Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 7/5/17

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 7/5/17

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Take Two® | Meet LAUSD's new school board member Kelly Gonez | 89.3 KPCC

Did Arne Duncan help write the NEA denunciation of Arne Duncan? | Fred Klonsky

by mike simpson / 23min

Did Arne Duncan help write the NEA denunciation of Arne Duncan? | Fred Klonsky : Did Arne Duncan help write the NEA denunciation of Arne Duncan? In an August, 2015 Politico article by Michael Grunwald called The Duncan Wars, Grunwald writes: “Dennis Van Roekel, who led the NEA in Obama’s first term, used to meet Duncan for breakfast every month, and says they actually agreed on almost every issue

THE COUP TO DESTROY THE AMERICAN DREAM | Dr. Edward F. Berger

by mike simpson / 2h

THE COUP TO DESTROY THE AMERICAN DREAM | Dr. Edward F. Berger : THE COUP TO DESTROY THE AMERICAN DREAM Within the core of our freedoms, lie the avenues powerful individuals use to take away the rights of citizens and the controls of government designed and evolved to serve all. Americans are now aware of the reality that subversive forces have made excessive headway in destroying our rights. What

CURMUDGUCATION: Dear Lily. Re: Betsy DeVos & The NEA RA

by mike simpson / 2h

CURMUDGUCATION: Dear Lily. Re: Betsy DeVos & The NEA RA : Dear Lily. Re: Betsy DeVos & The NEA RA Dear Lily: Many news items came out of the NEA RA this year-- some pretty interesting, and some pretty routine, but I have one to cheer and one to complain about. Cheer There will be no photo op. After years and years of making compromises in order to keep an imaginary seat at a mythical table, this

Parent/Educator EDU | My Island View

by mike simpson / 2h

Parent/Educator EDU | My Island View : Parent/Educator EDU I have long been a guest blogger for Edutopia, which has been both a challenge and an honor. I have always found it challenging to be provocative in promoting change in education in a blog post, while remaining positive in tone. That overriding positive tone however is one constant in Edutopia posts that engenders loyalty, trust and a rel

CURMUDGUCATION: What Bad Bosses Say

by mike simpson / 3h

CURMUDGUCATION: What Bad Bosses Say : What Bad Bosses Say Forbes likes listicles with a business bent, but sometimes they seem applicable to other areas. School areas. For instance, here's their piece " Ten Things Only Bad Bosses Say." Let's see what portion of this resonates. Do we hear any of these from our on bad bosses-- and note that these are absolutely Forbes ten markers for bad bosses. Th

Fifth Circuit Holds That Recitation of Mexican Pledge In Spanish Class Not Compelled Student Speech - Education Law Prof Blog

by mike simpson / 4h

Education Law Prof Blog : Fifth Circuit Holds That Recitation of Mexican Pledge In Spanish Class Not Compelled Student Speech The Fifth Circuit held last week that requiring that students perform the Mexican Pledge of Allegiance as an assignment for a Spanish language class, and the school's actions afterwards, did not violate the First Amendment. In Brinsdon v. McAllen Independent Sch. Dist. , 1

Why students at an affluent school want to drop longtime mascot: The Millionaires - The Washington Post

by mike simpson / 4h

Why students at an affluent school want to drop longtime mascot: The Millionaires - The Washington Post : Why students at an affluent school want to drop longtime mascot: The Millionaires At Lenox Memorial Middle and High School in the Berkshire region of western Massachusetts, the longtime mascot is the Millionaires — but if most of the students have their way, it won’t be for long. The decision

Women, minorities see barriers to schools' top job

by mike simpson / 5h

Women, minorities see barriers to schools' top job : Women, minorities see barriers to schools’ top job It has been “difficult” being a school superintendent who is female and African-American, said the departing leader of Reynoldsburg City Schools. Without getting into specifics — she can’t because of a legal settlement she signed with the school district — Superintendent Tina Thomas-Manning, wh

Examining the achievement gap between white and black students in Alabama | AL com

by mike simpson / 5h

Examining the achievement gap between white and black students in Alabama | AL.com : Examining the achievement gap between white and black students in Alabama This is the first of several stories digging into one of the most challenging issues facing Alabama public schools---the racial achievement gap. Throughout the series, Tackling the Gap, we'll take a deep dive into the data and talk with tea

Red-state school leaders vent frustrations with GOP health bill - POLITICO

by mike simpson / 5h

Red-state school leaders vent frustrations with GOP health bill - POLITICO : Red-state school leaders vent frustrations with GOP health bill They say Medicaid funding cuts would hamper their ability to serve low-income and special education students. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s health care bill is getting failing grades from red-state school leaders — even in his home state of Kentuc

Drilling “Rote Understanding” | Truth in American Education

by mike simpson / 5h

Drilling “Rote Understanding” | Truth in American Education : Drilling “Rote Understanding” Over the last several years, the press and television have publicized many parents’ frustration with how math is being taught in the lower grades. On the internet, videos abound with examples of how procedures such as addition and subtraction are being taught to students using convoluted methods that are l

Go Public, Trauma Informed Education and EnCorps | tultican

by mike simpson / 5h

Go Public, Trauma Informed Education and EnCorps | tultican : Go Public, Trauma Informed Education and EnCorps Go Public Project - http://gopublicproject.org/ A story of intrigue, real education reform and wealthy ignorance. A film maker, Rita Grant, called asking me to join an expert education panel at San Diego State University (SDSU). She said she found me when reading Diane Ravitch’s blog and

​​​​​​​The Diminishing Role of Art in Children's Lives - The Atlantic

by mike simpson / 6h

How Electronic Devices Are Affecting Kids' Art - The Atlantic : ​​​​​​​The Diminishing Role of Art in Children's Lives Kids have fewer opportunities to do art in school and at home—and that could have long-term consequences. “ Ik ben ik ”—I am me—was the classroom theme when my son started preschool in the Netherlands two years ago. He painted a portrait of himself, with exaggerated teeth only on

Schools Matter: KIPP Houston Forces Parents to Pay $2.3 Million in Unallowable Fees

by mike simpson / 6h

Schools Matter: KIPP Houston Forces Parents to Pay $2.3 Million in Unallowable Fees : KIPP Houston Forces Parents to Pay $2.3 Million in Unallowable Fees While the KIPP Foundation has hundreds of millions of dollars in banks and investments, KIPP's individual schools are forced to send the Foundation $30,000 per year for using the KIPP name. Where does the fee collecting stop? With the parents of

This story reveals what’s wrong with how kids learn science (and other subjects) - The Washington Post

by mike simpson / 6h

This story reveals what’s wrong with how kids learn science (and other subjects) - The Washington Post : This story reveals what’s wrong with how kids learn science (and other subjects) The square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle equals the sum of the squares of the other two sides. How many of you remember learning the Pythagorean theorem? But did you also learn that Pythagoras organized hi

'A Failed and Damaging Experiment:' NEA Takes on Unaccountable Charter Schools

by mike simpson / 6h

'A Failed and Damaging Experiment:' NEA Takes on Unaccountable Charter Schools : ‘A Failed and Damaging Experiment:’ NEA Takes on Unaccountable Charter Schools At its annual meeting on Tuesday, the educators of the National Education Association drew a sharp new line between charter schools that have a positive effect on public education and those unaccountable, privately managed charter schools

The last time the NEA adopted a policy on charter schools W was president and the towers were still standing. | Fred Klonsky

by mike simpson / 6h

The last time the NEA adopted a policy on charter schools W was president and the towers were still standing. | Fred Klonsky : The last time the NEA adopted a policy on charter schools W was president and the towers were still standing NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia at the 2017 Representative Assembly The Representative Assembly of the National Education Association, 7,500 delegates meeting i

Holiday Hump Day Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

by mike simpson / 6h

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all : Holiday Hump Day Diane Ravitch's blog A site to discuss better education for all Is Texas the Future of America? Let’s Hope Not! by dianeravitch / 19min This is a fascinating and funny and scary article about politics in Texas, written by Lawrence Wright, a Pulitzer Prize winning author and staff writer for The New Yorker. The ti

Take Two® | Meet LAUSD's new school board member Kelly Gonez | 89.3 KPCC

by mike simpson / 7h

Take Two® | Meet LAUSD's new school board member Kelly Gonez | 89.3 KPCC : Meet LAUSD's new school board member Kelly Gonez Kelly Gonez is a former teacher and the incoming LAUSD school board member for District 6, which covers the east of the San Fernando Valley. Gonez's term begins July 6, and her win was cast as a victory by those who back charter schools . In a sit-down interview with KPCC ed

Affluenza — The 20th Anniversary | The Merrow Report

by mike simpson / 7h

Affluenza — The 20th Anniversary | The Merrow Report : Affluenza — The 20th Anniversary (Originally written for the blog of my Secular Franciscan Order fraternity in Mishawaka, Indiana) This is the 20 th anniversary of the broadcast of a documentary that has lodged itself in my heart and my mind. May I recommend it to you as a powerful reminder of the wisdom that comes to us from St. Francis, as

