Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Berliner- Sorting out the effects of inequality and poverty
Excellent chapter. Reviews the basic research arguments.
http://dianeravitch.net/2012/07/23/your-homework-berliner-on-education-and-inequality/
http://dianeravitch.net/2012/07/23/your-homework-berliner-on-education-and-inequality/
Monday, July 30, 2012
Certifying Teachers
Re: the article on Certifying Teachers, More by How the Teach in the New York Times today by Al Baker, on page 1.
It is accurate that this assessment is better than paper and pencil tests. And, it is accurate that "teaching is action work." That is why the proposed new assessment system is not nearly as useful, helpful, nor valid as the present practice of student teacher practice and assessment by professionals.
In this article, Ray Pechone and Linda Darling- Hammond continue their long practice of only telling the positive. And, the writer Al Baker makes the classic error noted in the prior post on media coverage of "reform".
" Why then in schools do we allow politicians, lobbyists, and other “experts” who are not teachers and have not worked in classrooms for over ten years, and who have not taught children, to make the basic decisions about schooling. As a starting point, clearly those establishing our policies do not understand testing and its limits. (See Bracey, 2009).
Labels:
California,
Linda Darling-Hammon,
PACT,
Ray Pechone,
reform,
Stanford,
teacher practice,
teaches
School Reform ?
Peter
Schrag has a piece on the California Progress Report on School Reform: Why it’s
so hard? http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/school-reform-why-it’s-so-hard I have read
Schrag for over 30 years. I once
used an early book by him in a class I taught to future teachers. I usually agree with him- but this time
I disagree. Here is my
response. It is from the summary
of Chapter 13 Democratic School Reform: How do we get from Here to There ? of
my book, Choosing Democracy: a practical guide to multicultural education. ( 2010).
Note; what is the educational task of the California legislature and the governor? Answer- to adequately fund our schools. They have failed repeatedly in the last decade. So, how are they experts on school reform?
Duane Campbell
This is time for a change for our society and in our schools. This generation must renew our democratic society. As described in my book Choosing
Democracy, we face marked crises
in government, politics, families, communities and in the schools. Public
schools have a particular responsibility to reverse these crises and to renew
our democratic society. The first
mission of pubic schooling is to equip all students for the responsibilities
and privileges of citizenship – and
many of the schools in low income areas are presently not fulfilling this mission. If we do not
solve the problems of low performing schools our democracy suffers. For our democracy
to survive we need to create
schools that value all of our children and encourages each of their educational achievement.
All children need a good education to
participate in our democracy and prepare for life in the rapidly changing economy. Making schooling
valuable and useful is vital to prosperity for all. Lack of education is a ticket to economic
hardship. The more years of school
that a student completes, the more money they are likely to earn as adults and the better their chance to get and keep a good
job. Unemployment is highest among school dropouts as is incarceration for
crimes. When we fail to educate
all of our children, the high costs of this failure come back to hurt us in
unemployment, drugs, crime, incarceration, violence and social conflict.
We
need to invest in urban schools, provide equal educational opportunities in
these schools, and recruit a well prepared teaching force that begins to reflect the student
populations in these schools. We must insist on equal opportunity to learn,
without compromise. When we do these things, we will begin
to protect the freedom to learn for our children and our grandchildren, and to
build a more just and democratic
society.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Texas GOP continues war on thinking
Commentary: Texas GOP wages war on thinking
By Leonard Pitts Jr. | McClatchy Newspapers
Some recent headlines from
the alternate universe of modern conservatism:
Rush Limbaugh claims the bad
guy in the new Batman movie was named Bane to remind voters of Mitt Romney's
controversial tenure at Bain Capital.
Michelle Bachmann, citing
zero credible evidence, accuses a Muslim-American aide to Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton of conspiring with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio's
crack investigators announce that President Obama's long-form birth certificate
is a fake.
In other words, it's just an
average week down there in Crazy Town. And that lends a certain context to a
tidbit brought to national attention last week by Stephen Colbert of Comedy
Central's "The Colbert Report." Meaning a plank from the 2012
platform of the Republican Party of Texas which, astonishingly enough, reads as
follows: "We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS)
(values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are
simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which
focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the
student's fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority."
Holy wow. That is, without a
doubt, the most frightening sentence this side of a Stephen King novel.
The Texas GOP has set itself
explicitly against teaching children to be critical thinkers. Never mind the
creeping stupidization of this country, the growing dumbification of our
children, our mounting rejection of, even contempt for, objective fact. Never
mind educators who lament the inability of American children to think, to weigh
conflicting paradigms, analyze competing arguments, to reason, ruminate,
question and reach a thoughtful conclusion. Never mind that this promises the
loss of our ability to compete in an ever more complex and technology-driven
world.
