It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY DAY | The latest news and resources in education since 2007
TODAY
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY DAY | The latest news and resources in education since 2007
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007
It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY DAY | The latest news and resources in education since 2007
TODAY
It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY DAY | The latest news and resources in education since 2007
TODAY
Teaching in Hostile Times | radical eyes for equity
Teaching in Hostile Times | radical eyes for equity
Teaching in Hostile Times
Teaching in Hostile Times
There is a long-time joke at my university that has far more than a grain of truth in it—the campus and the university environment captured in a metaphor, the bubble. Referring to the bubble elicits smiles and even laughter, until the bubble bursts.
Over three M-W-F morning courses this fall, I teach 40 students—39 are first-year students, and 39 are white. Most, as is typical of my university are women, and most are significantly privileged in a number of ways.
During fall break this year, vandalism and theft invaded the bubble, including Swastikas and sexually hostile language written on young women’s dormitory doors and marker boards.
So far the university response has been a mostly silent investigation and one official email from the Chief Diversity Officer and University Chaplain. When I engaged one class in a conversation about the incident, I heard the following concerns from students, which I shared with the President, Provost, Academic Dean, and CDO:
- Students are concerned with a lack of information, and that only one email from two FU admins has been sent [1]. Some mentioned that email was in their spam folder.
- Students expressed concern that almost no professors have addressed these events in class.
- Students openly wondered if this is being “swept under the rug,” and fear that if/when people responsible are discovered, what the consequences will be.
- More broadly, students expressed some trepidation about the open-campus nature, and seemed unsure how to alert and who to alert with specific concerns.
The second point stands out to me because a couple students directly noted that in one class the discussion planned for a class session was CONTINUE READING: Teaching in Hostile Times | radical eyes for equity
Carl J. Petersen: Can An Ethically Challenged School Board Member Pass Judgement On Others?
Can An Ethically Challenged School Board Member Pass Judgement On Others?
Can An Ethically Challenged School Board Member Pass Judgement On Others?
Can An Ethically Challenged School Board Member Pass Judgement On Others?
Included on the agenda for the morning meeting of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) Board was an item described as “Employee Discipline/Dismissal/Release.” For grassroots activists fighting against the privatization of public education, it was ironic that Board Member Nick Melvoin would participate in this conversation given the ethics violations that were revealed by the publication of confidential California Charter School Association (CCSA) documents by Michael Kohlhaas dot org. Before the board retreated into closed session, these parents and grandparents of students enrolled in the district expressed their concerns by reading portions of these charter industry documents into the public record:
Regarding employee dismissals, item number two: should an attorney who is potentially in violation of California Bar Association professional and ethical codes be deciding on the CONTINUE READING: Can An Ethically Challenged School Board Member Pass Judgement On Others?
PETER GREENE: The Classroom Connectivity Gap Is Closed. How Did That Happen?
The Classroom Connectivity Gap Is Closed. How Did That Happen?
The Classroom Connectivity Gap Is Closed. How Did That Happen?
The Classroom Connectivity Gap Is Closed. How Did That Happen?
EducationSuperHighway has only been around since 2012, but this morning they issued a report with a simple message: the classroom connectivity gap has been closed.
That’s not entirely a surprise; last year’s annual report from the non-profit reported that 98% of US schools had high-speed internet access. This year the number is squeaking past 99%, with the vast majority also meeting the FCC 1 Mbps per student standard. Along the way, EducationSuperHighway managed to involve around 80 governors from all 50 states, recast some federal regulations, and approach an unheard-of milestone–become a non-profit organization that will close up shop because it did what it set out to do.
How did they manage all that? I talked to founder Evan Marwell about the secrets of his success.
Marwell had been an entrepreneur four times, successful enough to live comfortably (Marwell takes no salary as CEO of the organization). He had set his sights on the non-profit world, but hadn’t identified his “bold endeavor” of choice until his daughter told him they were unable to stream videos at her school–a private school in Silicon Valley. The second part of his non-profit epiphany came in a DC conversation with a top US tech officer, who explained, “We’re the government. We don’t fix problems.” What he meant was that the government has money, some leverage, and a bully pulpit, but not the human capital to pull off something large scale. And Marwell identified the biggest non-profit problem as getting solutions to scale.
It would be easy for those of us invested in classroom teaching in public education to view Marwell with suspicion; after all, the CONTINUE READING: The Classroom Connectivity Gap Is Closed. How Did That Happen?
Kentucky: Don’t Be Fooled! Charters and Vouchers Harm Children. | Diane Ravitch's blog
Kentucky: Don’t Be Fooled! Charters and Vouchers Harm Children. | Diane Ravitch's blog
Kentucky: Don’t Be Fooled! Charters and Vouchers Harm Children
Kentucky: Don’t Be Fooled! Charters and Vouchers Harm Children
Rev. Sharon Felton, coordinator of Pastors for Kentucky Children, warns parents and other members of the public not to be fooled by the rhetoric. Charters, vouchers, and tax credits are not good for children, and they drain resources from the public schools that educate most children.
She writes:
Educating our children is the most important thing we do in the commonwealth. Educating all of our children no matter their family’s economic status, their address, the color of their skin, is so critical to our society and our future that our constitution requires it!
Section 183 of the Kentucky Constitution states, “The General Assembly shall, by appropriate legislation, provide for an efficient system of common schools throughout the State.”
People are pouring money and rhetoric into our state to convince us all that privatization, school choice, scholarship tax credits (vouchers), and charter schools CONTINUE READING: Kentucky: Don’t Be Fooled! Charters and Vouchers Harm Children. | Diane Ravitch's blog
CURMUDGUCATION: Vouchers And Federally-Supported Discrimination
CURMUDGUCATION: Vouchers And Federally-Supported Discrimination
Vouchers And Federally-Supported Discrimination
Vouchers And Federally-Supported Discrimination
School voucher programs are becoming one of the major fronts in a federal battle to safeguard discrimination by religious organizations.
Some flaps created by private religious schools seem minor, like the pastor at a Catholic school who banned Harry Potter books because he believes the books contain “actual curses and spells.” But earlier this year, the Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis touched off a flurry of excitement by requiring Catholics schools in the archdiocese to fire all gay teachers. Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School refused, and was stripped of its Catholic identity. To avoid a similar fate, Cathedral High School terminated a teacher in a decision it called “agonizing.” The teacher settled with the school, but has since sued the archdiocese.
This might be a matter of Catholic internal business, except that in Indianapolis, as in many areas around the country, the Catholic school system is now funded in part by school vouchers, a system of using public tax dollars for tuition to private schools. Indiana has been aggressive in pursuing school choice policies, particularly under then-Governor Mike Pence, who in his 2013 inaugural addresssaid, “There’s nothing that ails our schools that can’t be fixed by giving parents more choices.” Indiana’s voucher program directs taxpayer dollars primarily to religious schools, and the CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Vouchers And Federally-Supported Discrimination
NYC Public School Parents: Schools with the biggest shortfalls in matching funds for facility upgrades.
NYC Public School Parents: Schools with the biggest shortfalls in matching funds for facility upgrades.
Schools with the biggest shortfalls in matching funds for facility upgrades.
NYC Public School Parents: Schools with the biggest shortfalls in matching funds for facility upgrades.
Schools with the biggest shortfalls in matching funds for facility upgrades.
Here is the list from our report, Spending by NYC on Charter School Facilities: Diverted Resources, Inequities and Anomalies, of the 175 NYC public schools co-located with charter schools with the biggest shortfalls in funds for facility enhancements, totaling $22 million, which were supposed to be provided according to a state law passed in 2010.
Teachers Quitting In DC | GFBrandenburg's Blog
Teachers Quitting In DC | GFBrandenburg's Blog
Teachers Quitting In DC
Teachers Quitting In DC
Valerie Jablow points out that there is an enormous problem with DC public and charter teachers being so harassed that they quit: around 70% of them quit by their 5th year of employment. (She adds that this is probably not a bug, but a feature of the DC teacher evaluation program.) I am reprinting her entire column, but you should subscribe to it yourself.
 | Let’s Be Clear: DC Teacher Retention Isn’t Just A Problem. It’s A Crisis. |
This Wednesday evening, October 23, at 5:30 pm, the DC state board of education (SBOE), DC’s only elected body with a direct (if relatively powerless) voice on our schools, will take public testimony on teacher retention in DC’s publicly funded schools. (See more information here.)
While public voice is sorely needed in every conversation about our public schools, in this case it’s a bit akin to choosing wallpaper for a burning building.
But that’s hardly SBOE’s fault.
In the wake of years of testimony about horrific treatment of DC teachers, SBOE last year commissioned a study by DC schools expert Mary Levy, which showed terrible attrition of teachers at our publicly funded schools, dwarfing attrition rates nationally.
An update to that 2018 study was just made available by SBOE and will be discussed at the meeting this week.
The update shows that while DCPS teacher and principal attrition rates have dropped slightly recently, they remain very high, with CONTINUE READING: Teachers Quitting In DC | GFBrandenburg's Blog
Mike Klonsky's Blog: Sun-Times' phony support for CPS sports teams
Mike Klonsky's Blog: Sun-Times' phony support for CPS sports teams
Sun-Times' phony support for CPS sports teams
I expect anti-union, anti-teacher rants from the likes of Greg Hinz at Crain's or Kristen McQueary (and now Eric Zorn) at the Trib. But I must say, I flipped out after reading today's editorial in the Sun-Times, a paper owned in part by the unions, which hit too close to home.
