UNO scandal #5: Firing whistleblower for exposing student sexual assault Parents United for Responsible Education

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UNO scandal #5: Firing whistleblower for exposing student sexual assault

by admin

This one isn’t remotely humorous.
Press release *** For Immediate Release
May 3, 2013
Contact: Elaine K. B. Siegel, David Corral – 312-583-9970

Teacher lawsuit v UNO Charter Inc to proceed

Whistleblower exposed unsafe UNO policies that led to locker room sexual assault

Chicago, IL – In what amounts to a David v Goliath victory, the United States District Court, Eastern Division, ruled Wednesday that a lawsuit by teacher David Corral against his employer, UNO Charter School Network, Inc,. should proceed to a jury trial.
Mr. Corral brought the lawsuit against UNO, claiming that he was fired for blowing the whistle on unsafe policies that resulted in a student sexual assault.
David Corral was the physical education teacher and athletic director at UNO’s Dr. Hector P. Garcia, M.D. High School. In 2008 and 2009, Mr. Corral ran the high school physical education classes by himself.. Boasting an 

This Week In Education: Thompson: Diane Ravitch Is an Engaged and Bilingual Writer

This Week In Education: Thompson: Diane Ravitch Is an Engaged and Bilingual Writer:

Thompson: Diane Ravitch Is an Engaged and Bilingual Writer

by john thompson

I agree and disagree with Alexander’s take on David Brook’s New York Times’ Op Ed,Engaged, or Detached? Brooks argues that today we mostly have engaged writers who are less concerned about persuasion than mobilizing people who already agree with them. Engaged writers can be repetitive as they seek immediate political influence.  A detached writer, however, is more like a teacher. He or she prods people to think.
Also, detached writers have more realistic goals. Detached writers generally understand that they are not going to succeed in telling people what to think. It is enough to prod people to think about “underlying concepts, underlying reality and the underlying frame of debate.” A detached writer understands that politics is a “bipolar struggle for turf.”
I agree with Brooks and, presumably, Russo, in drawing that distinction, although I would offer a more nuanced view. If a detached writer is like a teacher, what is a detached teacher like? 
I disagree with Russo that Diane Ravitch should be defined as an engaged writer under Brook’s definition.  Fundamentally, she is bilingual. Ravitch has long demonstrated fluency in the language of scholarship. Her research is presented in vivid prose. It is as solid as that of any detached writer. It is her ability to cut through the jargon and articulate a mass message that "reformers" can't stand.

UPDATE: Kentucky’s Common Core Testing Program Hits Major Snag | Truth in American Education

Kentucky’s Common Core Testing Program Hits Major Snag | Truth in American Education:

Local School Board in Georgia Votes Down Buying Common Core Math Books

by Shane Vander Hart

This is interesting.  From The Marietta Daily Journal:

State Schools Superintendent John Barge is coming to Cobb County on Saturday to address concerns about the controversial Common Core standards.

The announcement of Barge’s visit to Cobb comes on the heels of a 4-3 vote by the Cobb Board of Education last week to reject the purchase of $7.5 million in math textbooks aligned with Common Core. This rejection at the local level came after the state had already committed to implementing the nationwide standards under the past two governors, Sonny Perdue and Nathan Deal, even though the Legislature has never voted on the issue.

That Barge would come to Cobb to face what is likely to be a room full of fellow Republicans with 

Second #StopCommonCore Twitter Rally Reaches 9.7 Million Twitter Users

by truthed

Parent Led Reform, in collaboration with Truth in American Education, hosted a second rally via Twitter Thursday May 2nd. The #Stopcommoncore Twitter Rally shared research diligently collected by parents, citizens, and education professionals concerned about the government’s push for national common standards in education with a wide reach of nearly 9.8 million Twitter users. Common Core standards are national K-12 education goals as defined by federal and state government.

“The response to our second #stopcommoncore Twitter rally was amazing,” says Shane Vander Hart, spokesperson for Truth in American Education. ”Parents and concerned citizens are awakening to this previously unknown revolution in education called the Common Core State Standards. ‘We the people’ are starting to have our voices heard. Last night we sent a strong message that education policy can not be decided by a handful of elites. ‘We the people’ through our elected representatives must have a say. Our kids deserve real reform, not a data-less,
untested fad.”

But the action doesn’t end there. Parent Led Reform issued a challenge: “Join to make your state the first to 

Common Core Testing Glitches

by Shane Vander Hart

From Ed Week:

Widespread technical failures and interruptions of recent online testing in a number of states have shaken the confidence of educators and policymakers in high-tech assessment methods and raised serious concerns about schools’ technological readiness for the coming common-core online tests.

The glitches arose as many districts in the 46 states that have signed on to the Common Core State Standards are trying to ramp up their technological infrastructure to prepare for the requirement that students take online assessments starting in 2014-15.

Disruptions of testing were reported across Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Oklahoma and 

Kentucky’s Common Core Testing Program Hits Major Snag

by truthed

From the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions:

(LEXINGTON, Ky.) – Only one year after Kentucky became the first state in the nation to introduce an education assessment and accountability system aligned with the national Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the program has already hit a major snag.

In a decision with national overtones for the other 44 states that have signed on to the CCSS, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has discontinued scoring for all constructed-response questions in each of the four CCSS-aligned high school end-of-course exams.

This decision means only multiple-choice questions remain as scored portions in these tests, which are a major element in the state’s accountability program for high schools.

The US Department of Education has put states under considerable pressure to adopt common core standards with the goal of developing school programs that prepare students for college and careers.

Lawmakers expressed surprise when told of the dramatic action, which KDE officials quietly communicated to 

Jake Frackson – How to be Ecstatic about Rejection Student Voice

Student Voice:

Jake Frackson – How to be Ecstatic about Rejection

by Editor Admin

That attempted sensitivity in the apology. That choking sound of nonacceptance. That guttural contraction of rejection. When a rejection letter is received, it’s never initially a calculated and reasoned response; more accurately, it’s a longing for ecstasy. Ecstasy, in this context, meaning its intended definition: an out of body experience.
It’s flight in its purest form. When people are faced with things that appear subjectively insurmountable, they turn away — away from the rejection, and away from themselves. Often, it’s because it feels like a fracture. One continuous story has been interrupted, and the only way to fix it is to hum along until it resets. But sadly, it won’t — and maybe that’s for the best.
Routine, it would appear, has become the bane of humanity’s existence. Humans are constantly choosing the road more traveled, and frankly, this is for the worse. Life, in many of its facets, has become a game of follow the leader. There is one road to becoming a high school graduate, there is one road to becoming a pre-med student, there is one road to becoming a doctor. Conscious of the necessities of standards, the scope has become claustrophobically narrow. And maybe that’s why rejection stings so much.
If students were entirely honest with themselves, and properly understood the logistics of gaining whatever particular job they desired, rejection would not be so upsetting. Upsetting, in this sense, meaning also its 

Market-Oriented Reforms Really Don’t Work. What Should We Do Instead? | Edwize

Market-Oriented Reforms Really Don’t Work. What Should We Do Instead? | Edwize:

Market-Oriented Reforms Really Don’t Work. What Should We Do Instead?

by Elaine Weiss

[Editor's note: Guest blogger Elaine Weiss is the national coordinator of the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education.]
As many of us have long suspected, the impacts of popular market-oriented reforms are not as positive as their proponents would have us believe. Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee, and then-CEO and now-Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who ran the school systems in New York, Washington, DC and Chicago, respectively, along with the mayors who controlled the school systems they led, all exaggerated their successes. In fact, the report I recently co-authored as National Coordinator of the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education, “Market-Oriented Reforms’ Rhetoric Trumps Reality,” discovers that using student test scores to make high-stakes decisions did little good and more than a little harm.
We found that across all three cities, student NAEP test scores rose less than they did in comparable high-poverty urban districts. In Chicago, reading scores, already below average, fell further. New York City students achieved the second-lowest average test score growth across fourth and eighth grade reading and math of the ten districts studied, beating only Cleveland. And Washington, DC students, who had been gaining ground in 

UPDATE: Girls and Women - Our Country Needs You Seattle Schools Community Forum: Friday Open Thread

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Friday Open Thread:

Free Comic Book Day on Saturday

by Melissa Westbrook

In case you didn't know.  From the Slog:

If you don't know the routine: You can stop by any participating comic book store (Seattle has quite a few of them) and pick up some comics, for the low cost of absolutely nothing. And tomorrow's free comic book day is a special one, because Seattle's newest comic book store will be opening for business on Capitol Hill for the very first time at 10 am. Yesterday, I stopped by Phoenix Comics for a quick chat with owner Nick Nazar. The space, located right next to Dick's on Broadway, is going to need a lot of work to be ready to open tomorrow morning, but it's starting to come together; there's a new coat of paint on the walls and the carpet was just about set when I visited. The back room is stuffed full of boxes of board games, role playing games, and dice.

Girls and Women - Our Country Needs You

by Melissa Westbrook

I hadn't meant to write about this but enough stories came across my radar to make it worthwhile.

There are two issues to consider about the U.S. female population.

One is that women are STILL underpaid in this country.  Do you remember this being an issue when you were in high school? I do and I am eons out of high school.  And, apparently, Seattle has the worst gap (.73 cents versus the .77 cents nationally).

Here's what some of our mayoral candidates said when asked about this at a recent debate (only Staadecker, 

Assessment Taskforce Speaks

by Melissa Westbrook

According to the Seattle Times, the Assessment Taskforce is recommending that MAP not be mandatory for high schools...next year.  But it will still be mandatory for K-8.

The Taskforce will deliver their report to the Superintendent on Monday and then have the full report available later in the week.

Here's what the Times says they said:

Among them: The MAP test alone should not be used to determine whether a student can enter a certain 

Lynne Varner gets one right

by Charlie Mas

Lynne Varner of the Seattle Times wrote an editorial, Moving education theory from the lab to the classroom, in which she got it mostly right.

She now seems to support making education reforms based on research. This is a big change from her previous support for education reforms that had no research to support them or reforms that were discredited by the research.

Friday Open Thread

by Melissa Westbrook

From SPS Communications:

Students from Ballard, Roosevelt and Garfield high schools won top  honors in the prestigious Washington State Solo and Ensemble Contest held April 26-27 at Central Washington University. Students from Ballard, Roosevelt and Garfield high schools took first place in their categories.

I note that these schools (and I include Chief Sealth Int'l which also won an award) won a large number of awards, both group and individual.  Congrats to all the students, teachers and parents!

Also, Roosevelt student Benjamin Briggs was a semifinalist at the English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition in NYC in April.

The public is invited to the Naramore Art Show's closing reception and awards ceremony May 10 at the Seattle Arts Museum. The show, which ends May 12, features the artwork of about 200 young artists from Seattle 

Your Address, as Get-Into-School Card - NYTimes.com

Your Address, as Get-Into-School Card - NYTimes.com:

Your Address, as Get-Into-School Card

by By MICHELLE HIGGINS

Kelly Bare and her husband, Jonathan Cohen, live on the border of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, with Lizzie, 2, and Drew, 5. They are delighted with Public School 705.

Moving to a particular neighborhood in order to land a seat at a coveted public school has long been the middle-class modus operandi for obtaining a high-quality education in New York, where placement in many elementary schools is determined by home address.

But navigating school zones has become much trickier in the past few years as more families with young children put down roots in the city. Even living two blocks from a well-regarded public school no longer means your child will get in, and with many neighborhoods becoming increasingly expensive, it isn’t always possible to squeeze into a smaller apartment.

In November the attendance boundaries for Public Schools 321 and 107 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, were redrawn to relieve overcrowding, which was bad luck for families who had bought their homes specifically because of those schools and suddenly found themselves zoned for another.

Even without rezoning, families living in districts with overcrowded schools may find their best-laid plans upended. Last month, more than 2,300 children, or roughly 3 percent of applicants, were put on waiting lists for kindergarten seats at 105 schools, according to the 

Rich Boyz 4 Reform | EduShyster

Rich Boyz 4 Reform | EduShyster:

Rich Boyz 4 Reform

by edushyster2012

In their first official foray into Massachusetts politics, DFER spent big but came up short.

Say you’re a young man who is all about *crushing* the achievement gap and you just happen to have a cool$20K of daddy’s money to plunk down in order to influence an important local election. But who do you support? Do you go with the first-generation Haitian-American who would be the first minority OR woman to represent a part of Boston still scarred from the busing wars of the 1970′s? Or do you go big and bold, backing the white guywith the Irish name from a powerful South Boston family of the sort that has dominated this part of Massachusetts for decades?
Well that was easy! According to DFER’s patented endorsement process, which seems to involve googling a candidate’s name together with “charter schools, support for,” there was only one boldly disruptive reform candidate in this race. Here’s a clue: Linda Dorcena Forry never even mentions charter schools and their

Take it from parents; teenagers are people, not data points - Wait, What?

Take it from parents; teenagers are people, not data points - Wait, What?:

Take it from parents; teenagers are people, not data points

by jonpelto

(A Blog Post by Wendy Lecker, Sarah Darer Littman and Jonathan Pelto)

Ask any parent, high school student or teacher- 11th grade is hell. Aside from the heavy course-load, juniors have to suffer through a litany of standardized tests- and these count: SATs, SAT subject tests, ACTs, APs.

Could anyone make junior year any worse? Why yes! Thank President Obama, Secretary Duncan, Governor Malloy, Commissioner Pryor, the State Board of Education and Connecticut’s esteemed legislators. They all pushed and/or voted to make the Common Core State Standards Connecticut law.

As we all know, the CAPT test, the only state standardized test in high school, is administered in 10th grade. That test will now be replaced by the Common Core test, 

Meanwhile – At taxpayer or industry expense? Malloy to Keynote Security Industry Association’s “Government Summit”

by jonpelto

At the very moment Governor Malloy’s political operation was weighing the political fallout of his trip to the White House Correspondents Dinner and whether he should “reimburse” People Magazine for $1,000 or so (we still don’t know how much taxpayers shelled out for Malloy’s security detail), the U.S. Security Industry Association was releasing a press release that Malloy would be this year’s “Keynote Speaker” at their Security Industry Association Government Summit next month in Washington, D.C.

According to the Security Industry Association (SIA), the event is the “premier annual public policy conference in the security industry.”

The press release explained that Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy will serve as the keynote speaker and that, “Gov. Malloy’s remarks will precede a panel on school safety on day two of the Summit. Violent events in our nation’s schools have demonstrated that these “soft targets” are not sacred to those seeking to do harm. Understanding there are many factors that can contribute to secure learning environment, this panel will examine 

Reformers: Stop accusing critics of wanting to ‘defend the status quo’

Reformers: Stop accusing critics of wanting to ‘defend the status quo’:

Reformers: Stop accusing critics of wanting to ‘defend the status quo’

by Valerie Strauss

(By Scott Olson/Getty Images)

It’s rare to hear a school reformer speak these days without accusing someone of resisting change because they want to “defend the status quo.”  No critic of school reform that I know is an actual status quo defender, but that doesn’t ever seem to matter. In this post veteran California teacher David B. Cohen makes the case that it is time — right now — to stop using that overused phrase. Cohen has been a teacher since 1993. He is National Board Certified, and is associate director of the Accomplished California Teachers group. This appeared on InterACT, the group’s blog.

By David B. Cohen

It’s time to retire the cliché “defend the status quo.”  Just. Stop. Now.

It’s misleading, insulting, and worst of all… it’s an overused cliché, which makes for dull writing and dumbed-down debates.  We need an intervention to help people who can’t help themselves when it comes to repeating this worn-out  phrase.

This blog post has been drafted, revised, and held back a number of times. What pushed me to finally click “Publish” was last week’s debate over SB-441* – a California Senate bill that aims to improve teacher evaluations. Supporters of the bill who took the debate online via Twitter grabbed this tired cliché and attempted to shame the bill’s opponents with the hashtag #protectthestatusquo.

Perhaps they felt clever getting that little dig in, but the problem is, no one is actually satisfied with the general state of teacher evaluation in most public schools. Who are these defenders of the status quo? The California Teachers Association has its own 17-point, 36-

More than 200 colleges, universities still accepting students for fall

by Valerie Strauss

More than 200 colleges and universities around the country still have space for freshmen and transfers this fall — and they also have some financial aid and housing available too, a new survey shows. The annual Space Availability Survey is conducted … Continue reading →

“We’re Number Umpteenth!”: The myth of lagging U.S. schools

by Valerie Strauss

How many times have you heard about how lousy American students perform on international assessments in comparison to their counterparts in other countries? Here to talk about why the comparisons are nonsense is Alfie Kohn, the author of 12 books … Continue reading →

Beyond the education wars: A case study in collaboration

by Valerie Strauss

Here’s an excerpt from a new e-book titled “Beyond the Education Wars: Evidence That Collaboration Builds Effective Schools,” which looks at how struggling schools make improvements by collaboration between labor and management. It was written by Greg Anrig, vice president … Continue reading →

Hospitalized 4th grader, hooked up to machines, asked to take standardized test

by Valerie Strauss

In the you-can’t-make-up-this-stuff category: A fourth grader with severe epilepsy being screened at a hospital for possible brain surgery was lying in bed when a teacher walked in and asked him to take a New York State high-stakes standardized test. … Continue reading →

Focusing on Equity and Excellence: The Finnish Experience — Whole Child Education

Focusing on Equity and Excellence: The Finnish Experience — Whole Child Education:

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

Focusing on Equity and Excellence: The Finnish Experience

May 3, 2013 by Whole Child Virtual Conference

ASCD's third annual Whole Child Virtual Conference is a free, online event that provides a forum and tools for schools and districts working toward sustainability and changing school cultures to serve the whole child. Built on the theme, "Moving from Implementation to Sustainability to Culture," the conference will be held May 6–10, with international pre-conference sessions held on Friday, May 3, for Australasian and European audiences. The conference features presentations from renowned speakers, educators, authors, and education experts who have successfully implemented a whole child approach in schools around the world, including ASCD Vision in Action award-winning schools and Whole Child Network schools.

Below, we hear from Finnish educator, ASCD Board member, and Whole Child Virtual Conference presenter Pasi Sahlberg, whose session, "The Finnish Experience and the Whole Child," will be held Wednesday, May 8, 10:00–11:00 a.m. eastern time.

There is a "GERM" spreading across much of the world, including the United States, United Kingdom, and 

Set an Authentic and Respectful Tone at the Top

by Paula Mirk

"Tone at the Top" is a key research finding from our Schools of Integrity research project, so we know the vital part leadership plays in the process of building school cultures. Having worked frequently with great school principals who are deliberate and responsible about that role, there are specific qualities we now look for in leadership at our participating Ethical Literacy schools.

Know your philosophy. Leaders who have not developed a philosophy of education will have a hard time being consistent in choices about direction and strategy. While "collaboration" is a key leadership skill for the 21st century, it doesn't mean "being all things to all people." An effective leader is clear and articulate to others about priorities.
Be authentic. Leaders sometimes need moral courage to both develop and stick to a philosophy. Giving lip service to ideas, rather than putting thought and time into arriving at deep understanding, makes leaders vulnerable to the many agendas and influences they face. With authentic philosophical grounding, leaders can 

Heart in the Clouds: Maya Angelou Calls on Educators To Be Somebody’s Rainbow

by Laura Varlas

In March, Maya Angelou greeted 10,000 ASCD Annual Conference attendees in Chicago, Ill., with a song of hope and gratitude:
"When it looked like the sun wouldn’t shine anymore, God put a rainbow in the cloud."
It's not just that we have rainbows in the sky, but in the clouds themselves, she explained. So that even when it seems like the rain won't let up, we have something there to encourage us.

"You have sacrificed a lot to be here," Angelou stated. "I'm here to tell you how grateful I am and remind you that you are rainbows in clouds." She wouldn't be where she is today, she said, if not for the "rainbows" in her life.
Widely known as an author, poet, educator, activist, and actress, the 84-year-old Angelou charmed the packed

Leaders Must Earn Their Stripes Every Day

by Mark Hyatt

As a former Air Force squadron commander and Vice Commandant of the U.S. Air Force Academy, believe me, I had already been through a lifetime's worth of leadership training when I moved into the civilian sector as a K–12 school superintendent in 2002. Looking back, however, I must admit that the most challenging leadership issues I have ever faced easily occurred in the last decade.

In the military, discipline and the chain of command are understood from day one, period. If there is to be any loosening of the reins, it can only be initiated from the top. By comparison, managing or leading educators—especially when some personnel may be tenured—requires a much more collaborative style. I liked this change, but in the K–12 community it takes 3–4 times as long to reach consensus than the old top-down military style.

The New Poverty: Dealing with Economic Change

by Whole Child Podcast

Download Podcast Now [Right-Click to Save]
In today’s global economic state, many families and children face reduced circumstances. These "poor kids" don't fit the traditional stereotypes—two-thirds live in families in which at least one adult works, and the percentage of poor students in many rural districts equals that in inner-city districts. In the United States, the economic downturn has dramatically changed the landscape, and districts that were previously vibrant are now dealing with unemployment, underemployment, and more transient families.
In this episode, our guests discuss the implications of this new poverty for schools, many of which have seen