Is @TeachForAmerica pimping poverty? | Cloaking Inequity

Is @TeachForAmerica pimping poverty? | Cloaking Inequity:

Is @TeachForAmerica pimping poverty?

Few would argue that educational inequity is of grave national and international concern. Much less widely understood is how educational inequity is tied to societal inequity, and then, following that, how to alter these structures, particularly in times of widening gaps between the wealthy, and well, everyone else. Teach for America has an explicitly articulated goal and theory of change (Tuck, 2009) for transforming education, in the video above and many other freely available sources. This explicitness allows the thousands affected by this fast-track teacher training program to engage with what the approach affords and what it obscures.

Through its own website and pro forma recruitment letters, Teach for America “is working to end educational inequity by recruiting outstanding college graduates, from all majors, to teach for two years in low-income communities.” TFA also frequently cites a statistic that only one in ten children growing up in poverty will graduate from college.

TFA is both right and wrong. Poverty and the growing chasm between the wealthy and the rest of the population is intricately connected to educational outcomes. In fact, statistically speaking, the best predictor of educational attainment has long been and unfortunately remains, not motivation, individual ability, or even grit, but socioeconomic status and the education level of students’ parents, not their teachers. In other words, as much as it may be abrasive to national discourses that position individual effort as pivotal to success, trends in educational Is @TeachForAmerica pimping poverty? | Cloaking Inequity:

Bob Braun's Ledger Screen Shot : Pearson, NJ, spying on social media of students taking PARCC tests

Big Education Ape: UPDATE: Pearson, NJ, spying on social media of students taking PARCC tests | Bob Braun's Ledger:



TO MY BLOG AND FACEBOOK FRIENDS: My site has been attacked and has been shut down to stop the attack. You might want to contact Pearson and let them know you don't appreciate suppression of legitimate news.

Bob Braun's Ledger and its related email is down because of a "denial of service" attack. My only access to readers at the moment is Facebook and Twitter. These guys don't screw around. You might want to see if you can get mainstream media interested in reporting about what happens when legitimate news stories offend corporations like Pearson.


From Bob Braun's Ledger on FaceBook 732 PM PST


Click Here to go to Bob Braun's Ledger on FaceBook

http://bobbraunsledger.com/category/education/

http://bobbraunsledger.com/category/education/

http://bobbraunsledger.com/category/education/

UPDATE: Pearson, NJ, spying on social media of students taking PARCC tests | Bob Braun's Ledger

Education | Bob Braun's Ledger:

TO MY BLOG AND FACEBOOK FRIENDS: My site has been attacked and has been shut down to stop the attack. You might want to contact Pearson and let them know you don't appreciate suppression of legitimate news.

Bob Braun's Ledger and its related email is down because of a "denial of service" attack. My only access to readers at the moment is Facebook and Twitter. These guys don't screw around. You might want to see if you can get mainstream media interested in reporting about what happens when legitimate news stories offend corporations like Pearson.


From Bob Braun's Ledger on FaceBook 732 PM PST

APOLOGIES--MY SITE HAS CRASHED BECAUSE OF INTEREST IN THE STORY ABOUT PEARSON/STATE SPYING ON STUDENTS TAKING THE PARCC TEST Bob Braun's Ledger on FaceBook

BREAKING: Pearson, NJ, spying on social media of students taking PARCC tests

”  Pearson, the multinational testing and publishing company, is spying on the social media posts of students–including those from New Jersey–while the children are taking their PARCC, statewide tests, this site has learned exclusively. The state education department is cooperating with this spying and has asked at least one school district to discipline students who may have said something inappropriate about the tests.
Continue reading → Check out the note from Bob below:

Bob Braun's Ledger on FaceBook

APOLOGIES--MY SITE HAS CRASHED BECAUSE OF INTEREST IN THE STORY ABOUT PEARSON/STATE SPYING ON STUDENTS TAKING THE PARCC TEST--If anyone out there saved it to PDF, please send it to me at bob@bobbraunsledger and I will post it here on Facebook. Sorry I'm such a technical dunce. It's a generational thing.

Reference Bob Braun's Leger From Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education FaceBook Page:

Thanks, SBOE! Pearson would create ISTEP for just over $38 million and IREAD-3, Indiana’s third-grade reading test, for almost $7 million.....and the spying comes at no extra charge. What a deal!

"Pearson, the multinational testing and publishing company, is spying on the social media posts of students–including those from New Jersey–while the children are taking their PARCC, statewide tests, this site has learned exclusively. The state education department is cooperating with this spying and has asked at least one school district to discipline students who may have said something inappropriate about the tests.

This website discovered the unauthorized and hidden spying thanks to educators who informed it of the practice–a practice happening throughout the state and apparently throughout the country. The spying–or “monitoring,” to use Pearson’s word–was confirmed at one school district–the Watchung Hills Regional High School district in Warren by its superintendent, Elizabeth Jewett.

Jewett sent out an e-mail–posted here– to her colleagues expressing concern about the unauthorized spying on students. She said parents are upset and added that she thought Pearson’s behavior would contribute to the growing “opt out” movement.

In her email, Jewett said the district’s testing coordinator received a late night call from the state education department saying that Pearson had “initiated a Priority 1 Alert for an item breach within our school.”

The unnamed state education department employee contended a student took a picture of a test item and tweeted it. But it turned out the student had posted–at 3:18 pm, after testing was over–a tweet about one of the items with no picture. Jewett does not say the student revealed a question. Jewett continues:

“The student deleted the tweet and we spoke with the parent–who was obviously highly concerned as to her child’s tweets being monitored by the DOE (state education department).

“The DOE informed us that Pearson is monitoring all social media during the PARCC testing.”

Jewett continued: I have to say that I find that a bit disturbing–and if our parents were concerned before about a conspiracy with all of the student data, I am sure I will be receiving more letters of refusal once this gets out.”

The school superintendent also expressed concern about “the fact that the DOE wanted us to also issue discipline to the student.”

I contacted Jewett by email. By that time she had discovered three instances in which Pearson notified the state education department of the results of its spying. In her email to me, Jewett was vague about the role of Pearson and the education department. She wrote:

“In reference to the issue of PARCC infractions and DOE/Pearson monitoring social media, we have had three incidents over the past week. All situations have been dealt with in accordance with our Watchung Hills Regional High School code of conduct and academic integrity policy. Watchung Hills Regional High School is a relatively small district and a close-knit community; therefore, I am very concerned that whatever details your sources are providing may cause unnecessary labeling and hardship to students who are learning the consequences of their behavior.”

Jewett acted professionally, I believe, but I must point out the irony of her lecturing me about protecting the identity of students when she has just dealt with an inexcusable breach of privacy involving minors. I made it clear to her I have no intention of revealing names of students–but I would be more than happy to speak with their parents.

The state education department official identified as the person cooperating with Pearson is Veronica Orsi, who is in charge of assessment for grades 9-12 in the department. She refused to answer this website’s questions about her involvement.

Neither the state education department nor Pearson’s would respond to my emails on the company’s spying on students.

New Jersey is paying $108 million to run its PARCC testing program, an enterprise that has engendered opposition throughout New Jersey–and that was before the spying was revealed.

State Education Commissioner David Hespe spent hours testifying before the Legislature’s Senate Education Committee Thursday and did not once mention the possibility that the London-based Pearson would be “monitoring” the social media accounts of students taking the test. Jewett’s email, however, indicated the department–presumably including Hespe–were well aware of the practice.

A few days before, state education department officials–including Orsi–held a background briefing for some media–Bob Braun’s Ledger was not invited–and none of the mainstream media accounts of the session revealed the Pearson spying program."

http://bobbraunsledger.com/category/education/

Parents Can Opt Out - United Opt Out National

Click Here to go to United Opt Out National: 

Click Here to go to the Website- United Opt Out Team

Click Here to go to the Website FairTest

Hey, Kids: If You Tweet About Your PARCC Testing Experience, Pearson Will Call You Out | deutsch29

Hey, Kids: If You Tweet About Your PARCC Testing Experience, Pearson Will Call You Out | deutsch29:



Hey, Kids: If You Tweet About Your PARCC Testing Experience, Pearson Will Call You Out

 The question of whether Louisiana students are taking a legitimate PARCC test might be answered by the outcome of Louisiana students discussing their PARCC testing experience on social media.

The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) has no contract with official PARCC vendor, Pearson. Louisiana’s “PARCC” tests are supposedly the result of an undisclosed arrangement between another testing company, Data Recognition Corp (DRC) and Pearson.

The public is not allowed to know the details surrounding the shaky third-party-acquisition of Louisiana’s “PARCC” tests.

However, Pearson apparently trolls social media to protect its product.

In short, Pearson has been monitoring social media in New Jersey to see if students in PARCC testing states have been chatting about their testing experiences.

Pearson officials have even had the gall to contact the New Jersey department of education three times and push for corrective action for the students’ actions on social media.

Read about the fill story on Bob Braun’s Ledger.

NOTE: I read that Braun’s blog account had been suspended. For a full copy of his post in Word doc form, click here:

Bob Braun’s Ledger 03-13-15

 Hey, Kids: If You Tweet About Your PARCC Testing Experience, Pearson Will Call You Out | deutsch29:

Big Education Ape: Pearson Streamlines Social Media Listening and Monitoring on PARCC tests With Tracx http://bit.ly/1BCFI3o

TO MY BLOG AND FACEBOOK FRIENDS: My site has been attacked and has been shut down to stop the attack. You might want to contact Pearson and let them know you don't appreciate suppression of legitimate news.

From Bob Braun's Ledger on FaceBook 732 PM PST

Big Education Ape: UPDATE: Pearson, NJ, spying on social media of students taking PARCC tests | Bob Braun's Ledger http://bit.ly/1BCz9Ol

Pearson Streamlines Social Media Listening and Monitoring on PARCC tests With Tracx

Pearson Streamlines Social Media Listening and Monitoring With Tracx:

Pearson Streamlines Social Media Listening and Monitoring With Tracx

Big Education Ape: BREAKING: Pearson, NJ, spying on social media of students taking PARCC tests | Bob Braun's Ledger http://bit.ly/1BCz9Ol

Pearson is the world’s leading learning company, providing educational materials and services and business information through the Financial Times Group. Pearson serves learners of all ages around the globe, employing 41,000 people in more than 70 countries. Social media plays a business critical role across all of Pearson’s major businesses: PreK-12, Higher Education, Professional and Assessment, as well as from a corporate perspective.

Problem

With organizationally and globally distributed teams, Pearson employees were using dozens of different social media toolsand services. Their primary tool, Radian6, was difficult to use, limited in terms of how many topics they were able to track and very expensive. Providing meaningful measurement across Pearson was challenging and an incredibly manual and time-consuming process. Pearson was seeking a social listening and analytics platform that could be utilized across all its business units and able to scale to support its global businesses.

Solution

After doing a thorough review of social media listening and analytics tools, Pearson chose Tracx for three primary reasons.

1. Usability: 
which refers not only to the clean intuitive user interface of the Tracx platform but also to the ease of getting data and reports needed.
2. Customer Service: 
with a dedicated client services team on tap to not only get the Pearson team up and running but available to help however needed on an ongoing basis.
3. Value: 
since Tracx does not charge additional fees based on the number of user profiles or owned media accounts, both are included and unlimited with Tracx. Pearson uses Tracx daily for social listening and monitoring across all its lines of business.

Today, Pearson uses Tracx to arm nearly 40 employees to do their own social research and reporting and continues to add additional users and geographies every month.

Results

Tracx enabled Pearson to increase organizational efficiencies and cut costs by reducing the number of social tools being used throughout the organization. Tracx has assisted with governance issues including enterprise workflows to ensure appropriate teams are communicated with, as well as approval chains and processes are followed. In addition, Tracx has empowered a wider number of people within the Pearson organization to self-serve social listening, analytics and reporting reducing the pressure on the online marketing group to be the sole provider of this knowledge and reporting.

Pearson Streamlines Social Media Listening and Monitoring With Tracx: 

Big Education Ape: Companies cash in on Common Core despite controversy http://bit.ly/1Ah00v6

Common Core's contract winners

Rank	Vendor	Project awards 2010-2014
1	Pearson	27
2	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt	20
3	Staff Development Workshops	16
4	Scholastic	14
5	Catapult Learning	11
6	McGraw-Hill	9
7	Pivot Learning Partners	9
8	AP Ventures	8
9	Action Learning Systems	7
10	Solution Tree	7

Source: Onvia database of awards, based on key words related to "common core"

Education Secretary Arne Duncan wades through anti-testing protesters at Chicago event | Chicago

Education Secretary Arne Duncan wades through anti-testing protesters at Chicago event | Chicago:



Education Secretary Arne Duncan wades through anti-testing protesters at Chicago event

 U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan arrived at a South Side elementary school Thursday morning for an event — but his driver took a wrong turn down a dead-end alley, and Duncan was forced to walk half a block to the school amid protesters who’d been waiting for him to complain about standardized testing.

About 50 parents and children stood outside Ariel Community Academy so they could deliver their message to him about their opposition to the PARCC test. They chased his black SUV when it turned short of the school into an alley.

But the alley was a dead end. The SUV stopped. Duncan got out in his shirt-sleeves, his suit jacket over one arm.

He strode back up the heavily puddled alley to the nearest school entrance, smiling at the chanting (“Chicago hates the PARCC”) and signs (“Arne, Rahm, Park the PARCC, stop test bullying.”) Aside from a few pleasantries, he did not speak to the people surrounding him.

“There’s no way he didn’t see why we’re here and why we we’re protesting,” said Lynn Ankey, mother of two at Belding Elementary School on the Northwest Side. “Despite the bullying by ISBE (Illinois State Board of Education) and by him to ISBE, we’re not giving up and we’re still going to stand up for our kids.”

Duncan was expected inside along with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett and Ariel Investments President Mellody Hobson to announce a new financial education program.

Once safely inside the school, Duncan was asked about the protest outside.

Why is his U.S. Department of Education forcing a controversial standardized test — one many parents don’t want and that Mayor Rahm Emanuel has argued is “not ready” for prime time — down the throats Chicago Public Schools?

“I’m not,” Duncan said. “The state works it out without Chicago. . . .  That’s the state’s decision.”

But isn’t the mandate being dictated by the federal government? Isn’t that what’s behind the threat to withhold $1 billion in funding that forced Chicago’s hand?

“No. You’re wrong. . . . You’re making stuff up. You don’t have your facts straight,” Duncan said.

The secretary was asked about the parental animosity stemming from the PARCC test and the resulting protest that forced him to go through the gantlet of protesters to get into Ariel Community Academy, 1119 E. 46th Street.

“I welcome the conversation. It’s good. . . . It’s a healthy conversation to have,” he said.

But he said, “It’s important to assess kids annually. . . . Millions of kids around the country are taking the test. We’re fine.”

With that, a press aide to Duncan stepped in and ended the Education Secretary Arne Duncan wades through anti-testing protesters at Chicago event | Chicago:

Special Education Vouchers Likened to “Puppy Mills”:

Special Education Vouchers Likened to “Puppy Mills”

MARCH 13, 2015 BY NANCY BAILEY LEAVE A COMMENT

Mississippi Rep. Cecil Brown (D-Jackson) said, in reference to vouchers for students with disabilities, “You are getting ready to open the equivalent of puppy mills for children.” Brown expressed concern that parents would be scammed and would lose out on services for their children.

Mississippi politicians are trying to pass a voucher bill for students with disabilities to attend private schools of their parent’s choice. While parents might be frustrated with the services they get in public schools, there is fear, as expressed by Rep. Brown, that outside institutions will gladly take their vouchers and only be interested in the money and not helping their child

School choice for students with disabilities, in most cases, makes absolutely no sense. The majority of private, parochial and charter schools do not provide services that address disabilities of any kind.

So it seems ludicrous to hand over public dollars for services that do not exist, yet many states are doing just that. Politicians either mistakenly believe private is better for students with disabilities, or they see this as a sneaky way to privatize schools in general. Either way, they are doing a disservice to children and wasting tax dollars.

While politicians around the country debate vouchers, many students with disabilities are already provided vouchers. The best known voucher program is the McKay Scholarship in Florida. There they find that many parents use the vouchers, not for special education, but to place children in religious schools. Nor are schools regulated, as noted yesterday in the link to a serious article by Gus Garcia-Roberts in the Miami New Times.

Special ed. vouchers aren’t doing well in other states either. In Wisconsin, a student had to return to public school after a difficult experience in a private school. In the Special Education Vouchers Likened to “Puppy Mills”:

200 schools hold rallies to oppose Cuomo’s education reforms - NY Daily News

200 schools hold rallies to oppose Cuomo’s education reforms - NY Daily News:

200 city schools hold rallies to oppose Andrew Cuomo’s education reforms

BY BEN CHAPMAN , JENNIFER FERMINO , LISA L. COLANGELO 

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

 Thousands of parents, union leaders and teachers rallied at almost 200 city schools Thursday against Gov. Cuomo’s proposed education reforms.

The demonstrations were aimed at Cuomo’s plans to increase the importance of standardized tests for teacher ratings, boost the number of charter schools and turn over the management of troubled city schools to outside groups.

“Maybe he wants to talk about all these bad ideas so we’re not talking about that he owes us a lot of money,” city teachers union president Michael Mulgrew said.

Cuomo has threatened to withhold more than $1 billion in additional state funding for public schools if the Legislature does not agree to his reforms in theupcoming state budget.

But his ideas were not popular with the parents and educators who demonstrated against them by forming human chains outside dozens of city classrooms.

“There is too much focus and too much stress on testing,” said Concetta Aloi, the PTA president of Public School 200 in Brooklyn. “All the parents think too much time is spent on preparing kids for tests instead of learning the curriculum.”

Mulgrew and American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten stopped by several rallies and City Hall for a show of support for City Councilman Danny Dromm (D-Queens), chairman of the Education Committee.

“Receivership is code word for privatization and New York City schools are not for sale,” said Councilman Mark Treyger (D-Brooklyn), in reference to Cuomo’s plan to take over troubled schools.

But Cuomo spokeswoman Dani Lever said the governor is fighting to reform a system that has condemned 250,000 children to failing schools over the last 200 schools hold rallies to oppose Cuomo’s education reforms - NY Daily News:

Meeting Shows Communtiy Support for Reopening Washington Elementary | The Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education

Meeting Shows Communtiy Support for Reopening Washington Elementary | The Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education:

Meeting Shows Communtiy Support for Reopening Washington Elementary

Last night Coalition members, including myself, attended a meeting at Washington Elementary school hosted by Sacramento City Council Member Steve Hansen and SCUSD Board member Jay Hansen to gauge neighborhood support for reopening the school. Steve Hansen opened the meeting by saying that he had been working behind the scenes since the closure of Washington Elementary to reopen it. It's closure has left a hole in the community.

School board member Jay Hansen gave some more background information on the Washington. The school was one of the oldest in the district (though the building is newer). One of its assets is that it's adjacent to a city park. It still supports a child care program. At the time of its closure it had the second lowest enrollment in the district. It would need an enrollment of 300 to be "self-supporting". He thinks that the best way to achieve that is for the school to be a neighborhood school with an attendance boundary, but also a program focus like art or language immersion. That would draw students from outside the area to bolster enrollment. The school wouldn't have to have that enrollment on the first day, but it would have to achieve that within a few years to be successful.

Steve Hansen says there is new single family housing coming into the area that could also help bolster enrollment. David Fisher, spokesperson from SCTA which supports reopening the school, stated that the district will be working to bring back class size reduction in grades K-3. There will be a demand for more classroom space, and that will create capacity problems at the schools that received students after the closures. That could also help enrollment at Washington if it reopens. Neighbors attending the meeting said that there are children in the neighborhood that could attend the reopened school. One said he knew some residents had moved to midtown to be within walking distance of the school; because of its closure they are now considering moving away.

There is a timeline of a couple of months for staff to consider all the logistics for reopening the school and present a plan to the board. Jay Hansen said that he believes there is a willingness on the board to consider reopening the school. Until it's on the agenda the board can't legally discuss it because of the Brown Act. Steve Hansen would like to open the school the fall of 2015, but Jay Hansen thinks that an opening in the fall of 2016 Meeting Shows Communtiy Support for Reopening Washington Elementary | The Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education: