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Thursday, March 3, 2016

Marc Tucker and Common Core Fuel Injection | deutsch29

Marc Tucker and Common Core Fuel Injection | deutsch29:

Marc Tucker and Common Core Fuel Injection



 On March 03, 2016, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE), Marc Tucker, published an EdWeek opinion piece entitled, “Why the Common Core Will Be Declared a Failure.” (Based on the link, Tucker’s original title was, “Why the Common Core Will Be Declared a Failure and Why That Will Be Dead Wrong.”)

In short, according to Tucker, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) will fail because it is so advanced that the rest of the education system to which it must belong is bumbling by comparison and must be brought into line for CCSS to succeed.
marc tucker  Marc Tucker
To illustrate his point, Tucker uses an automotive metaphor whereby CCSS is “a 2016 fuel injector” that has been installed in the education system of “a 1910 Model T”:
Imagine that you have in your hand a set of fuel injectors for a modern automobile.  These devices, used for making sure that each cylinder in your car’s engine gets just the right amount of fuel at just the right moment, are high precision devices, a key component of the car’s engine. Now suppose that a time traveller from 1910, having made this exciting discovery, races back to 1910 and sticks a purloined fuel injector into his brand new Model T, expecting it to produce a remarkable improvement in the performance of his car.  Of course, nothing of the sort happens.  His Model T won’t work at all.  Why?  Because a car engine is a system, all the parts of which have to be designed to work with the other parts.
Education systems are, well, systems, and, like cars, don’t work very well if their parts and pieces have not been designed to work in harmony with one another.  Only a fool would expect that putting a 2016 fuel injector into a 1910 
Marc Tucker and Common Core Fuel Injection | deutsch29:

Teachers union: Furlough days 'all but assures' strike April 1 | Chicago Sun-Times

Teachers union: Furlough days 'all but assures' strike April 1 | Chicago Sun-Times:

Teachers union: Furlough days ‘all but assures’ strike April 1

Chicago Teachers Union protest over the use of TIF funds for development instead of using the money for schools last month. File Photo.  Brian Jackson/ for the Sun-Times
Chicago Teachers Union protest over the use of TIF funds for development instead of using the money for schools last month. File Photo. Brian Jackson/ for the Sun-Times

Chicago Public Schools abruptly announced Thursday that all of its employees, including teachers, will take three unpaid furlough days this year, prompting the teachers union to warn that its members will all but certainly strike on April 1.
Schools chief Forrest Claypool already has threatened that he could at any time yank the 7 percent of 9 percent pension contribution CPS makes on the teachers’ behalf. And that led the CTU to ramp up their talk of walking off the job on April 1 in an unfair labor practice strike.


Late Thursday, Claypool wrote to all employees blaming Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner who’s “more interested in forcing bankruptcy and taking over our schools than in addressing the unequal funding issues that hurt districts like ours across the state.
“We know we cannot cut our way to a solution,” Claypool said. “However, the governor’s inaction means we must continue to cut costs and ease our cash flow, so we can do what’s necessary to ensure our classrooms are protected and our students’ progress is uninterrupted.”
CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey denounced the cuts equivalent to about 1.6 percent pay cut, acknowledging that they’re legal under state law, but calling them ”outrageous, unilateral and unfair.”
“This is just a hardship on employees. and to make matters worse, it’s on top of a 7 percent unilateral pay cut coming April 1,” he continued. “The level of anger is getting to a point where people are going to start taking action. Right now there’s an action planned on April 1, and I think this all but assures there’s a walkout coming.”


The move is said to save CPS $30 million in salaries. Benefits will not be affected.
No CPS staffers will work or get paid on Good Friday, March 25, which is popular among employees and students to take off for the Easter weekend. Teachers and the aides known as PSRPs will also lose work and pay on June 22 and 23, which were supposed to be teacher-training days at the end of the year after classes ended for Teachers union: Furlough days 'all but assures' strike April 1 | Chicago Sun-Times:

District settles lawsuit, agrees to share parcel tax with charters | EdSource

District settles lawsuit, agrees to share parcel tax with charters | EdSource:

District settles lawsuit, agrees to share parcel tax with charters


 The West Contra Costa Unified School District has agreed to share parcel tax revenue with charter schools located in the district under the terms of a lawsuit settlement announced Thursday.

The California Charter Schools Association, which brought the lawsuit, said the agreement should send a message to other districts that have a parcel tax or are considering putting one on the ballot this year: Give charter schools a fair share to avoid possible litigation and do what’s right for kids.
“We are pleased that the district has agreed to terms that will ensure that all public school students are eligible for their fair share of funding in the spirit intended, and as voters mandated” when they passed the parcel tax, said Jed Wallace, president and CEO of the charter schools association.
The lawsuit was the first that the charter schools association had brought over a parcel tax, which 124 districts in the state – about 1 in 8 – have passed at some point, according to a 2013 EdSource report. A parcel tax, a uniform tax on individual properties, is one of the few sources of revenue that districts can raise on their own. Often temporary, it requires two-thirds voter approval to District settles lawsuit, agrees to share parcel tax with charters | EdSource:

RELATED

The California Charter Schools Association Advocates paid for this anti-Measure H mailer, opposing West Contra Costa Unified’s school construction bond. “The School Board is wasting our money and hurting our children. It’s time to say ‘no more,’” it said.

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



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