Big Education Ape

Sunday, July 10, 2016

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Stock Up on Edureads

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Stock Up on Edureads:

ICYMI: Stock Up on Edureads

ICYMI will be off for the next two Sundays while I am on the road. Use the blogroll in the right column to track down some of the best eduwriting going on while I'm gone. Meanwhile, let me stock you up.

Where Will All the Boys Go

Julia Sass Rubin with charts and actual data to help explain why we can say that the charters of New Jersey are running a big fat scam.

The Kids Can't Read, But They Can Read You

If you are like me, you never miss anything that Jose Vilson reads. But if you missed this, read it now.

A Shortage of Respect

Rob Miller reminds us, once again, what contributes to the ongoing teacher shortage.

My Final Evaluation, or If I Werern't Retiring, Bot Would I Be Pissed

Just an awesome first person account of being on the receiving end of one more bad evaluation process.

Dear Michigan Public School Teachers

An open letter that starts out mildly enough, but builds up a good, hot head of steam.

The Greening of American Education

Looking at the big-picture narrative of how reformsters have gone after the 650 billion dollar pile of education money.

So Who Says Competition in the Classroom Is Inevitable?

Easy to miss this because it comes under the heading of Australian education, but it's really for everyone, and hits particularly hard at US education because it addresses the assumption that competition is natural and normal and belongs in our clasrooms.

CURMUDGUCATION - http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/

CA: K12 Caught Lying and Cheating, Again

K12, one of the giants of the cyber-charter biz, has reached a settlement in California after being slapped for lying about student enrollment and student achievement. K12 and California Virtual Academies collected about $310 million in money from the state over the last twelve years (and those are largely Californis tax dollars diverted to the Virginia HQ of K12); the settlement will cost K12 $16

25 by Peter Greene / 3h

YESTERDAY

ALEC's Resolution for Big Brother

ALEC, you may recall, is the fun club for conservative elected officials and conservative corporate folks. They get together, cook up some "sample" legislation , and send those out as templates for various state legislatures to turn into laws. Not only are they not open to ordinary citizens, but they're pretty adamant about keeping away reporters . ALEC is interested in many, many aspec

44 by Peter Greene / 17h

JUL 08

FL: Rep. Brown Indicted in $800K Scam

That's the old page from the One Door for Education website, a site that isn't so active these days. The scholarship foundation was supposed to be funding education and student scholarships. But since the beginning of 2016, it has been operating under the adjective 'beleagured" That's because it turns out to be a huge scam. Back in January, the Florida Times-News has worked out some of the d

17 by Peter Greene / 1d

Not Okay

What do you say when you need to say something and there is nothing to say. Well, there's lots to say, but literally everything that could be said has been said, and at this point is has been said over and over. It turns out that when you have too much exposure to the banality of evil, you start having trouble with banality in the response to evil. I can't promise that this will be clear or cogent

400+ by Peter Greene / 2d

JUL 07

Amazon Inspire Off To Rocky Start with Piracy Problems

Amazon Inspire is intended to be Amazon's entry into the teacher resource market , a place where teachers could find "tens of thousands of free lesson plans, worksheets and other instructional material," all accessed through the familiar Amazon interface, complete with searches and starred reviews. As laid out by the NYT, this venture is meant to be the point of the spear for Amazon, dri

18 by Peter Greene / 3d

JUL 06

Data (7/19)

I am on a two-week vacation, driving cross-country with my wife to spend time with family in Seattle. In my absence, I have dug into the archives and pulled up some reruns for you. Though what I most suggest is that you check out the blogroll on the right side of the page. There are some outstanding bloggers, and if there are some folks you've never sampled, there's no day like today. The unendin

2 by Peter Greene / 3d

My Election Position : The Trump Clinton Yardstick.

So today's Sign of the Presidential Apocalypse was coming across a facebook argument about whether Trump or Clinton is the more racist. That's where we are-- we're ready to elect a racist as President and all that's left is to quibble over how much of which style of racism. I am fifty-nine years old, and have read and studied history most of my adult life. I'm prepared to call this as the worst pa

100+ by Peter Greene / 3d

Vander Ark & The Trouble with Charters

If you don't already, you should know who Tom Vander Ark is. Vander Ark has one of the oldest membership cards for the Ed Reform Club. He ran education initiatives for the Gates Foundation, then went on to work with investment capitalists, technocrats, and big-name competency based education groups like iNACOL. As reader Les Perelman noted the last time I wrote about TVA, there's a chapter in his

19 by Peter Greene / 4d

JUL 05

For HRC: Profit Vs. Non-Profit Charters

So this is how we're going to play it. As all the interwebs now know, Hillary Clinton got herself booed at the NEA conference today by mentioning charter schools (she also drew jeers for GOP dumpster-fire/candidate Donald Trump). But in language mimicked by the many folks who read Politico, Politico said The presidential hopeful won back the crowd by making a distinction between charter schools in

100+ by Peter Greene / 4d hide // save

Charter Villains

It is one of the reliable tropes of the ed debates (isn't it fun that we've been at this so long we now have reliable tropes). After some negative charter publicity, some reformsters will step up to offer a smattering of defense with a side order of "Why does the media pick on us?" Alexander Russo offers a weak-sauced rendition of this old standard at Washington Monthly, where he tries t

24 by Peter Greene / 4d

JUL 04

PA: More Charter Christmas

PA House Bill 530 is yet another attempt to make life happier for charters in the Keystone State. As usual, it's a poop sandwich, a simple legislative trick where lawmakers include something in the bill that makes a good PR hook (This bill proposes to give the state the right to punch Mean People in the nose) with the hopes that the PR will cause folks to overlook other details of the bill (This b

32 by Peter Greene / 6d

CURMUDGUCATION - http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/

Focus on fresh start for public education in Detroit, not blame for past

Focus on fresh start for public education in Detroit, not blame for past:

Focus on fresh start for public education in Detroit, not blame for past

On July 1, 2016, a new school district was born in the City of Detroit. Sixty-eight days later, on Sept. 6, 2016, our new school district will begin its first semester of responsibility to educate its students. We will be ready.

As a community, we can choose to focus our time and energy on questions such as who bears the responsibility for the problems of the old Detroit Public Schools, whether it was necessary for the Michigan Legislature to launch a new school district to solve those problems, or whether the Legislature should have done more.

As leaders of the new school system, however, we choose to focus on the task of creating the best school system that we can for the city of Detroit. We make that choice because it is in the best interests of the students. All other questions are merely distractions from the goal of excellence in academics to which we aspire. We ask the community to join us in that choice.

In a larger sense, this new beginning for education in Detroit is a part of the larger fresh start that the city and the community are working so hard to achieve following the City of Detroit's bankruptcy. School leadership and staff, the city and the community will work equally hard to achieve a fresh start for the new school district.

Our goal is excellence in academics. That is why we are creating a new academic plan for the district. This spring, we launched the Academic Advisory Council. We requested anyone interested in assisting with the creation of our new Academic Plan to respond. We have more than 160 participants. The council utilizes research and best practices models to make recommendations for improvement in 15 categories.

The council’s work is not complete, and the door to participate remains open. The council will continue to meet quarterly to provide a forum for dialogue and critique of the district’s academic plans moving forward.

At the same time, we recognize our logistical challenges in creating excellence in academics. Our budget must be balanced. Our school buildings must be fixed. Our students must have the necessary books and supplies and must feel safe and secure. We are working hard on these challenges. But they are only the means to the end.

We also recognize the opportunities that community involvement creates for excellence in academics. To the great credit of our community, many have volunteered. Beyond that, everyone we ask wants to help. The sense of responsibility for the education of our children that so many in Detroit are willing to actively support is growing. We are working on new and innovative ways to harness that energy.

Our definition of “community” extends beyond Detroit’s geographic boundaries. In our view, everyone in the state of Michigan has a stake in the success of education in Detroit, just as everyone has a stake in the success of the city itself. This means that we must bring an end to the “us vs. them” view that some hold, both within the city and elsewhere in Michigan.

Ultimately, excellence in academics comes down to two interactions. The first is what happens in the classroom between the teacher and the students. We take full responsibility for the quality of our students’ classroom experiences. The new academic plan addresses the multi-faceted issues of teaching and learning in our schools.

The second is the support that the adults in our students’ lives create for their education. We are committed to facilitating that support and to providing innovative tools to assist with that support. The new academic plan also addresses this key challenge.

The birth of our new school system is a fresh start for public education in Detroit. It is to be cherished for the gift that it is. We look forward to its future with great hope and expectation.

Steven Rhodes is transition manager and Alycia Meriweather is the interim superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools Community District. To volunteer, for the district's Academic Advisory Council contact academic.excellence@detroitk12.org. Focus on fresh start for public education in Detroit, not blame for past:

Can the Save Our Schools Movement Fix Public Education? | TakePart

Can the Save Our Schools Movement Fix Public Education? | TakePart:
Can the Save Our Schools Movement Fix Public Education?
Activists such as Jonathan Kozol headed to Washington, D.C., to protest inequalities in the K-12 system.

In a week dominated by headlines about bloodshed, protests, and inequality in the era of the nation’s first black president, one tweet on Friday got to the heart of the matter: "For black lives to matter, black #education has to matter," wrote the Twitter user UndercoverBAT, a pseudonym for a public school teacher.

To that end, this weekend dozens of public education activists and advocates are convening in Washington, D.C., to push for a national agenda they argue can keep poor and minority children out of prison, level the economic playing field with whites, and help the nation compete in the global, tech-based economy.

RELATED: Why the Roots of Police Violence Lead Back to Segregated Schools

The participants in the annual Save Our Schools conference are intent, however, on pushing back against what they see as the privatization of the nation’s schools—including the promotion of charter schools in places like Detroit and New York City,unequal school funding among white and minority districts, and the scant attention presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have paid to the K–12 public education issue on the campaign trail.

“We just thought it was time to come back to D.C. and raise these issues again,” Anthony Cody, one of the event’s organizers, told TakePart. Education, he said, “is one of the most important issues that affects hundreds of millions of people” but typically isn’t taken seriously by most politicians.

“They give us a pat on the back when they want our vote,” but neither Democrats nor Republicans are willing to tackle the core issues head-on, Cody said. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has barely mentioned an education agenda, Cody said, and “from Hillary Clinton we’ve gotten mixed messages.”

Education “is sort of a third rail,” he said.

RELATED: Why a Charter School Takeover Might Be Coming to Your Town

But for Jonathan Kozol, the education activist and author who is participating in the education sessions and a march on the White House, education is no less than a fundamental civil rights issue.

“Nationally, the issues that are being raised at the SOS rally are very close to my heart,” said Kozol, who taught in underserved schools and participated in the civil rights movement to break what he calls the apartheid of segregation in 1960s. “I still happen to believe that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was right—I believe his actual dream” of true equality was built on education.

Though the Save Our Schools conference agenda is broad and leans to the left—full, equitable funding for all public schools, community leadership in public school policies, child-centered, culturally appropriate curricula for everyone—the primary goal is to raise awareness of disparity in public education and what Cody calls a corporate takeover of public education.

That includes the recent proliferation of high-stakes testing, which critics say is driven by education giants such as McGraw-Hill, Harcourt, and NCS Pearson. Cody sees the same motives driving the push for charter schools in Detroit, which recently announced it would depend on the taxpayer-funded, committee-run schools to rebuild Motown’s moribund districts.

RELATED: Even in Elite College Towns, Black Students Can’t Catch a Break

While education reform activists argue that the evaluations are crucial to teacher accountability and ensuring students in underserved districts have high-performing educators, critics say they’re being used to punish teachers and manipulate school Can the Save Our Schools Movement Fix Public Education? | TakePart:

As Common Core standards kick in, debate rages on - San Jose Mercury News

As Common Core standards kick in, debate rages on - San Jose Mercury News:

As Common Core standards kick in, debate rages on

Bud Harrington, a retired English teacher from the East Side Union High School District, was known for unique classroom activities such as ghost storytelling in a darkened theater, analyzing songs from his Simon & Garfunkel playlist and putting together a personal magazine.

While other teachers focused on getting their students to meet standards, Harrington said he made an effort to enhance students' creativity, cultural appreciation and enthusiasm for learning. His classroom relied on a relaxed, bean bag-filled atmosphere with "assignments that allowed for low-achieving, high-risk students to enjoy learning and to stay in school," he said.

"School should never be about making mindless working robots out of human beings," Harrington said. "While students need the technology and the ability to adapt, they should never be deprived of learning sweeping lines from Shakespeare or admiring the subtle colors that Michelangelo used when painting the Sistine Chapel."

California schools have slowly been implementing Common Core standards, which are meant to ensure that students are ready for life beyond high school. The standards focus on collaboration and the development of verbal communication skills to prepare students for college and career.

But while most educators have embraced the standards, Harrington does not believe these standards are beneficial to students. He is in the minority among teachers and administrators recently surveyed by WestEd, a nonprofit organization working with education.

The study, conducted earlier in the year, reported that "56 to 92 percent of teachers and administrators believe that the new standards are more rigorous than previous standards, that the standards make learning more relevant to students' everyday lives, and that the standards will positively impact the degree to which students are prepared for college and careers."

Bernadette Marcias, a sixth-grade teacher at San Jose's Carolyn Clark Elementary School, numbers among the majority of teachers who support the shifts in language arts, explaining that "it comes down to making sure your students have the skills to be in the real world. I want to make sure when a student leaves my classroom, they can express their ideas without being afraid, that they can be a leader."

However, she acknowledged potential drawbacks to the focus on collaboration and discussion that comes with the new standards.

"Students without the vocabulary and verbal and writing skills can be seen as not being a team player because they don't have the basics and cannot participate in higher-level discussion groups," Marcias said.

Concern for students who struggle with the basics of reading and writing is common among As Common Core standards kick in, debate rages on - San Jose Mercury News:

Replacement of No Child Left Behind Act causing problems in Washington | Times Record

Replacement of No Child Left Behind Act causing problems in Washington | Times Record:

Replacement of No Child Left Behind Act causing problems in Washington

WASHINGTON — A new education law applauded for replacing the much-maligned No Child Left Behind Act has become embroiled in criticism that it could wreak havoc on local school funding and teacher contracts.

Six months after President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act — declaring it a Christmas miracle — the dispute over his administration's effort to enforce it has created unusual battle lines. Key Republican lawmakers, state governors, and the teacher unions are on one side and recently confirmed U.S. Education Secretary John King Jr., Democratic lawmakers and leaders of the civil rights community on the other.

Like its predecessor, the Every Student Succeeds Act is scheduled to be passed every few years to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Act, signed into law originally in 1965 by Lyndon B. Johnson as part of his War on Poverty.

The latest act aims to reduce the emphasis on testing while preparing high school graduates for college and a career, targeting resources toward schools with high drop-out rates, empowering local officials to develop their own programs for school improvement and providing more access to high-quality preschool.

But critics worry implementation and regulations of it will violate the law.

What King is pushing for

At the center of the dispute is Title 1, a major provision in the original 1965 law that provides lower-income students with additional federal funding, and the "Supplement Not Supplant" provision, which ensures local schools do not use federal funds to replace local and state money.

Title 1 remains the largest of the law's grant programs with $14.9 billion for the current fiscal year.

Despite progress leading to record graduation rates, significant reductions in drop-out rates for African-American and Latino students and increased college enrollment, King said too many schools offer disadvantaged students less access to the best teachers, most challenging courses and services more affluent students take for granted.

"This is critically important because despite the end of separate but equal, 70 percent of all African-American or Latino students and 70 percent of low-income students attend Title 1 schools," he said.

King's effort has drawn the support of Democratic senators such as Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, whose positions on such issues have made her a star among her party's liberal wing, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who energized those same people with his run for the White House, and Richard Durbin of Illinois, who currently holds his party's No. 2 leadership post in the Senate.

"It is critical that the Department ensures that states are not circumventing Congressional intent by using this funding to backfill shortfalls in state and local funding due to irresponsible, inequitable, or unfair budgeting decisions," they stated in a letter to King, citing the past record of some to use Title 1 dollars to actually subsidize inequitable funding practices on the local level.

Leading members of the civil rights community including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Children's Defense Fund, the NAACP, the National Council of La Raza and the National Urban League also spoke up.

"Without robust clarity in regulations for the oversight of this provision of the law, the integrity of federal Title 1 dollars will be undermined and low-income students will be deprived of the supports and services they need and deserve," stated a letter from more then two dozen groups.

But there are critics

Opposition to the Education Department's approach has been strong, and perhaps the most vocal critic has been Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.

Currently Alexander is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee and served as Replacement of No Child Left Behind Act causing problems in Washington | Times Record:

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