Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 8/16/15

SPECIAL NITE CAP 

CORPORATE ED REFORM

When A Budget Motel Is 'Home,' There's Little Room For Childhood : NPR

When A Budget Motel Is 'Home,' There's Little Room For Childhood : NPR: When A Budget Motel Is 'Home,' There's Little Room For ChildhoodIan opens the door to the motel room he shares with his mother, Karen. Their living situation has exposed the 5-year-old to conditions most students his age don't have to confront. "He saw way too much in the last few weeks," Karen says.Tess Vigeland/NPR

by mike simpson / 1h 

What Vaccines Your Child Needs to Start School | Rosemont, CA Patch

What Vaccines Your Child Needs to Start School | Rosemont, CA Patch: What Vaccines Your Child Needs to Start SchoolUnder California law, children must be fully immunized before starting school.As the school year starts, public health officials are reminding parents to get their children vaccinated before starting school.Under California law, children must be vaccinated against a host of diseases,

by mike simpson / 1h 

Blame attacks on public education for teacher shortages, Percy Brown and Tim Slekar say : Ct

Blame attacks on public education for teacher shortages, Percy Brown and Tim Slekar say : Ct: Blame attacks on public education for teacher shortages, Percy Brown and Tim Slekar sayPercy Brown (left), the director of equity and student achievement at Middleton High School, and Tim Slekar, the dean of Edgewood College's School of Education.Some Wisconsin school districts have reported problems fill

by mike simpson / 1h 

Letter To The Editor Of Ebony Magazine - United Opt Out

LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF EBONY MAGAZINE - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform: LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF EBONY MAGAZINE(Photo from: http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/08/15/new-orleans-washing-machine-style-education-reform)The recent article “What Happened to All Schools in New Orleans?”written by R.L. Hill presents a false and incomplete picture of the K-12 schools in

by mike simpson / 3h 

Russ on Reading: Is First Grade Ready for Your Child?

Russ on Reading: Is First Grade Ready for Your Child?: Is First Grade Ready for Your Child?If you are a parent of a six-year-old about to enter first grade, you are sure to be wondering if your child is “ready for first grade.” You may have already had this discussion with a kindergarten teacher, school administrator or your Aunt Janet who taught school for a while thirty years ago. Everybody seem

by mike simpson / 4h 

Fake Report: No relationship between teacher pay, student results

Report: No relationship between teacher pay, student results: Report: No relationship between teacher pay, student resultsA new report looking at the salaries of the 75 largest school districts in California alleges there is no correlation between teacher compensation and higher student test scores.Transparent California posted the report on their website’s blog on Wednesday morning. The report lo

by mike simpson / 5h 

Common Core: A Real Test For Pearson - Pearson plc (NYSE:PSO) | Seeking Alpha

Common Core: A Real Test For Pearson - Pearson plc (NYSE:PSO) | Seeking Alpha: Common Core: A Real Test For PearsonSummaryCommon Core education requirements are controversial and expensive.Pearson is the market leader but suffering recent setbacks.Demographics provide a rising tide in Education.The Common Core State Standards Initiative provides a framework for standardized testing in English and

by mike simpson / 5h 

The war on North Carolina’s public schools | Salisbury Post

The war on North Carolina’s public schools | Salisbury Post: The war on North Carolina’s public schoolsI am no fan of hyperbole, but I mean it when I say this: North Carolina is waging war against public education.The pathway that brought us here has been paved with underfunded budgets, tactical strikes against public school teachers, fundamental changes in charter school operations, the diversion

by mike simpson / 5h 

Teacher Age Discrimination During a So-Called Teacher Shortage

Teacher Age Discrimination During a So-Called Teacher Shortage: Teacher Age Discrimination During a So-Called Teacher ShortageJeb Bush is 62. Hillary Clinton is 67. Donald Trump is 69 and Bernie Sanders is 73. If these individuals were teaching in a public school, and not famous politicians, what would you bet that they’d still be working?How many older teachers do you know who are still teaching?

by mike simpson / 6h 

CURMUDGUCATION: Backpacks for Clueless Parents

CURMUDGUCATION: Backpacks for Clueless Parents: Backpacks for Clueless ParentsOver at Getting Smart, a website devoted to selling educational product, guest writer Aimee Rogstad Guidera makes her case for more data collection for each student-- because it's what parents want.Parents are eager for information about their child’s education. As a mom, I want to know if my daughter is struggling in ma

by mike simpson / 6h 

Glen Brown. More on teacher Social Security theft. | Fred Klonsky

Glen Brown. More on teacher Social Security theft. | Fred Klonsky: Glen Brown. More on teacher Social Security theft.– By Glen Brown. Glen blogs at Teacher/Poet/Musician/Watch Cat. This is a post from 2012 with current updates.The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) “was enacted as part of the 1983 Social Security Refinancing Act, designed to shore up the financing of the Social Security Trust Fu

by mike simpson / 6h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: McQueary's fake apology. Assures us she is 'not a racist'.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: McQueary's fake apology. Assures us she is 'not a racist'.: McQueary's fake apology. Assures us she is 'not a racist'.I wrote what I did not out of lack of empathy, or racism, but out of long-standing frustration with Chicago’s poorly managed finances. -- Kristen McQuearyTake note: Whenever a writer has to explain to readers that they're not really a racist or lackin

by mike simpson / 8h 

A Puzzle in the Teaching of History | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

A Puzzle in the Teaching of History | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: A Puzzle in the Teaching of HistoryIn my forthcoming book, Teaching History Then and Now: A Story of Stability and Change, I describe teaching history and social studies in the 1960s and in 2014 in two urban high schools, one in Cleveland (Glenville High School) and one in Washington, D.C. (Cardozo High Scho

by mike simpson / 8h 

Geaux Teacher!: The Perils of using Disaster as a Catalyst for Change in Louisiana - Part 1

Geaux Teacher!: The Perils of using Disaster as a Catalyst for Change in Louisiana - Part 1: The Perils of using Disaster as a Catalyst for Change in Louisiana - Part 1Some very good editorials are being published as we approach the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana.  I am going to re-post several of those that particularly strike a nerve with me because they cut through the rheto

by mike simpson / 9h 

There’s one education reform proven to work on a national scale, so why aren’t we trying it? - The Hechinger Report

There’s one education reform proven to work on a national scale, so why aren’t we trying it? - The Hechinger Report: There’s one education reform proven to work on a national scale, so why aren’t we trying it?In the fight over how to close the racial achievement gap in education, you rarely hear about the only policy that’s ever worked on a national scale: desegregation.Reformers push school choic

by mike simpson / 9h 

Schools Matter: Pence Funded by Oregon’s Charter School Libertarian

Schools Matter: Pence Funded by Oregon’s Charter School Libertarian: Pence Funded by Oregon’s Charter School LibertarianBy Doug Martin, Author of Hoosier School Heist(Doug Martin is up for the Best Local Political Activist of the Year Award.  Please go to NUVO and vote for him today and every day until August 21.) The school privatizers are tossing money at Mike Pence right and left.  The governor

by mike simpson / 9h 

How States Rank on High-School Graduation Rates - The Atlantic

Nevada vs. Arizona: Despite an All-Time-High National Graduation Rate, Dropout Factories and Achievement Gaps Persist in Some States - The Atlantic: How States Rank on High-School Graduation RatesNationwide, the percentage of students getting their diplomas is at an all-time high. But while some states have made incredible strides, others have struggled to keep up.More students are graduating from

by mike simpson / 9h 

District riven by religious favoritism claims gets monitor - Yahoo News

District riven by religious favoritism claims gets monitor - Yahoo News: District riven by religious favoritism claims gets monitorSUFFERN, N.Y. (AP) — When his fifth-grade son struggled with a question on primary colors posed by the TV show "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader," David Curry saw just how bad things have gotten in the troubled East Ramapo school district.Divided for a decad

by mike simpson / 9h 

Op-ed: Teach for America stumbles because its teachers aren't prepared | The Salt Lake Tribune

Op-ed: Teach for America stumbles because its teachers aren't prepared | The Salt Lake Tribune: Op-ed: Teach for America stumbles because its teachers aren’t preparedTeach for America is celebrating its 25th anniversary, but, for the second time in two years, its recruitment numbers are down. The program, which handpicks college graduates to teach in high-need schools, has been so popular that 18

by mike simpson / 10h 

Sacramento City Council has inconsistent record of sexual harassment training | The Sacramento Bee

Sacramento City Council has inconsistent record of sexual harassment training | The Sacramento Bee: Sacramento City Council has inconsistent record of sexual harassment trainingA state bill signed into law in 2004 requires that employers in California with more than 50 workers give sexual harassment prevention training to all supervisors every two years. The law – Assembly Bill 1825 – was inspired

by mike simpson / 10h 

Education summit to gauge Kasich | The Columbus Dispatch

Education summit to gauge Kasich | The Columbus Dispatch: Education summit to gauge KasichGov. John Kasich is taking part in an education summit this week in New Hampshire with several other Republican presidential candidates, and he should have plenty to say.Former NBC and CNN journalist Campbell Brown said the idea behind Wednesday’s event is to go in-depth with the candidates — in individual qu

by mike simpson / 10h 

YESTERDAY

The Teacher Shortage - The New York Times

The Teacher Shortage - The New York Times: The Teacher ShortageEducators cite low pay, lack of respect and support, and high-stakes tests as causes.To the Editor: Re “Across Country, a Scramble Is On to Find Teachers” (front page, Aug. 10):We applaud you for shining a light on the economic forces that helped create the national teacher shortage: low pay, higher student loan debt and recession-link

by mike simpson / 19h 

The strange case of Newark’s vanishing principal. Who just reappeared. | Bob Braun's Ledger

The strange case of Newark’s vanishing principal. Who just reappeared. | Bob Braun's Ledger: The strange case of Newark’s vanishing principal. Who just reappeared.Nothing more dramatically shows the contempt the state-operated school district obviously feels for the residents of Newark than the way its leaders–first Cami Anderson and now Christopher Cerf–keep parents uninformed about even dramatic

by mike simpson / 21h 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: FTC Seeks Public Comment on Parental Consent for Children's Online Privacy

Seattle Schools Community Forum: FTC Seeks Public Comment on Parental Consent for Children's Online Privacy: FTC Seeks Public Comment on Parental Consent for Children's Online PrivacyThe Federal Trade Commission is seeking public comment on a proposed verifiable parental consent method that Riyo has submitted for Commission approval under the agency’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule.Unde

by mike simpson / 23h hide  //  save

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 8/15/15

SPECIAL NITE CAP CORPORATE ED REFORMJersey Jazzman: How Economists Hired By Hedge Fund Maniacs Justify Shafting Puerto Rico's StudentsJersey Jazzman: How Economists Hired By Hedge Fund Maniacs Justify Shafting Puerto Rico's Students: How Economists Hired By Hedge Fund Maniacs Justify Shafting Puerto Rico's Students Diane Ravitch points us to yet another example of how the very wealthiest in this c

by mike simpson / 1d 

When A Budget Motel Is 'Home,' There's Little Room For Childhood : NPR

When A Budget Motel Is 'Home,' There's Little Room For Childhood : NPR:

When A Budget Motel Is 'Home,' There's Little Room For Childhood

Ian opens the door to the motel room he shares with his mother, Karen. Their living situation has exposed the 5-year-old to conditions most students his age don't have to confront. "He saw way too much in the last few weeks," Karen says.

Tess Vigeland/NPR

Just a couple of blocks off the 210 Freeway in San Bernardino, Calif., about an hour east of LA, rest a whole row of cheap, run-down motels. Some people stay for a night or two, others just by the hour.

But some rooms house families with kids — and they're not just stopping in.

This is home for them, at least for now. They've run out of other options for a roof over their heads.

California ranks third in the U.S. — behind only Kentucky and New York — in the percentage of children who don't have a home, according to the National Center on Family Homelessness. And the evidence of this is clear in San Bernardino, which is littered with dilapidated neighborhoods and abandoned blocks, even in the city's center.

Here, budget motels have become a last refuge for desperate people with nowhere else to go. Joe Mozingo, the Los Angeles Times staff writer behind the series San Bernardino: Broken City, says that kids who live in these motels get exposed to some troubling conditions.

"Drug addicts and prostitutes, people with severe mental illness," he explains. "It's just kind of a crazy place for a child to grow up in."

For instance, Eddie, the 14-year-old at the heart of one of Mozingo's pieces, had to cope with bullying, the death of his cousin and a mother who was usually strung out on meth — before she got arrested.

i

The Golden Star Inn, in San Bernardino, Calif. Karen and her son moved in here after they left the last motel they were living in --€” a place she says was "like summer camp for meth addicts."

Tess Vigeland/NPR

"So he was just totally left alone with his mom's boyfriend, who's also a meth user," Mozingo says. "And he just didn't know what to do. I've just never seen a kid look so lost and in need of guidance."

At the Golden Star Inn, one of the motels just off a juncture in San Bernardino, Karen lives with her 5-year-old son, Ian. (She asked that we not use her last name to protect her and her son.) The morning Mozingo and I spoke with her, she had just filed a restraining order against her husband; she says he's addicted to meth. She and Ian have lived in a shabby, dimly lit room for nearly three months.

In the room, there are signs of an effort to create something resembling a home. Stuffed animals and Disney pillows lie strewn on the bed, and laundry is hanging out When A Budget Motel Is 'Home,' There's Little Room For Childhood : NPR:

What Vaccines Your Child Needs to Start School | Rosemont, CA Patch

What Vaccines Your Child Needs to Start School | Rosemont, CA Patch:

What Vaccines Your Child Needs to Start School

Under California law, children must be fully immunized before starting school.

As the school year starts, public health officials are reminding parents to get their children vaccinated before starting school.

Under California law, children must be vaccinated against a host of diseases, such as polio and chicken pox, before starting school. The requirement differs depending on the age and grade of the child.

August is National Vaccination Month, and public health officials are using that to remind people about the importance of vaccination.

“Vaccines are the most effective tools there are to prevent children from getting sick,” San Diego County public health officer Dr. Wilma Wooten said. “When children are not vaccinated, not only are they at increased risk for disease, they can also spread illness to others in classrooms, households and communities.”

Currently there is a movement against vaccination based on a debunked study that linked vaccines to a rise in autism in children. The cause gained prominence through high-profile supporters such as former Playboy Playmate Jenny McCarthy, among others.

Starting in June 2016, however, California parents will no longer be able to use personal belief to exempt their children from vaccination.

This past June, Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB 277 eliminating personal belief exemptions into law -- only allow exemptions for medical reasons.

The bill, inspired by a measles outbreak in California that started at Disneyland in December, triggered heated debate and passionate testimony on both sides.

So which vaccine does your child need in order to start school?

For children who are 4 to 6 years of age, health officials recommend getting shots for DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis -- whooping cough), chickenpox, MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) and polio

Older children need a booster shot for DTaP. The The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recommends teenagers get vaccinated against human papilloma virus.

Vaccination is not just for students K-12, students entering college need to get vaccinated as well. The CDC recommends college freshmen get vaccinated against Meningococcal meningitis. Freshmen are seven times more likely to contract Meningococcal meningitis than the general population, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Most county public health departments offer vaccinations for little to no cost for low-income people or people lacking medical insurance.

--Photo courtesy of the California Department of Public Health What Vaccines Your Child Needs to Start School | Rosemont, CA Patch:

Blame attacks on public education for teacher shortages, Percy Brown and Tim Slekar say : Ct

Blame attacks on public education for teacher shortages, Percy Brown and Tim Slekar say : Ct:

Blame attacks on public education for teacher shortages, Percy Brown and Tim Slekar say

Percy Brown (left), the director of equity and student achievement at Middleton High School, and Tim Slekar, the dean of Edgewood College's School of Education.

Some Wisconsin school districts have reported problems filling teaching positions as the school year approaches.

It's not a mystery why, local education leaders Percy Brown and Tim Slekar said in an interview aired on WKOW-TV's "Capitol City Sunday."

Brown, the director of equity and student achievement at Middleton High School, and Slekar, the dean of Edgewood College's School of Education, pointed to what they called a sustained war on teachers and attacks on public education.

Education policies in both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations have contributed, Brown said.

"The accusations or the blame are being placed on teachers for failure in academic achievement when we look at comparisons to other developed countries," he said. "But I see that attack as not addressing the real issues that our educational institutions are actually dealing with. We really have to look at the focus on issues of race, class and mental health issues. To put the blame on teachers does not make the profession look very attractive."

Teacher shortages in Portage and La Crosse have been covered locally, while a Washington Post blog last week described similar problems in Indiana.

"What's going on?" Post education reporter Valerie Strauss wrote. "Pretty much the same thing as in Arizona, Kansas and other states where teachers are fleeing: a combination of under-resourced schools, the loss of job protections, unfair teacher evaluation methods, an increase in the amount of mandated standardized testing and the loss of professional autonomy."

That struck a chord with Slekar, who said the applicant pools for students at education schools like his have dropped by at least a third.

"That's an exit strategy to get your best teachers out of the profession," Slekar said. "At a time when we supposedly are saying we want our best people to be stepping up to become teachers, we are pushing those people away more and more and more."

Last week, the Wisconsin Budget Project reported on the

Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/local/writers/todd-milewski/blame-attacks-on-public-education-for-teacher-shortages-percy-brown/article_07e59142-f8f1-51e0-a797-0532a7b42ebf.html#ixzz3j1J1ENpt

LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF EBONY MAGAZINE - UNITED OPT OUT

LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF EBONY MAGAZINE - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform:

LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF EBONY MAGAZINE

(Photo from: http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/08/15/new-orleans-washing-machine-style-education-reform)

The recent article “What Happened to All Schools in New Orleans?”written by R.L. Hill presents a false and incomplete picture of the K-12 schools in New Orleans, La.  To quote: “And despite  nationwide concerns over what seems to be an educational realignment with charter school principles, current signs indicate it’s working in the Big Easy.”   The article cites the only criticisms of and concerns for the Recovery School District of New Orleans (RSDNO) are the mass firings and the decision making process that failed to include the community of stake-holders who reside in New Orleans. This could not be further from the truth.  The RSD is riddled with problems inclusive of poor academic performance, inadequate funding, poor teacher quality, test -driven curriculum at the expense of quality pedagogy, and a racist and militaristic approach to discipline for the majority of the non-White populace that attends RSDNO schools.

The article claims that the schools are doing better than prior to Hurricane Katrina because high school graduation rates and standardized test performances are better.  According to the a recent report by Charles Hatfield, M.S. and Barbara Ferguson, Ed.D , “…the ninth grade cohorts show a consistent gap between the RSDNO and the Orleans Parrish School Board (OPSB) regarding the success of the state takeover. Yet this gap is often omitted because other researchers combine the achievement and graduation results of both RSDNO and OPSB. The failure of those RSDNO’s 9th grade enrolled cohorts to graduate within 4 years reflects adversely on the ability of a school district to address the educational needs of all of its students. It suggests the non-existence of vital support mechanisms needed to address the myriad of educational, psychological and social needs of all students enrolled in the 9th grade.”  The report goes on to say: “Unfortunately, the LDOE refused to provide ROR with these enrollment files that would have been necessary to complete the four year analyses of each of the missing cohorts, i.e., 2012-13, 2013-14, and 2014-2015; thereby, limiting the scope of this study and depriving the public and researchers of vital raw data by which to objectively assess the effectiveness of the state’s takeover. This is a blatant example of the LDOE’s lack of transparency with respect to accountability.”

Sadly, any success that can be claimed is the result of misleading manipulations such as the change in the school grading formula from 2012 to 2013, which “raised” the RSD district score from a D to a C., or as LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF EBONY MAGAZINE - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform:

Russ on Reading: Is First Grade Ready for Your Child?

Russ on Reading: Is First Grade Ready for Your Child?:

Is First Grade Ready for Your Child?

If you are a parent of a six-year-old about to enter first grade, you are sure to be wondering if your child is “ready for first grade.” You may have already had this discussion with a kindergarten teacher, school administrator or your Aunt Janet who taught school for a while thirty years ago. Everybody seems to have an opinion on first grade readiness and after all if your child is not ready for first grade and “falls behind” at the very start of his/her schooling, what are the chances that s/he will be “college and career ready” in 12 years?

Google “first-grade readiness” and you will get dozens of hits for websites that provide you with checklists, some of them a hundred items long that purport to tell you if your child is ready. Just go through the list, check off the benchmarks and there you have it, concrete evidence that your child is ready – or not. You can find one of these lists here. These lists contain items related to social skills, like the ability to work, play and share with others and to resolve conflict with words; language skills, like the ability to listen to and comprehend instructions and distinguish fact from fiction; number sense, like counting to 30 and estimating quantities using blocks and paper clips; social studies, like the ability to understand history as stories of what has happened in the past; and science, such as the recognition of how people impact life on earth.

Ultimately, these lists are an exercise in futility. The real question a parent should be asking is not if my child is ready for first grade, but is first grade ready for my child. It is not a child’s responsibility to be ready for first grade, it is the professional responsibility of the adults at the school to make sure that first grade is ready for your child. Six year-old children come in all shapes, sizes and levels of physical, social and intellectual development and schools need to be prepared to accommodate them all and provide an appropriate education for them all.

Thirty years ago I faced a difficult decision. My son, a bright, but very active (some said hyperactive) child, had just turned 6 in July and his kindergarten teacher had suggested he was not ready for first grade. The school offered a “transitional” first grade designed for Russ on Reading: Is First Grade Ready for Your Child?: