and districts now to take the 

Shanker Blog » Higher Education: Soaring Rhetoric, Skyrocketing Costs

Shanker Blog » Higher Education: Soaring Rhetoric, Skyrocketing Costs:

Higher Education: Soaring Rhetoric, Skyrocketing Costs

by Randall Garton

Over the past several years, the mantra of “college for all” has become ubiquitous, with Americans told that a college education is no longer a luxury, but a necessity, for any individual who aspires to a middle-class life in the 21st century economy.  And indeed, many studies tend to confirm that persons with a post-secondary education enjoy  lower unemployment rates and higher wages over time
Simultaneously – sometimes in the same articles – we learn that soaring tuition rates have put college out of the reach of many, if not most, families.  In fact, for the past few decades, college costs have been rising faster than health care costs.  In the last year or so, the news is that students who tried to borrow their way around this seemingly intractable problem only dug themselves a deeper hole. Outstanding student college loans have reached – or soon will reach – the $1 trillion mark.
The average student graduates college with a debt burden of nearly $25,000; others, especially those with professional degrees, are buckling under a debt load in the six figures. Since bankruptcy forgiveness does not apply to student debt, even unemployed and underemployed graduates can expect to carry this debt with them for years, perhaps decades, to come. With a slow economy exacerbating the problem, it’s no surprise to find that the national student loan default rate for 2009 (the last year for which data are available) was 8.8 percent and 

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

Education Headlines

Friday, May 4, 2012

Ocean View district, teachers enter fact-finding stage of impasse

Health insurance benefits continue to be the sticking point between the Ocean View School District and its teachers as the contract dispute reaches the fact-finding stage.

Palm Desert High School crisis offers harsh portrait of social media

Several Palm Desert High School students faced discipline for bullying and insensitive Facebook and Twitter comments posted Wednesday while a fellow student climbed up a two-story building and threatened suicide.

O.C. schools chief to step down

Orange County Superintendent of Schools William Habermehl announced Thursday he will resign from his post at the end of the school year. Habermehl, 68, said he plans to retire to spend more time with his family. He made the announcement during the county Board of Education meeting. He will step down June 29.

Developer seeks school district support

The developer of a proposed affordable apartment complex for veterans and their families is asking the Jurupa Unified School District board of education to throw its support behind the project.

Alvord teachers laid off

Fourteen teachers and assistant principals will get final layoff notices from Alvord Unified School District under a resolution the board approved unanimously Thursday night, May 3. Five of them are part-time and nine are full time.

Miramonte Elementary School teachers march to demand return to classroom

Nearly 100 people including dozens of Miramonte Elementary School teachers, marched alongside parents and students outside an unopened South L.A. high school where the educators have been exiled for months, to demand their return to their classrooms.

CA may try for personalized NCLB waiver

The State Board of Education will once again consider applying for a waiver from some of the more untenable requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, only this time the request is personal.

Report: Much talk, little progress on California schools

Five years after a team of researchers at Stanford University issued a massive study of California's public schools, concluding that the system needed much more money but also major reforms, a followup report from the University of California says there's been a lot of talk but not much progress.

Fresno couple battles over special education son's expulsion

The battle has escalated from the district to the county board of education and now into two separate-but-related legal battles – one between the district and the board of education and another between the district and the family. Along the way, it has underscored challenges many families face when trying to navigate a complicated special education system they know little about.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

State Superintendent Torlakson visits local schools, hosts education forum

California's top schools administrator Tom Torlakson made his way into the San Gabriel Valley Wednesday, visiting local schools and holding an education forum for educators from around the region.

Brooklyn students hold mass walkout, protest education system - New York Amsterdam News: Education

Brooklyn students hold mass walkout, protest education system - New York Amsterdam News: Education:

Brooklyn students hold mass walkout, protest education system

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Brooklyn Students hold mass walk-out, then rally and teach-ins at Fort Green Park

Brooklyn Students hold mass walk-out, then rally and teach-ins at Fort Green Park

Posted: Thursday, May 3, 2012 4:45 pm

By AMITY PAYE AmNews Web Manager |0 comments

Although Paul Robeson High School is slated to be phased out and replaced by 2014 due to poor performance, its students have not stopped fighting for their education. In early April, Paul Robeson students called for a mass student walkout on May 1, a day historically designated to fight for labor and immigrant workers’ rights that originated in the United States and has spread around the world.

“Dear New York City, we the students of public education are here to inform you about the injustice that is taking place in our school system,” reads the initial letter and call to action, signed by the Student Leadership of Paul Robeson High School and posted on YouTube. “The privatization of our school system, the budget cuts, lack of appropriate leadership, malicious closings/phasing out of schools against the communities’ wishes, cellphone policies, 

Superintendent John White to hold 'virtual' town hall meetings with teachers | NOLA.com

Superintendent John White to hold 'virtual' town hall meetings with teachers | NOLA.com:

Superintendent John White to hold 'virtual' town hall meetings with teachers

Published: Thursday, May 03, 2012, 10:05 AM     Updated: Thursday, May 03, 2012, 10:07 AM

 By Andrew Vanacore, The Times-Picayune 

Louisiana's top education official, Superintendent John White, is scheduling extra town hall meetings with educators around the state to discuss his plans for implementing a series of school-related reforms that cleared the state Legislature last month. The additional information sessions will take place online at the state Department of Education's website. 

Ellis Lucia, The Times-PicayuneJohn White, Louisiana state superintendent of schools, in January.

"These virtual meetings will provide us with more opportunities to collaborate with our educators to devise a plan to achieve what we know is possible for every child," White said in a statement. 

 

White's department will be working over the summer and fall to hash out the details of a controversial and far-reaching education overhaul pushed by Gov. Bobby Jindal. It includes a new statewide voucher program that will provide low-income students with money for private school; an expansion of the entities in Louisiana that can approve new independent charter schools; and giving high school students the opportunity to use public funding for extra courses offered at universities or elsewhere.

The virtual town hall meetings will be broadcast on the department's website at the following times:

May 8, 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

May 11, 4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

May 14, 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

May 14, 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Rheeport Update: Reader Calls Carpetbagging StudentsFirst Request Asking Missouri Citizens to "Pick up the Phone...Hooey"--Part II

Missouri Education Watchdog: Reader Calls Carpetbagging StudentsFirst Request Asking Missouri Citizens to "Pick up the Phone...Hooey"--Part II:

Reader Calls Carpetbagging StudentsFirst Request Asking Missouri Citizens to "Pick up the Phone...Hooey"--Part II

by stlgretchen

Educational reform in Missouri?

The carpetbagging organization StudentsFirst is pleased with the passage of HB1526 which is now advancing to the Senate.  This bill states teacher performance, not seniority, should govern teacher layoffs.  From the St. Louis Post Dispatch:


JEFFERSON CITY • The Missouri House's Republican leadership pushed through one of its priorities today, passing a bill aimed at ending some job protections for veteran public school teachers.

Under the bill, school districts that have to let teachers go because of falling enrollment or declining revenue 

Black Studies Hitpiece Leads to Chronicle of Higher Ed Twitter Trainwreck « Student Activism

Black Studies Hitpiece Leads to Chronicle of Higher Ed Twitter Trainwreck « Student Activism:

Black Studies Hitpiece Leads to Chronicle of Higher Ed Twitter Trainwreck

by Angus Johnston

The Chronicle of Higher Education has taken a lot of heat this week for a fatuous, obnoxious takedown of the discipline of Black Studies posted by Chronicle blogger Naomi Schaefer Riley. Riffing off the sidebar to a separate Chronicle piece, Riley attacked in-process dissertations by young Black Studies scholars as axe-grinding, politicized, and irrelevant even as she admitted she hadn’t read a single word of any of them. (Perhaps strangest of all, she dismissed 1970s housing policy and black midwifery as subjects intrinsically unworthy of academic study.)
The Chronicle has posted an editor’s note about the controversial blogpost, but has mostly stayed quiet otherwise. Last night, however, a representative of the paper appeared on Twitter to respond to the Chronicle’s critics.
It got weird pretty quick.
Amy Lynn Alexander, “Editorial Promotions Manager” at the Chronicle, is new to Twitter. Her Chronicle account