11-27-13 THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG Education Selfies — Whole Child Education

Education Selfies — Whole Child Education:

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

Education Selfies

November 27, 2013 by Barry Saide

A friend of mine's daughter took a picture of herself using his phone. She is 18 months old. He should be glad she didn't do something else with it. He captioned it, "Caden's first selfie." We call these pictures "selfies" because it's a picture taken of yourself, by ... yourself. I thought his daughter looked adorable with her big smile. I am not a fan of my own selfies because I think they bring out my worst qualities (too many to list).

As I thought about education today, I reflected on how selfies apply to education. We all know "education selfies." Education selfies have personal agendas. They may promote good learning and teaching strategies, and even have great ideas and concepts. But, the strategies and concepts they offer come at a price. The cost may be as little as an "atta boy," or personal recognition by a respected peer in their school district. Or it may cost more, like a solve-all education program they're peddling. In the end, education selfies are not team players. They may be on a team, but they're rooting for themselves to succeed. If their students do well, it's an opportunity for them to leverage this for their own benefit.

I also thought about those I know who are "education selfless." They share whatever resources they have and don't ask for anything in return. They don't keep score. Selfless educators give their time to those who need it: students who need help but can only come before school or during lunch, novice teachers in crisis mode, and parents who need reassurance. They're too focused on changing the world one student at a time to worry 

11-26-13 THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG Sharing Thanks on Twitter with Educators — Whole Child Education

Sharing Thanks on Twitter with Educators — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOGSharing Thanks on Twitter with EducatorsNovember 26, 2013 by Tina BylandLast night, ASCD and an inspiring group of educators dedicated an entire hour to sharing the many things we are all thankful for over Twitter. The chat left me in an incredibly grateful mood. Whether you are thankful for your school community

by mike simpson / 23h 

Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama & Neo-Liberalism are the Daleys Gifts to Chicago and the Nation. Thanks. | Black Agenda Report

Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama & Neo-Liberalism are the Daleys' Gifts to Chicago and the Nation. Thanks. | Black Agenda Report:

Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama & Neo-Liberalism are the Daleys' Gifts to Chicago and the Nation. Thanks.

 Chicago's Daley regime was a half century orgy of arrogance, racism and plunder. Thanks to President Obama, it not only continues with the succession of Rahm Emanuel to the fifth floor office of Chicago's mayor, but with nationwide implementation of diastrous policies toward housing, schools, infrastructure and public workers, all pioneered in Chicago.

Rahm Emanul, Barack Obama & Neo-Liberalism are the Daleys' Gifts to Chicago and the Nation. Thanks.

by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

“For 43 of the last 56 years, some guy named Richard Daley has occupied the fifth floor office in Chicago's City Hall.”

Last month, at the installation of the new White House chief of staff Bill Daley, President Obama declared the man had “public service in his DNA.” What Obama actually meant was that Daley, a lobbyist and JP Morgan Chase exec who helped write NAFTA, hailed from the predatory family of wolves that have ruled Chicago for two generations and who helped launch his own career.

For 43 of the last 56 years, some guy named Richard Daley has occupied the fifth floor office in Chicago's City Hall. And now Barack Obama has enabled the wolvish Daley clan to elect its own successor, Rahm Emanuel.

In the last two decades, Chicago's property tax levies have been Jim Crowed so that revenue collected in wealthy areas is not shared with poorer ones. When combined with the pervasive residential segregation that is the U.S. norm, the so-called “tax increment financing,” or TIF system pioneered in Chicago, provides an ostensibly color-blind and race-neutral way to achieve this goal, that has been imitated nationwide.

The city's public assets have been looted, leased and privatized, and its once extensive public 

Beyond the So-Called First Thanksgiving: 5 Children's Books That Set the Record Straight - ICTMN.com

Beyond the So-Called First Thanksgiving: 5 Children's Books That Set the Record Straight - ICTMN.com:

Beyond the So-Called First Thanksgiving: 5 Children's Books That Set the Record Straight

Debbie Reese

11/19/13

It’s November, a time of year that many parents, teachers, and librarians look forward to giving children books about what is commonly—and erroneously—called “The First Thanksgiving.” Others seek books that counter the narrative of Pilgrims and Indians warmly sharing a meal together, and still others want to avoid that disingenuous feel-good story altogether and provide children with books that are about indigenous people, books that provide insights and knowledge that are missing from all too many accounts.

Your local bookstore probably has a special shelf this month filled with books about “The First Thanksgiving.” In most of them, Native peoples are stereotyped, and “Indian” instead of “Wampanoag” is used to identify the indigenous people. When the man known as Squanto is part of the stories, his value to the Pilgrims is that he can speak English, and he teaches them how to plant and hunt. The fact that he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Spain—if mentioned at all—is not addressed in the story because elaborating on it would up-end the feel-good story.

But there is an antidote to these books, and it goes beyond volumes that merely counter the feel-good tale. There are a multitude of works by Native writers who tell stories from their experience and history. While Thanksgiving is a good time to grab people’s attention about Wampanoag-European interactions, it does not need to frame the story. These books give a far more nuanced, and accurate, account of Indigenous Peoples. They will set children and adults alike straight on what really happened around the time of the so-called First Thanksgiving, and what Native life is like today.

1.The People Shall Continue, by Simon Ortiz (Children’s Book Press, 1977)

The starting point for this picture-book poem, illustrated by Sharol Graves, is not 1492, nor is it 1621. The story begins the moment that “all things came to be,” when “the People were born.” This provides an immediate departure

Read more athttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/11/19/beyond-so-called-first-thanksgiving-5-childrens-books-set-record-straight-152337

NYC Public School Parents: Chicago parents give thanks as their schools pull out of inBloom Inc., but NY Commissioner KIng remains fully committed; why?

NYC Public School Parents: Chicago parents give thanks as their schools pull out of inBloom Inc., but NY Commissioner KIng remains fully committed; why?:

Chicago parents give thanks as their schools pull out of inBloom Inc., but NY Commissioner KIng remains fully committed; why?

Illinois State Superintendent Chris Koch

As reported in today’s Sun-Times, Chicago is dropping inBloom like a hot potato.  This $100 million project, created by the Gates and Carnegie Foundations, continues to lose adherents. Already, seven other states originally listed as inBloom “partners” have dropped out or put their data-sharing plans on hold.  (See the timeline and list in my testimony here.)  Up to yesterday, Illinois and New York were the only two states still committed to sharing data with inBloom Inc.

Some back story: Last Thursday night, November 21, I was an invited to speak at a forum on student privacy in Chicago, hosted by the Chicago Teachers Union and several activist parent groups, including More than a Score and PURE; see thevideo of my presentation here.  Unknown to me at the time, the Illinois state official who is heading the inBloom project, a man named Brandon Williams, was in the audience. 

Earlier that day, I had been part of a parent and teacher group which had briefed the editors of the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times about inBloom.  At these meetings, both sets of editors appeared seriously concerned about the vast privacy and security implications of the project.  Yet only one article had appeared in the Chicago press about this issue at that point, also in the Sun Times, two days before.

At the forum on Thursday night, Brandon Williams privately told the representative from the CTU that the issue was 

11-27-13 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

Everyone has a Gift to Share

Here's a video from Night of Too Many Stars (back in October) where we meet Jodi DiPiazza, an 11 year-old with autism.  She and Katy Perry sing "Firework."Jodi's father said:Her father explained: "We were afraid she would never speak. Never dreaming she would sing, or even be able to understand. I've taken off the idea that there is some limit on her, as she continually proves that

by Melissa Westbrook / 32min 

11-26-12 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Tuesday Open ThreadNews that President Smith-Blum fell on her way to a restaurant and broke her arm.  We wish her a speedy recovery.From The Guardian, kids of today can't run as fast as their parents.On average, it takes children 90 seconds longer to run a mile than their counterparts did 30 years ago. Heart-related fitness has declined 5% each decade since 1975, f

by mike simpson / 23h 

Where are the most economically segregated charter schools? (& why does it matter?) | School Finance 101

Where are the most economically segregated charter schools? (& why does it matter?) | School Finance 101:

Where are the most economically segregated charter schools? (& why does it matter?)

Posted on November 27, 2013

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In this first of several posts, I explore economic variation in charter enrollments in the states of Massachusetts, New Jersey and Connecticut.

I’m taking a fairly simple, easily replicable approach here and encourage any data savvy readers to take their own shot at it. For this analysis I’m using the most recent three years of non-preliminary school level enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data, Public School Universe Survey.

http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/pubschuniv.asp

I’m only using a handful of variables here. I’m using:

• City of location (lcity)
• Total school enrollment (member)
• Total number of free lunch qualified children (frelch)
• Charter school indicator (chartr)

For each year of the data, I sum the enrollment of all schools in the city of location, including charters and district schools and magnets or other special schools. That gives me the total number of all kids enrolled in a city (yeah… it’s a little messy in that some cities include schools that also enroll kids from outside the city – I limit the final lists to large enough enrollment areas where such cases should not substantively distort final numbers). I do the same for kids qualified for free 

A matter of money | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

A matter of money | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

A matter of money

Philadelphia schools are struggling, yet some critics question whether more funds are needed.

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Photo: Harvey Finkle

Protests like this Market Street march in August have been aimed at persuading officials in City Hall and Harrisburg that Philadelphia schools need increased aid.

Try telling Owen Tuleya that money doesn’t matter.

For the first weeks of school, the 8-year-old at Cook-Wissahickon Elementary in Roxborough was happy and thriving in 3rd grade. His teachers were great, he had many friends, and he got a lot of attention because there were fewer than 20 students in his class. 

Then on Friday, Oct. 25, out of the blue, parents were notified that changes were coming. The following Monday, more than six weeks after school started, Owen was moved to a class with 24 4th graders and seven other 3rd graders – a “split class.” 

His reaction, said his mom, Stefanie, was bewilderment. Why was this happening? He missed his 3rd-grade friends. He couldn’t even eat with them in the lunchroom. They took away his 3rd-grade books and gave him 4th-grade books. And there were 31 other students vying for the teacher’s attention.

While Owen did his best to adjust, “there was definitely some anxiety about being in a whole new class,” said his mom. 

How do you explain a disruption caused by budget cuts to a 3rd grader? 

Do you say that the School District had to find two teachers for another school 

Arne Duncan schooled in limits of power - Stephanie Simon - POLITICO.com

Arne Duncan schooled in limits of power - Stephanie Simon - POLITICO.com:

Arne Duncan schooled in limits of power

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There’s no clear evidence that Duncan’s prescriptions are helping. | John Shinkle/POLITICO

By STEPHANIE SIMON | 11/27/13 5:06 AM EST

Arne Duncan brought the most ambitious reform agenda in years to the Department of Education — and a determination to use every lever of power to accomplish it.

The results were stunning: In barely a year, more than 100 state laws were passed to open public schools to competition and set tough new standards for students and teachers. Duncan won allies on the right and the left, becoming one of the few Cabinet members with bipartisan support.

But the agenda he began to advance in 2009 has now hit serious roadblocks, highlighting the limits of federal power over education. States are balking at reforms they pledged to implement in exchange for grants and waivers from federal law. An unprecedented $5 billion intervention in the nation’s worst schools has yielded incremental results, at best. A noisy opposition to Duncan’s reforms has emerged — and it only grew noisier this month when Duncan dissed “white suburban moms” for opposing the new Common Core academic standards because the tough tests made their kids look bad.

(WATCH: Arne Duncan sorry for 'white suburban moms' remark)

To top it off, there’s no clear evidence that Duncan’s prescriptions are boosting student

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/arne-duncan-education-secretary-100372.html#ixzz2lrswX8yv

Remove Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education | We the People: Your Voice in Our Government: 

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:

Remove Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education

AFT President Randi Weingarten to Discuss Affordable Care Act, Northside Medical Center Contract Talks - Press Release - Digital Journal

AFT President Randi Weingarten to Discuss Affordable Care Act, Northside Medical Center Contract Talks - Press Release - Digital Journal:

AFT President Randi Weingarten to Discuss Affordable Care Act, Northside Medical Center Contract Talks

PR Newswire

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio, Nov. 27, 2013

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio, Nov. 27, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is being released by the Ohio Nurses Association:

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten will join nurses, elected officials and labor and civic leaders Monday to discuss implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the campaign by nurses at Northside Medical Center to maintain quality patient care.
The event will take place at 12:30 p.m. Monday, December 2, 2013, at Youngstown State University's Historical Center of Industry and Labor.

Tiffany Weath of the Ohio Nurses Association will join Weingarten to go through details of the Affordable Care Act and instruction on enrolling for coverage.

The event is co-sponsored by the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative and Stand Up For Ohio. State Rep. Bob Hagan (D-Youngstown) and Mahoning-Trumbull County AFL-CIO President Bill Padisak will serve as masters of ceremony.

The event is open the media. Additionally, President Weingarten will be available for interviews when the event concludes at approximately 1:35 p.m.

WHO: AFT President Randi Weingarten will join nurses and community leaders to discuss the Affordable Care Act and Northside Medical Center negotiations.

WHEN: Monday. December 2, 2013, at 12:30 p.m.

WHERE: Youngstown State University's Historical Center of Industry and Labor, 151 W. Wood St., Youngstown, OH 44503

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1611981#ixzz2lrrl2G90

Remove Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education | We the People: Your Voice in Our Government

Remove Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education | We the People: Your Voice in Our Government:

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:

Remove Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan consistently and flagrantly disregards the concerns of the parents and teachers of America's schoolchildren. He dismisses their concerns in favor of corporate interests. In his recent comments to the Council of Chief State Schools Officers, he said, "It’s fascinating to me that some of the pushback is coming from, sort of, white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were." This clearly demonstrates the complete lack of understanding he has and his utter contempt for the American people. He is both unqualified and unfit to lead the Department of Education and should be removed immediately.

Created: Nov 16, 2013

Issues: Education

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FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Wednesday, November 27, 2013

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

Performing arts backers gain momentum in pursuit of Sacramento campus

Education Headlines

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

FCMAT provides links to California K-12 news stories as a service to the industry. However, some stories may not be accessible because of newspapers' subscription policies.

Judge: Miramonte parents' claims can move forward along with children's

Parents of children involved in the Miramonte Elementary sex abuse scandal can proceed with their own claims of emotional distress as their children proceed with claims of emotional distress, negligence and sexual harassment, a judge ruled Monday.

Fire throws Sonora Elementary into disarray

The Sonora Elementary School District Board of Trustees decided in a special meeting Monday that teachers and staff would get at least one day without students after Thanksgiving break to prepare their curriculum and set up their temporary classes following a fire that put at least 15 classrooms out of commission over the weekend.

Parent reaction to Common Core in Long Beach is mixed

Parent reaction has been varied to the new Common Core standards being rolled out by the Long Beach Unified School District.

Palm Springs school district to consider trustee areas Tuesday

Justin Blake, a nine-year member of the Palm Springs Unified School Board, announced Tuesday night that he would not seek re-election in 2014. If Blake had planned to seek re-election, the shift to trustee areas would have made his bid to retain a board seat more competitive by forcing him to run against another incumbent, Karen Cornett.

Performing arts backers gain momentum in pursuit of Sacramento campus

Arts supporters are getting a boost from the Sacramento City Unified School District, which has agreed to lease the former Fremont School for Adults to the city of Sacramento for a performing arts campus.

Fensterwald: Once lured by incentive grants, most teachers stuck around at new campuses, study says

Encouraging results from a study on cash incentives for transferring teachers to low-performing schools could have implications for districts eyeing options under the state’s new Local Control Funding Formula, or LCFF.

California legislative leaders raise school-funding concerns

Top Democrats in the Legislature have poured cold water on proposed regulations to carry out the landmark overhaul of the state's school-funding formula.

S.F. scrambles for subs as teachers skip school

More than 600 San Francisco teachers and classroom aides skipped school Tuesday to extend their Thanksgiving holiday, leaving district officials scrambling to find enough qualified adults to watch over students.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

How Common Core State Standards are changing education at Long Beach Unified

There are no one-word answers in Donna Robertson's fifth-grade classroom at Lafayette Elementary in central Long Beach.

Parent reaction to Common Core in Long Beach is mixed

Parent reaction has been varied to the new Common Core standards being rolled out by the Long Beach Unified School District.

San Ysidro contract headed to mediation

A contract standoff between the San Ysidro School District and teachers association is headed for state mediation.

Early testing reveals high toxic chemical levels at Malibu High School

The district plans to conduct more tests and clean up chemicals, but says there is 'no short-term risk' to being on campus.

From truant slacker to straight-A student, an LAUSD success story

Before Troy Clawson went from slacker to straight-A student, he used to ditch school for weeks at a time to skateboard, not knowing or caring that truancy is against the law.

Fensterwald: Rocketship charter schools singled out in California as Race to the Top finalist

Rocketship Education, with eight K-5 charter schools in San Jose, one in Milwaukee and invitations to expand into urban districts in other states, is the sole finalist from California competing for $120 million in the second district Race to the Top competition.

A Massachusetts Student Writes: How MCAS Derailed My Education - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

A Massachusetts Student Writes: How MCAS Derailed My Education - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

A Massachusetts Student Writes: How MCAS Derailed My Education

By Anthony Cody on November 27, 2013 10:48 AM

OPT-OUT/REFUSAL GUIDES FOR EACH STATE

As the debate rages over the Common Core, one rather simple solution has been offered. Massachusetts is recognized as the state with the highest student performance in the nation. That state introduced the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) about twenty years ago, and in that time it became a very high stakes set of tests. Some have suggested that the federal government abandon efforts to coerce states into adopting the Common Core standards, and instead simply encourage everyone to use the Massachusetts state standards, and the MCAS to enforce them. This student has first-hand experience with how the rising stakes on the MCAS changed her education. It should remind us that our concerns about Common Core are not just about the new standards themselves, but the test and punish model they continue.

Guest post by Joan Brunetta.

I am currently a junior at Williams College, but I grew up in the public school system in Cambridge, MA and was among the first cohort of kids to have every single MCAS test administered, 3rd grade through 10th. I saw first hand how the scope of my education narrowed with increased testing, from a curriculum that valued student growth, experiences, and emotions, to one that was often cold and hard and moved on whether or not we were ready.

Elementary School: Diverse and Challenging

Cambridge has an incredibly diverse group of kids in the school system--in the single public high school of 1600 kids, the students come from over 80 different countries and speak over 60 different languages.  About 40% of the students receive free and reduced lunch, while many others are the wealthier children of professors, engineers, artists, or other professionals. None of the elementary schools (all k-8 when I was in the system, now k-5 with middle schools) were selective or tracked, nor were they neighborhood schools. Parents instead ranked school choices and the