Special Late Nite Cap UPDATE 8-26-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2

Nite Cap UPDATE

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

CORPORATE ED REFORM

Jeff Storobinsky Exposes The Truth in Brooklyn

The Crack Team is pleased to welcome once again guest blogger and retired teacher Jeff Storobinsky to share a few words.For those who don't recall these pages shared some of Jeff's story back in June. Jeff is in the process of suing his tormentors with The Crack Team's favorite attorney, Bryan Glass, representing him.In today's post, Jeff exposes and names his tormentor. Read on!Oh, and the bol

by noreply@blogger.c... / 2min 

#ichoosetorefuse

Sam Robertson from Colorado won’t be taking the tests. Send us your pic and we’ll share here on our website!

by pegwithpen / 12min 

Primary Round-Up: Races Across the Country Showcase Education Issues

High-profile governor and state education chief races in Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma, and Vermont highlight the common core and education funding as top campaign issues.

by Lauren Camera / 4min 

On her tour of city schools, Fariña takes a hands-on approach

For students at one Bedford-Stuyvesant middle school, a visit from the New York City’s schools chief started with some advice and ended with a shopping spree. In February, Chancellor Carmen Fariña paid a visit to M.S. 57 and flatly told Principal Celeste Douglas-Wheeler to reconsider the school’s move away from independent reading time for students. With many of her students entering sixth grade b

by Geoff Decker / 1h 

“One Newark” Assigns Five Siblings to Five Different Schools

Here is “choice” at its worst. Cami Anderson, Governor Chris Christie’s pick to run the state-controlled Newark schools, is closing public schools to make way for charter schools. All children get new assignments. The Tillman family used to attend the Newton Street school, across the street from their home. Their father, George Tillman, Jr., walked his five children to school every day. But unde

8 by dianeravitch / 1h 

Grants available for California schools with limited Internet connectivity08/26/2014 06:29 PM PDTSchools seeking to install high-speed computer networks in time for Common Core tests next spring are eligible for nearly $27 million in one-time grants, which must be used to enhance Internet connections. The money is being allocated from Proposition 98 funds set aside to fund the Broadband Infrastructure Improvement Grant program. 

Subpoena of West Contra Costa school district reveals scope of inquiry08/26/2014 06:19 PM PDT - A subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission to the West Contra Costa school district obtained by this newspaper through a Public Records Act request shows that the federal agency is focusing on bond sales, fund transfers between bond accounts and non-construction related use of bond funds. The SEC has also subpoenaed Board President Charles Ramsey in its investigation, along with the county treasurer-tax collector, some members of the district's financing team and some of its consultants and advisers.  

Cuomo Signed NYSUT Leadership Pension Giveaway At Same Time Evaluation Deal Was In Works

When I first learned about Governor Cuomo signing the NYSUT leadership double pension giveaway, I figured there was some quid pro quo going on between the governor and the union leadership to get him to sign off on it.Tonight we learn from Jessica Bakeman that there was indeed a quid pro quo:ALBANY—Under a law approved in the final days of this year's legislative session, New York State United Tea

by reality-based edu... / 1h 

• Oakland schools' 1st day for superintendent, too

  
  Antwan Wilson, the Oakland Unified School District's new superintendent,...

Vergara in New York, Thanks (in Part) to Campbell Brown |

Vergara in New York, Thanks (in Part) to Campbell Brown |: Vergara in New York, Thanks (in Part) to Campbell Brown In a post I wrote about “Vergara Going on Tour,” I wrote about how the financier of the Vergara v. California case was preparing to bring similar suits to New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Oregon, New Mexico, Idaho, and Kansas. As well, the law firm that won the Vergara case for the pl

by mike simpson / 3h 

LAUSD'S SLEAZY DEASY STEALS A LINE FROM THE LATE GILDA RADNER: IPADS? "NEVER MIND" - Perdaily.com

LAUSD'S SLEAZY DEASY STEALS A LINE FROM THE LATE GILDA RADNER: IPADS? "NEVER MIND" - Perdaily.com: (Mensaje se repite en Español)With Superintendent John Deasy's morally challenged behavior in dealing with Pearson, Apple, and IPads, we get another glimpse of the real darkness of the privatization agenda, which is too evil for most to believe or process. It comes down to money and the fur

by mike simpson / 3h 

#Truthy and Common Core Data Sets. Just WHY is the US Government Tracking Us? | Missouri Education Watchdog

