The in box. Responding to Ty Fahner about the Constitutional Amendment. « Fred Klonsky

The in box. Responding to Ty Fahner about the Constitutional Amendment. « Fred Klonsky:

The in box. Responding to Ty Fahner about the Constitutional Amendment.

by Fred Klonsky

Fred,
I received the following e-mails from a friend, and I wanted to know how YOU would respond to them. Thanks, Esther Allman
Below are two emails that I received in response to my sending out my own emails to all of my friends and family to vote NO against the amendment. What arguments can be used to respond to these type of messages? Or does mean that we are in a tough battle and the lines are drawn?
———————————————————————————————————————————

 ——there are many laws in Illinois that address individual issues.There is no money. This is a step in the direction of controlling spending and is less “radical” then what has been done in many other states.

Duncan Emphasizes Teacher Quality Over Class Sizes – SchoolBook

Duncan Emphasizes Teacher Quality Over Class Sizes – SchoolBook:

Duncan Emphasizes Teacher Quality Over Class Sizes

by Yasmeen Khan

When asked to rank the importance of class size among criteria for improving education, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan put it behind teacher quality although he said “in an ideal world” class sizes would be smaller.
“I have yet to go to a great school that doesn’t have a great principal; you need a great teacher in every single classroom,” Duncan said during a tour of Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-Tech) in Brooklyn.
In the final presidential debate before next month’s election, President Obama said to Governor Romney, “When you were asked about reduced class sizes, you said class sizes don’t make a difference. But I tell you, if you

Feds Say City Submitted False Counseling Claims

by Beth Fertig

The city’s Department of Education falsely billed the federal Medicaid system for almost $700,000 in counseling services for low-income pupils with special needs, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Brooklyn.
The complaint from the Eastern District says the reimbursement requests were submitted between 2001 and 2004. During that time period, the Medicaid program paid $223 per month for each student who received two or more services in the month. The costs were shared by the state and federal governments. But the complaint alleges the city falsely claimed to have provided thousands of students with many more sessions than they actually received, in order to receive the maximum reimbursements.
A social worker, Dana Ohlmeyer, who provides psychological services to emotionally disturbed elementary and 

Mitt Romney's 'I Love Teachers' Remark Spurs Fake Valentine From Union

Mitt Romney's 'I Love Teachers' Remark Spurs Fake Valentine From Union:

Mitt Romney's 'I Love Teachers' Remark Spurs Fake Valentine From Union

by Joy Resmovits

Just how much does Mitt Romney love teachers?

"I love teachers," he said repeatedly during a spirited exchange in Monday night's foreign policy debate that went off topic, to the annoyance of moderator Bob Schieffer, and delved into teacher hiring policies. But Romney also said he doesn't think the federal government should pay to hire teachers, even at a time when so many school systems have cut payrolls due to the recession.

Now, the National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers union, has created a "love letter" for Romney. The graphic, which the NEA is distributing widely to reporters and on its blog, is titled "My Funny Valentine" and features pictures of the former Massachusetts governor framed in hearts.

"Mitt Romney has a strange way of showing 'love,'" it says.

Jersey Jazzman: No Matter What You Call It, It's Still Merit Pay

Jersey Jazzman: No Matter What You Call It, It's Still Merit Pay:

No Matter What You Call It, It's Still Merit Pay

by Duke

Folks, considering my record on merit pay, I think I have been more than fair regarding the Newark contract. I've been laying out the facts and what I believe are the long-term consequences - that's it. While I believe this contract has ramifications for every teacher in New Jersey, I haven't called for rejecting the deal outright because it's not my place to make that call. And I understand as well as anyone that in negotiations you sometimes have to take what you can get.

I also appreciate the work AFT president Randi Weingarten and Newark Teachers Union president Joe Del Grosso did to get this deal done. I am a union guy - I am on your team.

