12-10-13 Schools Matter: Did AFT Offset Costs of Anti-Corporate Crusade with Corporate Cash?

Schools Matter: Did AFT Offset Costs of Anti-Corporate Crusade with Corporate Cash?:

Terry Gross Interview on New ALEC Revelations

From NPR, which includes interview link:A batch of internal documents recently leaked to The Guardian has revealed new insights into the goals and finances of the secretive group called ALEC. The American Legislative Exchange Council is a group that brings together state legislators and representatives of corporations. Together, they develop model bills that lawmakers introduce and try to pass in

by Jim Horn / 1h 

Did AFT Offset Costs of Anti-Corporate Crusade with Corporate Cash?

The following is from AFT in 2009, when the future for corporate ed reform seemed ascendant, and Randi was on a wave.  AFT has scrubbed the video from their site, but I plugged it in to where it had been previously deleted from the Press Release.  Do have a look, and note the venue for this big announcement. Were no dark alleys available?With AFT now spending a million bucks on their new Pretender

by Jim Horn / 13min

12-9-13 Schools Matter

Schools Matter: Ending the Achievement Gap With Music EducationPsychology Today Magazine advertises on the Huffington Post. In a recent article, PT reports on how important music education can be for brain development, as well as cognitive and emotional growth for children. Perhaps child psychologists and educators should be talking more.So why has the Department of Education and Arne Duncan and f

by mike simpson / 7h 

John Thompson: Time is Right for "Principles that Unite Us" - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

John Thompson: Time is Right for "Principles that Unite Us" - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

John Thompson: Time is Right for "Principles that Unite Us"

By Anthony Cody on December 10, 2013 4:23 PM

 Guest post by John Thompson.

The seeds of the defeat of the accountability-driven reform movement, ironically, were sown in 2009 when union leaders decided that they had to keep their own counsel, or to at least keep a low profile when warning against test-driven reform. Union leadership felt they had no choice but to acquiesce when the incoming Democratic President Barack Obama tilted toward corporate reform. Many rank-in-file teachers and scholars like Diane Ravitch documented the fallacies of the reformers' agenda and started the process of articulating a clear alternative.  

Five years later, teachers, unions, students, and families are finding a common voice. It is the perfect time for the American Federation of Teachers to issue "The Principles that Unite Us," a call for labor and communities to unite in a new era of school reform.

During the election of 2008, I thought Hillary Clinton might be a better ally in improving schools, but I still supported Barack Obama. I assumed the President would "split the difference," side with teachers about half the time and with so-called reformers the other half of the time. 

President Obama began with a $100 billion Stimulus which saved jobs in education and helped stop the Great Recession from deteriorating into a depression.  At the same time, he gave the "Billionaires Boys Club" a free rein in writing the rules for the $4.2 billion Race to the Top (RttT). Back then, letting corporate reformers set the RttT rules could be seen as a trade-off.   But, it soon became clear that market-driven reformers were in complete control of policy.  The Obama administration might say nice things about teachers, throw a few pennies at early childhood education, and complain about NCLB testing.  But, it put the worst of NCLB's bubble-in accountability on steroids.

The Obama administration might have successfully institutionalized test-driven reform, imposing corporate governance on the public schools system, were it not for hubris. The administration may have enabled the reformers' prideful overreach, giving them enough rope to hang themselves. Reformers thought their prayers were answered.  A liberal Democratic president committed

How Public Schools Have the Edge Over Private Schools | NEA Today

How Public Schools Have the Edge Over Private Schools | NEA Today:

How Public Schools Have the Edge Over Private Schools

December 10, 2013 by twalker  
Filed under Featured News, Top Stories

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By Tim Walker

The fuel that drives much of the pro-market education reform agenda is the belief that public institutions are inherently inferior. Therefore, all that ails the nation’s schools, according to so-called “reformers,” can only be addressed by injecting market-based remedies into the system, or basically taking the “public” out of public education. But evidence is beginning to mount that the core assumptions behind these policies are, to say the least, unsound.

A few years ago, Christopher Lubienski and Sarah Theule Lubienski, both professors at the College of Education at the University of Illinois, analyzed two national data tests – the National Assessment of Educational Progress and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – and reached a conclusion that took them by surprise.

In their new book, “The Public School Advantage: Why Public Schools Outperform Private Schools,” the Lubienskis explain how, after you account for the socioeconomic factors that benefit private schools, public elementary schools are, on average, more effective at teaching mathematics. Chris and Sarah Lubienski recently spoke with NEA Today about their findings, the impact of “autonomy” in private schools, and educational equity.

Your conclusions challenge the basic underpinnings of the reform movement. What’s been the reaction  mark as read

How Public Schools Have the Edge Over Private Schools

By Tim Walker The fuel that drives much of the pro-market education reform agenda is the belief that public institutions are inherently inferior. Therefore, all that ails the nation’s schools, according to so-called “reformers,” can only be addressed by injecting market-based remedies into the system, or basically taking the “public” out of public education. But evidence is beginning to mount that the core assumptions behind these policies are, to say the least, unsound. A few years ago, Christopher Lubienski and Sarah Theule Lubienski, both professors at the College of Education at the Univer

1min 

Age of Distraction: Why It’s Crucial for Students to Learn to Focus

Digital classroom tools like computers, tablets and smartphones offer exciting opportunities to deepen learning through creativity, collaboration and connection, but those very devices can also be distracting to students. Similarly, parents complain that when students are required to complete homework assignments online, it’s a challenge for students to remain on task. The ubiquity of digital technology in all realms of life isn’t going away, but if students don’t learn how to concentrate and shut out distractions, research shows they’ll have a much harder time succeeding in almost every area.

6h 

Thousands Turn Out for Our Schools National Day of Action

Thousands of educators, parents, students and community activists rallied in support of public education for the Our Schools Day of Action. In more than 30 cities, from California to Maine, supporters came out in droves to support issues like school funding, student poverty, school safety and community-led ideas for great public schools. Source: Education Votes Related posts: Volunteers Turn Out to Help Repeal Ohio’s SB5 Feb. 6 – National Day of Action to Support Seattle MAP Test Boycott Schools Turn to Parents for More Funding as Budgets are Squeezed

8h 

TODAY

Broadband Helps Education, but It Isn’t a Panacea

Technology Billionaires Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) think education turns on faster Internet. To that end, the pair has collectively contributed a total of $9 million to the nonprofit EducationSuperHighway, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that focuses on improving connectivity in schools. But is Internet connectivity really the key ingredient to a good education? Source:

by twalker / 8h 

DEC 06

Crazy Things People Say To Teachers – And How To Respond

  By Cindy Long Ah, the holidays. ’Tis the season to gather round the hearth, feast on turkey and pie, and enjoy the company and conversation of loved ones we see but a few times a year. And thank goodness for that! You love them dearly, but it’s exhausting fielding all those annoying questions about the teaching profession from your well-meaning but clueless family. With that in mind, we’ve com

by twalker / 4d 

The Most Notable Education Stories of 2013

From the Common Core to sequestration to school closings to the backlash over standardized testing, 2013 saw education at the forefront of public debate in 2013. The Atlantic’s Alexander Russo takes a look at what made stories made the biggest headlines. Source: The Atlantic Related posts: Educator Stories: How Job Cuts are Affecting Students Here Comes 2013: The Big Themes in Learning 2013 Educat

by twalker / 4d 

Sense and Sustainability in Education Reform

It’s a question that’s daunted educators for decades: Why haven’t well-intentioned efforts to improve teaching and learning in our schools had the kind of impact we want and need? It’s often called a failure of bringing reform to scale, but in reality many of the proposed changes to date haven’t been big enough. The good news is that this is changing. The question is whether our schools are prepar

by twalker / 4d 

DEC 05

NEA Celebrates Life, Mourns Death of Education Champion Mandela

The three million members of the National Education Association stand with the people of South Africa and the world to mourn the passing of Nelson Mandela as a champion of human rights worldwide. Mandela began as a freedom fighter within a national movement and became an international icon for human rights and peace everywhere. He will be remembered as a leader who dared, built understanding, and

by twalker / 4d 

What Happens When Parents Decide to Opt-Out of Standardized Tests?

Ten years into the No Child Left Behind accountability standards, the backlash is gaining momentum. In New York, a growing number of parents are discovering that, as state standardized tests become a prominent part of the curriculum, their children are losing interest in school. This discovery is leading many of them to opt out of the tests altogether. But if a critical mass of parents decide that

by twalker / 5d 

UPDATE PSAT for 12-10-13: Send us your test schedules Parents United for Responsible Education

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » PSAT for 12-10-13: Send us your test schedules:

NYC Council passes anti-testing resolution

Not convinced about the pizza, but check this out: Press Contact: Jane Hirschmann, 917 679 8343 HISTORIC VOTE BY CITY COUNCIL ON HIGH-STAKES TESTING The New York City Council passed today Resolution 1394.  This is historic because it is the first time that a legislative body has sent a clear directive to the DOE, NYSED and Governor that high stakes standardized tests must be replaced by multiple m

by admin / 28min 

PSAT for 12-10-13: Send us your test schedules

More Than a Score is meeting with CPS testing officials later this week. Among the items on our agenda is a discussion of the actual number of tests given in CPS schools this year. You may remember that CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett announced at the end of last year that the district was cutting back “15 of the 25″ district mandated standardized tests.
From what we’re hearing, though, the reality is not matching up with the claims.
For one thing, CPS has added a number of new tests – e.g. benchmark tests associated with the Common Core and additional REACH teacher evaluation tests.
This excellent post by More Than a Score’s Cassie Cresswell also points out that the cutbacks in many primary tests never happened. She writes,

Second graders will actually take more exams at many schools this year, rather than fewer. In addition to the K-2 literacy and numeracy assessments, the NWEA MAP test will be given to 2nd graders in the spring, and possibly in the winter. And so, many second graders will be taking literacy/English Language Arts (ELA) exams 13 times this

- See more at: http://pureparents.org/?p=21052#sthash.tFjnJCjq.dpuf

Bill Ayers Talks Obama, Nelson Mandela, and Toni Preckwinkle | Chicago magazine

Bill Ayers Talks Obama, Nelson Mandela, and Toni Preckwinkle | Chicago magazine:

Bill Ayers Talks Obama, Nelson Mandela, and Toni Preckwinkle

He loves Cook County’s president, isn’t disappointed in POTUS, and would be happy to be a Supreme Court justice.

Bill Ayers is now 68 years old and retired after 20 years as a UIC education professor. He’s slight, intense, balding, wears two hearing aids and two earrings, and boasts, in an endearing, not irritating way, about his three sons and three grandchildren. He speaks lovingly of his wife, Bernardine Dohrn 72, now also retired; she as a professor at Northwestern University School of Law. 

The two spent a decade in hiding, on the run from the law as members of the Weather Underground. The label “unrepentant domestic terrorist” does not fit the man, who grew up in Glen Ellyn, and now sits across from me at a coffee shop on Wells Street in Old Town. He suggested meeting me in my neighborhood rather than asking me to travel to his in Hyde Park.

Ayers has stressed over the years that no one was ever hurt, much less killed, by he or Dohrn. And yet he acknowledges having a role—direct or indirect is never clear—in planting bombs in government buildings, including the Pentagon, New York City Police Headquarters, and a Capitol building. ‘’Even though I didn’t actually bomb the Pentagon—we bombed it, in the sense that Weathermen organized it and claimed it,” as said to New York Times reporter Dinitia Smith, is a typical Ayers hedge.

I nursed a latte; he ate and drank nothing as our conversation spanned almost two hours. It took so long because he seldom liked my questions and insisted on 

Call Out by Parents to Protest at Board Meeting Wednesday | Classroom Struggle

Call Out by Parents to Protest at Board Meeting Wednesday | Classroom Struggle:

Call Out by Parents to Protest at Board Meeting Wednesday

 On Wednesday, Dec 11, OUSD’s School Board will be discussing how millions of dollars are going to be used this year and how the entire district budget will be divided over the following year.

Parents, teachers, students, and school workers are organizing all over Oakland to demand transparency and democratic decision-making in determining how these district funds should be spent.

At a meeting in an east Oakland school last Friday, parents expressed their frustration with Oakland’s unaccountable school board:

They don’t understand the realities in our schools

            It’s ridiculous because the money is there

             Is there any teacher in this school who has been here for more than ten years?

            What the teachers want is the same as what we [the parents] want

According to these parents, OUSD’s decision on Wednesday represents both anequity and quality of education issue.

For them, the reality is clear – the money is there. What we need to do is take power in order to take control over its immediate and equitable distribution.

Come join us this Wednesday, Dec 11, at 5:30pm at La Escuelita Elementary School- let’s make our voices heard!

New Era of Cooperation in Newark Schools Gives Way to Animosity - NJ Spotlight

New Era of Cooperation in Newark Schools Gives Way to Animosity - NJ Spotlight:

NEW ERA OF COOPERATION IN NEWARK SCHOOLS GIVES WAY TO ANIMOSITY

JOHN MOONEY | DECEMBER 10, 2013

One year after celebrated signing of teacher contract, national union president charges officials have reneged on promises

A year after final approval of Newark’s teacher contract – a “Kumbaya” moment hailed nationally as a landmark example of labor-management cooperation – the good will appears to be all but gone.

Randi Weingarten, the president of the national American Federation of Teachers who personally helped negotiate the Newark pact, yesterday returned to the city to lambast the district for failing to live up to its promise in that deal – or in much of anything else, for that matter.

Weingarten’s visit was part of a 90-city campaign that the AFT helped lead this week to push back against what it calls the draconian cuts in urban public schools nationwide. Newark has been especially in the spotlight, with continued budget reductions and school closures coinciding with the expansion of charter schools in the city.

An estimated 200 people – including students, union leaders and teachers -- joined Weingarten for the rally in downtown Newark, walking up to the front doors of the Newark school administrative offices on Broad Street before being turned away.

“This gives you a good sense that they don’t want to hear from parents, teachers 

12-10-13 Jersey Jazzman

Jersey Jazzman:

What Planet Do the StudentsFirst People Live On?

No, gentle reader, this did not come from The Onion:User Actions  FollowStudentsFirstNYVerified account‏@StudentsFirstNYBecause of #CommonCore, kids in Bed-Stuy will be able to compete in the same global economy as kids in wealthy suburban districts....7:15 PM - 10 Dec 13Silly me: I actually read stuff, so I was thinking maybe poverty and racism and inequity and poverty and poverty and poverty and

by Duke / 12min 

How The "Reform" Virus Is Spreading To NJ's Suburban Schools

New Jersey's schools are considered to be at the top of the nation; our suburban schools, in particular, are among some of the very best in the world. Nonetheless: the "reform" virus is spreading out from the urban areas into the 'burbs with frightening speed.How is this happening? Let's look at a test case:Last month, I told the tale of one Tim Capone, superintendent of the Highland Par

by Duke / 41min 

12-8-13 Jersey Jazzman

Jersey Jazzman: The Mustache of Understanding Tries To Do EducationA couple of weeks ago, I noted that Tom Friedman - the NY Times's own Mustache of Understanding - was in danger of losing his Wanker-In-Chief title to Frank Bruni. The bald-faced food critic, you see, had attempted to opine on education, with predictably disastrous results; how could bushy-nosed Friedman ever top Bruni's stunning d

by mike simpson / 16h 

Charter Schools Continue Dramatic Growth Despite Controversies:

Charter Schools Continue Dramatic Growth Despite Controversies

Posted: 12/10/2013 2:01 pm EST  |  Updated: 12/10/2013 2:19 pm EST

Protesters demonstrated outside Freire Charter School during a visit by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Monday, Sept. 23, 2013, in Philadelphia. In Cantor's remarks he demanded that Attorney General Eric Holder drop a lawsuit over school vouchers or face the wrath of Congress. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) | ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK -- Charter schools remain the subject of intense debate, particularly in New York City, where incoming Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) won on a platform that was explicitly less friendly toward such schools than the policies of the outgoing mayor have been. But even as the political debate rages on, charter schools continue to grow dramatically throughout the country.

Overall, 1 in 20 students -- 2.3 million in total -- now attend charter schools, which represents an increase of 225,000 students over the 2012-13 school year. And that growth is particularly pronounced in urban areas, according to a new report released Tuesday by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools that looked at market share in cities with the highest number of charter schools.

According to the report, New Orleans, whose school system was rebuilt in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, has 79 percent of its students in charter schools, which are publicly funded but can be privately and independently run. For the first time, Detroit had more than half of its students in such schools, with 51 percent. Washington, D.C., is working its way there, with 43 percent of its students now in charter schools. The top six school districts with the highest rates of enrollment -- which also include Flint,Mich., Kansas City, Mo., and Gary, Ind. -- each have 30 percent or more of students in a charter school.

The nation's largest cities also have high numbers of charter school students,