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

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

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Charters move closer to new teacher-certification rules, worrying education schools

Conversation on HCC - Part One + Governor Vetos Portion of Budget Bill for Tax Breaks

by mike simpson / 7min

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Governor Vetos Portion of Budget Bill for Tax Breaks : Governor Vetos Portion of Budget Bill for Tax Breaks See, sometimes if you band together, good things happen. Washington's Paramount Duty statement: We are overjoyed that Governor Inslee has chosen funding for public schools over a secretly negotiated big tax break for corporations. Washington's Paramount Duty

Vague, Regressive Taxes – like a Soda Tax, Aren’t Going to Save our Public Schools. | Seattle Education

by mike simpson / 2h

Vague, Regressive Taxes – like a Soda Tax, Aren’t Going to Save our Public Schools. | Seattle Education : Vague, Regressive Taxes – like a Soda Tax, Aren’t Going to Save our Public Schools I’m becoming increasingly wary of slick political campaigns which promise to help our resource starved public schools, and once enacted, end up doing more harm than good. How can you spot one of these campaigns

DeVos’s Hard Line on New Education Law Surprises States - The New York Times

by mike simpson / 2h

DeVos’s Hard Line on New Education Law Surprises States - The New York Times : DeVos’s Hard Line on New Education Law Surprises States Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who made a career of promoting local control of education, has signaled a surprisingly hard-line approach to carrying out an expansive new federal education law, issuing critical feedback that has rattled state school chiefs and co

Mayoral Control And Mayoral Responsibility | Daniel Katz, Ph.D.

by mike simpson / 2h

Mayoral Control And Mayoral Responsibility | Daniel Katz, Ph.D. : Mayoral Control And Mayoral Responsibility New York legislators in Albany wrapped up yet another game of “Will we give Bill De Blasio an extension of mayoral control of New York City’s schools or won’t we?” recently. In the end, law makers held off until the very last minute, passing a two year extension for the mayor that did not

Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers. Episode #23. | Fred Klonsky

by mike simpson / 4h

Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers. Episode #23. | Fred Klonsky : Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers. Episode #23 The task for my brother and me was to help folks get a clear picture of the coming primary for governor of Illinois. Let’s see. There are JB and Kennedy. Biss. Scott Drury. Bob Daiber. Tio Hardiman and Alex Paterakis. And Chicago Alderman Ameya Pawar. Hardiman has become one o

Charter school’s refusal to admit students lacking uniforms wasn’t its first violation | The Lens

by mike simpson / 5h

Charter school’s refusal to admit students lacking uniforms wasn’t its first violation | The Lens : Charter school’s refusal to admit students lacking uniforms wasn’t its first violation When Sophie B. Wright Charter School barred two homeless students from attending class because they lacked uniforms this spring, it wasn’t the first such incident. Nor was the Louisiana Department of Education’s

Jersey Jazzman: Chris Christie, The Beach, and Our Leaders' Massive School Funding Hypocrisy

by mike simpson / 5h

Jersey Jazzman: Chris Christie, The Beach, and Our Leaders' Massive School Funding Hypocrisy : Chris Christie, The Beach, and Our Leaders' Massive School Funding Hypocrisy So you all know about this by now, and none of you are the least bit surprised. You aren't surprised because, like me, you've been reading for years about Chris Christie's petty greed , childish indulgences , lack of commitment

Why Democrats Should Unite On A Charter School Moratorium | By Jeff Bryant | Common Dreams

by mike simpson / 6h

Why Democrats Should Unite On A Charter School Moratorium | By Jeff Bryant | Common Dreams : Why Democrats Should Unite On A Charter School Moratorium Democrats know that success for their party relies on bringing labor and civil rights advocates together on key issues. Faced with disastrous Donald Trump, labor and civil rights advocates are rallying in common cause behind health care for all, a

Expert: NM teacher evals are toughest in the nation | Albuquerque Journal

by mike simpson / 7h

Expert: NM teacher evals are toughest in the nation | Albuquerque Journal : Expert: NM teacher evals are toughest in the nation New Mexico rated more than twice as many teachers below effective than any other state in a 24-state study conducted by a Brown University economist who studies teacher evaluation systems across the country. New Mexico placed 28.7 percent of its teachers in that category

ICE Officers Told to Take Action Against All Undocumented Immigrants Encountered While on Duty - ProPublica

by mike simpson / 7h

ICE Officers Told to Take Action Against All Undocumented Immigrants Encountered While on Duty - ProPublica : ICE Officers Told to Take Action Against All Undocumented Immigrants Encountered While on Duty A directive from the head of ICE’s enforcement unit appears to push for tougher action than the Trump administration has publicly promised. The head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement un

Schools Matter: Billionaire Fave, Matchbook Learning, Coming to Indy

by mike simpson / 7h

Schools Matter: Billionaire Fave, Matchbook Learning, Coming to Indy : Billionaire Fave, Matchbook Learning, Coming to Indy By Doug Martin Along with several other outside people and groups, Matchbook Learning’s Sajan George and his chief school officer, Amy Swann, have been picked as 2017 fellows for the Mind Trust Innovation Schools program. IPS’ supt. Lewis Ferebee and the IPS board helped cho

Charters move closer to new teacher-certification rules, worrying education schools

by mike simpson / 8h

Charters move closer to new teacher-certification rules, worrying education schools : Charters move closer to new teacher-certification rules, worrying education schools In May 2015, top officials and lawyers at Success Academy, New York City’s largest charter school network, held a meeting to discuss an existential threat: the growing network was struggling to hire certified teachers, and was ou

John Thompson: We must diagnose the OKCPS dysfunction (and fix it) - NonDoc

by mike simpson / 8h

We must diagnose the OKCPS dysfunction (and fix it) - NonDoc : We must diagnose the OKCPS dysfunction (and fix it) A merican Federation of Teachers president Ed Allen is correct in describing the controversy over the proposed closing of North Highland Elementary School as an example of the longstanding “dysfunction” that has plagued the district’s central office. The Daily Oklahoman’s Tim Willert

Louisiana’s Educational Facade – Educate Louisiana

by mike simpson / 8h

Louisiana’s Educational Facade – Educate Louisiana : Louisiana’s Educational Facade On June 26th, The Advocate published its article, State Plan to Revamp Public Schools Wins Compliments from Two Group s , giving praise to Louisiana’s new ESSA plan which was submitted to the U.S. Department of Education on May 3, 2017. The State’s plan has received accolades from national groups for its “ambitiou

Surrendering Will Make You Free | BustED Pencils

by mike simpson / 8h

Surrendering Will Make You Free | BustED Pencils : Surrendering Will Make You Free Life is very short, and there’s no time For fussing and fighting, my friend I have always thought that it’s a crime, So I will ask you once again Try to see it my way… -J. Lennon This is going to be difficult, but here goes. I surrender. 45, and the wealthiest Cabinet ever are the best hope for our future. Caricatu

FriData Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

by mike simpson / 9h

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all : FriData Diane Ravitch's blog A site to discuss better education for all Ohio: Kasich Vetoes Bills, Hurts Children by dianeravitch / 10min John Kasich likes to be unpredictable. One minute, he plays the moderate, sane Republican in contrast to irresponsible, impulsive Trump. Then he acts in Ohio and shows that he doesn’t have a cl

SC Fails Students Still: More on Grade Retention and Misreading Literacy | radical eyes for equity

by mike simpson / 9h

SC Fails Students Still: More on Grade Retention and Misreading Literacy | radical eyes for equity : SC Fails Students Still: More on Grade Retention and Misreading Literacy But their remedies do not cure the disease: they merely prolong it. Indeed, their remedies are part of the disease. Oscar Wilde (1891), The Soul of Man under Socialism Bells will certainly continue to signal class changes in

Remarks as prepared for delivery by Sydney Chaffee, 2017 National Teacher of the Year, to the 96th NEA Representative Assembly | Fred Klonsky

by mike simpson / 9h

Remarks as prepared for delivery by Sydney Chaffee, 2017 National Teacher of the Year, to the 96th NEA Representative Assembly | Fred Klonsky : Remarks as prepared for delivery by Sydney Chaffee, 2017 National Teacher of the Year, to the 96th NEA Representative Assembly National Teacher of the Year, Sydney Chaffee. BOSTON – July 03, 2017 – Thank you all for welcoming me here today. I deeply respe

Badass Teachers Association: A NJ BAT at NEA RA in Favor of Voting For NBI 129 by Carrie Odgers Lax

by mike simpson / 9h

Badass Teachers Association: A NJ BAT at NEA RA in Favor of Voting For NBI 129 by Carrie Odgers Lax : A NJ BAT at NEA RA in Favor of Voting For NBI 129 by Carrie Odgers Lax One year ago, almost to the day, we sat in the convention center in Washington DC and observed a moment of silence for Philando Castile, a cafeteria supervisor at J.J. Hill Montessori Magnet School in Saint Paul, Minn., who ha

NYC Educator: Mayoral Control Is a Lose-Lose

by mike simpson / 9h

NYC Educator: Mayoral Control Is a Lose-Lose : Mayoral Control Is a Lose-Lose I've opposed mayoral control since its inception, originally because it went to uber-reformy Michael Bloomberg. During his seemingly endless tenure, I learned more about it. I think Diane Ravitch wrote in Death and Life of the Great American School System that it was a reformy tool designed to bypass democracy. Unlike B

Two Citizens and 19 Attorneys General Sue Betsy DeVos for Enabling For-Profit-College Freedom to Exploit | deutsch29

by mike simpson / 9h

Two Citizens and 19 Attorneys General Sue Betsy DeVos for Enabling For-Profit-College Freedom to Exploit | deutsch29 : Two Citizens and 19 Attorneys General Sue Betsy DeVos for Enabling For-Profit-College Freedom to Exploit Arguably the most controversial US secretary of education in the history of the office is being sued by two citizens and 19 attorneys general. On July 06, 2017, two lawsuits w

YESTERDAY

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 7/6/17

by mike simpson / 1d

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 7/6/17 Featured Post The Jeff Bryant Report: Why Democrats Should Unite On A Charter School Moratorium A new era begins as pro-charter majority selects Rodriguez to head L.A. school broad - 

Top Posts This Week

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  Today is Diane's Birthday Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
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  NEA teachers' union nixes longtime gadfly's bid to cover convention
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  Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 7/2/17
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  Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 7/1/17
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  UPDATE VIDEO: NEA President to Representative Assembly: We Have the Power... and They Know It #NEARA17
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  Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 6/30/17
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  Florida Business Leaders Can’t Enjoy Luncheon Due to Dismal Reading Scores
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  Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 7/3/17 #NEARA17
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  #NEARA17 Teachers union leader: We won’t work with Trump and DeVos because ‘I do not trust their motives’ - The Washington Post
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  Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 6/28/17

Conversation on HCC - Part One + Governor Vetos Portion of Budget Bill for Tax Breaks

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Governor Vetos Portion of Budget Bill for Tax Breaks:

Governor Vetos Portion of Budget Bill for Tax Breaks

See, sometimes if you band together, good things happen. 

Washington's Paramount Duty statement:

We are overjoyed that Governor Inslee has chosen funding for public schools over a secretly negotiated big tax break for corporations. Washington's Paramount Duty wrote to the governor and urged parents to call and email him asking him to veto this tax cut. We thank him for listening to the voices of parents across the state, rather than the wealthy special interests. We agree with him that this was a question of fairness, and we are pleased he answered it correctly.

This is only the beginning of our work to fully and amply fund our public schools by limiting corporate tax loopholes. Legislators have estimated there could be as much as $31 billion in tax breaks handed out by Washington State every year, more than almost any other state. Those corporate loopholes represent a potentially significant source of revenue to help finish the job and provide every child in Washington State with the great education they have a right to under our state's constitution.

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Governor Vetos Portion of Budget Bill for Tax Breaks:

Conversation on HCC - Part One

Let's talk about giftedness first.   (Note that this thread is not about HCC so any comments about it will be deleted.  I will once again state that no one will be allowed to name-call or sneer at someone's children.)

To start, after decades of thinking about this issue, here are some conclusions I have come to about how some parents think about giftedness.

Let's just start with the idea that ALL children have gifts to share - leadership, empathy, artistry, humor - many good things.  But...

-You can have a child who is musically or athletically gifted and people don't blink but, say your child is academically gifted, and it is as if you are saying your child is better than other children. I don't know why that is but people get very defensive, almost as if they believe that if someone says their child is gifted, that means you are saying their child is dumb.  Not true but that seems to be a sometimes reaction.

- There are those who think there are only profoundly gifted people and the rest are just "bright", "had help/advantages" and "will be all right, no matter what." 

-Many people believe there are gifted students but some of those also believe those students do not need/deserve a separate classroom.  There are many reasons for that.

•  They will not be socialized properly by not being with many types of students.  At my sons' elementary schools, they took half the grade-level Gen Ed classrooms and matched them with the gifted Conversation on HCC - Part One

Vague, Regressive Taxes – like a Soda Tax, Aren’t Going to Save our Public Schools. | Seattle Education

Vague, Regressive Taxes – like a Soda Tax, Aren’t Going to Save our Public Schools. | Seattle Education:

Vague, Regressive Taxes – like a Soda Tax, Aren’t Going to Save our Public Schools

I’m becoming increasingly wary of slick political campaigns which promise to help our resource starved public schools, and once enacted, end up doing more harm than good.

How can you spot one of these campaigns – besides the big money spent on advertising? The lack of details. These initiatives are always short on specifics and high on gushing testimonials on just how much they care about kids.

Evidently, the power of caring alone proves their plan is worthy of support. Messy details are explained away in the same way: We care so trust us with the money.

Inevitably, once the initiative passes, what sounded like a good idea ends up adding another layer of bureaucracy.

Even more frustrating, once created, this bureaucracy quickly becomes more focused on serving the interests of the political class and their financial backers, than helping actual students.

The Families and Education Levy

I learned this lesson the hard way, by supporting Seattle’s Families & Education Levy in 2011.

This $231,562,000 initiative promised to fill in the gaps created by McCleary and help struggling kids prepare for college and career.

It sounded so good, what could go wrong?

Parents found out pretty quickly.

What was billed as Seattle’s way to make up the money Olympia refused to supply, quickly transformed into a mini No Child Left Behind.

Test scores and subjugation to the Levy’s rigid rules of compliance quickly came to the forefront.  Business discipline was meted out to those school who had the gall to refuse Vague, Regressive Taxes – like a Soda Tax, Aren’t Going to Save our Public Schools. | Seattle Education:

 

DeVos’s Hard Line on New Education Law Surprises States - The New York Times

DeVos’s Hard Line on New Education Law Surprises States - The New York Times:

DeVos’s Hard Line on New Education Law Surprises States

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who made a career of promoting local control of education, has signaled a surprisingly hard-line approach to carrying out an expansive new federal education law, issuing critical feedback that has rattled state school chiefs and conservative education experts alike.

President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015 as the less intrusive successor to the No Child Left Behind law, which was maligned by many in both political parties as punitive and prescriptive. But in the Education Department’s feedback to states about their plans to put the new law into effect, it applied strict interpretations of statutes, required extensive detail and even deemed some state education goals lackluster.

In one case, the acting assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, Jason Botel, wrote to the State of Delaware that its long-term goals for student achievement were not “ambitious.”

“It is mind-boggling that the department could decide that it’s going to challenge them on what’s ambitious,” said Michael J. Petrilli, the president of the conservative-leaning Thomas B. Fordham Institute, who worked in the Education Department under President George W. Bush. He called the letter “directly in opposition to the rhetoric and the promises of DeVos.”

After more than a decade of strict federal education standards and standardized testing regimes, the Every Student Succeeds Act was to returnDeVos’s Hard Line on New Education Law Surprises States - The New York Times: 

Mayoral Control And Mayoral Responsibility | Daniel Katz, Ph.D.

Mayoral Control And Mayoral Responsibility | Daniel Katz, Ph.D.:

Mayoral Control And Mayoral Responsibility

New York legislators in Albany wrapped up yet another game of “Will we give Bill De Blasio an extension of mayoral control of New York City’s schools or won’t we?” recently.  In the end, law makers held off until the very last minute, passing a two year extension for the mayor that did not include the provisions favoring charter schools Senate Republicans were insisting on but against which Assembly Democrats drew a line.  The two year extension is a victory for De Blasio who has found out that Albany has trouble entrusting control to mayors not named “Mike,” and the lack of pro-charter school provisions shows that the daylight between De Blasio and Albany does not have to grind cooperation between the City and State to a complete halt.

The drama was also largely staged.  Although interested parties issued dire warnings of what would befall city schools without mayoral control, the bluff played by Senate Republicans was just that, a bluff.  Reverting back to pre-mayoral control school governance with only the months of July and August to figure it out was meant to scare Democrats into giving in on charter schools, but the threat rang hollow.  Governor Cuomo, who has never been shy about humiliating Mayor De Blasio, wanted mayoral control extended.  Even though Mayoral Control And Mayoral Responsibility | Daniel Katz, Ph.D.:

Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers. Episode #23. | Fred Klonsky

Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers. Episode #23. | Fred Klonsky:

Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers. Episode #23

The task for my brother and me was to help folks get a clear picture of the coming primary for governor of Illinois.