But this is not helpful:

“This is not a merit pay system,” said Weingarten. “This is a full compensation system where the work you do and the compensation you have are tied in together.” She said the 

Did Nixon Win the Popular Vote in 1960? « Student Activism

Did Nixon Win the Popular Vote in 1960? « Student Activism:

Did Nixon Win the Popular Vote in 1960?

by Angus Johnston

In a blogpost yesterday on the Electoral College, NY Times columnist Ross Douthat reported that “if you believe Sean Trende’s fascinating analysis,” Richard Nixon won the popular vote in the 1960 presidential election. I hadn’t seen this claim before, and I’m a dork, so I popped over to take a look.
Trende’s piece, published over the weekend, notes that in 1960 Alabama voters didn’t vote for presidential candidates, but for individual electors, and that they we allowed to split tickets. There were eleven Democratic electors and eleven Republicans, and voters could choose anywhere from one to eleven candidates from the two columns.
Five of the Democratic electors were “loyal,” or pledged to Kennedy, while six were unpledged and eventually wound up voting for Senator Harry Byrd. Those eleven electors all won, and the Republican electors all lost.
The question Trende asks is how we should count these votes. (Since far more votes were cast than there were 

Voucher law questioned in desegregation case | The Advertiser | theadvertiser.com

Voucher law questioned in desegregation case | The Advertiser | theadvertiser.com:

Voucher law questioned in desegregation case

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana's education chief has been summoned to federal court in a case involving the state's new school voucher law and a 47-year-old desegregation case.

U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle has ordered White and the state education board to come to federal court in New Orleans next Tuesday.

The Tangipahoa school system argues that the voucher law, which pays private school tuition for some lower-income students from low-performing schools, diverts state money from the local school district. And they say that affects the system's ability to comply with orders in the desegregation case. Those orders include construction of four elementary schools and the continuation of magnet school programs.

The new statewide voucher program provides state-funded private school tuition for students from low- to moderate-income families who would otherwise attend a public school graded with a C, D or F 

The next day the debate made me angry. « Fred Klonsky

The next day the debate made me angry. « Fred Klonsky:

The next day the debate made me angry.

by Fred Klonsky

I laughed at Obama’s line about horses and bayonets.
I chuckled at some of the clever Romney-bashing tweets that I followed simultaneously while watching the two of them.
At one point I turned to Anne and asked if she thought Romney actually looked ill, as if he were about to throw up?
I watched about a half hour of the post-debate spin on MSNBC and CNN.
I agreed that Obama won on points.
Then I went to bed.
But this morning I woke up

Jersey Jazzman: Fact: Some Newark Merit Pay Will Go To the Wrong Teachers

Jersey Jazzman: Fact: Some Newark Merit Pay Will Go To the Wrong Teachers:

Fact: Some Newark Merit Pay Will Go To the Wrong Teachers

by Duke

 but only if they adhere to a merit pay program.

The teachers of Newark have a decision to make: they can accept a large sum of private money and settle their contract... but only if they adhere to a merit pay program.

I am not about to tell anyone what to do, but I do feel compelled to lay out the facts. And one fact is for certain:

If the merit pay bonuses are based on the state-mandated four-tier evaluation system, at least some of the merit pay will go to the wrong teachers.

How can I be so sure of this? Because the state law requires "student achievement" - in other words, 

How to Balance the Art & Science of Teaching

How to Balance the Art & Science of Teaching:

How to Balance the Art & Science of Teaching

by Sam

Recently, I gave a TED talk outlining why I think we’re in the midst of the most exciting and difficult time to be a teacher in American history. These sorts of things are always an imperfect effort to inject new ideas into the stratosphere, but I received lots of nice comments and feedback, including some observations that only a mom – my mom – would share (“Your posture was very relaxed, and you never even said ‘um’!”).
It was another thing my mother said that struck me, though. “Do you feel sure that your audience knows what todo with all you’ve said?” she wrote.
Popout
Great point, and I’m not sure. So here, as simply as I can say it, are three specific things – some big, some small – we need to do to help teachers get better at helping children learn and grow.
1. Follow the Med School Model – As any M.D. knows, different medical schools have different strengths and weaknesses. But one thing every medical school shares is the belief that a strong medical training is built on a 

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Consulting companies the bain of public space, schools...

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Consulting companies the bain of public space, schools...:

Consulting companies the bain of public space, schools...

by Mike Klonsky

BSG

Daniel Denvir has a great post over at The Atlantic Cities blog, "As Local Governments Shrink, Private Consultants Reap Rewards."

Denvir describes the trend of supplanting public space and decision making with corporate consulting companies. One of the main proponents of this strategy is Mitt Romney, who started in business with the Boston Consulting Company. After leaving BCG, Mitt Romney went on to work at Bain and Company consultants, from where he launched the controversial private-equity firm Bain Capital. For decades, consulting has been a top choice for MBA graduates like Romney.

In 2010, the Gates Foundation gave 15 cash-desperate states $250,000 to hire consultants to write applications for Obama's Race to the Top competitive education grant. The grants, which encourage districts to tie teacher evaluations to standardized tests and loosen restrictions on charter schools, draws heavily from the corporate-education reform model funded by the big three foundations.

Denver writes,

Consultants, like Romney, have the appeal of "real-world" experience which, in early 21st-century 

Sarah Silverman: Corporations are people

by Mike Klonsky

But are people people?


Popout

Why Do Some of America's Wealthiest Individuals Have Fingers in Louisiana's Education System? | The Nation

Why Do Some of America's Wealthiest Individuals Have Fingers in Louisiana's Education System? | The Nation:

Why Do Some of America's Wealthiest Individuals Have Fingers in Louisiana's Education System?

Matthew Cunningham-Cook 

October 17, 2012  

Last fall, a coterie of extremely wealthy billionaires, among them New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, turned the races for unpaid positions on the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) into some of the most expensive in the state’s history. Seven pro-education “reform” candidates for the BESE outraised eight candidates endorsed by the teacher’s unions by $2,386,768 to $199,878, a ratio of nearly twelve to one. In just one of these races, the executive director of Teach for America Greater New Orleans-Louisiana Delta, Kira Orange Jones, outspent attorney Louella Givens, who was endorsed by the state’s main teacher’s unions, by more than thirty-four to one: $472,382 to $13,815.

To support Orange Jones’s campaign against Givens, Eli Broad,
 

The California Majority Report // STATE'S TOP EDUCATION LEADERS TORLAKSON AND O’CONNELL SAY NO ON PROPOSITION 31

The California Majority Report // STATE'S TOP EDUCATION LEADERS TORLAKSON AND O’CONNELL SAY NO ON PROPOSITION 31:

NO ON PROPOSITION 31

California State Sen. Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson and his predecessor in that position, former State Sen. Jack O’Connell, today announced their opposition to Prop 31, a ballot measure that would cap state spending on education.

“With our schools in the midst of a financial emergency, the last thing California needs is to shift millions of dollars away from education – yet that’s exactly what Prop. 31 does,” said Torklason. “And this initiative could even prevent California from investing new funds in our schools when our economy turns around. That’s why I’m joining teachers across California in saying ‘no’ on Prop. 31.”

“Under the guise of ‘reform,’ this stealth ballot measure that would mean less funding for education now and in the long run,” said O’Connell, a former high school teacher and member of the Santa Barbara School Board. “Prop 31 is a poorly drafted, unworkable measure that will harm our ability to properly fund our schools.”

Proposition 31 includes a provision for “pay-as-you-go” budgeting, which essentially caps state funding for schools. Even if the state was flush with revenue, those funds could not be used to boost educating funding. In addition, because it conflicts with Proposition 98, the voter-approved initiative that guarantees increases in education funding, it would likely spur lawsuits and/or require devastating cuts in other state programs.
Proposition 31 is also opposed by the California Teachers Association, California Federation of Teachers, and the California Faculty Association.

For more information, visit www.Prop31Facts.com

The changing blame game in U.S. education:

The changing blame game in U.S. education

Posted by Valerie Strauss on October 23, 2012 at 12:15 pm

Teachers have felt under such heavy assault for the past several years by school reformers intent on using assessment methods that experts say are invalid, reducing their collective bargaining rights and other actions that it may be hard to remember that it wasn’t always this way. In the following post, Larry Cuban, a former superintendent of Arlington Public Schools, writes about the changing “blame game” in American education. Cuban was superintendent for seven years, a former high school social studies teacher for 14 years and professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, where he has taught for more than 20 years. This first appeared on his blog.

By Larry Cuban

The shame that many teachers and principals feel at being made responsible for a school’s low academic performance is a recent phenomenon. Historically, policy elites and educators explained poor academic performance of groups and individual students by pointing to ethnic and racial discrimination, poverty, immigrants’ cultures, family deficits, and 

Like Romney, Obama Admin Has Supported Larger Class Sizes. Parents and Teachers Don’t Like It - Dana Goldstein

Like Romney, Obama Admin Has Supported Larger Class Sizes. Parents and Teachers Don’t Like It - Dana Goldstein:

Like Romney, Obama Admin Has Supported Larger Class Sizes. Parents and Teachers Don’t Like It

by Dana Goldstein

Despite moderator Bob Schieffer’s wrongheaded assertion that education isn’t a foreign policy issue, class size emerged as a flash point at Monday night’s debate. President Obama boasted about his administration’s record on saving teaching positions and spoke about his plan to hire more math and science educators in particular, which he argued would help American students compete with their international peers for high-skill jobs.
“Now, Governor Romney, when you were asked by teachers whether or not this would help the economy grow, you said, this isn’t going to help the economy grow,” Obama said. “When you were asked about reduced class sizes, you said class sizes don’t make a difference. But I tell you, if you talk to teachers, they will tell you it does make a difference.”
Romney certainly has a record of claiming smaller class sizes don’t help students learn. But what Obama didn’t say is that while it’s true his stimulus funding saved hundreds of thousands of teaching jobs, his own secretary 

Miami-Dade Crowned Most Improved Urban School District - US News and World Report

Miami-Dade Crowned Most Improved Urban School District - US News and World Report:

Miami-Dade Crowned Most Improved Urban School District

Gains in college readiness and student achievement helped the five-time finalist win the Broad Prize.

By KELSEY SHEEHY

October 23, 2012 RSS Feed Print

Gains in graduation rates and college readiness helped Miami-Dade win the 2012 Broad Prize for Urban Education.

Strong and steady won the race for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, winner of the 2012 Broad Prize for Urban Education, which recognizes large, urban school districts making gains in student achievement. The district, a five-time finalist for the coveted award, will receive $550,000 in collegescholarships to dole out to high school students graduating in 2013.

The fourth largest school district in the country, Miami-Dade serves nearly 350,000 students—with more than 100,000 students attending one of the district's 107 high schools. Ninety percent of students in the district are either black or 

Program Improvement, Corrective Action and/or Restructuring With new AYP data comes corrective action and restructuring demands SI&A Cabinet Report.

SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources:

With new AYP data comes corrective action and restructuring demands 
By Rick Carder
Tuesday, October 23, 2012

With the California Department of Education’s release of 2012 Adequate Yearly Progress data some of your schools may have been identified for advanced stages of Program Improvement, Corrective Action and/or Restructuring. Additionally, you may have some schools exiting PI identification.

Last week “Categorical Connection” provided information regarding the CDE waiver request for the current year 14-day parental notification mandate. However, approval of this waiver is not expected for some time.

If your school has been newly-identified as Program Improvement, you must provide the mandatory parental notifications within 14-days. The good news is that if you have schools that are no longer identified for PI, notification is not necessary.  However, this provides a great opportunity to notify parents of the outstanding efforts that have allowed this school to exit PI.

Schools moving into Corrective Action and Restructuring must still offer paid transportation for public school choice and/or supplemental educational tutoring services to eligible students, in addition to corrective action and restructuring requirements.

Parental notifications are required to inform parents of the school’s PI identification (Year 3, 4 or 5) requirements in 

HechingerEd Blog | Survey: Today’s teaching force is less experienced, more open to change

HechingerEd Blog | Survey: Today’s teaching force is less experienced, more open to change:

Survey: Today’s teaching force is less experienced, more open to change

by Jackie Mader

More inexperienced teachers are in today’s classrooms than ever before and they are more open than their veteran colleagues to performance-driven options for how they’re evaluated and paid, according to the results of a new survey conducted by the Boston-based nonprofit Teach Plus.
For the first time in decades, more than 50 percent of the nation’s teaching force is comprised of teachers who have been in the classroom under 10 years, Teach Plus found in “Great Expectations: Teachers’ Views on Elevating the Teaching Profession,” which looks at the changing demographics of U.S. teachers.

From “Seven Trends: The Transformation of the Teaching Force,” by Richard Ingersoll and Lisa Merrill (May 2012)

The national survey asked 1,015 new and veteran teachers their views on some of the most contentious issues in U.S. public education, like teacher evaluations and class size, to see if attitudes are shifting with an influx of 

The Passions of Ann Romney: Horses, Charter Schools | EduShyster

The Passions of Ann Romney: Horses, Charter Schools | EduShyster

The Passion of Ann Romney: Horses, Charter Schools

by edushyster2012

In a new interview with Good Housekeeping Ann Romney reveals that her major passions include horses and charter schools. 

Reader, I have been so worried about what will happen to the most vulnerable among us should Mitt Romney win the election: children Democrats for Education Reform. What if, even though DFER’s positions on education are straight out of the ALEC playbook, these scrappy ascot wearing advocates for reform should find themselves without a seat at the table after the election—and all because of a pesky little symbol after their name: IV ‘D.’
So what a relief it is to find out that Ann Romney has so much in common with the hedge fund men of DFER, not to mention their striving little siblings, the prep school contingent that is Students for Education Reform. Ann likes horses, DFER and SFER both grew up riding, even though mummy and daddy made them leave Foxy at 

PSAT for 10-23-12: Why wait to vote on an elected school board in Chicago? Parents United for Responsible Education

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » PSAT for 10-23-12: Why wait to vote on an elected school board in Chicago?

PSAT for 10-23-12: Why wait to vote on an elected school board in Chicago?

by admin

Early voting started yesterday and most Chicagoans have a special opportunity this fall to make our voices heard on the issue of an elected school board, thanks to the determined hard work of a group of Chicago Public School parents and others who collected thousands of signatures on petitions, enough to get a referendum on the ballot in about half of Chicago’s voting precincts in 35 of the 50 wards.
Communities Organized for Democracy in Education (CODE), of which PURE is a member, will sponsor a forum on the issue tonight at 7 pm at the Logan Square Auditorium,  2539 N. Kedzie featuring Karen Lewis, Ben Joravsky, and Paul Lipman of UIC and Teachers for Social Justice (CPS and DFER were invited but declined to participate). This forum will also be broadcast live on CAN-TV 27.
Please read Curtis Black’s excellent report on the issue, including details of a recent public forum hosted by State Rep LeShawn Ford, who will host a similar forum Monday, October 29 at 6 p.m. at Carey AME Church, 1448 S. Homan.
A Chicago Tribune poll taken during the 2011 mayoral election showed 77% of Chicagoans in favor of an elected school board, with only 17% favoring mayoral appointment of the board.
As a 501c3 organization, PURE cannot advise you how to vote on any specific referendum, but we are pretty sure that you know what to do. Why wait?

A memory of Russell Means, who I never met. « Fred Klonsky

A memory of Russell Means, who I never met. « Fred Klonsky

A memory of Russell Means, who I never met.

by Fred Klonsky

Russell Means died yesterday at the age of 72.
Means was a leader of the American Indian Movement that led the upraising at Wounded Knee in 1973.
I never met him. I would have liked to.
In 1973 I drove my 1968 little green Volkswagon in my move from LA to Chicago.
All across the western part of the US I followed the events at Wounded Knee on the radio.
At a stop in Gallup, New Mexico local Native people were protesting the shooting of a young Native teenager by the local police.
It was just a few years after the seizure of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay by Native Americans. That was in 1969. America was revealing its history and its diversity. Or rather America was having its history and diversity

The in box. We’re beyond the point of reasonable persuasion.

by Fred Klonsky

Fred,
I’ve waited until 2 weeks out from the elections to voice my decision to my so-called democratic representatives in the Illinois House and Senate.  Put simply, I’ve shared the following with Biss and Gabel:

-They will not get my vote in the upcoming elections.  

-I will encourage all teachers, family, and friends to refrain from giving these two a pass based upon their party affiliation.

We’re beyond the point of reasonable persuasion.  These two, and many of their democratic colleagues, have betrayed the middle class.  Whether they’ve been duped or pressured is irrelevant.  They have joined the Civic Committee, Conservatives, and union-haters in their 

Ten minute drawing. Foreign policy.

by Fred Klonsky

Click on drawing to enlarge.