6-7-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter: 

 Schools Matter All Week

Only 43 to Go: Oklahoma Becomes Second State to Ditch Common Core

http://www.newsok.com/article/4888114

by Jim Horn / 1h hide  //  save

Opt Out Proves to Be Good Option in Waco

kcentv.com - KCEN HD - Waco, Temple, and Killeen

by Jim Horn / 1h 

Union Leadership that Teachers and Children Can Believe In--Really!

from the Globe, where the editorial board's head is about to explode:NORTHAMPTON — Don’t make the mistake of talking about “teacher training” to Barbara Madeloni.“Oh, please don’t use the word training,” she chided a reporter. “We educate teachers. We don’t train them. We train dogs. And I love dogs.”Beacon Hill better get used to that sharply pointed, confrontational style. The 57-year-old for

by Jim Horn / 2min 

Inigo Montoya challenges common core testing program

Comment on Ed Week blog, ELLs Test-Drive New English-Language Proficiency AssessmentsPosted at: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-thelanguage/2014/06/wida_field_testing_new_english.htmlInigo Montoya: You keep using that word.I do not think it means what you think it means. ...  (from: The Princess Bride). We are told that ELLs are about to "test drive" the "New English-Langu

by skrashen / 11min 

Authentic reforms from Dr. Krashen. Address poverty, and ensure access to books to preempt summer learning loss!

Providing more access to interesting reading material by investing in public libraries and librarians is an excellent way to deal with summer learning loss. — Dr. Stephen D. Krashen Yesterday morning at teacher sent me a Dr. Edward Haertel paper discussing the unreliability of Value Added Measures. I saw an interesting figure in the paper regarding "summer learning loss" that started me

by Robert D. Skeels ... / 27min 

Arne and the summer slide

Posted on: http://stateimpact.npr.org/ohio/2014/06/05/the-impact-of-the-summer-slide/ Arne Duncan has suggested that year-round school is the solution to the summer slide.  Thanks to the common core, year-round school will make things worse. Research tells us that those living in poverty have the least access to books. Students living in poverty also show the most summer loss, and those who re

2 by skrashen / 13h 

Shelby County to Launch Classroom Camera Project to Collect and Share Video of Kindergarten Students

The Gates Foundation reporter of record, Jane Roberts, has a celebratory piece on how video capture will be used to evaluate kindergarten teachers in 26 Shelby County Schools.  Will they call this ill-advised excuse for more surveillance, "Cameras for Kindergartners?"The State Department of Education should have learned by now that parents and teachers will not allow this kind of third p

by Jim Horn / 23h 

Opt Out Guidance for NY Parents and Pearson Field Tests

from We Love Montessori at GW:The GW Elementary School was selected to participate in the NYS Field Test program in Math on WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11th. GW Elementary School 3rd graders will be given this test that is to be administered over the course of 40 minutes.A field test is an exam that the company PEARSON (READ this article from WNYC’s blog) and other test developers give to “try out” new questi

1 by Jim Horn / 23h 

More Money For On-Line Testing?

Posted as a comment on "Ed. Groups Urge More Federal Spending for Common-Core Tests," at: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2014/06/more_federal_funds_for_common-.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS3More money to support the biggest boondoggle in the history of education? There is zero research supporting the value of on-line testing, and no plans to do even small scale studies. The am

by skrashen / 1d 

JUN 05

KIPP Links, Including Research and Commentary

A reader in California asked for some links, and here is the result I will share with you, too.  This is certainly not an exhaustive list, not even for SM.  A start, nonetheless.One thing you should note from this first link below is that non-profit charters schools are a myth, thanks to some handiwork by Clinton before he left office.http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2014/04/americas-top-corporate-ed

2 by Jim Horn / 1d 

Marshall Tuck's white male friend Dax Shepard 'splains that cultural sterilization isn't "real racism"

When I taught in the Los Angeles Unified Schools, I openly opposed the Vietnam War and was critical of the system’s race policies.  Fortunately, I was never threatened with dismissal, I belonged to a union. — Professor Rodolfo F. Acuña Students Protesting Marshall Tuck's racist decision to kill Ethnic Studies. Photo by Robert D. Skeels. Eli Broad's California State Superintendent of Public Instru

12 by Robert D. Skeels ... / 2d 

JUN 04

Weingarten Twisting in the Wind Over Common Core Embrace

Randi Weingarten has tried every strategy that her posse of lawyers can come up with to maintain her loyalty to corporate education plutocrats who made her, while pretending to represent the interests of children, parents, and public schools.  She has gone so far as to get herself arrested in protest of school closures, while behind the headlines continuing her undying support of Common Core, test

3 by Jim Horn / 2d 

The Pearson Teacher: From Sage on the Stage to Technician in the Mechanism

When Bill Gates came to Memphis in 2009 with $90 million to grease the hinges on every bureaucratic door within a hundred miles, the schools became the laboratory for every self-serving thought disorder that the aging crackpot could come up with.  The latest bad dream brings together Common Core, Pearson, Windows tablets, and the Gates dream of making schools entirely teacher proof.  Teachers will

2 by Jim Horn / 2d 

JUN 03

Utica Citizens Say No to Another Cash Draining Corporate Charter

Locals collect 1,400 signatures for petition against another charter.

by Jim Horn / 3d 

Parent Insists Her Child Will No Longer Be Pearson Lab Rat

There was a time not so long ago when the post-test curriculum could take hold after the March madness of state testing, when teachers could do a few of the interesting units and projects that once engaged children from September through February. Now school after test time is increasingly filled with even more rigorometry and grittiness in order to be ready for next year's tests and in getting re

2 by Jim Horn / 3d 

Common Core's Emphasis on Computers May Be Undermining Thinking and Learning

NYTWhat’s Lost as Handwriting FadesBy MARIA KONNIKOVAJUNE 2, 2014PhotoCreditMichael MabryContinue reading the main storyShare This PageContinue reading the main storyRECENT COMMENTSRvincent1 8 minutes agoI teach in higher education and I have noticed over the years that handwriting legibility of students is decreasing at a steady pace as...Michael Branagan 8 minutes agoMy microbiology classes back

4 by freetoteach / 4d 

This should settle the bilingual education debate.

Sent to Education Week, June 2, 2014Lesli Maxwell is right: Things have changed dramatically since the dismantling of bilingual education in California caused by the passage of Proposition 227 ("Proposal to restore bilingual education in California advances," May 28).  The most important change is that there is more evidence than ever that bilingual education works, that bilingual educat

by skrashen / 4d hide  //  save

MAY 31

Steve Hinnefeld Reviews Hoosier School Heist: Unions Unite NOW

by Doug MartinSteve Hinnefeld has posted a review of my book Hoosier School Heist on his blog, School Matters.  Please read his review and check out his other pieces, too.  Here is an excerpt from Steven's review:  "Martin has a Ph.D. in literature, has taught in universities and published a book of Walt Whitman criticism. He can turn a phrase, and he can bring out the drama in a right-vs.-wr

30 by Doug Martin / 7d

All Week 6-7-14 @ THE CHALK FACE

@ THE CHALK FACE : 

All Week @ THE CHALK FACE 

Topical wisdom from one of my most favoritest education books of all-time

We are where we are in public education right now because of you. Yes, you. No, not you, dear reader, but the rest of you. Willful ignorance, it’s called. There was a time when I cared a great deal about the divisions of labor in the education workforce. I wrote this in 2009: Moreover, Sugg […]

2 by Shaun Johnson / 52min hide  //  save

A comment on a new report critical of co-locations in NYC, from a co-location insider @dianeravitch @edprogress @eduquity

I am a K teacher in a public school that co-locates with a charter. Our school is at a temporary site on the first and third floors of a building, while the charter is on the second. Although, we share a playground and “cafetorium” on the first floor. My anecdotes could fill volumes on what […]

1 by Shaun Johnson / 1h 

Dr. Krashen’s Solutions Work! Preempt “summer learning loss” by addressing poverty, and ensuring access to books!

Providing more access to interesting reading material by investing in public libraries and librarians is an excellent way to deal with summer learning loss. — Dr. Stephen D. Krashen Let’s talk about serendipity. This morning at teacher sent me a Haertel paper on the unreliability of Value Added Measures, and I saw a figure in […]

by Robert D. Skeels ... / 7h 

Reflections on Oklahoma’s Repeal of Common Core

The first key reaction to Oklahoma’s defeat of Common Core is best described by a football metaphor. We’re celebrating like we’ve been in the End Zone before – no gloating or trash talk about the touchdown. This is true even though many of us, especially liberal Common Core opponents, haven’t had many political victories in […]

24 by John Thompson / 18h 

I Now Have a Facebook Page

I now have a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/bymercedeskschneider The page features my book, A Chronicle of Echoes, and my blog, . As of this writing, my page has 91 likes. I even have my first hashtag:  #chronicleofechoes I still have no Twitter account. Twitter moves so fast with its little messages, and I haven’t time to keep up […]

4 by deutsch29 / 22h 

JUN 05

Chicago’s George Schmidt on Martin Koldyke, “Golden Apples,” and School “Turnaround”

On June 4, 2014, I posted this piece by a guest writer, a Chicago area teacher, who has concerns about Martin Koldyke’s “Golden Apples” teacher recognition program. Her concern is that the “Golden Apples” program is a benevolently-disguised, self-serving effort for Koldyke to use teachers to staff his Academy for Urban Leadership “turnaround” schools (AULS). The […]

4 by deutsch29 / 1d 

Why Are So Many More Teachers “Retiring”?

WHY ARE SO MANY MORE TEACHERS “RETIRING”?.Filed under: SHAUN JOHNSON, PHD: Musings from the Chalk Face

100+ by David Greene / 1d 

JUN 04

A Chicago Teacher Questions Martin Koldyke’s “Golden Apples” Program

A few days ago, a Chicago teacher contacted me to make me aware of a program in Chicago, the “Golden Apple” program, one that supposedly rewards good teachers yet seems more like a front to supply a temporary teaching staff in schools that businessman Martin Koldyke has taken control of in the all-too-common corporate reform […]

4 by deutsch29 / 2d 

Science and Social Studies are Disappearing

Report cards from a district outside of Rochester, New York, have made it painfully clear what school reformers feel about science and social studies.  Read the comments for Term 3 in this 5th grade report card.  The last thing corporate giants need is kids knowing history or thinking like scientists.  Let’s just integrate it all […]

1K by Kris Nielsen / 2d 

The Damage Done by the “Texas Meteor”

The 2013 NBER paper, “School Accountability, Postsecondary and Attainment,” by Jennifer Jennings, David Deming, Sarah Cohodes, and Christopher Jencks, was initially welcomed as evidence in support of test-driven accountability. Jennings et. al concluded that the Texas test-driven accountability of the 1990s increased student performance of math students, especially those who were at risk of failur

5 by John Thompson / 2d 

JUN 03

Education in Black and White: Beware the Roadbuilders

Education in Black and White: Beware the Roadbuilders. via Education in Black and White: Beware the Roadbuilders.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical

2 by plthomasedd / 4d 

Kindness as Antidote to Fatalism of “Grit”

Kindness as Antidote to Fatalism of “Grit”. via Kindness as Antidote to Fatalism of “Grit”.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical

2 by plthomasedd / 4d 

JUN 02

Anthony Cody Reviews A Chronicle of Echoes

Anthony Cody spent 24 years working in Oakland schools, 18 of them as a science teacher at a high-needs middle school. A National Board- certified teacher, he now leads workshops with teachers on Project Based Learning. He is the co-founder of the Network for Public Education. With education at a crossroads, he invites you to […]

2 by deutsch29 / 4d 

Invoking “Oliver Rule (Expanded)” for Education Reform Debate

Invoking “Oliver Rule (Expanded)” for Education Reform Debate. via Invoking “Oliver Rule (Expanded)” for Education Reform Debate.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical

1 by plthomasedd / 4d 

Education’S “Open Door” Policy Opened The Door For Corporate Ed Reformers

EDUCATION’S “OPEN DOOR” POLICY OPENED THE DOOR FOR CORPORATE ED REFORMERS.Filed under: SHAUN JOHNSON, PHD: Musings from the Chalk Face

6 by David Greene / 4d 

JUN 01

Divided Is Conquered

Guest post by Meg Norris and Teri Sasseville As we watch the political maneuvering in New York from afar, we are terribly disheartened. New York has been the leader in our battle against Common Core from day one. With warriors in 49 other states watching closely, the NY groups seem to have gotten so caught up […]

300+ by Kris Nielsen / 5d 

Founding member of the Goo Goo Dolls Robby Takac is At the Chalk Face

Founding member of the Goo Goo Dolls Robby Takac is At the Chalk Face We hear a lot about the importance of the arts in schools, yet they are typically the first to be cut. Robby Takac has had a great Buffalo-based foundation called Music is Art, working to get music into schools and communities […]

2 by Shaun Johnson / 5d 

Maxine Greene, Released to a New Landscape

Maxine Greene, Released to a New Landscape. via Maxine Greene, Released to a New Landscape.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical

1 by plthomasedd / 6d 

MAY 31

The NYSUT “Revival”

Originally posted on An Antique Teacher:In light of the reports today that NYSUT is working to strong-arm the Working Families Party (they vehemently deny this is happening) and that NYSUT will remain silent at AFL-CIO endorsements for Andrew Cuomo, I feel it is necessary to revisit the “REVIVAL” that the leadership team elected in…

4 by antiqueteacher60 / 6d 

Education is NOT for Sale in New Mexico (Video)

After New Mexico teachers received their bogus evaluations from the state education department, they decided it’s past time to get loud and active.  This group of rank-and-file teachers, parents, and students picketed and protested a three-day training session for principals, where corporate and state leaders were making sure administrators use the teacher evaluation system, TeachScape, with […]

36 by Kris Nielsen / 6d 

The Privatization of Special Education

Like so much else in education and beyond, we are seeing the familiar pattern of defunding, claiming crisis, and then calling for privatization in special education. This past week in Chicago, our unelected Board of Education recently voted to expand contracts with private, for-profit organizations to meet the growing needs of our children with special needs as […]

200+ by Katie Osgood / 6d