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Saturday, January 10, 2015

UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform - United Opt Out National serves as a focused point of unyielding resistance to corporate ed. reform. We demand an equitably funded, democratically based, anti-racist, desegregated public school system for all Americans

UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform - United Opt Out National serves as a focused point of unyielding resistance to corporate ed. reform. We demand an equitably funded, democratically based, anti-racist, desegregated public school system for all Americans that prepares students to exercise compassionate and critical decision making with civic virtue.:



UNITED OPT OUT: THE MOVEMENT TO END CORPORATE EDUCATION REFORM INFO [AT] UNITEDOPTOUT [DOT] COM

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UNCATEGORIZED
17 DEC, 2014

Time to Disrupt the “Disrupters”!!!

Post by Ceresta Smith Disruption! Teachers and support staffs are not typically characterized as people that engage in disruption.  By nature we strive to keep our classrooms and our academic intuitions running smoothly, as...
madeloni0
UNCATEGORIZED
10 DEC, 2014

Stand Up for Action with Barbara Madeloni

  Barbara Madeloni says : “The accountability regime has done too much damage for too long. Under the pretense of reform and civil rights, corporatists have exploited our children, undermined public schools as sites...
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Want your kids to opt out of standardized tests? The Constitution may be with you. - The Washington Post

Want your kids to opt out of standardized tests? The Constitution may be with you. - The Washington Post:



Want your kids to opt out of standardized tests? The Constitution may be with you.


Parents are finding constitutional arguments to support opting out of standardized tests, Anya Kamenetz writes, and in many cases they’re winning. (Michael Quirk/iStock)
By Anya Kamenetz January 9
Anya Kamenetz writes about education for NPR. This essay is adapted from her book“The Test: Why Our Schools Are Obsessed With Standardized Testing — but You Don’t Have to Be.”
When Jeanette Deutermann’s older son began third grade, he started crying and begging not to go to school. He developed stomachaches that a doctor said were stress-related. Deutermann, a stay-at-home mom in Nassau County, Long Island, was mystified. “In kindergarten, first, second grade, he wasn’t a kid who was like, ‘Please let me go to school,’ ” she recalled. “But he didn’t have issues.”
She eventually realized what was stressing him out: the advent in third grade of high-stakes standardized testing. On top of state-mandated annual exams, her school and district had imposed many more diagnostic, benchmark and practice tests. For Deutermann, the last straw came in February 2013, during her son’s fourth-grade year, when he brought home a notice that he’d been “selected” for something called “Sunrise Academy.” Based on their scores on the NWEA, a benchmark test, some fourth-graders — gifted as well as struggling kids — were asked to come in at 7:30 a.m. two mornings a week to prep for the state exam. “For me it was a total red flag,” Deutermann recalled. “I start asking: ‘What happens if he doesn’t do well? Will he be put on a lower track? What is the consequence?’ ” She was told the test would measure the school’s performance, not her son’s.
But Deutermann had had enough. So she founded a Facebook group, Long Island Opt-out Info, that February and started organizing other parents. The next spring, nearly 30,000 Long Island students skipped state-mandated tests — one of the biggest protests in what has become a national movement.
Parents and teachers across the country — determined to reclaim local control and opposed to market-based reforms, school closures and cutbacks — are losing their patience with standardized tests. Designed to assess students and hold teachers, schools, districts and states accountable for their performance, high-stakes exams have come to define education for many kids. The Council of Chief State School Officers has reported that, on average, students take 113 such tests between pre-kindergarten and 12th grade. Even President Obama has spoken in favor of cutting back.
The new national resistance holds that these exams do not provide useful or timely information; that they are unfair to minorities and otherdisadvantaged groups; and that tests and prep are crowding out arts, science, social studies and 21st-century skills. Officials are pushing back. Yet parents are finding constitutional arguments to support their approach, and in many cases they’re winning.
There are no hard numbers. But starting in 2013, changes to teacher evaluations related to Race to the Top, a federal incentive program, as well as the adoption of the Common Core standards, triggered a new wave of opt-out protests and boycotts led by parent groups and teachers unions. A reported 60,000 students opted out across New York state last year. Organizers in Denver and Chicago also recruited many defectors during the 2014 testing season, and protests made news in Kansas, Oklahoma, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico and Pennsylvania. Bob Schaeffer of FairTest, an anti-testing group, calls the movement “unprecedented.”
This controversy goes back at least to the 19th century. In “Testing Wars in the Public Schools: A Forgotten History,” historian William J. Reese tells the story of what happened in 1845 in Boston, when reformers, led by the legendary Horace Mann, gave a very difficult surprise essay test to public Want your kids to opt out of standardized tests? The Constitution may be with you. - The Washington Post:

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Chart of the Day: Vaccinate Your Kids! | Mother Jones

Chart of the Day: Vaccinate Your Kids! | Mother Jones:



Chart of the Day: Vaccinate Your Kids!