Let’s see.

There are JB and Kennedy. Biss. Scott Drury. Bob Daiber. Tio Hardiman and Alex Paterakis.

And Chicago Alderman Ameya Pawar.

Hardiman has become one of those perpetual candidates. Alex Paterakis. Sorry. I have no idea.

Daiber is a school superintendent from down state.

Drury is a Democrat except that when you don’t know that and you areHitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers. Episode #23. | Fred Klonsky:

Charter school’s refusal to admit students lacking uniforms wasn’t its first violation | The Lens

Charter school’s refusal to admit students lacking uniforms wasn’t its first violation | The Lens:

Charter school’s refusal to admit students lacking uniforms wasn’t its first violation

When Sophie B. Wright Charter School barred two homeless students from attending class because they lacked uniforms this spring, it wasn’t the first such incident.

Nor was the Louisiana Department of Education’s May letter to the charter group its first warning that its actions violate federal law.

Emails obtained by The Lens show Meghan Garvey, the managing director for the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights, alerted the state in 2015 to three incidents involving homeless Wright students who needed uniform help.

Last year, Wright served about 500 students in eighth through 12th grades. Like all charters, it’s overseen by a nonprofit board of directors, but it still has to answer to a state authorizing agency for compliance in broad categories, such as equitable treatment of students. Wright’s authorizer is the state-run Recovery School District.

Laura Hawkins, the Recovery School District’s deputy chief of staff, said the state is aware of the 2015 incidents.

“My concern is not only for these two children but for all children who attend this school.”
— Meghan Garvey, La. Center for Children’s Rights.

“Sophie B. Wright was verbally warned for the incident that took place two years ago,” Hawkins told the Lens Wednesday.

Hawkins declined an interview, but answered some questions via email. She did not clarify which of the three incidents triggered the warning or if multiple warnings were issued.

Charter Director Sharon Clark did not respond to a request for comment. Efforts to reach members of the school’s board of directors were unsuccessful.

In August 2015, Garvey wrote to Torry Chatman, a manager of school performance on the state’s charter accountability team. Garvey provided two Wright student applications showing they requested uniform assistance. In subsequent correspondence, she explained they had been kept out of school.

“My concern is not only for these two children but for all children who attend this school,” Garvey wrote on Sept. 4, 2015.

In that email, she also told Chatman that the school said it had not heard of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. The Charter school’s refusal to admit students lacking uniforms wasn’t its first violation | The Lens:

Jersey Jazzman: Chris Christie, The Beach, and Our Leaders' Massive School Funding Hypocrisy

Jersey Jazzman: Chris Christie, The Beach, and Our Leaders' Massive School Funding Hypocrisy:

Chris Christie, The Beach, and Our Leaders' Massive School Funding Hypocrisy
So you all know about this by now, and none of you are the least bit surprised.

You aren't surprised because, like me, you've been reading for years about Chris Christie's petty greed, childish indulgences, lack of commitment to his job, aversion to hard work, absence of self-restraint, and just general "who gives a s***?" attitude toward ethics. This is what Chris Christie does, and it's why he's currently the least popular governor in the nation.

But this last incident was, to me, telling for another reason.

Let's review how Christie spun his beach excursion when he got caught straight out lying:

Christie addressed the issue in a phone call Monday morning to Fox-5 New York, explaining how every New Jersey governor is allowed to use two residences in the state: the Drumthwacket mansion in Princeton and the summer house. The governor said last week that he and his family planned to celebrate their son's birthday party at the latter this past weekend. 

"The governor is allowed to go to his residences, and I'm at my residences," Christie told the television station. "I'll tell you this: I said last Monday, a week ago today, that no matter what happens, we were coming here as a family this weekend. ... This is one of the places we live." [emphasis mine]

Ah, I see: he was with his family. So it's not an abuse of power at all, or a case of massive hypocrisy. Because it was his family.

Allow me to go back into the memory vault. June, 2011:

“Hey, Gail, you know what? First off, it’s none of your business. I don’t ask you where you send your kids to school, don’t bother me about where I send mine. Secondly, I pay $38,000 a year in property taxes for a public school system,

You aren't surprised because, like me, you've been reading for years about Chris Christie's petty greed, childish indulgences, lack of commitment to his job, aversion to hard work, absence of self-restraint, and just general "who gives a s***?" attitude toward ethics. This is what Chris Christie does, and it's why he's currently the least popular governorJersey Jazzman: Chris Christie, The Beach, and Our Leaders' Massive School Funding Hypocrisy:

Why Democrats Should Unite On A Charter School Moratorium | By Jeff Bryant | Common Dreams

Why Democrats Should Unite On A Charter School Moratorium | By Jeff Bryant | Common Dreams:

Why Democrats Should Unite On A Charter School Moratorium

Democrats know that success for their party relies on bringing labor and civil rights advocates together on key issues.

Faced with disastrous Donald Trump, labor and civil rights advocates are rallying in common cause behind health care for all, a living wage for every worker, a tax system where the wealthy pay their fair share, tuition-free college, and an end to senseless, never-ending wars.

Here’s another rallying point labor and civil rights agree on: A moratorium on charter schools.

This week, the nation’s largest labor union, the National Education Association, broke from its cautious regard of charter schools to pass a new policy statement that declares charter schools are a “failed experiment” that has led to a “separate and unequal” sector of schools that are not subject to the same “safeguards and standards” of public schools.

To limit the further expansion of these schools, the NEA wants a moratorium on new charters that aren’t subject to democratic governance and aren’t supportive of the common good in local communities.

The NEA’s action echoes a resolution passed earlier this year by the national NAACP calling for a moratorium on the expansion of charters and for stronger oversight of these schools. These declarations also align with a policy statement issued last year by the Movement for Black Lives, a network Black Lives Matter organizers, calling for a moratorium on charter schools.

Now that labor and civil rights have come together in a unified call for a moratorium on these unregulated, privately-operated schools, prominent leaders in the Democratic party can champion this issue knowing they have a grassroots constituency that supports them.

Democrats in states where charters have been the most controversial – such as Ohio, Why Democrats Should Unite On A Charter School Moratorium | By Jeff Bryant | Common Dreams:

Expert: NM teacher evals are toughest in the nation | Albuquerque Journal

Expert: NM teacher evals are toughest in the nation | Albuquerque Journal:

Expert: NM teacher evals are toughest in the nation

New Mexico rated more than twice as many teachers below effective than any other state in a 24-state study conducted by a Brown University economist who studies teacher evaluation systems across the country.

New Mexico placed 28.7 percent of its teachers in that category in 2015-2016, while the majority of states rated fewer than 4 percent of teachers below effective, according to Matthew Kraft, Brown University assistant professor of education and economics.

“The New Mexico system is very different than others,” Kraft said. ” ‘Tough’ would be one way to describe it.”

Although Kraft questioned whether New Mexico’s system is alienating too many teachers, the bulk of his paper criticized those states with the highest teacher proficiency rates – often nearing 100 percent.

Kraft attributed New Mexico’s dramatic results to its evaluation system, particularly its heavy weight on student test scores.

Christopher Ruszkowski, New Mexico’s acting secretary of education, said New Mexico’s system reflects a “commitment to putting students first.”

“In the New Mexico context, we have put student learning at the forefront, the centerpiece of everything that we do,” Ruszkowski told the Journal. “The fact that other states have not always done that, to me, is more of a testament to the work that New Mexico has done and more of a black mark on those other states.”

Education Week, a respected national publication, also called New Mexico’s teacher evaluations “the toughest in the nation” this spring.

The purpose of Kraft’s study was to look at the new evaluation systems many Expert: NM teacher evals are toughest in the nation | Albuquerque Journal:

ICE Officers Told to Take Action Against All Undocumented Immigrants Encountered While on Duty - ProPublica

ICE Officers Told to Take Action Against All Undocumented Immigrants Encountered While on Duty - ProPublica:

ICE Officers Told to Take Action Against All Undocumented Immigrants Encountered While on Duty
A directive from the head of ICE’s enforcement unit appears to push for tougher action than the Trump administration has publicly promised.

The head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit in charge of deportations has directed his officers to take action against all undocumented immigrants they may cross paths with, regardless of criminal histories. The guidance appears to go beyond the Trump administration’s publicly stated aims, and some advocates say may explain a marked increase in immigration arrests.

In a February memo, Matthew Albence, a career official who heads the Enforcement and Removal Operations division of ICE, informed his 5,700 deportation officers that, “effective immediately, ERO officers will take enforcement action against all removable aliens encountered in the course of their duties.”

The Trump administration, including Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, has been clear in promising to ramp up immigration enforcement, but has so far emphasized that its priority was deporting immigrants who posed a public safety threat. Indeed, Kelly, to whom Albence ultimately reports, had seemed to suggest a degree of discretion when he told the agencies under his command earlier this year that immigration officers “may” initiate enforcement actions against any undocumented person they encountered. That guidance was issued just a day before Albence sent the memo to his staff.

A spokesman with ICE said Albence’s directive did not represent a break with Kelly’s stated aims, and was consistent with current agency policies.

“The memo directly supports the directions handed down in the executive orders and mirrors the language ICE consistently uses to describe its enforcement posture,” the spokeswoman, Sarah Rodriguez, said in a statement. “As Secretary Kelly and Acting Director [of ICE] Homan have stated repeatedly, ICE prioritizes the arrest and removal ICE Officers Told to Take Action Against All Undocumented Immigrants Encountered While on Duty - ProPublica:

Schools Matter: Billionaire Fave, Matchbook Learning, Coming to Indy

Schools Matter: Billionaire Fave, Matchbook Learning, Coming to Indy:

Billionaire Fave, Matchbook Learning, Coming to Indy

By Doug Martin 

Along with several other outside people and groups, Matchbook Learning’s Sajan George and his chief school officer, Amy Swann, have been picked as 2017 fellows for the Mind Trust Innovation Schools program. IPS’ supt. Lewis Ferebee and the IPS board helped choose these Mind Trust fellows, and two of them are planning new high schools (KIPP and the Purdue Polytech High School), even as the district is closing its own high schools.  Mind Trust fellows can launch new charter schools, take over IPS schools, and partner with IPS itself.  

According to Chalkbeat Indiana’s Dylan Peers McCoy, Matchbook Learning will open a K-8 school in Indy.  But a Matchbook Learning job posting states that “We want a Principal ready for the challenge and opportunity of a five year mission to turnaround a failing school and to do say [sic] in such a way that it can impact the entire city of Indianapolis by sharing their success with other failing schools via our Accelerator.”

Known for blended learning turnaround models and cashing in on disaster capitalism, or as Matt Tully pleasantly puts it, “running a nonprofit that helps turn around profoundly failing schools,” Sajan George is the CEO of Matchbook Learning and a billionaire favorite of many involved in school privatization in Indiana and across the country.   

THE CLAN

Sajan George visited Indianapolis earlier this year, giving the closing address at the DeVos/Walton American Federation for Children conference back in March, where so-called personalized learning was the buzzword, as it was a few weeks earlier at the NewSchools Venture Fund Summit.

Silicon Valley’s NewSchools Venture Fund, in fact, backs Matchbook Learning’s blended learning schools,.  NewSchools Schools Matter: Billionaire Fave, Matchbook Learning, Coming to Indy:

Charters move closer to new teacher-certification rules, worrying education schools

Charters move closer to new teacher-certification rules, worrying education schools:

Charters move closer to new teacher-certification rules, worrying education schools

In May 2015, top officials and lawyers at Success Academy, New York City’s largest charter school network, held a meeting to discuss an existential threat: the growing network was struggling to hire certified teachers, and was out of compliance with state law.

According to an internal document obtained by POLITICO New York, the network had 28 uncertified teachers among three schools, and six of its schools were violating state laws on certification. “Already for next year, we know the problem will get worse than it is right now,” the document reads. According to the document, Success lawyers warned: “people could sue SUNY for failing to oversee us, and force compliance with the law.”

 On Thursday, the SUNY Charter Schools Institute, which authorizes Success and the city’s other major charter networks, took the first step towards approving a new set of rules that will help its networks, including Success, solve the enormous challenge of hiring certified teachers. Success’s founder, Eva Moskowitz, has pushed for changes to existing certification laws for years.

The institute voted to consider regulations that would allow charters to create their own alternative pathways to certification, and ultimately allow the schools to hire fewer certified teachers. The regulations, which were first reported by POLITICO New York last month, are likely to be at least partially approved by the institute this fall, following a period of public comment.

The new rules would have a significant impact on the city’s nationally influential Charters move closer to new teacher-certification rules, worrying education schools:

John Thompson: We must diagnose the OKCPS dysfunction (and fix it) - NonDoc

We must diagnose the OKCPS dysfunction (and fix it) - NonDoc:

We must diagnose the OKCPS dysfunction (and fix it)

American Federation of Teachers president Ed Allen is correct in describing the controversy over the proposed closing of North Highland Elementary School as an example of the longstanding “dysfunction” that has plagued the district’s central office.

The Daily Oklahoman’s Tim Willert reports that Allen doesn’t put all of the blame on the superintendent, but “if the district functioned properly ‘it wouldn’t have come to this crisis point of just blowing up.’” In a system like the OKCPS, “things don’t work correctly and there are a lot of moving parts that can bring dysfunction.”

Personal agendas punctuate past

Frequent readers will be relieved to learn that I will not get back on my soapbox regarding the folly of trying to mandate that the same testable material be taught in the same way across our diverse district. In this post, I’m making a narrower point.

Historically, the OKCPS administrative culture has not dared focus on the big picture questions about the best ways to provide meaningful teaching and learning in all schools. Our past fosters a culture that spawns one individual agenda after another, with central office administrators promoting their personal policy preferences and then protecting the simplistic “silver bullets” that resulted.

Sixteen years ago, it looked like the OKCPS was on the verge of a new era. MAPS for Kids promised site-based management. The central office was to be realigned so that it supported schools. The reorganization was an effort to “flatten” the bureaucracy in a way that, hopefully, would spur “distributive leadership.” Our oft-repeated mantra was: “None of us, alone, are as smart as all of us are together.”

In the first planning sessions, however, I saw the same pattern. Community and education We must diagnose the OKCPS dysfunction (and fix it) - NonDoc:

Louisiana’s Educational Facade – Educate Louisiana

Louisiana’s Educational Facade – Educate Louisiana:

Louisiana’s Educational Facade

 On June 26th, The Advocate published its article, State Plan to Revamp Public Schools Wins Compliments from Two Groups, giving praise to Louisiana’s new ESSA plan which was submitted to the U.S. Department of Education on May 3, 2017. The State’s plan has received accolades from national groups for its “ambitious goals” to improve public education in Louisiana. The two groups mentioned in this particular article are the Collaborative for Student Success (CFSS) and Bellwether Education Partners (BEP).

I was not at all surprised to see these organizations offering their credibility to support Louisiana’s ESSA plan; nor, was I impressed. These organizations exist because they are part of the very large network of nonprofit organizations that have been established through the collaborative philanthropic efforts of billionaires to provide credibility to education reform efforts. A quick visit to the CFSS website reveals who funds their efforts, and you may remember the blog I did in October 2016 on Bellwether Education Partners. I could go on and on about the endless efforts and bottomless pockets of the nonprofit network, but that really isn’t the focus of this blog. What I want to take a look at is the feedback letter that the U.S. Department of Education sent to Supt. John White on June 30th, along with the notes from the peer reviews conducted at the USDOE.

In its feedback letter, the USDOE expresses several areas of concern related to the plan that was submitted in May and allows the Louisiana Department of Education a very limited 15 days to revise and resubmit. The areas addressed are too many to cover in one writing, so I just want to focus on the ones that are not only contrary to the praise received from CFSS and BEP, but were also opposed by numerous groups considered to be stakeholders in the Louisiana education system which includes association representing school boards, superintendents, principals, teachers and parents.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT INDICATOR
In the new ESSA law, it is carefully spelled out what should be used to measure academic achievement, and USDOE expresses it concern with Section A.4.iv.a: Academic Achievement Indicator and says this:

“In its State Plan, LDE includes, within the Academic Achievement indicator, student
achievement on reading/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies assessments.
For the Academic Achievement indicator required under ESEA section 1111(c)(4)(B)(i)(I), a
State may only include measures of proficiency on the annual assessments required under
ESEA section 1111(b)(2)(B)(v)(I) (i.e., reading/language arts and mathematics); a State may
include performance on assessments other than those required under ESEA section
1111(b)(2)(B)(v)(I) (e.g., science, social studies) in the indicator for public elementary and
secondary schools that are not high schools as required under ESEA section 1111(c)(4)(B)(ii)
(i.e., the Other Academic indicator) for elementary and secondary schools that are not high
schools or in the School Quality or Student Success indicator for any schools, including high
schools.”

What this section addresses, in layman’s terms, is one of the main concerns that was expressed by the State’s education groups regarding testing in all subjects. As stated in the sections referenced above, ESSA allows for academic achievement to be Louisiana’s Educational Facade – Educate Louisiana: