Top Posts This Week 1/12/19 #REDFORED #UTLAStrong #StrikeReady #March4Ed #WeAreLA

Top Posts This Week 1/12/19

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  Those Wishing to Destroy Public Education Are Retooling for 2019
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  Challenging the myths about teachers – Live Long and Prosper
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  Tacos for Teachers: GoFundMe's Try to Feed Students, Teachers During Strike - NBC Southern California #UTLA #REDFORED #UTLAStrong #StrikeReady #March4Ed #WeAreLA
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  CURMUDGUCATION: Bill Gates Is Still Pushing Common Core
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  CA K-12 schools press Gavin Newsom for more funds | The Sacramento Bee #UTLA #REDFORED #UTLAStrong #StrikeReady #March4Ed #WeAreLA
• 

  Walmart Heirs Invest Heavily to Promote Charter Schools | janresseger
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  UTLA goes to court in response to a third desperate legal threat by LAUSD | UTLA #REDFORED #UTLAStrong #StrikeReady #March4Ed #WeAreLA
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  Locating Info on Newly-Formed (Ed Reform) Nonprofits | deutsch29
• 

  John Thompson: The News from Oklahoma, Part 1 | Diane Ravitch's blog
• 

  “Pragmatic” NETFLIX Chooses Profit over Principle | The Merrow Report

Posts This Week 1/12/19

Meet the Heroes of Public Education Who Joined our NPE Action Board of Directors - NPE Action

by mike simpson / 48min

Meet the Heroes of Public Education Who Joined our NPE Action Board of Directors - NPE Action Meet the Heroes of Public Education Who Joined our NPE Action Board of Directors NPE Action is delighted to announce that three, strong pro-public advocates have joined the NPE Action Board of Directors. We are pleased to welcome Sue Legg of Florida, Dountonia Batts of Indianapolis and Dan Greenberg of O

Los Angeles Teachers Set to Strike on Monday: What You Need to Know | Schott Foundation for Public Education

by mike simpson / 57min

Los Angeles Teachers Set to Strike on Monday: What You Need to Know | Schott Foundation for Public Education Los Angeles Teachers Set to Strike on Monday: What You Need to Know More than 30,000 teachers at the Los Angeles Unified School District — the second-largest school district in the country after New York City — are about to go on strike. Support for L.A. teachers has been pouring in from a

Mitchell Robinson: When You Give a Teacher a Gun… | Eclectablog

by mike simpson / 1h

When You Give a Teacher a Gun… | Eclectablog When You Give a Teacher a Gun… Here are just a few of the most troubling excerpts from a very disturbing recent article on arming teachers, presented without comment: “When she started her career, Pam’s salary was $23,000. (“If I ever see $55,000, I’ll be 105 years old,” she says, laughing.) The district is covering her hotel and ammunition for trainin

L.A. teachers join U.S. movement against underfunded schools

by mike simpson / 1h

L.A. teachers join U.S. movement against underfunded schools L.A. teachers join U.S. movement against underfunded schools "What you’re seeing is a national phenomenon, and it’s been building for decades," said National Education Assn. president Lily Eskelsen García. Jennifer Villaryo looked at the young woman through smudged spectacles and gave her this advice: "Don't get bogged down in the party

New Jersey Court Rules Against PARCC for Testing High School Proficiency | deutsch29

by mike simpson / 2h

New Jersey Court Rules Against PARCC for Testing High School Proficiency | deutsch29 New Jersey Court Rules Against PARCC for Testing High School Proficiency The New Jersey Department of Education (DOE) has run awry of its own proficiency testing statutes in trying to use PARCC tests for that purpose. Such is the determination of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, according to

Public Shaming: A Scarlet Letter – Live Long and Prosper

by mike simpson / 2h

Public Shaming: A Scarlet Letter – Live Long and Prosper Public Shaming: A Scarlet Letter Fear blocks learning. Teachers who know this no longer use dunce caps. They don’t put test grades on the class bulletin board or punish the lowest achieving students for not succeeding. Studies involving the neurological impact of shaming and frustration show that children need to feel safe in order to maxim

YESTERDAY

FRIDAY FLASHBACK: 1 in 5 Charter Schools Not Doing Well Enough To Stay Open | The Seattle Times

by mike simpson / 23h

Group: 1 in 5 charter schools not doing well enough to stay open | The Seattle Times Group: 1 in 5 charter schools not doing well enough to stay open Originally published November 28, 2012 at 8:03 pm Updated November 28, 2012 at 10:41 pm A group that oversees more than half of the nation's 5,600 charter schools said as many as one in five U.S. charter schools should be shut down because of poor a

'A standoff over the future of public education': L.A. teachers ready to strike - Education Votes

by mike simpson / 1d

'A standoff over the future of public education': L.A. teachers ready to strike - Education Votes ‘A standoff over the future of public education’: L.A. teachers ready to strike By Tim Walker/Photo: Joe Brusky Anyone who may have been under the impression that the #RedforEd movement was just a “2018 story” better brace themselves. Thirty-three thousand educators in Los Angeles Unified School Dist

10 Education Policy Wins That Give Us Hope in 2019 | Schott Foundation for Public Education

by mike simpson / 1d

10 Education Policy Wins That Give Us Hope in 2019 | Schott Foundation for Public Education 10 Education Policy Wins That Give Us Hope in 2019 2018 was a pivotal year in the education justice movement, for both bad and good reasons. We saw Education Secretary DeVos’ penchant for privatization and ultra conservative viewpoints result in actions like the imposition of harmful new Title IX guidance

Education Research Report

by mike simpson / 1d

Education Research Report Education Research Report National School Climate Survey for LGBTQ by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 13h GLSEN, the leading education organization working to create safe and inclusive schools for LGBTQ students, announced today new findings from the 2017 National School Climate Survey , showing for the first time in a decade that victimization of LGBTQ youth is not decreasing at

Charter School Debate Fueling the Los Angeles Teacher Strike | Time

by mike simpson / 1d

Charter School Debate Fueling the Los Angeles Teacher Strike | Time How the Debate Over Charter Schools Is Fueling the Looming Los Angeles Teacher Strike More than 30,000 Los Angeles teachers are preparing to strike on Monday for the first time in 30 years due to failed negotiations over school funding, pay raises and classroom sizes. But as they look to mobilize support, teachers are also focusi

Sacramento City leaders walk out of budget talks with teachers union | The Sacramento Bee

by mike simpson / 1d

Sacramento City leaders walk out of budget talks with teachers union | The Sacramento Bee Standoff between Sacramento City school district and teachers flares up Talks between teachers and the Sacramento City Unified School district aimed at resolving a severe budget crisis have broken down as a dispute between the two parties heats up. A scheduled meeting between the Sacramento City Unified Scho

Decades of Academic Research Support Community Schools Strategy in New York City’s Renewal Schools | janresseger

by mike simpson / 1d

Decades of Academic Research Support Community Schools Strategy in New York City’s Renewal Schools | janresseger Decades of Academic Research Support Community Schools Strategy in New York City’s Renewal Schools So-called “corporate” school reform has been defined by setting standards and testing students to see if they have met the standards. Rewards and punishments follow for the teachers and s

On Creativity and The Stories Our Schools Tell Themselves | The Jose Vilson

by mike simpson / 1d

On Creativity and The Stories Our Schools Tell Themselves | The Jose Vilson ON CREATIVITY AND THE STORIES OUR SCHOOLS TELL THEMSELVES Around each March, a few students say they can do my job better than me. At the end of the year, I let them mock the adults in the building for a bit before they graduate to high school. A few years ago, however, I decided to flip that challenge and gave them a les

2017 National School Climate Survey | GLSEN

by mike simpson / 1d

2017 National School Climate Survey | GLSEN 2017 National School Climate Survey New Data Shows Progress on Safe Schools for LGBTQ Youth Slows for First Time in Years The GLSEN National School Climate Survey is our flagship report on the school experiences of LGBTQ youth in schools, including the extent of the challenges that they face at school and the school-based resources that support LGBTQ st

Whatever Happened To ‘The Waiting For Superman’ Kids? | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

by mike simpson / 1d

Whatever Happened To ‘The Waiting For Superman’ Kids? | Gary Rubinstein's Blog Whatever Happened To ‘The Waiting For Superman’ Kids? The PR of education reform focuses on the feel-good, beating the odds, stories about heroic teachers and and rock-star superintendents who never give up on their students. There are the 106 original graduates of Chicago’s Urban Prep Charter school that Arne Duncan s

CURMUDGUCATION: GA: Cyber Schools Failing Here, Too

by mike simpson / 1d

CURMUDGUCATION: GA: Cyber Schools Failing Here, Too GA: Cyber Schools Failing Here, Too In what could be news only to someone who has not been paying any attention to cyberschooling in the US, a report from Georgia's Department of Audits and Accounts found that the state's cyber schools "underperformed ." Mind you, I'll argue that the state's College and Career Ready Performance Index is a lousy

“Pragmatic” NETFLIX Chooses Profit over Principle | The Merrow Report

by mike simpson / 1d

“Pragmatic” NETFLIX Chooses Profit over Principle | The Merrow Report “Pragmatic” NETFLIX Chooses Profit over Principle The news that Netflix has pulled one of its programs at the ‘request’ of the Saudi dictatorship in order to prevent Saudi citizens from seeing it is causing concern among defenders of free speech, who say Netflix is putting profits above principle. For its part, the giant compan

JAN 10

The Real Story Behind the L.A. Teachers Strike - LA Progressive #UTLA #REDFORED #UTLAStrong #StrikeReady #March4Ed #WeAreLA

by mike simpson / 2d

The Real Story Behind the L.A. Teachers Strike - LA Progressive The Real Story Behind the L.A. Teachers Strike Superintendent Austin Beutner and his allies have made it clear they do not believe that the L.A. Unified School District in its current incarnation is worth investing in – or even preserving. S ometimes strikes are exactly what they seem to be – battles over wages and working conditions

Trump’s school lunch program: How the administration is changing health standards - Vox

by mike simpson / 2d

Trump’s school lunch program: How the administration is changing health standards - Vox Federally funded school lunches are about to get a lot less healthy By relaxing the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act’s rules for school lunches, the Trump administration is doing a big favor to the dairy industry — at the expense of children’s health. School lunches are about to be more dairy-laden — and, as a re

30,000 LA teachers 'strike ready' as district refuses to spend $1.86 billion reserve on better pay, smaller class sizes - NationofChange

by mike simpson / 2d

30,000 LA teachers 'strike ready' as district refuses to spend $1.86 billion reserve on better pay, smaller class sizes - NationofChange 30,000 LA teachers ‘strike ready’ as district refuses to spend $1.86 billion reserve on better pay, smaller class sizes Educators and their allies in the second-largest school district in the nation are making a stand for students and education quality this week

2019: The Year of Living Emergently? – Sam Chaltain

by mike simpson / 2d

2019: The Year of Living Emergently? – Sam Chaltain 2019: THE YEAR OF LIVING EMERGENTLY? We’re doing it again. 2019 is barely a week old, yet everyone seems to be searching for the singular person, policy or program that can restore order and usher in the better world we seek. From the excitement over the looming presidential race (and the promise of a return to normalcy) to the anticipation of t

Schools Matter: Help Kristen Paulson Support Her Students Without Being Punished for It

by mike simpson / 2d

Schools Matter: Help Kristen Paulson Support Her Students Without Being Punished for It Help Kristen Paulson Support Her Students Without Being Punished for It Below is a plaintive letter from first grade teacher, Kristen Paulson, to my colleague, Mark Naison . If you believe that teachers have the right and responsibility to advocate for their students, please share her letter far and wide. Also

Teachers in Los Angeles Delay Strike Till Next Week; District Faces Long and Catastrophic Fiscal Crisis | janresseger

by mike simpson / 2d

Teachers in Los Angeles Delay Strike Till Next Week; District Faces Long and Catastrophic Fiscal Crisis | janresseger Teachers in Los Angeles Delay Strike Till Next Week; District Faces Long and Catastrophic Fiscal Crisis After months of failed negotiations, the United Teachers of Los Angeles had scheduled a strike beginning today. They have now postponed the strike until Monday, January 14th. Th

Donors Reforming Schools in the U.S. (Part 4) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

by mike simpson / 2d

Donors Reforming Schools in the U.S. (Part 4) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice Donors Reforming Schools in the U.S. (Part 4) As a teacher, superintendent, and professor I have been fortunate in receiving grants from donors over the decades. Small, middle-sized, and large grants came to support and expand my efforts in classrooms (e.g., Teacher Innovation Fund in Washington, D

Jersey Jazzman: Kids In Disadvantaged Schools Don't Need Tests To Tell Them They're Being Cheated

by mike simpson / 2d

Jersey Jazzman: Kids In Disadvantaged Schools Don't Need Tests To Tell Them They're Being Cheated Kids In Disadvantaged Schools Don't Need Tests To Tell Them They're Being Cheated There was a very raw, very discouraging story in The Trentonian this past week that is worth your time, whether you live in Jersey or not. Here's an excerpt: Over the past year, this newspaper spoke with high school stu

Locating Info on Newly-Formed (Ed Reform) Nonprofits | deutsch29

by mike simpson / 2d

Locating Info on Newly-Formed (Ed Reform) Nonprofits | deutsch29 Locating Info on Newly-Formed (Ed Reform) Nonprofits One of the marks of market-based ed reform is the issue of mushrooming nonprofits. Want an instant platform for advancing school choice? Non-career, instant teachers? Test-driven classrooms? Drumming up grass-roots-styled support for an outside, billionaire-funded, corporate ed pr

CURMUDGUCATION: Bill Gates Is Still Pushing Common Core

by mike simpson / 2d

CURMUDGUCATION: Bill Gates Is Still Pushing Common Core Bill Gates Is Still Pushing Common Core Sigh. You've undoubtedly heard the news over the past couple of days-- the Gates Foundation is going to throw $10 million at teachers to help promote "high-quality" curriculum. There are several problems with this, and none of them are new. First, despite the headlines, this money is not actually being

Public School Students are Being Erased From TV, Movies and Other Media | gadflyonthewallblog

by mike simpson / 2d

Public School Students are Being Erased From TV, Movies and Other Media | gadflyonthewallblog Public School Students are Being Erased From TV, Movies and Other Media Ninety percent of America’s students go to public schools. But you wouldn’t know that if you opened a book, turned on the TV or went to a movie. The media is engaged in a disinformation campaign erasing public schools and public scho

JAN 09

Is Universal Pre-K Legislation A Set Up For “Lifelong Learning?” – Wrench in the Gears

by mike simpson / 3d

Is Universal Pre-K Legislation A Set Up For “Lifelong Learning?” – Wrench in the Gears Is Universal Pre-K Legislation A Set Up For “Lifelong Learning?” I’m worried about universal pre-k. Let me repeat. I’m VERY worried about universal pre-k. I worried when Michael Bloomberg and John Arnold supported it in Philadelphia. I worried when I learned about social impact bonds and “pay for success” finan

AG opines: charters must comply with sunshine laws :: K-12 Daily :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet

by mike simpson / 3d

AG opines: charters must comply with sunshine laws :: K-12 Daily :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet AG opines: charters must comply with sunshine laws (Calif.) A new legal opinion from the state’s Department of Justice paves the way for lawmakers to finally impose clear mandates on California charter schools to comply with good governance laws. After more than a decade

Tacos for Teachers: GoFundMe's Try to Feed Students, Teachers During Strike - NBC Southern California #UTLA #REDFORED #UTLAStrong #StrikeReady #March4Ed #WeAreLA

by mike simpson / 3d

Tacos for Teachers: GoFundMe's Try to Feed Students, Teachers During Strike - NBC Southern California Tacos for Teachers: GoFundMe's Try to Feed Students, Teachers During Strike With thousands of Los Angeles teachers threatening to go on strike Thursday, several GoFundMe campaigns have popped up aimed at helping feed both educators and students during the work stoppage. The strike would impact ar

Where Do the LAUSD Board Members Stand?

by mike simpson / 3d

Where Do the LAUSD Board Members Stand? Where Do the LAUSD Board Members Stand? Privatizing forces have appropriated the language of civil rights and social justice movements, while simultaneously gutting our schools of resources and selling our schools away to corporate-run charter companies.” – Reclaim Our Schools LA As noted by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) School Board membe

The Serious Implications of the New Report of the Federal Commission on School Safety | janresseger

by mike simpson / 3d

The Serious Implications of the New Report of the Federal Commission on School Safety | janresseger The Serious Implications of the New Report of the Federal Commission on School Safety On December 18, buried in the pre-holiday news was the release of a report from Betsy DeVos’s Federal Commission on School Safety. This blog reported last week on its most troubling recommendation—the one that was

Sweetwater Schools Financial Problems Became Political Cudgel | tultican

by mike simpson / 3d

Sweetwater Schools Financial Problems Became Political Cudgel | tultican Sweetwater Schools Financial Problems Became Political Cudgel The newly hired Chief Financial Officer of Sweetwater Union High School District (SUHSD), Jenny Salkeld, discovered a significant problem with the budget she inherited. She presented her findings to the Sweetwater leadership team in early September which forwarded

The Network for Public Education welcomes four outstanding leaders to our NPE Board - Network For Public Education

by mike simpson / 3d

The Network for Public Education welcomes four outstanding leaders to our NPE Board - Network For Public Education The Network for Public Education welcomes four outstanding leaders to our NPE Board Network for Public Education President, Diane Ravitch, is proud to announce that four accomplished leaders and supporters of public education have been elected to three year terms on the NPE Board of

JAN 08

Why It’s Getting Harder to Count Poor Children in the Nation’s Schools | Education News | US News

by mike simpson / 4d

Why It’s Getting Harder to Count Poor Children in the Nation’s Schools | Education News | US News Miscounting Poor Students Billions of dollars in federal aid and virtually every metric for assessing achievement gaps rely on an accurate system for counting students from low-income families. THE NUMBER OF POOR students enrolled in a particular school or living in a certain school district is one o

CA K-12 schools press Gavin Newsom for more funds | The Sacramento Bee

by mike simpson / 4d

CA K-12 schools press Gavin Newsom for more funds | The Sacramento Bee The economy is booming. Why are so many California schools broke? Big Education Ape: UPDATE: Audit blasts Sac City Unified for budget mismanagement, warns of possible state takeover | The Sacramento Bee - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2018/12/audit-blasts-sac-city-unified-for.html Facing a $36 million deficit and a poss

DeVos moves to boost college online learning while reducing regulatory oversight - The Washington Post

by mike simpson / 4d

DeVos moves to boost college online learning while reducing regulatory oversight - The Washington Post DeVos moves to boost college online learning while reducing regulatory oversight The U.S. Education Department issued proposals Monday that could extend federal student aid dollars to a wider variety of higher-education providers, a move that some say could spur innovation and others worry could

John Thompson: Oklahoma and the Same Tired Privatization Agenda, Part 3 | Diane Ravitch's blog

by mike simpson / 4d

John Thompson: Oklahoma and the Same Tired Privatization Agenda, Part 3 | Diane Ravitch's blog John Thompson: Oklahoma and the Same Tired Privatization Agenda, Part 3 This is the third in a series about education politics in Oklahoma by John Thompson, historian and retired teacher. The Oklahoman no longer dominates Oklahoma politics as it did for generations, but it is still the biggest bear in o

Did the IPET Initiative Reform Schooling? (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

by mike simpson / 4d

Did the IPET Initiative Reform Schooling? (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice Did the IPET Initiative Reform Schooling? (Part 3) Did the Gates-funded initiative to alter how teachers get evaluated in three school districts and four charter networks between 2009-2016, fail? A local newspaper and the RAND corporation’s independent evaluation reached similar conclusions wh

NYC Educator: UFT Executive Board January 7, 2018--We Support LA Teachers and Discuss Election

by mike simpson / 4d

NYC Educator: UFT Executive Board January 7, 2018--We Support LA Teachers and Discuss Election UFT Executive Board January 7, 2018--We Support LA Teachers and Discuss Election Secretary Howard Schoor welcomes us.. Speakers— Betty Godfried —retired Adult ed. CL—After 7 years, Rose Marie Mills has been removed (applause) and is being reassigned. Third time an unsuitable admin has been dismissed in

Tony Evers, Inaugurated as Wisconsin Governor, Faces a Divided State But Has Backing from Strong Public Education Network | janresseger

by mike simpson / 4d

Tony Evers, Inaugurated as Wisconsin Governor, Faces a Divided State But Has Backing from Strong Public Education Network | janresseger Tony Evers, Inaugurated as Wisconsin Governor, Faces a Divided State But Has Backing from Strong Public Education Network In his fine book on the political ramifications of the 2010 Red-wave state elections, The One Percent Solution , Gordon Lafer describes state

JAN 07

UTLA goes to court in response to a third desperate legal threat by LAUSD | UTLA

by mike simpson / 4d

UTLA goes to court in response to a third desperate legal threat by LAUSD | UTLA UTLA goes to court in response to a third desperate legal threat by LAUSD LOS ANGELES — UTLA is going to court this week to respond to yet another threat of desperate legal action by LAUSD. Depending on the outcome, and if no agreement is reached, the Jan. 10 strike date could be moved a few days later. On Friday, th

LOIS WEINER: Why the LA Teachers Strike Matters

by mike simpson / 5d

Why the LA Teachers Strike Matters Why the LA Teachers Strike Matters This week's Los Angeles teachers strike starkly poses the question: will the public or privatizers control public education? The January 10 strike date announced by the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) has heightened tensions in an already contentious dispute with Los Angeles Superintendent Austin Beutner, who represents t

Once Again With Feeling: Is LAUSD _Really_ Going Bust? – redqueeninla

by mike simpson / 5d

Once Again With Feeling: Is LAUSD _Really_ Going Bust? – redqueeninla Once Again With Feeling: Is LAUSD _Really_ Going Bust? This essay was first published April 3, 2017. It concerns persistent LAUSD budgeting chicanery, and the narrative extended to surround it. Nothing has changed; not the past numbers or their variance from future projections, not the unfolding reality which reveals how conser

Alex Caputo-Pearl: Why LA Teachers May Be Forced to Strike | Diane Ravitch's blog

by mike simpson / 5d

Alex Caputo-Pearl: Why LA Teachers May Be Forced to Strike | Diane Ravitch's blog Alex Caputo-Pearl: Why LA Teachers May Be Forced to Strike Alex Caputo-Pearl is president of the United Teachers of Los Angeles. He explains why teachers may strike. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-caputo-pearl-teachers-strike-20190106-story.html He writes: Teachers in Los Angeles may be forced to strike

CURMUDGUCATION: Why You Can't Fire Your Way To Excellence

by mike simpson / 5d

CURMUDGUCATION: Why You Can't Fire Your Way To Excellence Why You Can't Fire Your Way To Excellence For some reformsters and accountability hawks, the dream remains the same-- find those Bad Teachers, fire them, and replace them with Awesome Teachers. Crack the accountability whip and fire our way to excellence. We have discussed some of the obvious flaws with this approach. How do you even defin

Vaping in the Classroom | deutsch29

by mike simpson / 5d

Vaping in the Classroom | deutsch29 Vaping in the Classroom One of the challenges of being a public high school teacher is developing a constant awareness of what is transpiring in my classroom. Even when I conference individually with my student, my eyes and ears are open in a hyper-observant manner that I have cultivated over decades. Of course, times change, and over those decades, what I’ve n

Can the LAUSD Ensure Student Safety During a Strike?

by mike simpson / 5d

Can the LAUSD Ensure Student Safety During a Strike? Can the LAUSD Ensure Student Safety During a Strike? In addition to threatening the health and safety of students , a strike would also… ” – Exhibit A in LAUSD Court Filing For over 25 years the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has been unable to satisfy the terms of a Consent Decree meant to ensure that students with special educati

JAN 06

SPOTLIGHT BLOG OF THE WEEK: NANCY BAILEY'S EDUCATION WEBSITE (nancyebailey.com)

by mike simpson / 6d

SPOTLIGHT BLOG OF THE WEEK: NANCY BAILEY'S EDUCATION WEBSITE (nancyebailey.com) How School Reform, Including Common Core, Has Devastated Children and Their Joy of Learning to Read by Nancy Bailey / 1d School reform has taken a toll on children starting in kindergarten (even preschool). There’s little doubt that children are being forced to learn to read earlier than ever before. The reading gap l

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Still Waiting for Winter Edition (1/6)

by mike simpson / 6d

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Still Waiting for Winter Edition (1/6) ICYMI: Still Waiting for Winter Edition (1/6) Still no snow in my neck of the woods, but still plenty of writing about education to be read. Remember, sharing is caring. Keep That Same Energy Jose Luis Vilson has my favorite kick off the new year piece. Check it out. Excuse Me While I Teach Your Child A greatest hits fun and games from

John Thompson: The News from Oklahoma, Part 1 | Diane Ravitch's blog

by mike simpson / 6d

John Thompson: The News from Oklahoma, Part 1 | Diane Ravitch's blog John Thompson: The News from Oklahoma, Part 1 This is the first of a three-part series. Last spring, Oklahoma experiences a mass teacher walkout to protest underfunding of public schools. John Thompson, historian and retired teacher, writes: Oklahoma made national headlines in 2018 because of its teacher walkout; teachers runnin

Sacramento News & Review - Protect special education students from budget cuts - Essay - Opinions - January 3, 2019

by mike simpson / 6d

Sacramento News & Review - Protect special education students from budget cuts - Essay - Opinions - January 3, 2019 Protect special education students from budget cuts Sacramento City Unified School District isn’t doing right by special education students. Will budget crisis make it worse? About a year ago, the Sacramento City Unified School District came under scrutiny for vast shortcomings in i

Donors Reform Schooling: Evaluating Teachers (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

by mike simpson / 6d

Donors Reform Schooling: Evaluating Teachers (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice Donors Reform Schooling: Evaluating Teachers (Part 2) In Part 1 , I described a Gates Foundation initiative aimed at identifying effective teachers as measured in part by their students’ test scores, rewarding such stellar teachers with cash, and giving poor and minority children access to

It’s the Class Size, Stupid – redqueeninla #REDFORED #UTLAStrong #StrikeReady #March4Ed #WeAreLA

by mike simpson / 6d

It’s the Class Size, Stupid – redqueeninla It’s the Class Size, Stupid That’s what it is. That’s all it is. LAUSD “management” (Beaudry Big Wigs, Superintendent, Board Members) may talk all they want about negotiations and good-faith bargaining, what it means to cross pickets lines and usurp graduation stages, what constitutes fiscal prudence and what constitutes negligent constraint, etc . But a

JAN 05

Federal judge rejects L.A. school district’s bid to stop teachers from striking - The Washington Post

by mike simpson / 6d

Federal judge rejects L.A. school district’s bid to stop teachers from striking - The Washington Post Federal judge rejects L.A. school district’s bid to stop teachers from striking With the clock ticking on a strike by teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District, a federal judge rejected a bid by Superintendent Austin Beutner’s administration to limit or stop the labor action from happen

CURMUDGUCATION: Terror, Hubris and AI (or Can Artificial Intelligence Fake Being A Self-important Pompous Tool?)

by mike simpson / 6d

CURMUDGUCATION: Terror, Hubris and AI (or Can Artificial Intelligence Fake Being A Self-important Pompous Tool?) Terror, Hubris and AI (or Can Artificial Intelligence Fake Being A Self-important Pompous Tool?) Artificial Intelligence (AI) is, if not a hot new product itself, the additive that helps sell a million other products ("New! Improved!! Now with AI!!!"). And the proponents of AI are load

Top Posts This Week 1/5/19 #REDFORED #UTLAStrong #StrikeReady #March4Ed #WeAreLA

by mike simpson / 6d

Top Posts This Week 1/5/19 CURMUDGUCATION: How Much Money In That Edusector?!! Are We Addicted to ‘School Reform’? | The Merrow Report CURMUDGUCATION: Not Quite Seven Reasons To Ditch Teachers Unions 

Meet the Heroes of Public Education Who Joined our NPE Action Board of Directors - NPE Action

Meet the Heroes of Public Education Who Joined our NPE Action Board of Directors - NPE Action

Meet the Heroes of Public Education Who Joined our NPE Action Board of Directors

NPE Action is delighted to announce that three, strong pro-public advocates have joined the NPE Action Board of Directors. We are pleased to welcome Sue Legg of Florida, Dountonia Batts of Indianapolis and Dan Greenberg of Ohio.

Please read their accomplishments below:

Sue Legg is a retired faculty member from the University of Florida where she directed the Office of Instructional Resources and the instructional computing center (CIRCA). She was chair of the College Board SAT Advisory Committee for two terms, measurement consultant for the Florida Bar Board of Certification for twenty years, and she published in the area of measurement and evaluation.

In 2002, Sue moved to the U.F. Center for Latin American Studies where she directed international grant funded projects including the Partnership in Global Learning as well as USDOE and NSF grants to develop online materials for dying languages in Peru and Bolivia.

Following her retirement from U.F., Sue joined the Florida League of Women Voters where she initiated a state-wide study of the impact of Florida’s charter schools.  She became the state-wide education chair for the League and was named “Member of the Year.”  She was president of the Alachua County league from 20015-17 and formed a coalition to launch the political action committee Parents Against Corporate Takeovers (PACT).  Currently, she serves on several Alachua County School Board committees.  A great friend to public education, Sue blogs at lwveducation.com.

Dountonia S. Batts is a community advocate who has a passion for truth, justice, and equity in housing, education, economic development, and family court reform. She has a Juris Doctorate degree from Indiana Tech Law School; a Master of Business Administration in Human Resource Management from Indiana Wesleyan University; and a Bachelor of Science degree in Biblical Counseling from Crossroads Bible College.

Dountonia is a high school English teacher; co-founder of the Appellate Justice Project for Domestic Violence Survivors, Inc.; adjunct Professor at Crossroads Bible College; owner of Scriptura Grant Writing & Fundraising Professionals LLC; former President and current Vice President of the Riverside Investment Club, LLC; and, the former Executive Director/Organizer of the IPS Community Coalition Inc. She is a board member of the Indiana Coalition of Public Education, an Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools City Table Leader, and a local campaign strategist.

Dountonia and her husband, Dr. Ramon L. Batts, live in Indianapolis, Indiana. They have eight successful children between them.

Dan Greenberg is an English teacher and public education advocate. He founded the Northwest Ohio Friends of Public Education, a grassroots organization that educates and engages teachers, parents, community members and local education leaders on issues impacting public education, including high stakes testing and charter school funding.

Dan is a contributor to the Ohio Education Association “Voices of Change” Blog, and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Education Association, as well as Ohio’s statewide education advocacy group, Public Education Partners.

Categorized in: NPE Action Newsletters

Meet the Heroes of Public Education Who Joined our NPE Action Board of Directors - NPE Action

Los Angeles Teachers Set to Strike on Monday: What You Need to Know | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Los Angeles Teachers Set to Strike on Monday: What You Need to Know | Schott Foundation for Public Education
Los Angeles Teachers Set to Strike on Monday: What You Need to Know

More than 30,000 teachers at the Los Angeles Unified School District — the second-largest school district in the country after New York City — are about to go on strike. Support for L.A. teachers has been pouring in from across the country and, crucially, from within their own community too. Here is what you need to know about the upcoming strike and the politics & organizing around it:

Washington Post: Why 30,000 Los Angeles teachers are ready to strike over huge class sizes

"There is a waiver in the current contract that allows the district to ignore any and all class size caps, as long as they claim financial necessity — and the administration has take advantage of this waiver every single year since the great recession in 2009. That year, the district issued massive teacher layoffs, which increased class sizes in nearly every school." Read more >

AROS: We Are All L.A.!

Schott grantee partner the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools has produced a microsite explaining the issues that community members in Los Angeles are fighting for, including more school funding, less over-testing, smaller class sizes, and an end to discriminatory "random" searches of students. Read more & donate to the solidarity fund >

The Progressive: Will Parents Stand with L.A. Teachers?

"The union has made parent and community outreach a big priority. Teachers have passed out leaflets to parents at every school, held meetings with parents, and developed contact lists of supportive parents who they’ll invite to the picket lines. In the fall, the union held eight regional parent forums, each of which drew hundreds of parents eager to find out how they could help win more school funding." Read more >

Capital & Main: L.A. Teachers’ Potential ‘Meta-Strike’ Reveals Battle Lines in U.S. Public Education War

"If Los Angeles teachers walk off the job January 14, as widely expected, it will be a meta-strike with extremely high stakes not only for teachers, students and parents in L.A., but for public education across the U.S. The stalemated negotiations over wages, class size, staffing and other issues matter – but they are proxies for an epic fight that has been playing out in American school districts for more than a decade." Read more >

Chalkbeat: As L.A. teachers threaten to strike, union leaders are fighting a controversial school reform strategy

If Los Angeles teachers go on strike this week or next, it won’t just be about dollars and cents — it will be part of a broader fight over the role of charter schools and an obscure but influential school reform idea.

“This approach, drawn from Wall Street, is called the ‘portfolio’ model, and it has been criticized for having a negative effect on student equity and parent inclusion,” teachers union president Alex Caputo-Pearl wrote in a Los Angeles Times op-ed Monday. Read more >

To keep up on the latest, keep an eye on the hashtags #WeAreLA, #UTLAstrong, and #RedForEd , and follow us at @SchottFound!

Los Angeles Teachers Set to Strike on Monday: What You Need to Know | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Mitchell Robinson: When You Give a Teacher a Gun… | Eclectablog

When You Give a Teacher a Gun… | Eclectablog

When You Give a Teacher a Gun…

Here are just a few of the most troubling excerpts from a very disturbing recent article on arming teachers, presented without comment:

“When she started her career, Pam’s salary was $23,000. (“If I ever see $55,000, I’ll be 105 years old,” she says, laughing.) The district is covering her hotel and ammunition for training, but she paid for her new $500 Smith & Wesson 9mm handgun and for all her gear—magazines, magazine pouches, a holster, safety equipment, and that concealed-carry permit—out of her own pocket.”

“Last February, the president of the United States went a step further: Schools should arm “highly trained, gun-adept” teachers, said Trump, and pay them bonuses for their troubles. The question is no longer whether we should arm teachers, coaches, principals, and custodians; it’s how many are out there already, and which ones are getting guns next.”

“Gun control is an uninteresting topic for the group, because they are convinced it would be of no practical use. “
‘Drugs are illegal, but look how many people use them anyway,’ one principal reasons. Pam mostly agrees. ‘They’re going to get them if they want them,’ she says, shrugging. But whenever the subject of providing for kids’ mental health comes up, she grimaces a little. Her school still hasn’t hired its own counselor.”

“In all, she fires about 700 rounds over 27 hours of instruction, which includes an evening  CONTINUE READING: 

When You Give a Teacher a Gun… | Eclectablog

L.A. teachers join U.S. movement against underfunded schools

L.A. teachers join U.S. movement against underfunded schools

L.A. teachers join U.S. movement against underfunded schools
"What you’re seeing is a national phenomenon, and it’s been building for decades," said National Education Assn. president Lily Eskelsen García.

Jennifer Villaryo looked at the young woman through smudged spectacles and gave her this advice: "Don't get bogged down in the party scene."

The student, taking the 42-year-old’s "student success" night course at an adult school in Santa Monica this week, promised her those days are in her past, and Villaryo nodded approvingly.

The gig is Villaryo’s third job. She teaches second grade and coaches volleyball for the Los Angeles Unified School District. The paycheck trifecta allows her to live in what she describes as a "super crappy" one-bedroom apartment in Gardena, a city that's often an hour’s drive south of her main job at Grand View Elementary School in L.A.’s Mar Vista community.

"I’m not married," she said. "I don’t have kids."

That’s a teacher's life in California, which has the fifth-largest economy in the world but also the highest poverty rate in the nation. Los Angeles Unified teachers have authorized a strike that is expected to begin Monday if talks between their union, United Teachers Los Angeles, and the district continue to be unfruitful.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday that the strike could go on after the district challenged the UTLA over the amount of notice it provided.

Despite exorbitant housing costs that cut everyone down a notch — about one in five Californians is poor, according to the U.S. Census Bureau‘s Supplemental Poverty Measure — the teachers’ dispute isn’t just about teachers’ pay.

Educators in the second-largest school district in the nation say they’re making a last stand against more than two generations of state defunding of public schools, understaffing of nurses and janitors and an onslaught of what they call the privatization of public education — charter schools.

"Here we are with a public education system in the richest state in CONTINUE READING: L.A. teachers join U.S. movement against underfunded schools

New Jersey Court Rules Against PARCC for Testing High School Proficiency | deutsch29

New Jersey Court Rules Against PARCC for Testing High School Proficiency | deutsch29

New Jersey Court Rules Against PARCC for Testing High School Proficiency

The New Jersey Department of Education (DOE) has run awry of its own proficiency testing statutes in trying to use PARCC tests for that purpose. Such is the determination of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, according to this December 31, 2018, ruling.

The appellants in the case are the Latino Action Network, the Latino Coalition of New Jersey, the Paterson Education Fund, the Education Law Center, and the NAACP New Jersey State Conference. The respondents are the New Jersey State Board of Education and Kimberley Harrington, Acting Commissioner, New Jersey DOE.

In its ruling, the court reminded New Jersey DOE of its own, pre-PARCC-established regulations regarding proficiency testing, the heart of which is as follows:

Enacted in 1979, the Proficiency Standards and Assessments Act (the Act), N.J.S.A. 18A:7C-1 to -16, requires DOE and the Board to “establish a program of standards for graduation from secondary school,” including “a statewide assessment test in reading, writing, and computational skills . . . .” …

In 1988, the Legislature amended the Act to provide that the test “be administered to all [eleventh] grade pupils and to any [eleventh] or [twelfth] grade pupil who ha[d] previously failed to demonstrate” proficiency. N.J.S.A. 18A:7C-6. Local boards of education must now provide remedial instruction to students who do not meet the State proficiency standards by the end of eleventh grade. N.J.S.A. 18A:7C-3. “Any [twelfth] grade student who does not meet” the “State and [school] district examination standards for graduation[,]” but “has met all the CONTINUE READING: New Jersey Court Rules Against PARCC for Testing High School Proficiency | deutsch29

Public Shaming: A Scarlet Letter – Live Long and Prosper

Public Shaming: A Scarlet Letter – Live Long and Prosper

Public Shaming: A Scarlet Letter

Fear blocks learning. Teachers who know this no longer use dunce caps. They don’t put test grades on the class bulletin board or punish the lowest achieving students for not succeeding.

Studies involving the neurological impact of shaming and frustration show that children need to feel safe in order to maximize learning.

…if students do not feel comfortable in a classroom setting, they will not learn. Physiologically speaking, stressed brains are not able to form the necessary neural connections.

The evidence is clear that when students feel unsafe, physically or emotionally, they do not learn as well. This isn’t anything new. Educational psychology classes cover Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. We know that safety…as well as emotional security…must be established before higher levels of performance on Maslow’s hierarchy can be reached. When students experience humiliation in the form of failure at school, they usually aren’t spurred on to higher achievement. They are, instead, left trying to learn with a brain that is disrupted or impaired in its development.

Behavioral neuroscience research in animals tells us that serious, fear-triggering expe- riences elicit physiological responses that affect the architecture of the brain as it is developing. These CONTINUE READING: Public Shaming: A Scarlet Letter – Live Long and Prosper

FRIDAY FLASHBACK: 1 in 5 Charter Schools Not Doing Well Enough To Stay Open | The Seattle Times

Group: 1 in 5 charter schools not doing well enough to stay open | The Seattle Times

Group: 1 in 5 charter schools not doing well enough to stay open

Originally published November 28, 2012 at 8:03 pm Updated November 28, 2012 at 10:41 pm

A group that oversees more than half of the nation's 5,600 charter schools said as many as one in five U.S. charter schools should be shut down because of poor academic performance.

BOSTON — As many as one in five U.S. charter schools should be shut down because of poor academic performance, according to a group representing states, districts and universities that grant them permission to operate.

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers said 900 to 1,300 of the privately run, publicly financed schools should close because they are in the bottom 15 percent of public schools in their states. The Chicago-based group’s members — such as the Los Angeles Unified School District and the State University of New York — oversee more than half of the nation’s 5,600 charter schools.

The announcement represents a challenge to the fast-growing charter-school movement, created as an alternative to conventional districts and operating without many of their rules. To hold the organizations accountable, states must pass new laws that would shut down poor performers, said Greg Richmond, president of the charter-school organization.

“For all the excellent charter schools, there are also many not serving students well,” Richmond said from Washington, D.C., in a briefing with reporters. “That’s unacceptable.”

The call for closing poor performers carries special weight because it comes from an organization funded by charter-school advocates such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation.

In November, voters in Washington state narrowly approved Initiative 1240, which will allow 40 charter schools to open in the state over five years. The approval came after state voters three times before — in 1996, 2000 and 2004 — rejected charter schools.

Washington state’s charter-school law has a provision meant to keep low performers from staying open here. Barring exceptional circumstances, the law says that a charter’s contract should not be renewed if its performance ranks in the bottom 20 percent of Washington’s public schools.

Washington is one of the few states with such clauses in their charter-school laws.

But it remains to be seen how the law will play out in practice. The decision will be up to a new statewide charter commission or any school boards that are authorized to approve charter schools. The first charter schools aren’t expected to open here until fall 2013 at the earliest, and more likely fall 2014.

About 2 million children, who make up 4 percent of public-school enrollment, attend charter schools, more than three times the number 10 years ago, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, a Washington-based nonprofit group.

After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, New Orleans turned to charter schools to overhaul public education. The schools now enroll three-quarters of the city’s students, a larger share than in any other U.S. district, according to the alliance. Charter schools in Detroit and Washington, D.C., educate more than 40 percent of students.

A 2010 survey by the consulting company Mathematica Policy Research compared students enrolled at charters with those who applied but weren’t admitted. It found that performance was similar in reading and in math, though there were wide variations across schools. A 2009 Stanford University study found that charter students fared worse.

Poor and low-achieving students at charters showed significant gains over peers at traditional public schools, the Mathematica study found. Charters in large urban areas helped students’ math achievement. Outside those regions, they had a negative effect.

In California, more students are being educated in the best charter schools than in those that should be closed, Jed Wallace, president of the California Charter Schools Association, said at the briefing.

The announcement follows debate about whether charter schools are weakening the finances of traditional districts, siphoning off students from the most committed families, promoting racial and economic segregation in public education and failing to provide equal access to students with disabilities. Those are all arguments that opponents of Washington’s charter-school measure, including state and local teachers unions, made during the campaign.

The authorizers’ group is trying to police against practices that weed out lower-performing students, which can also make charter-school achievement look better than it is, Richmond said.

“We want to know if games are being played,” he said.

Seattle Times staff reporter Linda Shaw contributed to this report

Group: 1 in 5 charter schools not doing well enough to stay open | The Seattle Times

'A standoff over the future of public education': L.A. teachers ready to strike - Education Votes

'A standoff over the future of public education': L.A. teachers ready to strike - Education Votes

‘A standoff over the future of public education’: L.A. teachers ready to strike

By Tim Walker/Photo: Joe Brusky

Anyone who may have been under the impression that the #RedforEd movement was just a “2018 story” better brace themselves. Thirty-three thousand educators in Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) – the second largest district in the country – are on the verge of striking to halt years of budget cuts, ballooning class size, and the expansion of unaccountable charter schools. Six hours north in the Bay Area, Oakland educators are also gearing up for a possible walk-out.

United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) and LAUSD have been mired in negotiations since April 2017, and teachers have been working without a contract for almost one year. Educators made a good faith effort in mediation to reach an agreement, but district officials did not do the same, failing to offer any substantial proposals to reinvest in the city’s schools. In August, UTLA voted overwhelmingly (98% of the membership voted yes) to authorize a strike if talks continued to stall.

Barring last-minute movement, UTLA will go on strike on Monday, January 14, the first walkout since 1989.

The district has tried to present the impasse as a squabble over numbers and teacher salaries, a characterization UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl says is absolutely false and a disservice to students.

“This is a standoff over the future of public education,” Caputo-Pearl explains. “We will not agree on salary only or salary and a few other things. What we are fighting for is a program of investment in our neighborhood public schools that will create a thriving school district and the education our students deserve.”

Despite LAUSD’s repeated denials, the money to reinvigorate the city’s schools is in fact there – in the form of $1.8 billion (yes, billion) in unrestricted reserves. The state of California requires CONTINUE READING: 'A standoff over the future of public education': L.A. teachers ready to strike - Education Votes

10 Education Policy Wins That Give Us Hope in 2019 | Schott Foundation for Public Education

10 Education Policy Wins That Give Us Hope in 2019 | Schott Foundation for Public Education

10 Education Policy Wins That Give Us Hope in 2019

2018 was a pivotal year in the education justice movement, for both bad and good reasons. We saw Education Secretary DeVos’ penchant for privatization and ultra conservative viewpoints result in actions like the imposition of harmful new Title IX guidance and the systematic dismissal of civil rights complaints. But we also saw a historic wave of teacher strikes roll across the nation, and scores of victories for public education in states, cities, and districts. Indeed, in this ESSA world most education policy struggles have been taking place below the Federal level — this trend should continue and accelerate in 2019, particularly as many municipal and school board officials face the voters this November.

At the Schott Foundation we’ve been working for more than twenty-five years to support and empower the grassroots, community-centered organizations that are building movements strong enough to enact serious policy change. Here are ten policy victories our grantee partners and allies have celebrated in 2018, all of which provide the momentum for the important work ahead this year.

1. Any list should start with the most iconic education story in 2018: the unprecedented
   
   wave of #RedForEd teacher strikes and walkouts that started in West Virginia and spread to Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arizona, Colorado, and North Carolina. In each case such efforts led to either significant wins for educators and their schools — like increased classroom funding, public employee salaries, and halts to charter expansion — or a still-significant change in the political landscape and public will in support of public education. And in each case successful mobilizations were made possible by strong community ties and coordination (see our recent report on how you can build community-labor partnerships in your hometown!).
2. The organizing efforts of the Coalition for Educational Justice to ensure culturally responsive schools led to $23 million in anti-bias training for educators in New York City public schools.
3. Dignity in Schools Campaign member Racial Justice Now! won significant school discipline reforms across the state of Ohio.
4. Thanks to community organizers and a growing cross-sector coalition, the residents of Jackson and Jefferson County Mississippi were able to thwart top- CONTINUE READING: 10 Education Policy Wins That Give Us Hope in 2019 | Schott Foundation for Public Education
5.