Latest News and Comment from Education

Show All

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Alfre Woodard Gives Life to Sojourner Truth SF Public School Mom

Alfre Woodard Gives Life to Sojourner TruthSF Public School Mom:

BHM Series #6: Alfre Woodard Gives Life to Sojourner Truth


In honor of Black History Month, I’m reposting a previous series. A few years ago, (2015 to be exact!) I challenged myself to write 28 posts highlighting African-American History. This year I finally reached my goal!!! Check out my original post below which appeared on February 3, 2015. To see more posts in this series, click here.
If you are a fan (like me) of the new hit series How to Get Away with Murder, you’ll love this.

“Ain’t I A Woman”, by Sojourner Truth as Read by Alfre Woodard

Actress Alfre Woodard performs a very moving piece from black abolitionist, and former slave, Sojourner Truth who delivered an impromptu speech before a gathering of feminists in Akron Ohio in 1851. (Click here to view this video directly on YouTube.)


Related Reads: Click here to view more posts in this series.

Who inspires you?  Help me reach my goal of 28 posts and email me or post your great resources in the comments below.

My homework assignment: Inspired by an SNL’s skit, I challenged myself to write 28 posts highlighting African-American culture and heritage (roughly one for each day of the month)… Do you have a great resource to share? Post it in the comments or email me!
Celebrating Black History isn’t about cut and paste activities, or eating sweet-potatoes and calling it a day. How do you ensure you are celebrating Black History in a way that values the cultural contributions of a people within a wider social and historical context?
Here’s is a start…

7 Core Values to Celebrate During Black History Month from Lee & Low Books

This book list from Lee & Low is organized under 7 Key Values: Perseverance, Determination, & Grit, Leadership & Courage, Teamwork & Collaboration, Responsibility & Commitment,  Optimism & Hope, Compassion & Love, Passion & Pride
There are also suggested discussion questions:
  1. How does/do the character(s) show (core value)?
  2. What positive effects are associated with having/showing (core value)?
  3. How do you show (core value)?
  4. How can you work towards having/showing (core value)?
  5. What core values do you think are important to apply in our classroom? Why?
Included as well are helpful links to other resources including an 8-step checklist for building an inclusive book collection that reflects the diversity of the human experience and “dos and don’ts” for teaching Black History from Teaching Tolerance.

Want more ideas? Check out these related reads: Diversify your Child’s Toy Chest, What Color Crayons are in Your Coloring Box?, Books that Get the Conversation Started

How are you actively exposing yourself and your children to positive African-American role-models? Please share your ideas, resources and comments below!

My homework assignment: Inspired by an SNL’s skit, I challenged myself to write 28 posts highlighting African-American culture and heritage (roughly one for each day of the month)… Do you have a great resource to share? Post it in the comments or email me!
Posted by at

Getting What You Pay For – redqueeninla

Getting What You Pay For – redqueeninla:

Getting What You Pay For



Is it true there are LAUSD board candidates “supported by” Betsy DeVos?
Recently this very central, very arresting question was posted to a neighborhood social media website, highlighting the core themes of today’s political perplexity: culpability, association and formal logic.
The thread claimed that those who opposed DeVos should be aware that two carbon copy candidates running in tandem for the LAUSD fourth board district are “supported by” DeVos; today’s mail insisted the same.
“Not True” howled the pair’s supporters and indeed I have found no trace that DeVos has funded either candidate directly.
And yet these underlying claims of equivalency are, I believe, spot on.
Why?
Well first, the term “DeVos” has become iconic, representing an attitude, a political ideology and stance.  As well, she has become symbolic of Trump’s predilection for appointing cabinet members who are patently antagonistic to that department which they are tapped to lead.
As unpleasant as the second characteristic is, DeVos’ symbolism is only a secondary characteristic of LAUSD’s board race for the fourth district (BD4). There is little question that incumbent Steve Zimmer is eminently – and the most – qualified candidate for this position.  He has done the job for two terms already and arguably has been extremely effective at it, having climbed a very steep learning curve of mind-boggling complexity. Governing Los Angeles Unified is a gigantic job, so (i) working within a splinter school district just a very small fraction of its size, or (ii) tilting ineffectively against its entrenched bureaucracy (the twinned challenger’s qualifications respectively), does not constitute robust qualification for the post. This district is vast and its issues tremendously difficult to master; job familiarity is a strong asset.
Additionally his opponents champion the charter school ethos underwritten by Eli Broad in “a bold plan to expand the charter sector to serve 50% of Los Angeles public school students.” If such a plan cannabilizes the very system that spawned it, then these candidates could be said to be akin to the DeVos paradigm of anti-leadership because their ascension will destroy that which they Getting What You Pay For – redqueeninla:


