3-28-14 The Whole Child Blog — Engage Students with Motivation 3.0 — Whole Child Education

Engage Students with Motivation 3.0 — Whole Child Education:

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

Engage Students with Motivation 3.0

March 28, 2014 by Klea Scharberg

In this video, Daniel Pink talks to the Patterson Foundation about the need to upgrade our approach to motivation in schools. He uses the metaphor of an outdated computer operating system to characterize motivational practices that rely on punishments and rewards to elicit desired behavior. Although "carrots and sticks" motivation works well when the outcomes are simple tasks, this is not a suitable operating system for the complex, creative thinking required of 21st century students. Pink recommends upgrading to "motivation 3.0," or an operating system predicated on the principles of autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

3-27-14 The Whole Child Blog — The Grand Unifying Theory of Education — Whole Child Education

A Whole Child Education for Every Child: The Grand Unifying Theory of Education — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOGA Whole Child Education for Every Child: The Grand Unifying Theory of EducationMarch 27, 2014 by Whole Child SymposiumIf our goal is a "whole child" education for every child, here are some essential questions: How should a modern school be managed and led in a wor

by mike simpson / 18h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Your machine politics took a beating, Big Daddy. Get over it.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Your machine politics took a beating, Big Daddy. Get over it.:

Your machine politics took a beating, Big Daddy. Get over it.

“Guzzardi was able to walk the district for four years, didn’t have to work, didn’t have to do anything.” -- Joe "Big Daddy" Berrios. 

My only response to Chicago machine boss Joe Berrios, after reading this inane piece in the Sun-Times, is -- You lost, Big Daddy. Get over it. That's right, Will Guzzardi (a "self-styled reformer" according to the S-T) demolished your kid and kicked the crap out of your ward machine and Michael Madigan and his boys who were running her campaign.  Will routed her in every single precinct but one and even ran really strong among Latino voters on your own turf. 

And no, despite what you keep repeating, it wasn't a race between "hipsters and Hispanics." If it was, than Toni would have surely won. Will got a big chunk of the Latino vote and believe it or not, there's no such thing as a hipster vote and Mike Madigan is no Hispanic. Why couldn't you and MM even turn out your own base behind your daughter? Because you ran a shameful campaign, that's why, spreading rumors about your opponent that nobody -- black, white or Latino -- bought into. Meanwhile, Will ran a stronger, smarter race and had a grass-roots, rank-and-file army out in the streets, going door to door and talking about issues that mean more to voters than hipsters vs. Hispanics. 

And no, Will didn't spend the last 4 years "walking around the district." I'm pretty sure he was 

Turnarounds denounced - Substance News

Turnarounds denounced - Substance News:

BOARDWATCH: Board's claims about 'turnaround' success are challenged by parents and community leaders while complaints about conflicts of interest are ignored... Parents, union and community leaders denounce AUSL 'network' in Black Chicago, West Side schools as new AUSL turnarounds are proposed

George N. Schmidt - March 27, 2014

In a series of dramatic moments, parents, teachers, union and community leaders from Chicago's West Side repeatedly took the floor at the March 26, 2014 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education to denounce the latest proposal to "turn around" three more of the city's elementary schools based on test scores and other invalid measures of school performance. The speakers also noted that the Board of Education has several conflicts of interest in placing the schools in the hands of the clout-heavy AUSL group. They also charged that the AUSL "turnarounds" in the past have failed despite all of the extra resources that the Board gives to "turnaround" schools during the first years of the corporate-style process.

Surrounded by emotional parents and other community activists, Valerie Leonard presented the Board with research showing that the so-called "turnaround" process that had become the monopoly of AISL had failed in virtually every school that it had been used at. Leonard was gone from the meeting when, at the end of the meeting, Board President David Vitale and Board member Andrea Zopp (of the Chicago Urban League) talked about how some members of the public didn't understand the "facts," even though the Board members were silent or busily on their cell phones while Leonard and others spoke against the AUSL proposal on the Board's March 26, 2014 agenda. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.AUSL (the "Academy for Urban School Leadership") has been given the lucrative turnaround contracts since the Board began using the corporate nomenclature for the "reconstitution" of schools more than ten years ago.

The proposed "turnarounds" were announced in a CPS press release on March 21, but will not appear on the Board meeting agenda until the April Board meeting. The Board will next meet on April 23 at 125 S. Clark St. Sign in for public participation at the Board meeting will begin at 8:00 a.m. on April 14, 2014. The public agenda for that Board meeting will become available to the public according to the Open Meetings Act by 10:00 a.m. on April 21, 2014.

The proposed "turnaround" of the three schools was announced by CPS officials but did not appear on the public agenda for the Board's March 26 meeting. The seven members of the Board of Education and Board "Chief Executive Officer" Barbara Byrd Bennett sat stolidly or looked away as more than half dozen speakers denounced their latest corporate-style version of reality prior to the Board's vote to impose the turnarounds. The latest attack was on the Dvorak, McNair and Gresham elementary schools, all of which s

3-28-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet:

The Koch brothers’ influence on college campus is spreading

There’s been a flurry of recent stories (here, here and here, for example) about the role the billionaire Koch brothers are playing in politics by backing conservative political candidates through a number of organizations that they fund. My Post colleague Matea Gold wrote in this story: The political network spearheaded by conservative billionaires Charles and […]    

by Valerie Strauss / 26min hide  //  save

Muriel Bowser’s muddled message about D.C. schools

We know what D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray would do with the city’s public education system if he wins reelection: more of the same. But now that new polls show that D.C. Council member Muriel Bowser (Ward 4) is the most serious challenger to Gray in next week’s Democratic mayoral primary, the question is what she […]    

1 by Valerie Strauss / 56min 

3-27-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet: March Madness: Millions of kids being used as Common Core testing guinea pigsIf you think a bunch of college basketball teams facing off in a tournament is March Madness, consider this: Starting this week and going into June, more than 4 million students in 36 states and the District of Columbia are “field testing” (read it: being used as human guinea pigs) English and math stand

by mike simpson / 18min 

3-28-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

New York has the Most Segregated Schools in the Nation (and guess where it's the worst?)

In a devastating report from the Civil Rights Project at UCLA, New York State's Extreme School Segregation: Inequality, Inaction and a Damaged Future, the conclusion is that NY State has the segregated schools in the nation, both by race and poverty.  They looked at patterns from 1989 to 2010, both at the state and regional levels.From Education Writers Association: “The children who most depend o

by Melissa Westbrook / 2min 

Seattle Schools Updates/Good News

From SPS Communications:Ingraham High hosting Seattle Unified Soccer League kickoff Saturday On Saturday, March 29, Ingraham High School will host opening ceremonies to officially kick off the 2014 Unified Soccer Seattle season. Unified Soccer is an inclusive sports program for ages 8-21 that combines athletes (individuals with intellectual disabilities) and partners (those without intellectual di

by Melissa Westbrook / 9min 

Washington State Mudslide Victims

There are truly sad and tragic stories coming out about all the victims of the recent mudslide in Oso, near Darrington.  The youngest victim, a four-month old baby, was found yesterday.  She had been killed as well as her grandmother who was babysitting her.  They don't need any more volunteers to show up or need more clothing so probably the best way to help is through:Red Cross - call 1-800-RED

by Melissa Westbrook / 6min 

Seattle Schools and Technology

Someone asked a question in the Friday Open Thread about a Special Ed program and that led to SpedPTA president, Mary Griffin, to say this (and she calls it a rant alert and warning but really, it's a huge district-wide issue):I am not a fan of data sharing, but I am a fan of useful data collection and accessibility within the district. The district right now is suffering greatly from the lack of

by Melissa Westbrook / 19min 

Friday Open Thread

I have many threads to write - student surveys about teachers, Charter Commission meeting, Work Session on data privacy, transportation and athletics (all had very interesting parts).It appears that LEV has joined forces with the City for the universal pre-school initiative.  This is fine except that LEV has been tweeting that people should send e-mails to the Board, urging them to support early c

by Melissa Westbrook / 48min 

3-27-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum: College Degrees and ROINot sure that ROI (return on investment) is really the best way to look at what college/university you pick but for some degrees, it could make a difference.  The Atlantic has a comparison.  Look at where UW is. It's important to be clear about what this study is telling us and what it's not telling us. The fact that the most valuable college

by mike simpson / 23h 

Mother Crusader: We All Stand Together! Statewide Advocates Turn Out To Support Newark Public Schools

Mother Crusader: We All Stand Together! Statewide Advocates Turn Out To Support Newark Public Schools:

We All Stand Together! Statewide Advocates Turn Out To Support Newark Public Schools

It was a great honor to participate in yesterday's NJ Ed March, which brought together education advocates from all over the state, a fact the Star-Ledger failed to mention, instead choosing only to report that "(s)everal hundred Newark parents, teachers, students and community activists rallied in Trenton." The event was intended to highlight the resistance to the haphazard One Newark plan, to lend support to those pushing back against Cami Anderson and Chris Christie, and to bring the message directly to Trenton. 