With A Brooklyn Accent: Confidential Conversations With People Who Work in NYC Charter Schools

by mike simpson / 8h

With A Brooklyn Accent: Confidential Conversations With People Who Work in NYC Charter Schools : Confidential Conversations With People Who Work in NYC Charter Schools During the past few months, I have had several confidential conversations with people who work in some of the major charter school chains in New York City. Here is what I have come away with from those conversations. 1. There is a

Reform Lessons from Skeptical But Not Cynical Veterans | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

by mike simpson / 8h

Reform Lessons from Skeptical But Not Cynical Veterans | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice : Reform Lessons from Skeptical But Not Cynical Veterans Eleven years ago, Jane David and I wrote “Cutting Through the Hype: A Taxpayer’s Guide to School Reforms.” A short book inventorying 20 popular reforms (many are still around now), sliced away the “truthful hyperbole” and parsed them

The Risk of Overselling Workforce Readiness | Truth in American Education

by mike simpson / 8h

The Risk of Overselling Workforce Readiness | Truth in American Education : The Risk of Overselling Workforce Readiness Dr. Gary Houchens, a member of the Kentucky State Board of Education and associate professor of educational administration, leadership, and research at Western Kentucky University, in a recent article , talks about the swing from overselling college readiness in K-12 education t

Breaking News: NEA makes STRONG, patriotic statement on charters – Cloaking Inequity

by mike simpson / 8h

Breaking News: NEA makes STRONG, patriotic statement on charters – Cloaking Inequity : Breaking News: NEA makes STRONG, patriotic statement on charters I am not able to blog as much as I have in the past because of my faculty responsibilities at California State, public speaking engagements and contributing behind the scenes to game-changing projects. One of the game-changing projects that I have

Badass Teachers Association: The Pipeline by Matt Prestbury

by mike simpson / 8h

Badass Teachers Association: The Pipeline by Matt Prestbury : The Pipeline by Matt Prestbury Privately run schools and privately owned prisons We live in the fruition of Orwellian visions Our children are chattel gettin lost in the shadows And being held hostage in political battles The rhetoric's high while teachers' morale is low Everyday public schools get dealt another death blow Then another

YESTERDAY

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 7/4/17

by mike simpson / 23h

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 7/4/17 Featured Post Happy the 4th of July - The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all. Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm's new grad requirements an 'empty 

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  Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 7/3/17 #NEARA17

Did Arne Duncan help write the NEA denunciation of Arne Duncan? | Fred Klonsky

Did Arne Duncan help write the NEA denunciation of Arne Duncan? | Fred Klonsky:

Did Arne Duncan help write the NEA denunciation of Arne Duncan?

In an August, 2015 Politico article by Michael Grunwald called The Duncan Wars,Grunwald writes:

“Dennis Van Roekel, who led the NEA in Obama’s first term, used to meet Duncan for breakfast every month, and says they actually agreed on almost every issue—except testing.

“I constantly told him testing was a disaster,” Van Roekel said. “I warned him if he didn’t bring sanity to the testing craze, everything he was doing would collapse under its own weight. I wish he had listened to me about that.”

At the NEA’s convention in 2011, the union formally declared that it was “appalled” with Duncan’s work. But at the same convention, the NEA endorsed the president’s reelection, as if the education secretary whose family hung out with the Obamas at Camp David was some kind of rogue operative. I heard from several sources that Duncan actually helped negotiate the language of his own condemnation; he’s no politician, but you can’t run the Chicago schools without some sense of politics. “Arne understood the political realities,” a former aide said. “The union needed a target for its anger, and he was happy to take a bullet for the president.” Back then, resentment was starting to build over excessive “high-stakes” testing, and horror stories were starting to circulate about math tests being used to judge art teachers, but the dissension had not yet erupted into a movement.

It was New Business Item C and known as Thirteen Things We Hate About Arne Duncan.

I was a delegate in 2011 and recall being surprised that this was an NBI C since the Did Arne Duncan help write the NEA denunciation of Arne Duncan? | Fred Klonsky:

THE COUP TO DESTROY THE AMERICAN DREAM | Dr. Edward F. Berger

THE COUP TO DESTROY THE AMERICAN DREAM | Dr. Edward F. Berger:

THE COUP TO DESTROY THE AMERICAN DREAM

Within the core of our freedoms, lie the avenues powerful individuals use to take away the rights of citizens and the controls of government designed and evolved to serve all. Americans are now aware of the reality that subversive forces have made excessive headway in destroying our rights.

What has been allowed is the incursion of an Oligarchy: The few exploiting the many.  We are witnessing the theft of human rights through the infiltration of what were meant to be representative systems within a constitutionally defined government.

My first introduction to those who want absolute power was through studies of The Robber Barons in America in the 19th Century, and then in the 20th Century, the way Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin took total control of their countries. I learned of an American, Fred Koch, who became wealthy via Russian and German contracts and worked with Stalin and then Hitler as WWII began. He was convinced that absolute dictators were necessary to create strong nations. He came home to change the U.S government into a mechanism which would allow him to acquire power and wealth by any means. His tenets were: Destroy public education. Destroy any kind of worker representation. Control the prison system. Destroy the democratic process by distancing or removing undesirable citizen involvement in decision-making. End government interference in the rights of individuals like himself to create his own empire.

Koch’s ideology was embedded in the goals of the John Birch Society, founded in the late 50s by Fred and ten others.  It was one of many organizations spawned or infiltrated by Koch. Be aware of subversive groups founded by Koch and his sons and other powerful billionaires. THE COUP TO DESTROY THE AMERICAN DREAM | Dr. Edward F. Berger:

CURMUDGUCATION: Dear Lily. Re: Betsy DeVos & The NEA RA

CURMUDGUCATION: Dear Lily. Re: Betsy DeVos & The NEA RA:

Dear Lily. Re: Betsy DeVos & The NEA RA

Dear Lily:

Many news items came out of the NEA RA this year-- some pretty interesting, and some pretty routine, but I have one to cheer and one to complain about.

Cheer

There will be no photo op.

After years and years of making compromises in order to keep an imaginary seat at a mythical table, this statement from you is a breath of fresh air

I understand the motivations behind Randi Weingarten's attempt to play kind-of-nice with Betsy DeVos, but I think it was a doomed and fruitless effort. DeVos has told us all along who she is and what she wants, and if I'm not going to give her credit for anything else, I will credit this-- she has not wavered significantly from those goals. She is anti-union. And she is anti-public education. After decades of working toward those goals, she is not suddenly going to have an epiphany because someone got her to set foot in a public school.

NEA can call for her removal, as they sort-of called for the removal of Arne Duncan. It's not going to CURMUDGUCATION: Dear Lily. Re: Betsy DeVos & The NEA RA:

Parent/Educator EDU | My Island View

Parent/Educator EDU | My Island View:

Parent/Educator EDU 

I have long been a guest blogger for Edutopia, which has been both a challenge and an honor. I have always found it challenging to be provocative in promoting change in education in a blog post, while remaining positive in tone. That overriding positive tone however is one constant in Edutopia posts that engenders loyalty, trust and a reliance from about a million followers who want to know more about education. To have my work read and appreciated by that vast audience is a great honor.

In September of 2014 I wrote, Educating Parents About Education, a post supporting the idea that we need to better educate parents about education in order to have them engaged as advocates and not adversaries for much of the needed changes in education in regard to methodology, pedagogy and technology. I would strongly suggest you read it in conjunction with this current post.

With the rapid pace of change driven by technology, it is difficult for educators to keep up with everything, so it must be almost impossible for most parents who are far less exposed to education and all of its change and innovation. Without exposure and some acceptance of this change, we all must fall back on our own education experiences that are, for most of us, steeped in the 20^th Century. Public education is a common experience for most Americans, which is why so many people often feel that they have the answers to how to fix what they perceive as a broken system. This is true of many educators as well as parents.

The real common thread at least in my experience however is that we do not Parent/Educator EDU | My Island View:

CURMUDGUCATION: What Bad Bosses Say

CURMUDGUCATION: What Bad Bosses Say:

What Bad Bosses Say

Forbes likes listicles with a business bent, but sometimes they seem applicable to other areas. School areas. For instance, here's their piece "Ten Things Only Bad Bosses Say." Let's see what portion of this resonates. Do we hear any of these from our on bad bosses-- and note that these are absolutely Forbes ten markers for bad bosses. That I did not make up.

1. I don’t make the rules — I just enforce them

In all fairness to our superintendents and principals, this is true. They are just loaded with state and federal rules that control their lives and over which they have no control. But if you think about the many reform ideas we've been subjected to over the years, you'll notice that hardly anybody actually owns the ideas they push. Even Bill Gates didn't just say, "Y'all should adopt Common Core because it's a cool thing I found out about that I think you should do." Charteristas don 't just say, "We want these business opportunities to be available to us because we want to make money on this biz." 

No, idea after idea is presented with a general stance of "research and studies show that this reform idea has to be implemented." Which is just one other way to say, "Look, I didn't make this stuff up. I'm just telling you what the research demands." 

