Don't Act Like You "Care" About School Reform, But Ignore the Life and Death Issues Black People in America Face - Philly's 7th Ward

Don't Act Like You "Care" About School Reform, But Ignore the Life and Death Issues Black People in America Face - Philly's 7th Ward

DON’T ACT LIKE YOU “CARE” ABOUT SCHOOL REFORM, BUT IGNORE THE LIFE AND DEATH ISSUES BLACK PEOPLE IN AMERICA FACE

In recent months, notable people within school reform circles have locked horns over a trifling question: Does the inclusion of social justice activists, people derided as “warriors,” in education reform threaten the bipartisan peace by introducing unrelated issues into the mix?

Are we marginalizing white conservative school reformers by making them confront the life and death issues people of color and other marginalized populations face every day as Americans?

I’ve been asked repeatedly, “Do we really need to include those other issues if our goal is to improve education?”

My response has been, “other issues?”

As if any of us live compartmentalized lives where our hearts, minds, and bodies are only impacted by one institution at a time.

As if we aren’t the sum total of a maddening portfolio of experiences—many of them negative—across institutions that reaffirm the Dred Scott ruling saying Black people have had “no rights which the White man was bound to respect.”

That portfolio of experience comes with compounding interest over the life span of a Black person, and it pays dividends in frustration, anger, and resistance.

If you are without this portfolio of experience you might be inclined to first deny, invalidate, belittle, reframe, obfuscate, and sequester Black pain so you can remain comfortably dispassionate, and plausibly ignorant to the factors CONTINUE READING: Don't Act Like You "Care" About School Reform, But Ignore the Life and Death Issues Black People in America Face - Philly's 7th Ward

Opt-Out Review – Educate Louisiana

Opt-Out Review – Educate Louisiana

Opt-Out Review

Every year around this time, I start to get an onslaught of questions from teachers and parents about state administered standardized tests and whether, or not, students are required to take them. I can only touch on the subject, here. If you want to delve deeper, just use the search feature on this site and search for “Opt Out.”

ACCOUNTABILITY

First, it helps to understand why the tests are administered. Nearly two decades ago, the federal government implemented accountability for public schools. The forces behind it were both Democrats and Republicans. Democrats wanted accountability for the poor performance of students living in poverty, students of color, and students who were non-English learners. Republicans saw education as the largest expense in state budgets and wanted results that justified the spending. It is important to understand that accountability describes what school system are required to do. It is in no way a mandate on students, or parents. Over the years, it has become nothing more than a tool for corporate interests to eliminate teacher tenure, bust teacher unions, and replace public schools with charter schools that have non-unionized teachers and run their schools like a business instead of a public entity that serves the good of every student. So what does all this mean to us?

Many years ago, when I was an elementary student, it was the practice to measure student performance using norm-referenced tests (NRT), and the results were reported in percentiles. To determine level of performance, test results are normed against a random sample to determine the bell curve. Percentile is a statistical norm that essentially means a 50th percentile CONTINUE READING: Opt-Out Review – Educate Louisiana

Rahm Emanuel’s Non-Apology Apology for Being a School Privatization Cheerleader | gadflyonthewallblog

Rahm Emanuel’s Non-Apology Apology for Being a School Privatization Cheerleader | gadflyonthewallblog

Rahm Emanuel’s Non-Apology Apology for Being a School Privatization Cheerleader

Rahm Emanuel’s recent op-ed in The Atlantic may be one of the dumbest things I have ever read.

The title “I Used to Preach the Gospel of Education Reform. Then I Became the Mayor” seems to imply Emanuel has finally seen the light.

The outgoing Chicago Mayor USED TO subscribe to the radical right view that public schools should be privatized, student success should be defined almost entirely by standardized testing, teachers should be stripped of union protections and autonomy and poor black and brown people have no right to elect their own school directors.

But far from divorcing any of this Reagan-Bush-Trump-Clinton-Obama crap, he renews his vows to it.

This isn’t an apologia. It’s rebranding.

Emanuel had been White House Chief of Staff at the beginning of President Barack Obama’s first term. He’s a former U.S. Representative, and senior adviser to President Bill Clinton.

Yet he’s persona non grata.

Now that the extremely unpopular chief executive has decided not to seek re-election, he’s trying to secure his legacy – to make sure the history books don’t remember him as the Democrat In Name Only (DINO) mayor who closed an unprecedented number of schools serving mostly minority students while catering to the will of rich investors. He doesn’t want to be remembered as the lord on a hill CONTINUE READING: Rahm Emanuel’s Non-Apology Apology for Being a School Privatization Cheerleader | gadflyonthewallblog

Who’s Giving In LAUSD5 – redqueeninla

Who’s Giving In LAUSD5 – redqueeninla

Who’s Giving In LAUSD5

There’s a school board race on; VBM ballots are out and LAUSD’s Board District 5 votes at the polls March 5, 2019. 

This time the “out-of-state billionaires” are “sitting this one out”. And it’s true, there are no outsized, multi-million dollar Independent Expenditure Committees (IEC) overflowing with money from privatizers and the California Charter School Association (CCSA), bankrolling negative, deceitful, messaging-campaigns.

But there are very clear lines to be drawn in the sand by scrutinizing the pattern of giving in this race. The seat vacated by the disgraced Charter School operator, Ref Rodriguez, constitutes a swing vote on today’s school board. At stake is no less than the balance of power between representatives of the Charter School industry (e.g., CCSA, PUC, Alliance, PLAS, Magnolia, Green Dot, KIPP, etc, etc, etc.) {Garcia, Gonez and Melvoin}, and the board’s former-Superintendents {McKenna and Schmerelson, joined variously by Vladovic who has taken considerable money from the CCSA but likes to keep everyone jumping}.

In the void left by CCSA is a different kind of indebtedness.  Political Patronageis a different if not new form of paymaster that three of the candidates are drafting.

Tables 1 and 2 show the distribution of donations reported to the CoLA Ethics Commission prior to 2/8/19 among 9 of the 10 qualified candidates running for LAUSD BD5 (Rivas has apparently reported no donations). Donations have been roughly categorized according to each donor’s character or affinity, e.g. as a charter school teacher or administrator; or, say, as a political consultant or Developer. These are not exhaustive categories and were assigned quickly without deep scrutiny or cross-checking; accuracy is not assured. Individual’s categorization may be requested via email for interest or the purpose of crowd-sourced corrections. “Other” means none-of-the-above, and includes, for CONTINUE READING: Who’s Giving In LAUSD5 – redqueeninla

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Valentine's Edition (2/10)

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Valentine's Edition (2/10)

ICYMI: Valentine's Edition

A handful of worthwhile reads this week. Remember to share!

Defining High Quality Curriculum

Nancy Flanagan wants to know why curriculum is supposed to be so hard for actual teachers.

Charter Schools Are Pushing Public Education To The Brink

Jeff Bryant looks at how badly charter schools squeeze public school finances. (Spoiler alert: pretty badly)

Active Shooter Drills

A reminder, if you need one, of just how badly this business stinks, and how damaging to a school's atmosphere these little death plays are becoming.

A Wake-Up Call To AI Companies

An interview with Anand Giridharadas, a guy you should definitely know about.

What Part of No To Vouchers Do Lawmakers Not Understand   

Arizona lawmakers are determined to just sort of ignore the results of recent elections, decisions, uprising-- you name it.

The Myth of De Facto Segregation    

From the Kappan. Segregation didn't just kind of happen, and the soft bigotry of low expectations is not the major problem.

Third Grade Flunk Laws and Unintended Consequences   

Yes, Nancy Flanagan is on here twice. I can't help it if she keeps writing indispensable stuff.

The Trouble With Test-Obsessed Principals

Steven Singer takes a look at how testing messes with the front office and what that means for everyone else in the building.

Portfolio Governance Creates Unstable Charter Sector    

Firing your way to excellence involves closing lots of schools. That's not really helpful in any district.

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Valentine's Edition (2/10)

Field Guide To Strike Objectors

100+by Peter Greene / 22h

In my four decades of teaching, I went through a strike twice--once as a first year teacher, and once as the president of the local union. Writing about education, I have followed dozens more. No matter what kind of public support a strike is getting, there are always some familiar tunes you can expect to hear played in opposition to a teacher walkout. Here's your guide to all the classics. Don't

FEB 08

IA: Choice Is Taxation Without Representation

20by Peter Greene / 1d

An Iowa state senator has caught on to one of the problematic side effects of many choice programs-- disenfranchised taxpayers. Or, as somebody put it a while ago, taxation without representation. Iowa has long allowed open enrollment; an Iowa family can enroll their student in any public school district, whether they live there or not. Currently the full per-pupil expenditure follows the student-

FEB 07

DC: Charter Leaders Make The Big Bucks

93by Peter Greene / 3d

It's a phenomenon noted in many urban education-scapes. The leaders (CEO, Education Visionary, Grand High Muckity Muck, whatever) of a charter operation makes far more money than a) the local public school superintendent responsible for far more students and b) the teachers who work within the charter. But a recent Washington City Paper article by Rachel Cohen lays out some stark examples. The art

Count Them As They Go

100+by Peter Greene / 3d

I'm asked from time to time (mostly, I think, because some people are curious but reluctant to ask) what it's like to be in my particular spot in life. Retired from teaching, sixty-one years old, raising two babies about thirty years after I raised two other babies-- as my wife and I have said at various times over the last decade, we are kind of off the map here. So my honest answer is that I'm f

FEB 06

Portfolio School Management For Dummies

23by Peter Greene / 4d

One of the issues that was hanging over the Los Angeles teacher strike is the idea of portfolio management; the UTLA asserts that Superintendent Austin Beutner already has a plan prepared for converting the LAUSD to a multi-portfolio model. In Denver, the model has already been rolled out, to less than stellar result . It's a challenging issue to discuss because so few people understand exactly h

FEB 05

Hammering the Littles: Are The Kids Really All Right?

100+by Peter Greene / 4d

The headline says " Kindergarten classes are getting more academic. New research says the kids are all right. " The news is that a big shiny new study shows that the increasingly academic approach to kindergarten is okee dokee. The quick take is that the study followed 20,000 kindergarten students and found that they both achieved academically and their social and emotional development was just fi

FEB 04

Reclaiming Choice

54by Peter Greene / 5d

So we just froze our way through School Choice Week, the annual PR blitz in favor of privatizing public education, and I find myself troubled and annoyed by the word "choice." See, I favor choice. In all my years at our tiny small town/rural high school, we'v e graduated students who went on to become doctors, artists, teachers, welders, construction workers, lawyers, telephone linemen, and jobs y

FEB 03

ICYMI: Really Big List Edition (2/3)

by Peter Greene / 7d

Was it the cold? Did we all just have more time to wander the internet? I don't know, but it's a huge list this week. Remember to share-- that's how the word gets out. LA Strike: Charters Are An Existential Threat To Public Education The LA strike was extraordinary in that it addressed so much more than wages and benefits, but also addressed policy as well. Here's a good look at where the LA chart

FEB 01

Measuring Success: A Study in Contrasts

37by Peter Greene / 9d

Two items tossed my feed this week that underline contrasting ideas about what constitutes success in education. First, let's go to the Jackson-Madison County school system of Tennessee. At JMCSS folks are pretty excited because they've made such strides with the addition of a unified curriculum. They know this worked because they have all sorts of growth data, much of it exceeding expectations. N

JAN 31

How American Should American Schools Be?

by Peter Greene / 9d

Part of the impetus behind modern education reform is the idea that more of the education system should be operated by businesses. Many merits and drawbacks of that approach continue to be debated, but one aspect is rarely discussed. Modern business is multinational, so we need to ask--how much control of our educational system do we want to send outside of U.S. borders? Charter schools have been

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