Hundreds heeded the call on a blustery, cold, not-very-Spring-like day. The districts I personally saw represented were too numerous to list, but included both urban and suburban districts from all corners of the state, from District Factor Group A to I. The Ledger's failure to report this part of the story is, quite frankly, irresponsible.

I want to tell you a story about why it was so important to me to be there to support the people of Newark as they fight back against the top-down edict that is One Newark.

Back in 2012 my district was riding high after putting the brakes on a charter that seemed destined to open its doors. The charter would have decimated our small budget, but the application had the support of the USDOE in the form of a $600,000 federal grant. My community staged a massive pushback campaign, including a Town Hall style meeting and a subsequent Occupy the DOE event when NJDOE staff, including then Commissioner Cerf, refused to participate in our Town Hall. We got tons of state, local and even national press coverage, which put much needed pressure in all the right places. Without the publicity drawing attention to our plight the outcry of my community was being ignored by the NJDOE.

Yup, I was so blown away to be there
I asked Diane to autograph
the flyer as a momento.

After it was all over and the application was denied for the final time I was still hooked. I kept blogging, I kept advocating; the immediate threat to my district may have been over but the education reform threat was still very real all across New Jersey. I felt obligated to use what I had learned to help other communities and to lend my voice to the fight.

In May of 2012 I was asked to participate in an Education Law Center panel with Diane 

LAUSD board member Zimmer says stand with Beatriz against Vergara

LAUSD board member Zimmer says stand with Beatriz against Vergara:





LAUSD board member Zimmer says stand with Beatriz against Vergara

Posted on March 28, 2014 9:00 am by Steve Zimmer

Steve Zimmer

Just over a year ago, I won re-election to the Los Angeles Unified School District board. It was an unlikely victory in what may have been the most expensive school board race in U. S. history. The wealthiest of self-styled reformers – Eli Broad, Reed Hastings,Michael Bloomberg andMichelle Rhee’s followers – put in over $4-million to try and take over the L.A. Board of Education.

The stakes were high. Los Angeles Unified is by far the largest school district in the nation to be governed by an elected board. Our district has over 900,000 students, over 60,000 employees and an operating budget of over $7 billion. The reformers were clear about their goals. They sought to eviscerate the power of our teacher union by eliminating job protections, seniority rights, and tenure. They sought to link teacher evaluation directly to standardized test scores. And more.

Against this gale force, we were able to build an improbable coalition of families, teachers and classified employees, and community activists. We matched the billionaires’ money with authentic boots on the ground. We talked to people, and people listened. In the many struggles in today’s economy, battles often pit people’s interests against the interests of corporate America. This time the people won.

Or so we thought.

As it turns out, the election isn’t really over. It just shifted venues.

The same privatizers who funded the campaign to buy the school board funded the litigation here in Los Angeles that seeks to achieve through the courts what they could not win at the ballot box. Named for one of the student plaintiffs, Beatriz Vergara, the case heard closing arguments yesterday. If it is successful, the Vergara case will eliminate some teacher tenure protections, limit seniority, and diminish collective 

Ed Notes Online: De Blasio Rolled - Say no to this budget deal; call the Speaker & your Assemblymember NOW!

Ed Notes Online: De Blasio Rolled - Say no to this budget deal; call the Speaker & your Assemblymember NOW!:

De Blasio Rolled - Say no to this budget deal; call the Speaker & your Assemblymember NOW!

I hate to tell you I told you so, but I told you so. That Eva would never pay a dime in rent.Not only that but now de Blasio will have to pay her rent. Here's the lesson boys and girls. We can't beat the 1% in the political arena. Massive grassroots organizing is what it would take. And having a tepid UFT not being able to lift a finger in opposition leaves us defenseless.Even though I voted for d

by ed notes online / 33min 

3-27-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: The End of My Brief Acting Career: How to Succeed... Heads for Final WeekendSo I am a few days away from ending my preoccupation with this once in a lifetime theater experience, so bear with me. Even though in the play, I've managed to do a bunch of video. Here is one I shot Sunday when I had to miss the performance due to a party but got there in time to shoot part of Act II. Her

by mike simpson / 13min 

UPDATE: Wanted: More public school heroes | Bob Braun's Ledger

Wanted: More public school heroes | Bob Braun's Ledger:

BULLETIN: Back to court on school aid

The Education Law Center (ELC) has gone back to the state Supreme Court in an effort to force Gov.  Chris Christie to obey the school funding law. The ELC released this statement earlier this morning: In papers filed yesterday, Education Law Center has asked the NJ Supreme Court to step in and address Governor Christie’s […]

20 by Bob Braun / 36min 

Wanted: More public school heroes

Deborah Gregory Smith opens rally yesterday in Trenton with Mildred Crump, the president of the Newark City Council.

It was all there yesterday in Trenton. Frustration with  20 years of failed state education policy. The invigorating idealism of young people who haven’t yet learned to accept the lies of dissembling politicians. The justified anger at the disrespect behind Chris Christie’s attitude toward  Newark,  Paterson, Jersey City, and Camden—the idea that, because he believes black and brown men and women cannot be trusted, aren’t smart enough,  to govern themselves and their schools, Christie will have to let his rich white friends do it.

“We have brought to Trenton, to the Legislature, the voices of many who are not often heard here,’’ said Deborah Gregory Smith, the head of the Newark NAACP, who coordinated the two-hour rally on the steps of the Statehouse. “But we need more people here—and we will be back.’’

Kristin Towkaniuk, president of the Newark Student Union: “We pledge to love and protect each other.”

The public schools need more heroes. Fewer equivocators.

More who recognize the rigged system that strips public schools of resources, favors the privatized schools with construction funds, enrolls (and keeps)  only the best students in charters, then declares neighborhood schools failures and closes Wanted: More public school heroes | Bob Braun's Ledger:

Public Education: Who Are the Corporate Reformers? | Blog, Connecting the Dots | BillMoyers.com

Public Education: Who Are the Corporate Reformers? | Blog, Connecting the Dots | BillMoyers.com:

Public Education: Who Are the Corporate Reformers?

March 28, 2014

by Diane Ravitch

• 1

Former Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, center, speaks during a news conference to announce the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's donation of $51.2 million dollars to the New York City school system at Morris High School in the Bronx, New York, Wednesday, September 17, 2003. He is flanked by Joel Klein, former chancellor of the city's Department of Education and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

The following is an excerpt from Diane Ravitch’s book Reign of Error.

The education reform movement must be defined in terms of its ideology, its strategies and its leading members.

The “reformers” say they want excellent education for all; they want great teachers; they want to “close the achievement gap”; they want innovation and effectiveness; they want the best of everything for everyone. They pursue these universally admired goals by privatizing education, lowering the qualifications for future teachers, replacing teachers with technology, increasing class sizes, endorsing for- profit organizations to manage schools, using carrots and sticks to motivate teachers and elevating standardized test scores as the ultimate measure of education quality.

“Reform” is really a misnomer, because the advocates for this cause seek not to reform public education but to transform it into an entrepreneurial sector of the economy. The groups and individuals that constitute today’s reform movement have appropriated the word “reform” because it has such positive connotations in American political discourse and American history. But the roots of this so- called reform movement may be traced to a radical ideology with a fundamental distrust of public education and hostility to the public sector in general.

“Reform” is really a misnomer, because the advocates for this cause seek not to reform public education but to transform it into an entrepreneurial sector of the economy.

The “reform” movement is really a “corporate reform” movement, funded to a large degree by major foundations, Wall Street hedge fund managers, entrepreneurs and the US 

Diane Ravitch

Diane Ravitch is Research Professor of Education at New York University and a preeminent historian of education. She blogs at dianeravitch.net, a site with nearly 8.3 million page views in less than a year. Author of over ten books, her most recent is Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools. From 1991 to 1993, she was Assistant Secretary of

by Karin Kamp / 30min

Public Schools for Sale?

Public education is becoming big business as bankers, hedge-fund managers and private-equity investors are entering what they consider to be an “emerging market.” As Rupert Murdoch put it after purchasing an education technology company, “When it comes to K through 12 education, we see a $500 billion sector in the US alone.” Education historian Diane Ravitch says the privatization of public educat

13 by Karin Kamp / 30min