6-9-13 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION:

Before We Get Too Excited About Crumbling CCSS

As the Common Core takes hit after hit, it's easy to get excited. We shouldn't. There are dangers to public education waiting in the wings.When the Lion Sleeps, the Jackals FeedAn antelope may fight off a lion, may even convince the lion that it's not worth the trouble. But the fight with the lion may leave the antelope weakened and easy prey for other predators.I've written before about the folks

4 by Peter Greene / 14min 

Never Mind the SAT

Today's Slate includes an intriguing report of the non-traditional application process for Bard College. Rebecca Shuman presents the new elective small-college alternative:Bard College, a highly selective liberal-arts school in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, is about to enter the second year of a revolutionary college-admissions experiment: four wickedly challenging essays, 2,500 words each, revie

by Peter Greene / 14min hide  //  save

Takeaways from Layton's Gates Interview

If you have not yet read Lyndsey Layton's extraordinary piece about How Gates Did It, you must do so. (And when you're done, also take a look at Mercedes Schneider's simple question-- why is the interview being published three months after it actually happened?)The article is a nice piece of work, and I'm not going to rehash it here. But I am going to underline just a few of the pieces that jumped

1 by Peter Greene / 2h 

6-8-13 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION: CCSS: Schooling for Wretched People in a Miserable WorldThe Council of the Great City Schools (yet another group apparently set up to make money by shilling for the Core) has created a marvelous promotional video for the Core. Done in the style of those high-speed marker-drawing videos that the interwebs love, and narrated by a possible-non-caucasian lady narrator, it does a fabulo

by mike simpson / 9h 

6-9-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Teacher Evaluation Changes Said To Still Be On Legislative To-Do List

Buried in Ken Lovett's Daily News piece about the UFT threatening IDC head Jeff Klein if he doesn't stop governing with Republicans was this bit of news: As the legislative session enters its final two weeks and with the Senate politics now dominating at the Capitol, few believe much will get accomplished before lawmakers leave town for the year. But some issues are still percolating and could be

by reality-based edu... / 18min 

UFT Threatens To Pull Support For State Senator Jeff Klein

From Ken Lovett at the Daily News:ALBANY — Two influential labor unions are threatening to yank their long-time support of Senate co-Leader Jeffrey Klein if he and his group of breakaway Democrats don’t begin conversations to realign themselves with the chamber’s mainline Dems.The unions representing the city’s teachers and the hotel and motel workers threw down that gauntlet late last week to Kle

by reality-based edu... / 5min

Get Ready For Another NYSED Commissioner King Speech

Last time he gave a big speech, he compared the Common Core to the Civil Rights Movement.This time, given the venue for the speech, we'll hear more about how his education reform agenda is indispensable for making New York State into an economic powerhouse in the 21st Century economy:Also at noon, state Education Commissioner John King delivers remarks at a luncheon hosted by the Manhattan Institu

by reality-based edu... / 5min 

UFT President Mulgrew Takes On The Test

 From State of Politics:At 10 a.m., UFT President Michael Mulgrew will be joined by Sen. Adriano Espaillat, Assemblymen Karim Camara, Ron Kim, and other legislators to announce the introduction a bill that would mandate the use of multiple academic measures rather than the current single multiple-choice test, Stuyvesant High School, 345 Chambers St., Manhattan.There are no other details about the

2 by reality-based edu... / 2h 

6-8-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Bill Gates Exposed For All To See As An Arrogant, Whiny ElitistOkay, it's official:We're onto a new phase of the fight against the CCSS. News media outlets are no longer buying and using pro-Common Core boilerplate rhetoric in stories on the Common Core, they're no longer framing the CCSS the way CCSS proponents want the standards framed, and they're no longer buying into th

by mike simpson / 9h 

Feminist high school boys declare: “I am a feminist” « Feminist Teacher

Feminist high school boys declare: “I am a feminist” « Feminist Teacher:



Feminist high school boys declare: “I am a feminist”

Thinks boys can’t be feminists? The seven boys who have taken my high school feminism class in the last two years disagree. They even got together to make a video to share the ways in which feminism has made an impact on their lives as young men.

“My reason for taking the feminism course is that especially in high school, there’s not opportunities like this that come around, ever,” says Bruke Abraha, a high school senior who took my feminism class when he was a junior in the fall of 2012.

