The Network For Public Education | Grass Roots Report: Videos and account of hearings on the dangers of inBloom and private data-sharing in Albany and Chicago

The Network For Public Education | Grass Roots Report: Videos and account of hearings on the dangers of inBloom and private data-sharing in Albany and Chicago:

Grass Roots Report: Videos and account of hearings on the dangers of inBloom and private data-sharing in Albany and Chicago

admin November 25, 2013 Grassroots Reports

NPE Board member, Leonie Haimson, the Executive Director of Class Size Matters, testified recently at hearings related to student data privacy. Here is a post from Leonie’s website, NYC Public School Parents.

Video  of Wednesday’s excellent NY Assembly hearings in Albany on inBloom and student privacy are online and below, including riveting critiques from many of the Assemblymembers from both parties, who grilled Commissioner King and Associate Commissioner Ken Wagner of the NYS Education Department.  In turn, King and Wagner continued to obfuscate and tried as much as possible to avoid answering their direct questions or responding to their concerns.

Chair of the NYS Assembly Education Committee Cathy Nolan was also particularly upset because inBloom refused to show up for the hearings after being asked to testify.  InBloom claimed a “prior engagement” –  the exact same response the NYC Council received from the company when the Education Committee held their hearings last month.

I was disturbed to learn that the state had already uploaded a large amount of personal student data to the inBloom cloud, only without names attached, apparently to help inBloom 

 mark as read

Opinion: Why so many parents hate Common Core | CNN.com

By Diane Ravitch Editor’s note: Diane Ravitch is research professor of education at New York University and a historian of education. She is the author of more than a dozen books about education, including the recent bestseller “Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and The Danger to America’s Public Schools.” (CNN) — ...read moreThe post Opinion: Why so many parents hate Common Core | CNN.com appeared first on NPE News Briefs.

5h 

Paul Thomas: Grit and “No Excuses” Not Enough | Diane Ravitch’s blog

Paul Thomas of Furman University has emerged as one of the most eloquent voices on behalf of children in poverty. In this essay, linked by Maureen Downey in the Atlanta Journal-Consitution, Paul explains why “grit” and “no excuses” are not enough to overcome the burdens of poverty. Paul says that the reformers’ narrative is not ...read moreThe post Paul Thomas: Grit and “No Excuses” Not Enough | Diane Ravitch’s blog appeared first on NPE News Briefs.

5h 

Vallas’ cure for N. Chicago schools — mass layoffs — riles teachers union | Chicago Sun-Times

BY DAVE MCKINNEY Springfield Bureau Chief November 24, 2013 7:22PM SPRINGFIELD — Since landing work outside Illinois more than a decade ago, former Chicago schools CEO Paul Vallas hasn’t just focused on leading troubled school systems in Philadelphia, New Orleans and Bridgeport, Conn. Last summer, in a little-publicized $311,000 consulting deal with the Illinois State ...read moreThe post Vallas’ cure for N. Chicago schools — mass layoffs — riles teachers union | Chicago Sun-Times appeared first on NPE News Briefs.

5h 

TODAY

Indiana Governor Pence’s War Against Democracy | Diane Ravitch’s blog

Governor Mike Pence just can’t get over the fact that challenger Glenda Ritz beat State Superintendent Tony Bennett, even though Bennett had a 10-1 spending advantage. Pence may be miffed because Ritz got more votes than he did. But her worst crime is that she does not share the governor’s nihilistic ideology of destroying public ...read moreThe post Indiana Governor Pence’s War Against Democracy

by admin / 7h 

Brace yourself: Pearson has a ‘new global education strategy’ | The Answer Sheet

BY VALERIE STRAUSS November 25 at 10:00 am Pearson, the largest education company in the world, has “a  new global education strategy.” What exactly is it? Cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham explains in this post. Willingham is a professor and director of graduate studies in psychology at the University of Virginia and author of “Why Don’t Students Like ...read moreThe post Brace yourself: Pear

by admin / 7h 

Common Core Debate Is Really Just Another Chapter of Test-and-Punish | janresseger

Posted on November 25, 2013 by janresseger The debate about the Common Core Standards and the Common Core tests is not really about whether our public school curriculum ought to be more uniform and perhaps more challenging from place to place. That would be a debate worth having.  But really instead the Common Core is ...read moreThe post Common Core Debate Is Really Just Another Chapter of Test-a

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Is Robo-Grading Driving the Design of Common Core Tests? | Anthony Cody – Living in Dialogue

By Anthony Cody on November 25, 2013 9:44 AM As we read of the 17 states across the country where a strong backlash has grown against Common Core, my own state of California is conspicuous by its absence. California has yet to see a strong reaction against the Common Core, for several reasons. The State ...read moreThe post Is Robo-Grading Driving the Design of Common Core Tests? | Anthony Cody –

by admin / 7h 

National Day of Action December 9th | WeArePCAPS

National Day of Action December 9th | WeArePCAPS:

National Day of Action December 9th

National Governors Association Pushes for Third-Grade Reading Proficiency |

National Governors Association Pushes for Third-Grade Reading Proficiency |:

National Governors Association Pushes for Third-Grade Reading Proficiency

November 25, 2013 by Alyssa Haywoode

Photo: Alessandra Hartkopf for Strategies for Children

“The time is now to redesign this country’s approach to language and literacy instruction, and governors who choose to can lead the charge,” according to the National Governors Association (NGA) report, “A Governor’s Guide to Early Literacy: Getting all Students Reading by Third Grade.”

Acknowledging the fact that only one-third of America’s fourth graders are reading proficiently, the report points out that America’s governors can help address this challenge. They can build a bridge between knowledge and action, connecting what researchers know to what policymakers do.

What the Research Says

To provide the research background on the literacy issue, the report points to three widely accepted research findings:

1.  “Starting at kindergarten is too late.” Because literacy skills start developing at birth and because achievement gaps show up early, infants, toddlers and preschoolers need effective, high-quality early education and care programsthat introduce early literacy concepts.

2. “Reading proficiency requires three sets of interrelated skills and knowledge that are taught and cultivated over time.”  The three sets are:

- language and communication skills

- mechanics of reading – such as matching letters to sounds

Book Review: John Owens’ Confessions a Bad Teacher | deutsch29

Book Review: John Owens’ Confessions a Bad Teacher | deutsch29:

Book Review: John Owens’ Confessions a Bad Teacher

November 25, 2013

I teach. I blog. I speak publicly. I advocate. I advise. I counsel.

Not much time left for reading for pleasure.

However, from the very opening paragraphs of John Owens’ firsthand account of the contemporary, reform-beaten American classroom, Confessions of a Bad Teacher, I was hooked:

After we read the section of Homer’s The Odyssey where Odysseus and his men confront the Cyclops, we watched a movie clip of how the clever Greek hero blinded that wine-swilling, man-eating, one-eyed monster and escaped. We discussed the story for a while, and then I asked my eighth-grade class to break up into groups and write down various plot points. After about ten minutes, we reviewed the points out loud.

The kids loved the blood, bellowing, running around, and sailing away. But there was a lot of confusion about who was who and what was going on. In other words, a lot of the students were having a tough time figuring out the story. So I set to work helping them figure it out. After all, its hard to understand the significance of a story if you don’t understand the story itself.

The assistant principal, who was observing the class, later scolded me for the lesson’s “lack of academic rigor.”…

I could immediately identify with the reform-promoted, administrative disconnect between the classroom realities (and the teacher’s use of his or her own critical thinking and experience on how best to promote learning by identifying where 

11-25-13 @ THE CHALK FACE

@ THE CHALK FACE:

@drsteveperry wants to use a strap on, or strap up, or whatever it’s called. @edushyster

The Edushyster has a really evocative piece up, a first person account, of that oddly aggressive charlatan and carpetbagger “Dr.” Steve Perry, whose EdD dissertation is insanely inadequate to keep forcing those initials upon us at every speaking engagement. A pathetic non-man, this Steve Perry is. Lame and limp. 

by Shaun Johnson / 1h 

Book Review: John Owens’ Confessions of a Bad Teacher

I teach. I blog. I speak publicly. I advocate. I advise. I counsel. Not much time left for reading for pleasure. However, from the very opening paragraphs of John Owens’ firsthand account of the contemporary, reform-beaten American classroom, Confessions of a Bad Teacher, I was hooked: After we read the section of Homer’s The Odyssey […]

by deutsch29 / 23min 

11-24-13 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: Safe Spaces for Teachers’ Professional Voices in a Public SphereSafe Spaces for Teachers\’ Professional Voices in a Public Sphere. via Safe Spaces for Teachers’ Professional Voices in a Public Sphere.by plthomasedd / 15min YESTERDAYCommon Core Unrest Obvious in 17 StatesProponents of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are fond of saying that CCSS “has been adopted by 45 state

by mike simpson / 47min 

WTF: Consultant Sunny Chico urges parental involvement (for $89,995) - The Washington Post

Q&A: Consultant Sunny Chico urges parental involvement - The Washington Post:

Q&A: Consultant Sunny Chico urges parental involvement

 Earlier this year, a D.C. government agency paid a Chicago consulting firm $89,995 to participate in a one-day parent-engagement conference. The agency used D.C. tax dollars to pay the fee — which included a half-hour keynote speech, three 45-minute parent workshops and hundreds of copies of parenting books to be given to conference attendees — though other speakers that day volunteered.

As The Washington Post has reported, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education hired the firm without soliciting or considering other bids. The agency selected SPC Consulting based on a recommendation by Chief of Staff Jose Alvarez, a top agency official who knew the firm and its founder from a previous job in Chicago.

More news about education

Q&A: Consultant Sunny Chico urges parental involvement

Emma Brown 12:32 PM ET

Longtime educator ran D.C. workshop that focused on engaging parents in their children’s success.

Does U-Va. have a quota for Northern Virginia applicants?

Michael Alison Chandler 8:06 AM ET

Many NoVa students feel stiffest competition comes from within their own classrooms.

Md. test exclusion rate raises questions

Lyndsey Layton NOV 24

Maryland excludes many English language learners and kids with learning disabilities from a key test.

Read more

The founder and head of SPC Consulting is Sunny Chico, a former U.S. Education Department official who contracts with school systems. She is married to lobbyist Gery Chico, who ran for Chicago mayor in 2011 and serves as chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education.

Chico answered questions by e-mail about her firm, its parent-engagement program, known as “You: Your Child’s First Teacher,” and about her thoughts, generally, on the state of public education. Her responses are reproduced below.

What do you think is the most important aspect of public education today?

SPC Educational Solutions (SPC) was created to help all forms of education: 

I Am A Scientist - STEM Education and Life Science Careers

I Am A Scientist - STEM Education and Life Science Careers

To inspire youth about the benefits of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and promote career opportunities in the life science industry, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, the California Department of Education, The California Endowment, California Biotechnology Foundation and Lybba developed this film. The film also connects what learning STEM education can do for expanding career paths and improving community health.

This video chronicles a day with students from L.A.'s Promise Manual Arts High School at a biohackathon. This film was created by Wondros. Learn more about:

- Career opportunities: http://www.cabiotech.org/legacy/workf...
- STEM education: http://www.cde.ca.gov/pd/ca/sc/stemin...
- Health Happens Here campaign: http://www.calendow.org/
- Lybba's mission to improve health: http://www.lybba.org/services/
- Biohackathon event: http://tcenews.calendow.org/blog/bioh...

• Category

  Science & Technology

• License

  Standard YouTube License

Keep fighting for public education – or face the consequences that other countries are facing NOW. | Reclaim Reform

Keep fighting for public education – or face the consequences that other countries are facing NOW. | Reclaim Reform:

Keep fighting for public education – or face the consequences that other countries are facing NOW.

Posted on November 25, 2013by Ken Previti

Keep fighting for public education – or face the consequences that other countries are facing NOW.
This is NOT about active and retired teacher pensions in Illinois.
This is NOT about Democrats and Republicans.
This is NOT about high stakes testing, charter schools, vouchers, school boards and the whole variety of things going on in your town, city, county or state.
What IS it all about?
The attack on public education and public schools teachers is worldwide and is being promoted by purchased legislators who are financially supported by multinational mega-corporations and the billionaire investors behind them.

Ankara, Turkey – teachers (left) See link below.
Chicago, Illinois – teachers (right)

How do we all fight it? Locally.
One education battle at a time. One corrupt legislator at a time. One destructive piece of destructive public education legislation at a time.

If we do not fight and win the local attacks on us at this stage, we will face attacks such as these happening elsewhere right NOW.
NOW is not the time to sit back and merely hope for something. We are all in 

UPDATE: NYC Public School Parents: Parents Demand More Accountability in the Appointment of Members of the Board of Regents

NYC Public School Parents: Parents Demand More Accountability in the Appointment of Members of the Board of Regents:

Kathleen Cashin’s record as an educator, administrator and on the Board of Regents

This is the second in a series we are doing, examining the record of individuals whose names have been mentioned as potential Chancellors.  Our first column summarized the record of Andres Alonso.  The following was compiled by Peter Dalmasy, Class Size Matters researcher. Full disclosure: Regent Cashin, along with Regent Rosa, received a “Skinny” award from Class Size Matters in 2012.Kathleen Cas

by Leonie Haimson / 11min

Parents Demand More Accountability in the Appointment of Members of the Board of Regents

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - November 25, 2013

More information contact: 

Eric Mihelbergel (716) 553-1123; nys.allies@gmail.com
Lisa Rudley (917) 414-9190; nys.allies@gmail.com
NYS Allies for Public Education - www.nysape.org

Parents Demand More Accountability in the Appointment of Members of the Board of Regents

Parents across New York State are demanding that members of the Board of Regents up for re-appointment this March, Regents Christine Cea, James Jackson, James Cotrell, and Wade Norwood, publicly clarify their positions on the current education reforms.

“Those members of the Board of Regents who do not support an agenda that includes an immediate moratorium on high stakes Common Core testing and the sharing of student data must be replaced with new members who will recognize their responsibility to protect our children and our schools,” said Eric Mihelbergel, a public school parent in Buffalo and a founding member of the NYS Allies for Public Education. Mihelbergel went on to say, “the people of New York have lost confidence in Commissioner John King, Chancellor Merryl Tisch and the current Board of Regents to call a halt to these destructive education policies.”

Lisa Rudley, a public school parent in Ossining and a founding member of NYS Allies for Public Education, said “As evidenced in theAlbany Times Union, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013, the Regents’ policy on allowing privately funded fellows with little to no public education experience to drive curriculum calls into question the integrity of the system.  We need an educational plan in New York not a marketing plan.”

The process of electing Board of Regents members has long been an elusive process that has not been widely understood by the public.  Persons wishing to apply for a position submit a resume to Assemblywomen Catherine Nolan, Chair of the Education Committee, and Deborah Glick, Chair of the Higher Education Committee, by January 31, 2014.  In-person interviews are then conducted in Albany in February by Nolan and Glick.  

Although all legislators vote in early March, the process is controlled by the Democratic Majority of the Assembly.  Many Republican members abstain from the voting process altogether, because it is so strongly controlled by the Democratic Majority and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Legislators are typically given less than 24-hour’s notice of the vote, and up to now, a current Regent is almost automatically re-appointed until they resign or retire. 

"As a parent of four school-aged children, I am shocked at how the majority of Regents members have not listened to the protests of their constituents -- parents, educators and members of the communities whose interests they are supposed to serve, and have been silent while the Commissioner imposes one damaging policy after another. It is time for REAL change at the Board of Regents and

Common Core’s Role in Building Global Competencies | NEA Today

Common Core’s Role in Building Global Competencies | NEA Today:

Common Core’s Role in Building Global Competencies

November 25, 2013 by egraham  
Filed under Common Core State Standards, Featured News, Top Stories

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By Edward Graham

As schools and districts across the country begin to implement the Common Core State Standards,experts say that a focus on global learning must be a key component in the continued advancement of America’s public schools.

“The Common Core is potentially a launching pad for developing global competence, and by the same token, developing global competence can be the way in which we actually enable kids to get to the Common Core,” explains Anthony Jackson, Vice President for Education at the Asia Society.

Jackson made the comments at a panel discussion held at the NEA Foundation’s recent two-day convening of union-district leadership teams from across the country to discuss positive and meaningful school reforms. The panel discussion, which focused on the intersection of Common Core and global learning competencies, was moderated by Pedro Noguera, the Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education at New York University, and also featured Fernando Reimers, Director of Global Education and International Policy at Harvard University.

One of the major educational hurdles that the experts discussed was the growing inequality between affluent and low-income students. With the number of poor students having grown by 32% nationwide since 2001, it’s becoming increasingly important for educators to take a more holistic approach in educating students for the 21^st century world.

“When you disaggregate our data, poverty and inequality continue to be our major challenges in this country,” said Pedro Noguera, who cited the recent Trends in International Mathematics and Science (TIMMS) Study as a clear example of how poorer children are being disenfranchised in their educations. “We’re not so bad educating affluent kids, whether they live in Maine or Arizona. It’s poor kids that we have trouble educating in most places.”

As economic and societal factors continue to play a large role in influencing public education, it’s crucial that students are provided the necessary tools to meet the growing bevy of challenges. And as technological