2. If you don’t want the job, I’ll find somebody who does

We've heard the message consistently for at least twenty-five years now-- teachers are easily CURMUDGUCATION: What Bad Bosses Say:

Fifth Circuit Holds That Recitation of Mexican Pledge In Spanish Class Not Compelled Student Speech - Education Law Prof Blog

Education Law Prof Blog:

Fifth Circuit Holds That Recitation of Mexican Pledge In Spanish Class Not Compelled Student Speech

The Fifth Circuit held last week that requiring that students perform the Mexican Pledge of Allegiance as an assignment for a Spanish language class, and the school's actions afterwards, did not violate the First Amendment. In Brinsdon v. McAllen Independent Sch. Dist., 15-40160 (5th Cir. 2017), a teacher required students to memorize and recite in Spanish the Mexican Pledge of Allegiance. A student, Brinsdon, objected to reciting the Mexican Pledge because she felt pledging allegiance to a foreign country was wrong. The student was allowed to substitute an alternative writing assignment, for which she received a "C" grade.  Because students who did the recited the Mexican Pledge received "A"s, Brinsdon suspected that her grade was retaliatory. Brinsdon surreptitiously filmed her fellow students reciting the Mexican pledge in class, using a spy pen given to her by her father. The father then sent the filmed footage to media outlet The Blaze, which in turn posted the recording to YouTube. Brinsdon and her family were subsequently interviewed by Fox News and Glenn Beck, which brought national publicity to the school, much of it hostile. She was removed from Spanish class for the rest of the semester and completed the class assignments in the school office. Brinsdon, who graduated in 2014, filed suit in the Southern District of Texas, claiming that her First Amendment rights were violated when she was compelled to recite the pledge and that she was retaliated against when she was removed from class and that she suffered disparate treatment under the Equal Protection Clause when she was removed from class. The federal district court below allowed the equal protection and compelled speech claims to proceed to trial and later found granted the district a judgment as a matter of law. On appeal, the Fifth Circuit held that the school officials were entitled to qualified immunity as they Education Law Prof Blog:

Why students at an affluent school want to drop longtime mascot: The Millionaires - The Washington Post

Why students at an affluent school want to drop longtime mascot: The Millionaires - The Washington Post:

Why students at an affluent school want to drop longtime mascot: The Millionaires

At Lenox Memorial Middle and High School in the Berkshire region of western Massachusetts, the longtime mascot is the Millionaires — but if most of the students have their way, it won’t be for long. The decision, however, is not in their hands — and some folks in the affluent town of Lenox don’t want it to change.

During a recent student council survey of the more than 400 students in grades 6-12, about two-thirds of those who responded said they no longer want to be known as the Millionaires, according to Lenox Public Schools Superintendent Timothy Lee. Nearly 80 percent of the students from grades 6-12 answered the survey, which had a number of questions about what they wanted the student council to accomplish during the next school year.

Why?

“The rationale explained by the student council leaders was that Millionaires no longer accurately represented their identity and who they are as a group of students,” said Lee. Students report being harassed by rival teams because of the name, and the Berkshire Eaglequoted Julie Monteleone, a student council member, as telling the district’s governing board recently:

“The term Millionaires has become associated with the top 1 percent of our country, which excludes and burdens a very large majority of the population and currently plays a large role in the division of the United States.”

While the Millionaires has been the school’s mascot since the 1950s — referring to wealthy Why students at an affluent school want to drop longtime mascot: The Millionaires - The Washington Post:

Women, minorities see barriers to schools' top job

Women, minorities see barriers to schools' top job:

Women, minorities see barriers to schools’ top job

It has been “difficult” being a school superintendent who is female and African-American, said the departing leader of Reynoldsburg City Schools.

Without getting into specifics — she can’t because of a legal settlement she signed with the school district — Superintendent Tina Thomas-Manning, whose contract expires July 31, bemoaned by email the lack of diversity among the ranks of education leaders.

“How many female superintendents do we have in central Ohio?” Thomas-Manning wrote. “How many African-Americans? How many female African-Americans? I find this to be particularly troublesome due to the fact that education is a female-dominated profession. Brass tacks, we haven’t progressed as far as we would like to believe.”

In April, Thomas-Manning filed an federal employment complaint against the Reynoldsburg schools alleging gender and race discrimination and retaliation.

Statewide, the numbers hint at a glass ceiling in school district central offices.

At the classroom level, where superintendents start their careers, 75 percent of teachers are women, which matches the national figure. But fewer than 16 percent of Ohio superintendents are women, according to Ohio Department of Education data. Women make up around 25 percent of superintendents nationally.

Of 18 school districts in and around Franklin County, two district superintendents are women, and both are leaving their positions this summer: Thomas-Manning and Pickerington Superintendent Valerie Browning-Thompson, who is retiring July 10.

Kimberly P. Miller will be the lone female superintendent in Franklin County when she officially starts at Bexley schools Aug. 1.