“At one point, we wrote an intersectionality essay, and that taught me that nothing is really one-dimensional. Like you can’t just be black. You can be black and gay; or like black, gay, disabled. There are many different things that don’t relate to the master narrative,” Nathaniel Magloire, senior, who also took my course in 2012 and later Feminist high school boys declare: “I am a feminist” « Feminist Teacher:

Louisiana Educator: The New Bill Gates Public Education System

Louisiana Educator: The New Bill Gates Public Education System:

The New Bill Gates Public Education System

This blockbuster article in the Washington Post gives the true history of the Common Core Standards. It shows how the entire public education system has been bought out, bullied, and snookered into a huge ill advised change in policy by one super wealthy, arrogant school dropout! If you really want to know the true story about Common Core, you must read every word of this story!

Here is what Diane Ravitch says about this story:

"I have written on various occasions (see here and here) that I could not support the Common Core standards because they were developed and imposed without regard to democratic process. The writers of the standards included no early childhood educators, no educators of children with disabilities, no experienced classroom teachers; indeed, the largest contingent of the drafting committee were representatives of the testing industry. No attempt was made to have pilot testing of the standards in real classrooms with real teachers and students.. The standards do not permit any means to challenge, correct, or revise them.

In a democratic society, process matters. The high-handed manner in which these standards were written and imposed in Louisiana Educator: The New Bill Gates Public Education System:

Philly Rally for Full Funding, Local Control and a Nurse in Every School | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity

Philly Rally for Full Funding, Local Control and a Nurse in Every School | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity:

Philly Rally for Full Funding, Local Control and a Nurse in Every School

Posted on: Monday June 9th, 2014

Govs. Corbett and Christie Are Coming to Philadelphia.
Join Us for a Rally to Demand Full Funding, Local Control!
At the Union League at 4pm on Monday, June 9th

Students, parents and teachers in Philadelphia will protest Pennsylania Gov. Tom Corbett and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at their joint event at the Union League, 140 South Broad Street, on Monday, June 9th. Join us and take a stand for full funding and community control for public schools!

The two governors have overseen drastic cuts to public education in their states. Philadelphia and Newark have been hit particurlary hard. Education “reform” in both cities has meant mass school closures, loss of community control and steep funding cuts that have put students in unsafe conditions and denied them a quality education. The burden of these reforms rests disproportionately on the shoulders of students and communities of color.

On the heels of the closure of 23 public schools in Philadelphia, two young Philly students tragically died this year while in school. While we can't know if having a nurse on the scene would have saved their lives, it's unconscionable that our public schools aren't given the resources to afford full-time nurses. Meanwhile, the “One Newark” district restructuring plan trumpeted by Gov. Christie also closes public schools (or hands them over to private charter operators) and excludes the public from shaping Newark’s education decisions.

At the event, protesters will demand:

1. Full, fair school funding to ensure that all students have equitable access to resources at excellent schools in their neighborhoods;
2. Local control of the schools, including parent and student involvement in decision-making and accountability to the local community; and
3. Fully staffed schools including appropriate numbers of full-time, on-site nurses and counselors in each school.

We hope you can join us on Monday! Click here for more details.
You can also show your support online by signing this petition to Gov. Corbett or Gov. Christie.

Share this event with your friends and colleagues on Facebook and Twitter!

 Philly Rally for Full Funding, Local Control and a Nurse in Every School | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity:

We Can Identify Likely Dropouts and Ensure They Stay in School to Graduate | janresseger

We Can Identify Likely Dropouts and Ensure They Stay in School to Graduate | janresseger:

We Can Identify Likely Dropouts and Ensure They Stay in School to Graduate

Posted on June 9, 2014 by janresseger

Robert Balfanz, who directs the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University,reported in Saturday’s NY Times that “half of the African-American boys who veer off the path to high school graduation do so in just 660 of more than 12,600 regular and vocational high schools” across the United States.  “These 660 schools are typically big high schools that teach only poor kids of color.  They are concentrated in 15 states.  Many are in major cities, but others are in smaller, decaying industrial cities or in the South, especially in Georgia, Florida and North Carolina.”

“This seemingly intractable problem is a national tragedy,” writes Balfanz, “but there is a solution.”  The research of Balfanz and his colleagues over the years has identified and documented the problem, and in Stop Holding Us Back he recommends steps society can take to improve significantly the high school graduation rate of African American and Hispanic young men growing up in deep poverty.

Balfanz explains that in each of the schools serving the most vulnerable young men, there are between 50 and 100 youths who demonstrate a need for much greater support.  African American and Latino young men are at highest risk between the ages of 11 to 21, at a time when all the institutions that  could help them weaken services: “At the very moment they are the most developmentally vulnerable, the response from schools, foster care, the health system and child protective services gets weaker, while the response from the justice system is harsher.”

