Louisiana Educator: The Unlimited Threat of Vouchers and Course Choice

Louisiana Educator: The Unlimited Threat of Vouchers and Course Choice:

The Unlimited Threat of Vouchers and Course Choice

by Michael Deshotels

From yesterday's disastrous Oklahoma tornadoes:

“We had to pull a car out of the hallway that was on top of a teacher. She had three little children under her. Good job teach!”

This is a direct quote from one of the rescue workers about a teacher and her students caught in a school hit by one of the devastating Oklahoma tornadoes yesterday. It brings tears of pride to my eyes every time I read it.  Just another example of the spontaneous heroism displayed by of our public school teachers. They always think of their students first.

Now to Louisiana's own (much less horrific yet very important self created disaster):

MFP Resolution is a Trap for Louisiana Taxpayers

The MFP resolution now before the Louisiana Senate contains an escape clause to account for the recent Louisiana Supreme Court decision outlawing the funding of vouchers through the MFP. But that escape clause is a trap for the taxpayers of Louisiana. By approving the MFP as it is presently worded the legislature will be 

It’s time to fix school discipline practices and policies | EdSource Today

It’s time to fix school discipline practices and policies | EdSource Today:

It’s time to fix school discipline practices and policies - by Sarah Omojola / commentary

by Sarah Omojola / commentary

Fix School Discipline

All students can learn. That’s a simple but profound starting place for talking about changing school discipline policies. As a former teacher in New Orleans public schools, I am well aware of the difficulty of teaching students who have varying backgrounds, abilities and learning styles in an ever-changing school system, inundated with countless internal and external pressures.

However, research has shown that students are frequently suspended on grounds such as “willful defiance” for behavior that is often related to having a disability, being culturally different from teachers or administrators, or because they are still learning how to respect themselves and others.

Unlike suspension for safety reasons, suspending students for “willful defiance” is an unsound educational policy that ultimately results in students losing valuable educational time. A recent report by the Civil Rights Project at UCLA shows that high school suspension rates have risen dramatically in the past 30 years without actually improving school climates. Notably, the American Psychological Association found that schools with higher rates of suspensions have lower academic quality and school climate ratings.

This year Assemblymember Roger Dickinson has introduced AB 420, which would eliminate “willful defiance” as grounds for suspension in grades K-5, where students are in early stages of development and, therefore, should be kept in school to receive the education and services that 

UPDATE: VAM This: Is This a New Definition of an Effective Teacher Ed Notes Online: Noon Today: TEACHERS COLLEGE STUDENTS AND FACULTY TO PROTEST

Ed Notes Online: Noon Today: TEACHERS COLLEGE STUDENTS AND FACULTY TO PROTEST AWARD TO MERRYL TISCH, NYS BOARD OF REGENTS CHANCELLOR:

VAM This: Is This a New Definition of an Effective Teacher - Throwing your body over kids during a tornado or in front of a bullet?

by ed notes online

One can never say what you would do in situations like these and I cannot say for sure what I would do. I had a few minor incidents over my years of teaching where I hope I did the right thing. I think most teachers generally act in the interests of the safety of the kids in extreme conditions. It is an almost automatic act to put the kids in your charge ahead of yourself. But here is a scary thought: you take your kids on a trip and either due to your not being careful enough or due to one of your kids going off kilter (and maybe if a kid who was capable of going off should not have been on the trip) a kid falls on the tracks and a train is coming. What do you do? I'm really picturing this scene and right now I'm still standing on the edge of the platform reaching down and urging the child to grab my hands. But I haven't jumped on the tracks yet. The clock is ticking. How effective will I be deemed under the new definition of VAM?


Special to Ed Notes from Jim Callaghan 
 
Great to hear from Jim today, chief defender of teacher rights at the NY Teacher before Mulgrew fired him in the summer of 2010. Jim watching the actions of the teachers in Oklahoma expresses some outrage though he is a 

Noon Today: TEACHERS COLLEGE STUDENTS AND FACULTY TO PROTEST AWARD TO MERRYL TISCH, NYS BOARD OF REGENTS CHANCELLOR

by ed notes online

We've been reporting on this for a week as various parents, faculty and student groups have petitions going. But today is the live protest by students, faculty and alumni of TC. The protest is as much against the actions of TC President Susan Fuhrman who is on the board of the Pearson test giant as it is against Tisch. TC students go there because many are progressive educators opposed to the high stakes testing regime while TC itself has blood on its hands in many ways. The alumni I know are outraged.

A group based at TC, Edu4, has a web site Edu4.

Check out this powerhouse School Book piece by Change the Stakes member Fred Smith on the exploding student, parent, alumni protest of the selection of Regent Merryl Tisch to be honored at tomorrow’s graduation.





MEDIA ALERT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                  MAY 20, 2013

Press Contacts:
Daiyu Suzuki: (646) 546-2513, daiyu.suzuki@gmail.com
Sulafa Khalid-Musa: (917) 600-7607, smk2194@tc.columbia.edu

 TEACHERS COLLEGE STUDENTS AND FACULTY TO PROTEST

AWARD TO MERRYL TISCH,
NYS BOARD OF REGENTS CHANCELLOR

WHEN:             TUESDAY, MAY 21
TIME:               12:00 NOON
WHAT:              TEACHERS COLLEGE CONVOCATION
WHERE:           IN FRONT of CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE
                        112th ST. AND AMSTERDAM AVENUE, NYC



WHY:  

At tomorrow’s graduation ceremony Merryl Tisch, Chancellor of New York State Board of Regents, is to be a speaker and receive an award from Teachers College. Tisch is a driving force behind the state’s policies of high-stakes testing in the public schools and the promotion of charter schools. Critics of these policies include TC graduates and other students as well as members of TC faculty, staff, and alumni.

Many TC students and faculty members state that Chancellor Tisch’s policies hurt children and damage all public schools, and most drastically damage schools that serve middle-class and poor families. In contrast,there are no high-stakes tests in elite private schools, where Chancellor Tisch’s children studied and where she taught. TC community members also object to TC President Susan Fuhrman’s unilateral decision to honor Chancellor Tisch with an award at their graduation.

Students, including graduates coming out of the convocation, and a number of faculty members are prepared to be interviewed by the press. They will share their photos of the protest as well.

Change the Stakes High States Testing Updates - Field Tests, Merryl Tisch Outrage, and More!

by ed notes online

Message from the most dynamic group in the battle against Ed Deform in NYC.

Thanks so much for continuing to share and support the petition to Give New York State Parents the Right to Opt Their Children Out of High Stakes Testing.  A few important updates:

1.      Say No to Field Testing – Check out the Change the Stakes fact sheet, listing of NYC field test schools and sample opt out letters.  Statewide resources also available on the NYStopTesting site.  

2.      Problems Opting Out in April? – If you opted your NYC child out of State testing in April and feel you experienced some form of punishment please email changethestakes@gmail.com.  We are collecting stories for a legal support group that may be interested in taking action.  (NYC only for this item, please).  

3.      Controversy Brews at Teachers College – Please check out this powerhouse School Book piece by Change the Stakes member Fred Smith on the exploding student, parent, alumni protest of the selection of 

Computer use irrelevant to education outcomes, says US study | toteachornototeach

Computer use irrelevant to education outcomes, says US study | toteachornototeach:

Computer use irrelevant to education outcomes, says US study

by aristotlethewise

Computer use irrelevant to 
education outcomes, says US study

By Richard Chirgwin
The accepted wisdom that computers are an indispensable tool of modern education is under challenge in a study conducted for Germany’s Centre for Economic Studies IFO (CESifo).
The study, published by the University of California Santa Cruz’s Robert Fairlie and Johnathan Robertson, detected no difference between computer-owning children and those on the wrong side of the digital divide, on “educational outcomes, including grades, standardized test scores, credits earned, attendance and disciplinary actions”.
America spends $5 billion each year on computers in schools programs – nice work if you’re a vendor since obsolescence is guaranteed – but the paper notes that nine million US children between the ages of 10 and 17 lack either a computer or access to the Internet.
With previous literature divided on whether or not computers were beneficial, the UCSC researchers chose a 

Latino students missing school for vacation deserves more scrutiny | NewsTacoNewsTaco

Latino students missing school for vacation deserves more scrutiny | NewsTacoNewsTaco:

Latino students missing school for vacation deserves more scrutiny

by Victor Landa

By Esther J. Cepeda, NBCLatino
CHICAGO — It’s that time. If you’re a teacher in a school with a large concentration of Hispanic students, you’re doing end-of-year reviews and preparing for final exams — and you have kids trickling up to you to let you know they won’t be around for them.
This also happens at the beginning of the school year and during the holidays as parents take their children out of classes for long family trips. But I can tell you from first-hand experience that there’s nothing worse than getting through the post-spring break blahs and pushing hard to end the year strong, only to have students drop like flies before you reach the finish line.
Understand that I’m not talking about children of farmworkers whose families follow the harvest. I turn your attention to students of families who are financially stable enough to travel for pleasure — or at least can afford it when the need arises — and can do so legally.
When I last surveyed administrators in the Chicago Public Schools system in 2007, they said that although the Hispanic attendance as students returned from Christmas vacation was still bad, it was improving. An 

Has anybody told Obama about the problems his education policies have caused?:

Has anybody told Obama about the problems his education policies have caused?

By Valerie Strauss, Published: May 21, 2013 at 6:00 amE-mail the writer

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White House officials say they didn’t tell President Obama about an impending IRS scandal, and nobody told him the Justice Department secretly subpoenaedreporters’ phone records, and exactly what he knew when about the Benghazi controversy is unclear. This, then, seems like a good time to ask: How much has the president been told about the unfortunate effects his education reform policies are having on public schools?

He’s never given any real indication that he knows the severity of problems teachers and schools are facing.

He’s never, for example, acknowledged that his policies have fueled a high-stakes standardized testing obsession in public education, and then led to a growing national revolt involving students, parents, teachers, principals, superintendents, professors and researchers.

Issues that seem to have barely registered with him — at least as judged from his public posture — include how living in poverty affects student achievement, the increasing 

‘I once thought Maryland was below me’

by Valerie Strauss

The University of Maryland’s English Department held its commencement ceremonies on Monday and student Jamie Lee gave the following unusually honest speech in which she concedes that she once thought going to College Park was beneath her and that studying … Continue reading →

Jersey Jazzman: Nobody Like Public School Destroyers

Jersey Jazzman: Nobody Like Public School Destroyers:

Nobody Like Public School Destroyers

by Duke

Maybe he thought they were going to lay palms at his feet?

No one booed. 

But the graduates of Millersville University didn't exactly cheer Gov. Tom Corbett either Saturday. 

In introducing Corbett as the class of 2013's commencement speaker, Michael Warfel, chairman of the Council of Trustees, explained the difficult fiscal conditions the governor has faced, highlighting the state's looming pension crisis. He noted that Corbett has signed two budgets on time. 

Warfel didn't mention education funding. 

That has been a major cause of contention on campus since Corbett 

NYC Educator: Chancellor Walcott Addresses Bullying

NYC Educator: Chancellor Walcott Addresses Bullying:

Chancellor Walcott Addresses Bullying

by NYC Educator

Hi. I'm New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott, and I think it's about time we addressed bullying. Personally I've had it with bullying. That's why I'm making 80 thousand teachers give lessons on it. After all, I've made them come back for full school days on June 24th and 25th, after they've given grades and their students have finished all their tests. What better time to tell 34 kids you oppose bullying than right after you've forced them to come back to a hot classroom for no reason?

I'd also like to say a few words about the Democratic mayoral candidates, who have been criticizing the mayor's initiatives, which they have no right to do. It's important we continue closing schools, and those candidates have made unconscionable statements 

Special Late Nite Cap EXTRA 5-20-13 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2

Nite Cap EXTRA

EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA

Marching in Chicago: Resisting Rahm Emanuel's Neoliberal Savagery

Monday, 20 May 2013 10:16By Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed

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Protesters march in the Loop March 27, 2013 during a rally to protest the proposed closing of 54 Chicago public schools. (Photo: WBEZ/Robin Amer)

Across the globe, predatory capitalism spreads its gospel of power, greed, commodification, gentrification and inequality.  Through the combined forces of a market driven ideology, policy and mode of governance, the apostles of free-market capitalism are doing their best to dismantle historically guaranteed social provisions provided by the welfare state, define the accumulation of capital as the only obligation of democracy, increase the role of corporate money in politics, wage an assault on unions, expand the military-security state, increase inequalities in wealth and income, foster the erosion of civil liberties and undercut public faith in the defining institutions of democracy.1. As market mentalities and moralities tighten their grip on all aspects of society, democratic institutions and public spheres are being downsized, if not altogether disappearing. As these institutions vanish - from public schools to health-care centers - there is also a serious erosion of the discourses of community, justice, equality, public values and the common good. One does not 

Crenshaw Student Forum - Community Standing up to Deasy's Racist Reconstitution

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene

"What's happening at Crenshaw is representative of the death of the large, urban comprehensive high school all across the country." — Dana Goldstein
From the organizers:
If you have time to attend one after school thing for the remainder of the year, May 28th in support of Crenshaw, has to be that event. This will be a student led event, co-sponsored by CEJ, Community Rights Campaign, Sierra Club and Schools LA Students Deserve. The event should gain major media attention, and is part of our grassroots and legal strategy challenging LAUSD on this destabilizing attack upon one of our schools.
Event will be at Brotherhood Crusade at 5415 Crenshaw.

Crenshaw Forum Flyer 2013 by Robert D. Skeels

Campaign: Door-to-Door With Monica Ratliff - LA School Report

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago

Campaign: Door-to-Door With Monica Ratliff - LA School Report: Post navigationCampaign: Door-to-Door With Monica Ratliff Posted on May 20, 2013 by Hillel Aron **Going door-to-door in the Sunland section of the East Valley one evening this past weekend, District 6 School Board candidate *Monica Ratliff*‘s pitch to voters goes something like this: “Hi, my name is Monica Ratliff. I’m a teacher, and I’m running for the Board of Education. Do you have any questions or concerns about the school district?” Most voters are startled by this; it’s unusual for a politician to ask voters for ad... more »

Yoga trial opens with unusual question

May 20, 2013, 2:28 p.m.

Opposing sides debate whether yoga program in Encinitas is religious.

Ingraham PTSA Votes to Disaffiliate from PTSA

by Melissa Westbrook

The vote was 44-29.  It was quite a compelling and civil discussion.  I'll write a wrap-up of it tomorrow but I'll leave you with two thoughts.

1) Will this spur other schools to consider this action?  Hard to say but one person who is a member of two PTAs said her other PTA is also considering this action.  Will it be like Garfield's early and firm stance on MAP and allow other schools to take a look at what is happening at their school?

2) There were several issues in play but one broad issue is this:

What is the purpose of a parent-teacher group at a school?  

Do you want a combo of school-based needs with big group identity/advocacy?  Is one more important than the 

Tomorrow voters have a chance to put education before corporations! Vote Monica Ratliff LAUSD

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene

Tomorrow voters have a chance to put education before corporations! Vote Monica Ratliff #LAUSDj.mp/13DrvxY twitter.com/rdsathene/stat…
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) May 21, 2013

Moore, Oklahoma Loses 20 Children to Tornado

by Melissa Westbrook

Please send your thoughts, good karma or prayers to the citizens (and parents) of Moore, Oklahoma.

The tornado today went right thru two elementary schools killing at least seven children.  A high school nearby also got hit.  There are still children missing.  The schools - and nearly everything else in the area - were leveled.