Statement of Pennsylvania Working Families on Council’s Failure to put Local Control on the Ballot | WeArePCAPS

Statement of Pennsylvania Working Families on Council’s Failure to put Local Control on the Ballot | WeArePCAPS:

Statement of Pennsylvania Working Families on Council’s Failure to put Local Control on the Ballot

Posted on September 12, 2014by wearepcaps

Philadelphians Denied the Chance to Vote for Local Control
Coalition demands vote on education charter amendment
For Immediate Release
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Jesse Bacon, 215-298-3923, jbacon@workingfamilies.org
Today, Philadelphia City Council failed to heed the call of 40,000 Philadelphians who have signed a petition to amend the City Charter to demand local control of the School District of Philadelphia. After a PA Working Families press conference this morning, announcing an expected council vote on a ballot measure demanding the General Assembly abolish the School Reform Commission and return Philadelphia schools to local control, Council tabled the resolution, denying Philadelphians the chance to vote on the first-ever citizen-initiated ballot question in November.
“PFT members have been at the forefront of the effort to give Philadelphia’s citizens the power to determine what happens in our children’s schools,” said Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Jerry Jordan. “We surveyed over 3,000 Philadelphia residents and our members collected over 17,000 signatures to get local control on the ballot in November. City Council’s failure to vote on this measure is a disappointing setback, but we will keep fighting to bring our schools under local control.”
“Philadelphians from all walks of life came together to say they want a chance to have a voice in their schools. Council needs to listen to their voices and vote immediately to place the local control charter amendment on the ballot.” said Pat Eiding, President, Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO
“We went to City Council today to say that Harrisburg should fund our schools—and Philadelphia should run them. City Council put up a responsible vote to add local funding by taxing cigarettes, and Harrisburg hasn’t even scheduled a vote to approve that—it’s time for us to get a vote on taking back local control of our schools,” said Kati Sipp, director of Pennsylvania Working Families
“1199C members support a local voice in Philadelphia’s schools. Health care workers know the importance of dignity and decision-making. We want Council to show some courage in securing the health of our children’s education by approving the local control ballot measure.” said Henry Nicholas, President of District 1199C.
PA Working Families has been part of a historic 10-month long campaign gathering 40,000 signatures in favor of letting the entire city vote on local control of Philadelphia schools. Canvassers with PA Working Families, Fight for Philly, SEIU 32BJ, the Statement of Pennsylvania Working Families on Council’s Failure to put Local Control on the Ballot | WeArePCAPS:

Teacher, Principal, and Superintendent Core Dilemmas That Need to Be Managed | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Teacher, Principal, and Superintendent Core Dilemmas That Need to Be Managed | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Teacher, Principal, and Superintendent Core Dilemmas That Need to Be Managed

I have used the word “dilemma” in earlier posts since superintendents, principals, teachers, and, yes, students face situations that call for difficult choices among conflicting values. So for this post, I delve into the two persistent dilemmas at the core of the work teachers and administrators do daily.

By dilemmas, I mean situations where you have to choose between two or more competing and prized values. The choice is often hard because in choosing you end up sacrificing something to gain a bit of satisfaction. That is the compromise that all of us construct to reduce the tension.

There are two core dilemmas that educators face in the classroom, school site, and district office that won’t go away. They are in the air we breathe, the water we drink: the multiple roles we have to perform daily and the personal/professional conflict.

Multiple Roles Dilemmas

Teachers, principals, and superintendents have to perform three different roles in their classrooms and offices.

Instructional role. For teachers, that is obvious. For principals and superintendents, the pressure on these administrators to assume responsibility for instructionally guiding teachers has grown dramatically in the past three decades.

Since the 1980s, mainstream thinking about principals has shifted markedly from managing school-site decisions to re-asserting the importance of  being instructional leaders. Now, principals and superintendents are expected to help teachers in meeting state academic standards, aligning curriculum, textbooks, and tests to those state standards, evaluating teachers, and producing higher student test scores.

Managerial role. Principals and superintendents have always been hired to administer schools. Superintendents expect their principals to set priorities consistent with district goals, use data for decision making, plan and schedule work of the school, oversee the budget and many other managerial tasks—Teacher, Principal, and Superintendent Core Dilemmas That Need to Be Managed | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Schools Not Prisons: #DoTheMath | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity

Schools Not Prisons: #DoTheMath | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity:

Schools Not Prisons: #DoTheMath

In California it costs $62,300 per year to imprison someone, but just $9,100 per year to teach a child. A powerful short video from Californians for Safety and Justice challenges us to "do the math" when it comes to expanding the criminal justice system or investing in schools. Watch the video below!

by jocelyn / 19min hide  //  save

Minneapolis Bans Suspensions for Young Students

Minneapolis Superintendent Bernadeia Photo via Star Tribune read more

by jocelyn / 49min 

Gallup: 70% of Americans Want Federally-Funded Universal Pre-K

Pre-k has always played well in public debate – who can argue with spending time and money on adorable young kids? But a new Gallup polls shows just how much people like pre-k and how much they want to see it expanded. According to Gallup, 70% of Americans favor using federal money to fund universal pre-k. read more

by jocelyn / 1h 

Teachers For Social Justice: UWM & City of Milwaukee: End Charter Enrollment Bribes!

Teachers For Social Justice: UWM & City of Milwaukee: End Charter Enrollment Bribes!:

UWM & City of Milwaukee: End Charter Enrollment Bribes!

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014 LEAVE A COMMENT

Please sign this petition from the Milwaukee Teacher Education Association to end the practice of paying parents and community members to enroll or refer students to privately run charter schools in Wisconsin!

Paying parents to sign up for charter schools in Wisconsin

It has come to light this week that several Wisconsin privately-run charter schools have been using $100, $200, and gift cards to bribe parents and community members to refer and enroll children. The schools even specify that to receive a payment, the child referred must be present on Sept. 19. Attendance on this date determines the level of state funding that each school receives.

This bribery scheme to increase enrollment spits in the face of schools that are working hard to increase enrollment the old fashioned way, by providing a quality education. If you think schools shouldn't be able to artificially inflate enrollment through bribes then please sign this petition.

Please share this petition widely!
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/uwm-city-of-milwaukee-end-charter-enrollment-bribes?source=direct_link&

Bill Gates funds the media then secretly meets with them | Seattle Education

Bill Gates funds the media then secretly meets with them | Seattle Education:

Bill Gates funds the media then secretly meets with them

This post was written by Mercedes Schneider and originally posted on Dr. Rich Swier:

Billionaire Bill Gates funds the media then secretly meets with them to do what?

Billionaire Bill Gates funds the media.

This is no surprise to me.

What did surprise me is the discovery that he meets with the media he funds (and others) regularly behind closed doors.

Yep.

Gates Briefs a Media He Pays For (And Then Some)

In February 2013, journalist Tom Paulson wrote a piece on Gates’ private meetings with the media he funds. Paulson was not invited.

Notice some of the names:

I (Paulson) wasn’t actually allowed behind the scenes at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s recent meeting in Seattle entitled “Strategic Media Partnerships.”

The Gates Foundation funds a lot of media – more than $25 million in media grants for 2012 (but still less than 1% of the budget).  

I’m media but I wasn’t invited. I asked if I could come and report on it, but was told the meeting was off the record. Those attending included representatives from the New York Times, NPR, the Guardian, NBC, Seattle Times and a number of other news organizations, non-profit groups and foundations. Not all were grant recipients, or partners. Some just came to consult. [Emphasis added this paragraph.]

In August 2014, I wrote about the Gates-funded, Seattle Times blog, Education Lab.

Education Lab is trying to offer predominately light, benign stories arguably designed to divert public attention from the increasingly-evident documentation regarding the failure of education privatization.

In Seattle, Gates is paying for the reporting of “positive outcomes.”

What happens if the “outcomes” are not so “positive”?

Just don’t write about that.

And it is easy enough if the funded organization’s politics agree with those of Gates.

(The Gates grants website is clear that Gates actively seeks to pay those organizations Bill Gates funds the media then secretly meets with them | Seattle Education:

The Future Will NOT be Standardized

Join parents, teachers and concerned citizens on:  September 25th at Moonpaper Tent 8503 Roosevelt Way, NE Seattle, 98115 For decades, standardized testing has been a part of public education. Within the last ten years, however, the testing has taken on a more important, and possibly more damaging, role. Test scores, mistakenly viewed as effective assessments […]

by seattleducation20... / 8h 

New schools chief: Oakland “full of opportunity” | EdSource

New schools chief: Oakland “full of opportunity” | EdSource:

New schools chief: Oakland “full of opportunity”

September 11, 2014 | By Louis Freedberg and John Fensterwald | No Comments



•  SHARE THIS ARTICLE

The Oakland Unified School District has begun the school year with a new superintendent, Antwan Wilson, at the helm. The 46,000-student district is the 14th-largest in the state. Unlike the district’s former superintendents in recent years, he comes to Oakland without any prior experience in California public education.

Oakland Unified School District Superintendent Antwan Wilson in his downtown Oakland office.

Wilson, 42, comes to the district after nine years in the Denver public schools, most recently as assistant superintendent for postsecondary readiness. He succeeds former superintendent Tony Smith, who resigned unexpectedly at the end of  the 2012-13 school year. During the transition to a permanent superintendent, the district had been led by interim superintendent Gary Yee. Wilson sat down with EdSource’s Louis Freedberg and John Fensterwald for a wide-ranging discussion on why he came to Oakland, his views on the Common Core, and his goals for the district.

His remarks provide insights into how a superintendent in an urban district at the outset of his term of office is approaching some of the challenges that he will face.

What made you accept the position of superintendent in Oakland?

Oakland is a school district that is full of opportunity, and that got me excited. And the opportunities are to make a difference in the lives of young people, many of whom come from diverse backgrounds, many of whom share similar experiences to those that I had as a child, and also just the history in Oakland. The diversity, the activism, the number of individuals who care about social justice issues — those were all things that attracted me to Oakland, and some of the issues that are here in Oakland to improve education are issues that resonate with me from my work in other places, most recently Denver. And it would have taken a tremendous community in order for me to leave Denver because I love it, and I love Colorado, and Oakland provided those opportunities. So I am excited to be here.

EdSource: Where do you come down in the debate about how much schools can do to improve academic performance, and how much has to do with the environment that kids grow up in, their economic background, or the traumas they might experience in their homes and in their neighborhoods?

I normally don’t debate that issue. I believe that schools have a tremendous responsibility to ensure that our young people have opportunities in their lives, and I believe schools can have a tremendous impact on the opportunities and prospects that students have for their lives. My own personal life is an example of that. I was a young student born to a single mother in poor neighborhoods, where we moved all the time.

Where was that?

In Wichita, Kansas. There I experienced and saw the violence, the drugs, the gangs. One of the things that led to me having an opportunity to do more is that my mother really pushed and helped me get a great education. And getting a great education led to me being here with you now. So I know that education has a tremendous role to play. In playing that role it has to be one where adults are really serious about saying that every child will get a great education and show empathy for the experiences that young people are faced with, help families think through ways in which young people can get the support they need. If they’re hungry, we’ve got to feed them. If they are dealing with abuse, we’ve got to connect them with people and resources to help remove them from those situations and put them on a trajectory so that they can rise above or overcome those situations.

But we must educate them. As a society we need to believe in the power of education because if not, then what? We can’t say, “Well, we’re going to wait till there’s no more poverty, no more violence, there are no more drugs,” all things that I saw on a regular basis as a young person growing up, and then say “After there’s no more of that, we’ll educate them.” We have to educate them, and that’s what’s going to put them in a position to have more success, but recognizing that’s not the only thing. The other social systems in the society have to work as well. But education is key.

“I believe that schools have a tremendous responsibility to ensure that our young people have opportunities in their lives, and I believe schools can have a tremendous impact on the opportunities and prospects that students have for their lives.”

But where do you come down on issues like having school-based health centers and mental health and other wrap-around services that schools can use to help with students with discipline problems and so on?

Having the additional supports are huge to positioning schools to be successful. So the community schools effort in Oakland is in large New schools chief: Oakland “full of opportunity” | EdSource:

The (NY, DC, LA, and CA) Story of Eureka Math | deutsch29

The (NY, DC, LA, and CA) Story of Eureka Math | deutsch29:

The (NY, DC, LA, and CA) Story of Eureka Math

September 11, 2014

In Louisiana, there has been a bit of mystery surrounding the only math curriculum “selected” in March 2014 by the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) and the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) and promoted as

“LSU-developed Eureka Math.”

It sure sounds like… dare I write it… grass roots CCSS math development, huh?

Then comes the fine print.

LDOE’s “Louisiana Believes” website offers this overview of Eureka Math, which includes the following tiny wording regarding its funding and development:

Eureka Math is based on research and development made possible through a partnership with the New York State Education Department. The modules within Eureka Math are available online at engageny.org and commoncore.org

©2014 Common Core, Inc. All rights reserved.

Common Core, Inc., is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that creates curriculum tools and promotes programs, policies, and initiatives at the local, state, and federal levels that provide students with challenging, rigorous instruction in the full range of liberal arts and sciences. Common Core was established in 2007 and is not affiliated with the Common Core State Standards.

So, where is LSU in all of this? According to this 2013 LDOE Common Core State Standards (CCSS) transitional summary, there is no mention of Common Core, Inc. (the Eureka Math copyright owner) and no mention of New York State/EngageNY:

Curriculum. The state will produce a Louisiana Curriculum Guidebook for English Language Arts and Math in grades Kindergarten through 12 that will include learning standards, a recommended sequence of skills to be taught, recommended units to present, and recommended materials to use in the classroom. The state will also recommend math curricula, including LSU-developed Eureka Math, along with English reading materials. [Emphasis added.]

Much better for business for Louisiana State Superintendent John White to pump up the “LSU-developed” angle and not the rest of the story– including Eureka Math’s connection to New York’s slice of federal Race to the Top (RTTT) funding and the copyright of Eureka Math by an organization that is DC-based, not Louisiana-based.

Commoncore.org offers this funding and development background on its Eureka The (NY, DC, LA, and CA) Story of Eureka Math | deutsch29:

4 Reminders For A New School Year | Connected Principals

4 Reminders For A New School Year | Connected Principals:

4 Reminders For A New School Year

by William Parker • September 12, 2014 • 0 Comments

We just welcomed our teachers and students back to school.
It was hard work to prepare for all the moving parts that make up master schedules, professional development, and schedule pick-ups.

But there is also great satisfaction in having everyone back and knowing we’ve had a successful launch.

Each year I try to remember that the first days with our school team are as important as their first days with students.

New Teachers
During time with new teacher orientation, I shared some reminders that also apply to the entire school community. Here are four start-of-the-year tidbits followed by some free resources you may find helpful:

1. Explore and define expectations for success.
Each year is different from the next. With our school team, we try to create a focus for the school year. This year, for instance, we are trying to brainstorm creative ways to support struggling students while maintaining strong rigor.

Start by asking: If failure was not an option, what goals would you reach with students this year?

How do you create the right environment for this to happen within each classroom?

2. Set Ground-rules For Behavior
In addition to defining expectations, I suggest operating with three basic classroom management expectations for students: Paying Attention, Participating, and Being Respectful.

Those three categories cover most behaviors you can anticipate, and they serve as an umbrella for learning.

Paying attention means being focused, alert, arriving on time, and planning ahead.

Participating means jumping in, not being a bystander, coming prepared, actively engaging with others, and completing tasks on time.

Being respectful means treating yourself and others how you would like to be treated. It minimizes conflicts. It doesn’t eliminate conflict since challenges are inevitable, but treating others with respect reduces the potential for drama.

They are also positive statements, not negative ones, and you will find students more positively engaged when4 Reminders For A New School Year | Connected Principals:

Aliens Laud Affirmative Action In Texas Social Studies Curriculum (Really) | Cloaking Inequity

Aliens Laud Affirmative Action In Texas Social Studies Curriculum (Really) | Cloaking Inequity:

Aliens Laud Affirmative Action In Texas Social Studies Curriculum (Really)

I am not lying to you. Yes, Texas textbook designers have found a new way to deride social progress by using aliens as their muse. But first, the peer reviewed academic material. In 2012, the post “Illusion of Inclusion,” Article about Race and Standards in Harvard Educational Review introduced a peer reviewed textual analysis of the Texas Social Studies Standards.

In this article, Julian Vasquez Heilig, Keffrelyn Brown, and Anthony Brown offer findings from a close textual analysis of how the Texas social studies standards address race, racism, and communities of color. Using the lens of Critical Race Theory, the authors uncover the sometimes subtle ways that the standards can appear to adequately address race while at the same time marginalizing it—the “illusion of inclusion.” Their study offers insight into the mechanisms of marginalization in standards and a model of how to closely analyze such standards, which, the authors argue, is increasingly important as the standards and accountability movements continue to grow in influence.

Citation: Vasquez Heilig, J., Brown, K. & Brown, A. (2012). The illusion of inclusion: Race and standards. Harvard Educational Review, 83(3), 403-424.*

Well, the textbooks based on the Texas State Board of Education’s revision to the Texas social studies standards are likely headed to a classroom in Texas and perhaps near you (if your state adopts this nonsense). Today MSNBC wrote

A [Texas] textbook based on the same controversial standards suggests Jim Crow sometimes wasn’t that big of a deal. “Under segregation, all-white and all-African American schools sometimes had similar buildings, buses, and teachers,” it says. “Sometimes, however, the buildings, buses, and teachers for the all-black schools were lower in quality.”

And a U.S. history textbook mentions segregation only in a passing reference to the 1948 integration of the armed forces.

The Republican Party doesn’t appear to like history that includes critical and diverse perspectives. MSNBC also wrote

Even the national Republican Party is focused on the issue. Last month, when the College Board released a new “curriculum framework” for the U.S. history test that involves a greater focus on women and minorities, the Republican National Committee called it a “radically revisionist view of American 

Aliens Laud Affirmative Action In Texas Social Studies Curriculum (Really) | Cloaking Inequity:

Attorney for Supt. Deasy asks for L.A. school board emails - LA Times

Attorney for Supt. Deasy asks for L.A. school board emails - LA Times:



Attorney for Supt. Deasy asks for L.A. school board emails

An attorney representing Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy is seeking records that would explore possible links between school board members and technology vendors.

The request opens a new front in the fallout over a contract between the L.A. Unified School District and Apple. Up until now, the focus has been on communications that Deasy and his team had with Apple, which supplied the iPad, and with Pearson, the company that provided the curriculum on the device.

The contract was the central piece in a $1.3-billion effort to provide a computer to every student, teacher and campus administrator in the nation’s second-largest school system. Deasy recently suspended future purchases under that contract. He has denied any improprieties in connection to it.

The district’s inspector general also has begun reviewing communications among the two companies, Deasy and then-Deputy Supt. Jaime Aquino, who left the district at the end of 2013.

Deasy, through his attorney, Harvey I. Saferstein, is now apparently attempting to unearth any possible ties between board members and technology companies.

Part of Deasy’s defense has been that contacts with vendors are routine, even when they occur prior to the start of a bidding process. He also noted that board members meet with and accept campaign donations from companies and then later must vote on contracts involving these firms.

Deasy declined to comment about the records request. Saferstein could not be reached.

A request dated Sept. 10 targets board members George McKenna, Monica Garcia, Tamar Galatzan, Steve Zimmer and Bennett Kayser. It seeks “all meeting notes and correspondence (including emails and letters)” from Jan. 1, 2012, through Sept. 1, 2014, involving board members, their staff and a list of 18 technology companies.

The companies include Lenovo, Microsoft, Apple, Toshiba, Dell, HP or Meg Whitman, Acer, Pearson, McGraw-Hill, Amplify Education Inc. or Joel Klein and News Corp.

Whitman is the former HP chief executive who ran unsuccessfully for California governor as a Republican. Klein is the former chancellor of the New York City school system. He left his public-sector job to head Amplify.Attorney for Supt. Deasy asks for L.A. school board emails - LA Times:

9-11-14 Jersey Jazzman - Under @GovChristie, State Control of Urban Schools Is a Disaster

Jersey Jazzman:

Under @GovChristie, State Control of Urban Schools Is a Disaster

The fiscal failures of Chris Christie are well-documented at this point: huge budget woes, no payments to the pension that were required under his own plan, bond ratings in a downward spiral, and the withering of Atlantic City's gaming industry have all occurred on Christie's watch.But we should also take a moment to acknowledge the failure of Governor Christie to competently administer the four l

34 by Duke / 27min 

9-10-14 Jersey Jazzman - @BobBraunsLedger is Right About the Newark Teachers Union & One Newark

Jersey Jazzman: @BobBraunsLedger is Right About the Newark Teachers Union & One NewarkLet me start this piece by reiterating one of the primary missions of this blog: I am pro-teacher and pro-union. I believe this country was better off when we had more union membership, and I believe teachers are better positioned to advocate for themselves and their students when they form unions.I am also s

by mike simpson / 11h 

3 Images on Leading Change | Connected Principals

3 Images on Leading Change | Connected Principals:

3 Images on Leading Change

by David Truss • September 11, 2014 • 0 Comments

I enjoy using images to share ideas. In a post on my Pair-a-Dimes blog, I shared the ‘Embracing Change’ image, also shared below. As I said in the post:

“…we’ need to recognize that: 
* Change isn’t usually easy.
* Change only happens when we create a need.
* Change is not a thought or a discussion, but an action.
* The time to act is now.

“If it’s important, you’ll find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.”

The idea is simple. The greater the importance we place on something, the greater the challenge we are willing to face. We will find a way! However, if it is not important enough, then it is much easier to make excuses than it is to make the effort to face the challenge or to change.

Change happens when: Importance > Challenge.“

Despite saying, ‘the idea is simple’, I’ve come to realize that there are a few nuances about the original image that could be explained in a bit more detail than I provided. I’ve also created a couple more images, ‘Resisting Change’ and ‘Inspiring Change’ to contribute further to the conversation on change. If change happens when importance is greater than challenges, what can we do to increase importance and reduce challenges?

1. Embracing Change

One of the key elements of this image is the 1:1 relationship represented by the 45 degree slope. Any point on that slope (where I’ve placed the stairs) has the relationship of Importance = Challenge. Anywhere above that slope represents a point where Importance is greater than Challenge (and so we are likely to find a way to change). Anywhere below the slope represents a point where Challenge is greater than Importance (and so we are likely to find the challenge too great to change).

So ultimately, when we are implementing change we would want to create an environment where we either increase the importance or where we decrease the challenges we face. Accepting a 1:1 ratio is not leading. Furthermore, without 3 Images on Leading Change | Connected Principals: