Ed Notes Online: Leonie Haimson Offers Parents Real Choice: Low class size, rich non-test driven curriculum

Ed Notes Online: Leonie Haimson Offers Parents Real Choice: Low class size, rich non-test driven curriculum:

Leonie Haimson Offers Parents Real Choice: Low class size, rich non-test driven curriculum

by ed notes online

There is no little irony in the Daily News assault on Leonie Haimson for sending her son to a private school while supposedly denying choice to other parents without that option open to them.

Leonie has been such a thorn in the side of the deformers, they must disparage her work. How interesting that they chose one of their funding darlings, Gotham Schools and writer Geoff Decker, to do the initial dirty work. And of course their rise and shine linked to the DN piece today. Ka-ching.

Leonie advocates for all parents to have the choice of low class size, a rich curriculum not driven by standardized tests for kids (in the womb), parent and teacher involvement and other real reforms. You know, the kinds of schools leading ed deformers like Gates, Bloomberg, Arne Duncan and others send their kids to but deny that option to the 99%.

A Daily News opinion piece, Don't let the classroom door hit you on the way out, brands Leonie as an advocate "for the bogus cure-all of hiring thousands of additional teachers to reduce class sizes."

The Daily News supports not giving parents choice but removing their choices. Their choices of whether to have 

Saturday, 4/13: MORE GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING, Sunday, Julie and Jesse at Earth School

by ed notes online

An exciting MORE weekend with a monthly meeting on Saturday and a forum on testing resistance on Sunday with Julie Cavanagh and Seattle test boycott leader Jesse Hagopian. MORE doesn't just "call" for things, it makes things happen.

Find out what all the excitement is about. You won't see any other caucus make a public announcement and open invitations to their meetings. MORE might even tackle an initial discussion about mayoral candidates but in an open and democratic manner. Organizationally, things are still somewhat fuzzy in MORE and people showing up for the first time, even non-members feel welcome to join in the discussions. 

Phone banking for the election will also take place.

With the elections coming to a close, it is also time for MORE to get down to the work of organizing internally and externally. In the past elections the post-election energy drop was noticeable. In fact people sort of just stopped for the rest of the year and then the next Sept it was back to where we were if not behind based on 

Low test scores are the symptom, not “The Cause” | Crazy Crawfish's Blog

Low test scores are the symptom, not “The Cause” | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:

Low test scores are the symptom, not “The Cause”

by crazycrawfish

Problem solved!

Recently my posting has started dropping off because of some nasty fatigue issues that seemed to come out of nowhere. (Hopefully you haven’t noticed the lull too much, as I have quite a few pieces I’m working on at any given time, and researching others.) Sometimes a recent event or flash of insight drives me to squeeze one out in the wee hours of the morning, so I assumed that was the cause of my fatigue issues – and other aches and pains. Things got a lot worse all of a sudden and I decided I needed to go the doc to have him check me out.
Apparently I looked like I felt. First my PCP and then the specialist he sent me too (and every nurse in between) commented immediately on how crappy I looked and how horrible I must feel.
Usually I only go to the doctor when I have a bad sinus infection or cold, or for the occasional physical (or lightning strike like this summer), so I was a little taken aback by these declarations. I didn’t feel great, but this was “my normal” these days so didn’t think of myself in the context of unhealthy. I was just my new normal, basically.
After checking me over the doctor shook his head and dryly asked me if I wanted to continue living. I replied that I hadn’t made any other plans, so thought I’d try sticking around for a while, you know, at least until something 

I’m Angry | Cooperative Catalyst

I’m Angry | Cooperative Catalyst:

I’m Angry

by robinclane

It’s Monday, and I’m angry.
I’m angry because, after a weekend of careful planning, after differentiating an assignment for students who have mastered skills at different levels, after catching up on all of my grading, after getting my lesson plans in on time with the TEKS and the Reading Comprehension standards and the ELPS, I couldn’t print anything I needed for class because our copy machine is broken. Again. I’m angry because I had to make something up on the fly, putting my students further behind from where we should be right now. I’m angry that this roadblock put me in such a foul mood that I snapped at one of my students when he asked to show me his medal from the 10K he ran this weekend.
I’m angry because my 7th graders are taking their reading STAAR in a few weeks, and I am mandated to use Pearson’s test prep books at least two periods a week. I’m angry because this is disrupting their amazing theatre projects. I’m angry because Pearson is making money off of my students’ wasted learning time.
I’m angry because my 8th graders are being pulled daily from DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) to receive STAAR test prep for their science test in a few weeks. I’m angry because the school is telling them that bubbling in answers is more important than reading books they care about.
I’m angry because my school does not offer membership in a union, because Texas is an at-will employment state, and I could literally be let go for no reason and have no legal redress. I’m angry about teachers in other 

