LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 7-14-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Lewis Carroll: Professional Development for the Common Core

This poem was suggested to me by a friend who does professional development for the Common Core in New York City. This past week, by coincidence, Jason Griffiths, the founder of the Brooklyn Latin School quit  his job and went to work for a controversial charter school, because he was tired of being compelled to go to professional development for Common Core when his school already was the top ran

by dianerav / 0min

Crooks & Liars Asks: Why Is StudentsFirst Nonprofit?

Blogger Crooks & Liars asks why Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst is a nonprofit. He writes: “If ever there was an organization that stands out as one that should never have been granted nonprofit status and doesn’t deserve to continue having it, it’s StudentsFirst. One look at their 2011 tax disclosures reveals a fat, political, ideological organization. StudentsFirst not only crosses the line,

by dianerav / 16min 

Must Be Election Time: Chris Christie Belittling Teachers Again

Jersey Jazzman notes that Governor Chris Christie is back with his favorite lines, ridiculing teachers for being overpaid and underworked. That means, of course, that he is running for re-election and who better to kick around that the state’s teachers? Here is Christie: “[NJ Governor Chris] Christie said parents must stand up to organizations who he said care more about pensions, wage increases,

by dianerav / 56min 

A Grassroots Group Grows to Fight Corporate Takeovers

Ellen Lubic and other education activists have formed a new organization called Joining Forces to help parents fight off corporate takeovers of their public schools. Imagine this: an earnest young man or woman comes to your neighborhood, even rents a house there, and button-holes parents to collect their grievances against the neighborhood school. What about that principal? Is there a teacher you

by dianerav / 2h mark as read  //  save

When Joel Klein and Condi Rice Accused Public Schools of Endangering National Security

A reader who goes by the name “Democracy” reminds us of the much-hyped report by a task force of the Council on Foreign Relations, whose co-chairs were Joel Klein and Condoleeza Rice. It blamed the public schools for endangering national security and for the nation’s economic problems. I reviewed it here. This is “Democracy’s” comment: “Aah, Joel Klein. Klein was a recent co-author – with Condalee

by dianerav / 2h 

NYC Educator: Who Should Be Blamed for Low Scores?

Arthur Goldstein reviews StudentsFirst’s charge that Mayor Bloomberg and his Department of Education were assigning poorly-rated teachers to high-minority schools. It is mildly amusing to imagine that StudentsFirst and Mayor Bloomberg are adversaries, as Goldstein points out. They have a shared interest in demonizing teachers, demanding that they be held accountable for test scores, no matter wha

by dianerav / 2h  

Diane in the Evening 7-13-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: More than TFA Dissidents Meet TomorrowA reader comments on an earlier post about a conference tomorrow in Chicago that will discuss TFA and the privatization movement. She writes: “Diane, it is not only ex-TFA members. I am also one of the presenters at the conference, representing traditionally trained teachers in New Orleans who

by mike simpson / 1h  

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 7-13-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Reform as Crony CapitalismResponding to another reader, Robert Shepherd challenges the claim that reformers want a free market in schooling: “We are NOT seeing the emergence of free market alternatives to public schools. We are seeing is crony capitalist alternatives dependent upon federal and state regulation and the public dole t

by mike simpson / 8h  

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitch's blog 7-13-13 #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2

Diane Ravitch's blogLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOGTODAYDoes John White Care About Voucher Fraud?Robert Mann, a professor of communications at Louisiana State University, tries to imagine how Bobby Jindal and John White would react if they heard that Headstart centers kept sloppy records and couldn’t pass an audit. He writes: “Imagine if almost every one of those schools

by mike simpson / 9h 

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » What does resist Common Core implementation mean?

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » What does resist Common Core implementation mean?:

What does resist Common Core implementation mean?

 

Common Core has now become a line in the sand with some folks, and is causing more in-fighting among anti-corporate ed reform folks than is healthy for a movement that is under as much pressure, and fire as we are. Let’s see where most of us agree:

• Common Core was created by and for corporate interests, and excluded the input of teachers;
• The folks behind Common Core bring intentions with them that are not in the interest of our children, or our profession. The potential is very, very, bad;
• The tests will be (are) more of the same old garbage (just harder).

Things lacking a unanimity of opinion, but are held by folks still believing the above points:

• Are the standards separable from the assessment;
• We need to stand fore-square against the standards and not go 

Louisiana Educator: Things That Worry Me About Common Core

Louisiana Educator: Things That Worry Me About Common Core:

Things That Worry Me About Common Core

Paul Pastorek, the previous State Superintendent who was also a non-educator superintendent agreed to adopt the common core standards for Louisiana sight unseen. Maybe he did it because someone told him that this would "raise the bar" and increase "rigor" or maybe because the developer of common core, David Coleman, was on the Board of Michelle Rhee's Students First reform group. Overall I think it was adopted because it was the next big thing in education reform, and Jindal and Pastorek needed to approve it so Louisiana could promote its image as the most education reformed state in the nation.

The actual substance of Common Core was never important to Pastorek just as it is not really important to John White. That's why White fired or reassigned almost all the curriculum experts at the DOE and announced in recent education meetings that the Department was not going to tell teachers how to teach to the common core. Instead he was going to "empower" teachers to teach it any way they chose. Teachers will just need to 

Meeting and Exceeding Student Expectations of Teachers: A Way to Achieve “Good” Teaching | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Meeting and Exceeding Student Expectations of Teachers: A Way to Achieve “Good” Teaching | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Meeting and Exceeding Student Expectations of Teachers: A Way to Achieve “Good” Teaching

Go into most public school classrooms and you will see a sign, usually in the front of the classroom, listing what the teacher expects of students in classroom behavior.

Experienced teachers advise new ones to make these rules explicit and enforce them from day one. Folk wisdom among veteran teachers is that expecting this behavior and equitably acting on the rules will lead to an orderly classroom. So most new and experienced teachers, believing this advice and wanting a well-managed classroom,  list classroom rules. Some adventurous teachers have students construct the rules since they are well aware of acceptable classroom behavior from previous teachers).

In addition to behavior, what teachers expect of students academically influences achievement. Researchers have established that when teachers have high or low expectations of what their students can achieve–especially low-income and minority students–those expectations color what students do 

7-14-13 SCHOOLS MATTER @ THE CHALK FACE

SCHOOLS MATTER @ THE CHALK FACE:

How the Common Core is Being Sold

There’s nothing like a small town newspaper for a glimpse into how the Common Core Standards and tests are being sold to a trusting public. This is how the Common Core is being marketed in Palmyra PA. “You are not going to see test prep in our classrooms,” Brown says. Instead, you’ll see kids getting […]

by freetoteach / 21min mark as read  //  save

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Global reforms are just that.  Global.  The same damage is being inflicted worldwide to schools in large and small communities, causing distress and doing nothing to improve education.  Often quite the opposite. This is Cedar, a small community in Canada.  I only heard about Cedar because my gorgeous friend James lives there.  James isn’t a […]

by Activism in parad... / 1h 

Racism Built into the System to Mask Racism

Lisa Wade explains about stand your ground laws: It’s simple: stand your ground laws increase the chances that a homicide will be considered justifiable because it gives the jurors more leeway to give defendants the benefit of the doubt.  But, jurors will likely give that benefit of the doubt to certain kinds of defendants and […]

by plthomasedd / 7min 

I am happy to see we are not eschewing the issue of #nojustice

Other authors beat me to it. I’m happy to see that. I am one of six founders of United Opt Out National and, like all well-mannered activist groups in the 21st century, we have a Facebook presence.  We have done a great job over the years avoiding the sidetracking of discussions. Like all new groups […]

by Chalk Face, PhD / 7min 

Trayvon Martin Convicted: Sentence to Run Concurrent with Eternity

If this case teaches anything, it is that the high crime of involuntary racism regularly has more insidious and corrosive effects than the premeditated variety.  There was the 1) tepid prosecution by unprepared and inattentive prosecutors; 2) a defense that was allowed highly-irregular concessions to make its case; 3) an investigative team friendly to gun-toting […]

by Jim Horn / 52min mark as read  //  save

Social Justice?

“The law is meant to be my servant and not my master, still less my torturer and my murderer.” — James Baldwin. The Nation (July 11, 1966) “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” — Martin Luther King Jr. Letter From Birmingham City Jail Blinded by the Stereotype Spotlight “The Poor Are Too Free”?: Unlocking […]

by plthomasedd / 2h   

7-13-13 Schools Matter @ The Chalk Face

SCHOOLS MATTER @ THE CHALK FACE: Educators in OK developing their own #commoncore assessmentsThis, from State Impact Indiana: …Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Janet Barresi estimated the state can save at least $2 million a year if it develops its own test rather than go with the PARCC exam. This is how it all works. States, as mandated by the USDE, with influence from the private se

by mike simpson / 6h  

All Week 7-13-13 @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER: TODAYKids Count on Public Education, Not Grit or “No Excuses” | the becoming radicalKids Count on Public Education, Not Grit or “No Excuses” | the becoming radical.by plthomasedd / 1h YESTERDAYCorporate Education’s Friend, Randi WeingartenDiane Ravitch has at her blog an unmoving tribute to her friendship with Randi Weingarten, and AFT is soaking it for all i

by mike simpson / 9h 

Marcos Breton: Poor Sacramento neighborhoods face uphill struggle to reverse school closures - Education - The Sacramento Bee

Marcos Breton: Poor Sacramento neighborhoods face uphill struggle to reverse school closures - Education - The Sacramento Bee:

Marcos Breton: Poor Sacramento neighborhoods face uphill struggle to reverse school closures

By Marcos Breton
mbreton@sacbee.com

Published: Sunday, Jul. 14, 2013 - 12:00 am | Page 1B

Last Modified: Sunday, Jul. 14, 2013 - 12:19 am

I want to support the parents of children in some of Sacramento's poorer neighborhoods who have alleged racial bias in a lawsuit aimed at halting the closure of seven neighborhood schools in the Sacramento City Unified School District.

But the bid for an injunction to reverse the closures doesn't seem to stand a chance. It seems very likely to be tossed out of federal court this week. The plaintiffs struggled during a hearing Thursday to make the pieces fit. They have to prove that the school district purposely closed minority schools based on race.

I don't think they can meet the legal standard of proof and I honestly don't believe that the district was driven by racial bias in closing schools months ago.

The story is a lot more complicated than that. The schools that were closed were indeed cited as underperforming, but what they lacked most of all were surrounding neighborhoods with political muscle. They lacked neighborhoods and school programs that could attract students from other areas in an open-enrollment district where people vote for better schools with their feet.

Poverty is what links many of the 2,300 students who were displaced from Washington, Maple, Collis P. Huntington, Fruit Ridge, Joseph Bonnheim, Mark Hopkins and Clayton B. Wire elementary campuses.

Some of these schools, like Maple Elementary just off Franklin Boulevard, are in neighborhoods with 15 percent to 20 percent unemployment. You have elevated high school dropout rates and

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/07/14/5565087/marcos-breton-poor-sacramento.html#storylink=cpy

Seattle Schools Community Forum: I'll Say It - the Trayvon Martin Verdict is Wrong

Seattle Schools Community Forum: I'll Say It - the Trayvon Martin Verdict is Wrong:

I'll Say It - the Trayvon Martin Verdict is Wrong

First, if states have these dumb "stand your ground" laws, then you're going to see some very odd verdicts.

That issue notwithstanding, I find the verdict innocent (of even manslaughter) is completely baffling. 

For me, mainly it's about the "trail" that Zimmerman left behind.  He was the source of his own problem.  From start to nearly finish, he lead the way.  In the end, Trayvon, like many young men before him, decided to fight back from being stalked.  (And, it is likely he wasn't just annoyed but probably a little scared.  After all, his father lived at that complex so why would this guy continue to follow him?)

Mr. Zimmerman complained, at two different times, to police/911 that "these punks always get away."  He might go look in the mirror because I think he's right.  

One thing we did learn from OJ Simpson, if you cannot find justice in the 

Newark Charter Update: A few new graphs & musings | School Finance 101

Newark Charter Update: A few new graphs & musings | School Finance 101:

Newark Charter Update: A few new graphs & musings

Posted on July 14, 2013

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It’s been a while since I’ve written anything about New Jersey Charter schools, so I figured I throw a few new graphs and tables out there. In the not too distant past, I’ve explained:

1. That Newark charter schools in particular, persist in having an overall cream-skimming effect in Newark, creating demographic advantage for themselves and ultimately to the detriment of the district.
2. That while the NJ CREDO charter school effect study showed positive effects of charter enrollment on student outcomes specifically (and only) in Newark, the unique features of student sorting (read skimming) in Newark make it difficult to draw any reasonable conclusions about the effectiveness of actual practices of Newark Charters. Note that in  my most recent post, I re-explain the problem with asserting school effects, when a sizable component of the school effect may be a function of the children (peer group) served.
3. In many earlier posts, I evaluated the extent to which average performance levels of Newark (and other NJ) charter schools were higher or lower than those of demographically similar schools, finding that charters were/are pretty much scattered.
4. And I’ve raised questions about other data - including attrition rates - for some high flying NJ charters.

As an update, since past posts have only looked at NJ charter performance in terms of “levels” 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Public Education and Mayoral Candidates

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Public Education and Mayoral Candidates:

Seattle Public Education and Mayoral Candidates

I have attempted to interview all the mayoral candidates with different measures of success.  I am not going to endorse one candidate at this time but, for our purposes, hope to give you guidance on their thoughts on public education in Seattle.  (Personally, I don't vote for candidates based on one issue but offer this to help broaden your outlook on the candidates.)

There are nine candidates.  I have tried to reach each candidate a couple of times but was unable to connect with or secure interviews with some.

Given that the primary is in the depths of summer - August 6th - and that older voters tend to dominate the voting ranks, every vote will count.  If you care, you will vote.  Otherwise, some may get a surprise when the candidate they favor doesn't make it out of the primary.  As supporters of public education, please let 

Mayor Kevin Johnson Warns the Sky is Falling; Redux

Mayor Kevin Johnson Warns the Sky is Falling; Redux :

Mayor Kevin Johnson Warns the Sky is Falling; Redux 

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“We have a crisis when it comes to public education in this country,” Johnson said at a luncheon on Friday. “Only 52 percent of our third- and fourth-graders are reading at grade level. If you’re Black, only 16 percent of our kids in the third and fourth grade are reading at grade level – only 16 percent. To make matters worse, if you’re not reading at grade level by the time you leave the third grade, 75 percent of the kids never catch up.”

Johnson continued, “So, essentially if you can’t read by the time you leave the third grade, the chances of you ever reading is very slim. This should be enough to outrage every single person in this room when 84 percent of the kids who look like us cannot read.”

Johnson, a former star point guard for the Phoenix Suns, is president of the National Conference of Black Mayors and is slated to become president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors next year. He is

passionate about education, setting up his own private school in Sacramento prior to becoming Sacramento’s first Black mayor.

“That’s the third grade. Let’s fast forward to the eighth grade. Eight years ago, only 12 percent of our kids in the eighth grade could read at grade level. In the last eight years, we went from 12 percent to 14 percent. In an 8-year period of time, we’ve closed the gap two percentage points,” he said. “… If our goal was 80 percent and continues at the rate of 2 percent [every eight