#Truthy and Common Core Data Sets. Just WHY is the US Government Tracking Us? | Missouri Education Watchdog: #Truthy and Common Core Data Sets. Just WHY is the US Government Tracking Us?inShareBecome a revolutionary and expose the truth about The CCSSI and the new ‘Truthy’ database designed to track your ‘misinformation’.Data mining of student information via The Common Core States Initiative and

by mike simpson / 4h 

Helping Schools With Limited Internet Connections - Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education)

Helping Schools With Limited Internet Connections - Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education): State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Announces Funding Available to Help Schools With Limited Internet ConnectionsSACRAMENTO—Eligible districts and charter schools are encouraged to apply for new funding to help school sites connect to a high-speed network in time for next spring's new online assessments, State Supe

by mike simpson / 4h 

LA schools' superintendent faces school board after days of questions on iPad plan | 89.3 KPCC

LA schools' superintendent faces school board after days of questions on iPad plan | 89.3 KPCC: LA schools' superintendent faces school board after days of questions on iPad planLos Angeles Unified school board members meet Tuesday afternoon in the first public meeting since Friday, when Superintendent John Deasy began facing a rush of questions about his relationships with executives at Pearson.E

by mike simpson / 5h hide  //  save

Schooling in the Ownership Society: How Greasy Deasy Funneled $1 Billion to Pals at Pearson, Apple

Schooling in the Ownership Society: How Greasy Deasy Funneled $1 Billion to Pals at Pearson, Apple: How Greasy Deasy Funneled $1 Billion to Pals at Pearson, AppleGreasy DeasyHoward Blume at the L.A. Times reports that L.A. Supt. John Deasy (the man from Gates) and his chief deputy "developed a special relationship" with executives from Pearson and Apple, the companies that won a billion-

by mike simpson / 5h 

Nite Cap 8-26-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT

James Baldwin said it best: "For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAP8-26-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice GuyWait What?: Wait What? All Week Pelto/Murphy 2014 Illinois School Bans Discussions of Michael Brown’s Death (by Paul Thomas)This article was written by fellow pro-p

by mike simpson / 6h 

Vergara in New York, Thanks (in Part) to Campbell Brown |

Vergara in New York, Thanks (in Part) to Campbell Brown |:



Vergara in New York, Thanks (in Part) to Campbell Brown

 In a post I wrote about “Vergara Going on Tour,” I wrote about how the financier of the Vergara v. California case was preparing to bring similar suits to New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Oregon, New Mexico, Idaho, and Kansas. As well, the law firm that won the Vergara case for the plaintiffs, was also reported to have officially signed on to help defend the Houston Independent School District (HISD) on the forthcoming lawsuit during which, this time, the court will be investigating the EVAAS value-added system and its low- and high-stakes uses in HISD (this is also the source of a recent post here).

Last month, it was reported that New York was the next state on the tour, so-to-speak. To read a post from July about all of this, written by Bruce Baker at Rutgers titled “The VergarGuments are Coming to New York State!” click here.

It also seems that Campbell Brown, previous host of the Campbell Brown Show on CNN and award winning news anchor/journalist for multiple media outlets elsewhere, has joined “the cause” and even started her own foundation in support, aptly named the Partnership for Education Justice. Read more about their mission, as well as “The Challenge” and “The Solution” in America’s public schools as per America’s public school teachers as they define these here.

In New York specifically, via their first but unfortunately and likely not their last “project,” they are helping families “fight for the great teachers their children deserve by challenging factory-era laws that keep poorly-performing teachers in the classroom.” Read also about “The Problem,” the “Roadblocks,” and the like as they pertain to this specific suit in New York here. It probably won’t surprise you to see what research they are using to justify their advocacy work either – give it a quick guess and then check to verify here. Here is also a Vergara in New York, Thanks (in Part) to Campbell Brown |:

LAUSD'S SLEAZY DEASY STEALS A LINE FROM THE LATE GILDA RADNER: IPADS? "NEVER MIND" - Perdaily.com

LAUSD'S SLEAZY DEASY STEALS A LINE FROM THE LATE GILDA RADNER: IPADS? "NEVER MIND" - Perdaily.com:



LAUSD'S SLEAZY DEASY STEALS A LINE FROM THE LATE GILDA RADNER: IPADS? "NEVER MIND"

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

With Superintendent John Deasy's morally challenged behavior in dealing with Pearson, Apple, and IPads, we get another glimpse of the real darkness of the privatization agenda, which is too evil for most to believe or process. It comes down to money and the further dumbing down of Americans to the point where they are incapable of sequencing enough fact together to "question authority."

Public education is a close to $1 trillion a year "business" that up until recently saw 87% of this budget go to certificated and classified school staff salaries. With charters run by corporate interests, 40% of this total public education budget would now go to the administration of public education and would give obscene profits to those supplying goods and services at inflated prices. This is the context in which this collusive IPad insider deal should be viewed.

Predictably, the student products of such a purposefully failed public education system are incapable of sequencing together enough facts to understand what is going on or to question public education authorities and the illegal actions they continue to engage in without challenge or opposition by local, state, and federal authorities that have clearly given a green light to this privatization agenda for corporate profit. If a teacher and not Superintendent Deasy were involved in such an action, they would be sitting at home until an investigation took place- but not our boy Deasy.

John Deasy's IPad fiasco with Pearson and Apple Computers with whom he engaged in inpermissible early and collusive negotiations long before the IPad contract was put out for public bids, was never subjected to independent scrutiny. And when Stewart Magruder, who sat on the oversight committee at LAUSD tried to question it, he was removed (http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-board-reappoints-ipad-critic-20140617-story.html). 

Giving any company an inside tract to a public contract is clearly illegal. But what is not examined is Superintendent John Deasy's prior morally challenged actions that are regrettably consistent with his present playing it fast and loose with Pearson, Apple, and the IPads, which LAUSD bought at inflated prices with bad software and poor service contracts.

Deasy got his doctorate at the University of Louisville without adequate attendance or unit credit from Robert Felner, who was just released last May from federal prison, where he was serving a 5 year term for fraud. Hmm.

Also not mentioned in the present IPad fiasco is Deasy's awarding a $375,000 consulting contract to said Felner, when Deasy was superintendent of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. One hand washes the other?

Now look at this in the context of Deasy's predecessor as LAUSD superintendent Ramon Cortines, who sexually harassed an employee and had to suffer getting his full pension and a high school named after him. 

Then juxtapose all this with the standard of behavior that teachers and not administrators are being held to and unjustly vilified them and you realize that administrative malfeasance and alleged and LAUSD'S SLEAZY DEASY STEALS A LINE FROM THE LATE GILDA RADNER: IPADS? "NEVER MIND" - Perdaily.com:

#Truthy and Common Core Data Sets. Just WHY is the US Government Tracking Us? | Missouri Education Watchdog

#Truthy and Common Core Data Sets. Just WHY is the US Government Tracking Us? | Missouri Education Watchdog:

#Truthy and Common Core Data Sets. Just WHY is the US Government Tracking Us?

inShare

Become a revolutionary and expose the truth about The CCSSI and the new ‘Truthy’ database designed to track your ‘misinformation’.

Data mining of student information via The Common Core States Initiative and the State Stabilization Funding has been a big concern at Missouri Education Watchdog for many years. We’ve thought from the beginning the the standards were necessary not for educational reasons, but they served as the vehicle for data gathering:

the common core standards initiative is the vehicle that drives the longitudinal data system.  Without the adoption of the standards, the data system could not collect the amount of student data needed to supply various federal agencies and private researchers for workforce purposes.

Peter Green agrees and writes in The Huffington Post the real reason for Common Core adoption and implementation.  From Are Common Core Standards Actually Data Tags?:

Don’t think of them as standards. Think of them as tags.

Think of them as the pedagogical equivalent of people’s names on Facebook, the tags you attach to each and every photo that you upload.

We know from our friends at Knewton what the Grand Design is — a system in which student progress is mapped down to the atomic level. Atomic level (a term that Knewton lervs deeply) means test by test, assignment by assignment, sentence by sentence, item by item. We want to enter every single thing a student does into the Big Data Bank.

But that will only work if we’re all using the same set of tags.

We’ve been saying that CCSS are limited because the standards were written around what can be tested. That’s not exactly correct. The standards have been written around what can be tracked.

The standards aren’t just about defining what should be taught. They’re about cataloging what students have done.

Remember when Facebook introduced emoticons? This was not a public service. Facebook wanted to up its data gathering capabilities by tracking the emotional states of users. If users just defined their own emotions, the data would be too noisy, too hard to crunch. But if the user had to pick from the Facebook standard set of user emotions — then Facebook #Truthy and Common Core Data Sets. Just WHY is the US Government Tracking Us? | Missouri Education Watchdog:

Helping Schools With Limited Internet Connections - Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education)

Helping Schools With Limited Internet Connections - Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education):

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Announces Funding Available to Help Schools With Limited Internet Connections

SACRAMENTO—Eligible districts and charter schools are encouraged to apply for new funding to help school sites connect to a high-speed network in time for next spring's new online assessments, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said today as he announced the Broadband Infrastructure Improvement Grant (BIIG) Program.

"The real world thrives on interconnectivity and so must our children's education in order to prepare them for college and careers," Torlakson said. "With the help of this grant, even children in the farthest reaches of the state will have a chance to connect to the world around them."

The BIIG funding opportunity is being administered by the K-12 High Speed Network  in consultation with the California Department of Education and the State Board of Education. The goal is to help students, educators, and staff connect to a reliable high-speed network so they can implement the new computer-based California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) assessments in the 2015 spring testing window. Funding was provided by a one-time Proposition 98 General Fund re-appropriation to support network connectivity.

Local educational agencies are eligible for nearly $27 million in BIIG funding. Priority for funding will be given to those school sites that without such help would be unable to conduct the CAASPP. The grants must be used to enhance school site Internet connections.

Another component of the BIIG Program is a report on the overall status of network connectivity in California's schools. This report will also be completed by the K-12 High-Speed Network, and is due by March 1, 2015, to the Department of Finance, the Legislative Analyst's Office, and the budget committees of each house of the Legislature.

For more details, visit the Broadband Infrastructure Improvement Grant  Program Web page.

Advancing education technology in California is one of Torlakson's priorities. He convened his Education Technology Task Force in 2012 to recommend ways to bring 21st century tools into California's classrooms to improve teaching and learning. The Task Force released its blueprint in April entitled, Empowering Learning: California Education Technology Blueprint, 2014 – 2017 (PDF), which focuses on four key areas: learning, teaching, assessment, and infrastructure.

# # # #

Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

LA schools' superintendent faces school board after days of questions on iPad plan | 89.3 KPCC

LA schools' superintendent faces school board after days of questions on iPad plan | 89.3 KPCC:



LA schools' superintendent faces school board after days of questions on iPad plan

Los Angeles Unified school board members meet Tuesday afternoon in the first public meeting since Friday, when Superintendent John Deasy began facing a rush of questions about his relationships with executives at Pearson.

Emails obtained by KPCC led some school board members and other district watchers to question whether Deasy's relationship with Pearson paved a path for the software company to land a contract, without giving other competitors a fair shot during the open bid process. A committee lead by school board member Monica Ratliff has been asking that same question for months.

Monday evening, after news of the emails broke, Deasy announced he was abandoning the contract with Apple and Pearson and would open its one-to-one technology project to new bids.

Deasy has declined multiple interview requests from KPCC. In an interview with KCRW Tuesday, Deasy said he accepted criticism that he should have acted sooner but denied any wrongdoing. He said he was not involved in designing the specifications for bid proposals or choosing the winners. 

"The contracting process was reviewed," he said, adding later in regard to the emails:  "It wasn't inappropriate. I meet with vendors all the time."

To follow updates from today's school board meeting, view tweets from KPCC's Mary Plummer below.LA schools' superintendent faces school board after days of questions on iPad plan | 89.3 KPCC:

Schooling in the Ownership Society: How Greasy Deasy Funneled $1 Billion to Pals at Pearson, Apple

Schooling in the Ownership Society: How Greasy Deasy Funneled $1 Billion to Pals at Pearson, Apple:

How Greasy Deasy Funneled $1 Billion to Pals at Pearson, Apple

Greasy Deasy

Howard Blume at the L.A. Times reports that L.A. Supt. John Deasy (the man from Gates) and his chief deputy "developed a special relationship" with executives from Pearson and Apple, the companies that won a billion-dollar technology contract. Blume says it raises new questions about the fairness of competition in the effort to provide a computer to every student in the nation's second-largest school system.

It looks like Deasy's then-Deputy Supt. Jaime Aquino did most of the dirty work, strategizing with higher-ups from Pearson, on how to ensure that it got the job by undercutting competitors in the bidding process..

"I believe we would have to make sure that your bid is the lowest one," wrote Aquino, who was an executive with a Pearson affiliate before joining L.A. Unified.

 "Understand your points and we need to work together on this Schooling in the Ownership Society: How Greasy Deasy Funneled $1 Billion to Pals at Pearson, Apple: