Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Militarization vs. the Network Society

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Militarization vs. the Network Society:

Militarization vs. the Network Society

I was deeply moved yesterday evening, to be standing with more than a thousand fellow Chicagoans, hands raised in a gesture of solidarity with the family ofMichael Brown and the courageous people of Ferguson, MO. Similar demonstrations are taking place in dozens of cities and on university campuses.

GAZA, MO...Coming on the heels of the Israeli assault on Gaza, the events in Ferguson, after the police killing of Michael Brown, raise so many questions. So many connections are being made. For one, I fascinated by the role social media has played in both events, as a participatory, community and movement-building alternative or supplement to an ever-more tightly controlled news media. The military and police attacks on and jailing of journalists and censoring of news reports were central to both.

SEARCHING...As I was posting this, I did a Google search to find the articles I had previously read from NYT and other sources regarding Israeli censorship of  Gaza reports. I tried searching, REPORTERS CENSORED IN GAZA. Do it and see what you get. All the stories from NYT and others, seem to have been scrubbed and most of what you'll get are stories about Hamas censorship of reporters via Hillary and Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Militarization vs. the Network Society:

Michelle Rhee Stepping Down From StudentsFirst | FDL News Desk

Michelle Rhee Stepping Down From StudentsFirst | FDL News Desk:

Michelle Rhee Stepping Down From StudentsFirst

By: DSWright Friday August 15, 2014 8:15 am

 Michelle Rhee is stepping down as the CEO of StudentsFirst to focus on her family and supporting her husband. After being tossed out of the DC school system, Rhee founded StudentsFirst in 2011 as part of her quixotic crusade to blame the problems in America’s education system on teachers and their unions. Despite a limited background in teaching – outside of bug eating in the classroom she briefly taught at – Rhee decided she knew the best way to run education in America though she would later face criticism when it was revealed that during her time as DC school chancellor Rhee had presided over a massive cheating scandal instigated by the policies she was promoting at StudentsFirst.

When Rhee announced the founding of StudentsFirst on Oprah she said she was going to “start a revolution on behalf of the nation’s children” and planned to raise $1 billion to support candidates that agreed with her vision of blaming teachers unions for poor student performance and privatizing public education. She even hired former Democratic National Committee spokesman Hari Sevugan to work with her. But records show StudentsFirst has only given out $5.3 million. Check my math, but I think that’s considerably less than $1 billion.

Though Rhee did not succeed in raising the $1 billion she did do wonders for her own brand. Rhee became a star, an icon of the so-called “ed reform” movement. She traveled the country and was featured in all the major media outlets as a champion for reforming education by attacking teachers and their unions as impediments to progress. Her agenda fit perfectly with Wall Street and corporate America generally which wanted more market opportunities in public education. They quickly embraced Rhee and promoted her group as something Very Serious People supported.

But despite the hoopla the policies Rhee shilled for did not work whenever they were tried. It turned out that the problems of poor performing schools in America were more complicated and could not simply be solved by trying to terrify teachers by telling them they would be fired should students not do well on a standardized test. In fact, when the incentives Rhee proposed were in place, the results she produced in DC were seen again - cheating.

So Michelle Rhee is stepping down, but don’t worry, others looking for fame and fortune have happilystepped up to take her place.Michelle Rhee Stepping Down From StudentsFirst | FDL News Desk:

Character Change In The ‘Education Reform’ Soap Opera

Character Change In The ‘Education Reform’ Soap Opera:



Character Change In The ‘Education Reform’ Soap Opera

AUGUST 15, 2014

If you’ve ever spent much time watching soap operas, you’re familiar with this scenario: Two characters with furrowed brows, arms akimbo square off: “That’s not true,” says one. “Oh yes it is,” says the other. “If only Brock were here …” as the camera pans right. Music swells, tension builds … only, when the door opens, the person entering doesn’t look like “Brock.”

Oh, he looks Brock-like – same telegenic appearance, good style points. But he’s clearly not Brock. Then the voice over: “Now playing the role of Brock is … ” and what you realize is that the character you’re used to seeing has changed, and the person now playing the part is different.

But as everyone familiar with this knows, the plot remains the same – same settings, same confrontations over fictional creations. The cast change is disconcerting for sure, but you’ll get used to it (it’s happened before). All is in order.

That’s what happened this week in the soap opera called “education reform.”

With the resignation of reform firebrand and former Chancellor of the Washington, DC public schools Michelle Rhee from the organization she founded, StudentsFirst, what we witnessed is an alteration of a script already written by very wealthy people who’ve created an elaborate fiction for how the nation should educate its children.

