First, Do No Harm: That Includes the Media | the becoming radical

First, Do No Harm: That Includes the Media | the becoming radical:

First, Do No Harm: That Includes the Media

Posted on August 29, 2013 by plthomasedd

Public education in the U.S. suffers under a powerful intersection of politics, the media, and the public. As I have too often documented, misinformation tends to be reinforced among all three of these forces.

The role of media, as Alfie Kohn has examined, is central to perpetuating not only misleading beliefs about school quality and education reform but also bad policy.

For example, in South Carolina, The Greenville News has posted an editorial position on reading legislation that misreads what is the best path forward for addressing literacy in this high-poverty and deeply segregated state, notably:

The core part of the legislation makes common sense and is widely supported. It would make it mandatory to retain any third-grader who is not proficient in reading by the end of the school year. It is an idea that has been implemented in Florida to promising results, and it simply makes sense. Promoting a child to fourth-grade if he or she lacks the needed reading skills dooms that child to failure. Although holding back a student 

8-29-13 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:

Illinois Retired Teachers Association President Gary Elman addresses TRIP and Medicare issues.

Given the concerns about the Teacher Retirement Insurance Program and Medicare, I asked IEA President some questions in an earlier post. She offered a prompt response. I also asked Illinois Retired Teachers Association President Gary Elman the same opportunity. Full disclosure: I am a member of both organizations. President Elman responded: Thanks for asking, Fred. First, congratulations for orga

by Fred Klonsky / 2min 

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky joins Chicago fast-food strikers.

  Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky joins fast-food strikers in downtown Chicago today. Congresswoman Schakowsky will be joining with members of SORE (the Skokie Organization of Retired Educators), a new chapter of IEA – Retired, at our first luncheon. She will be discussing issues of Social Security and Medicare protection against those who would deny workers their promised retirement benefi

by Fred Klonsky / 0min 

Q and A with IEA President Cinda Klickna on the Teacher Retirement Insurance and Medicare.

  IEA President Cinda Klickna. Last week IEA President Cinda Klickna sent out the following information to IEA members. On Aug. 21, the Teachers’ Retirement Insurance Program (TRIP) Committee met with the Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS).  The committee is made up of representatives from the Illinois Education Association (IEA), Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT), Illin

1 by Fred Klonsky / 51min 

A reader thinks I don’t understand pensions. Ouch.

Fred, Unfortunately, I think you misunderstand pension reform. It would not take away the pension of retirees. Instead, pension reform as proposed in IL would curtail the defined benefit pension benefits that are earned in the future. - Anonymous Dear Anonymous, Well, nobody’s perfect. However, if passed SB1 would have: Eliminated current cost of living adjustments Delayed the age of the cola ad

by Fred Klonsky / 0min 

Illinois House pension bombers? Primary them! Will Guzzardi for State Rep.

  Will Guzzardi. Will Guzzardi announced today that he is running for State Representative from my district. The incumbent is Toni Berrios. She is the daughter of the corrupt boss of the Cook County Democratic Party, Joe Berrios. This is a rematch. Will Guzzardi lost by just 125 votes two years ago. There is a lot of issues that recommend Guzzardi. I care deeply about one. Toni Berrios voted for

8 by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

8-28-13 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Life in Rahm’s Chicago. Drones for Safe Passage.“There’s still a big safety issue, especially with the small ones,” said Chicago Alderman George Cardenas of the 12th Ward. “They have a tendency to crash from time to time. So now you have something with spinning blades over the top of children that cou

by mike simpson / 10h 

The Gates Money and Common Core | Truth in American Education

The Gates Money and Common Core | Truth in American Education:

The Gates Money and Common Core

Filed in Common Core State Standards by Shane Vander Hart on August 29, 2013 • 0 Comments

Mercedes Schneider has a fabulous audit of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation spending on Common Core.  In particular I want to highlight money spent on advocacy and advancing the Common Core.

Let us now consider major education organizations and think tanks that have accepted Gates money for the express purpose of advancing CCSS:

American Enterprise Institute: $1,068,788.

American Federation of Teachers: $5,400,000.

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development: $3,269,428.

Council of Great City Schools: $5,010,988.

Education Trust: $2,039,526.

National Congress of Parents and Teachers: $499,962.

National Education Association: $3,982,597.

Thomas B. Fordham Institute: $1,961,116.

Almost $2 million dollars and yet Chester Finn of Fordham said the money had nothing to do with 

Missouri Education Watchdog: Teenager Expresses Her Thoughts about Common Core through Art and Language.

Missouri Education Watchdog: Teenager Expresses Her Thoughts about Common Core through Art and Language.:

Teenager Expresses Her Thoughts about Common Core through Art and Language.

Don't get caught in the riptide of bad education reform.  Get out of that school of fish!

A 13-year old girl drew this poster about her feelings on Common Core and is reprinted here with permission.

I wonder if she will be allowed freedom of expression when she encounters the Common Core Standards for art?  I'm serious about that question.  From Arts Education Partnership about CCSS and arts education:

Common Core and the Arts

Art and the Common Core – The powerpoint presentation from an Education Week webinar about arts integration within the Common Core, featuring Susan M. Riley and Lynne Munson, and moderated by Erik Robelen.
Guiding Principles for the Arts: Grades K-12 – Developed by David Coleman, this is a discussion of the ways in which arts education intersects with the Common Core areas.
Common Core: What are the Possibilities for the Arts? – A webinar hosted by Grantmakers in the Arts and conducted by Julie Fry and Richard Kessler regarding the implications of the Common Core for arts education. The presentation slides are also available separately.

Obama’s Jim Crow Education System | FrontPage Magazine

Obama’s Jim Crow Education System | FrontPage Magazine:

Obama’s Jim Crow Education System

August 29, 2013 By Arnold Ahlert 4 Comments

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In his speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s march on Washington, President Obama hypocritically bemoaned the current state of education, saying that many Americans face a “fortress of substandard schools and diminished prospects.” He claimed that such schools were “underfunded” and that every child has a “right … to get an education that stirs the mind and captures the spirit and prepares them for the world that awaits them.” However, it is the Obama administration that has been instrumental in depriving poor, especially minority, children from the “right” to a quality education with its campaign to eradicate school vouchers. Just recently, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed suit in New Orleans federal court to prevent Louisiana from implementing a voucher program at public schools that remains under federal desegregation orders.

According to the DOJ, the 570 students who received the vouchers for the 2012-2013 school year “impeded the desegregation process,” and therefore vouchers for 2014-15 school year must be blocked. The great irony here is that 90 percent of the children who used the vouchers to get themselves a better education are black Americans. Yet the DOJ remains concerned that 10 percent 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 8-29-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Great News! EduShyster Selected to Lead Camden, NJ, Schools

No doubt reacting to the news that New Hersey has selected an inexperienced young man with no obvious qualifications to run the Camden, New Jersey, public schools, EduShyster has concocted a hilarious parody in which she is the one hired for the job. She acknowledges that she has no experience, has never run a school or a district, and has never set foot in Camden, but she insists that these are p

by dianerav / 13min 

Jose Vilson: Stop and Frisk Those Test Scores

Jose Vilson is one of New York City’s best teacher bloggers. In this post, he notes that Mayor Bloomberg experienced two major setbacks within a matter of days: First, his education legacy collapsed along with the new state test scores showing that most students are “failing.” The Mayor felt compelled to defend the lower scores, calling them “very good news,” when he should have been calling foul

1 by dianerav / 6min 

What Do Public Educators Do? They Educate the Public!

This reader responds to the findings of the PDK/Gallup poll, which showed a shift in public opinion against testing, against using test scores to evaluate teachers, and against public release of teacher personnel files and ratings. “We said last year that we had a lot of hard work to do, to inform and educate the parents we work with, to organize communities and form effective coalitions of resist

by dianerav / 12min mark as read  //  save

Is Experience Necessary to Be a “Great” Teacher?

The New York Times has a good debate this morning about the value of experience for teaching. The debate was prompted by a very controversial article last week in which charter leaders claimed that two or three years of teaching was good enough, and that they liked the constant turnover of bright inexperienced teachers. The title of the article actually referred teachers who had a “short career b

4 by dianerav / 1h 

This Is What a Real Educator Sounds Like

Several months ago, I honored Tom Scarice, superintendent of schools in Madison, Connecticut, for his brave opposition to corporate reform and top-down mandates. Instead of letting Arne Duncan impose high-stakes testing on his students and staff, Scarice created a community study group to chart the district’s future. Please read what he told the community as school opened. No jargon. No reformer

13 by dianerav / 1h 

Do Civil Rights Groups Want More High-Stakes Testing?

A group called the Campaign for High School Equity made news the other day when it criticized Arne Duncan’s NCLB waivers and complained that the waivers might reduce the amount of high-stakes testing for poor and minority students. Mike Petrilli at the conservative think tank Thomas B. Fordham Institute challenged me to admit that the civil rights groups were leading the charge to protect high-st

by dianerav / 11min mark as read  //  save

What He Learned at the “Worst School in Texas”

Education debates in D.C. and the media tend to be dominated by what economists and think tanks say. What is needed most and seldom heard is the voice of teachers. Here is a brilliant new voice that should get as much air time as Bill Gates, Joel Klein, and Arne Duncan. What are the chances? In this article at Salon, John Savage describes his experience teaching at J.E. Pearce Middle School in Aus

11 by dianerav / 1h 

Diane in the Evening 8-28-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Juan Gonzalez: Harlem Success Academy Suspends LosersIn this article in the New York Daily News, award-winning investigative journalist Juan Gonzales examines the high suspension rates at the Harlem Success Academy charter schools of Eva Moskowitz. Gonzales writes: “Success Academy, the charter school chain that boasts sky-high stu

by mike simpson / 21min 

Q&A with Rick Miller: California district waivers mean tougher accountability, but less focus on tests | Hechinger Report

Q&A with Rick Miller: California district waivers mean tougher accountability, but less focus on tests | Hechinger Report:

Q&A with Rick Miller: California district waivers mean tougher accountability, but less focus on tests

By Sarah Amandolare

Dozens of states have been granted waivers from No Child Left Behind since 2011, when the Obama administration adopted a more flexible approach to the Bush-era act. When the Department of Education denied California’s waiver application in December 2012, a consortium of eight districts pushed for autonomy from the state. Dubbed CORE, the California Office to Reform Education, the districts developed their own set of strategies, emphasizing shared accountability and a holistic approach to student evaluation.

Rick Miller

Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan granted CORE a waiver from certain aspects of No Child Left Behind, the first waiver for districts rather than a state. CORE districts now have the flexibility to spend approximately $110 million in Title I funding as they see fit. CORE Executive Director Rick Miller took inspiration from Michael Fullan, the mastermind behind world-renowned schools in Ontario, whose significant population of English language learners resembles California’s.The Hechinger Report talked to Miller about what the waiver will mean for the nearly 1.2 million students in CORE districts, including Fresno Unified

8-29-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Maybe The Elites Should Get Out Of The House More

Harry Enten links to the Politicker article covering the Anybody But Quinn rally yesterday and says:It's just hard to understate how much a certain % of the population dislikes Quinn http://t.co/UEgdrbKbGO— Harry Enten (@ForecasterEnten) August 29, 2013Farrell McManus responded with this:@ForecasterEnten Media just now seeing this. They tend to be more on elite side and they think everyone loves M

by reality-based edu... / 10min 

Bill Thompson Has No Plan To Get Rid Of School Trailers

Bill Thompson and the UFT leadership held a rally over school trailers today:Mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson vowed Thursday to get rid of the trailers used as makeshift classrooms at overcrowded city schools.Democrat Thompson, the chosen candidate of the teacher’s union, seized on one of their pet issues in denouncing the 357 trailers -- some infested with mold -- still being used to house kids.“Rig

by reality-based edu... / 23min 

Wayne Barrett: Christine Quinn Made Deal With Devil With Vito Lopez

While Bill Thompson and Christine Quinn try and make something big out of a Daily News attack on Bill de Blasio today over alleged meetings with "lobbyists" that de Blasio had, Wayne Barrett reports the following about Christine Quinn: So much of what happens at the City Council occurs under the radar that few noticed when Speaker Christine Quinn started her second term in January 2010 with appoin

by reality-based edu... / 4min 

Now We Know Why Spitzer Was Reaching Out To The UFT

Yesterday I wondered why Eliot Spitzer was reaching out the UFT with a "make nice" gesture over the teachers contract.Today, Quinnipiac shows us why:When Quinnipiac University surveyed the field two weeks ago, they found ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer with a dominating 19-point lead over Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. Well, things have changed a little bit in their latest poll. Mr. Stringer an

by reality-based edu... / 5min 

The Corporatists Go On The Attack Against De Blasio

The Quinnipiac poll showing de Blasio not only in the lead in the Democratic Primary but closing in on the 40% needed to avoid a runoff has the corporatists in this city terrified.As Politicker noted, they went on the attack this morning.The NY Post in particular was in hysterics:Surprise! Bill de Blasio is far ahead in the Democratic race for mayor. The latest Quinnipiac poll’s numbers put him at

by reality-based edu... / 24min 

Anybody But Quinn People Give Christine Quinn A Nice Parting Gift

From Politicker:Advocates hoping to swing the election by urging voters to elect “Anybody but Quinn” gathered across the street from the closed St. Vincent’s Hospital this evening for a get-out-the-vote rally they billed as an early “retirement party” for City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.The event–which included the presentation of a series of mock parting gifts in honor of Ms. Quinn’s desired

by reality-based edu... / 1h 

8-28-13 Perdido Street School:

Perdido Street School: Eva Moskowitz: Success Through Attrition And SuspensionA devastating column by Juan Gonzalez in the New York Daily News on how Eva Moskowitz gets those high test scores:Success Academy, the charter school chain that boasts sky-high student scores on annual state tests, has for years used a “zero tolerance” disciplinary policy to suspend, push out, discharge or demote the ver

by mike simpson / 10h