—By 
| Sat Jan. 10, 2015 2:02 PM EST
Via the LA Times from a few months ago, here's the rise in "personal belief" exemptions from state-mandated vaccinations among kindergartners in California:
And here's where it's happening:
In Los Angeles County, the rise in personal belief exemptions is most prominent in wealthy coastal and mountain communities, The Timesanalysis shows. The more than 150 schools with exemption rates of 8% or higher for at least one vaccine were located in census tracts where the incomes averaged $94,500 — nearly 60% higher than the county median.
....At Santa Cruz Montessori in the small coastal community of Aptos, about 7% of kindergartners in 2007 got belief exemptions. Last fall, that rate was 22.6%. Principal Kathy Rideout said the school has tried different approaches to encourage parents to immunize children. They asked a doctor to talk with fellow parents. They produced handouts emphasizing the importance of immunizations and asked parents seeking belief exemptions to get counseling from a healthcare practitioner. A state law that went into effect this year makes this a requirement. But none of it made much difference, Rideout said.
...."We have schools in California where the percent of children who exercise the personal belief exemption is well above 50%," said Dr. Gil Chavez, deputy director of the California Department of Public Health's Center 
Chart of the Day: Vaccinate Your Kids! | Mother Jones:
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AFT’s Weingarten on Her Priorities for ESEA Reauthorization

AFT - American Federation of Teachers - A Union of Professionals:





AFT’s Weingarten on Her Priorities for ESEA Reauthorization





WASHINGTON— Statement from American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten on her hopes for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. For an overview of the AFT’s policy priorities on the ESEA reauthorization, please click here.



"Fifty years ago, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson as part of the War on Poverty. It sought, as all federal policy regarding education should, to provide equal access to a high-quality education for all kids.



"Today, as Congress is gearing up to reauthorize ESEA, it is time to return to the law's moral and legal roots as a vehicle to ensure civil rights and equal opportunity for all children, particularly those most at risk. The factors that have undermined that goal—inequity, and the fixation on high-stakes tests that has eclipsed all other learning and accountability measures—must be fixed. To that end, we must expand the law with support for big ideas, such as community schools and wraparound services; project-based learning; service internships; and individual plans for over-age students, under-credited students and those who are not reading at grade level by third grade. These ideas will help address the fact that two-thirds of what affects student achievement occurs outside the classroom.



"Let's face it: Any law that doesn't address our biggest challenges—funding inequity, segregation, the effects of poverty—will fail to make the sweeping transformation our kids and our schools need. We're ready and willing to work with Congress; the White House; civil rights, education, business, community and civic organizations; parents; students; educators; and anyone else, to ensure that the reauthorization of ESEA moves us closer to the goal of reclaiming the promise of public education for each and every child."



AFT’s Weingarten on Her Priorities for ESEA Reauthorization
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Friday, January 9, 2015

Dissent from Obama Plan to Make Community College Free | Diane Ravitch's blog

Dissent from Obama Plan to Make Community College Free | Diane Ravitch's blog:



Dissent from Obama Plan to Make Community College Free

By dianeravitch



Earlier today I posted approvingly about President Obama’s proposal to make two years of community college free for all who work for it, meaning, “Students must attend community college at least half-time, maintain a 2.5 GPA, and make steady progress toward completing their program.” In the announcement, the White House said that his proposal is similar to one enacted in Tennessee by Republican Governor Haslam.
Dissenting readers feared this plan would be a means of imposing NCLB, Race to the Top, and VAM on higher education.
Here is an email I received with other concerns from a professor of mathematics at the University of Memphis:
Dear Professor,
Perhaps you are aware that President Obama is visiting Knoxville, TN, today to talk about his free community college program
http://wate.com/2015/01/08/pres-obama-to-propose-free-community-college-program/. Please see the short video in the bottom of the even shorter announcement.
I think there are many people who (should) have a less than enthusiastic take on this proposal, since it is just a manifestation of the national movement to privatize public education.
In my opinion, the idea behind this free community college proposal is to weaken high quality education (public universities), and then easily implement privatization in the form of outsourcing university/college functions (teaching, research) to private companies. Part of this future will be the wide spread use low quality forms of education, such as online courses.
Concrete example for transferring funds from high quality education to lower quality
Here is a concrete example from my university, The University of Memphis (UofM), that should give a pause to the celebration of free higher education. Last year, shortly after the announcement of a $20 million cut to UofM’s budget, came the announcement of Tennessee Promise that offers free education to all TN residents at public community colleges. In my opinion, TN Promise is a perfect example for taking money away from high quality education (UofM, in this case), and use the extra funds to invest in low quality education (community colleges). Then this lower quality education is offered to the masses as a solution to their educational needs.
To make the high-to-low quality education transformation explicit, I remark that we at UofM are now pressured to start accepting lower level courses to our major requirements to “ease the transition of students from community colleges to our university”.
This transformation to low quality education is, of course, quite similar to what’s happening in K-12 education. In Tennessee, the Achievement School District takes over schools, fires the teachers, then the teachers get replaced by young underpaid, undertrained teachers. This scheme is presented as a solution to the educational needs of the poor.
In other words, both in higher and K-12 education, low quality alternatives are offered to the poor with obvious social (and often racial) implications.
Weaken the opposition: eliminate the tenure system
The first step in the privatization movement is the weakening of the opposition. Community colleges have a much greater number of adjunct faculty than 4 year colleges. Adjuncts are much easier to control than tenured faculty. This is one of the reasons Gates is supporting community colleges instead of 4 year colleges. It’s “educational” to listen to him as he answers a question about why he focuses his efforts to community colleges and especially why he prefers adjunct professors over tenured ones; just watch this for, say, 3 minutes




At UofM, the total salary increase of all employees between 2009-2014 was $10 million. Most of this increase went to increase administration and temporary faculty. The total salary of tenured faculty during these 5 years not only didn’t increase but got reduced.
So again, the strategy of the privatizers seems clear: strengthen Dissent from Obama Plan to Make Community College Free | Diane Ravitch's blog:

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Thursday, January 8, 2015

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: PARENTS, YOU’RE VOLUNTEERED: Charter schools' volunteer demands may discourage needy students + smf’s 2¢

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: PARENTS, YOU’RE VOLUNTEERED: Charter schools' volunteer demands may discourage needy students + smf’s 2¢:



PARENTS, YOU’RE VOLUNTEERED: Charter schools' volunteer demands may discourage needy students + smf’s 2¢

BY THE L.A. TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD | HTTP://LAT.MS/14ZPOFP

January 8, 2015  ::  Charter schools must welcome all children, not just those whose parents can commit to volunteer hours

Charter schools in the Los Angeles area have enrolled their share of disadvantaged students, and for the most part those students have done well, graduating at a higher rate and with higher standardized test scores than children in traditional public schools. But not all the credit goes to the charter schools: Their students tend to have more involved parents. In many cases, the very act of enrolling in a charter school means that parents must be engaged enough to locate and compare charter campuses and sign up their children for the attendance lottery. Parent involvement is an important factor in how well students fare in school.

Charter schools

Many charter schools require parents to volunteer a certain number of hours each year, often working in classrooms or school offices or helping at campus events. (Los Angeles Times)
But many charter schools demand more than that, requiring parents to volunteer a certain number of hours each year, often working in classrooms or school offices or helping at campus events. The practice has been around for years, but only now is it being challenged. Public Advocates, a nonprofit organization that has promoted equal education for disadvantaged students, recently released a report showing that the practice is widespread.

The group found that about a third of the charter schools it surveyed in California required parents to commit to a set number of volunteer hours before admitting a child. Seventy-three of the schools are in Los Angeles County, including many of the well-known Green Dot, Alliance and KIPP schools. There were many more schools that firmly suggested volunteer time or called for keeping work logs and minimum hours, without stipulating that the work was mandated.

In many cases, charter schools may have only the best intentions in encouraging parents to be engaged. And the California Charter Schools Assn. says it doesn't know of any schools that excluded or expelled a student because of a parent's failure to work as a volunteer.

But that's not enough. The requirement itself, even if it isn't enforced, might discourage families from applying and should not be allowed. As charter schools frequently point out, they are public schools, funded with public dollars. That means they should be welcoming to all children. But not all children have parents who are able or willing to volunteer. Some have multiple jobs, child-care responsibilities and so forth. Others simply might not be interested in volunteering. Children in group foster homes have no one to volunteer on their behalf. Rules about volunteer work might leave out the children most in need, intentionally or not.

Once children are enrolled, it's fine for schools to encourage voluntarism as a way of engaging parents in their children's education. But setting discouraging rules should be prohibited. The state Board of Education should impose firm rules to stop schools from requiring unpaid parental labor; California students are guaranteed the right to a free and public education.



THE PUBLIC ADVOCATES REPORT

Forced Parent Work Policies

Issue: Education
Topic: Charter Schools
Case Date: January 14, 2014
Public Advocates researched 555 charter schools in California and found that almost one-third of them (30%) require parents to do work at the school for a set quota of hours. This practice is illegal under the California constitution and the Education Code. In our report, we expose the extent of the practice and explain why it is illegal. We have sent a demand letter to the California Department of Education and the State Board of Education urging them to take immediate steps to abolish the practice. Below, we provide a list of all the charter schools we found that have such a practice, with a link to their policy documents.
Charter Schools researched in  
  • Academia Moderna
  • Academy of Science
    and Engineering
  • Alain Leroy Locke
    College Prep Academy (Green Dot)
  • Alliance Cindy & Bill Simon
    Technology Academy High School
  • Alliance College Ready Alice M Baxter
  • Alliance College-Ready Academy
    High School #16
  • Alliance College-Ready Academy
    High School #5
  • Alliance Collins Family
    College-Ready High School
  • Alliance Dr. Olga
    Mohan High School
  • Alliance Gertz-Ressler
  • Alliance Health Services Academy
  • Alliance Judy Ivie Burton
    Technology High School
  • Alliance Marc & Eva Stern
    Math and Science School
  • Alliance Media Arts and
    Entertainment Design High School
  • Alliance Ouchi-O'Donovan
    6-12 Complex
  • Alliance Renee & Meyer
    Luskin College-Ready Academy
  • Alliance Susan and
    Eric Smidt Technology High School
  • Alliance Tennenbaum
    Family Technology High School
  • Animo Avalon Charter
    Middle (green dot)
  • Animo College Prep
    Academy (Green Dot)
  • Animo Ellen Ochoa Charter
    Middle School (Green Dot)
  • Animo Inglewood
    Charter High (Green Dot)
  • Animo Jackie Robinson
    Charter High (Green Dot)
  • Animo Jefferson
    Charter Middle (Green Dot)
  • Animo Leadership High
  • Animo Middle
    School #2 (Green Dot)
  • Animo Middle
    School #3 (Green Dot)
  • Animo Middle
    School #4 (Green Dot)
  • Animo Pat Brown
  • Animo Ralph Bunche
  • Animo South Los Angeles
  • Animo Venice Charter High
  • Animo Watts College
    Preparatory Academy
  • Animo Westside Charter
    Middle School
  • Aveson Global Leadership Academy
  • Aveson School of Leaders
  • ICEF Frederick Douglass Academy 
  • ICEF Frederick Douglass Charter Middle
  • ICEF Inglewood Charter
    Middle Academy
  • ICEF Lou Dantzler Preparatory
    Elementary School
  • ICEF Lou Dantzler Preparatory
    Middle School
  • ICEF View Park High
  • ICEF View Park Prep
    Accelerated Charter Middle 
  • ICEF Vista Elementary and
    Middle Charter Academy
  • Ivy Academia
  • Keck Early Learning Center
  • KIPP LA Prep
  • KIPP Philosophers Academy
  • KIPP Scholar Academy
  • Life Source Charter School
  • Los Angeles Big Picture High School
  • Los Angeles Leadership
    Academy (LALA)
  • Los Feliz Charter School for the Arts
  • Metro Charter SChool
  • Multicultural Learning Center
  • New Academy of Science and Art
  • New Heights Charter School
  • New West Charter
  • North Valley Military Academy
  • Oscar de la Hoya Animo
    Charter High (Green Dot)
  • Pacoima Charter School
  • Palisades Charter Elementary
  • Palisades Charter High School
  • Prepa Tec
  • Rise Kohyang Middle School
  • Rowland Heights Charter Academy
  • Santa Clarita Valley
    International (SCVI)
  • The Accelerated Charter
    Elementary School
  • The Accelerated School
  • Today's Fresh Start Charter
    School
  • Valley Charter Elementary School
  • Valley Charter Middle
  • Vista Charter Middle
  • Wallis Annenberg High School

Note: The policy statements listed here were available publicly as of Nov. 20, 2014, when this report was released. Some charter schools may have changed their policies since then and may no longer state that parent work hours are required. We plan to release an update to the report and to this web site in early 2015 to reflect those changes. 
2cents smallWelcome to this discussion, LA Times Editorial Board – this “recently released” report is one-week-shy of a year old!
The issue itself is complicated by the fact that charter schools by their very nature require additional parent involvement – parents elect to send their children to charters; they fill out an applications and go through an application process. Charters are schools of choice and conversely: Choice parents choose them.
Charter school parents have acquired the taste for the Kool Aid and have decided to wait for Superman!
The argument that charters don’t really enforce their requirement for voluntarism is bogus in the extreme. Of course they don’t – they know its illegal and absolutely 
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: PARENTS, YOU’RE VOLUNTEERED: Charter schools' volunteer demands may discourage needy students + smf’s 2¢:
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