Rhee-Placement

Indeed, roles have changed. Huffington Post’s Joy Resmovits broke the story of Rhee’s departure, and Politico’s Stephanie Simon provided the backstory, describing Rhee’s organization as “hobbled by a high staff turnover rate, embarrassing PR blunders and a lack of focus” and characterizing Rhee’s leadership as “imperious, inflexible and often illogical.”

The new persona has yet to take the stage, but the “Rhee-placement” seems certain. Echoing my Salon article last month, Resmovits wrote, “The change comes as the education reform movement that Rhee spearheaded has a new face: Former CNN news anchor Campbell Brown. Recently, Brown’s organization, Partnership for Educational Justice, filed a lawsuit in New York state that organized local families as plaintiffs in an effort to have tenure deemed unconstitutional. Throughout, Brown has used talking points similar to the ones Rhee has used when discussing teacher effectiveness, and Brown’s board members and the consultants she has used overlap with StudentsFirst’s.”

Education Week’s Andrew Ujifusa agreed, writing, “The role Rhee had assumed as a member of the vanguard for ‘education reform’ may be taken up by Campbell Brown, a former CNN anchor who is at the forefront of efforts to change teacher tenure and dismissal rules. Rhee recently hailed Brown’s effort in the face of criticism.”

And the show goes on.

It’s sad for sure to equate something as important as education policy to daytime drama. Public education is an endeavor that involves billions of dollars and millions of children, families, and public employees. Public schools shape the future of the nation like nothing else can compare Character Change In The ‘Education Reform’ Soap Opera:

8-15-14 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):

Galatzan calling for probe into computer system snafus

Galatzan calling for probe into computer system snafus Concerned by a slew of problems with the district’s new student management computer system, board member Tamar Galatzan said today she is planning to ask the district’s Inspector General to conduct an audit of the defective rollout. “I demand to know what happened and how this got so messed up,” she told LA School Report. “Because until it hap

by Vanessa Romo / 1h 

Outside group challenging LAUSD’s view of ‘Parent Trigger’

Outside group challenging LAUSD’s view of ‘Parent Trigger’ Gloria Romero Parent Revolution, an organization that helps parents petition for change at poor-performing schools, is disputing an LA Unified legal opinion that says the state law that gives parents that right is invalid this year. The conflict came to light in an LA Times story this morning, citing an opinion from a district lawyer sent

2 by Michael Janofsky / 31min 

Commentary: To those who live with Parkinson’s, you’re not alone

Commentary: To those who live with Parkinson’s, you’re not alone Bennett Kayser, representing district 5 on the LAUSD board of education By Bennett Kayser As we learned yesterday that Robin Williams had been in the early stages of Parkinson’s Disease, I felt the need to step forward and share my story, and perhaps let others know they are not alone, that there is hope and that life with the diseas

3 by Guest Contributor / 18min 

Morning Read: LAUSD puts new MiSiS computer system on hold

Morning Read: LAUSD puts new MiSiS computer system on hold LAUSD in crisis over its new MiSiS computer system Los Angeles Unified told teachers to stop using the new district-wide computer system Thursday, after days of dealing with glitches and other problems that have lost records and kept students from starting in the proper classes. Daily News To quell high school angst, some schools build a

14min 

8-14-14 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): LAUSD opens arms to Central American immigrant childrenLAUSD opens arms to Central American immigrant children Via Los Angeles Times | By Howard Blume At the low-slung bungalow west of downtown, a youngster screams from a vaccination and a nurse records the height and weight of an older boy. Academic coun

by mike simpson / 21h 

8-15-14 The Whole Child Blog — Bringing Health and Wellness Back to School

The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education:

ASCD’s New ED on Ed

Judy Seltz, ASCD's new executive director, outlines her plans for the association and her vision for education in a wide-ranging interview with Education Week blogger Peter Dewitt. In the process, Seltz details some of the association's policy priorities and recent successes. Read on for highlights from the interview. Supporting the Whole Child: "The Whole Child Resolution, cosponsored b

by Melanie Olmstead / 30min 

8-13-14 The Whole Child Blog — Bringing Health and Wellness Back to School

The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education: Bringing Health and Wellness Back to SchoolThis week many schools across the Midwest will flow back into their daily classroom routines and students will start adjusting from the freedom of summer to the structure of study. That means plenty of grab-and-go school breakfasts, packed lunches, coveted afterschool snacks with outdoor recess, and brain brea

by mike simpson / 18h 

8-15-14 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION:

Marketing and Mystification for CCSS

Well, we knew this was coming.Launching in winter of 2014, EdReports, a new non-partisan non-profit, will provide "Consumer Reports-style reviews will highlight those instructional materials that are aligned to the higher standards states have adopted so that teachers, principals and district and state officials charged with purchasing materials can make more informed choices."Politico c

4 by Peter Greene / 22min 

Teachers in South Korea

Remember a few years ago there was a repeated talking point about how teachers are treated in other countries? Heck, the 2011 State of the Union address included this bit of cheerleading-Let’s also remember that after parents, the biggest impact on a child’s success comes from the man or woman at the front of the classroom.  In South Korea, teachers are known as “nation builders.”  Here in America

3 by Peter Greene / 9min 

Classroom Lessons for Cops

Are the Saint Louis County police feeling stupid this morning? I hope so. They should be. The difference between Wednesday and Thursday nights in Ferguson was the difference between chaos and community, between war and peace.The difference certainly wasn't in the crowd; Ferguson's population didn't change over night and they had, if anything, more reason to be enraged after Wednesday's mess.Some o

4 by Peter Greene / 8min 

8-14-14 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION: For (Some of) the ChildrenChildren are the photo prop of choice for conflicts in war zones around the world. Photographic coverage of the Iraqi refugees trapped by Isis activity has been heavy on photographs of children in the camp. Shocking images from Syria have centered on children (upsetting enough that I'm not going to link). And current warfare in Gaza opened with children-ce

by mike simpson / 16min 

TFA’s Diversity Dilemma | EduShyster

TFA’s Diversity Dilemma | EduShyster:

TFA’s Diversity Dilemma

 EduShyster’s D-list reformer gives TFA props for diversifying—but says the organization still treats corps members like they come from privilege  

By *The 49er*
I have a confession to make: I was a Teach for America (TFA) teacher (or corps member as TFA calls its teachers, since just plain teacher is considerably less sexy). While that gives me major points among the reform crowd, it taints my image among many non-TFA educators. While there are many criticisms of TFA that I happen to agree with, I give TFA credit for working to improve as an organization. This week TFA announced that it has made significant strides in increasing the diversity of its corps. I salute them for addressing the lack of teachers who come from communities of color—but the fat lady hasn’t quite sung on this play yet.

Diversity counts
First a little background. Since most corps members teach students of color, TFA has made a big push in recent years to recruit more candidates from diverse backgrounds to join the corps. Dr. Andre Perry details the results of TFA’s efforts here, noting that TFA is beginning to reflect the population it serves. One third of the new corps members are the first in their families to attend college. This year’s corps is also older; one third of the new corps members identify as post-college professionals. But changing the makeup of the corps may have been the easy part.  TFA also has to change to meet the needs and demands of its new recruits—and based on what my sources tell me—and on the number of corps members and Institute staff who quit this summer—TFA still has a long way to go.

Back to school
I know that many readers of this blog lampoon the fact that a teacher can be ready to TFA’s Diversity Dilemma | EduShyster:

LAUSD says it's not subject to state's 'parent trigger' law this year - LA Times

LAUSD says it's not subject to state's 'parent trigger' law this year - LA Times:



LAUSD says it's not subject to state's 'parent trigger' law this year

Controversial state law permitting parents to petition for sweeping changes in failing schools cannot be used this year in Los Angeles Unified, district officials decided.

I am livid about this. I believe it violates the spirit and intent of parent empowerment.

- Former state Sen. Gloria Romero

In a letter from a district lawyer to former state Sen. Gloria Romero obtained by The Times on Thursday, officials said the school system is not subject to the "parent trigger" law because it obtained a waiver last year from federal educational requirements that are linked to it. Instead, L.A. Unified has joined with eight other California school districts to create their own changes and systems to monitor progress, the letter said.

Romero, who authored the 2010 law, said she was stunned by the district's position, which was laid out in a letter Wednesday from Kathleen Collins, L.A. Unified's chief administrative law and litigation counsel.

"I am livid about this," Romero said. "I believe it violates the spirit and intent of parent empowerment."

But Supt. John Deasy said the district still supports the law, and that low-performing schools would once more be subject to parent petitions for change at the end of the year. The federal waiver obtained, he said, simply restarted the two-year time period schools need to be academically substandard before they are eligible for a trigger overhaul.

"I wholeheartedly support the legislation and look forward to working again with eligible schools," Deasy said.

Collins wrote that the district "remains committed to addressing any issues and concerns from parents and community."

Under the trigger law, 50% of parents at a low-performing school can force changes in staff and curriculum, shut down the campus or convert to an independent charter enterprise, which is publicly financed and usually non-union.

Several other states have adopted similar laws. In California, parent groups at three schools have successfully used the trigger to overhaul their campuses, with mixed results. At one school in the high desert city of Adelanto, several teachers left after parents transformed the campus to a charter last year. But 91% of parents surveyed said the school was better after the change than before, said Gabe Rose of Parent Revolution, the Los Angeles nonprofit that lobbied for the law and has helped parents use it.

Rose added that parents at three additional schools won changes without using a petition campaign — most recently at West Athens Elementary. There, parents decided not to petition after Deasy agreed to invest an additional $300,000 in the school.

Rose said his group "flatly disagreed" that L.A. Unified was not subject to the parent trigger law this year. In a November letter, Parent Revolution Executive Director Ben Austin told a district official that his group "will ultimately be forced to LAUSD says it's not subject to state's 'parent trigger' law this year - LA Times:

8-15-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet:

Campbell Brown put on notice by teachers union

I recently wrote a post about how Campbell Brown’s new advocacy group, the Partnership for Educational Justice, had used on its Web site the exact wording of the slogan of the current branding campaign of the American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second-largest teachers union. It turns out that the AFT has trademarked its slogan, […]

by Valerie Strauss / 1min 

Are teachers unions really the scourge of the nation?

Are teachers unions really the scourge of the nation? You might think so if you listen to some reformers who link union-negotiated job protections for teachers to poor academic performance of students in high-poverty schools. But does the data actually support that contention? Bruce D. Baker, a professor of education and leadership in the Graduate […]

by Valerie Strauss / 9min  

8-14-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet: No, third grade is not the year when kids go from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn’No doubt you’ve heard this: ‘Third grade is the year when students go from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn.’ The truth is not so clear-cut, as explained here by Joanne Yatvin,  a past president of the National Council of Teachers of English who now supervises student teachers for Portlan

by mike simpson / 7min 

Despite gains, most Charter Schools still rank in bottom quarter in grade rankings - Pittsburgh Business Times

Despite gains, most Charter Schools still rank in bottom quarter in grade rankings - Pittsburgh Business Times:

Despite gains, most Charter Schools still rank in bottom quarter in grade rankings

View Photos

Charter school ranks for 11th grade

Ethan Lott

Research Director-Pittsburgh Business Times

Email  |  Twitter  |  Google+  |  LinkedIn

Most of the charter schools operating in the region that are listed on the Business Times ranking of public schools moved up in our annual rankings of schools by grades between 2013 and 2014.

When the 2014 Guide to Western Pennsylvania Schools was compiled in April, charter schools were not included in the rankings as they had been in past years. Since then, the charter school standardized test scores have been added to the database, and the rankings are presented here.

The online Guide to Western Pennsylvania Schools has been updated as well to include charter schools.

On average, a charter school moved up 4.27 places in the rankings. That’s the good news.

The bad news is a majority of the charters remain ranked in the bottom 25 percent of schools by grade. They performed better in the lower grades.

Across all seven grade rankings, only four schools managed to make it into the top 25 percent of schools in the region. They were Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School, which ranked No. 30 out of 121 11th grade schools; Propel Charter School — McKeesport, No. 36 out of 146 in the seventh grade; Propel Charter School — East, No. 60 out of 292 in the fourth grade; and Environmental Charter School at Frick Park, No. 63 out of 306 in the third grade.

The rankings are based on three years of state standardized test scores, with the more recent years given the most weight. A school enters the rankings as soon as it has three years of scores to consider, which is why there are schools that are open but not in the rankings.

As charter schools add grades taught, they are added to the rankings after three years of testing.

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Kevin Johnson still using mayor’s office as political fundraising ATM -Sacramento News & Review

Sacramento News & Review - Kevin Johnson still using mayor’s office as political fundraising ATM - Editorial - Opinions - August 14, 2014:

Kevin Johnson still using mayor’s office as political fundraising ATM

Once again, Mayor Kevin Johnson appears to be selling Peter to buy Paul. As reported in a recent Bites column in this paper, the mayor—whose hard work on behalf of the NBA would make most observers think that Sacramento has no big problems—picked up $50,000 from the NBA and another $250,000 from the mother of a Kings arena developer.

Mayor’s wife, Michelle Rhee,
has taken over as the new chairwoman 
of St. HOPE’s board of directors

Those donations went straight to St. HOPE Academy, Johnson’s charter school and the platform from which he first ran for mayor. And then there’s the recent news that the mayor’s wife, Michelle Rhee, has taken over as the new chairwoman of St. HOPE’s board of directors, which is a nice way to keep control of all that money in the family.

We’ve got to point out, once again, that even the appearance of using the mayor’s office as a cash machine is bad news.

Oh, right: That money went to the mayor’s nonprofits. Which, we know from past experience, are staffed by people who can quickly hit the ground to support his political campaigns, since many of them left the city’s payroll to work for him in the first place.

This sort of political ATM behavior shouldn’t be business as usual in Sacramento’s City Hall.

Sacramento News & Review - Kevin Johnson still using mayor’s office as political fundraising ATM - Editorial - Opinions - August 14, 2014: