All Education Matters: Request for Online Support: Young Student Debtor Writes, "[B]eing dead would be a relief compared to a life without hope."

All Education Matters: Request for Online Support: Young Student Debtor Writes, "[B]eing dead would be a relief compared to a life without hope.":

Request for Online Support: Young Student Debtor Writes, "[B]eing dead would be a relief compared to a life without hope."

by Cryn Johannsen

The notes continue to land in my inbox or in the comments section here - so many people, with crushing debt, write to me and express in difficult tones how they have lost hope, how they wish to be dead, and how they see no future. As I said in my article published by the Huffington Post (written with the support of the Economic Hardship and Reporting Project and edited by Barbara Ehrenreich and Gary Rivlin), I was stunned by these suicidal notes. That feeling has not gone away. Each time I read one of these notes, it stings. It stirs up frustration, anger, and deep sadness. But more importantly than that, it makes me more determined to continue fighting on behalf of the indentured educated class. It's not just the suicidal remarks, but the deep sense of hopelessness that absolutely infuriates me. We cannot allow our young people to give up hope - it's too 

APS official response on Bloody Friday at North Atlanta High: APS marches out old leaders, announces new ones without explanation. | Get Schooled

Bloody Friday at North Atlanta High: APS marches out old leaders, announces new ones without explanation. | Get Schooled:

APS official response on North Atlanta High leadership purge

by Maureen Downey

From Stephen J. Alford, Executive Director of Communications, Atlanta Public Schools

Thank you for sharing your concerns and views about the recent leadership transition at North Atlanta High School. We have been preparing for new leadership at North Atlanta after learning that our principal planned to retire at the end of last school year.
On Monday, Dr. Howard Taylor was approved by the Atlanta Board of Education to serve as the new principal of North Atlanta. We are confident that Dr. Taylor’s leadership will take the school to the next level, a level of excellence that our parents and students deserve.
We understand the concern about timing and continuity, but please know that North Atlanta is replete with determined instructional professionals who are committed to delivering a quality education to all students. In addition, APS will certainly provide enhanced school-level support to ensure that there is no gap in service to students. In fact, each academy has been …

Bloody Friday at North Atlanta High: APS marches out old leaders, announces new ones without explanation.

by Maureen Downey

UPDATED SATURDAY Morning with link to school newspaper story
Just returned from taking my daughter to see “Pitch Perfect” to find several emails on bizarre events today at North Atlanta High School. The emails all report the same events: Interim principal Mark Mygrant was escorted out of North Atlanta High School today by APS security personnel. Teachers were told that the entire administrative team and the heads of the Small Learning Communities — specialized areas of student interest including arts, journalism, international business and international relations — were being reassigned.
Mygrant had retired in May from North Atlanta but was asked by APS to return to oversee the school until the end of October when a permanent principal would take over. Prior to his retirement, Mygrant led North Atlanta for five years and Sutton Middle school for 10.
A  letter on the North Atlanta High site from APS school chief Erroll B. Davis offers parents no explanation for the sudden …

Daily Kos: WHO knew that carcinogens had their own lobby in Washington?

Daily Kos: WHO knew that carcinogens had their own lobby in Washington?:

WHO knew that carcinogens had their own lobby in Washington?

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

The title of this post is the 1st line of The Cancer Lobby, Sunday's New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof.
He uses the example of formaldehyde, describing our various encounters with it, and reminding us that it causes cancer. He then writes:

The chemical industry is working frantically to suppress that scientific consensus — because it fears “public confusion.” Big Chem apparently worries that you might be confused if you learned that formaldehyde caused cancer of the nose and throat, and perhaps leukemia as well.The industry’s strategy is to lobby Congress to cut off money for the Report on Carcinogens, a 500-page consensus document published every two years by the National Institutes of Health, 

Bus tour with teacherken: A day fighting the Greed Agenda in Ohio

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

I am continuing as an embedded blogger  on the "Stop the Greed Agenda Bus Tour" organized by Patriot Majority USA.   The National Education Association is paying me to post on their Education Votes website, and have now given me permission to crosspost the entire pieces I do here.  I do ask that you follow this link and visit their website, perhaps leaving a comment on the post over there as well.
Thursday was my first full day on the bus, and it was a full day.  Everywhere we went, out bus made clear the

New Obama ad: One Chance."

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

Romney Claims of Bipartisanship as Governor Face Challenge

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

is the title of this New York Times story just up on their website.   I suspect the former Governor of Massachusetts will not be happy with what Michael Wines wrote.
Here are the first two paragraphs:

BOSTON — He came into office with a mandate to shake things up, an agenda laden with civics-book reforms and a raging fiscal crisis that threatened to torpedo both. He sparred with a hostile 

Schools Matter: Writing Instruction Grounding Social Control

Schools Matter: Writing Instruction Grounding Social Control:

Writing Instruction Grounding Social Control

by Storm

Those of us who have been teachers and/or wannabe authors before everyone was an author (see the note yesterday re: artists)--I know I'm treading on my commoner sensibility here, always a tension in me--remember there is a book by William Zinsser called On Writing Well.  I'll confess that I own it and yet have never read it.  When I was in the classroom I preferred the work of Peter Elbow (Writing Without Teachers) for some reason that I can't discover in my copies of his books.  I think there was a freedom to be always in the wrong with Elbow while Zinsser gave me the sense that I had to "do it right."  Just think of the differences implied in the titles above.  But do challenge me on this as these are days gone long by.

I went through a period where I bought "how to" books on writing and publishing: Rust Hills is funny and incisive, 

Jersey Jazzman: America's Worst Invasive Species: The Wonk

Jersey Jazzman: America's Worst Invasive Species: The Wonk:

America's Worst Invasive Species: The Wonk

by Duke

Over the last several years, America has seen an inundation of a particularly prolific and invasive species: the Wonk.

Do not confuse the Wonk with the Scholar. The Scholar digs deep into literature and research; the Wonk merely glides over them, plucking what little it needs to satisfy his own ideological predilections. The Scholar thrives in a particular environment called "peer review"; this is a toxic place for the Wonk, which prefers to forage in a habitat called the "think tank." The Wonk sometimes imitates the plumage of the Scholar by adorning its coat with advanced degrees and endowed chairs; however, the Wonk rarely uses these to produce actual scholarship.

Is the Supreme Court Going to Kill Affirmative Action? | toteachornototeach

Is the Supreme Court Going to Kill Affirmative Action? | toteachornototeach:

Is the Supreme Court Going to Kill Affirmative Action?

by aristotlethewise

Is the Supreme Court Going to Kill Affirmative Action?

By Adam Cohen
A white student was rejected from a college that uses race as a factor in admissions. Her case is now going to the highest court in the land
Last week the Supreme Court took a case that could dramatically scale back or even end affirmative action. In Fisher v. University of Texas, a white woman named Abigail Fisher is suing the University of Texas (UT) for denying her admission using criteria that take race into account. A few years ago, her suit would have been a sure loser — but the court is now less accepting of affirmative action. The question is, How far has it shifted? In 2003, in Grutter v. Bollinger, the court approved a university’s affirmative-action plan. But Sandra Day O’Connor, 

The Underground Parent: Collapse of Education System Will Not Happen

The Underground Parent: Collapse of Education System Will Not Happen:

Collapse of Education System Will Not Happen

Until recently I thought the CCSS implementation and assessments would speed up the collapse of our education system.  Now, I don’t think so.  A collapse won’t be allowed to happen.  Our K-12 system has been discovered as a perpetual lucrative market by investors and corporations.  Private corporations, wealthy individuals, foundations, and non-government organizations have worked hard with our government to create and open up this market.  If they really provide 

Daily Kos: Bus tour with teacherken: A day fighting the Greed Agenda in Ohio

Daily Kos: Bus tour with teacherken: A day fighting the Greed Agenda in Ohio:

Bus tour with teacherken: A day fighting the Greed Agenda in Ohio

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

I am continuing as an embedded blogger  on the "Stop the Greed Agenda Bus Tour" organized by Patriot Majority USA.   The National Education Association is paying me to post on their Education Votes website, and have now given me permission to crosspost the entire pieces I do here.  I do ask that you follow this link and visit their website, perhaps leaving a comment on the post over there as well.
Thursday was my first full day on the bus, and it was a full day.  Everywhere we went, out bus made clear the message we were delivering:

Let me describe the events of the day, and then talk a bit about parent trigger laws.

Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky

Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky:

Saturday coffee.

by Fred Klonsky

I’m nursing a cold.
When I first started teaching back in ’84 I would get a cold the first week in October. Catching a cold is totally typical for teachers, or anyone who comes in contact with lots of people. Colds are contagious.
It is even more common for me because I was an Art teacher and I saw every kid in the school. No matter how often I washed my hands and no matter how often I had the kids wash their hands, all it takes is one uncovered sneeze.
I took vitamin C in massive doses. I took zinc. Remember when echinacea was the rage?  I took tons of echinacea. I would hand out anti-bacterial wipes. I would buy gallons jugs of anti-bacterial hand soap.
In addition I would be the first in line the first day flu shots became available. One year I missed the day the school district was offering flu shots because I had a meeting. No meeting is worth the flue. That was a huge

A couple of things about TRS Director Richard Ingram.

by Fred Klonsky

Today the IEA website functions as a spin doctor for TRS Director Richard Ingram.
Ingram, you recall, went rogue this week in an interview with Crain’s. He called for an end to cost of living adjustments (COLA) for TRS retirees.
TRS members were outraged. Ingram was hired by the TRS board of trustees to manage the system. He had no business, it is simply not his job, to make proposals to the legislature or to anyone else about how to solve the

Participate in and help spread the word about Diane Ravitch’s October 17 Campaign for Our Public Schools!

by Fred Klonsky

From Diane Ravitch’s blog:

Please write your thoughts about what needs to change in federal education policy and send a letter to President Obama by that date.
You can write it now and follow instructions here.
Anthony Cody, experienced middle school science teacher and fabulous blogger, has offered to 

CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS: About that $10 million we’re giving you… - Wait, What?

CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS: About that $10 million we’re giving you… - Wait, What?:

CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS: About that $10 million we’re giving you…

by jonpelto

Earlier this week, Charter Communications, Inc., “a Fortune 500 company and the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States,” became Governor Malloy’s ‘Next Five’ Corporate Welfare recipients.  With revenue of $1.9 billion during the last financial quarter, the company did lose $83 million, but that was an improvement over the same quarter the year before, when Charter lost $107 million.

For most of us, not enough revenue to cover expenses poses a problem.  As I can attest, banks seem to frown on giving, or even loaning money to people whose income is deemed inadequate or insufficient.

But we don’t call our economic system “advanced capitalism” for nothing.

In return for promising to create 200 jobs, Charter will receive a taxpayer-funded 10-yea

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Latest corporate reform buzz words -- 'Portfolio Management'

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Latest corporate reform buzz words -- 'Portfolio Management':

Latest corporate reform buzz words -- 'Portfolio Management'

by Mike Klonsky

The term “portfolio management” is borrowed from Wall Street, where the idea is to buy winning stocks and sell losers. -- The Notebook

It was originally an idea of early school reformers in New York and other cities, as a way to make innovative inroads into large, bureaucratically run school districts piece by piece. But like so many good reform ideas, the notion of downsizing and decentralizing has been largely taken over by today's corporate reformers bent on school privatization.

The latest plan cooked up by corporate reformers is called, portfolio management. That's where a collection of 

Jersey Jazzman: Propaganda, Thy Name Is "Won't Back Down"

Jersey Jazzman: Propaganda, Thy Name Is "Won't Back Down":

Propaganda, Thy Name Is "Won't Back Down"

by Duke

Here's what "Won't Back Down" was really all about:

Can life, in fact, imitate art? Organizers leading a controversial new school reform movement are doing their darndest to try. Starting this week, the education reform group Parent Revolution kicked off a national 32-city tour with “Won’t Back Down,” the slick new Hollywood movie featuring the hot-button fight around a policy called the parent trigger. Parent Revolution wants to inspire parents to do what Oscar-caliber actresses Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis do in the film: Take over their failing schools. Critics—including teachers’ unions and many of public schools’ staunches defenders—warn that real life educating isn’t that simple.

Parent Revolution’s idea is to host the film, which traces a fictionalized community’s fight 

Investigation Spotlights Corporate Money Behind Virtual Schools | NEA Today

Investigation Spotlights Corporate Money Behind Virtual Schools | NEA Today:

Investigation Spotlights Corporate Money Behind Virtual Schools

October 5, 2012 by twalker  
Filed under Featured News, Top Stories

Leave a Comment

By Edward Graham

Studies have shown that virtual schools don’t deliver as good an education as traditional public schools. But that hasn’t stopped privateers from championing for-profit online education, raising serious concerns about how corporate money continues to shape many of the education policies being implemented across the country.

A recent investigation by the Portland Press Herald revealed that a bulk of the proposed education bills in Maine have been crafted by out-of-state private companies that would profit greatly from so-called “reforms”  -  namely the establishment of virtual charter schools throughout the state by the two largest online education corporations, K12 Inc. and Connections Education.

“This is the ideal form of crony capitalism,” Gene Glass, senior researcher at the National Education Policy Center, told the Herald. “These are free market entrepreneurial companies manipulating the law to create markets for themselves.”

Crafting bills to permit the use of taxpayer dollars to establish virtual charter schools in the state, Maine’s education commissioner, Stephen Bowen, relied heavily on support and strategic guidance from the 

Corbett's education chief changes PSSA testing rules for charter schools without federal approval - mcall.com

Corbett's education chief changes PSSA testing rules for charter schools without federal approval - mcall.com:

State changed PSSA testing rules for charter schools without federal approval

Rules change appears to have inflated success rate of some charter schools.

Pennsylvania Education Secretary Ron Tomalis (DONNA FISHER/THE MORNING CALL)

Gov. Tom Corbett's education chief changed the PSSA testing rules in a way that makes it easier for charter schools to meet federal benchmarks than traditional public schools.

Education Secretary Ron Tomalis' change, made without federal approval, might have skewed the results of the 2011-12 PSSA scores to make it appear charter schools were outperforming traditional public schools, according to a Morning Call review of publicly available test score data.

The U.S. Department of Education has final authority over any changes in how states grade public schools, school districts and any other "local education agency" under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Over the summer, the state Department of Education requested a change in how charter schools' test results are measured to determine adequate yearly progress under the law.

The state asked the federal agency for approval to apply the same rating measures it uses for school districts to charter schools. The testing rules are more lenient for school districts than they are for 

A Brit in the Bronx: do charter schools really work in the US? | Teacher Network Blog | Guardian Professional

A Brit in the Bronx: do charter schools really work in the US? | Teacher Network Blog | Guardian Professional:

A Brit in the Bronx: do charter schools really work in the US?

Brit-born teacher Anna Bailey is working in her third charter school - but she can't make up her mind if longer hours and less rights for teachers really deliver results

Regardless of who is running a school, focusing on just making a profit impacts on available resources. Students at Anna Bailey's school are using crayon stubs as they've run out of pencils. Photograph: Frank Baron for the Guardian

I was just on the west coast and turned on the local news in time to hear a reporter say that all the problems in public education in his area were about to be solved - hurray - by considerably extending the number of classroom observations of all teachers. Feel free to indulge in hollow laughter. But really, isn't it wonderful that there are so many ways to fixschools? You can tear everything up and start again, fiddle around at the edges with whatever system you already have and/or call in lots of consultants to transfer their totally relevant skill sets, learned in factories, offices, shops and possibly even circuses, zoos and theme parks, to the wild world of education.

All of this costs a great deal of money. God forbid anyone would spend that money on a crazy scheme like, say, hiring more teachers to reduce class sizes (something we know improves educational outcomes) or even painting my classroom ceiling, which currently looks as though someone has crapped through it.

In America, there are three main kinds of school: public (what in the UK would be called state), private and, for the last few years, charter. The charter school movement began in the late 1980s as an alternative to public schools, typically seen to underserve poor urban kids for many, debatable, reasons. Charters are publicly funded and not allowed to be selective.

By keeping kids in the classroom for more hours a day and more days a year than a public school, they aim to improve levels of student 

Lauri Day Supports Giving Away our Tax Dollars through Vouchers » Clarksville, TN Online

Lauri Day Supports Giving Away our Tax Dollars through Vouchers » Clarksville, TN Online:

Lauri Day Supports Giving Away our Tax Dollars through Vouchers

Vouchers Could Subsidize Exclusive Private Schools, Defund Public Schools Serving Working & Middle Class Families

Tennessee Democratic Party

Nashville, TN – Tennessee State House candidate Lauri Day’s support for private school vouchers could break the backbone of the middle class: Tennessee’s public schools.

“Lauri Day’s support of private school vouchers amounts to a tax break for wealthy Tennesseans and it’s paid for by diverting millions away from the schools our working and middle class families rely on,” said Chip Forrester, chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party. “Instead of handing out vouchers of false hope that fail to even cover the cost of tuition at many private academies, we should renew our commitment to student achievement by strengthening the schools we have, keeping class sizes small and empowering great teachers.”

Currently school districts in Tennessee get a set amount of funding for each student enrolled. In general terms, a new voucher program could provide parents with a coupon worth around $7,000 to spend on tuition at a private school — though the private schools could still reject their child’s application. One of Tennessee Governor Bill 

Obama Education Policy Draws Some Skeptics - NYTimes.com

Obama Education Policy Draws Some Skeptics - NYTimes.com:

Loopholes Seen at Schools in Obama Get-Tough Policy

Jessica Koscielniak for The New York Times

Freeda Pirillis, a first-grade teacher in Chicago, said educators and students needed more support to meet new goals.

By MOTOKO RICH

Published: October 5, 2012

• FACEBOOK
• TWITTER
• GOOGLE+
• E-MAIL
• SHARE
• PRINT
• REPRINTS

With an agenda that Arne Duncan, the secretary of education, has described as a “quiet revolution,” the Obama administration has pushed rigorous new standards for a majority of the nation’s public schools as well as requirements that states and districts evaluate not just schools but individual teachers, in part by assessing their ability to improve student scores on standardized tests.

Related

• ‘No Child’ Law Whittled Down by White House (July 6, 2012)

• 5 More States Get Waivers From Education Law Rules (June 30, 2012)

But some critics suggest that at the same time the administration has gotten tough on teachers and set higher standards, it could be allowing states to set new, unambitious goals for how quickly students must reach 

Missouri Education Watchdog: What Do Children and Shrimp Have in Common? Think Mamtek.

Missouri Education Watchdog: What Do Children and Shrimp Have in Common? Think Mamtek.:

What Do Children and Shrimp Have in Common? Think Mamtek.

by stlgretchen

The Chinese are farming American children and shrimp.

Missourians may remember the debacle known as Mamtek, the investment scheme that blew up for Moberly Missouri citizens.  Bruce Cole, an American investor from California, swooped into the small rural town and charmed Missouri Department of Development staff and Moberly city officials to invest in his business venture involving significant overseas investments. Chinese investors were taking advantage of EB-5 investment program designed by the US government designed to spur American employment.  From businessweek.com:

The 21-year-old initiative makes 10,000 green cards available to foreigners who invest a minimum of $500,000 in U.S. companies that create or preserve at least 10 jobs in the