229 Million Children Are Officially Invisible - Ryan Jacobs - The Atlantic

229 Million Children Are Officially Invisible - Ryan Jacobs - The Atlantic:

229 Million Children Are Officially Invisible

According to a new report, the births of one in three kids under the age of five have not been registered.

 Registering babies at birth may be a routine, almost automated process in the United States, but it's a rarity in some impoverished nations in both South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new report released on Tuesday by UNICEF. In all, there are nearly 230 million children in the world who are nameless and stateless. And they may languish in anonymity for a good portion of their early lives.

Living without any proof of your existence can be a major challenge. The associated paperwork is often necessary to secure healthcare, education, and other basic rights. And children who don't have identification are also left at higher risk of displacement, exploitation, and human trafficking. In the chaos of war or disaster, reuniting children separated from their family can be difficult, if not impossible, without proper documentation. And with no formal proof of age, marriage, military service, and employment may all become a reality much sooner than appropriate. 

The problem is particularly acute in India, where 71 million children under the age of five go undocumented by the government. Though India leads the world in sheer number of uncounted children, its rate of birth registration—at 41 percent—means that the civil administration there is actually outperforming the bureaucracies in many of the other countries mentioned in the report. Somalia, for example, does not record the existence of a staggering 97 percent of its young children. Here's a list of the ten countries with the lowest birth registration rates: 

1. Somalia (3 percent of children registered) 
2. Liberia (4 percent)
3. Ethiopia (7 percent) 
4. Zambia (14 percent)
5. United Republic of Tanzania (16 percent) 
6. Chad (16 percent) 
7. Yemen (17 percent)
8. Guinea Bissau (24 percent)
9. Pakistan (27 percent) 
10. Democratic Republic of the Congo (28 percent) 

Though a child's gender isn't a predictor in this paperwork game, socioeconomic 

Education Deform – School-to-Prison Pipeline | Dissident Voice

Education Deform – School-to-Prison Pipeline | Dissident Voice:

Education Deform – School-to-Prison Pipeline

by Paul Haeder / December 11th, 2013

As a preface here, as I have done many times as my role as writer for DV, I have to default to the local, as in, where you see fault lines and bright lines in a local situation, you can pretty much make the larger microcosmic statement about many things for a state, region, country, culture, what have you.

The School to Prison Pipeline has been written about many, many times, and my hat goes off to some of those writers:

The ACLU has it on its radar: ** 

So does the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund: **

Hell, there is a School To Prison (dot) org.

Black Agenda Report covers this, too:

LA Schools Overrun by Cops

The Los Angeles Unified School District is among the most heavily policed in the nation, with Black students 29 times more likely than white students to be charged with disturbing the peace. “Are they trying to set students up for success and education, or are they trying to set them up to go to prison?” asked Ashley Franklin, an organizer with the Labor Community Strategy Center and one of the authors of a report titled “Black, Brown and Over-Policed in LA Schools.” Despite the heavy hand of the law, students have organized throughout the district. “Our youth have read their history and they’re fighting back,” said Franklin.

What I have going is that I am revolutionary and way beyond progressive, 

Interview with Fred van Leeuwen of Education International [Exclusive] - The Jose Vilson | The Jose Vilson

Interview with Fred van Leeuwen of Education International [Exclusive] - The Jose Vilson | The Jose Vilson:

Interview with Fred van Leeuwen of Education International [Exclusive]

by JOSE VILSON on DECEMBER 11, 2013

in JOSE

Fred van Leeuwen, Secretary General, Education International

I had the pleasure of talking to Fred van Leeuwen, General Secretary of Education International (EI), a 30-million member federation consisting of the world’s teachers unions and associations. [NB: NEA President Dennis Van Roekel and AFT President Randi Weingarten have seats on the executive board for this organization.]

For the average teacher in North America, we mostly focus on our local union chapter or district locals. The more active participants are familiar with the work of NEA or AFT, but we don’t necessarily hear about EI’s work around the globe. According to van Leeuwen, EI not only works in industrialized nations, but also non-industrialized nations, including countries like Ghana, Mozambique, and South Africa. They’ve prompted governments across the world to invest in teaching.

When I asked him what he meant about investing in teaching, and what were some important factors in transforming teaching, he said resoundingly that the focus has to be on professional space. When schools and teachers are given the autonomy to improve student learning, everyone wins. He cited the recent PISA tests, noting that the highest-performing countries have schools with great learning / working conditions, and cooperation amongst teachers is paramount. I agreed, noting that, as a teacher, the best environments I’ve seen engender collaboration

- See more at: http://thejosevilson.com/interview-fred-van-leeuwen-secretary-general-education-international-exclusive/#sthash.pi3VTq0X.dpuf

UPDATE Why Connie Rice Is Partly Wrong - tomhayden.com - The Peace Exchange Bulletin

tomhayden.com - The Peace Exchange Bulletin - Why Connie Rice Is Partly Wrong:

Reform the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Letter to Attorney General Eric Holder

December 10, 2013 The Honorable Eric Holder Attorney General of the United States United States Department of Justice Washington, D.C. Re:      Reform the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Dear Attorney General Holder: There is a compelling need for the Department of Justice to intervene against the longstanding and unconstitutional patterns and practices of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs D

by Tom Hayden / 22min UPDATE

WHY CONNIE RICE IS PARTLY WRONG

 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2013 AT 1:11PM | EMAIL ARTICLE | SHARE ARTICLE | PRINT ARTICLE

Connie Rice is a respected civil rights attorney who has decided to join the "dark side", as she jokingly calls it, by becoming a Los Angeles Police Department adviser. Working on the inside of any mainstream institution is a difficult adjustment for an outside advocate to make, but joining the LAPD is especially tricky for a former NAACP Legal Defense Fund lawyer. Rice also receives hundreds of thousands of dollars from Los Angeles' city government for reports and advice on police reform. 

She ardently supported William Bratton as LAPD chief and she has lobbied for him to become New York's new chief. With Rice vouching for him, it became easy for new Mayor Bill de Blasio to embrace Bratton's return to New York. 

So who is right in the argument over Bratton? Reformer or not? Pusher of "broken windows" targeting of inner city youth, or the man who won over LA's black and brown communities? It 

Wisconsin Assembly Select Committee on Common Core State Standards Releases Report | Truth in American Education

Wisconsin Assembly Select Committee on Common Core State Standards Releases Report | Truth in American Education:

Wisconsin Assembly Select Committee on Common Core State Standards Releases Report

Filed in Common Core State Standards, Education at State Level by Shane Vander Hart on December 11, 2013 • 0 Comments

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The Wisconsin Assembly Select Committee on Common Core State Standards yesterday released a summary report of the committee activity that included the pubic hearings they held and the following discussion among the members.

I thought this was an interesting note based on comments from Representative Dean Knudson (R-Hudson):

The state needs to do a better job of communicating with local school districts about their rights and obligations.  He said that local school boards are not obligated to adopt the CCSS 

Education Reform or Privatization? - Walt Gardner's Reality Check - Education Week

Education Reform or Privatization? - Walt Gardner's Reality Check - Education Week:

Education Reform or Privatization?

By Walt Gardner on December 11, 2013 7:14 AM

When Noam Chomsky told an audience at Columbia University recently that education reform is "a euphemism for the destruction of public education," he stated a provocative view that other public intellectuals have expressed before ("Scholarship and Politics: The Case of Noam Chomsky," The New York Times, Dec. 10). But it is the timing of Chomsky's remark that is noteworthy.

I say that because of the growing power of giant foundations engaged in education reform. They direct about $1 billion annually to grantees who agree to adopt the foundations' policies ("Plutocrats at Work: How Big Philanthropy Undermines Democracy," Dissent, Fall 2013).  Since then, the voices of stakeholders in public education have been muted. Some of the names in the game are familiar: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, and the Walton Family Foundation.  But there are others as well.

If any of these foundations possessed any expertise in public education, I would be willing to consider their proposals. But the truth is that they are woefully lacking in this regard.  As a result, what is happening is not educational reform in the sense of improving public schools but instead in the form of their privatization. I'm not an apologist for public schools.  As I've written often before, they range in quality from excellent to execrable.  Yet I don't believe that failing schools can be improved by the methods advocated by mega foundations.

Their defenders argue that without them little will change.  I say that with them the only thing that will change is the bottom line of the for-profit education industry.  In other words, education reform has little to do with schools and everything to do with the $500 billion spent on public education 

Cloudy with a Chance of Swedish Meatballs | EduShyster

Cloudy with a Chance of Swedish Meatballs | EduShyster:

Cloudy with a Chance of Swedish Meatballs

 The totally true, tragicomic and almost-certain-to be-ignored cautionary tale of Sweden’s 30 year experiment with privatizing education…

Pack your bags, reader, and prepare to stow your winebox in the overhead compartment. We’re headed on an adventure of the international variety. Our destination: Sweden—the nation that brought us free love, ready-to-assemble furniture and aquavit—is also home to a 30-year-experiment with skola privatisering, or as we call it, excellence enhancement through the magic of the market. How are things going in Sweden these days? Funny you should ask…

Choicecapades
First stop on our Swedish adventure: a little trip down memory lane, or minneslanen as they say in Uppsula. Way back in the 1990′s Swedish parents were given vouchers to pay for the school of their choice. In other words, the kronafollowed the child. And just to make sure that choosy parents had enough choice to choose from, the Swedes allowed private schools for the first time and allowed the schools to make a profit. Fast forward to the future, otherwise known as today, and more than 25% of secondary students in Sweden 

NYC Educator: An Edict from the King

NYC Educator: An Edict from the King:

An Edict from the King

Hello New York. It's me, your old pal John King. I've just returned from an invigorating  evening with the good folks at NYC. Now lots of people suggested that we were afraid to come here, but it was no problem whatsoever. After one nasty little person got up and spewed the same special interest nonsense I'd been hearing at the other forums, a fine upstanding group for excellent schools got up and spoke the truth.

What an amazing coincidence that so many of my supporters happened to spontaneously paint the same sign. Now a lot of people say that we let them in way before we said we'd let anyone else in, and that we gave them a private room, and that a Michelle Rhee-backed group bused them in. I'm not saying that isn't true, but rather that it's important we somehow drown out those special interest parents and teachers.

Common Core is a wonderful thing. We will hold all children to higher standards. Except mine of course, who go to a Montessori school, and 19 of 20 NYS Regents, who send their kids to private schools. There, they are child centered. For the rest of you, there is rigor. And remember, the bigger the rigor, the higher they flyer. It was thrilling to see a river of identical signs supporting Common Core. That's the kind of independent thought we'd like to see in your children. For example, the wonderful Eva Moskowitz took all of her students and their parents on a march. She gave them signs and t-shirts. Maybe one day we will have signs and t-shirts for all state students, and they can march and tell New York what a wonderful job Merryl Tisch and I 

Tim King, banned for life from running schools in Oregon, operates online school in Washington | OregonLive.com

Tim King, banned for life from running schools in Oregon, operates online school in Washington | OregonLive.com:

Tim King, banned for life from running schools in Oregon, operates online school in Washington

Charter school founder Tim King, who is banned for life from running taxpayer-funded schools in Oregon, is clear to continue running a state-funded online school in Washington, that state's director of online schools confirmed.

King, who agreed with a partner to repay Oregon almost half a million dollars after state prosecutors alleged they obtained that money through fraud, is the Washington-approved operator of Northwest AllPrep, a statewide online school.

The school, which educates about 200 students in grades three through 12, is overseen by the Toppenish School District in the Yakima Valley but lists its business address at an office park just off I-205 and SE Mill Plain Boulevard in Vancouver. Students anywhere in Washington may attend at state expense.

Karl Nelson, director of Washington's Digital Learning Department, said his agency is aware of the sanctions that a judge ordered for King, including the lifetime ban on being financially involved with any Oregon charter school.

But he said King has met all the requirements to operate a Washington school and his school's finances have passed regular on-site audits by the state.

"We don't have any evidence of any wrongdoing in association with the school he is 

NYC Public School Parents: Common Core forums last night in the Bronx and Brooklyn: what a difference!

NYC Public School Parents: Common Core forums last night in the Bronx and Brooklyn: what a difference!:

Common Core forums last night in the Bronx and Brooklyn: what a difference!

Me in the Bronx last night (credit: GothamSchools)

Last night in the Bronx, only about 50-75 people showed up at the Regents Forum at Evander Childs HS.  The borough president, Ruben Diaz Jr., who started off the evening, was clearly furious at the poor attendance and blamed it on the fact that NYSED officials had given only one week's notice.

It was a mixed crowd, but most of those who spoke in favor of the Common Core appeared to work at charter schools or were teachers affiliated with Educators for Excellence, an organization funded primarily by the Gates Foundation, that also funded the Common Core.  The director of E4E, Evan Stone, spoke, as well as two (!!) of their Bronx "outreach" directors, one of whom had been laid off as a teacher when her school was closed last year.

Most of the speakers were against the Common Core and its associated testing regime.  These included Mark Naison, a Professor at Fordham, who asked for Tisch's resignation, and several parents who decried how their Kindergarten children being subjected to inappropriate bubblesheets exams and worksheets.  While Tisch said that the state did not support standardized testing for small children, the parents called her "disingenuous" and pointed out that these tests were on the NYSED's approved list of assessments. See this video of Monique Dols, a parent of a Kindergarten child at Dos Puentes, a bilingual school in Washington Heights.

Teachers decried how the scripted and flawed Common Core curriculum had taken all the joy out of teaching, and how students no longer had access to art, music and well-rounded education.  Parents reported that their children who once loved school now cry when doing homework, and are made to feel like they are failures.  The state had decided beforehand that 70% of the children would fail the tests, to what end? one asked.  Another parent said th

The Making of Common Core Creation Stories: Myth or Fact? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

The Making of Common Core Creation Stories: Myth or Fact? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

The Making of Common Core Creation Stories: Myth or Fact?

By Anthony Cody on December 11, 2013 1:50 PM

Perhaps because Common Core standards originated in a secretive process, and were adopted with little public discussion, their origins have become a subject of great interest among educators. As with ancient mythology, we care about where things come from, because the method of creation can reveal the nature of the creator, and the intentions at work. Critics of Common Core have complained about the way the standards were created - in secret, without significant teacher involvement.  Many proponents of Common Core have, for this reason, felt compelled to offer some version or other of "Myths Vs. Facts about the Common Core," attempting to resolve the complaints. The trouble is that, as we learn the true origins of Common Core, we find that most of these "Myths vs. Facts" documents offer up more myths than facts. Here are some examples:

 From the Common Core website: 

Myth: No teachers were involved in writing the Standards.

Fact: The common core state standards drafting process relied on teachers and standards experts from across the country. In addition, there were many state experts that came together to create the most thoughtful and transparent process of standard setting. This was only made possible by many states working together.

From the ASCD, which is an endorser of Common Core and a recipient of more than $3 million in Gates Foundation grants to support implementation, comes a Policy Points memo in October, also entitled Common Core Myths & Facts. Here is their creation story: 

States developed the standards. The nation's governors and state education commissioners spear- headed Common Core development to provide clear and consistent understanding of 

12-11-13 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

Oregan Bans Online School Operator for Life

In one of those likely "it's only a matter of time" stories, The Oregonian reports that Tim King, who is a charter school chain operator in Oregon was recently banned - for life -in a court settlement from ever "running, advising, or otherwise getting financially involved with any charter school in Oregon."  He and a partner also must pay the state of Oregon $475k and dismantle

by Melissa Westbrook / 14min 

Seattle School Board Retreat Wrap-Up

The Board retreat was last Saturday.  I was one of two observers along with reader Cecilia.As I previously mentioned, I felt a lot of good energy and reason for hope from this new team.  There were a couple of people around the table that felt the need to point out how many new people there were but there is nothing to be done except regroup and move on.  Rapid turnover is not good for any organiz

by Melissa Westbrook / 25min hide  //  save

Education News Roundup

A great story from Huffington Post on the "Buddy Bench."   Second-grader Christian Bucks, of York, Pa., knew that some of his classmates felt lonely during recess, and he decided to do something about it. His simple, utterly heartwarming solution was to install a playground "buddy bench."  As reported by the York Daily Record, a buddy bench is a designated seating area where st

by Melissa Westbrook / 1h

Clarity around the title "interim"

Seattle Public Schools bureaucrats love to play word games. Their favorite word game is to re-define words. They do it for a variety of reasons. They have re-defined "task force" and "advisory committee" to evade control by Board policy. They have re-defined "program" and "service" to expand superintendent authority. They have changed the definition of "

by Charlie Mas / 1h 

12-10-13 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Tuesday Open ThreadSo no snow in my area so here's hoping yours is dry as well. I received my Seattle Public Library newsletter and wanted to alert readers with high school students about a new scholarship opportunity.  It's the Stim Bullitt Civic Courage Scholarship.  (This is a bequest from the late Stimson Bullitt who supported public libraries.) High school sen

by mike simpson / 22h 

Now THAT is what a Day of Action looks like! | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity

Now THAT is what a Day of Action looks like! | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity:

Now THAT is what a Day of Action looks like!

Posted on: Tuesday December 10th, 2013

THANK YOU for an Exciting National Day of Action!Recap, photos, media stories & petition link

To all the parents, students, teachers and community organizers who turned out across the nation for Monday's National Day of Action to Reclaim the Promise of Public Education:

Thank you!

The nationwide event was a huge success, with local actions taking place in over 60 cities.

Missed the Day of Action?
Sign on to the Principles
That Unite Us!

In Chicago, you sang education-themed carols and delivered a wish list of needed school resources to city officials. In Boston, you held a student-led town hall to discuss the future of the city's public schools. InNew York City, you rallied for universal pre-k. In Philadelphia, you marched to Gov. Tom Corbett's office. In San Francisco you held a candlelight rally.

So far we have collected over 120 press hits (and counting!) – click here to view them.

Together we stood as a unified voice calling for a new direction in education reform to end inequities and ensure every child and every school has what they need to succeed. The Day of Action was a first step in our efforts to build this new coalition after our exciting October conference in Los Angeles.

As our efforts continue in the coming months, you can keep the conversation going on Twitter and Facebook with hashtag #ReclaimPublicEd. (Scroll down for some Twitter highlights from Monday!)

You can also sign on to the Principles That Unite Us and add your name to this petition to ask your representatives to endorse the Principles.

We will be posting Day of Action pictures on the OTL Campaign Facebook page soon, so please like us on Facebook to get our updates!

Visit www.ReclaimPublicEdNow.org for more highlights. 
Tell your representatives to endorse the Principles That Unite Us here!

Day Of Action Reveals Widespread Anger With Current Education Policies

By Jeff Bryant

“A Day of Action to Reclaim the Promise of Public Education held on December 9 in over 100 sites across the country… took on many forms … but there were common grievances overlapping the events … The wide range of locations for Monday’s events, and the numbers of participants, are testament to the breadth and depth of complaints about current education policies.”
Read more …

NEWS AND VIEWS

Sequester Cuts Hit Hardest Students And Schools That Can Least Afford The Cost

National Education Association

“The across-the-board sequester cuts are not only hurting students and schools, but the cuts are falling unevenly and disproportionately hitting those who can least afford the loss… Students could expect more than $5.5 billion in additional education funding if the sequester was replaced … 1 out of every 6 students attends public schools in a district where 5%-15% of total revenue is from federal Title I funding … 1 out of every 10 school districts rely on federal funding for 20%-50% (or more) of their total revenue.”
Read more …

Zero-Tolerance Policies In Schools Are Often Destructive, Fueling A School To Prison Pipeline

Alternet

“In recognition of the mounting evidence against zero-tolerance policies and the increasing outcry to radically rethink disciplinary policies, school districts in several parts of the country are now dropping or radically modifying their zero-tolerance policies … Students are attending counseling, completing community service, and going to behavior intervention programs when they commit behavioral infractions, rather than being sent to court … Giving these students more control, autonomy and responsibility … encourages them to take a more active role in the school community, and in turn, that’s creating better behaviors … and leading to a drop in disciplinary problems.”
Read more …

The Third-Grade Crackdown Club

Education Week

Former Michigan Teacher of the Year Nancy Flanagan, writes, “Florida and NY City passed legislation mandating retention of third graders who haven’t achieved an equally arbitrary reading level – with unimpressive results. In at least 13 more states, including my own, policy-makers are now eager to join the Third Grade Crackdown club … Sorting students by age, standardizing their curriculum and rank-ordering their achievement has been embedded American education practice for well over a century… ‘Grade level’ expectations vary widely … They, too, are arbitrary … Although it’s rare, there are cases where retention is the right decision. But that call should be made by teachers and parents, not at the statehouse.”
Read more …

School Counselors Increasingly Are Missing Link In Getting Kids To College

The Hechinger Report

“A single public school counselor in the United States has a caseload of 471 students, on average … In high schools, where counselors are often the primary source of information about college … each one is responsible for an average of 239 students … Budget cuts are forcing counselors to perform more duties unrelated to their traditional roles … Most get scant training in the subject before taking on the job … The result is an overtaxed system in which many students fall through the cracks and either never go to college, go to institutions that are the wrong matches for them, or never learn about financial aid for which they may qualify … Counselors in private schools have a median caseload of only 106..”
Read more …

How ‘Limited Government’ Is Burying A Generation In Debt

Moyers and Company

“The cost of tuition in this country has increased at an almost unbelievable pace over the past generation … While tuitions are rising across the board, the cost drivers are different in public and private institutions … Much more of the growth in private school tuition pays for administrators’ bloated salaries … Americans pay more than three times the average of other rich countries for ‘tertiary education’ out-of-pocket, financed through the private sector … Our disproportionate reliance on private sector higher education, with its bloated administrative spending, has a lot to do with the exorbitant costs American students and their families pay … It’s a huge ripoff and it’s hurting the prospects of an entire generation of Americans.”
Read more …