UPDATE: Standardized movie shown to 400 in Orlando | Parents Across America

Standardized movie shown to 400 in Orlando | Parents Across America:

Gulen 101 with Sharon Higgins

From Tim Furman, who made this video for sponsor Rogers Park Neighbors for Public Schools in Chicago, this is the recording of the recent webinar, Gulen 101: Session One, with Sharon Higgins. Please share widely. It was a good first session, both for people new to the topic and for those already knowledgeable. We’re having session two in March. You’ll have to adjust the sound from time to time; my

by pureparents / 50min 

ACT: Hispanics are not for sale!

by Lourdes Pérez Ramírez, founder of PAA Florida affiliate HispanEduca   ACT has been courting Florida for more than 4 years, making fun & enjoying students’ failure with FCAT. After all, money speaks, right @ACT? What an irony! The testing mogul is coming to a state where Hispanics are becoming the majority minority in many counties. However, in 2011 ACT (specifically ACT former Media Relatio

by pureparents / 1min 

Standardized movie shown to 400 in Orlando

An eye-opener: Orlando’s showing

of Standardized: Lies, Money, and

Civil Rights documentary

By Lourdes Pérez Ramírez, founder of PAA affiliate HispanEduca

More than 400 people and a nine-member panel made up of teachers, school board members, education advocates, and legislators gathered at Howard Middle School in Orlando, Fl on January 25 to attended the documentary Standardized: Lies, Money & Civil Rights — How Testing is Ruining Public Education.

The public had the opportunity to ask the panel about a myriad of issues including how parents can opt out of these tests without penalizing their children in the future, and even about the possibility of changing Florida’s law about high-stake tests.

Two of Florida legislators attended the event in clear support of addressing the negative consequences that the testing frenzy has caused in this increasingly Hispanic state. House Representative Karen Castor Dentel (D), a former teacher, is currently writing a legislation piece to require districts to give clear instructions for “Opting Out” of the mandated high stakes tests. Florida’s Osceola County Senator Dareen Soto (D), who represents a county where more than 50% of the population is Hispanic, also joined the panel and talked about the education needs of his county.

The crowd’s reactions to the documentary were the best evidence that the event was a total success.

“This is an eye-opener,” said Myrna Candelario, an education psychologist from Puerto Rico who came from Tampa to get “the gist of this testing issue and how it is affecting children from a psychological perspective.”

“These people put together a great event; I congratulate the organizers and the public for supporting this,” 

1-30-14 Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement":

Newark Parents Revolt

I’ve been posting about some wild stuff happening in Newark recently. It got even wilder last night when hundreds of parents and educators protested actions being taken by the state-appointed school superintendent. Read about what happened here and here. It sounds like the superintendent is being very successful in getting parents engaged….in organizing against her.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 2min hide  //  save

Suspended Principals & Banned Parent File Lawsuit In Newark

I’ve previously posted about the bizarre stuff happening in Newark (see I Don’t Think A Supt. Suspending A Principal Because She Supported PTO President Will Encourage Parent Engagement). Well, now the principals are no longer suspended, though not all are back at their schools, and the parent is still banned — and they’ve filed a lawsuit: Five Newark school principals suspended for speaking out a

by Larry Ferlazzo / 2min 

1-28-14 Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement": “Parents Should Demand Partnerships With Schools to Boost Achievement”Parents Should Demand Partnerships With Schools to Boost Achievement is a post over at Education Week reporting on a recent meeting of parent convened by the National Assessment Governing Board (they’re the ones who administer the NAEP tests, which I beli

by mike simpson / 24min 

1-30-14 The Whole Child Blog - How We Know Kids Living in Poverty Can Meet the Common Core Standards — Whole Child Education

How We Know Kids Living in Poverty Can Meet the Common Core Standards — Whole Child Education:

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

How We Know Kids Living in Poverty Can Meet the Common Core Standards

January 30, 2014 by Kathleen M. Budge

The Common Core State Standards underscore five key shifts in teaching and learning that place greater emphasis on

1. Critical thinking, reasoning, and use of evidence to defend an argument.
2. Deeper conceptual understanding, particularly in math.
3. Writing, not only through explicit standards for writing, but also through the need to communicate one's reasoning through writing.
4. Applying learning to real-world situations.
5. Using informational texts to build content knowledge and literacy.

The shifts embodied in the standards necessitate that students become self-regulating, metacognitive learners. And for each shift, a body of research points toward pedagogies that are particularly effective in helping students who live in poverty meet and achieve the skills, knowledge, and dispositions embodied in the shifts. The brief descriptions below describe these research-based approaches in relationship to a particular shift; however, many of these approaches could apply to more than one shift. The purpose is not to "sell" or promote a particular approach, but rather to illuminate the large volume of evidence that can challenge our mind-sets about students from low-income families and their ability to learn to high standards.

Critical Thinking, Reasoning, and Use of Evidence to Defend an Argument

The Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) program developed by educator and researcher Stan Pogrow 

1-29-14 The Whole Child Blog - Combining Intrinsic Motivation and Student Autonomy for Sustained Success — Whole Child Education

Combining Intrinsic Motivation and Student Autonomy for Sustained Success — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOGCombining Intrinsic Motivation and Student Autonomy for Sustained SuccessJanuary 29, 2014 by ASCD Whole Child BloggersPost written by Matthew J. WeyersTwo years ago, prompted by a blog post that asked, "How many student assignments end up in the recycling bin within minutes o

by mike simpson / 17h 

1-30-14 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 “Grit” Narrative, “Grit” Research, and Codes that Blind

The answer to Grant Lichtman’s Does “Grit” Need Deeper Discussion? appears to be an unequivocal yes—based on the exchange in the blog post comments, the Twitter conversations, and comments at my blogs on “grit.” Those conversations have been illuminating for me; therefore, I want here to address several excellent ideas that have been generated. First, I want to make a distinction that I think I ha

2 by plthomasedd / 52min 

 

1-29-14 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): SOTU 2014: Orwellian Educational Change under Obama ContinuesOrwellian Educational Change under Obama: Crisis Discourse, Utopian Expectations, and Accountability Failures Paul L. Thomas Furman University “It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English langu

by mike simpson / 29min 

1-30-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):

Villaraigosa makes his case for Vergara, outside the courtroom

Antonio Villaraigosa, in support of Vergara plaintiffs Legal battles aren’t only waged in the courtroom; they’re also hard fought in the court of public opinion. As testimony in the landmark case, Vegara vs. California, resumed today inside a state superior court, another star witness took the stand — more accurately, the mic — outside the courtroom. Former Los Angeles Mayor Anthony Villaraigosa h

by Mark Harris / 5min 

Suspension and expulsion rates decline, in state and LAUSD

A new system for collecting school data shows that statewide suspension and expulsion figures are falling due to policy changes regarding student behavior. Between the 2011-12 and 2012-13 academic years, expulsions decreased by 12.3 percent and suspensions by 14.1 percent. The data also shows LA Unified well ahead of the curve, a trend the state credits to major policy shifts in the district and i

2 by Chase Niesner / 1h 

Zimmer may have ‘virtual’ solution to filling open board seat

LA Unified board member Steve Zimmer Steve Zimmer isn’t giving up. Despite legal opinions against him, the LA Unified board member for District 4 is still seeking a way to give voting rights to a temporary appointee to the vacant District 1 board seat until a permanent member is elected later this year. The board voted earlier this month against such a possibility. So he knows it’s a long shot, as

2 by Michael Janofsky / 27min 

New report says CA shows little improvement on teacher policies

A new report from the National Council on Teachers Quality finds that California has made marginal, if any, progress on improving state policies that shape effective teachers. For the third straight time, California was given an overall grade of D+ by the council, which issues a new report for every other year. Compared with the 2011 report, it says the state in 2013 improved on policies that help

2 1h hide  //  save

Morning Read: Fewer than 3% LAUSD teachers ineffective

Few L.A. teachers get bad ratings, trial documents show More instructors than ever are being evaluated in detail in the Los Angeles Unified School District and only a small percentage are being rated as substandard, according to testimony Wednesday in litigation aimed at reducing teacher job protections. LA Times LA school officials say they’re in the dark over computer inventories Los Angeles Un

2 1h 

1-29-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District): Obama on education: ‘Some of this change is hard’President Obama last night President Obama had a few words to say about education in his State of the Union speech last night. Here’s what he told us: “Of course, it’s not enough to train today’s workforce. We also have to prepare tomorrow’s workforce, by g

by mike simpson / 21h 

Starting Early | Deborah Meier on Education

Starting Early | Deborah Meier on Education:

Starting Early

Posted on January 30, 2014 by debmeier

From the Alliance on Childhood:

Students May Be Disadvantaged by Starting School at 5 Years Old

“An Australian newspaper reports that the countries that did best in the much-respected PISA test started formal teaching at 6 or 7, not 5 as we increasingly do in the U.S. The article quotes David Whitebread, a Cambridge University expert in the cognitive development of young children, saying ‘overwhelming evidence suggests that 5 is just too young to start formal learning.’ He adds that children should be engaged in informal play-based learning until about age 7.”

Worth considering–but in fact most nations do have activities for younger children that they purposely don’t call school.  That’s why I wish we hadn’t gotten into the habit of calling it “pre-school”.  Kindergarten actually just means a kind garden.  It has now become or becoming first grade.  So I guess pre-K could maybe be our last chance to build-in the kind of playfulness that all schools should later honor.

And on another form of gobbledeegook language

“It’s important that we teach thew 21st Century skills of critical thinking, collaboration and problem solving.”

The quote above is just one of many like it that I run across daily in the literature of 

1-30-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE:

The only education policy consideration that matters.

Every decision in education, whether it be made by: A classroom teacher, a principal, a district administrator, state or federal officials, corporate leaders or philanthropists, should apply the following consideration: “Would you want your own child to learn under this policy?”   Connect with Chris Cerrone on twitter: @Stoptesting15  

12 by Chris Cerrone / 59min 

Response to Obama’s Early Childhood Education Plan

President Obama promised us something in his State of the Union address that I think is bad news for our kids.  Here is the excerpt, with my reply underneath: Race to the Top, with the help of governors from both parties, has helped states raise expectations and performance. Teachers and principals in schools from Tennessee […]

14 by Kris Nielsen / 1h 

1-29-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: An Open Apology, with Explanations: Math, Behaviorism, and “Grit”While I haven’t really made any sort of public declaration, I have begun in 2014 to address in my public work something with which I have become more uncomfortable throughout 2013: The antagonism in the education reform debate. Thus, I want to address a series of tensions that have been created by recent blogs of […

by mike simpson / 22h 

1-30-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

High School Students - Input Wanted on Next Police Chief

Got a politically-minded high schooler with some time on his/her hands? From Publicola:Two of the most important members, in our opinion, of Mayor Ed Murray's police chief-search Community Advisory Committee, Franklin High School's Isaiah Bridges and Garfield High School's Jabari Cook—a pair of African American South End high school students in a city where the SPD has a strained relationship with

by Melissa Westbrook / 1min 

Washington State Charter Commission Meeting - Part Three

Trying to keep up; details to come. Also to note; the Times has not had one piece of news on this.  Again, quite strange.Seventh application - First Place - an existing K-5 school for students with trauma, approved 8-0.Eighth application - Green Dot - approved 7-0 with one abstaining voteNinth application - King County Academy - denied 8-0Tenth application - Out of the Box - denied 8-0 Eleventh ap

by Melissa Westbrook / 3min 

Rave and Rant for Classroom Issues

Hearing from parents about classroom issues like homework.  Below are two comments (off-topic in Math Adoption thread) and we have heard enough of these to warrant their own thread.Rant and rave away - please DO state things you like in your child's classroom as well as any concerns/unhappiness. Karen said...I'm a parent of a 1st and 3rd grader. I want my kids to know math facts inside and out. Cr

by Melissa Westbrook / 28min 

WA State Charter Commission Mtg - Part Two

First application - CAL Elementary - is denied, 8-0.  Commissioners cited the evaluators' "deny" and noted not financially ready with little community support/input.Second application - Cedar River - is denied, 8-0. Third application - Coral Academy of Science - the probable Gulen-based charter - is denied, 8-0.Cyndi Willams, Commissioner said it was a good application but not wide-rangi

by Melissa Westbrook / 38min hide  //  save

Live Blogging from Charter Commission Meeting

Starting out a bit disorganized with several people lost.  But meeting appears to be starting on-time.Eight members of the CC are present (Doreen Cato has a health issue and is not going to be here - what that might mean for any given charter is unknown).President Steve Sundquist says law makes this process  "complicated."   If denial, must have reasons. If approved, attach any "con

by Melissa Westbrook / 1h 

1-29-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Kid President Gives Us All a Pep TalkThis kid is great - listen up students (and everybody's a teacher). Get your learn on!by Melissa Westbrook / 4min 1-28-14 Seattle Schools Community ForumSeattle Schools Community Forum: Tuesday Open ThreadComing up on Thursday is the one-year anniversary of the MAP test boycott.  It's also the day that SEE (Social Equality Educa

by mike simpson / 22h

LA school officials say they're in the dark over computer inventories | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

LA school officials say they're in the dark over computer inventories | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:

LA school officials say they're in the dark over computer inventories

Annie Gilbertson | January 30th, 2014, 8:29am

Maya Sugarman/KPCC

Los Angeles Unified School District officials said they don't have a complete accounting of computers at schools because they stopped counting during budget cuts - and a new survey meant to get an accurate accounting is incomplete, according to records, statements at public meetings and interviews.

With new computerized state standardized tests two months away, Superintendent John Deasy wants to rush order as many as 67,500 iPads to allow students to take the tests. The district released a new survey to KPCC on Monday showing only 38 percent of schools have necessary computers. But the survey only asked how many wired computers schools had - leaving out tens of thousands of laptops and tablets  - and about a quarter of the district's schools failed to respond to the survey.

For instance, according to the district's new survey, the Diego Rivera Learning Complex in South Los Angeles has thousands of students but no wired computers. What the survey leaves out is that every student at the school received a wireless iPad earlier this year.

District administration put together the survey after school board members 

5 things you need to know about California civil rights leader Fred Korematsu

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez | January 30th, 2014, 8:43am

David McNew/Getty Images

Old twisted barded wire and other artifacts are still scattered around the Manzanar War Relocation Center south of Independence, CA, June 25, 2000 where 10,000 Japanese-American citizens and Japanese aliens were interned during World War II

By state law Thursday is Fred Korematsu Day, approved by policymakers for people to take a moment and remember the struggles of a California Civil Rights leader.

The Korematsu Institute lists some of the in-state and nationwide events commemorating Korematsu’s civil rights struggle, including a screening in Rosemead, CA of a documentary about his life.

Here are five things you should know about him:

1. Fred Korematsu was a U.S. citizen, born in Oakland, California in 1919 to Japanese immigrant parents.
2. He was 23 years old in 1942 when he refused to obey the presidential order imprisoning people of Japanese ancestry during World War II.
3. Korematsu went about his life in San Leandro, California; had minor plastic surgery to look less Japanese.
4. He was convicted of defying the presidential order - and that decision was upheld on a 6-3 vote by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1944.
5. Five decades later, in 1998, Korematsu was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The Supreme Court decision affirming his and other Japanese American imprisonment wasn’t unanimous; one of the justices wrote in a dissenting opinion that Japanese American internment “falls into the ugly abyss of racism.”

Decades after he left internment and resumed his life, Korematsu's conviction was overturned in San Francisco federal court after he and lawyer Peter Irons discovered documents that showed the U.S. knew that Japanese Americans didn't present a wartime threat.

The U.S. Supreme Court has not overturned its Korematsu ruling despite wide view that it is one of the high court’s most shameful decisions.

California’s Department of Education recommends, but doesn’t require, schools to teach about California’s civil rights hero. The suggestion is that schools teach kids about preserving civil liberties in times of real or perceived crisis.

The Korematsu Korematsu Institute in San Francisco offers lesson plans for teachers.

Korematsu died in 2005.