The most vulnerable young men miss weeks or months of school. Many are suspended repeatedly.  By ninth grade almost all are above age for their grade, many need special education, many have work or family responsibilities, and many are chronically absent.  They are likely to fail their classes, repeat ninth grade, and subsequently drop out.  “This is a highly predictable, almost mechanical course, which is why we call those schools dropout factories.”  “These young men are waving their hands early and often to say they need help, but our We Can Identify Likely Dropouts and Ensure They Stay in School to Graduate | janresseger:

5 things you should know about L.A. schools' budget debate | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

5 things you should know about L.A. schools' budget debate | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:

5 things you should know about L.A. schools' budget debate

Annie Gilbertson | June 9th, 2014, 5:00am

Ken Teegardin/flickr Creative Commons

Los Angeles Unified school board will debate Tuesday how to spend next year's $6.8 billion dollar budget. It includes an estimated $332 million bump from Sacramento, a portion of which is meant to help disadvantaged kids.

Superintendent John Deasy put out a proposed budget last month. Already, some parents have complained that money for English Learner students isn't enough. And one coalition of neighborhood groups wants officials to funnel more of that extra money to high needs schools.

They don't have much time to argue about it. California has asked school districts to produce spending plans by July 1.

If you have a child in L.A. Unified, here are five things you should know about the debate around Deasy's budget proposal:

1. Mystery spending – Deasy's budget doesn't itemize about 40 percent of funds coming from Sacramento. It lists $2.9 billion for "other base programs." Staff said some of that goes to teacher salaries, but Deasy has not yet said what else. The district also gets separate funds from the U.S. Department of Education, but Deasy has not outlined a spending plan for those funds either - he hasn't even disclosed how much they add up to be.
2. iPad program – Deasy earmarked $16.4 million for new technology staff. Board member Monica Ratliff pointed out the staffing uptick is based on full rollout of the iPad program - but the board has yet to approve that (only about 15 percent students and teachers currently have iPads). She recommends redistributing all the funds, using $6.5 million of it to hire more custodians and putting most of the rest in a "rainy day" fund.
3. High needs schools – A coalition of community groups said they've figured out the 242 schools in the district that have the highest needs and should get more money. Board members Monica García, Richard Vladovic and Steve Zimmer have filed a motion asking the superintendent to "construct and adopt an equity-based student need index," but the resolution may prove to be toothless.  It asks that the schools be identified, not expressly funded.
4. English learner services – California's new Local Control Funding law targets more funds to needy students, those in foster care, in poverty5 things you should know about L.A. schools' budget debate | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:

Are little boys hardwired to be less successful in preschool?

Aiden and Milo play in a tree at the Child Educational Center.; Credit: Mae Ryan/KPCC In recent years, magazine articles and mommy-blogs have decried that increasingly academic preschool classrooms cater to little girls, arguing their faster development makes them better suited to those new rigors. But one brain scientist said that's a myth. “No matter what measure of brain structure or function

by Deepa Fernandes / 59min 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Is Rahm toast?

Maggie Haberman

In Chicago, [Rahm Emanuel]is the ham-fisted gentrifer who’s been tripped up by the city’s entrenched racial politics. -- Politico

Eric Levitz at Salon

But a political system designed for gridlock, the grossly disproportionate influence of the rich, and Americans’ ideological aversion to class politics conspire to make it politically inadvisable for a Democratic president to even speak the words “income inequality” before a national audience. Absent the political will to explore redistributive structural reforms, we’re left with “ladders of opportunity,” and a vision of economic salvation through higher test scores. -- Capitalism vs. education: Why our free-market obsession is wrecking the future 

15th Ward Ald. candidate Raphael Yañez

“What I see is that a lot of the [school] closings are being made in communities that have been in bondage,” said the aldermanic hopeful Yañez, who believes that “our focus should be driven by supporting our teachers and giving themMike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

SKrashen: LA Times editorial and some reactions re bilingual education and SB 1174

SKrashen: LA Times editorial and some reactions re bilingual education and SB 1174:

LA Times editorial and some reactions re bilingual education and SB 1174

" Over the last 16 years, academic research has largely found that good bilingual programs are just as effective at teaching English skills, and often slightly better at it, than classes that immerse students in English."
This is better coverage than we usually get. But the research 16 years ago was quite positive about bilingual education. And too bad the LA Times is not aware of the McField and McField study. We need to do a better job of spreading the word.  Amazing that they published the ignorant Chris Daley "flat earth" letter.

EDITORIAL LOS ANGELES TIMES:  IS BILINGUAL EDUCATION WORTH BRINGING BACK?
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-bilingual-education-proposition-227-repeal-20140605-story.html
A lot has changed since 1998, when Proposition 227 all but wiped out bilingual instruction in California public schools. The matter is due for reconsideration; a bill that passed the state Senate last week would allow that to happen.
SB 1174, by state Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens), would place a measure on the November 2016 ballot to repeal Proposition 227 and allow local school districts to decide whether they want to bring back bilingual education rather than continue with the current system, which aims to move students toward full-time English use as quickly as possible.
Over the last 16 years, academic research has largely found that good bilingual programs are just as effective at teaching English skills, and often slightly better at it, than classes that immerse students in English. Along the way, they also teach students literacy in their native language.
Another reason to consider bilingual education: Shortly after Proposition 227 passed, testing and accountability requirements were imposed on schools. The academic skills of students, including those who aren't fluent in English, are now measured every year. That means that if bilingual SKrashen: LA Times editorial and some reactions re bilingual education and SB 1174:

Spring Cleaning at the NYCDOE southbronxschool.com

http://www.southbronxschool.com:

Spring Cleaning at the NYCDOE

Come one, come all to the;

 NYCDOE SPRING CLEANING RALLY!

This Tuesday, June 10, 2014 from 4:30-5 PM EDT in front of the Tweed Courthouse on Chambers St. (Take 4, 5, or 6to City Hall or A train toChambers St.)



Endorsed by DTOE, MORE, Change the Stakes, and the Badass Teacher's Association.



The hundreds of lawyers hired by the Bloomberg administration are still ensconced at the DOE. Isn't it time the look for jobs in the private sector?



Show up, meet The Crack Team and tell them Frank Sinatra Jr sent you and get a glass of wine on the house!

dtoe

http://www.southbronxschool.com:

To Jindal: Dump Common Core, PARCC, and White | deutsch29

To Jindal: Dump Common Core, PARCC, and White | deutsch29:

To Jindal: Dump Common Core, PARCC,and White

June 8, 2014

Governor Bobby Jindal is apparently trying to muster up the courage to remove Louisiana from the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and associated Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) assessments that he signed Louisiana on for in the first place.

Of course, Jindal has changed his position due to his national political ambitions.

Jindal is under pressure from Louisiana businesses to Keep the Core.

He is also at odds with Louisiana State Board of Education (BESE) President Chas Roemer and Jindal’s own appointee for state superintendent, John White.

These two are willing to stand against Jindal in support of CCSS and PARCC. As Susan Berry of Breitbart reports:

Both state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education president Chas Roemer and State Superintendent of Education John White are ardent supporters of the Common Core standards, which are due to take full effect in the 2014-2015 school year.

Regarding Jindal, Roemer said, “He challenged the legislature, and the legislature didn’t agree with him. Our children deserve better than a Plan B.”

Similarly, White said Common Core has been in the planning stage for teachers and students for four years.

“They do not need a last-minute change,” White wrote. “They do not need chaos in the classroom.” [Emphasis added.]

White is such a hypocrite. That brings me to the point of my post.

In October 2013, Jindal appointed “long time ally” Jane Holland Smith to a BESE To Jindal: Dump Common Core, PARCC, and White | deutsch29:

Can you get fired for talking to a reporter? | Twin Cities Daily Planet

Can you get fired for talking to a reporter? | Twin Cities Daily Planet:

Can you get fired for talking to a reporter?

By Sarah Lahm, TC Daily Planet

June 08, 2014

So, what’s it like working for the clampdown?

For the past few weeks, I’ve wanted to pose this question to my friends and contacts who work for the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS).

Why? Because the district, via communications chief Stan Alleyne, sent out an internal email to all employees, with this subject line: “MPS Media Relations policy and procedures.” Alleyne’s email included this instruction:

I’m reaching out to ask that you direct members of the media to me or my staff when they ask you to speak as a representative of MPS. We want to ensure that all MPS personnel deliver clear, consistent and effective messages to students, parents and the general public. Remember that failure to contact the Office of Communications in advance of participation in media interviews conflicts with district policy and could lead to disciplinary action. [emphasis added]

I know, I know—the email, which includes a link to MPS Policy 1150 about “Media Relations,” is probably an innocent, justifiable warning to employees who may be tempted to speak out as representatives of MPS. If they do this, without first contacting Alleyne’s office for “story management” tips, then they can be punished. How? I am not sure. Perhaps they would be required to write “I do not represent MPS” on a chalkboard five hundred times?

Anyway, the district may have a perfectly valid reason for sending this email out, but most MPS people I talked to had no idea what that might be. Some described the email as “chilling.” Some assumed it had something to do with me (can’t imagine why), and others threw out multiple theories connected to principal searches, internal employee shuffling, lay offs, or new admin structures. It appears the possibilities are endless.

Others read through the entire email, and then clicked the link to MPS Media Relations policy. Once there, they discovered an important point to remember:

Nothing in this policy shall imply or impose restrictions on media contact with district employees or district students if such contact is initiated and completed at non-school locations and at non-district related events and the employee is not portrayed as or 

Can you get fired for talking to a reporter? | Twin Cities Daily Planet:

The “Almost Outrageous” Opposition to Bill Gates’ Market-Based Ed Reform | Educating The Gates Foundation

The “Almost Outrageous” Opposition to Bill Gates’ Market-Based Ed Reform | Educating The Gates Foundation:

THE “ALMOST OUTRAGEOUS” OPPOSITION TO BILL GATES’ MARKET-BASED ED REFORM

Lindsey Layton inteviewed Bill Gates about his involvement in the Common Core,ending her article with Bill and Melinda’s motivation behind their financial backing of it. Lindsey reports:

“Gates dismissed any suggestion that he is motivated by self-interest.” ~ Lindsey Layton

Then Bill tells us in his own words what motivates his investments in Common Core and calls any opposition to his motivation “almost outrageous”:

“I believe in the Common Core because of its substance and what it will do to improve education,” he said. “And that’s the only reason I believe in the Common Core.”

This is about giving money away,” he said of his support for the standards. “This is philanthropy. This is trying to make sure students have the kind of opportunity I had . . . and it’s almost outrageous to say otherwise, in my view.” ~ Bill Gates

Okay.  Let’s go with Bill and Melinda’s best intentions.  Why the opposition then?

As educators and parents of public school children we used critical thinking to consider the impacts of  the market-based corporate reforms the Gates promote.  Do they really help improve education, social problems, and the real gaping inequity Bill mentions?  We considered the following questions about some of the  key ingredients of fundamentalist market-based reforms:

1. High tech devices promoted by Bill Gates as “personalized learning” via Common Core Pearson/Gates’ Surface Tablets competing with Apple iPadsThe “Almost Outrageous” Opposition to Bill Gates’ Market-Based Ed Reform | Educating The Gates Foundation:

6-8-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy

Will politics prevent justice from being served – the Kenneth Moales Story Continues - Wait What?:

  Wait What? All Week

Will politics prevent justice from being served – the Kenneth Moales Story Continues

The controversy surrounding Reverend Kenneth Moales, Jr. expands even further Documents on file with the Connecticut Superior Court and the City of Bridgeport reveal that while Reverend Kenneth Moales, Jr. and his family collected more than $8 million dollars from a Midwestern mortgage company that specializes in providing construction loans to evangelical and other churches, […] The post Will pol

by jonpelto / 47min 

6-7-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy

Wait What?:  Wait What? All WeekIpswich, Mass sixth grade students demand payment for taking Common Core Field TestsIn a Boston Tea Party like moment, a group of sixth-grade students from Ipswich, Massachusetts are making a stand.  Like Connecticut’s public schools students, they were used as unpaid lab rats in this spring’s Common Core test of the test. Under the laws and regulations of the Unite

by mike simpson / 9h 

On watching “Mr. Holland’s Opus” in Jersey in June | Bob Braun's Ledger

On watching “Mr. Holland’s Opus” in Jersey in June | Bob Braun's Ledger:

On watching “Mr. Holland’s Opus” in Jersey in June

The fiction

The reality

By now, hundreds of teachers throughout the state, most non-tenured, have received non-renewal notices. A few tenured teachers also are likely to lose jobs because their positions have been eliminated. But thousands of older, more experienced teachers have decided to retire because they  cannot put up with the stress created  by New Jersey’s governor and those who convert his bullying, vengeful and know-nothing attitude toward teachers into state policy.

In other words, it was a good day today to broadcast “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” a 1995 movie about a dedicated music teacher who is fired from the position he held for 30 years after his music program is cut for budget reasons.

There are a few lines toward the end of the movie that say it all. Glenn Holland, the teacher, is leaving and he is talking to his friend, the football coach. He says:

“You work for 30 years because you think that what you do makes a difference, you think it matters to people, but then you wake up one morning and find out, well no, On watching “Mr. Holland’s Opus” in Jersey in June | Bob Braun's Ledger: