May ← 2013 ← NPE News Briefs

May ← 2013 ← NPE News Briefs:

NPE New

1 2 3 4 5 6 … 70 Next »

UTLA Member to Leadership: Let’s SupportMonica NOW! | Diane Ravitch’s blog

MAY

18

2013

by a United Teachers Los Angeles member – If Sanchez wins and becomes (as could be expected) Monica Garcia’s and Deasy’s biggest ally on the board, no one will hear excuses from you (UTLA leadership) that you could not change the endorsement. You certainly have not tried very hard to change it, nor to notify ...

Chicago Teachers Union | President Karen Lewis Re-elected

MAY

18

2013

Chicago – National Board Certified Teacher Karen GJ Lewis has retained her position as president of the Chicago Teachers Union, according to unofficial, preliminary results from today’s election, receiving an overwhelming 80 percent of the votes.  In addition, the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) has also retained the remaining officer positions including Jesse Sharkey ...

inBloom might be withering in Jefferson CountyColorado – Susan Ohanian Speaks Out

MAY

18

2013

by Susan Ohanian – Jefferson County parents fight for their children’s privacy rights. School Belongs to the Children is fighting the fact that Jefferson County is one of nine “pilot” states that have agreed to share confidential student and teacher data with a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded operation called the “Shared Learning Collaborative” or ...

Students Last: Pearson Product Placement NoError | Diane Ravitch’s blog

MAY

18

2013

by Diane Ravitch - Students and teachers complained about the commercial brands that were represented in the recent Pearson tests for the a Common Core testing in New York State. According to the authoritative satirical blogger Students Last, this was no error. This is now state policy and a clever way to raise new funding. ...

PBS in Houston: Watch the Faces of the Students | Diane Ravitch’s blog

MAY

17

2013

by Diane Ravitch and a reader of her blog – A reader from Houston suggests that we watch the PBS documentary on Houston’s Apollo program and watch the faces of the students: He writes: To see how many kids react to an overemphasis on testing, watch Dropout Nation. PBS Frontline’s Dropout Nation series featured HISD ...

May 17 in Our History: How Soon We Forget | Diane Ravitch’s blog

MAY

17

2013

by Diane Ravitch – On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that segregation of the races in public school was unconstitutional. At the time, segregation was the law in 17 states and many districts. For years, the states where segregation was outlawed resisted the court decision. Their favorite ploy was school choice. They ...

Is the School of the Future in the Cloud? | Diane Ravitch’s blog

MAY

17

2013

by Diane Ravitch – Having studied the history of education for some decades, I have a built-in resistance to claims about the school of the future, particularly when it involves the end of schooling. Over many years, I have seen predictions about that Great Day when all children are self-motivated, all learning comes naturally, and ...

Concord Rebellion Stirring Over Dismissal ofUnion Leader | Diane Ravitch’s blog

MAY

17

2013

by Diane Ravitch – Parents and teachers in Concord, Massachusetts, are outraged over the firing of the teachers’ union leader, an 18-year teacher of third grade, allegedly for ineffectiveness. “The catalyst for the protest was the decision by Thoreau Elementary School Principal Kelly Clough not to renew the contract of veteran third grade teacher and ...

N.Y. Chancellor Tisch Sends Conflicting Message to School Leaders – Finding Common Ground – Education Week

MAY

17

2013

by Peter DeWitt – “We have always expected that scores will drop initially. But that’s not a sign that our education community is doing something wrong. It’s a sign that we’re doing something right.” Meryll Tisch During these times of increased accountability, school leaders are looking to state leaders for guidance on what they can ...

Open Letter to Secretary Duncan from PAAMichigan affiliate leader | Parents Across America

MAY

17

2013

by Steve Norton, head of Michigan Parents for Schools – Sec. Duncan visited two schools in Detroit, one of them an EAA school, and the Perry Child Development Center in Ypsilanti. Our letter points out the conflict between the educational values Sec. Duncan has espoused, and which are the foundation of Perry’s High/Scope model, and ...

1 2 3 4 5 6 … 70 Next »

Grassroots Report: The high price of charters | The Network For Public Education

Grassroots Report: The high price of charters | The Network For Public Education:

Grassroots Report: The high price of charters

by admin

By Deborah Keisch Polin and Tim Scott
NORTHAMPTON — Once again, the Northampton public schools are facing a budget crisis. In a series of meetings in April, the mayor discussed a $1.3 million deficit for the city. What is rarely pointed out in budget discussions is that the amount that the school system pays to area charter schools has increased yearly, as more students enroll in those schools.
While our city and schools face that $1.3 million deficit, we will pay nearly $1.7 million in tuition to charter schools in this fiscal year.
Charters drain public schools of badly needed funds. When a student leaves the district, the money that follows is $5,000. However, when a Northampton student elects to attend a charter school, we pay what the charter funding formula dictates. According to estimates for the next fiscal year, when a Northampton student opts for the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School, our district will pay an estimated $10,483 to that school

Testing Support for TFA and KIPP: Whose Children Matter? – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

Testing Support for TFA and KIPP: Whose Children Matter? – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:

Testing Support for TFA and KIPP: Whose Children Matter?

by plthomasedd

Testing Support for TFA and KIPP: Whose Children Matter?

During the first years of the Obama administration, Secretary Arne Duncan has risen to the forefront of public debates about education reform, paralleling the growing public nature of that debate that includes the entrepreneur reformers such as Bill Gates and Geoffrey Canada along with a harbinger of things to come with the popularity of the documentary Waiting for “Superman.”At the center of the reform debate has been a growing endorsement of two reforms that work against traditional views of teacher preparation, Teach for America (TFA), and public schools, Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) charter schools.

One of the teachers raising a voice of protest against the new reformers has been Anthony Cody, specifically through his Education Week/Teacher Magazine blog,Living in Dialogue. Recently, he has posted one blog confronting the “highly qualified” designation of TFA teachers, and then in a second post, he concludes:

I'm So Tired...........

by antiqueteacher60

Reblogged from An Antique Teacher: I'm not just tired..........I AM EXHAUSTED! It's observation time for me and that means aligning a lesson to the Common BORE Standards, completing all the required paperwork, preparing the lesson, and using a prep period for my Pre-Observation Conference. Let me make this very clear: I am NOT opposed to […]

NEWS FLASH: Connecticut Charter Schools outperform public schools…in suspending kindergarten students! - Wait, What?

NEWS FLASH: Connecticut Charter Schools outperform public schools…in suspending kindergarten students! - Wait, What?:

NEWS FLASH: Connecticut Charter Schools outperform public schools…in suspending kindergarten students!

by jonpelto

Well, we’ve finally found proof that charter schools do outperform their public school counterparts.

In the percentage of children 6 and under who get suspended from school.

In a stunning story that was posted on the CT Mirror website late today, the CT Mirror’s Jacqueline Rabe examines a new report that revealed that, “at least 1,967 students age 6 and under were suspended last school year – almost all of them black or Hispanic.”

Rabe writes, “According to a report from the Connecticut Department of Education, the number of students suspended is actually higher, but privacy issues restrict the state agency from releasing information that could identify unique student information.”

The CT Mirror goes on to write that after unearthing the data, Connecticut’s new Child 

Social Media Partially Responsible For Rise in Potentially Suicidal Students « CBS Sacramento

Social Media Partially Responsible For Rise in Potentially Suicidal Students « CBS Sacramento:

Social Media Partially Responsible For Rise in Potentially Suicidal Students

DAVIS (CBS13) — A spike in potentially suicidal students in Davis schools has administrators working against social media peer pressure.

According to the Davis Joint Unified School District, the number of students being screened for possible suicidal behavior rose from 52 two years ago to 94—an 81 percent increase.

Psychotherapist Mark Foster says part of the increase has to do with the rise in social media use among teenagers.

“There is a whole life going on, sometimes, with your child that you don’t know about,” Foster said.

The school district released a statement, saying: “The increase in mental-health issues among teenagers is a national trend. In Davis we have chosen to take a proactive approach by researching the best methods to address student safety and welfare.”

Foster adds it’s not just the school’s responsibility to work with students.

“I think the more eyes you get on young people, the better,” he said.

School staff say that while they are contacting parents, they will contact police to keep students safe if need be.

CBS13 requested the same rates from Sacramento City Unified School District, but they have not responded yet to our request.

Are school vouchers losing steam?:

Are school vouchers losing steam?

By Valerie Strauss, Published: May 18, 2013 at 5:00 amE-mail the writer

2

Comments

More

Vouchers have been at the center of the school choice movement for many reformers, but they may be in trouble. Here making that argument is Abby Rapoport of The American Prospect, where this appeared.

By Abby Rapoport

When news broke earlier this month that the Louisiana Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s voucher system, which uses public dollars to pay for low-income students to go to private schools, the fight over vouchers made its way back into the headlines. The Louisiana program, pushed hard and publicly by Republican Governor Bobby Jindal, offers any low-income child in the state, regardless of what public school they would attend, tuition assistance at private schools. It’s something liberals fear will become commonplace in other states in the future if conservative lawmakers get their way on education policy.

Yet conservatives have been dominating legislatures since 2010 and there has been little success in creating voucher programs. Louisiana is one of only two states with such a broad program in place. After the 2010 Tea Party wave there was “a big spike in the number of states considering voucher legislation,” says Josh Cunningham, a policy specialist at the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). But most of those states didn’t actually pass any bills. Since 2010, four states have created new voucher programs. This year alone, according to NCSL, voucher bills have failed in seven states. While vouchers were once a key piece of the school choice agenda, they now play second 

National Social Study Framework; Teacher Prep; Using Data to Support Teachers | Outside the Cave

National Social Study Framework; Teacher Prep; Using Data to Support Teachers | Outside the Cave:

National Social Study Framework; Teacher Prep; Using Data to Support Teachers

by Stephen Lazar

I’m catching up on sharing a few things I’ve helped produce recently:
First, I wrote a piece for the Shanker Blog this week: Proposed National Civics Framework Shows Great Promise.  Please take the time to read and then take action; I believe the C3 Framework is a huge step forward for our field:

Simply put, the proposed C3 Framework is brilliant. It is exactly what our nation needs to ensure civic life and participation is properly valued, and it is what the Social Studies teaching profession needs to ensure our discipline retains its unique and essential role within our education system. It is brilliant in its conception, its modesty and its usefulness as a document to inform policy and practice. 

Second, I was part of a team put together by the Center for Teaching Quality that wrote what I hope is a very 

NYC Educator: Quest for a Union-Friendly Mayor

NYC Educator: Quest for a Union-Friendly Mayor:

Quest for a Union-Friendly Mayor

by NYC Educator

It's good to see UFT President Michael Mulgrewtalking of mayoral dictatorship. Clearly, with 8 of 13 votes on the PEP, our fake school board, what Bloomberg wants, Bloomberg gets. Of course, this was apparent when mayoral control was established in 2002. At that time, the UFT supported it, perhaps even enabling it. As if that weren't enough, we supported it again in 2009.

Now we're contemplating throwing our support to a Democratic mayoral hopeful. That, in itself, is probably a good idea, but there are serious considerations. Number one, as UFT members showed, there is a lot of distrust for Christine Quinn, the apparent frontrunner. It's tough to forget she not only supported and enabled Mayor4Life's third term, but also grabbed one for herself. How yet another self-serving brazen opportunist mayor will benefit working people in NYC is a huge mystery to me.

Then there is Bill Thompson, who seems to have gained some traction with teachers. He worked closely with the UFT before the last mayoral election. However, after the UFT failed to endorse him against Mayor4Life, he 

Missouri Education Watchdog: SB210 Is Laid Aside

Missouri Education Watchdog: SB210 Is Laid Aside:

SB210 Is Laid Aside

by Anngie

Today politics prevailed. The interests of the people were laid aside with SB210 allowing a state department to continue ducking the public's questions and the legislature's authority. Our countdown clock continues and will remain at the top of our page awaiting DESE's response to at least some of the questions the public has about Common Core.

We may never get answers to the conflicting comments we have heard about common core.

The National Governor's Association and common core proponents in general site a main reason for having common standards is so that children moving from state-to-state, district-to-district will not experience an interruption in their education. There will be no subject matter holes because everyone is being taught the same thing. Yet when pressed, DESE insisted in front of a House Committee that Missouri owns the standards and can change them at any time. In fact, all states can, and have, changed the standards. That, by definition, would mean that the standards are no longer "common" among the states and a child would once again experience an interruption in his/her education should he/she move. This would also make the state’s standards out of line with 

Louisiana Educator: Public School Haters: Their M. O.

Louisiana Educator: Public School Haters: Their M. O.:

Public School Haters: Their M. O.

by Michael Deshotels

Diane Ravitch recently asked: "What kind of a strategy causes a general to turn his artillery on his own troops?" She was referring I believe to the group of State Superintendents who have named themselves the Chiefs for Change to promote the implementation of the most radical parts of today's education reforms in their states. Ravitch was referring to the destructive use of inaccurate VAM systems for evaluating teachers and the promotion of vouchers and charter schools which take away critical resources from public schools. John White who has proclaimed himself one of the chiefs for change has set a quota of 10% of VAM rated teachers to be found ineffective each year, no matter how much student test scores may improve. The VAM system picks mostly a new batch of teachers to rate as ineffective each year because the VAM rating system is very erratic and unreliable. VAM ratings change drastically for a given teacher from year to year even if the teacher continues to teach exactly the same in successive years. According to an email I got from White, he and BESE intend to impose the 10% failure factor on Louisiana teachers indefinitely or until BESE chooses to end it. That's what Ravitch is talking about when she questions why a general would fire on his own troops.

But this is all part of the Modus Operandi of what I call the public education haters. One of the basic assumptions of the public education haters is the idea that most of the low performance of some of our public