Thursday, May 30, 2013

@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

@rweingarten has some explaining to do re: #AFT #commoncore survey

by Chalk Face, PhD

At the Chalk Face was joined by intrepid researcher and educator Mercedes Schneider for an interview in January of this year as she demolished the state of LA’s flawed school evaluation data. You can listen to that here. My, how time flies. Today, she really dug into the March 2013 survey of teacher attitudes towards the […]

solidaridad: Parent Trigger: Stop the Lies! Hear the Truth Rally in the Valley 2013-June-04

by rdsathene

solidaridad: Parent Trigger: Stop the Lies! Hear the Truth Rally in the Valley 2013-June-04

Good to see a Mr. @john_merrow coming to his senses

by Chalk Face, PhD

As this open letter to the architects of the common core indicates. Hmm. Could it have something to do with a recent interview perhaps? Hmm. Listen and see if you can hear any clues. I’m inclined to say, “YES!” Follow the arrow to the top. Filed under: CHALK FACE: General News & Commentary Tagged: common […]

I get these things from @educationsector

by Chalk Face, PhD

I get some emails about new reports from this tank of thinkers. Back in the day, man, I loved me some Sara Mead. But now, oy, some trifling neoliberal nonsense. Example from a recent message touting a new report on keeping “top talent,” or some other consultant terminology. Here’s an abstract: Attracting and Retaining Talented

From “Surplussed” to “Excessed:” Dumped Memphis Teachers Go to Court

by Jim Horn

With the blessing of Bill Gates and State Commissioner, Kevin (formerly Mister Michelle Rhee) Huffman, principals across Memphis and Shelby County are illegally dumping hundreds of tenured teachers in favor of TFA, TeachPlus, and TeachMemphis corporate missionaries, who are hired to instill in Memphis’ impoverished children the corporate psychology that can be summed up as “you can […]

Enough of the “I am a white person and I refuse to acknowledge the opportunity gaps created by poverty” narrative.

by Timothy D. Slekar

Today in EdWeek, teacher (not really. instead she is a Teach Plus teaching fellow) Casie Jones attempts to use the poverty is no excuse crap to pat her own back and talk about how she makes a “substantial difference.” There is no doubt that a caring individual will help any child regardless of socio-economic situation. Love […]

Alexander Russo’s vicious attack on Weigand Elementary School Teachers

by rdsathene

Photo courtesy of LS4C1. Alexander Russo’s vicious attack on LAUSD’s Weigand Elementary School teachers should be noted by everyone. In a piece where he gleefully sides with AEI’s Hess’ smear on the distinguished Professor Ravitch, he also decides to take aim at the hardworking women and men teaching at the school recently shot up by […]

@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER 5-29-13

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 7 hours ago

@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER: Chiefs for Change or Puppets for Propaganda? by Timothy D. Slekar The “Chiefs for Change” led by Hanna Skandera have put their collective foot down. There will be no stopping, pausing, or breathing when it comes to implementing and shoving high stakes test down the throats of Common Core adoption states. According to Skandera, “Accountability delayed isn’t real accountability.” Why do we care what Hanna Skandera thinks? […] Innovation Like 1954!: The Technology Khan Continues MAY 29, 2013 BY PLTHOMASEDD LEAVE A COMMENT Sal Khan is the twenty-fi... more »

The biggest irony in Chicago’s mass closing of schools

The biggest irony in Chicago’s mass closing of schools:

The biggest irony in Chicago’s mass closing of schools

By Valerie Strauss, Published: May 30, 2013 at 5:00 amE-mail the writer

Comments

President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan. (ed.gov)

There’s some deep irony in this:

In 2002, Arne Duncan, then the head of the Chicago public schools system, announced that he was closing three elementary schools because they had been failing students for years. It was the start of a strategy of closing down schools that were academically failing or under-enrolled and reopening them as a new school.

When Duncan was named education secretary in 2008 by Barack Obama, the president-elect praised Duncan’s record of closing and reopening schools — as if it was a strategy that enjoyed great success, according to this WBEZ story:

He’s shut down failing schools and replaced their entire staffs, even when it was unpopular. This school right here, Dodge Renaissance Academy, is a perfect example. Since this school was revamped and reopened in 2003, the number of students

solidaridad: @TCFKSM: Alexander Russo's vicious attack on Weigand Elementary School Teachers

solidaridad: @TCFKSM: Alexander Russo's vicious attack on Weigand Elementary School Teachers:

@TCFKSM: Alexander Russo's vicious attack on Weigand Elementary School Teachers

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene

First published on @TCFKSM on May 29, 2013

Photo courtesy of

Alexander Russo's vicious attack on LAUSD's Weigand Elementary School teachers should be noted by everyone. In a piece where he gleefully sides with AEI's Hess' smear on the distinguished Professor Ravitch, he also decides to take aim at the hardworking women and men teaching at the school recently shot up by Ben Austin's latest corporate drive by. Here's an excerpt of Russo's bile laden commentary.

Given how they're being treated in the Times and by Ravitch (and by the teachers who appear to be more loyal to the principal than to the kids), the Weigand parents may be well be wishing that they'd opted for...

A clear response to these vicious accusations should be in order. The Parent Trigger is one of the most reprehensible tools in the neoliberal privatization and austerity toolkit. For

UPDATE: Boundaries Work Session Seattle Schools Community Forum: Revelations

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Revelations:

Boundaries Work Session

by Melissa Westbrook

I'll try to hit the major points I heard along with quotes (and color commentary).

Just upfront, it was discouraging. It's now 2013 and so many questions - Special Ed, Advanced Learning, K-8s and others - lack clarity and definition. What was troubling is the number of "exceptions" to current policies thatare out there.

There was also the issue of the so-called Program Placement Framework? Where is this and should this be guiding the decisions made?

As well, the presentation used excerpted quotes from various policies - Board or Superintendent or WAC - to

Revelations

by Charlie Mas

Much was revealed at the Growth Boundaries presentation this afternoon. Here is just a short list:

There will be new service delivery models for Special Education: Resource, Access, Behaior, Contained, and Distinct. We don't know what these mean or how they will work, and the whole thing is subject to the collective bargaining process, but it looks like radical change.

There will be a new delivery model for APP. The District isn't saying what it will be or how it will work. They won't even offer the pretense of engagement on it until next year - after they make all of the decisions.

There will be a new delivery model for Spectrum. It appears to be nothing. For many families this will be nothing new.

Just because a school chooses to become a STEM school it doesn't make it a STEM school. It's only a STEM

Growth Boundaries email address

by Charlie Mas

Please send your comments on the Growth Boundaries project to their email address:

GrowthBoundaries@seattleschools.org.

Bad Advice Needs Own Thread

by Melissa Westbrook

A reader asked this:

I have a bright 4th grader in the Carnation area - we are considering some other options for her for next year, yes even at this late date. Where should I start looking?

Me, going on my old school way of thinking, told this parent that he/she didn't have many options. Not true (after talking with Tracy Libros in Enrollment).

So, to correct:

Kimble's Corner: Meeting Michele Bachmann for the First Time

Kimble's Corner: Meeting Michele Bachmann for the First Time:

Meeting Michele Bachmann for the First Time

by Representative Kimble

[The Following is excerpted from Profiles in Courageousness. If you enjoy this blog, you're going to want to pick up your copy today.]

At this point, I was feeling toxic. Nobody wanted to talk to me and I just wanted a giant hole to swallow me up. What had I gotten myself into? My only friend was in the other party and his play in the NFL gave me absolutely no confidence in our relationship. When the moment finally came for us to take a short break, I welcomed it. I did what I did back in California when times were tough; I headed outside to be alone with my thoughts, or as alone as I could be on Capitol Hill.

As I stood on the porch, lost in my own thoughts, I failed to notice a woman approaching me. She was a raven-haired goddess, her black and white checkered shawl covering her simple black dress, but her conservative attire did nothing to hide the fact that this was a woman. Her perfume had hints of lilac and gardenia with just a small note of russet potato. I have always remained reasonably faithful to my wife, but I admit at that

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

The in box. Urgent call from We Are One on new pension threat. | Fred Klonsky

The in box. Urgent call from We Are One on new pension threat. | Fred Klonsky:

The in box. Urgent call from We Are One on new pension threat.

by Fred Klonsky

Friends,

Our coalition has heard credible reports that pension-slashing bills could move in the Senate tomorrow.
Senate Bill 1 – or pieces of it, like House Bill 1165 – could be up for a Senate vote on Thursday, May 30, or Friday, May 31. Both bills have already passed the House. If either bill clears the Senate, it will go to the Governor Pat Quinn’s desk, where he is very likely to sign either measure.
The legislature is entering the last 48 hours of session before its scheduled adjournment on Friday. This is the most critical time for you to act.
Call your state senators now at 888-412-6570 or click here. Even if you have called before, call again. Tell your state senators to stand with working families and retirees. Tell them to vote no on SB 1 or any pieces of it, like HB 1165.
As you may recall, SB 1 is House Speaker Michael Madigan’s pension-cutting “mega-bill” that affects active and retired workers. It deeply cuts COLAs, reducing the value of a pension between one-third and one-half after twenty years in retirement. It increases retirement ages up to five years, without regard for physically or mentally demanding jobs. And it limits the amount of salary that earns a pension, ignoring the mandatory overtime worked by many public servants.
HB 1165 essentially contains the COLA cut from SB 1. This COLA cut caps the amount of pension that earns a COLA at extremely low levels and delays them for five years.
A description of these bills is available on our website by clicking on the following link.
Now is the time to act.
Call 888-412-6570 to make your voice heard, and then tell five friends to add their voices to yours.

Please monitor our website and “like” our Facebook page to receive updates on fast-moving developments. To receive mobile phone updates, text WEAREONE to 225568.

Thank you for your continued advocacy in our long fight for a secure, stable retirement.
- We Are One Illinois

Last Stand for Children First: Our Report from the Mackinac Island Conference.

Last Stand for Children First: Our Report from the Mackinac Island Conference.:

Our Report from the Mackinac Island Conference.

by Last Stand for Children

Hello and a sunny welcome from beautiful Mackinac Island, Michigan where the beautiful people of the education reform set have all penciled in this beautiful island made famous by Esther Williams in the movie Grand Hotel, for their Spring getaways. It's Mackinac Island Conference Week and if there's one thing on the menu besidesChianti Chef Keith Shockling's Semolina Dusted Lake Huron Whitefish, it's education reform.

Where else can you hobnob with celebrities like Michelle Rhee, Harold Ford, Jeb Bush, Robert L. Johnson, Joe

The Washington Teacher: Pink Slipping DCs Teachers

The Washington Teacher: Pink Slipping DCs Teachers:

Pink Slipping DCs Teachers

by noreply@blogger.com (Candi Peterson)

By Candi Peterson

Vote Davis Slate for WTU
Liz Davis /Candi Peterson
The WTU Can Be Better!

One by one, Cardozo Senior High School teachers and school staff were called down to the Principal's office today to receive pink slips. Just a week ago, DC's Cardozo High School staff were notified that 100% of our staff would be reconstituted and required to reapply for our jobs, with the exception of the school's principal. Later on in the same week, 90 staff members had to submit to abbreviated 5-7 minute interviews and answering three questions by the school's principal.

Today was a solemn day for all at Cardozo High as teachers and staff waited with baited breath to learn of their job status. Many speculated who possibly would get the axe. Even some of the DC contractors described having

Sallie Mae Plans To Split into Two Separate Companies - Higher Education

Sallie Mae Plans To Split into Two Separate Companies - Higher Education:

Sallie Mae Plans To Split into Two Separate Companies

by cmaadmin

NEWARK, Del. — Sallie Mae plans to split into two separate, publicly traded companies. The student loan giant also named John Remondi as its CEO.
Sallie Mae, formally named SLM Corp., said Wednesday that the two separate companies, an education loan management business and a consumer banking business, would help unlock value and boost its long-term growth potential.
The education loan management business would include the company’s portfolios of federally guaranteed and private education loans, as well as most related servicing and collection activities. Remondi will continue as its CEO.
The principal assets of the business are likely to include approximately $118.1 billion in federally guaranteed loans, $31.6 billion in private education loans, $7.9 billion of other interest-earning assets and a loan servicing business with about 10 million student loan customers. This includes 4.8 million customer accounts serviced under Sallie Mae’s contract with the U.S. Department of Education.
Sallie Mae’s private education loan origination and servicing businesses, including Sallie Mae Bank and the

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Bad Advice Needs Own Thread

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Bad Advice Needs Own Thread:

Bad Advice Needs Own Thread

by Melissa Westbrook

The readiness to do social experiments on the education of children – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

The readiness to do social experiments on the education of children – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:

The readiness to do social experiments on the education of children

by Activism in paradise - Voices from down under

Reposted from Scoop NZ.

by Gordon Campbell

The school closures in Christchurch really are a perfect storm – the most stressed community in New Zealand is being led by the most accident prone Minister in the Key government, into a social experiment on its youngest and most vulnerable, in the least available time. Nothing could possibly go wrong with that scenario, could it? Even if Education Minister Hekia Parata was correct – and this is contested – about the school mergers she is imposing on Christchurch due to what the earthquake has done to population shifts, school rolls and the costs for classroom repairs and replacement, nothing can justify the speed with which she is rushing through these changes.

Even Parata’s own Ministry, it seems, was advocating a further year of adjustment. The plan is as follows:

Seven primary and intermediate schools in Christchurch are to close outright and another three primary schools will close as part of mergers with other schools. Of the closures confirmed on Wednesday afternoon, most will take effect from

Wait, What? The Last Push for the May 2013 Fundraising Program - Wait, What?

Wait, What? The Last Push for the May 2013 Fundraising Program - Wait, What?:

Wait, What? The Last Push for the May 2013 Fundraising Program

by jonpelto

Friends,

A huge thank you to everyone who has been so supportive and generous during the May 2013 Wait, What? fundraising effort. We’ve reached the last days of the campaign and have nearly reached our goal.

If you haven’t donated, but wish to help strengthen Wait, What? and the role of advocacy and investigative journalism in Connecticut — now is the time to give.

With your help and support we’ll continue our effort to “to educate, persuade and mobilize the people through ‘perceptive and acerbic’ observations about Connecticut Government and Politics.

As always, thank you very much for being such incredible partners and supporters.

Jonathan

To make a donation go to: http://fundly.com/help-strenthen-the-wait-what-blog

LAUSD submits amended application for No Child Left Behind waiver - LA Daily News

LAUSD submits amended application for No Child Left Behind waiver - LA Daily News:

LAUSD submits amended application for No Child Left Behind waiver

by By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer

In response to concerns raised by federal regulators, Los Angeles Unified and eight other school districts have filed an amended application for a waiver from a federal law requiring that all students be proficient in English and math by 2014.

The coalition dubbed the California Office to Reform Education is seeking an exemption from key academic provisions of the No Child Left Behind law, which has labeled 500 schools in Los Angeles and thousands more statewide as failing. If approved by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the waiver would take effect in the fall and would be the first ever granted to a group of districts, which together educate 1.1 million students.

Currently, based on standardized tests, just half of the students in LAUSD are considered proficient in English and 52 percent are proficient in math. Benchmarks in No Child Left Behind give the district just one year to raise those totals to 100 percent.

The waiver would lift that proficiency mandate and also would give districts more freedom in how they can

CCSS Garbage – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

CCSS Garbage – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:

CCSS Garbage

by Chris Cerrone

This Second Grade math workbook produced by McGraw-Hill is a total piece of garbage that my children’s school has purchased to “align” with the Common Core here in New York State.

Is this corporate produced workbook the result of a rush to market because of the lightspeed push to force the Common Core on classrooms across the Empire State? For those outside of New York, our state used Common Core aligned State Assessments this spring even though most teachers have had little training or time to update their lessons and materials.

Or is this workbook another corporate made, watch the bottom line, cheaply produced publication? As a veteran teacher I have “built” my course over time to the point that virtually all of my teaching materials and student handouts are my creations. This results when educators through real experience become experts with their curriculum and students. When teachers are either forced to use these workbooks because of school policy or use them because of new content our

Diane in the Evening 5-29-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Voting Machines, Old and New

by dianerav

This is off-topic, since it is not about education. But, hey, it’s my blog and I am allowed now and then to think about other topics.
I just read in the New York Times that New York City is planning to ditch its new electronic voting machines and go back to using the old lever-operated machines, first invented in 1890. The city has already spent $95 million on the electronic machines, and some critics said that it was wrong to revert to the old technology. The old machines are apparently in a warehouse, covered in plastic.
The reason I mention this was that I served on a federal commission to review the electoral process after the fiasco of the disputed Presidential election in 2000. The commission was co-chaired by ex-Presidents Jimmy

Jeb Bush Slams Public Schools

by dianerav

Jeb Bush really truly doesn’t like public schools. He sees them as the essence of mediocrity, strangled by unions.
What does he want? Charters, vouchers, virtual schools. Anything but public schools.

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 5-29-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Gary Rubinstein: Watch Kevin Huffman Debate a Straw Man by dianerav Gary Rubinstein came across an article in which Tennessee State Commissioner Kevin Huffman boasted about the merit pay scheme he was proposing and derided the leader of the Memphis teachers’ union for expressing caution about the program. Gary decided to take a closer look at the merit pay program and concluded that the union leader’s concern was well placed. Teachers would receive $2,000 to sign... more »

Deepest Learning: Reading to Write & Writing to Learn « The Core Knowledge Blog

Deepest Learning: Reading to Write & Writing to Learn « The Core Knowledge Blog:

Deepest Learning: Reading to Write & Writing to Learn

by Lisa Hansel

Where in Queens, NY, can you find second graders comparing the Olympics in ancient Greece with our modern games—and using that discussion as an opportunity to review the use of past and present verbs? Or third graders preparing travel guides on the Amazon, Orinoco, Nile, and Yellow rivers? What about essays by fourth graders on the Chinese painter and calligrapher Zhao Mengfu, small groups of fifth graders discussing the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, or sixth graders writing out what they would say if they were reporters during the French Revolution?

I saw all that and more yesterday during a visit to P.S. 124, the Osmond A Church school. This K – 8 school has been using the Core Knowledge Sequence for 14 years. Students’ writing and related artwork line the halls and dangle from the ceilings. As the principal, Valarie Lewis, said several times, the Core Knowledge “is a thinking curriculum.” Whether in a presentation to the class or in an essay (usually both in this demanding school), Core Knowledge gives students something significant to say. And as I saw, the educators throughout P.S. 124 ensure that they learn to say it well.

Far from dry facts, the Sequence provides teachers the core content they need to develop engaging domain-based studies that immerse students in cross-curricular units—like the fourth graders who learned about medieval castles and trebuchets. Not only did they read

Modern School: Latest Federal Data Confirm: College NOT Road to Prosperity

Modern School: Latest Federal Data Confirm: College NOT Road to Prosperity:

Latest Federal Data Confirm: College NOT Road to Prosperity

by Michael Dunn

College educated people do have higher incomes and lower unemployment rates, on average, than those who have not been to college. However, the goal of achieving prosperity by obtaining a college education is becoming less attainable and secure than ever before, primarily because of staggering levels of student debt and a stagnant labor market offering mostly low wage jobs in the service sector, but also because of growing competition for limited space on college campuses.

“A college diploma no longer guarantees a direct pathway to the middle class, making it harder to justify the expense of a degree,” National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Commissioner Jack Buckley told Diverse Education. Student loan debt is the only type of loan debt that has increased since the recession started. In 2012, total student loan debt reached