The editorial calls on striking CTU teachers to return to work immediately or risk hurting CPS sports teams.
And the topper...
First, let me say that as a former CPS basketball coach and IHSA referee, I am sympathetic to CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: Sun-Times' phony support for CPS sports teams
Sun-Times' phony support for CPS sports teams
| Sun-Times says, Simeon needs the teachers strike to end sooner than the rest of the Public League |
We have to wonder, if the strike continues through the coming week, how many students this school year will score just a little lower on standardized tests, hurting their chances of getting into a top college or winning a scholarship. -- Sun-Times editorial
I expect anti-union, anti-teacher rants from the likes of Greg Hinz at Crain's or Kristen McQueary (and now Eric Zorn) at the Trib. But I must say, I flipped out after reading today's editorial in the Sun-Times, a paper owned in part by the unions, which hit too close to home.
The editorial calls on striking CTU teachers to return to work immediately or risk hurting CPS sports teams.
If the strike does not end on or before Tuesday, all 78 CPS football teams — some 2,300 kids — will not play their Week 9 games.It's not just football. Girls tennis teams will miss their scheduled tournament and Class 2A and 3A boys soccer teams had to forfeit every game this weekend.
And the topper...
...if the strike continues through the coming week, how many students this school year will score just a little lower on standardized tests, hurting their chances of getting into a top college or winning a scholarship.The best solution there is, stop giving them.
First, let me say that as a former CPS basketball coach and IHSA referee, I am sympathetic to CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: Sun-Times' phony support for CPS sports teams
Chicago’s Teachers Are Making History. Again. | The Nation
Chicago’s Teachers Are Making History. Again. | The Nation
Chicago’s Teachers Are Making History. Again.
Rank-and-file workers are finally taking back their unions, and strikes are spreading across the country as a result.
The beginning of a resurgence of strength among America’s unions today can be traced to two seminal events: the September 2012 seven-day strike by Chicago’s teachers, and the less-noticed June 2010 internal union election at the Chicago Teachers Union. That was when a slate of progressive, forward-thinking educators won all the top seats inside their union, ending nearly three decades of do-nothing unionism at the third-largest teacher’s union in the country. Jackson Potter, a teacher and one of the architects of that victory—and the subsequent strike—told me back in the fall of 2013, “Our ability to connect with the community has been key for us. But I worry about our ability to have much success over the long run if there aren’t other worker-led insurrections.”
Potter and 26,000 coworkers helped set the stage for the Chicago strikes, but they couldn’t have predicted the ensuing string of successes toward rebuilding a high-quality public school system, driven by educators from West Virginia to California. The strike that many people regard as the kickoff—the February 2018 West Virginia teacher’s strike—can also be traced back to Chicago. Despite a four-decade general assault against workers and unions, and a specific and especially vicious two-decade attack against America’s teachers, when the Chicago teachers walked in September 2012, the public sided decisively with them—and against Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Suddenly, expectations were raised that workers could fight, even strike—and win. Now with a strike date set for October 17, the focus returns to Chicago’s educators.
Much has changed since 2012, but one factor is refreshingly constant: The teachers’ union remains bottom-up, democratic, resilient and strong. Two other groups of workers in two different units, represented by SEIU local 73, have also voted to authorize strikes on October 17. These additional workers include an important group in the Chicago CONTINUE READING: Chicago’s Teachers Are Making History. Again. | The Nation
Chicago’s Teachers Are Making History. Again.
Rank-and-file workers are finally taking back their unions, and strikes are spreading across the country as a result.
Potter and 26,000 coworkers helped set the stage for the Chicago strikes, but they couldn’t have predicted the ensuing string of successes toward rebuilding a high-quality public school system, driven by educators from West Virginia to California. The strike that many people regard as the kickoff—the February 2018 West Virginia teacher’s strike—can also be traced back to Chicago. Despite a four-decade general assault against workers and unions, and a specific and especially vicious two-decade attack against America’s teachers, when the Chicago teachers walked in September 2012, the public sided decisively with them—and against Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Suddenly, expectations were raised that workers could fight, even strike—and win. Now with a strike date set for October 17, the focus returns to Chicago’s educators.
Much has changed since 2012, but one factor is refreshingly constant: The teachers’ union remains bottom-up, democratic, resilient and strong. Two other groups of workers in two different units, represented by SEIU local 73, have also voted to authorize strikes on October 17. These additional workers include an important group in the Chicago CONTINUE READING: Chicago’s Teachers Are Making History. Again. | The Nation
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