Schooling in the Ownership Society: Helen Gym -- The New 'Pay for Play'

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Helen Gym -- The New 'Pay for Play':

Helen Gym -- The New 'Pay for Play'

Helen Gym

Helen Gym, a Philadelphia public school parent and founder of Parents United for Public Education asks: "Is the ‘right to know’ the new ‘pay for play’"? Gym says that  throughout most of the decision-making process regarding the school closings, the public was kept in the dark.

“Pay to play” is a widely reviled practice in government, but that’s effectively what the District’s legal argument would establish through its challenge of an open records case in state court.

For more than 10 months, Parents United for Public Education and our lawyers at the Public Interest Law Center of  Philadelphia have been fighting to make public the Boston Consulting Group’s list of 60 schools recommended for closure and the criteria it used for 

11-23-13 Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Schooling in the Ownership Society All Week

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog:Schooling in the Ownership SocietyMike Klonsky's SmallTalk Schooling in the Ownership Society mark as readJames Meredith: The civil rights issue of our time...Accompanied by U.S. marshals and surrounded by jeering crowds, James Meredith enrolled as the first African-American student at the University of Mississippi in 1962.“The civil rights issue of our time is to sto

by mike simpson / 38min 

An Urban Teacher's Education: I Failed National Board Certification

An Urban Teacher's Education: I Failed National Board Certification:

I Failed National Board Certification

Okay - I guess it's more reasonable to say that I didn't pass, since I still have two whole years to redo the parts of my national boards process that were below standard.

But holy cow does it suck.

I needed 275 points to pass. I earned 274. One point.

One point that would have saved me hundreds of dollars (when I've already spent thousands) and hours of time (when the process already cost me 120 hours last year).

My initial reaction was a desire to throw up.

National Boards is such a unreasonably intensive process that the idea of having to redo any of it is really hard to accept. And, like a lot of the ways teachers are evaluated, a large chunk of that time is spent doing things that have nothing to do with teaching - e.g. scanning documents, figuring out how to convert one type of file into another so it can be uploaded onto the national boards website, or reading through the hundreds of pages that outline how entries are to be written.

In some ways it is a great example of what authentic assessment should look like. There are lots of rubrics, a whole book of standards to go along with the products candidates are supposed to create, and painstakingly detailed descriptions of the way candidates are supposed to go out putting their 

With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs 11-24-13 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2

With A Brooklyn Accent:

Message to Food Critic Frank Bruni- Who Fancies Himself an Education Expert

As a coach and teacher for more than 45 years, I always wonder at the "chutzpah" of those who have not worked closely with children who feel they know what serves their needs better than lifetime educators. The most effective educators-- and coaches- start with the personalities and talents of the children in front of them and try to inspire them to achieve to the best they are capable of- they don't browbeat them to reach an abstract standard set by people far distant from that  

With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs All Week 11-23-13

With A Brooklyn Accent: With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs All Week  mark as read10 Things BATS Know About Common Core- Official Statement10 Things BATs Know about Common CoreINTRODUCTORY STATEMENTBATs continue their fight against the CCSS.  We do not believe in a “one-size” fits all standard for education and we do not believe in a top down federal approach to control education for profit.  BATs figh

by mike simpson / 34min

Nationalize the Walton Family Wealth on #BlackFriday | OccupyWallSt.org

Nationalize the Walton Family Wealth on #BlackFriday | OccupyWallSt.org:

Nationalize the Walton Family Wealth on #BlackFriday

Posted 2 hours ago on Nov. 24, 2013, 1:37 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Tags: nationalize wealth, walmart, black friday

The Walton Family is collectively worth over $150 billion USD. Most of us struggle just to keep $150 dollars in our bank account, so it's hard to comprehend how much money that really is! Yet all of that $150 billion is divided amongst just 16 people. What if we distributed that money to the 2,000,000 global employees of Walmart? Is that too radical? If you don't think those people have earned the money, we could nationalize it instead. The Walmart fortune could be divided amongst the twenty seven countries in which they do business, granting each a settlement of $5.5 billion.

Even just looking at ten areas where you can find Walmart stores:

• United States: 314 million
• Argentina: 41 million
• Brazil: 199 million
• Chile: 17 million
• China: 1.3 billion
• Canada: 35 million
• United Kingdom: 63 million
• South Africa: 51 million
• Zambia: 14 million
• India: 1.2 billion

We are talking about is redistributing $150 million from 16 people to a pool of 2.3 billion people. We're serious. The democratic systems we put in place to protect us from people like the Walton Family have failed. It's time to try radical alternatives. We literally believe that the time has come to take from the rich and give to the poor.

Imagine what we could do if the United States had an immediate windfall of $5.5 Billion. Here are some examples:

Recover the $5 Billion Cut in Funding from the Food Stamps Program

With over 70% of the workforce on food stamps, this would immediately put food in the mouths of women and children who are always the hardest hit.

Or we could...

Quadruple spending for the Small Business Administration From $1.4 Billion to $5.6 Billion

One of the biggest problems in the United States is the support needed for people to start new businesses. Instead of loans, why don’t we just give people money to establish new businesses? The secret to building our communities is not sending in a company from outside, but to invest in the people living there, their skills, their talents. And an added bonus? Generational family groups can stay together and give each other the support that is needed, instead of being separated by economics.

Or we could...

Quadruple the Spending for Americorps and other programs that work in our communitiesfrom $1.1 Billion to $5.6 Billion

We would finally have the resources to properly take care of our grandparents and treasured elders. We would finally have the resources to support the Americorps volunteer program, and thus, our communities.

Or we could...

Nationalize the Company

What if we just nationalized (in each country that they work) Walmart? Then the only question would be, what would the United States do every year with its share of the $15 Billion in annual profit?

THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: The Gulen Movement: “a non-transparent organizational model”

THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: The Gulen Movement: “a non-transparent organizational model”:

The Gulen Movement: “a non-transparent organizational model”

Sharon Higgins

The Perimeter Primate

The leading US authority on the Gulen Movement (GM) at this time is Joshua Hendrick, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Loyola University Maryland. His new book “Gulen: The Ambiguous Politics of Market Islam in Turkey and the World” was published in August 2013 by New York University Press. Fifteen pages are devoted to the Gulen charter school situation and are worth your investment in the book. From page 230:

“... by insisting on the nonpolitical nature of the GM’s lobbying and public relations efforts, by maintaining ambiguity regarding connectivity between individuals and institutions, by flatly denying suspect hiring and retention practices at affiliated charter schools, by allegedly engaging in gender discrimination at these schools, and by becoming the subjects of state and federal level investigation for financial mismanagement, the GM has opened itself up to intense criticism at best, and to potential criminal implications at worst.”

Hendrick recently spoke at one of the Gulen Movement’s self-promotional conferences. 

  

Notable comments during his 12-minute long presentation (begins at 0:01:10 min.):

• 03:07 min.: “I am criticized by my colleagues and friends in the Gulen Movement for applying categories from western social science to explain mobilization of a Muslim social community.”
• 04:14 min.: “... this social movement or collective mobilization, more specifically, is, among many 

11-24-13 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

Advanced Learning Taskforce

Work is continuing of the first of two Advanced Learning Taskforces.  I have only been able to attend one meeting (on November 5th) but it was a good one.  The oversight and facilitation of this Taskforce is quite different from the last one and for the better.Here's a link to the AL webpage; details of the meeting schedule,minutes and PowerPoint presentations are available at the bottom of the pa

by Melissa Westbrook / 25min 

I-1240 Litigation

I attended the first hearing on the constitutionality of I-1240, the Washington State Charter School law.To be clear, this hearing was pretty meaningless. No matter who wins or loses, this case will appealed all the way to the State Supreme Court. None of the decisions in any of the lower courts will matter. Only the one decision from the State Supreme Court will decide this.The hearing was pretty