Message from Mali: Sacramento City USD DAC April Agenda

Message from Mali: Sacramento City USD DAC April Agenda 

Open in full size window: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7wdDUUSR15dUGRoUHJaa1Y2YWM/edit?usp=sharing

Jersey Jazzman: Newark's Students Fight Back Tomorrow!

Jersey Jazzman: Newark's Students Fight Back Tomorrow!:

Newark's Students Fight Back Tomorrow!

by Duke

Now that's what I'm talking about:

Popout

First things first: if any of the yahoos on talk radio or in the press decide to make a big stink about these kids cutting classes tomorrow, remind them of this:

This past week, pro-voucher forces in New Jersey bussed kids in from local Catholic schools to rally in support of a school voucher bill. 

Chris Christie condemned that rally; he thinks it is wrong to take kids out of school for a protest:

"The schools did a lousy job in really permitting all these students to walk out in the middle of the school day. Their parents send them there not to protest. They send them there to learn. And I have no problem with students protesting. They have absolutely every right to exercise their first 

#StopCommonCore Twitter Rally | Truth in American Education

#StopCommonCore Twitter Rally | Truth in American Education:

#StopCommonCore Twitter Rally

by Shane Vander Hart

Parent-Led Reform (@ParentLedReform) will host a Twitter Rally on April 16, 2013 which will start will go from 12:00p-2:00p (EST).  We will discuss how the Common Core State Standards effect your family, community and schools? We invite you to participate.

There will be an expert panel and several organizations that will discuss #StopCommonCore.  So far I know the panel will consist of:

• Me (@shanevanderhart) representing Truth In American Education (@TruthinAmEd)
• Emmett McGroarty of American Principles Project (@approject – Emmett will use this handle)
• Joy Pullmann ( @JoyPullmann) an education research fellow at The Heartland Institute (@HeartlandInst) and editor of School Reform News (@SchoolReformNews)
• James Shuls (@shulsie) an education policy analyst at the Show-Me Institute (@showme)
• Ben DeGrow (@bendegrow) the Sr. Education Policy Analyst at the Education Policy Center of The Independence Institute (@i2idotorg). (I believe he’s joining us.  If that isn’t the case, I apologize in advance).

I’ll update with a live link for the Twitter Rally (or you can just follow the hashtag #StopCommonCore) and as the

Indiana Governor Mike Pence Breaks Silence on Common Core

by Shane Vander Hart

After a long silence we finally have a feel of how Indiana Governor Mike Pence may handle Common Core legislation that could hit his desk.

Joy Pullmann of School Reform News reports:

Indiana leaders will “take a long, hard look” at Common Core, said Gov. Mike Pence in response to a School Reform News question at a public event Friday…

…Pence said he believed states created Common Core but the federal government has begun to get overly involved. He suggested Indiana could mimic Virginia, which has not adopted Common Core or corresponding national tests, but has compared its education standards to Common Core 

Obama to announce Tobacco Tax plan for funding Pre K | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

Obama to announce Tobacco Tax plan for funding Pre K | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:

Obama to announce Tobacco Tax plan for funding Pre K

by Deepa Fernandes

White House confirms universal pre-K plan will call for increased cigarette taxes.; Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
California is seen as a shining example of how tobacco taxes can be used to both dissuade smoking and also improve children’s health and readiness for school. Now President Obama is following California’s lead. When he presents his budget Wednesday, the president will outline a similar scheme to fund universal preschool, the White House has confirmed to various media outlets.
After Prop 10 passed in 1998, California became one of the first states to raise taxes on cigarettes to fund early education programs. A new agency, First Five California, was created to hand out the money to schools and nonprofits to run education and health programs for children under five.
Scott Moore, a political analyst with Early Edge California, a nonprofit that advocates for increased early education, said California’s experience shows that the president’s plan to increase tobacco taxes to fund universal preschool can provide two returns on the investment.
“You get the return from investing in young kids,” Moore said, “and you get the return in reduced healthcare 

Parents:: We have a NEW fact sheet re: opting out of #highstakestesting! | Change the Stakes

Parents: CHOOSE TO REFUSE! | Change the Stakes:

Open link in full window : https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7wdDUUSR15dMXk0cHNyWHphNk0/edit?usp=sharing

Education's Greatest Common Factor — Whole Child Education

Education's Greatest Common Factor — Whole Child Education:

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

Education’s Greatest Common Factor

April 8, 2013 by Walter McKenzie

Are you tired yet of working to the lowest common denominator? Think about it. Every problem under discussion in public education boils down to it. Funding. Staffing. Standards. What's the least, the minimum we can expect everyone to accept?

To make it sound reasonable, we reference "milestones" and "benchmarks" to suggest that anyone can go beyond these minimum expectations, but the reality is the lowest common denominator becomes the de facto goal. Bars are lowered. Expectations settle. Learning is minimized, meted out, and measured. But what if we changed the formula so that minimum measures of learning become the variable and student learning becomes the constant for success?

ASCD's Whole Child Initiative refutes the phenomenon of the lowest common denominator. It raises the dialog beyond seat hours and test scores. Learning is the internalization of new human experience; there is more in play than student attendance and making the grade. The whole child approach is based on the premise thatall children can learn. If you disagree with this assumption, stop reading now and start looking for work in a 

A Whole Child Education Transformation

by Walter McKenzie

Everyone freeze! Stop right where you are and look around. Survey the landscape. With all the clamoring and commotion in education, have you stopped to notice? Education transformation is already well under way. I know, I know. With all the posturing and politicking going on from your local school board to the state house to the White House, there's a public perception that it's business as usual. Voices of self-interest continue to tout the status quo. Advocates for the public interest continue to toe the bottom line. Amidst all the noise and distractions, education in 2013 can look and feel like more of the same.

As an institution, education is susceptible to the pitfalls and pratfalls of change: inertia, resistance, and gridlock. For many educators, the focus on standardization and accountability feels like roadblocks. For others, forces of globalization and techno-constructivism feel like progress. And all the while, budget cuts and reform backlashes tighten the vise grips on agri-industrial education. After decades of lip service about retrofitting reforms on the existing model, nothing short of a societal sea change is raising it from its sedentary, sedimentary, seemingly cemented place at the core of civilization.
How? Families now run the gamut in how they look and operate. Information is now free and available everywhere. Learning and learner interests are developed long before children enter a classroom. Graduates are struggling to meaningfully plug into the workforce. And successful twentysomethings are demonstrating a set of 

New York State Association of School Attorneys: Corporate #edreform Thugs? – @ the chalk face

New York State Association of School Attorneys: Corporate #edreform Thugs? – @ the chalk face:

New York State Association of School Attorneys: Corporate #edreform Thugs?

by Timothy D. Slekar

Please read the document pasted below carefully. This is a legal “opinion” that actually tries to convey to parents that they DO NOT have an opt out right.

What parents need to understand is that this is a legal opinion written by (lawyers) supporters of high stakes testing.
Notice how they refer to people fighting corporate education reform as ANTI -testing advocates.
No, we are not anti-testing advocates!

• We are activists that support and believe in a well funded, powerful, PUBLIC education for all children.

As the Illinois House prepares to cut retired teacher pensions, remember the $100 M give-away to the CME? | Fred Klonsky

As the Illinois House prepares to cut retired teacher pensions, remember the $100 M give-away to the CME? | Fred Klonsky:

As the Illinois House prepares to cut retired teacher pensions, remember the $100 M give-away to the CME?

by Fred Klonsky

The odds makers are placing money on the Illinois House voting to cut retired teacher pension benefits this coming week.
But remember when they voted to give the Chicago Mercantile Exchange a one hundred million dollar tax break?
Don’t you think it is rubbing our faces in it to announce today that the former CEO of that same CME paid its CEO $6 million for four months work.
Chicago Tribune:

CME Group Inc paid its former CEO Craig Donohue $6.1 million last year, making him its highest-paid executive even though he held the post for only the first four months of 2012, according to a regulatory filing on Monday.

Donohue’s total compensation, including salary, bonus and stock and option awards, exceeded his previous year’s take of $6 million, the company’s 2013 proxy statement showed.
That was more than Phupinder Gill, who succeeded Donohue as CEO on May 1, 2012. Gill 

Ten minute drawing. Margaret Thatcher.

by Fred Klonsky

Click on drawing to enlarge.

The Chicago Tribune’s Eric Zorn writes: “You are contemptible. You want to be taken seriously?”

by Fred Klonsky

A week ago I criticized a recent post by Chicago Tribune writer Eric Zorn. He had written a pretty ugly piece mocking the suggestion that the Mayor’s school closings were racist.
More than 90% of the students affected are African-American in a school district where 42% of the enrollment is African-American.
Zorn responds instead to a post I wrote about his reporting, or lack of it, on the Persepolis book banning issue.

Fred,
Didn’t we straighten this out before, Fred? My daughter told me about this on Thursday night. I thought it sounded like a student rumor but thought I’d check it out the next morning. By that time it was on the blog and local newssites. For you to try– again — to turn this into an example of laziness on my part is simply contemptible. I really had no idea you were so free in 

Joy Resmovits: Amplify, Rupert Murdoch's Education Subsidiary, Does Not 'In Any Way Endorse' Donkey Sex

Joy Resmovits: Amplify, Rupert Murdoch's Education Subsidiary, Does Not 'In Any Way Endorse' Donkey Sex:

Amplify, Rupert Murdoch's Education Subsidiary, Does Not 'In Any Way Endorse' Donkey Sex

by Joy Resmovits

On Sunday, the blog Slashdot posted a bit of news regarding Amplify Education, Inc., the education division of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

Murdoch has said that he sees a multibillion dollar opportunity in the education sector, and has followed up on the goal of capitalizing on that market share by buying Wireless Generation and launching Amplify. News Corp. announced Amplify's creation in July 2012 with the hopes of creating a new digital learning platform in partnership with AT&T. The subsidiary boasts Joel Klein, the former chancellor of New York City's public schools, as its CEO. The company recently announced the creation of its first product: a tablet that will be sold exclusively to school districts that contains a suite of educational software. Teachers will be able to periodically take students' immediately digital pulse on whether their lesson was effective.

On Slashdot, user "theodp" ran a Google cache search of the site. The results, as theodp put it? "Obscene."

Despite Amplify's policy against pornographic and vulgar content, a site search of the term "donkey" within 

The Problem With Black & White Statements in Education | Connected Principals

The Problem With Black & White Statements in Education | Connected Principals:

The Problem With Black & White Statements in Education

by Chris Wejr

cc licensed ( BY NC SA ) flickr photo by the BCth: http://flickr.com/photos/bcii/4499830063/

I continue to hear how certain educational practices are harmful to kids. Things like homework, desks in rows,  multiple choice questions, worksheets, and tests are stated as being “toxic” and “educational malpractice”.  I think as educators we need to be careful when we make dichotomous statements like these as they tend to end the chance for any productive dialogue.
I have made this mistake before… many times.  I have my areas of passion and there are mindsets and ideas that I have strong opinions about but I have learned (and continue to learn) that when we make statements that polarize people, you leave very little opportunity to engage.
I saw this tweet today by a few educators whom I truly respect and who continue to challenge the status quo:

I believe this came from a statement from Alfie Kohn and people were just sharing his message but I am not 

Video by former TFA- message to education policymakers | Parents Across America

Video by former TFA- message to education policymakers | Parents Across America:

Video by former TFA- message to education policymakers

by pureparents

A Former TFA teacher speaks

PAA Board member Karran Harper Royal shared this video with the following comment:

If another state or local education board votes to fund TFA after viewing this video, they should be arrested for conspiracy to commit child abuse. This video along with the Baye Cobb videos from Blackboard Wars shows how ineffective some of these young teachers can be. They should not be in a classroom as the only teacher in the room and should always be under the direct supervision of an experienced veteran teacher from the community.

The speaker, John Bilby, says in the video,

I left the organization because I felt that it does not adequately prepare its people to serve the poorest children in public schools. I also think that TFA is more interested in power, access, and influence in the federal game of education than it is concerned with resolving educational inequity. Its “corps members” are merely a means to this end, providing the organization with a front while it pursues the goals of its donors, namely to remodel public education in this country in order to favor a high-turnover, non-unionized workforce in charters run by hedge-fund managers for tax breaks. I foresee this further stratifying our current system into one in which children with disabilities, 

Diane in the Evening 4-8-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Who Sold Out Children’s Privacy?

by dianerav

In 2011, when the U.S. Department of Education revised the regulations governing FERPA to allow third parties to access children’s data without the consent of their parents, the Council of Chief School Officers weighed in. Here is. Comment by Sheila Kaplan, whose organization (educationnewyork.com) is devoted to student privacy issues:
“Here’s Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) Comments on 2011 FERPA RULE CHANGE
CCSSO own the Common Core State Standards Copyright with the National Governor’s Association (NGA).

Why Is the US Department of Education Weakening FERPA?

by dianerav

In the past few years, the privacy protections built into federal law have been weakened by the U.S. Department of Education to allow third-parties to access confidential information about students.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center summarizes the chronology. It has filed a lawsuit and is fight the Department’s new policy, which will give the private sector access to confidential student data.
In December 2011, the U.S. Department of Education changed the regulations governing the release of student data to the private sector, without Congressional authorization to do so. At that time, “the ED issued final regulations implementing its proposed amendments, despite the agency’s admission that “numerous

Georgia: Missing Dropouts Discovered by Investigative Reporter

by dianerav

Myra Blackmon, who writes a column in the Athens (Georgia) Banner-Herald, has discovered an amazing and well-hidden secret: Most of our nation’s dropouts did not drop out of high school. She looked at Georgia’s high school graduation rate and did some fact-checking. The graduation rate is supposedly 67%, but many students who did not drop out are not counted as graduates.

Beyonce and Jay-Z: Their Trip to Cuba

by dianerav

I have been listening today to news reports that certain Florida politicians are very angry that Beyonce and Jay-Z went to visit Cuba. That’s ridiculous. I bet they had all the visas they needed.
Good for them.
As readers may recall, I visited Cuba in February. I had a great trip, visited artists and museums, and saw a poor and very beautiful country.
I came away convinced that the embargo keeps the Castro regime in power.
If we ended the embargo, the country would flourish. The regime would wither away in response to free trade in

Jeff Bryant on the United Opt Out Protest

by dianerav

Last weekend, United Opt Out sponsored a protest rally in front of the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. The event was called Occupy the DOE.
Jeff Bryant of North Carolina reports on the protests here.
I spoke on Thursday afternoon of the first day. The crowd was small, which was not surprising, because it was a workday and it is expensive to travel a distance. And the event organizers had no money for travel. Everything was handmade and improvised. No funding from Gates or Walton or Broad or anyone else. No paid staff. All volunteers: teachers, parents, students, librarians, and others who were there to speak out against the DOE’s damaging policies and for a better vision for American education.
The slight media attention focused on one remark by one speaker but there were many speakers with inspiring 

School Board Shenanigans in Hillsborough County, Florida

by dianerav

Here is an article in the Tampa Tribune that is remarkably supportive of public education.
This writer, Steve Otto, understands that the Florida legislature is determined to dismantle public education in Florida.
At the same time, he notes that the school board in Hillsborough County (where Bill Gates dropped a hundred million or so to push teacher evaluation) is engaged in its own shenanigans. In this reported episode, a member of the board got up and publicly denounced a teacher who happened to be running for her seat. He was non-

Update on Louisiana Legislature

by dianerav

Mike Deshotels reports on what is happening in the Louisiana legislature.
Bear in mind that Governor Bobby Jindal proposed to “reform” taxes by eliminating the personal income tax and the corporate income tax, shifting the entire tax burden to the sales tax. This is a very unpopular proposal, which appears to have driven his poll numbers down into the mid-30s. It will also hurt the state’s public schools, as you will see in this post.
Jindal also plans to fund the voucher schools by taking money from the state’s Minimum Foundation budget for public schools, even though a state court has already declared it unconstitutional. Same for Jindal’s plan to pay 

Jersey Jazzman: Why X Months of Learning is a Phony Metriv

by dianerav

Jersey Jazzman is a music teachers who loves to dissect the latest claims with hard cold fact and reasoned analysis.
In this valuable post, he explains why pundits and policymakers shoud stop reporting test score increases as “X months” of growth.
Why?
Because it is nonsense.

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 4-8-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] California Charter Founders Convicted of Embezzlement by dianerav The founders of Ivy Academia in the San Fernando Valley in California were convicted of embezzlement and a variety of other charges stemming from their use of $200,000 in school funds for personal expenses. From the LA Times: “”This message is going to resonate throughout the charter school community,” said prosecutor Sandi Roth. “You can’t spend the charter school funds for anything you want. It... more »