Posted by at

The Network for Public Education Joins Journey for Justice's Campaign to Support Public Schools - #WeChoose

The Network for Public Education Joins Journey for Justice's Campaign to Support Public Schools - Network For Public Education:

The Network for Public Education Joins Journey for Justice’s Campaign to Support Public Schools


On February 15th, Jitu Brown, the Executive Director of Journey for Justice (J4J) led a media briefing for the #WeChoose (public schools) Campaign launch at the Chicago City Hall. The Network for Public Education was represented by Phyllis Bush (second from left), one of the founding board members of NPE, who serves on its Executive Board.
Mr. Brown (center) also serves on the Board of NPEAction. Also in attendance was NPE Action board member, Tina Andres (right of Phyllis), who was at the press conference representing the BATS.
The #WeChoose (public schools) campaign focuses on the following:
A moratorium on school privatization.
Federal funding for 10,000 sustainable community schools.
Ending zero tolerance policies.
Assessing gaps in equitable funding.
Supporting black teachers.
Ending state takeovers, appointed school boards and mayoral control.
Eliminating the over-reliance on standardized tests in public schools.
The Network for Public Education Joins Journey for Justice's Campaign to Support Public Schools - Network For Public Education:

Posted by at

Schools Matter: The Dubious Claims by the TN Dept. of Education

Schools Matter: The Dubious Claims by the TN Dept. of Education:

The Dubious Claims by the TN Dept. of Education


Tennessee politicians enjoy a long, sordid history of underfunding public schools, crying about poor education quality, making outrageous demands of students and teachers, and complaining about federal interference while begging for federal grant stashes to keep state school doors open. 

One of those big stashes of federal cash is about to run out in 2019 unless state politicians can gin up a good reason for extending the Gear Up TN, a 7-year grant awarded in 2012 "that aims to expand the college-going culture in Tennessee and empower students to succeed."  

This program, which focuses largely on counseling high school students into college and career fields that fit the needs of corporations receiving huge public incentives to locate in Tennessee, is worth $29,590,281 to state politicians, who, by the way, are unwilling to ask TN's wealthy elites or said corporations to pay a fair share to educate Tennessee children.

And so recently the TN Department of Education (TDOE) manufactured a report that claimed that 30 percent of TN's high school graduates had skirted high school requirements, as established in 2010 by Business Roundtable honchos with the U. S. Diploma Project.  Could this be the reason why so many kids drop out of college, the State asks.  How could this happen!  

According to TDOE, it would seem that quite overnight the State realized that Tennessee school counselor corps falling down on the job, along with administrators and teachers who should act as counselors when counselors can't keep up.  And thank goodness, too, for Gear Up TN.  Where would the state be without it!!  

Obviously, TDOE never guessed that someone might challenge their phony claims that were published in this glossy report.  And as you might guess, TDOE never asked local school boards or superintendents to help verify the shocking statistic that 30 Schools Matter: The Dubious Claims by the TN Dept. of Education:



Posted by at

HB 1518: “The Summer Step-Up Act” re: Social Emotional Learning: Why are we experimenting on low income four-year old’s? | Seattle Education

HB 1518: “The Summer Step-Up Act” re: Social Emotional Learning: Why are we experimenting on low income four-year old’s? | Seattle Education:

HB 1518: “The Summer Step-Up Act” re: Social Emotional Learning: Why are we experimenting on low income four-year old’s?

sel.jpg
I took a deep dive into the realm of Social Emotional Learning recently and someone brought to my attention a House Bill that is in committee at the time of this writing. It is House Bill (HB) 1518 that was initially titled “Improving student achievement by promoting social emotional learning throughout the calendar year” but may be changed to “The Summer Step-Up Act”, a catchier title that masks what the bill is really about.
The reason I want to bring this bill to the attention of the public is that this piece of proposed legislation has the appearance of being the beginning of a concept that needs further study.
Public school education continually, by way of the whims of politicians and their donors and the whimsy of philanthropists, goes through upheavals on a regular basis and most of the time, common sense and lessons learned are left behind in the race to the next new bright and shiny silver bullet. Remember Bill Gates’ idea of galvanic wrist band monitors for students? Or the data walls in classrooms showing each student’s performance on tests in elementary school or remember IQ tests back in the day? The most recent big fails have been the No Child Left Behind Act and Race to the Top.
Posted by at

Parents - Just say NO to the 2017 SBAC Testing Scheme - Wait What?

Parents - Just say NO to the 2017 SBAC Testing Scheme - Wait What?:

Parents – Just say NO to the 2017 SBAC Testing Scheme


SBAC  testing will begin soon in Connecticut’s schools.
FACT:  Parents have a fundamental and inalienable right to REFUSE to have their children take the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) test – Period, End of Story.
Do not be bullied into believing that you have lost your right to protect your children from the unfair, inappropriate and discriminatory “test and punish” SBAC testing system.
When considering the refusal (opt-out) issue it is critically important that parents understand that there is no federal or state law that eliminates a parent’s right to refuse to allow their children to take the SBAC test.
While there are federal and state laws that direct states and school districts to try and achieve a 95 percent participation rate for the standardized tests, the State Department of Education’s own instruction on the matter makes the truth clear.
In a February 29, 2016 PowerPoint presentation entitled “Improving Participation Rates on State Assessments,” the Connecticut State Department of Education states;
There are no penalties for students and families for not participating, however, there may be unintended consequences that have an effect on students and families in the school district
As to these consequences, the Connecticut the State Department of Parents - Just say NO to the 2017 SBAC Testing Scheme - Wait What?:


Posted by at

Investigation: Charter school leaders, founders linked to controversial Turkish cleric

Investigation: Charter school leaders, founders linked to controversial Turkish cleric:

Investigation: Charter school leaders, founders linked to controversial Turkish cleric

Image result for big education ape Gulen charter schools

A group of charter schools that arose from North Jersey’s Turkish community is rapidly growing in the state, with seven schools collecting more than $60 million in taxpayer money last year alone to fund their growth.
Now, an investigation by The Record and NorthJersey.com shows that some founders and leaders of the schools  have close ties to the movement of Fethullah Gulen, the controversial Islamic cleric accused of working to overthrow the government in his native Turkey last summer. Gulen is fighting extradition demands as he lives in a secluded compound in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, about 10 miles from the New Jersey border.
The 75-year-old Gulen, in his writings and public comments, espouses a modern Islamic society that embraces education, interfaith dialogue and tolerance. Sympathy for the movement is strong among key figures who pioneered the North Jersey charter schools.
Some belong to Turkish émigré groups that tout the cleric's teachings. There are also political donors who collectively have furnished hundreds of thousands in donations to U.S. office holders while the North Jersey charter schools in general have been adept at wooing state and local government officials with trips to Turkey and, in some cases, jobs.
Records show the charter schools in North Jersey also have been a channel for state taxpayer money to private entities that serve the schools as landlords or vendors — in one case, a Wayne boarding school that is openly Gulen inspired.
In Turkey’s capital of Ankara, President Recep Erdogan has purged thousands of suspected "Gulenists" from the government and is pressing the Trump administration to break with former President Barack Obama and immediately dislodge the cleric and send him home to stand trial as a domestic terrorist who they claim was behind the July 2016 coup attempt.
Officials in the turbulent Turkish republic have maintained Gulen is leveraging a network of more than 100 charter schools nationwide and U.S. tax dollars to support revolution back home that would put his followers in power.
“It’s clear these schools were being used both to raise funds for Gulen and employ Gulen followers and teachers and basically have them tie a percent of their income back to Gulen,” said Robert Amsterdam, a London-based lawyer hired by the Turkish government who is investigating charter schools in the U.S. that he alleges are linked to Gulen.

The United States has not classified Gulen or his followers as a terrorist group, and some have characterized the cleric as an antidote to Islamic extremism. The Trump administration has not made an official policy statement about Gulen.
Gulen disavows any role in  the Turkish coup or terror attacks there, and he has long denied a connection to the Turkish-led charter schools in the United States.
Leaders of the New Jersey schools interviewed for this story say their charters, spread across a dozen locations stretching from Hackensack to Somerset County, have no formal link to the reclusive preacher. They exist solely to provide good secular education for the large numbers of public school families seeking better outcomes for their children, they say.
As the international controversy around Gulen swirls, the Turkish-led schools in New Jersey continue to collect tens of millions of dollars in state financing and local tax support, public records show.
The Record's review raises key questions about state oversight of the schools even as Governor Christie – who visited three of the North Jersey locations last year  – pushes to rapidly expand the charter movement across the state:
The investigation found:
A state-financed property deal involving the Paterson Charter School for Science and Technology also benefited its landlord, a private group with close ties to the Gulen movement: 
  • That group sold the property and used the proceeds to help open a new campus in Wayne for its private boarding school that hews closely to Gulen's teachings and caters largely to students from Turkey.  
  • Public money, in fees and rent that could amount to millions of dollars over time, continues to flow to the charter school's new landlord, a firm with multiple ties to Turkish charter schools in New Jersey and elsewhere.  
Connections run deep among people involved with the schools, Gulenist groups and Turkish charter schools elsewhere in the U.S:   
  • Two of the New Jersey schools, for example, have a founder who has served as a director at the New York-based Alliance for Shared Values, considered the voice of the Gulen movement in this country.   
  • The CEO of iLearn Schools Inc. – an Elmwood Park-based non-profit that manages four of the local charter schools – comes from a charter network in Texas that the Turkish government claims is linked to the Gulen movement.  
The schools and their vendors have successfully courted prominent public-school educators and political figures.   
  • The state’s top charter school regulator, Harold Lee, left his post last summer for a job at iLearn.   
  • Security consulting contracts at four of the schools worth more than $90,000 a year are held by ex-Bergen County Sheriff Leo McGuire, who took a 10-day trip to Turkey before he left office in 2010 with his family and local Turkish nationals tied to the schools. It was paid for in part by a Gulenist group. 
More than $30 million in long-term, low-interest loans have been granted by the state to benefit the Paterson charter school despite its continuing financial and academic troubles: 
  • In 2014, a Wall Street ratings agency downgraded the bonds issued for its expansion to junk status because the school’s revenues had fallen. Last year, Wall Street lowered its overall outlook on the bonds to “negative.” 
Tracking tax dollars spent by the schools can be difficult because of loopholes in state law:
  • ILearn, which is set to add a fifth charter to its chain this year, declined to answer routine requests for information about its payroll, saying that as a private contractor it is not subject to the state Open Public Records law.   
  • State officials said it is unclear if such charter-management organizations fall under the law, even though charters draw their funding directly from the tax-funded budgets of regular public schools.  
Gulen’s followers maintain the campaign against the American charters by the Turkish government – which claims the schools are being used to further Gulen's political agenda – is part of an attempt to smear and harass Gulen supporters wherever they live.
They dismiss the idea of a political or religious conspiracy operating through them and say Gulen’s movement is about hard work, peace and leading an ethical life. The movement’s Alliance for Shared Values maintains his devotees have simply been inspired to “promote education, particularly in math and science, by starting schools to serve disadvantaged communities.”
It is clear, also, that local Turks sympathetic to Gulen have influence well beyond the charter schools and are skilled at building political capital. Civic and cultural organizations linked to Gulen are active in the community at large, holding academic competitions for students and interfaith and outreach events with politicians, law enforcement and the public.
Members of the organizations are vocal about issues that affect Turkey and have provided U.S. lawmakers and others like McGuire with trips to their homeland, including two Bergen County legislators, Sen. Loretta Weinberg and Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, financial disclosure forms show. Census figures show that Bergen and Passaic counties have the nation’s highest percentage of residents with Turkish ancestry among America's 3,000-plus counties. There are 5,200 in Bergen County alone.
Johnson said he visited a Gulen university and met with a group of Gulenist educators. Weinberg recalled learning about the Gulen philosophy when she traveled to the republic with Johnson in 2011. Like the former sheriff, both legislators said they paid for airfare and the Peace Islands Institute, a U.S.-based group that considers Gulen its honorary president, picked up the costs for the 2011 trip. Johnson visited again in 2014 on a trip that was paid for, in part, by the Turkic American Association, which promotes Turkish culture.
McGuire said Gulen was not discussed on what he called a “spectacular trip” in 2008. But a brochure by the Turkish Cultural Center of New Jersey about the excursion quotes him as saying: “I now have many, many more Turkish friends. It is clear that those who have read the books of Fethullah Gulen have taken his message throughout Turkey and the world to promote interfaith dialogue and understanding.”Investigation: Charter school leaders, founders linked to controversial Turkish cleric:
Posted by at

State superintendent candidate: Challenger offered 6-figure job to drop out of race

State superintendent candidate: Challenger offered 6-figure job to drop out of race | Politics and Elections | host.madison.com:

STATE SUPERINTENDENT | CANDIDATE OUTLINES CHALLENGER’S DEAL FOR $150k POSITION
State superintendent candidate: Challenger offered 6-figure job to drop out of race


A candidate for state superintendent offered an opponent a taxpayer-funded $150,000 job if he dropped out of the race and sought the same for himself if he were the one to drop out, his challenger alleged Wednesday.
Candidate John Humphries said in an interview with the Wisconsin State Journal that during discussions between him and opponent Lowell Holtz, Holtz proposed in writing that either he or Humphries should drop out in exchange for the guaranteed three-year job with the Department of Public Instruction should one of them defeat incumbent Tony Evers in the general election.
But Holtz said in an interview with the State Journal that the proposal — including a driver, benefits and sweeping control over several urban school districts, including Madison — was a “rough draft” of ideas assembled at the request of business leaders he declined to name of how the two conservative candidates could work together instead of running against each other. Both candidates said the proposal went nowhere.
Holtz said the proposal was intended for consideration after the primary, but Humphries said Holtz meant for it to be weighed before the race even began and contemplated scenarios under which one or the other candidate would drop out.
Each sought to make his case with dueling documents released Wednesday, although it was impossible to ascertain whether either had been altered.
Holtz and Humphries are competing in a Feb. 21 primary against Evers, and both are seeking support from conservative voters. The top two vote-getters advance to the general election in April.


Posted by at

'A Day without Immigrants' protests: L.A. Unified urges students not to take part - LA Times

'A Day without Immigrants' protests: L.A. Unified urges students not to take part - LA Times:

'A Day without Immigrants' protests: L.A. Unified urges students not to take part
Image result for A Day without Immigrants
 LA Unified is urging students not to join in any walkouts or demonstrations planned for Thursday as part of a national “Day without Immigrants” being marked across the country.
The nation’s second-largest school district contacted parents and employees via voicemail on Wednesday evening with a recording by Alma Pena-Sanchez, LAUSD’s chief of staff.
“While we respect everyone’s right to have their voices heard and to participate in civic action such as protest, all students and staff are encouraged and expected to come to school,” Pena-Sanchez said.
“A Day Without Immigrants” actions are expected to take place in Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and other cities with large immigrant populations. 
Activists are encouraging immigrants to skip work, avoid shopping and otherwise withdraw from the economy for a day to make clear the roles they play in American society.
The protest action was prompted by the policy goals voiced by President Trump, who has vowed to ramp up deportations of those in the country illegally and build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.
Schools and universities across the nation have been the centers of protests, walkouts and unrest.
A week after the election, L.A. Unified, which is 74% Latino, saw thousands of students stream from classrooms and gather at Boyle Heights’ Mariachi Plaza and Lincoln Park in Lincoln Heights before marching to City Hall.
To alleviate anxiety among students and parents, the district has set up a hotline and 'A Day without Immigrants' protests: L.A. Unified urges students not to take part - LA Times:


Image result for A Day without Immigrants
 Image result for A Day without Immigrants
Posted by at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)