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Sunday, February 9, 2014

Oakland middle school’s 9-hour school day is model program | EdSource Today

Oakland middle school’s 9-hour school day is model program | EdSource Today:



Andres McDade, an 8th grader at Elmhurst Community Prep in Oakland, plays a percussion drum in the school's expanded learning program. Photo courtesy of Citizen Schools.
Andres McDade, an 8th grader at Elmhurst Community Prep in Oakland, plays a drum in the school’s expanded learning program. Credit: Citizen Schools.
On a recent Thursday afternoon in Ashur Bratt’s class in Oakland, about 20 middle school students stood tall on chairs and tables and flung their arms out from their sides, looking very pleased with themselves.
“How do you feel?” Bratt asked as students raised their arms, competing to be called on. “Ecstatic!” one boy answered. It turns out, Bratt told his class, if you expand your body for a couple of minutes, it helps you feel better and think bigger.
Thinking bigger is part of the culture at Elmhurst Community Prep, a middle school in East Oakland that has expanded the school day to 5 p.m. with a variety of after-school offerings, such as Bratt’s class on building self-confidence. Students can choose robotics, music or dance. They can make collages, dissect fetal pigs or create apps. They visit well-known companies such as Google and Pandora.
“We’re not just cookies and basketballs,” said Principal Kilian Betlach, who keep tabs on his students as he roams the halls with a baseball bat (“It’s a prop”) and a sense of humor. “We have a real moral imperative to provide kids from low-income backgrounds with the services and opportunities that middle-class kids get. We don’t do just hard academics. We offer access and opportunities.”
The school of 375 students – in the middle of a tough Oakland neighborhood where the shooting of a 13-year-old boy on New Year’s Day was the city’s first homicide – has been promoted as a national model for how to create and finance an after-school program that supports both enrichment activities and academic success.
Every student at Elmhurst, in the Oakland Unified school district, attends the expanded learning program, making it part of their normal school day. Classes begin at 8 a.m. and end at 5 p.m., at least two hours after most other Oakland students are done for the day.
ExpandedLearningTimeFinal-copy-150x1503.jpgPart of the school’s uniqueness is the way it blends the regular school day and the after-school program.
Rodzhaney Sledge, dressed in the light-blue school uniform, is new to the school as a 6th grader, but she already understands how the after-school part of the program supports her academic work. For example, she took a class called Tools for Peace, where she learned to meditate. 

Common Core Opponents Rally in Georgia | Truth in American Education

Common Core Opponents Rally in Georgia | Truth in American Education:



Common Core Opponents Rally in Georgia

There has been a concerned push over the last week to rid Georgia of the Common Core State Standards.  Northwest Georgia News covered a rally that was held last Tuesday at the Georgia State Capitol building.  The rally sponsored by Concerned Women for America of GeorgiaLegislative Action and American Principles in Action.
Tuesday’s rally included parents with children in tow and Tea Party activists rallying in support of legislation by Sen. William Ligon, R-Brunswick, that would require the state to end its three-year use of the standards. It is likely to come up for a vote in the Senate Education Committee next week.
"This is not a Republican-versus-Democrat issue. This is not a conservative-versus-liberal issue. It is not a right-versus-left issue," said Julianne Thompson, leader of the Georgia Republican Assembly. "This is a right-versus-wrong issue."
Parent Tammy Slaton told the crowd that her children’s math homework convinced her that the standards were watered down.
"If these new standards are rigorous, that is certainly not the word I would choose," she said.
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce and its spinoff the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education held a rally in support of the Common Core the next day.
Let’s look at this contrast here.  First the Stop Common Core rally.
Sen. Ligon

2-9-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:









The Party's Over
One of the great political feats of the late 20th Century was the manufacture by billionaires of a right-wing cabal of crackpots-under-contract so unabashedly fascist that anyone sane and still voting would be left with a single alternative, which, of course, is the now-familiar brand of corporate, anti-democratic dramaturgy known as the Democratic Party.It's time for something else, and in the sh




2-8-14 Schools Matter All Week
Schools Matter:  Schools Matter All WeekPortland Teachers Vote To Strike / Time To Get Rid Of Testing And Hire More TeachersPortland teachers are leading the way, people.Chicago, Philadelphia, Portland, teachers, parents and students are united.http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/06/us-usa-teachers-portland-idUSBREA1507V20140206Portland, Oregon, teachers vote to authorize strikeBY TERESA CARSON

Are Corporate Education Reformers Like Young Earth Creationists? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Are Corporate Education Reformers Like Young Earth Creationists? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:



Are Corporate Education Reformers Like Young Earth Creationists?

Last week a commenter calling himself DrSpector posted a response to John Thompson's essay about the Gates Foundation's Imaginary World of School Reform.In part, DrSpector said this:
I think the rhee-formers are the equivalent of the so-called "creationists" and so-called "intelligent design" supporters - they believe what they believe and NO amount of evidence will EVER change their minds, no matter how incorrect and misguided they are.
This echoes a post I wrote last fall, "Is Education Reform a Faith-Based Belief System?
In the spirit of the recent debate between science educator Bill Nye and creationist Ken Ham, let's take a look at the central points of belief for corporate education reform, and see if there is evidence.
Reformer Belief Number One: Poverty can best be overcome by excellent schools, and this is proven by the exceptional schools that they highlight as examples of what can be done.
Evidence: It would be great if this were true, but these miracle schools almost always are revealed to be fairly ordinary when we look more closely. And the data shows that poverty exerts a strong downward pressure on student achievement. It is time to stop pretending that our schools can somehow repair the income gap. 
Reformer Belief Number Two: Preparing larger numbers of children for college will significantly reduce poverty.
The belief carries within it the assumption that middle class jobs await those who graduate with 

Deasy v. Deasy: The Two Faces of L.A.’s School Superintendent | MyFDL

Deasy v. Deasy: The Two Faces of L.A.’s School Superintendent | MyFDL:



Deasy v. Deasy: The Two Faces of L.A.’s School Superintendent



Last week’s testimony in the Vergara v. California trial raised many an eyebrow when Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Superintendent John E. Deasy testified on behalf of plaintiffs in a lawsuit whose defendants had originally included LAUSD.

Despite its supporters’ protests to the contrary, Vergara is widely seen as a frontal attack against statutory guarantees of due process and seniority rights for state teachers. The suit is the brainchild of Students Matter, a Bay Area nonprofit created by wealthy Silicon Valley entrepreneur David Welch and partly financed by L.A. billionaire Eli Broad.
Under friendly direct examination by plaintiff attorney Marcellus McRae, the superintendent offered testimony that supported the suit’s contentions that the way in which teachers are fired, laid off and granted tenure has an adverse impact on the overall quality of the teacher workforce and illegally discriminates against low-income and minority students.
At one point Deasy’s apparent eagerness to anticipate McRae drew an instruction from Judge Rolf M. Treu for the superintendent to wait for the question before supplying the answer.
Deasy readily agreed that due process laws complicated dismissals of “grossly ineffective teachers” and damaged the morale of the profession. “Morale is absolutely affected,” Deasy insisted, before attacking the state’s teacher seniority policies.
He also denied any connection between student performance and poverty. “I believe the statistics correlate,” he said, “but I don’t believe in causality.”
Deasy’s performance as a friendly witness should not have come as a complete surprise, however. The day after the suit was originally filed against the state and the L.A. school district in 2012, then-defendant Deasy took the unusual step of issuing a press release endorsing the lawsuit’s aims. (Deasy, through a spokesperson, declined to comment for this article.)
For the city’s public school teachers and longtime education policy observers, the spectacle of the L.A. school chief siding with a lawsuit against the very system he is paid to uphold has become a familiar feature of Deasy’s fractious, two-and-half year tenure.
Vergara is merely the latest in a series of major lawsuits that include Reed v. California and Doe v. Deasy, and that have been described as a “new front” in the efforts by education-privatization forces to 

Nite Cap 2-9-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2

James Baldwin said it best: 

"For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."


A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAP



NYC Public School Parents: Justice denied! Slipshod and circular reasoning in the judge's decision on our inBloom lawsuit!
NYC Public School Parents: Justice denied! Slipshod and circular reasoning in the judge's decision on our inBloom lawsuit!: Justice denied! Slipshod and circular reasoning in the judge's decision on our inBloom lawsuit!Late Friday afternoon, we learned that Judge Breslin of the NY Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit to prevent the NY State Education Department from uploading personal student data
The Washington Teacher: Orr Elementary School: DCPS Dirty Little Secret East of the River
The Washington Teacher: Orr Elementary School: DCPS Dirty Little Secret East of the River: Orr Elementary School: DCPS Dirty Little Secret East of the RiverOrr Elementary Vault classroomBy Candi PetersonIn a February 6 post on The Washington Teacher education blog, I wrote about the Inhumane Teaching and Learning Conditions at DC's Orr elementary school. Benjamin Orr elementary school is located a
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, I Need, I Need.southbronxschool.com
http://www.southbronxschool.com: Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, I Need, I Need.After a prolific January of posting, I am finally getting to my first blog post for the month of February and in two weeks!So much has been on my mind of late. One thing that has sat on the front of my brain for some time is theguest blog post by the Original NYCDoenuts written on January 19, 2014. There is so much I want to shar
2-9-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher
Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: In the NEA, this is what democracy looks like.Whoever thought it would be so hard to run for union delegate as a retiree? A quick review. I retired in June of 2012. I changed my union membership for active to retired. The switch didn’t get processed in time for me to run statewide as delegate to the 2
Star-Ledger to Cami Anderson: Be mine, Valentine! | Bob Braun's Ledger
Star-Ledger to Cami Anderson: Be mine, Valentine! | Bob Braun's Ledger: Star-Ledger to Cami Anderson: Be mine, Valentine!A new look for The Star-Ledger?The Star-Ledger’s passionate, public love affair with Cami Anderson is now sliding into political porn. The newspaper’s latest editorial is a gushing, embarrassing, big wet kiss for Chris Christie’s agent in Newark. “She needs help!” cries out the
2-9-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools This Week + UpdatesFrom SPS Communications:Superintendent Banda made several principal appointments Feb. 7 , including: • George Breland, Cleveland High School;• Maria Breuder, McGilvra Elementary School;• Dedy Fauntleroy, John Stanford International School; • Robert Gary, Madison Middle School; • Jo Lute-Ervin, Kimball Elementary School;• Mary McDa
Common Core Standards Update | Seattle Education
Common Core Standards Update | Seattle Education: Common Core Standards UpdateFrom deutsch29 : Mercedes Schneider’s EduBlogUpdate on Common Core Status in the States: Part TwoOn February 6, 2014, I posted my first of three installments regarding the state of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in statehouses nationwide– and even in the US Senate. Reaction to CCSS includes the Huckabee-promoted
NYC Public School Parents: New York Parents Outraged by Governor’s Flawed Common Core Panel
NYC Public School Parents: New York Parents Outraged by Governor’s Flawed Common Core Panel: New York Parents Outraged by Governor’s Flawed Common Core PanelFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  February 9, 2014More information contact:Eric Mihelbergel (716) 553-1123; nys.allies@gmail.comLisa Rudley (917) 414-9190; nys.allies@gmail.comNYS Allies for Public Education www.nysape.orgNew Yorkers Outraged by Governo
Students Last: Pearson Buys New York State Education Department
Students Last: Pearson Buys New York State Education Department: Pearson Buys New York State Education DepartmentCommissioner King and Chancellor Tisch wait patientlyfor their turn to speak as their new Pearson overlordannounces the takeoverAlbany, New York - Best described as "not your usual corporate takeover," Pearson PLC announced that it had acquired the New York State Education Dep
Race to the Top Corporate Education Reform: A Page Out of IMF & World Bank Playbook?
Race to the TopCorporate Education Reforms maybe the US version IMF and WB "structural adjustment policies". These policies were applied to the "Banana Republics" during the later part of the 20th century. Race to the Top has based aid to schools on "structural adjustment policies". Is the goal of Corporate Education Reforms to make America just another Banana Republi
2-9-14 @ The Answer Sheet
The Answer Sheet: Is it unethical to use untested technology in the classroom?Is it unethical to use untested technology in classrooms? Answering the question is education historian Larry Cuban, who was a high school social studies teacher for 14 years and a district superintendent (seven years in Arlington, VA). He is now professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, where he has taught
National African American Parent Involvement Day Monday aims to address achievement gap | MLive.com
National African American Parent Involvement Day Monday aims to address achievement gap | MLive.com: National African American Parent Involvement Day Monday aims to address achievement gapEvents scheduled for National African American Parent Involvement Day on Monday, Feb. 10 aim to encourage parents to be more involved in their children's education.Though the annual event is aimed particularly at
Dying Florida boy's family must prove he can't take FCAT | Orlando
Dying Florida boy's family must prove he can't take FCAT | Orlando: Dying Florida boy's family must prove he can't take FCATEthan Rediske, 11, who was born with severe brain damage and cerebral palsy, has taken a turn for the worse in recent weeks. His mother, Andrea Rediske, said school officials told her she needed to provide more proof that Ethan was dying to exempt him from the FCAT. (FILE)By
Inspiring post of the day: North Carolina and the Rev. Dr. William Barber are delivering THE message of our times | Parents United for Public Education
Inspiring post of the day: North Carolina and the Rev. Dr. William Barber are delivering THE message of our times | Parents United for Public Education: Inspiring post of the day: North Carolina and the Rev. Dr. William Barber are delivering THE message of our timesPosted on February 9, 2014 by PARENTSUNITEDPHILALeave a commentA Moral Mondays march in the early days from June 2013.Need inspiration
2-9-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Some Very Useful Teaching Resources For SochiHere are the latest additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games, and I think they’re particularly useful today: Teaching Sochi 2014 – news and resources round up is from The Guardian. Classroom resources for teaching the 2014 Winter Olympics
2-9-14 Jersey Jazzman
Jersey Jazzman: No Credibility Left For Tom Moran and the Star-Ledger Editorial BoardMany of you will be surprised to hear this, but I'm actually starting to feel sorry for Tom Moran, Editorial Page Editor of the Star-Ledger. His newspaper is a fiscal trainwreck, heading for the same fate as its sister paper, the New Orleans Times-Picayune (although it's hard to imagine anyone in Newark rallying t
Morning Wink 2-9-14 AM Posts #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2
BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTSStudy concludes WI charter schools are doing better because of students they select | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!Study concludes WI charter schools are doing better because of students they select | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!:  Study concludes WI charter schools are doing better because of students they select WKOW Video:  ht
Study concludes WI charter schools are doing better because of students they select | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!
Study concludes WI charter schools are doing better because of students they select | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!:  Study concludes WI charter schools are doing better because of students they select WKOW Video:  http://www.wkow.com/story/24658036/2014/02/06/study-concludes-wi-charter-schools-are-doing-better-because-of-students-they-select SPRING GREEN (WKOW) — The Forward Institut
2-9-14 Perdido Street School
Perdido Street School: What A Surprise That A "Blended Learning" Course Is A DisasterMayor Bloomberg loved all things techie - especially when it came to replacing humans with computers or computerized programs.So of course we got all kinds of computerized nonsense in the NYDOE during his 12 years in power and one of the more infamous was the iZone, which was a highly-touted education pr
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 2-9-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Public Schools Across NY See State School Aid Decline Due to Cuomo BudgetI can’t find a link for this story, but I have the newspaper in front of me. (Thanks to a reader, here is the link: http://www.newsday.com/long-island/education/84-of-li-school-districts-to-get-less-aid-than-6-years-ago-under-cuomo-budget-plan-1.6973979) It is
2-9-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida
Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education: Charter Schools USA F School Does TV Spot, Fails to Mention GradeFrom Tampa Bay Times reporter Marlene Skokol: TAMPA — Woodmont Charter School, an F-rated elementary and middle school, is advertising on television for more students. The 30-second cable spot shows childre
2-9-14 Wait What?
Wait What?: Is Hartford forgoing its ethics policy for Capital Prep Steve Perry?Even a cursory review of the facts reveal that Capital Prep Principal Steve Perry is violating Hartford Board of Education policies, and potentially state laws, due to his chronic absenteeism, his inappropriate use of social media and the fact that he spends an inordinate amount of his work day promoting his profitable
2-9-14 deutsch29 | Update on Common Core Status in the States: Part Three
Update on Common Core Status in the States: Part Three | deutsch29: Update on Common Core Status in the States: Part ThreeThis post is the last in a series of three on the state of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) across the nation. Now that states have hastily Raced to the US Department of Education in chasing US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s dangled (albeit insufficient) millions, m
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 2-9-14
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: L.A. Unified Students Pitch In To Help The HomelessSome 300 students from 36 high schools take part in a district-wide volunteer day at shelters. By Esmeralda Bermudez  | L.A. Times | http://lat.ms/1gZUyIA Alondra Morales, 17, of Los Angeles High School, has her hair tucked underneath a hair net by schoolmate Jessica Nibra, 17. The two were preparing to
All Week 2-9-14 @ THE CHALK FACE
@ THE CHALK FACE: DCPS and the WTU: A Negotiation Showdown or an Opportunity to Repair?During the coming negotiation rounds between DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson and the Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU) President, Elizabeth “Liz” Davis, the following issues need further elaboration: How has IMPACT 2.0 faired in the 40 lowest performing schools? What is the teacher turnover rate within these schoo
2-9-14 With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs All Week
With A Brooklyn Accent: Democracy at Risk in the Nation's SchoolsBecause current Education Policies were made without the consent or input of those who experience them on the ground- teachers, students, and parents- they only way they can be implemented is through an ugly dose on of fear and intimidation, first on the teachers required to teach according to their precepts, then on the students and
2-9-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD
the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): Worst Op-Ed of 2014, Already?Worst Op-Ed of 2014, Already?.1 by plthomasedd / 1h hide  //  save2-8-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdDTHE BECOMING RADICALRadical ScholarshipEMPATHYEDUCATES!the becoming radical  A Place for a
2-9-14 empathyeducates All Week
empathyeducates: 4 Education Overhauls to Watch for in 2014By Owen Davis | Originally Published at Salon. AlterNet. February 4, 2014 8:30 AM For people looking to “disrupt” public education, it’s become requisite to bemoan the “educational status quo” — a phrase meant to evoke images of poor kids striving against the impediments of failing schools […]by empathy / 7h 2-8-14 empathyeducates All Week
DCPS and the WTU: A Negotiation Showdown or an Opportunity to Repair? | EdCentrist
DCPS and the WTU: A Negotiation Showdown or an Opportunity to Repair? | EdCentrist: DCPS and the WTU: A Negotiation Showdown or an Opportunity to Repair?Leave a commentDuring the coming negotiation rounds between DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson and the Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU) President, Elizabeth “Liz” Davis, the following issues need further elaboration: How has IMPACT 2.0 faired in the 4
NYC Educator: When a Mayor's Vision Collides with Corporate Cuomo's
NYC Educator: When a Mayor's Vision Collides with Corporate Cuomo's: When a Mayor's Vision Collides with Corporate Cuomo'sNYC has woken up and come to its senses. After 20 years of GOP mayors who hated us and everything we stood for, the city has elected a progressive-minded mayor, a mayor who seems to value not only working people, but also the people who professionally serve the city. I went to

YESTERDAY

LAUSD'S IRIS STEVENSON- GUILTY OF TEACHING WHILE BLACK...AND BEING AT THE TOP OF THE SALARY SCALE - Perdaily.com
LAUSD'S IRIS STEVENSON- GUILTY OF TEACHING WHILE BLACK...AND BEING AT THE TOP OF THE SALARY SCALE - Perdaily.com: LAUSD'S IRIS STEVENSON- GUILTY OF TEACHING WHILE BLACK...AND BEING AT THE TOP OF THE SALARY SCALE(Mensaje se repite en Español)Veteran LAUSD Crenshaw High School teacher teacher Iris Stevenson has been cooling her heals in teacher jail at LAUSD for the crime of having taken her student
He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named: Is Common Core the Lord Voldemort of... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com
He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named: Is Common Core the Lord Voldemort of... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com: He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named: Is Common Core the Lord Voldemort of education? COMMENT(4) 0 0 1 1View Larger Phil SkinnerTea Party members cheer after public comments in favor Cobb County’s decision not purchase new math textbooks for all grade levels that were aligned with Common Core during a school board
(Part 3) Attack on Teacher Pensions: IRTA Sues for Rights – Sarasota, FL meeting update | Reclaim Reform
(Part 3) Attack on Teacher Pensions: IRTA Sues for Rights – Sarasota, FL meeting update | Reclaim Reform: (Part 3) Attack on Teacher Pensions: IRTA Sues for Rights – Sarasota, FL meeting updatePosted on February 8, 2014by Ken PrevitiMy takeaway from the Feb. 5th meeting is about facts versus propaganda. Fact: Illinois is NOT too broke to pay teacher pensions.Illinois Retired Teachers Association P
Nite Cap 2-8-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2
James Baldwin said it best: "For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAPAre Education Conferences Relevant? | My Island ViewAre Education Conferences Relevant? | My Island View: Are Education Conferences Relevant?February 8, 2014 by tomwhitbyI am very fortunate to be able to attend a number of Education Conferences e