Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 3/1/16



CORPORATE ED REFORM




College Board moves to stop test prep providers from taking new SAT on March 5 - The Washington Post
College Board moves to stop test prep providers from taking new SAT on March 5 - The Washington Post:College Board moves to stop test prep providers from taking new SAT on March 5It’s no secret that test prep professionals like to take the exams they try to coach students to ace, and for many years have signed up to take the SAT and ACT (as well as other admissions exams). But some test prep provi
Hello Governor, a bit of truth about UConn’s “controversial” state employee contract is in order… - Wait What?
Hello Governor, a bit of truth about UConn’s “controversial” state employee contract is in order… - Wait What?:Hello Governor, a bit of truth about UConn’s “controversial” state employee contract is in order…On January 27, 2016, the University of Connecticut Board of Trustees voted to approve a new Collective Bargaining Agreement between the University of Connecticut and the University of Connecti
Portland Public Schools' threatening letter to parent-critic shows the real bully: Editorial Agenda 2016 | OregonLive.com
Portland Public Schools' threatening letter to parent-critic shows the real bully: Editorial Agenda 2016 | OregonLive.com: Portland Public Schools' threatening letter to parent-critic shows the real bully: Editorial Agenda 2016 You can't legislate Portland Polite. So Portland Public Schools is taking a novel approach: It's demanding it with a threatening letter from the district's legal counsel.At
It’s “That Time of Year” Again | Live Long and Prosper
It’s “That Time of Year” Again | Live Long and Prosper: It’s “That Time of Year” AgainTHE WRONG KINDS OF TESTSWhile the supermajority in the Indiana legislature is busy thinking of ways to label students, further reduce collective bargaining for teachers, and divert even more taxpayer money to private schools through expansion of the nation’s most expansive voucher program, teachers in the state’s
Education Department misled public about investigation of loan servicers, says watchdog - The Washington Post
Education Department misled public about investigation of loan servicers, says watchdog - The Washington Post:Education Department misled public about investigation of loan servicers, says watchdog The Education Department conducted a deeply flawed review of its student loan servicers, the middlemen who collect and apply payments to debt, and knowingly misled the public about the findings, accordi
City Auditors: Charter School in Bronx Spent More Than $135,000 Without Proper Authorization or Documentation
City Auditors: Charter School in Bronx Spent More Than $135,000 Without Proper Authorization or Documentation: City Auditors: Charter School in Bronx Spent More Than $135,000 Without Proper Authorization or Documentation For the first time, the city comptroller has begun auditing charter schools, and his initial report finds a school in the South Bronx could not account for more than $100,000 in s
Magnolia Science Academy - A Gulen Charter School: In the beginning of Gulenist Magnolia Science Academy, young and inexperienced applicants
Magnolia Science Academy - A Gulen Charter School: In the beginning of Gulenist Magnolia Science Academy, young and inexperienced applicants: HOW TO GET A CHARTER SCHOOL WITHOUT ANY SORT OF EXPERIENCE In the beginning of Gulenist Magnolia Science Academy, young and inexperienced applicants Examining the early days of Magnolia Science Academy, you will scratch your head in bewilderment at how these
Have you Heard of Willa Johnson Cofield? This is Why you Should... - Lily's Blackboard
Have you Heard of Willa Johnson Cofield? This is Why you Should... - Lily's Blackboard: Have you Heard of Willa Johnson Cofield? This is Why you Should…Meet Willa Johnson Cofield. More than 50 years ago, she was a teacher at the all-Black high school in Enfield, N.C., instructing her students in literature and grammar by day, leading voter-registration campaigns and petitioning to end segregation
Convincing Arguments Made in Teacher ‘Tenure’ Appeal - NEA Today
Convincing Arguments Made in Teacher ‘Tenure’ Appeal - NEA Today: Convincing Arguments Made in Teacher ‘Tenure’ AppealFifth-grade teacher Gabby Ibarra speaks to the press prior to oral arguments for Vergara v. State of California in front of the Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Los Angeles, February 25, 2016.The deep-pocketed corporate interests who have been undermining public education across
Where Schools Are Separate and Still Unequal - The Atlantic
Where Schools Are Separate and Still Unequal - The Atlantic: Separate and Still UnequalIn 95 of the largest 100 U.S. metros, students of color attend school with mostly poor or low-income peersZak Bickel / The AtlanticIn a modern-day tale of two cities, in virtually every major U.S. metropolitan area students of color are much more likely than whites to attend public schools shaped by high concent
Who’s Raking in the Big Bucks in “CharterWorld”? | The Merrow Report
Who’s Raking in the Big Bucks in “CharterWorld”? | The Merrow Report: Who’s Raking in the Big Bucks in “CharterWorld”?Here’s a thought: What if school administrators were paid on a per-pupil basis?  The salaries could be computed based on total enrollment, or, if you want to use VAM, a value-added measure, then the $$-per-pupil could be based on the number of students successfully completing the y
Dana Goldstein: Algebra II has to go.
Algebra II has to go.: Down With Algebra II!It drives dropout rates and is mostly useless in real life. Andrew Hacker has a plan for getting rid of it.Algebra II, which is required by the new Common Core curriculum standards used by 47 states and territories, drives dropouts at both the high school and college levels.angelacolac/Thinkstock n his new book The Math Myth: And Other STEM Delusions, po
The Hidden Agenda Behind 21st Century Learning | Psychology Today
The Hidden Agenda Behind 21st Century Learning | Psychology Today:The Hidden Agenda Behind 21st Century LearningPublic-private partnership is strangling our education system. How has our public education system gotten so off track?High-stakes testing, obsessive data collection, and lofty promises of technology’s potential to “revolutionize” education are contributing to ever-increasing amounts of
Security Guards In Compton Schools Staging Sickout With Teachers « CBS Los Angeles
Security Guards In Compton Schools Staging Sickout With Teachers « CBS Los Angeles: Security Guards In Compton Schools Staging Sickout With TeachersCOMPTON (CBSLA.com) — Several security guards working in the Compton Unified School District called in sick Monday, joining the teachers who have been staging sickouts as they demand better pay.For the third time since last week, teachers, custodians,
CURMUDGUCATION: PTA Sells Out
CURMUDGUCATION: PTA Sells Out:PTA Sells Out Shannon Sevier, vice-president for advocacy of the National PTA, took to the Huffinmgton Post this week to shill for the testing industry. It was not a particularly artful defense, with Sevier parroting most of the talking points put forth by test manufacturers and their hired government guns.Sevier starts out by reminiscing about when her children took
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm gives advice to Trump on race relations
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm gives advice to Trump on race relations: Rahm gives advice to Trump on race relations As horrific as they are, Trump's stupid racist comments are a gift to Clinton Democrats like Rahm Emanuel who only have to distance themselves from Trump, Mussolini and the KKK to become the "progressive" alternative. From Crain's editor Tom Corfman:Maybe Mayor Rahm E
GRIT YOUR TEETH | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing
GRIT YOUR TEETH | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing: GRIT YOUR TEETHWe admire people and fictional characters from all walks of life who display courage, bravery, spirit, strength of character, fortitude, resolve, determination, endurance, and spunk. All of these words are synonyms for a now “hated” word…. GRIT. Why?I believe it is because it is another word stolen from our positive vocabulary by
Detroit Schools’ Pending Fiscal Collapse Endangers Over 45,000 Children | janresseger
Detroit Schools’ Pending Fiscal Collapse Endangers Over 45,000 Children | janresseger: Detroit Schools’ Pending Fiscal Collapse Endangers Over 45,000 Children The public schools in Detroit, Michigan—a school district that serves over 45,000 students—may run out of money in April.  The mess is so complicated that it is hard to know even how to describe it.  How to address it would require strong le
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Teachers get ready. Another strike looming.
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Teachers get ready. Another strike looming.: Teachers get ready. Another strike looming.CTU  members and supporters marched through the loop Feb. 4th.With a strike authorization vote from the rank-and-file in their pocket and a schools CEO who won't bargain in good faith, CTU leaders are preparing the membership for a strike on April 1st.Rahm's fixer, Forrest Claypoo
Revised and Available: De-testing and De-grading Schools (Peter Lang USA, 2016) – the becoming radical
Revised and Available: De-testing and De-grading Schools (Peter Lang USA, 2016) – the becoming radical: Revised and Available: De-testing and De-grading Schools (Peter Lang USA, 2016) Co-edited with Bower, J. (2016). De-testing and de-grading schools: Authentic alternatives to accountability and standardization. Revised ed. New York, NY: Peter Lang USA.Book synopsisA century of education and educa
On welfare and in juvie – dual clients get lost :: SI&A Cabinet Report
On welfare and in juvie – dual clients get lost :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet: On welfare and in juvie – dual clients get lost(Calif.) County systems responsible for tracking youth involved in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems are unable to accurately identify these children and keep tabs on their academic progress, accor
Part 3–From the Classroom: Teachers Integrating Technology | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
Part 3–From the Classroom: Teachers Integrating Technology | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Part 3–From the Classroom: Teachers Integrating TechnologyAmong the courses that Will Colglazier teaches at Aragon High School in San Mateo Union High School District is Advanced Placement U.S. history. He also teaches a social studies methods course at Stanford University every Tuesda
Very Important Warning for Connecticut High School Juniors and their parents - Wait What?
Very Important Warning for Connecticut High School Juniors and their parents - Wait What?: Very Important Warning for Connecticut High School Juniors and their parentsLast spring Governor Dannel Malloy and the Connecticut General Assembly passed legislation mandating that the 40,000+ high school juniors who attend Connecticut’s public schools must take the NEW SAT – Tomorrow – March 2, 2016, despi
Schools Matter: Mathews Reviews His Own Book
Schools Matter: Mathews Reviews His Own Book:Mathews Reviews His Own BookWhen Jay Mathews rushed out a response to his WaPo editors before my book was even on sale, I wasn't surprised that he would disparaging in his assessment of this, or any, book that provides a critique of the segregated corporate KIPP schools.  What did surprise me, however, is that he would post a picture of his own book, wh
With A Brooklyn Accent: Letter to Fordham Admissions Director Urging that Students Who Opt Out of Tests Be Given Serioius Consideration
With A Brooklyn Accent: Letter to Fordham Admissions Director Urging that Students Who Opt Out of Tests Be Given Serioius Consideration:Letter to Fordham Admissions Director Urging that Students Who Opt Out of Tests Be Given Serioius ConsiderationMarch 1, 2016Dr. Patricia PeekDirector of AdmissionsFordham UniversityDear Dr PeekAs a faculty member at Fordham for 45 years, and as a scholar following
Another Disaster of the Accountability Era? State Takeovers of High-Poverty, Majority-Minority Schools | Alternet
Another Disaster of the Accountability Era? State Takeovers of High-Poverty, Majority-Minority Schools | Alternet:Another Disaster of the Accountability Era? State Takeovers of High-Poverty, Majority-Minority SchoolsThese takeovers often include reconstituting schools as charters, replacing entire faculties and administrations. Louisiana and my home state of South Carolina both share a historical
Analysis: Districts in Most States May Lose Title I Money Under Obama Budget - Politics K-12 - Education Week
Analysis: Districts in Most States May Lose Title I Money Under Obama Budget - Politics K-12 - Education Week:Analysis: Districts in Most States May Lose Title I Money Under Obama Budget Districts in more than 30 states could stand to lose a small portion of their Title I funding if Congress adopts the president's fiscal year 2017 proposal for the program without any changes, according to an unpub
Citing free speech, California school lets students wear anti-gay stickers - Yahoo News
Citing free speech, California school lets students wear anti-gay stickers - Yahoo News: Citing free speech, California school lets students wear anti-gay stickersThe line between free speech and hate speech is blurry, but finding it is offering an educational opportunity to one California community. A thorny scene playing out in southern California has one small community scrambling to find the e
Gov. Inslee signs K-12 finance bill to answer Supreme Court | The News Tribune
Gov. Inslee signs K-12 finance bill to answer Supreme Court | The News Tribune: Gov. Inslee signs K-12 finance bill to answer Supreme CourtJoined by Democratic and Republican lawmakers, Gov. Jay Inslee signs a bill that sets out a plan for finishing the Legislature's work of reforming the way the state of Washington pays for K-12 education, Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, in Olympia, Wash. It is designed t
The Struggle to Unionize Within LA’s Biggest Charter Chain | The Nation
The Struggle to Unionize Within LA’s Biggest Charter Chain | The Nation:The Struggle to Unionize Within LA’s Biggest Charter ChainAnd the lengths that Alliance College-Ready Public Schools will go to stop it. Last spring, seventy teachers announced their plans to form a union at Los Angeles’s largest charter school chain, Alliance College-Ready Public Schools.The news could not have come at a wors
Teachers union endorses testing opt-out movement - Houston Chronicle
Teachers union endorses testing opt-out movement - Houston Chronicle: Teachers union endorses testing opt-out movementThe Houston Federation of Teachers has endorsed parents' right to opt their children out of standardized exams, joining a national movement against high-stakes testing.The union, in a resolution released Monday, called the Houston Independent School District "ground zero for t
Standardized Tests Are a New Glass Ceiling | The Nation
Standardized Tests Are a New Glass Ceiling | The Nation: Standardized Tests Are a New Glass CeilingWomen do better in class and worse on tests—and there are consequences.(by Annie Zhang)Hardly a week goes by without a panel, conference, or
symposium on luring women into STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers. Even the president has joined in: “We’ve got half the populatio
Thank You, Melissa Harris-Perry | The Nation
Thank You, Melissa Harris-Perry | The Nation: Thank You, Melissa Harris-PerryThe most diverse, intellectually bracing show on network news was treated as expendable, and its host would not have it. She and her show will be sorely missed.This weekend, a show that mattered to its audience as few programs on the vanilla ice-milk buffet that passes for news do, The Melissa Harris-Perry Show on MSNBC,

YESTERDAY

Dolores Huerta Forces Anti-Teacher Lawsuit Backers to Remove Her Name From "Vergara" Website - CAPITAL & MAIN
Dolores Huerta Forces Anti-Teacher Lawsuit Backers to Remove Her Name From "Vergara" Website - CAPITAL & MAIN: Dolores Huerta Forces Anti-Teacher Lawsuit Backers to Remove Her Name From “Vergara” WebsiteThree weeks ago Students Matter, the nonprofit group behind the Vergara v. California lawsuit, began prominently touting United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta’s support for th
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Charter Struggle Update
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Charter Struggle Update:Charter Struggle UpdateI had wanted to post the plethora (no exaggeration) of stories about charters from around the country that have been stockpiling on my computer.But I will update you about what is happening in Washington State.  The Legislature is slated to end this short session a week from Thursday, March 10th.  Tomorrow is March 1st
Ed Notes Online: Public Support For Reigning in Charter Schools -
Ed Notes Online: Public Support For Reigning in Charter Schools -:Public Support For Reigning in Charter Schools “School choice” ranks last in a list of the biggest concerns voters have for K-12 education, with only 8% listing it as a concern.Far more popular than “school choice” or unaccountable charter schools is the concept of community schools, which serve as community hubs, ensuring that ever
HERMAN DAVIS: Why We Must End Emergency Management
Why We Must End Emergency Management: Why We Must End Emergency ManagementHERMAN DAVISPresident, Detroit Board of Education at Detroit Public SchoolsLet’s get a few facts straight here. Most rational Americans realize that Governor Snyder has torn a hole in democracy. However, I realize that some people, not living under this draconian and Jim Crowe law, are have been confused by the PR spin. So l
Testing for Joy and Grit? Schools Nationwide Push to Measure Students’ Emotional Skills. - The New York Times
Testing for Joy and Grit? Schools Nationwide Push to Measure Students’ Emotional Skills. - The New York Times: Testing for Joy and Grit? Schools Nationwide Push to Measure Students’ Emotional Skills.SAN FRANCISCO — The fifth graders in Jade Cooney’s classroom compete against a kitchen timer during lessons to see how long they can sustain good behavior — raising hands, disagreeing respectfully and
College and Career Whatever Have You | The Jose Vilson
College and Career Whatever Have You | The Jose Vilson: College and Career Whatever Have YouA couple of years ago, I had a heavy-set, lighter-skinned student who spaced out for about half my class every day. He twiddled his pencil, shaved it down til the disposable paint cluttered the desk along with his extra-large binder. He did most of his multiplication on his head, which was unfortunate becau
Raising Taxes Norquist-style and the Republican National Backfire | deutsch29
Raising Taxes Norquist-style and the Republican National Backfire | deutsch29: Raising Taxes Norquist-style and the Republican National BackfireIn Louisiana’s 2015 legislative session, Grover Norquist of Washington, DC-based Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) was in charge of the Louisiana budget. Then-Governor Bobby Jindal had apparently signed an agreement to not raise taxes under any circumstances,
Sacramento judge proposes tighter security for student data | The Sacramento Bee
Sacramento judge proposes tighter security for student data | The Sacramento Bee: Sacramento judge proposes tighter security for student dataA Sacramento-based federal judge proposed a compromise Monday that would keep the most sensitive information of 10 million current and former students in the hands of the California Department of Education, potentially addressing privacy concerns raised by pa
CURMUDGUCATION: Why Teach?
CURMUDGUCATION: Why Teach?: Why Teach?It's hard to read about the history of education and then in the same mindset say, "yay, I want to be a teacher!" Figuring this all out.— Mel Katz (@mel_katzz) September 6, 2015 Man, it just sucks to be a young person contemplating teaching these days. It's not just that so much of the news about the profession, or that states are crying about shorta
The Rick Smith Show » Blog Archive » OptOut 2016: Peggy Robertson talks OPT OUT and the Future of Public Education
The Rick Smith Show » Blog Archive » OptOut 2016: Peggy Robertson talks OPT OUT and the Future of Public Education: The Rick Smith Show » Blog Archive » OptOut 2016: Peggy Robertson talks OPT OUT and the Future of Public Education:OptOut 2016: Peggy Robertson talks OPT OUT and the Future of Public EducationFebruary 29, 2016Peggy Robertson,President of United Opt Out National joins Rick to discuss
Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 2/29/16
CORPORATE ED REFORMDr. Jill Stein is the Best 2016 Presidential Candidate, But Can She Win? | gadflyonthewallblogDr. Jill Stein is the Best 2016 Presidential Candidate, But Can She Win? | gadflyonthewallblog: Dr. Jill Stein is the Best 2016 Presidential Candidate, But Can She Win?In 2008, I shook Barack Obama’s hand.Yesterday Dr. Jill Stein gave me a hug.Eight years ago, I was so inspired by Obama