Thursday, September 25, 2014

9-23-14 Wait What? - Malloy to Teachers – The story behind the story about UConn’s decision to spend $1 million to fix a roof

The story behind the story about UConn’s decision to spend $1 million to fix a roof

19 years after the passage of UConn 2000, the initiatives that included the funds to renovate the Torrey Life Sciences Building, The University of Connecticut plans to spend $1 million on a new roof for the building which will then be torn down in next five to seven years after a new science building is […] The post The story behind the story about UConn’s decision to spend $1 million to fix a roo

3 by jonpelto / 0min

9-23-14 Wait What? - Malloy to Teachers – Malloy’s administration to tout Corporate Education Reform Industry Agenda at National Conference

Wait What?: Malloy’s administration to tout Corporate Education Reform Industry Agenda at National ConferenceWhile wooing teachers with false promises of a change in policy here at home, Governor Dannel “Dan” Malloy and his administration continue to trumpet their Corporate Education Reform Industry Agenda far from the gaze of Connecticut voters. Next month Connecticut taxpayers will pick up the t

1 by mike simpson / 12h

9-25-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:

John Dewey Principal Kathleen Elvin Discontinues Iraq War Vet and Mother

“We’re sorry you won’t have health insurance for your child and thank you for serving your country. You’re fired!” • Single Mother• Iraq War Veteran • Teaching for Only Four MonthsThis is who Elvin and the AP of English wanted to terminate this past June. Termination would have meant that she could no longer teach in any New York City Public School. She dared to have her own ideas. She dared to w

2 by ed notes online / 41min

9-24-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: Where Are the People of Color in the Movement?....there aren't enough people of color in this picture... Jersey Jazzman raised this issue on his blog after a meeting of Jersey bloggers.I left this comment:JJ - you make a point that I've been hearing here in NYC in all the various white dominated activist groups. It always seems to come down to something we're doing wrong - we're n

by mike simpson / 14min

Colorado Students Are Right: Your History Sucks | EduSanity

Colorado Students Are Right: Your History Sucks | EduSanity:

COLORADO STUDENTS ARE RIGHT: YOUR HISTORY SUCKS

I’ve been paying close attention to the events in Colorado in which students and faculty members of Jefferson County high schools have been protesting the formation of a curriculum review committee that would require students to learn a sanitized version of history that encourages blind patriotism and discourages any sort of protest.

This topic is important to me for two reasons. First, I’m a graduate of a Jefferson County high school (Wheat Ridge HS Class of 1993). Second, history education is my field of expertise at the University of Arkansas, so the proposed changes to the curriculum in Jefferson County are right in my wheelhouse.

Specifically, the proposed committee will be charged with reviewing curriculum to make sure that:

Materials should promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free enterprise system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights. Materials should not encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law. Instructional materials should present positive aspects of the United States and its heritage. Content pertaining to political and social movements in history should present balanced and factual treatment of the positions.

Cries have arisen over the fact that the Jefferson County school board is populated with members that won elections with considerable financial support from conservative and corporate interests, and these points are valid and troublesome. If you read between the lines of the committee’s charge then you might arrive at an interpretation similar to the one I did – primarily that history education should glorify the United States, promote jingoistic ideals of citizenship, and downplay all negative aspects of our history by Colorado Students Are Right: Your History Sucks | EduSanity:

Shock Poll: 56% of Tennessee Teachers Want to Abandon Common Core | Truth in American Education

Shock Poll: 56% of Tennessee Teachers Want to Abandon Common Core | Truth in American Education:

Shock Poll: 56% of Tennessee Teachers Want to Abandon Common Core

Filed in Common Core State Standards, Education at State Level by Shane Vander Hart on September 25, 2014 •0 Comments

The Tennessean reports that a majority of teachers now oppose the Common Core State Standards.

I’m sure that’s just because of misconceptions they have right?

I mean really how will Fordham and other advocates spin this?

We are not talking a small number of teachers surveyed either.

