8-17-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet:

Common Core tests fail kids in New York again. Here’s how.

Results of the 2014 New York State Common Core-aligned exams were recently released along with new information about the 2013 tests and the news was not good. Here’s an analysis, by educators Bianca Tanis  and Carol Burris, explaining what the results actually mean to students and educators. Burris, of South Side High School, has been […]

by Valerie Strauss / 37min

‘Dear (white) teachers…’

Michael Doyle teaches biology at Bloomfield High School, an urban district in northern New Jersey, with the aim of turning young cynical hearts into skeptical ones. He worked previously as a longshoreman, a lab tech in an alcohol plant, and, more recently, a pediatrician in the projects who decided he would rather teach than practice […]

1 by Valerie Strauss / 10min

Overheard at the Lincoln Memorial on a Saturday night

Even if you aren’t trying to eavesdrop, it is impossible not to overhear other people talking at the Lincoln Memorial when it is late on a Saturday night and the site is packed with people — mostly tourists — who are visiting the magnificent marble monument for the first time and are visibly astounded by its […]

by Valerie Strauss / 4min 

All Week @ The Answer Sheet 8-16-14

The Answer Sheet:All Week @ The Answer SheetCampbell Brown put on notice by teachers unionI 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 AF

by mike simpson / 8h 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 8-17-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Chatham County, Tennessee: Say No to Community Division

The research is clear: schools in rural and semi-rural districts work best when they have the support of the entire community. Cheatham County, Tennessee, doesn’t need competing schools–one that picks its students, the other legally required to accept all students. Stick together. Act as a community. Don’t divide your community. When your board meets on August 18, tell them you support public e

1 by dianeravitch / 30min 

Washington State: An Example of NCLB Absurdity

Washington State declined to ask Arne Duncan for a waiver from NCLB because the legislature thought that the price was too high. In exchange for gaining freedom from NCLB’s demand that 100% of students would be proficient by 2014, the state would have to agree to endorse Arne Duncan’s inane idea that teachers should be evaluated by the test scores of their students. Apparently some wise policy mak

3 by dianeravitch / 32min 

David Kirp: Why Teaching Is Not a Business

In a truly wonderful article in Sunday’s New York Times, David Kirp of the University of California at Berkeley lays waste the underpinnings of the current “education reform” movement. Kirp not only shows what doesn’t work, he gives numerous examples of what does work to help students. Kirp explains in plain language why teaching can never be replaced by a machine. Although the article just appear

1 by dianeravitch / 9min 

Edward Berger on the Tenets of Education in a Democracy

I posted a blog by Edward F. Berger a few days ago, and as is my occasional failing, neglected to add the link. He said much that was wise and ended on a thoughtful and provocative note, which bears repeating. As you can readily tell from his writing and thinking, Ed is a veteran educator. These are the tried-and-true tenets of education in a democratic society: • We do not experiment on childre

4 by dianeravitch / 45min 

Crazy Crawfish: Bait-and-Switch in New Orleans

Blogger Crazy Crawfish (aka Jason France) writes that the Recovery School District is a failure. Residents of New Orleans were promised that the RSD would improve schools and return them to their home parishes. It has not returned a single school. Why weren’t the reformers honest at the outset, he wonders? Why didn’t they say that their goal was to privatize the district, get rid of the union and

by dianeravitch / 3min 

Peter Greene: How Conservatives Are Reacting to Loss of Public Support for Common Core

Remember when promoters of Common Core tried to present it as a done deal and said it was too late to stop it? Remember when they demonized the critics of Common Core as extremists who should be ridiculed or ignored? Peter Green writes that the age of realism is beginning to change the conservative tune. CATO. Never swallowed the belief that national standards were needed. Fordham, which ran from

5 by dianeravitch / 15min 

Ohio: As Charters Flourish, Accountability Disappears

A reader sent me to this article at The Daily Kos, which asked the simple question: when are students more important than free markets? The author’s argument is that the governor and the legislature are so head over heels in love with free markets that they have exempted charter schools from most of the state’s laws. Charters must follow the state curriculum and take the state tests but are freed

9 by dianeravitch / 52min 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitch's blog 8-16-14 #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2

Diane Ravitch's blogLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONGDIANE RAVITCH'S BLOGPaul Thomas: Time for Phase 3 in the Resistance to the Corporate TakeoverPaul Thomas says that events are moving swiftly, and we must move with them. When the corporate reform movement started, educators were taken by surprise and treated by children. When did it start? Was it the accountability movement that began after

by mike simpson / 9h 

8-17-14 Ed Notes Online Week

Ed Notes Online:

Inside Colocation - Success Academy Charter Misuse of Space Exposed

...some of Success’ classrooms have remained empty for entire years, not a single classroom in the building’s public schools has been “underutilized” in the eleven years I’ve been in this building. .. Inside Colocation blogThis teacher blogs sporadically but when he/she does it is worth reminding everyone of the perfidy of the Eva Moskowitz's operation. Here are the June and August posts. Note the

by ed notes online / 30min 

Danny Drumm, NYC City Council and Former Teacher, Takes a Stand Against Charter Expansion

"We are being oversaturated with charter schools," said Tesa Wilson, president Community Education Council in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. "It's tax dollars being poured into a black hole with no accountibility."City Council Daniel Dromm (D-Queens), who heads the city Education Committee, said the city has no control over the charter schools even though they are given $13,000 per st

by ed notes online / 1h

8-16-14 Ed Notes Online Week

Ed Notes Online: Ed Notes OnlineParents and Educators Reject the Tests, the Scores and Corporate Agenda of NYSED & PearsonFred Smith, a test specialist formerly with the NYC Department of Education (DOE) stated, “The State Education Department took a half-step by releasing 50 percent of the English and math questions from the April 2014 exams. It was a half-step not just because it falls halfw

by mike simpson / 8h 

8-17-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter:

CTA Joins Forces with CorpEd to End Teacher Due Process

from WSWS.org:By Alan Gilman 28 June 2014 On June 25, Democratic California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law AB 215, legislation which streamlines the teacher dismissal process. The bill was lobbied heavily by the California Teachers Association (CTA) which joined with the right-wing anti-teacher organization EDVoice to get the bill passed. The issue concerning the process for firing teachers

by Jim Horn / 19min 

Teaching is Not a Business!!!

Teaching Is Not a BusinessBy DAVID L. KIRPAUG. 16, 2014PhotoCreditEleanor DavisContinue reading the main storyShare This PageTODAY’S education reformers believe that schools are broken and that business can supply the remedy. Some place their faith in the idea of competition. Others embrace disruptive innovation, mainly through online learning. Both camps share the belief that the solution resides

by freetoteach / 1h 

8-16-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter:  Schools Matter All WeekNewsday Declares Down, Up, as Common Core CurdlesLast year's god-awful results on Common Core tests in New York set off a statewide resistance movement among advantaged and the disadvantaged parents to dump the Gates and Pearson CorpEd plan into the Long Island Sound. This second year, when most new testing regimes usually see big gains, state language arts

by mike simpson / 9h

8-17-14 Hemlock on the Rocks

Hemlock on the Rocks:

CTA AND JERRY BROWN BETRAY RANK AND FILE TEACHERS with deceptive bill that defies tenure ( No appeal on Vergara likely)

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/06/28/cali-j28.html   By Alan Gilman 28 June 2014 On June 25, Democratic California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law AB 215, legislation which streamlines the teacher dismissal

by Rene Diedrich / 0min

WHY Are Diane Ravitch's Insights into Reformers' Reign of Error Close but No Cigar for an Effective Resistance?

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/06/19/ravi-j19.htmlEd Notes : I am not a socialist, but in my opinion their work in exposing education reforms is by far the most viable and comprehensive . Their insights are realized by events and these nagging questions one has about the reformers' antics are often answered in these enlightening expositions. Few mainstream writers are as clear, accurate or

by Rene Diedrich / 8min 

Atlanta school cheating trial scapegoats teachers - World Socialist Web Site

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/08/14/atla-a14.html   By Fred Mazelis 14 August 2014 Jury selection began this week in a trial arising out of the school test cheating scandal in Atlanta, Georgia that first surfaced

by Rene Diedrich / 5min 

Judge Tells California To Teach All English Learne...

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: JUDGE TELLS CALIFORNIA TO TEACH ALL ENGLISH LEARNE...: By BRIAN MELLEY, Associated Press |  San Jose Mercury News http://bit.ly/Vl1OW6 Posted:   08/13/2014 08:51:01 AM   LOS ANGELES -- Californ...

by Rene Diedrich / 15min 

Big Education Ape: John Deasy’s MiSiS cRiSiS shocks LAUSD’s conscious...

Big Education Ape: John Deasy’s MiSiS cRiSiS shocks LAUSD’s conscious...: John Deasy’s MiSiS cRiSiS shocks LAUSD’s conscious : John Deasy’s MiSiS cRiSiS shocks LAUSD’s conscious AUGUST 17, 2014  BY  ROBERT D. SKE...

by Rene Diedrich / 10min 

Why Are Things As They Are? RICH GIBSON'S little red schoolhouse offers Ohanian, Rhee,Atlanta Cheats and More

http://www.richgibson.com/blog/Susan Ohanian on Combat-Ready Kiddies The Mission: Readiness Military Leaders for Kids website features the National Council on Teacher Quality ranking of top teacher education institutions–with the admonition No service member can enter the battlefield without extensive training, and while schools are not combat zones, no teacher should enter the classroom without

by Rene Diedrich / 4h 

8-16-14 Hemlock on the Rocks

Hemlock on the Rocks: Georgia teacher fired after students post her naked selfies online  - NY Daily News@media print { .original-url { display: none; } } h1.title { font: -apple-system-headline; font-weight: normal; text-align: start; -webkit-hyphens: manual; } blockquote { color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); margin-left: 20px;by Rene Diedrich / 4h California Teacher Credential Corruption Ignored@media pr

by mike simpson / 8h 

Teaching Is Not a Business - NYTimes.com

Teaching Is Not a Business - NYTimes.com:

Teaching Is Not a Business

TODAY’S education reformers believe that schools are broken and that business can supply the remedy. Some place their faith in the idea of competition. Others embrace disruptive innovation, mainly through online learning. Both camps share the belief that the solution resides in the impersonal, whether it’s the invisible hand of the market or the transformative power of technology.



Neither strategy has lived up to its hype, and with good reason. It’s impossible to improve education by doing an end run around inherently complicated and messy human relationships. All youngsters need to believe that they have a stake in the future, a goal worth striving for, if they’re going to make it in school. They need a champion, someone who believes in them, and that’s where teachers enter the picture. The most effective approaches foster bonds of caring between teachers and their students.



Marketplace mantras dominate policy discussions. High-stakes reading and math tests are treated as the single metric of success, the counterpart to the business bottom line. Teachers whose students do poorly on those tests get pink slips, while those whose students excel receive merit pay, much as businesses pay bonuses to their star performers and fire the laggards. Just as companies shut stores that aren’t meeting their sales quotas, opening new ones in more promising territory, failing schools are closed and so-called turnaround model schools, with new teachers and administrators, take their place.



This approach might sound plausible in a think tank, Teaching Is Not a Business - NYTimes.com:

John Deasy’s MiSiS cRiSiS shocks LAUSD’s conscious:

John Deasy’s MiSiS cRiSiS shocks LAUSD’s conscious

AUGUST 17, 2014 BY ROBERT D. SKEELS * RDSATHENE LEAVE A COMMENT

“I was interested in the fact that the scandal over Deasy’s PhD hit the headlines at the same time he was hired by Gates. His financial connections with Robert Felner date back to his Santa Monica days” —Susan Ohanian

The LAUSD MiSiS cRiSiS is Deasy’s Disaster.

Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) Superintendent John Deasy’s job was to insure that the My Integrated Student Information System (MiSiS) would be ready for roll out when the school year began. But instead of doing his job, he was “busy” testifying on behalf of right-wing millionaire David F. Welch against his own school district and stabbing the education professionals he is supposed to collaborate with in the back with his outrageous lies on the witness stand. That is, of course, when he wasn’t pushing his failed Pearson, PLC Common Core iPad plan, and using District 3 Board Member Tamar Galatzan as a proxy to attack reasonable taxpayer oversight in the person of Stuart Magruder.John Deasy’s MiSiS cRiSiS shocks LAUSD’s conscious:

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Corporate reform strategies not working say U.C. prof

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Corporate reform strategies not working say U.C. prof:

Corporate reform strategies not working say U.C. prof

NY Times

U.C. Berkeley Prof. David Kirp, writes in the New York Times, Teaching is Not a Business, that corporate reform is not working.

TODAY’S education reformers believe that schools are broken and that business can supply the remedy. Some place their faith in the idea of competition. Others embrace disruptive innovation, mainly through online learning. Both camps share the belief that the solution resides in the impersonal, whether it’s the invisible hand of the market or the transformative power of technology.

Neither strategy has lived up to its hype, and with good reason. It’s impossible to improve education by doing an end run around inherently complicated and messy human relationships. 

More Kirp:

 Charter schools have been promoted as improving education by 

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Corporate reform strategies not working say U.C. prof:

8-16-14 Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Schooling in the Ownership Society All Week

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog:Schooling in the Ownership SocietyMike Klonsky's SmallTalk Schooling in the Ownership SocietyMilitarization vs. the Network SocietyI 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 of Michael Brown and the courageous people of Ferguson, MO. Similar demonstrations ar

by mike simpson / 8h 

NYC Educator: The Brutality of UFT Leadership

NYC Educator: The Brutality of UFT Leadership:

The Brutality of UFT Leadership

Mike Mulgrew's UFT is promoting Al Sharpton's August 23rd march for "justice for victims of police brutality."  I don't know of too many, off hand, who support police brutality.  I'm guessing very few police officers support police brutality.  I hope the march will be one of solidarity, rather than violence--which brings me to my next point.

I oppose police brutality, but I also oppose UFT-president brutality, including the threat of it.  I realize the issue does not parallel the other, as there have been no deaths and I don't forsee any.  But, I'd like to take a minute of your time, nonetheless, to discuss it.

It was only last month, Mulgrew, all fired up at the AFT Convention in L.A., emphatically told the audience that he would punch in the face and push in the dirt anyone who tries to take his standards away.  In other words, hands off his Core.

I can't oppose a rally against police brutality as long as it remains peaceful, but I can oppose the failure of the UFT to mobilize its rank and file on so many other educational issues.  I can oppose the UFT's disregard for its rank and file, to the extent of increasing the weight of the vote of retirees to ensure its iron grip on power.  I can oppose loyalty oaths that close the door to union offices to any person of high integrity who refuses to rubber stamp leadership.  And, I can oppose the intimidation of Unity NYC Educator: The Brutality of UFT Leadership:

The Washington Supreme Court to Hear Charter School Case | Seattle Education

The Washington Supreme Court to Hear Charter School Case | Seattle Education:

The Washington Supreme Court to Hear Charter School Case

 

On Friday August 15th, the Washington Supreme Court accepted review of the appeal in the charter school case.  The Court will hear oral arguments on Tuesday, October 28, 2014.  Additional details to follow as I receive them.

What we know so far:

The Plaintiffs:

League of Women Voters

El Centro de la Raza

Washington Association of School Administrators

Washington Education Association

Professor Wayne Au

Two parents of children in public schools in Washington State.

A coalition of parents, educators, and community groups filed a Complaint in King County Superior Court in 2013 challenging the constitutionality of Initiative 1240, Washington’s new Charter School Act.

The Complaint asserts that the Charter School Act violates the Washington Constitution by improperly diverting public school funds to private organizations that are not subject to local voter control and by impeding the State’s constitutional obligation to amply provide for and fully fund K-12 public education.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the League of Women Voters of Washington, a nonpartisan organization that encourages the participation of citizens in government; El Centro de la Raza, a Seattle-based group dedicated to social justice; the Washington Association of School Administrators, an organization of more than 1,600 school administrators; the Washington Education Association, an organization that represents nearly 82,000 public school employees; Wayne Au, Ph.D., an educator and education advocate; Pat Braman, a former Mercer Island High School teacher and current Mercer Island School Board member; and parents with The Washington Supreme Court to Hear Charter School Case | Seattle Education:

8-16-14 teacherken at Daily Kos - Trust me - there is a must read piece in the New Yorker

teacherken at Daily Kos:

Trust me - there is a must read piece in the New Yorker

It is by Tobias Wolff, and is titled Heart of Whiteness Wolff, who turned 69 in July, was born in Birmingham AL.  His older brother Geoffrey was a friend of James Baldwin. Like me, the two Wolffs were in Washington DC on August 28, 1963 for the March for Jobs and Freedom. It is a superbly written - and searingly honest - piece, for example: I lived in the South from the age of four through fourth

by rss@dailykos.com ... / 31min 

THE COMBINE: Coming to YOUR state… or is it already there? | Reclaim Reform

THE COMBINE: Coming to YOUR state… or is it already there? | Reclaim Reform:

THE COMBINE: Coming to YOUR state… or is it already there?

Posted on August 16, 2014by Ken Previti

Who is responsible for the dismantling of public education, the closing of schools, the extremely expensive and useless high stakes tests and programs, and the dissolution of a truly competent workforce of career educators?

THE COMBINE.

John Kass, one of the Chicago Tribune’s right-wing columnists, named it that over a decade ago, and, yes, it includes Democrats, Republicans and Tea Party politicos.
“‘What do you call that Illinois political class that’s not committed to any party, they simply want to make money off the taxpayers?’ Fitzgerald said. ‘You know what to call them.’What?
‘The Illinois Combine,’ Fitzgerald said. ‘The bipartisan Illinois political combine. And all these guys being mentioned, they’re part THE COMBINE: Coming to YOUR state… or is it already there? | Reclaim Reform: