Moms booted from Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s film screening during Democratic Convention | The Raw Story

Moms booted from Michelle Rhee’s film screening during Democratic Convention | The Raw Story:

Moms booted from Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s film screening during Democratic Convention

By David Edwards
Thursday, September 6, 2012 14:05 EDT

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Topics: Democratic National Convention ♦ Michelle Rhee ♦ Pam Grundy

 

Two Democratic moms who oppose the privation of schools say that security personnel escorted them two separate events at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte this week after organizers learned they opposed charter schools and other education “reforms.”

Mecklenburg ACTS co-chairs Pam Grundy and Carol Sawyer told Raw Story that both Former D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s Students First group and Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) did not want any dissenting voices at their events.

Grundy recalled that after initially being denied entry to a Students First screening of the movie

NYC Public School Parents: Welcome back to a new school year, & please fill out our 2 minute class size survey!

NYC Public School Parents: Welcome back to a new school year, & please fill out our 2 minute class size survey!:

Welcome back to a new school year, & please fill out our 2 minute class size survey!

by Leonie Haimson

Welcome back to a new school year. I hope your child is settled in a good school, with a reasonable class size, but I fear for too many, this will not be the case. 

• Here is our updated fact sheet on class size in NYC schools, including the union class size limits, the goals that DOE originally promised to achieve by this year, and what you can do if your child’s class size exceeds either of those levels.  Take a look.    

• Most important:  parents, teachers and administrators: please fill out a 2 minute survey about the class sizes in your school.    It is critical that I have as much information as possible so I can help. 

El Estudiante | United Opt Out National

El Estudiante | United Opt Out National:

El Estudiante

by admin

The image titled “El Estudiante” (The student) is the first in a series of paintings that takes on a radical perspective on the game known as “Loteria” (Lottery). A popular culture Iconic game in Latin America, like BINGO (rather than numbers), reflects numbered cultural icons  from everyday life; myths, social class, fruit, animals and music.

The Radical Loteria series will reflect modern popular culture icons and individuals associated with the struggle for social and political equality.

El ESTUDIANTE  is a reflection of the not often represented “student activist.” 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Duncan -- the less said the better

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Duncan -- the less said the better:

Duncan -- the less said the better

by Mike Klonsky

Popout

Many of last night's speakers at the DNC were over the top. Arne Duncan wasn't. I actually missed his speech. I was too busy teaching my class of future teachers. From what I heard, Duncan's ratings were pretty low and there was hardly a mention of his speech, or of education issues at the DNC, in this morning's news. I had to watch the video of Duncan's speech this morning on WSJ's website.

Duncan: "Education is about jobs." 

What? Really?

Leaving aside for a moment whether or not education should really be about filling corporate job slots (my 

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Thursday, September 6, 2012

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

Education Headlines

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Tehachapi approves Abernathy charter school, with conditions

A petition to establish a charter school named for one of the most powerful Republican political operatives in Kern County has been given the green light by the Tehachapi Unified School District.

District OKs $2.1 million for 15 buses

Lodi Unified School District trustees authorized a $2.1 million purchase of 15 new special-education school buses Tuesday night.

California law requires schools to roll out new grade level, transitional kindergarten

Transitional kindergarten, a steppingstone between preschool and kindergarten, has been rolled out at school districts across the state as the result of a 2010 state law.

Four Monterey County school districts seek some fiscal independence

Monterey Peninsula Unified, Salinas Union High, Salinas City Elementary and Alisal Union school districts have announced to the county their intention to become "fiscally accountable," which basically means they want to perform most of their financial operations — payroll, purchasing and the like — in house.

Galt elementary school district saves local taxpayers $1.4 million

The Galt Joint Union Elementary School District recently completed the sale of $7.9 million in general obligation bonds to refinance bonds that voters approved in 2001. Near historically low interest rates enabled the district to lower interest rates on bonds from 4 to 5 percent to 1.95 percent.

How Fresno Unified would spend $17.5 million if Prop. 30 passes

Fresno Unified's top administrators laid out a spending plan for the millions the district would get if voters approve Proposition 30 on the November ballot. The biggest winner: Preschool classes, where participation would almost double.

San Diego area superintendent removed from post

A veteran San Diego school administrator who oversaw schools in southeastern San Diego was removed from her position Tuesday night by a 4-1 vote of the school board and will remain on paid administrative leave pending reassignment.

Tax group to oppose San Diego school bonds

The San Diego County Taxpayers Association will oppose the San Diego Unified School District’s proposed $2.8 billion Proposition Z bond measure this fall, a departure given that the group endorsed the past two campaigns.

Report: California teacher fund lax on anti-spiking efforts

A new report released Wednesday by the state controller's office found that the nation's largest teacher pension fund has been so lax about detecting pension spiking at California school districts that it is on pace to audit each district once every 48 years.

SIA Cabinet Report: New accountability demands coming for charters – startups and renewal

Legislation pending before Gov. Jerry Brown seeks to resolve long-standing concerns of the U.S. Department of Education that not enough emphasis is placed on student achievement for all subgroups when it comes to charter school renewal in California.

Assembly quietly kills school seismic reform measure

A proposal to study seismic safety improvements for public schools – which won initial legislative support – quietly died in an Assembly committee during the last weeks of the legislative session.

Baron and Fensterwald: Prop 38 sponsor says ed initiative will upset polls

Confident that Californians will tax themselves to send more money to their local schools, Molly Munger is preparing for “a big air war” – extensive TV advertising to persuade voters to pass Proposition 38.

SIA Cabinet Report: CA spending, outcome in special ed well below national averages

California spends substantially less than other states on special education services, and the academic outcomes for students in those programs is well below the national average, according to a new report unveiled Wednesday.

Fensterwald: CalSTRS estimates $22.7 billion savings from pension reform

The pension reforms that the Legislature passed before skipping town on Friday will save the California State Teachers’ Retirement System $22.7 billion over 30 years, according to a preliminary analysis that CalSTRS released on Wednesday. But CalSTRS administrators cautioned that most of the savings won’t be achieved for decades, because reduced pension benefits will affect only employees hired after Jan. 1, 2013.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Hurdles cleared, charter school opens downtown

Brandishing crib notes and a microphone, TEAM Charter School Director Dillon Delvo led his new students Tuesday morning in a pledge laden with audacious ambitions for the children who were taking it.

School trustees adopt new homework guidelines

The Cardiff School District trustees voted last month to eliminate the requirement that students spend between 15 and 75 minutes a day on homework three or four days a week, depending on their grade.

Long Beach school board lets New City School stay open

The Long Beach Unified Board of Education on Tuesday unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding between the school district and New City School that will allow the troubled charter school system to keep its doors open.

K-12 is missing in action at the Democratic National Convention. « Fred Klonsky

K-12 is missing in action at the Democratic National Convention. « Fred Klonsky:

K-12 is missing in action at the Democratic National Convention.

by Fred Klonsky

If you were watching the convention, even the gavel to gavel coverage on CSPAN, you would be hard pressed to hear anything that referred to the last four years of education policy coming out of the Department of Education. Or plans for the next four years.
The Wahington Post’s Valerie Strauss compares the 2008 Democratic Party platform with the 2012 version. The tiny section that speaks to K-12 public schools drops any reference to teacher participation in creating new models of teacher evaluation in the 2012 platform. They actually said there needs to be teacher participation when they wrote the 2008 version. Although apparently Arne didn’t bother to read the 2008 version.
Remember that the National Education Association was the first union to endorse Obama and our 200 delegates make us the largest organization of any kind represented at the DNC.
If you thought there was a debate over vouchers or charters schools, you wouldn’t know it by reading the Democratic Party platform. The words don’t appear.
There are lots of references to high standards and compensation for good teaching. In case you miss what they’re talking about, I guess that means the Democrats are against compensation for bad teaching. Or this is code for merit pay. Who knows?
I asked several friends if they heard Arne Duncan last night. Most said they missed it.
So here it is.
.
They didn’t miss much.

This Week In Education: Charts: Not Just Crisis States Cutting Education

This Week In Education: Charts: Not Just Crisis States Cutting Education:

Charts: Not Just Crisis States Cutting Education

This chart from the CBPP via Wonkblog (Back-to-school budget cuts) shows most states have cut education funding over the past five years -- including ones you might not expect Oregon (13pct), Virginia (10pct) Colorado (9pct), and Ohio (8pct).

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: PARENT & COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN THE “SUPERINTENDENT’S DISTRICT”

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: PARENT & COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN THE “SUPERINTENDENT’S DISTRICT”:

PARENT & COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN THE “SUPERINTENDENT’S DISTRICT”

BY SMF

6 September 2012 :: In the redesign/restructuring/reform/slicing+dicing/whatever of LAUSD into four five Educational Service Centers (as opposed to eight Local Districts with numbers -  or thirteen with letters; or Clusters, Areas, Zones, Regions or Administrative Zones) authority and accountability have been further divided between

• Instructional
• Operations, and
• Parent and Community Engagement

In addition to the Regional Educational Service Centers (North, East, West, South) a fifth ESC was created to oversee and support the Superintendent Intensive Support and Innovation Center  (ISIC for the acronym deprived …which would be called the Superintendent's District in most other school districts) to administer Program Improvement, Pilot, Partnership, turnaround  and other special program schools 

Charter Schools Increase New Bonds Most Since 2007: Muni Credit - Businessweek

Charter Schools Increase New Bonds Most Since 2007: Muni Credit - Businessweek:

Charter Schools Increase New Bonds Most Since 2007: Muni Credit

U.S. charter schools are issuing municipal debt at the fastest pace since 2007 as enrollment grows, national networks expand and the lowest yields in a generation spur construction and refinancing.

The independent public schools operate without many of the rules governing traditional institutions in exchange for more accountability for student achievement. They have sold about $580 million of munis this year through August, the most since $644 million in the same period of 2007, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Issuance of the riskiest debt -- about half the deals are unrated -- has climbed even as charter defaults are set to be the most since 2009.

In May, six months after Atlanta-area schools run by followers of a Turkish imam borrowed $19 million to build a new campus, the organization defaulted. The local district refused to renew its charter. Also in May, a 

Prison Spending Affecting Higher Education in California: Report | NBC Bay Area

Prison Spending Affecting Higher Education in California: Report | NBC Bay Area:

Prison Spending Affecting Higher Education in California: Report

By Stephanie Chuang

|  Thursday, Sep 6, 2012  |  Updated 6:44 AM PDT

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California spent $592 million on corrections in 1980, according to a report. That spending has jumped to $9.2 billion in 2011.

California is spending 1,370 percent more money on prisons today compared to 1980 levels. NBC Bay Area got the first look at a report from Los Altos-based, non-partisan research group California Common Sense (CCS) published Thursday.

It’s the first time a group has looked at 30 years worth of data and crunched the numbers to show a long-term trend between state spending on prisons and on higher education, according to Director of Research Mike Polyakov.

California spent $592 million on corrections in 1980, Polyakov said.. That spending has jumped to 

THE REAL COST OF PURPOSEFULLY FAILED PUBLIC EDUCATION AT LAUSD - Perdaily.com

THE REAL COST OF PURPOSEFULLY FAILED PUBLIC EDUCATION AT LAUSD - Perdaily.com:

THE REAL COST OF PURPOSEFULLY FAILED PUBLIC EDUCATION AT LAUSD

by Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post)

One problem that most progressive intellectuals seem incapable of understanding or factoring into their analysis of the decline and fall of the American Empire is that predominantly poor and/or minority filled public schools have been failing for so long now that there "graduates" no longer understand enough English to realize how clever these intellectuals are.

For the progressive intellectual it is a compelling and self-evident series of facts that we have gone from 380,000 people behind bars in 1978 to presently having 2.4 million. Add to this the fact that 60% of these inmates in the American prison industrial 

HechingerEd Blog | From the convention: Obama sees education as “investment,” not expense

HechingerEd Blog | From the convention: Obama sees education as “investment,” not expense:

From the convention: Obama sees education as “investment,” not expense

by Sarah Butrymowicz

Former President Bill Clinton praised President Barack Obama’s support of community colleges and student loan reforms Wednesday night, in a stirring speech that took on Republican attacks of Obama while praising the president’s record.

2012 Democratic National Convention (Photo by Sarah Butrymowicz)

Clinton highlighted the president’s policy that allows students to pay back loans based on income after graduation. “It means no one will ever have to drop out of college again for fear they can’t repay their debt,” Clinton said. “This will change the future for young Americans.”
Four speeches heavily focused on education, and with a slew of peripheral mentions, the issue continued to hold its place on a list of President Obama’s achievements during the second night of Democratic National Convention.
In contrast, the Republican party devoted just one speech to education

Can handpicked teachers turn around an underperforming school?

by Sara Neufeld

NEWARK — It was a fight to the finish, but Erskine Glover can honestly say he’s happy with the team of teachers who will be instructing his students this fall.

Erskine Glover (Photo by Amanda Murphy)

Glover, principal of what’s momentarily known as Quitman Street Renew School, had a grueling summer interviewing more than 100 candidates for instructional positions, with dozens more weeded out by a recruiter. Fewer than half of the 60 teachers greeting children when they arrive back today were on staff when classes let out in June.
Because Quitman is part of a showcase initiative to turn around Newark’s lowest-performing schools, Superintendent Cami Anderson handed Glover the unprecedented authority to hand pick who stands before his 

UPDATE: A New Phase for the Quebec Student Uprising « Student Activism

A New Phase for the Quebec Student Uprising « Student Activism:

A New Phase for the Quebec Student Uprising

by Angus Johnston

Tuesday’s provincial election was a pretty good day for the Quebec student movement.
The Parti Québécois, which had opposed the Liberal government’s tuition hikes and its anti-demonstration Loi 78, won a clear, though not overwhelming, victory at the polls. Though they fell far short of winning majority control of the provincial legislature, their party leader — in a post-election call to the head of one of Quebec’s student unions — promised to reverse the tuition increase by decree, a move that would make a legislative vote unnecessary. Action on Loi 78 is expected to follow.
PQ’s margin of victory was smaller than anticipated, with the party winning just 54 seats in the 125-seat legislature. The Liberals won 50, though their better-than-expected showing was dimmed by the defeat of party leader Jean Charest, architect of the tuition hike in his own race. In another election-night surprise, 20-year-old

Towson Student Looking to Create White Student Union

by Angus Johnston

After a stint heading up a group called Youth for Western Civilization, a student at Maryland’s Towson University is looking to start a White Student Union on campus.
I wrote about the White Student Union phenomenon a few years ago, saying that I’d never heard anyone make a sincere argument for the creation of such groups:

When someone asks me [why white students can't have WSUs], my response is always pretty much the same: “Do you actually want to have a White Student Union on campus? Would you be active in a WSU there was one? Is there stuff you’d like to be doing that the absence of a WSU is keeping you from doing?”

So far, nobody has ever answered any of these questions with a yes.

The guy I’ve been talking to on Twitter says he wanted “to make a point about the wrongness of segregation, regardless of purpose.” But you don’t demonstrate that something is bad “regardless of 

Daily Kos: 55% of Millennials Tend to Identify with the Democratic Party

Daily Kos: 55% of Millennials Tend to Identify with the Democratic Party:

55% of Millennials Tend to Identify with the Democratic Party

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

according to THe Pew Research Center.
Yet another sign of the demographic bombs awaiting Republicans, along with the browning of America, and the increasing tolerance of gays being open and fully included in society.
Look at the graphs.  The only generation in which the Republicans have an advantage is the Silents, and that only by 4%, 48-44.
Yes, the peak for Dems among Millenials, 62%, was in 2008 with the excitement Obama generated then.  But note that the direction of the trend is again in favor of Democrats.
If you follow the links for more details, the Dems have continued to see the overall advantage they had before the 

Schools Matter: Bloggers Beware: The Online Bedbugs Want to Hitch a Ride

Schools Matter: Bloggers Beware: The Online Bedbugs Want to Hitch a Ride:

Bloggers Beware: The Online Bedbugs Want to Hitch a Ride

by Jim Horn

The fat bedbugs that run the online diploma mill business are unrelenting.  They write lengthy friendly comments to blog posts, and just underneath some of the verbiage, they attach their swollen transparent red blood-filled carcasses in hopes that some unsuspecting reader will take their links home.  That is how their blood-sucking infestations spread, and once victims have given them an opening, it is too late.

Another trick they use on bloggers is to write emails inviting themselves to write articles for your blog on, who knows, how to be happy when covered with bedbugs, or how to use bedbugs to get ahead in life.

A Child-Centered Nation (Hint: Not the U.S.)

by P. L. Thomas

Those of us who are decades into our careers as educators and educational scholars/historians are likely more than exhausted by and deeply skeptical of (if not cynical about) international comparisons.

More often than not, international comparisons connected to U.S. public education are oversimplified at best andunforgivably misleading at worst, but our exhaustion, skepticism, and cynicism must be tempered when international comparisons offer authentic and complex evidence of how entire nations are committed to child well-being through their social and educational commitments—especially as those commitments contrast with the discourse and policies coming from either major political party in the U.S.

If you care about democracy and equity, and if you care about the role of universal public education and all public