Four of five central Ohio career-technical schools areWomen, minorities see barriers to schools' top job:

Examining the achievement gap between white and black students in Alabama | AL com

Examining the achievement gap between white and black students in Alabama | AL.com:

Examining the achievement gap between white and black students in Alabama 

This is the first of several stories digging into one of the most challenging issues facing Alabama public schools---the racial achievement gap. Throughout the series, Tackling the Gap, we'll take a deep dive into the data and talk with teachers and experts to explore how Alabama schools can improve their efforts to help all students reach their academic potential.   

While test scores in Alabama schools generally mirror poverty levels, poverty is only one factor, research has shown. 

The Alabama state department of education's chief academic officer Dr. Barbara Cooper is charged with improving achievement for the 730,000 students in Alabama's public schools. 

"Even in places where students are affluent, there is still a black-white achievement gap," she said. "So poverty is not the answer there.

"These students are still performing significantly below [their white peers], and their parents are making six figures."

Even though black students in affluent areas perform better than black students in impoverished areas, there is still a gap, Cooper said.

The achievement gap, as we refer to it here, is the difference in proficiency levels of black students and white students. Statewide, that gap is large, between 20 and 30 percentage points in any given subject area.

Alabama teachers tackle the achievement gap

When we set out to cover the story of Alabama's persistent achievement gap between black and white students, we knew we couldn't do it without teachers. So we put out a call for people willing to dive deep in frank conversation, and more than 200 educators responded.

Why does that matter?

When we set out to cover the story of Alabama's persistent achievement gap, we knew we couldn't do it without teachers. So we put out a call for people willing to dive deep in frank conversation, and more than 200 educators responded.

About 60 of those teachers, from all over the state, participated over the last two months in a closed discussion on Facebook. Why does the gap matter? Here's some of what they said:

The achievement gap matters because students won't be in school forever. Some students aren't being exposed to things as it is by parents/guardians and some parents and teachers are doing Examining the achievement gap between white and black students in Alabama | AL.com:

Red-state school leaders vent frustrations with GOP health bill - POLITICO

Red-state school leaders vent frustrations with GOP health bill - POLITICO:

Red-state school leaders vent frustrations with GOP health bill
They say Medicaid funding cuts would hamper their ability to serve low-income and special education students.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s health care bill is getting failing grades from red-state school leaders — even in his home state of Kentucky.

Fleming County Schools Superintendent Brian Creasman was taken aback when he discovered the bill would make cuts that could devastate his ability to provide health services to needy and disabled kids.

 Here in rural Kentucky, the heart of Trump country where three out of four voters cast ballots for Donald Trump and many regard McConnell as their political protector, Creasman initially thought the bill’s potential cuts to school districts must be a misunderstanding.

Only they weren’t.

About $4 billion in annual Medicaid spending goes to U.S. schools to pay for school nurses, physical, occupational and speech therapists, and school-based screenings and treatment for children from low-income families, as well as wheelchairs and even buses to transport kids with special needs.

The funds make up just 1 percent of Medicaid reimbursements, but school leaders in economically depressed parts of Appalachia, the Rust Belt and elsewhere say they are critical to providing services they are required to provide to special Red-state school leaders vent frustrations with GOP health bill - POLITICO:

Drilling “Rote Understanding” | Truth in American Education

Drilling “Rote Understanding” | Truth in American Education:

Drilling “Rote Understanding” 

Over the last several years, the press and television have publicized many parents’ frustration with how math is being taught in the lower grades.  On the internet, videos abound with examples of how procedures such as addition and subtraction are being taught to students using convoluted methods that are leaving students and parents baffled as to 1) how to do the procedure and 2) angry that the standard methods are delayed.  (This video is one of many examples of parent concern over how math is taught under Common Core.)

The current interpretation of Common Core by publishers, instructional coaches, professional development vendors, and other educational entities, maintains that teaching the standard methods (known as standard algorithms) for various procedures too early can eclipse the conceptual underpinning of why the algorithms work, and can lead to students being confused.  A video by one instructional coach argues that teaching only procedures 1) has only worked for a small group of students and 2) that the reason students have a hard time with math is “No one taught them to understand the concepts and why we’re doing what we’re doing.  We didn’t teach them how to think; we just taught them how to ‘do’ and execute…”  The premise stated by this coach and others, contains the usual mischaracterization that procedures were taught in a void without contextual understanding. He also maintains that Common Core’s main focus is on “understanding”. This article explores this notion, and how and why Common Core is interpreted and implemented in the ways we are seeing.

A case in point

A case in point has presented itself in my recent work with a group of fifth graders in need of math Drilling “Rote Understanding” | Truth in American Education:

Go Public, Trauma Informed Education and EnCorps | tultican

Go Public, Trauma Informed Education and EnCorps | tultican:

Go Public, Trauma Informed Education and EnCorps

 Go Public Project - http://gopublicproject.org/

A story of intrigue, real education reform and wealthy ignorance.

A film maker, Rita Grant, called asking me to join an expert education panel at San Diego State University (SDSU). She said she found me when reading Diane Ravitch’s blog and thought I would be a good fit. The event was a screening of the film Go Public at EnCorps’ Summer Residential Institute, followed by question and answers with the panel. I was not familiar with EnCorps, Go Public or Rita but nothing ventured nothing gained. So, I went.

I arrived at the Aztec Student Center in time to see about 150 people in matching EnCorps tee-shirts posing for pictures. Apparently, all of them had worked in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) field and were recruited by EnCorps to enter the teaching profession. I was pleased to learn that it wasn’t another fraudulent path to becoming a teacher. Encorps recruits STEM professionals to become teachers or tutors. If they choose to teach, they are must complete an accredited teacher certification course.

EnCorps

I met a wonderful group of people, but their organization’s reason for being is misinformed. It’s another education reform organization created by a well-connected misinformed rich person with no training or experience in education, Sherry Lansing.

Lansing’s bio at Huffington post says,

“During nearly 30 years in the motion picture business, Lansing was involved in the production, marketing, and distribution of more than 200 films, including Academy Award winners Forrest Gump (1994), Braveheart (1995), and Titanic (1997). In 1992, she was named Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures and began an unprecedented tenure that lasted more than 12 years. In 1980, she became the first woman to head a major film studio when she was appointed President of 20th Century Fox.

“Lansing graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science Degree from Northwestern University in 1966.”

Lansing writes about founding EnCorps:

“California students rank 43rd in the nation in mathematics and science, according to the California STEM Learning Network. There are fewer than 1 in 6 in-state college students majoring in STEM, despite the fact that there Go Public, Trauma Informed Education and EnCorps | tultican:

​​​​​​​The Diminishing Role of Art in Children's Lives - The Atlantic

How Electronic Devices Are Affecting Kids' Art - The Atlantic:

​​​​​​​The Diminishing Role of Art in Children's Lives

Kids have fewer opportunities to do art in school and at home—and that could have long-term consequences.  

“Ik ben ik”—I am me—was the classroom theme when my son started preschool in the Netherlands two years ago. He painted a portrait of himself, with exaggerated teeth only on the bottom row and three strands of wiry hair on his head (“hair is hard,” he later told me). He went on to depict his home life: our canal-side house more wavy than erect; his father and I standing beside a cat we do not own; and his baby sister next to him while his other sister—his nemesis at the time—was completely absent. It was the first real glimpse we had into his experiences and sense of self, and it was both insightful and entertaining.

My house is covered in the artwork of my three children. My middle child’s self-portrait, for example, is framed and featured in our living room, with her bold red hair painted in broad stripes and a third eye she claims is magic; my son’s bedroom wall displays his sketching of a giraffe. What my kids cannot express in written language they delight in sharing through their scribbles.

As much evidence will support, drawing has significant developmental benefits for young children. It gives them space to represent what they think—territory within which they can exaggerate what is important to them or express ideas they are not yet able to verbalize. Through art, children are able to describe and reveal their notions about themselves, the world, and their place in it.

The role of drawing in enhancing childhood development has been How Electronic Devices Are Affecting Kids' Art - The Atlantic:

Schools Matter: KIPP Houston Forces Parents to Pay $2.3 Million in Unallowable Fees

Schools Matter: KIPP Houston Forces Parents to Pay $2.3 Million in Unallowable Fees:

KIPP Houston Forces Parents to Pay $2.3 Million in Unallowable Fees

While the KIPP Foundation has hundreds of millions of dollars in banks and investments, KIPP's individual schools are forced to send the Foundation $30,000 per year for using the KIPP name.  

Where does the fee collecting stop?  With the parents of disadvantaged children, who are forced to pay thousands of dollars in fees that are illegally collected?

Did the State of Texas sanction KIPP?  Of course not.

Did KIPP agree to repay the parents?  That's not part of their social justice mission.

From the Houston Chronicle:

Mary Courtney was one of KIPP Houston's biggest advocates, even as she had to borrow money from relatives to keep up with payments to the charter school.

She drove to Austin during School Choice Week, talking to lawmakers about why they should better fund charter schools. She volunteered on campus. She paid thousands in fees so her boys and other students could have access to books and science materials.

But that was before she realized the fees she was paying were optional, something never mentioned by teachers or principals or on the fee agreement forms that the schools - KIPP Liberation College Prep and KIPP PEACE Elementary - tied to student registration. Now, Courtney and several other KIPP Houston parents are furious because they believe they were duped by the charter nonprofit system into paying for what they believe should be a free public education.

"At no time if I thought the fees were optional would I have paid for them, especially when I'm struggling to put Schools Matter: KIPP Houston Forces Parents to Pay $2.3 Million in Unallowable Fees:

This story reveals what’s wrong with how kids learn science (and other subjects) - The Washington Post

This story reveals what’s wrong with how kids learn science (and other subjects) - The Washington Post:

This story reveals what’s wrong with how kids learn science (and other subjects)

The square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle equals the sum of the squares of the other two sides. How many of you remember learning the Pythagorean theorem? But did you also learn that Pythagoras organized his followers into a secret society of vegetarians and was worshiped as if he were a god?

That is part of the story of Pythagoras and his famous theorem as told in the “The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way,” the first of a three-volume collection by Joy Hakim, who engages readers through good old-fashioned storytelling, a method of teaching and learning that has been drowned out in an era of data and standardized tests. It’s no wonder that students, year after year, complain about being bored in school.

In this post, Hakim uses a simple story to explain what is wrong with the way science — and other subjects — are taught and how it could be remedied. I am publishing it as a reminder that while the education reform debate is now focused on the Trump administration’s school choice This story reveals what’s wrong with how kids learn science (and other subjects) - The Washington Post:

'A Failed and Damaging Experiment:' NEA Takes on Unaccountable Charter Schools

'A Failed and Damaging Experiment:' NEA Takes on Unaccountable Charter Schools:

‘A Failed and Damaging Experiment:’ NEA Takes on Unaccountable Charter Schools

At its annual meeting on Tuesday, the educators of the National Education Association drew a sharp new line between charter schools that have a positive effect on public education and those unaccountable, privately managed charter schools that hurt public schools and students. The policy denounces unaccountable charters as a “failed and damaging experiment,” and calls for a stop to the proliferation of such schools by supporting state and local efforts to hold charters accountable, to preserve funding for public schools, and to organize charter educators.

The new policy statement is the work of a task force convened by NEA President Lily Eskelsen García in 2016 to respond to educators’ growing concern about the unabated growth of the sector. As expansion has picked up pace over the past decade, the original, collaborative vision of charter schools has largely been eclipsed by a competitive model that has empowered reckless disregard for accountability and transparency, at the expense of many of the students they seek to serve.

“Charter schools were started by educators who dreamed of schools in which they would be free to innovate, unfettered by bureaucratic obstacles,” said Eskelsen García. “Handing over students’ education to privately managed, unaccountable charters jeopardizes student success, undermines public education and harms communities.”

Some – not many – charter schools do meet certain standards for accountability and transparency. “This policy draws a clear line between charters that serve to improve public education and those that do not,” Eskelsen García added.

Handing over students’ education to privately managed, unaccountable charters jeopardizes student success, undermines public education and harms communities” – NEA President Lily Eskelsen García

According to the policy statement, charter schools should meet all of the following criteria:

• Be authorized and held accountable by a local, democratically accountable authorizer, the same local authorizer that also authorizes other alternative school models, such as magnet or community schools.
• Be necessary to meet the unmet needs of students in the district, and to meet those needs in a manner that improves the local public school system.
• Comply with the same basic safeguards as other public schools – namely, open meetings and public records laws, prohibitions against for-profit operations or profiteering, and the same civil rights, employment, health, labor, safety, and staff'A Failed and Damaging Experiment:' NEA Takes on Unaccountable Charter Schools: 

The last time the NEA adopted a policy on charter schools W was president and the towers were still standing. | Fred Klonsky

The last time the NEA adopted a policy on charter schools W was president and the towers were still standing. | Fred Klonsky:

The last time the NEA adopted a policy on charter schools W was president and the towers were still standing

NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia at the 2017 Representative Assembly

The Representative Assembly of the National Education Association, 7,500 delegates meeting in Boston, adopted a new policy statement laying out the union’s view towards charter schools.

The last time the union adopted a policy statement on charter schools was at the 2001 Representative Assembly that I attended. George Bush (2) was president, the twin towers were still standing and No Child Left Behind was not yet official Department of Education language.

In 2001, charter schools were still few in number.

That has changed.

The NEA moves slowly on their turn around response time.

If the language of the new policy statement sounds familiar, it is.

It is basically the view that the Bernie Sanders delegates forced the Democrats toThe last time the NEA adopted a policy on charter schools W was president and the towers were still standing. | Fred Klonsky: