1-15-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE:

Why Are Kids Killing Each Other in School?

Yesterday, another child, who was way too young to be in possession of a firearm, shot two classmates, who were way too young to be harmed by one.  It was at Berrendo Middle School, in Roswell, New Mexico.  Although every shooting shocks me and the rest of the country, this one was too close to […]

by Kris Nielsen / 0min 

High turnover rates in high-poverty schools? Here’s the proof.

For the life of me, I don’t know why education “experts” ignore the role of working conditions at high-poverty DC public schools. According to the data, high-poverty DC public schools lose almost one-third of its teaching staff. How’s that a sustainable model? As a teacher who works within such a DC public school, I’ve offered four […]

1 by Angel Cintron Jr. / 13min 

So you think you can teach middle school?

Do you want to become a public middle school teacher? Do you think you have what it takes to educate the future minds of America? Do you think you can handle thirty rambunctious teenagers in a classroom? Before you sign up for this assignment, let me explain why each grade is very, very different. Let’s […]

3 by Angel Cintron Jr. / 34min 

The Triumph of Conscience, Martin Luther King Jr.

The Triumph of Conscience, Martin Luther King Jr.. via The Triumph of Conscience, Martin Luther King Jr.. via The Triumph of Conscience, Martin Luther King Jr..

1 by plthomasedd / 55min 

1-14-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: Smagorinsky on Authentic Teacher EvaluationSmagorinsky on Authentic Teacher Evaluation. via Smagorinsky on Authentic Teacher Evaluation.1 by plthomasedd / 22min  1-13-14 @ The Chalk Face@ THE CHALK FACE: Learning to teach reading from Whitey McWhiterson and her twin sisterI don’t mean to bring race or whatever into this. Good teaching is good teaching, right? But the reader might

by mike simpson / 5h

1-15-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University):

The Changing Sentence Structure of Children (1934)

The Changing Sentence Structure of Children (1934).

1 by plthomasedd / 32min 

The Rights and Responsibilities of the Teacher of English (1961)

The Rights and Responsibilities of the Teacher of English (1961).

1 by plthomasedd / 1h 

The Triumph of Conscience, Martin Luther King Jr.

The Triumph of Conscience, Martin Luther King Jr. The Triumph of Conscience, Martin Luther King Jr. — Our freedom was not won a century ago, it is not won today; but some small part of it is in our hands, and we are marching no longer by ones and twos but in legions of thousands, convinced now it cannot be denied by any human force. (p. 4) —  

6 by plthomasedd / 1h 

1-14-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): Smagorinsky on Authentic Teacher EvaluationAt mid-nineteenth century, public schools were under attack by the Catholic church; Bishop John Hughes “described the public schools as a ‘dragon…devouring the hope of the country as well as religion’” (Jacoby, pp. 257-258). Thr

by mike simpson / 5h 

1-15-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Fort Lee Teachers Union Calls For Christie Ally To Apologize To Fort Lee Children

A statement from the Fort Lee Education Association:The Fort Lee Education Association is deeply offended by the disparaging remarks made about our students by David Wildstein, the childhood friend of Governor Chris Christie who worked at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. When members of the Christie Administration callously created a traffic nightmare in our community, Mr. Wildstein

by reality-based edu... / 29min 

Quinnipiac Poll Finds Most New Jersey Voters Believe Christie Is Not A Bully

From Political Wire:A new Quinnipiac poll finds New Jersey voters believe Gov. Chris Christie (R) is more of a leader than a bully by a 54% to 40% margin -- one of his lowest "bully" scores since the question was first asked in 2010.In addition, voters who have heard about the George Washington Bridge controversy say by 66% to 22% that the governor did not personally order the traffic ja

by reality-based edu... / 30min 

Bruce Springsteen Sings The "Governor Christie Traffic Jam"

by reality-based edu... / 17min 

Eva Moskowitz's "Middle East War"

Rachel Monahan and Ben Chapman in a piece about Eva Moskowitz and her charter school company have this doozy: For eight years, she’s been the lightning rod of the charter movement, raising millions from hedge funders and foundations as she aggressively worked her close connections to the Bloomberg administration to take over space in public schools. She has compared that battle for space to a “Mid

by reality-based edu... / 2h  

1-14-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Did Merryl Tisch Just Refuse To Back John King?Dunno, maybe I'm just cynical, but what I didn't hear in these Tisch statements sounds louder to me than what I did hear:ALBANY—State Board of Regents chancellor Merryl Tisch won't “dignify” a response to whether she supports state education commissioner John King, calling a statewide teachers' union's plan to take a no-confiden

by mike simpson / 9h 

Schooling in the Ownership Society: What's at stake in privatization?

Schooling in the Ownership Society: What's at stake in privatization?:

What's at stake in privatization?

I don't think so and neither does Counterpunch

The Jan.14th edition of Counterpunch asks and answers

Nothing short of genuine education itself is at stake. What particularly vitiates the learning process is the introduction of a corporate culture or “market” forces that insist on measuring “student learning outcomes” by “objective” standards such as standardized tests; that place an emphasis on competition so that there are inevitably “winners” and “losers;” that regard democratic structures that include teachers with disdain; that narrow the curriculum so that job skills alone are valued; and that think in terms of education as valuable only as a means to material rewards.

But on a more pragmatic and less ideological level, education offers a tremendous source of profits when private, for-profit companies are allowed to move in. For 

Ohio charters leading in the race to the bottom with a little help from their friends

As I posted here three years ago, to get a charter in Ohio, all you need it seems, is lots of money for local Republican campaigns and a white hat.When it comes to crappy, low-performing, and mismanaged charter schools, Ohio certainly leads the race to the bottom. Columbus alone, had 17 charter school failures in the past year. Nearly 30% of all Ohio charters have closed since 1997. The median lif

by Mike Klonsky / 12h 

JAN 08

More on digedu...

Guest post by Donald Davidson, a Chicago school parent.Digedu is in at least six CPS public schools already (Lane Tech AC, LaSalle II, Hayt, Senn, Lincoln Park HS, Goethe) and also being used at Noble St charters. They provide not only their software, but also lease the hardware (tablets) and provide a fast, dedicated broadband connection that is only available to the classrooms using their softwa

1 by Mike Klonsky / 6d 

JAN 07

Digedu riding the Common Core Express with Tullman's connections

Glenn Tullman and RahmWhen it comes to cashing in, there's nothing common about the Common Core.digedu is a three-year-old company that uses tablets to "help schools customize courses" to students who often are at different academic levels. digedu is now used by 5,000 students in more than 40 schools in 12 states. About half the users are in Chicago, where the largest customer is Lane Te

21 by Mike Klonsky / 7d

Oregon Save Our Schools: More Money? For What?

Oregon Save Our Schools: More Money? For What?:

More Money? For What?

Recently, Kari Chisholm wrote a piece for Blue Oregon about education funding titled, "Bottom Line for Our Schools? What We Need Here is More Money."  We at Oregon SOS feel we are definitely underfunding our schools to levels way below the Quality Education Model, but there is more to think about than that.  One Oregon SOS member, Tricia Snyder, responds:

"Clearly we are underfunding our schools, especially when you look at the Quality Education Model. With that said, I think we also need to take a critical look at making sure money is being maximized on student learning in the classroom. Unfortunately, our state with Governor Kitzhaber's and the OEIB's plan along with the NCLB Waiver still value high-stakes testing with expensive longitudinal data systems. This priority and value clashes with what is best for kids and creates more bureaucracy that gets in the way of real teaching and learning. Oregon Save Our Schools (Oregon SOS on Facebook) is watching how this has rolled out in Oregon since 2011 and have challenged it all the way. We see what happens in other states who have already 

The Slippery Slope of the Common Core :: Frederick M. Hess

The Slippery Slope of the Common Core :: Frederick M. Hess:

The Slippery Slope of the Common Core

by Frederick M. Hess  •  Jan 15, 2014 at 8:55 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

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Since the Common Core standards were unveiled in 2010, advocates have insisted that it's a "state-led" effort. President Obama declared in the 2011 State of the Union, "These standards were developed... not by Washington, but by Republican and Democratic governors throughout the country." This past June, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan thundered, "The federal government didn't write them, didn't approve them, and doesn't mandate them, and we never will. Anyone who says otherwise is either misinformed or willfully misleading."

Tony Evers, state superintendent for Wisconsin, told the Wisconsin legislature, "To those who are concerned that the Common Core represents too much 'federal intrusion'... I was not coerced by the federal government to adopt the Common Core [and] didn't adopt" it in response to the Obama administration's "Race to the Top" federal grant program, which rewarded states for adopting the Common Core. It's apparently just a coincidence that Wisconsin adopted the standards on June 2, 2010, the day they were released--as promised in the state's "Race to the Top" application. Just as it's presumably a coincidence that Kentucky adopted the standards before they were released--a move celebrated in its "Race to the Top" application.

It's hard to take seriously the insistence that the feds played no role when Secretary Duncan said this 

State Board poised to elevate parents’ role in setting district priorities | EdSource Today

State Board poised to elevate parents’ role in setting district priorities | EdSource Today:

State Board poised to elevate parents’ role in setting district priorities

January 14th, 2014 | Add a Comment |
By John Fensterwald

Berkeley Unified Superintendent Donald Evans speaks to parents last month at a forum on the new spending law. Some districts have already begun to engage parents in the budget process, knowing that the regulations and template for the Local Control and Accountability Plan would be passed this month. Credit: Mark Coplan, Berkeley Unified School District

Engaging parents is one of eight priorities that school districts must address under the law creating the new state finance system, the Local Control Funding Formula. Parental and community involvement will also soon become a guiding force behind the funding system’s central element: a three-year budget plan explicitly tying spending to student achievement goals that every district must create.

On Thursday, the State Board will pass the template for that document, the Local Control and Accountability Plan or LCAP. The Board also will adopt regulations instructing districts on how much latitude they will have – too much, according to some advocates for disadvantaged children – in spending the money that the funding formula earmarks for low-income students, English learners and foster youth.

The goal of the Local Control Funding Formula is to decentralize power and shift decision making from Sacramento to local districts. Together, the LCAP template and the spending regulations will make that happen – and establish what the system’s architect, State Board President Michael Kirst

Hundreds expected to speak their 1-minute piece to State Board - by John Fensterwald

In an advocacy arms race, groups representing school boards and district administrators on one side and advocates for low-income children and English learners on the other are lining up hundreds of speakers for a State Board of Education hearing Thursday on proposed Local Control Funding Formula regulations. The import of the ... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit the Edsource Today website

by John Fensterwald / 7h  

New math textbooks aligned to Common Core up for State Board vote - by Kathryn Baron

One plus one still equals two, but quite a bit else has changed in the new math textbooks and instructional materials under consideration for California classrooms. Common Core State Standards are the driver in these math texts and other teaching materials that the State Board of Education is scheduled to vote to ... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit the Edsource Today website for full lin

by Kathryn Baron / 7h hide  //  save

SKrashen: Extensive Reading in English as Foreign Language by Adolescents and Young Adults: A Meta-Analysis

SKrashen: Extensive Reading in English as Foreign Language by Adolescents and Young Adults: A Meta-Analysis:

Extensive Reading 
in English as Foreign Language 
by Adolescents 
and Young Adults: A Meta-Analysis

Stephen Krashen (2007)

International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching 3(2): 23–29. (2007) Also in: Free Voluntary Reading, S. Krashen, 2011. Libraries Unlimited

A review of studies of extensive reading adolescents and young adults studying English as a foreign language revealed a strong and consistent positive effect for both tests of reading comprehension and cloze tests. Students provided with more access to reading (titles per student) did significantly better on tests of reading comprehension, but there was no relationship between access and performance on cloze tests.

Despite the consistently positive results of extensive reading programs, there still seem to be doubts as to its effectiveness: Study after study says it works, but very few language programs have adopted it. This paper takes another look at the research, focusing on studies of extensive reading using adolescent and adult students of English as a foreign language. Older students of English as a foreign language (EFL) students are an appropriate group to study for both practical and theoretical reasons. Mastery of English is, of course, crucial for nearly all activities that involve any kind of international communication. Also, focusing on foreign language 

2014: The Year All Children Shall Officially Be Above Average | janresseger

2014: The Year All Children Shall Officially Be Above Average | janresseger:

2014: The Year All Children Shall Officially Be Above Average

Posted on January 15, 2014 by janresseger

George Wood, superintendent of schools in rural Federal Hocking, Ohio,  executive director of the Forum for Education and Democracy and board chair of the Coalition of Essential Schools has written a short, inspiring essay for the fiftieth anniversary of the declaration of Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty.  One of the foundations of the War on Poverty was the law passed a year later, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act: “Johnson struck a clever bargain with Southern lawmakers: they’d get federal money for their public schools, as long as those schools followed federal civil rights laws.”

The 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was a civil rights law.  “The irony is that what was billed as an anti-poverty, pro-desegregation law,” writes Wood, “today seems silent on all of these issues.  NCLB (No Child Left Behind—the current version of ESEA) was passed more than a decade ago amid much fanfare about holding all children to the same expectations.  Fourteen years later, childhood poverty has increased, minority achievement in schools continues to falter, and schools are as racially segregated as ever.”

Noting that 2014 is the No Child Left Behind Act’s crowning moment, “the target date by which all children were to be proficient in reading and math,” and at the same time an important anniversary of the War on Poverty, Wood suggests “that those of us who believe in public education as a fundamental tool for equality in a democratic society use this odd convergence of NCLB and the War on Poverty to shape our own agenda for the next school 

Update: Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Pension wars and Moore + Another Duncan Doughnut

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Pension wars and Moore:


Another Duncan Doughnut

"Teachers in America often come from the bottom of the academic barrel..." -- Arne DuncanYes, he really said it, and despite his inevitable pull-back once his handlers get hold of him, he really means it. This Harvard jock, who never taught a day in his life, can't open his mouth, it seams without demeaning teachers (or white suburban moms for that matter).I'm not sure what the "aca

5 by Mike Klonsky / 1h 

Pension wars and Moore

Puerto Rican teachers strike: "No somos criminales, somos maestros." "We're not criminals."

The attacks on public worker pensions, especially teachers' pensions, has become a centerpiece of corporate reform strategy aimed at degrading the teaching profession, eroding public space and undermining union contracts. It's a response to the growing public-sector debt crisis that avoids taxing the corporate sector and puts the entire burden on the retired (or soon to be retired) public sector workers. But with it has come with growing resistance across the country and now in Puerto Rico. Since December 19, members of Puerto Rico's teachers union and their supporters have been protesting both inside the island's Senate chamber and outside its Capitol, including a 2-day strike, against the so-called "pension reform" legislation advocated by governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla.

Look who's defending Rauner

No surprise here. It's the Trib's Eric Zorn. He identifies with the Republican billionaire's clout problems.

I didn't have to play that game with my elder son,