Latest News and Comment from Education

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Remarks by the President at Dedication of Statue Honoring Rosa Parks -- US Capitol | The White House

Remarks by the President at Dedication of Statue Honoring Rosa Parks -- US Capitol | The White House:


Remarks by the President at Dedication of Statue Honoring Rosa Parks -- US Capitol

An education reform warning for Democrats

An education reform warning for Democrats:


An education reform warning for Democrats

President Obama and JEb Bush shake hands, with Arne Duncan in the background, in 2011. (The Associated Press)
President Obama and Jeb Bush shake hands, with Arne Duncan in the background, in 2011. (The Associated Press)
If there is one area where there is bipartisan support in President Obama’s agenda, it is education reform. And that’s too bad. Here to explain the history of this — and why it is a problem — is Jeff Bryant, a marketing and communications consultant for nonprofits. Bryant is a marketing and creative strategist with nearly 30 years of experience – the past 20 on his own – as a freelance writer, consultant, and search engine marketing provider. He has also written extensively about public education policy. This post appeared on the Education Opportunity Network, a new online publication edited by Bryant.
By Jeff Bryant
It’s a conventional wisdom among Democrats to write off the state of Texas as a land of gun wielding troglodytes who genuflect to Rush Limbaugh and swill Fox News Kool-Aid. (Full disclosure: I was born and raised in the Lone Star State.)
But it may surprise most Democrats that the education policies that our current Democra

First World Education Problems, Part III: Say Nice things about Detroit - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

First World Education Problems, Part III: Say Nice things about Detroit - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:


First World Education Problems, Part III: Say Nice things about Detroit

What to do about a city like Detroit? What's the best way to serve the children there, who deserve the same free, first-rate democratic education that children all over this country are receiving?
Is there a way to rebuild a large urban school system, make it leaner, more nimble and responsive? Or do we"unbundle" the district's publicly owned resources, facilities and human capital and offer them to the highest bidders? Can you really charter your way to 100+ diverse schools, scattered across a huge city, all meeting the needs of equally diverse children? Do we concede the inevitable risk of start-ups failing and adding to the misery and waste index?Packardgraf.JPG
What is the preferred solution for schooling in a post-industrial wasteland?
Step One: Stop thinking of it as a wasteland, and re-frame Detroit as blank slate, a canvas upon which we can re-imagine education and other critical services on a human scale. It's possible if we have the will and persistence to do so, and--key point--these imaginative new forms of schooling are generated from within, rather than imposed by those who believe they know best, or are looking to make a quick buck selling "reform."
Step Two: Understand that there is no monolithic or comprehensive solution. There is no urban system that Detroit can turn to as template for success (despite Arne Duncan's insulting comment that Detroit could benefit from a Katrina). There is no sure-fire, replicable school model to "scale up." There are pockets of success to build on, but reformers are impatient with small victories and building slowly.
Step Three: Acknowledge that race is the hot wire that runs through all discussions about

School Tech Connect: Coming To The Party?

School Tech Connect: Coming To The Party?:


Coming To The Party?

Indeed I still exist.

One thing I've been working on is the Raise Your Glass Winter Bash for Raise Your Hand. It's Thursday night, and I'll be making a much-anticipated cameo. I work with a lot of groups--- RYH is getting things done.  Come to the Bash. It's a fundraiser.

Meanwhile, a RYH team recently met with the CPS testing "accountability" guy to review the massive abuse of standardized testing. It wasn't such a great meeting, from what I gathered.  Read RYH's response letter here.

Here's the gist of it---

We respectfully request that the CEO immediately work to change the culture around any required standardized testing so that schools and children are not labeled as failing, teachers and principals are not pressured to make standardized testing the educational priority of the school, and any necessary standardized testing happens in a supportive environment.

It'll never happen because these are city kids, and therefore they need to be calipered at frequent intervals--- it doesn't make sense to have a whole division of data people if you're not going to give tests 24/7.  But we can keep trying. Meanwhile, if you look at the Track E test schedule, you'll see that it's  IAA week--- meaning the 

UPDATE: TFA contracts ignore the evidence - and Malloy’s own rhetoric - another must read piece by Sarah Darer Littman - Wait, What?

TFA contracts ignore the evidence - and Malloy’s own rhetoric - another must read piece by Sarah Darer Littman - Wait, What?:



Blessed are the Gifted for they shall inherit the earth.




TFA contracts ignore the evidence – and Malloy’s own rhetoric – another must read piece by Sarah Darer Littman

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: First they came for the public schools...

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: First they came for the public schools...:


First they came for the public schools...

Charter operators took over DuSable High School in Bronzeville. 
Now that two charter schools, Betty Shabazz Leadership Academy at DuSable and Mirta Ramirez Computer Science High School, run by ASPIRA, are on Byrd-Bennett's [s]hit list for poor performance, watch the charter operators scream "unfair" and ask local pols to intervene. I agree, it is unfair that the survival of any school is based mainly on student test scores. Those scores correlate much more closely with poverty than anything going on inside the classroom.

But they should have thought of that before they became cheerleaders for the closing of neighborhood schools for the same reason before taking their public funds and resources moving into the facilities that they once 

UPDATE: 5 Ways Yoga Can Help Educators + School Safety Lessons Learned: From Cleveland to Newtown — Whole Child Education

School Safety Lessons Learned: From Cleveland to Newtown — Whole Child Education:


Lara Veon

5 Ways Yoga Can Help Educators Create Safe Environments

Mindful Practices
Much like that of educating the whole child, how to make our learning environments safe places in which to teach and learn is a rich and complex discussion in our current educational landscape. Our Mindful Practices team teaches in schools throughout Chicago—in the most under-resourced neighborhoods to the most affluent suburbs. While each community might be actively addressing school safety in different ways, we've found incorporating yoga as a social emotional learning tool into the school day increases the sense of internal and external safety for educators and students, thus creating a better learning environment for everyone.
Below are five ways yoga can help educators create safety in their classrooms and schools, including links to activities that anyone can start using today.
  1. Awareness of Self and Others
    Using yoga poses and strategies that focus on breathing teaches students how to notice feelings and recognize what happens in their bodies when they are feeling them. They also provide alternatives for the problematic responses that often contribute to unsafe situations. This practice begins with individual self-awareness skills and is easily transferable to activities that focus on an awareness and respect of others.
    Visit this link for an activity using a Feelings Journal to teach self-awareness.
  2. Distress Tolerance & Emotional Regulation
    Not only does yoga teach students to identify when they might be feeling distress, it also teaches them 

Stephen Sroka

School Safety Lessons Learned: From Cleveland to Newtown

I dealt with school violence before it was fashionable and funded. To me, any child killed anywhere, anytime, is a huge tragedy. But decades ago, when children were killed in the inner city of Cleveland, you probably never heard about them. When the killings moved to suburbs such as Columbine, they became national news. The Newtown shootings shocked the U.S. like no other school violence. Now, school violence prevention is front-page news. Working with school safety for more than 30 years, I have tried to help schools and communities keep our youth safe and healthy so that they can learn more and live better. Here are several lessons that I have learned.
School violence can happen anywhere, but not here. After school shootings, I often heard "I cannot believe that it can happen here." As we have learned, school violence can happen anywhere. But don't be surprised after the next tragedy if someone says, "I cannot believe that it can happen here." Denial is human.
Be prepared, not scared. Schools are not powerless. Awareness, education, and advocacy can help break 

Teachers join school-closings 'Walk In My Shoes' protest at Fulton Elementary | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Teachers join school-closings 'Walk In My Shoes' protest at Fulton Elementary | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:


Teachers join school-closings 'Walk In My Shoes' protest at Fulton Elementary

by Aaron Moselle
Fran Hoffman didn't mince words Tuesday afternoon while discussing the collective mood inside Robert Fulton Elementary's East Germantown building.
"We're a little defeated," he said. "We're taking a collective punch in the gut."
Hoffman, who teaches sixth grade, nonetheless grabbed a picket sign and joined about a dozen teachers from Fulton and beyond for a mile-plus long rally aimed at keeping the school open next year.
Image: 
Image Caption: 
On Tuesday, school-closing protestors marched from Fulton Elementary to Emlen during a "Walk in My Shoes" march.
Photo Credits: 
Aaron Moselle/WHYY
read more

Is Working From Home a Feminist Issue? - Dana Goldstein

Is Working From Home a Feminist Issue? - Dana Goldstein:


Is Working From Home a Feminist Issue?

I've worked in offices for small magazines, large media companies, and think tanks. So I know there's a lot about office culture that sucks: useless meetings, crackberries that ruin your precious out-of-the-office hours, and sometimes an assumption that whoever stays latest or arrives earliest is working hardest. In New York, there's competitive dressing. In DC, there are old-school dress codes, as if everyone were about to meet with a senator,any minute now! A lot of this is absurd. I'm a huge believer in flex time for office workers. There's nothing about the hours 9-7 that make them especially productive; a lot of us get more done in the evenings, or while fighting insomnia, or at sunrise. And the occassional guilt-free day of working from home is priceless: the quiet, the pajamas, the home-cooked lunch. For new parents, people with chronic health conditions, or people who serve as caretakers for sick or elderly relatives, having the ability to work from home at least some of the time can mean the difference between being able to hold down a job and being forced to quit. 
So I sympathasize with those who are outraged over Marissa Mayer's descision to put the kibosh on work-from-home arrangements at Yahoo. It's insulting to employees to suggest that the only legitimate reason to stay home is "for the cable guy." Marissa Mayer does sound like kind of a nightmare boss, counting the cars in the corporate parking lot at 5 pm. And because women tend to disproportionately 

Superintendents speak out on privatization, grading schools | Education | NewsObserver.com

Superintendents speak out on privatization, grading schools | Education | NewsObserver.com:

Superintendents speak out on privatization, grading schools


School superintendents oppose any plan that would use public money to support private K-12 education, and warned legislators Tuesday that privatization would set up a two-tiered education system based on class, both funded with taxpayer money.
Superintendents are united against a voucher or private school tax-credit plan, and see them as “the single greatest threat to public schools,” said Edward Pruden, Brunswick County superintendent.
“Whereas the old segregation was by race, the new segregation would be by socio-economic class,” Pruden said. “For those who desire the return of the segregation days of old, one is about as good as the other.”
Legislators are working on proposals to use public money to pay tuition for students who leave public schools, a fundamental change in the state that has so far stayed away from broad voucher programs. Legislators, public policy and advocacy groups have been laying the groundwork for such a move for a few years, and the idea is gaining traction.
About 65 superintendents attended a meeting called by House Republicans to give their opinions on proposed education policies and current laws, including a law requiring schools receive A-F letter grades as an indication of quality, based on their students’ test scores.
House Speaker Thom Tillis, who presided over the meeting in the House chamber, said legislators want to use educators’ expertise to make better laws. Principals are coming to Raleigh on

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/02/26/2709780/superintendents-speak-out-on-privatization.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/02/26/2709780/superintendents-speak-out-on-privatization.html#storylink=cpy

Michael Weston | A Teacher for Hillsborough County School Board

Michael Weston | A Teacher for Hillsborough County School Board:


Welcome


My name is Michael Weston, and I am a candidate for Hillsborough County School Board, District 2.  I am a parent, a teacher and a long-time member of our community.
If elected, I will be about the classroom.  I will be about our children’s future.  I will be about the responsible use of dollars.
My vision is
  • a Hillsborough County School District that supports the classroom, rather than burdens it with the latest fads in education “reform”.
  • a Hillsborough County School District that engages the community, rather than insulates from it.
  • a level of transparency that would NEVER ALLOW the recent “non-reporting” of a student death.
  •  a system that recognizes the value of its teachers; one that lets information flow in all directions, rather than “top-down” only.
Help get the word out.  Go to our Facebook page and click “Like”.

Local school districts are new target of education reformers | HechingerEd Blog

Local school districts are new target of education reformers | HechingerEd Blog:


Local school districts are new target of education reformers

Mayor Bloomberg Your Money Sucks! (Learn More click picture)


The large amounts of outside money flowing into the Los Angeles Unified school board election represent a new front in the reform battles that have shaken up education politics over the last decade. Donations of $1 million by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City and $250,000 by former District of Columbia Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, in particular, have sparked controversy. But the involvement of national school reform players in local district politics is a trend likely to accelerate now that would-be reformers have won major policy victories at the state and federal levels, experts and advocates say. Upcoming races in Denver and Newark, N.J., may be the next target for national groups like Rhee’s advocacy organization, StudentsFirst, and major donors like Bloomberg and his former school chancellor, Joel Klein, who has also contributed money to the Los Angeles race. “A lot of the reform success started at the federal level with Race to the Top, it moved to states and now it’s very much in the implementation phase at the district level,” said Joe Williams, director of Democrats for 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Scrap the Map Event at UW

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Scrap the Map Event at UW:



Ed Reform Flowchart



A very nifty flowchart from our friends at the Seattle Education blog (Sue Peters and Dora Taylor) showing the "lines of influence" both nationally and locally.  They created this awhile back and admit it needs updating like the line between Gates and the Alliance, that Goodloe-Johnson is gone, and there are even more connections than ever in 2013.










Scrap the Map Event at UW

From Scrap the Map:

Standardized testing discussion at University of Washington Physics & Astronomy Bldg Room A102 from 6:30-8:00 p.m. this Thursday, the 28th.

Seattle teachers at Garfield HS, Ballard HS, Chief Sealth HS, the Center School and Orca K-8 voted to stop administering the widely used and highly unfair standardized Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) test. The are now facing the threat of "consequences" for refusing the give the test. Students and parents are joining the struggle in defense of their teachers and their right to a quality education. The outcome of this grassroots movement will have an enormous impact on the future of resistance to high stakes testing around the country!

Featuring:
Diane Ravitch
Educational policy analyst, NYU professor*, former US Assistant Secretary of State

Wayne Au
UW-Bothell Assistant Professor, Member of Rethinking Schools editorial board

Jesse Hagopian
Garfield HS teacher, founding member of Social Equality Educators

Dora Taylor
Founding member of Parents Across America-Seattle, editor of Seattle Education blog

George Lovell
Harry Bridges Endowed Chair in Labor Studies*

Check out scrapthemap.wordpress.com for news and resources!

Sponsored by:
Scrap the MAP! organizing committee

Co-sponsored by:
Social Equality Educators
Parents Across America-Seattle

*Listed for identification only

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Wednesday, February 27, 2013

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:


Pediatricians oppose school suspension, expulsion




Education Headlines

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Stockton USD votes to issue layoff notices

Despite pleas from counselors and from the head of the teachers union, Stockton Unified School District took the first step Tuesday night toward possible layoffs of nearly 100 teachers and counselors.

Desert Sands Unified prepares cuts

The Desert Sands Unified School District will most likely schedule furlough days, layoff employees or increase class sizes if the governor’s plan to redistribute education funding is not approved by the state Legislature.

Chino Valley Unified board delays sale of vacant property

Chino Valley Unified board members will continue discussing what to do with one of the district's vacant properties after hearing that selling the parcel could jeopardize future financing.

Sweetwater mechanic had tow conflict

Sweetwater Union High School District officials are investigating a district employee who signed off on several purchase orders for a tow truck company that also employed him.

SD Unified superintendent to retire

San Diego city schools chief Bill Kowba announced his retirement Tuesday, seven years after retiring from the Navy to take the first of several top posts with California’s second-largest district during the most difficult economic times since the Great Depression.

Deasy group aids three school board candidates

Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy isn't on the ballot Tuesday, but you'd hardly know it, based on the undercurrent of the school board election. A coalition of local organizations, wealthy donors and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa have decided that the election is all about keeping Deasy on the job and accelerating the aggressive policies he's putting into place.

Pediatricians oppose school suspension, expulsion

A group representing pediatricians says disciplining students with out-of-school suspension or expulsion is counterproductive to school goals and should only be used on case by case basis.

LAUSD to hire new sex-abuse investigators

With awareness of child molestation heightened since the Miramonte Elementary case broke a year ago, Los Angeles Unified is creating a special team to investigate sex-abuse allegations.

Many California teachers lack correct credentials

In California, thousands of teachers are instructing in subjects outside their areas of expertise -- and beyond their credentials. The problem is especially prominent in low-performing schools, which lack the resources to attract needed teachers.

Sequestration to affect California schools

School districts across California will lose millions of dollars if the automatic federal budget cuts known as sequestration take effect on Friday. The California Department of Education said statewide, schools could lose about $260 million.

Fensterwald: For now, K-12 districts can wait and watch sequestration unroll

K-12 districts have one advantage over meat inspectors, military contractors, national parks staff, air traffic controllers, Head Start operators (see story) and others facing immediate cuts in federal funding as of Friday’s sequester deadline: time. Because of how districts budget their money, the 5.1 percent reductions in federal revenue that would go into effect March 1 under sequestration won’t be felt by districts until the start of their new fiscal year, July 1. That gives districts four months to plan for the impact ­and Congress and President Obama plenty of time to change their minds – or not.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Layoff notices looming for teachers, counselors

Nearly 100 teachers and counselors may receive initial layoff notices from Stockton Unified ahead of a March 15 state deadline as the school district begins its effort to balance its budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year.

Champion of education for 38 years

Gary Dei Rossi, the 61-year-old deputy superintendent at the San Joaquin County Office of Education, is spending a lot of time reflecting these days. After finishing work Friday, Dei Rossi will retire, completing a career in education that has spanned nearly 38 years, the past 22 at the county office.

San Dieguito to begin first Prop. AA projects this year

In the next few years, residents in the La Costa Valley neighborhood will get new playing fields, parents at Diegueno Middle School will have a much easier time dropping off their children at the campus and students at Sunset High School will finally have permanent buildings.