27,000 teachers were polled by the Tennessee Consortium on Research, Evaluation and Development.

56% of those teachers want to totally abandon the standards. 13% want to delay them. Only 31% of teachers surveyed want to continue on course.

This should send a clear signal to the Tennessee Legislature and Governor Bill Haslam that it is time to repeal the Common Core. Parents and now teachers are speaking very clearly. Either you side with your constituents or you side with big business.

About the Author (Author Profile)

Shane Vander Hart is the Editor-in-Chief of Caffeinated Thoughts, a popular Christian conservative blog in Iowa. He is also the President of 4:15 Communications, a social media & communications consulting/management firm, along with serving as the communications director for American Principles Project’s Preserve Innocence Initiative. Prior to this Shane spent 20 years in youth ministry serving in church, parachurch, and school settings. He has taught Jr. High History along with being the Dean of Students for Christian school in Indiana. Shane and his wife home school their three teenage children and have done so since the beginning. He has recently been recognized by Campaigns & Elections Magazine as one of the top political influencers in Iowa. Shane and his family reside near Des Moines, IA. You can connect with Shane on Facebook, follow him on Twitter or connect with him onGoogle +.

Robert Shireman’s Continuing Efforts To Influence Education Policy | CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

Robert Shireman’s Continuing Efforts To Influence Education Policy | CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington:

Robert Shireman’s Continuing Efforts To Influence Education Policy

By Anne Weismann

Education, Federal Agencies, Department of Education, FOIA, Legal, FOIA Requests, Robert Shireman

Robert Shireman, former Deputy Undersecretary of Education, left the government under a cloud, and still faces an Inspector General investigation into whether he violated ethics laws by discussing sensitive government information about a pending and hotly contested negotiated rulemaking proceeding with an outside organization he founded, The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS), and for which he served as president just prior to his tenure at Education. Other questions have emerged about the terms of a sweetheart deal Mr. Shireman made with Education to stay on as a paid advisor while still retaining all of his federal benefits. Mr. Shireman has now returned to the non-profit sector as the executive director of California Competes, but Education documents recently disclosed to CREW in response to a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that Shireman and TICAS are continuing their efforts to influence Education policy.

CREW’s FOIA request sought, in part, records from January 1, 2013 through the present related to Mr. Shireman and TICAS. Many of the hundreds of responsive documents Education provided are heavily redacted. But there are more than 80 pages of emails sent to, from, or including Mr. Shireman and Education officials. They suggest Education officials have – appropriately – become more cautious in their dealings with Mr. Shireman. In response to one request by Mr. Shireman for information, an Education official noted she could not give it out without a FOIA request. Mr. Shireman pushed back, apparently not used to having his requests for inside information from Education turned down.

Hundreds of other emails reveal TICAS officials are continuing to weigh in on Education policy, most recently on the Pell Grant and student loan programs, and to push for advance notice of when data will be publicly disclosed. Apparently TICAS continues to believe even without Mr. Shireman at the helm at Education, it has an inside track.

All of this may just be how Washington works, with an ever-present revolving door. But the fact that Education’s Inspector General continues to probe Mr. Shireman’s contacts with outside groups while at the agency, contacts that appear to have involved the sharing of confidential government information, provides reason for optimism that in the end, Mr. Shireman will be held accountable for his actions.

Venture Capitalists Are Poised to ‘Disrupt’ Everything About the Education Market | The Nation

Venture Capitalists Are Poised to ‘Disrupt’ Everything About the Education Market | The Nation:

Venture Capitalists Are Poised to ‘Disrupt’ Everything About the Education Market

Venture capitalists and for-profit firms are salivating over the exploding $788.7 billion market in K-12 education. What does this mean for public school students?

In his book, Finding the Next Starbucks: How to Identify and Invest in the Hot Stocks of Tomorrow, Michael Moe, describes how carefully crafted business strategies have transformed markets to create huge profits in unlikely sectors. The title relates to how Starbucks became a global corporation of almost $15 billion in revenue by capturing and streamlining the café experience. Moe, a former director at Merrill Lynch, wrote that at one point in the United States, even healthcare was an undesirable and difficult industry for investment, and that bankers once worried if profit-making in such a realm was worth their effort. In 1970, healthcare spending comprised 8 percent of GDP, yet market capitalization in healthcare stood at less than 3 percent. That shifted quickly not only as the boomer generation aged, but as a wave of privatization hit hospitals, insurers, and other segments of the healthcare system. More than thirty years later, Moe wrote, healthcare companies are among the largest in the world, and represent more than 16 percent of US capital markets. “We see the education industry today as the healthcare industry of 30 years ago,” Moe predicted.

That book came out eight years ago, before the current wave of education investing, when the prospect for growth seemed dim. Unlike in healthcare, energy and other areas of the economy that have moved from public to private hands, K-through-12 education has stubbornly remained largely out of the control of investors.

Next year, the market size of K-12 education is projected to be $788.7 billion. And currently, much of that money is spent in the public sector. “It’s really the last honeypot for Wall Street,” says Donald Cohen, the executive director of In the Public Interest, a think tank that tracks the privatization of roads, prisons, schools and other parts of the economy.

That might be changing soon as barriers to investment are rapidly fading. As Eric Hippeau, a partner with Lerer Ventures, the venture capital firm behind viral entertainment company BuzzFeed and several education start-ups, has argued, despite the opposition of “unions, public school bureaucracies, and parents,” the “education market is ripe for disruption.”

Hippeau’s vision is the growing sentiment among investors. Education technology firms secured a record $1.25 billion in investments across 378 deals in 2013, while analysts predict that number will continue to surge this year. Since 2010, Moe has led what has been billed as the premiere education investment conference, which takes place annually in Scottsdale, Arizona. The first year attracted around 370 people and 55 presenting companies. This year, that number soared to over 2,000 with over 290 presenting companies and speeches by luminaries including former Governor Jeb Bush, Magic Johnson and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker. One of the largest start-ups, a Herndon, Virginia–based company called K12 Inc., a for-profit largely online charter chain, posted nearly $1 billion in annual revenue for its last fiscal year in August.

Many are attempting to duplicate that success. “There’s a dramatic shift in how investors are Venture Capitalists Are Poised to ‘Disrupt’ Everything About the Education Market | The Nation:

9-25-14 All NEW Living in Dialogue - A Response to Marc Tucker: Can We Win the Struggle For Democracy When Big Money Writes Public Education Policy?

Home - Living in Dialogue:

A Response to Marc Tucker: Can We Win the Struggle For Democracy When Big Money Writes Public Education Policy?

By Denny Taylor. I have read with interest the dialogue between Marc Tucker, Diane Ravitch, Anthony Cody, and Yong Zhao on the establishment of an American test-based public education accountability system. Forty years of research on the impact of political structures on social systems,[1], [2] in particular public education,[3] leads me to categorize Marc Tucker’s rhetoric as nothing more than po

6 by Anthony Cody / 2h hide // save

Jefferson County Students and Teachers Protest Revised American History Curriculum

By Paula Noonan. Both the last straw and the straw that broke the camel’s back dropped onto Jefferson County Schools on the night of September 18 at the Jefferson County Schools Board Meeting. The next morning 50 Jefferson County teachers, unable to carry any straws anymore, called in sick or took personal leave. Parents, teachers, citizens turned to twitter to share the new history content. The B

14 by Anthony Cody / 2h

9-23-14 All NEW Living in Dialogue - Are the New Reform Cops the Same as the Old Cops?

Home - Living in Dialogue: Are the New Reform Cops the Same as the Old Cops?By John Thompson. The old test-driven, accountability-driven school reform movement is overextended, cut off, and heading for a catastrophic defeat – and they know it. That is why some of its most zealous crusaders are doubling down on anti-teacher legal campaigns. This is the accountability hawks’ last chance to prove tha

1 by mike simpson / 19h

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