by Charlie Mas / 22min 

11-23-13 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week

Seattle Schools Community Forum:Seattle Schools Community Forum mark as readWeekend UpdatesFrom Tracy Libros in Enrollment about Growth Plan map confusion:There are two maps that show two different things.In the future (by 2020) map, the area you are talking about is included in the Schmitz Park attendance area. However, the map for implementation for next year (2014-15) does not include that area

by mike simpson / 43min 

Bill de Blasio gives cold shoulder to education reformers as he prepares to choose a chancellor - NY Daily News

Bill de Blasio gives cold shoulder to education reformers as he prepares to choose a chancellor - NY Daily News:

Bill de Blasio gives cold shoulder to education reformers as he prepares to choose a chancellor

De Blasio chose to place high-profile critics of Bloomberg’s policies on his 60-member transition team, troubling education reformers and advocates for charter schools

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BY BEN CHAPMAN AND RACHEL MONAHAN / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

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De Blasio has vowed to end the city’s policy of giving charters free rent in public school buildings when he takes office

Charter school operators and Bloomberg-style education reformers are getting the cold shoulder from mayor-elect Bill de Blasio as he assembles his transition team and prepares to choose a chancellor.

De Blasio snubbed charter school educators and education reformers from his 60-member transition team announced Wednesday, choosing instead to place high-profile critics of Bloomberg’s policies on the roster.

His choices worry education reformers and advocates for charter schools, which enroll about 6 % of city students.

“There are members of the transition team that we have deep respect for and look forward to working with, but it’s disappointing that the charter parent voice isn't represented,” said Jeremiah Kittredge, director of the pro-charter advocacy group Families for Excellent Schools.

De Blasio has vowed to end the city’s policy of giving charters free rent in public school buildings when he takes office, a move that could slow the movement’s growth. He said at a mayoral forum in

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/bill-de-blasio-cold-shoulder-education-reformers-article-1.1527321#ixzz2lazSYunp

11-24-13 Wait What?

Wait What?:

NEWS FLASH: Secret Deal for Malloy Political ally turns Education Funding Formula into a joke

Apparently without the approval of the State Board of Education or the approval of the Connecticut General Assembly, the Malloy administration is planning to provide Malloy ally, Mayor Bill Finch, with a special deal so that he doesn’t have to have the City Bridgeport meet the state law concerning their minimum budget expenditures for local […]The post NEWS FLASH: Secret Deal for Malloy Political

by jonpelto / 1h

Will Rogers, the “unequal distribution of the money” and the elections of 2014 and 2016

“I was born on Nov. 4, which is Election Day. . . . My birthday has made more men and sent more back to honest work than any other days in the year.”  – Will Rogers There was a time in our nation’s history when one out of three Americans followed the writings of a […]The post Will Rogers, the “unequal distribution of the money” and the elections of 2014 and 2016 appeared first on Wait What?.

by jonpelto / 44min 

Oh and in case you missed it: Vallas lawyer’s gratuitous attack on those who sued Vallas

Although it didn’t get a lot of play at the time, following the Supreme Court’s decision in the Carmen Lopez v. Paul Vallas case that let Paul Vallas off the hook for not having the credentials necessary to get his 093 State of Connecticut superintendent certification, attorney Steven Ecker wrote a commentary piece following the […]The post Oh and in case you missed it: Vallas lawyer’s gratuitous

by jonpelto / 1h 

11-23-13 Wait What? All Week

Wait What?:        mark as readHartford Board of Education schedule re-vote for MondayMatt Poland, the Chairman of the Hartford Board of Education, has scheduled a “Special Meeting” of the board on Monday, November 25, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. in the plaza level conference room at 260 Constitution Plaza in Hartford. According to the agenda that was sent out at 4:59 pm Friday (for a Monday meeting, state

by mike simpson / 8h