Labels:
critical thinking,
Leonard Pitts,
Mitt Romney,
Texas
Friday, July 20, 2012
Save Our Schools
Save Our Schools returns
by rethinkingschoolsblog
by Stan Karp
Last summer, the Save Our Schools march brought thousands of teachers, parents, and supporters of public education to Washington, D.C. The march and rally were hopeful signs of pushback against corporate ed reform.A school year that began with the media blitz around the pro-charter propaganda film Waiting for Supermanended with the voices of grassroots resistance in the nation’s capital.
From August 3 to 5, Save Our Schools supporters will gather again in D.C., this time for a “peoples convention” focused on giving more shape and substance to the SOS effort.
Rethinking Schools will be there, joining longtime friends and advocates for educational justice like Jonathan Kozol, Deborah Meier, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, and many others. We hope you will join us. More info here.
Rethinking Schools editor and parent activist Helen Gym and I will host a workshop session Saturday morning on education activism. We’ll share some lessons from Rethinking Schools’ 25-year history as a voice for social justice inside classrooms and communities. We’ll also share our experience with efforts to create local, state, and national coalitions to defend and improve public education, and we’ll invite discussion about how SOS might move that effort forward amidst the strongest corporate counterattack on public schooling we have seen in our lifetimes.
Last summer, the Save Our Schools march brought thousands of teachers, parents, and supporters of public education to Washington, D.C. The march and rally were hopeful signs of pushback against corporate ed reform.A school year that began with the media blitz around the pro-charter propaganda film Waiting for Supermanended with the voices of grassroots resistance in the nation’s capital.
From August 3 to 5, Save Our Schools supporters will gather again in D.C., this time for a “peoples convention” focused on giving more shape and substance to the SOS effort.
Rethinking Schools will be there, joining longtime friends and advocates for educational justice like Jonathan Kozol, Deborah Meier, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, and many others. We hope you will join us. More info here.
Rethinking Schools editor and parent activist Helen Gym and I will host a workshop session Saturday morning on education activism. We’ll share some lessons from Rethinking Schools’ 25-year history as a voice for social justice inside classrooms and communities. We’ll also share our experience with efforts to create local, state, and national coalitions to defend and improve public education, and we’ll invite discussion about how SOS might move that effort forward amidst the strongest corporate counterattack on public schooling we have seen in our lifetimes.
Labels:
Rethinking Schools,
Save our Schools,
schools,
SOS
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Financial crisis hurts schools, was not caused by pensions
Fiscal
Crisis in States Will Last Beyond Slump, Report Warns N.Y. Times.
WASHINGTON — The
fiscal crisis for states will persist long after the economy rebounds as states
confront financial problems that include rising health care costs, underfunded
pensions, ignored infrastructure needs, eroding revenues and expected federal budget
cuts, according to a report issued here Tuesday by a task force of respected
budget experts.
The severity of the
long-term problems facing states is often masked by lax state budget laws and
opaque accounting practices, according to the report, an independent
analysis of six states released by a group calling itself the State Budget Crisis Task Force.
The report said that the financial collapse of 2008, which caused the most
serious fiscal crisis for states since the Great Depression,
exposed a number of deep-set financial challenges that will grow worse if no
action is taken by national policy makers.
“The ability of the
states to meet their obligations to public employees, to creditors and most
critically to the education and well-being of their citizens is threatened,”
warned the two chairmen of the task force, Richard Ravitch,
the former lieutenant governor of New York, and Paul A. Volcker,
the former chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Editors insert. (Duane Campbell)
The looting produced our current economic
crisis, crashed the world economy, and caused the massive cutbacks we presently
suffer in schools, in public pensions, in employment of police, fire, the
bankrupting of cities and the cuts to health care and the social safety net.
Did police, fire fighters, nurses, teachers cause this
crisis. No.
Did pensioners cause this crisis ? No. Government should
get the money from those who caused the crisis- the bankers and finance capital through a financial
transaction tax. We should use such
a tax rather than giving the banks bail outs. And, stop scape goating pensioners.
What happened to pensions ? Why is the San Jose pension
system in crisis? They have built a system based upon a projected 7.5% investment growth.
They are achieving a 1.5% growth. Why? Because of the economic crisis. (STRS, etc.) It was the economic crisis, the looting of the economy. It was not the workers.
Labels:
California,
financial crisis,
pensions,
schools,
State Budget Crisis
Take A Stand - Yes On Prop 30
Labels:
Proposition 30,
schools,
taxes
Sunday, July 15, 2012
The Bankers Rob the Banks Again- you and I will be forced to pay
In 2008- 2009
we suffered the looting of the U.S. economy by major banks and finance
capital. The looting produced our current economic
crisis, crashed the world economy, and caused the massive cutbacks we presently
suffer in schools, in public pensions, in employment of police, fire, the
bankrupting of cities and the cuts to health care and the social safety net.
Now- we learn- it has all happened again. It is called the Libor scandal and it
is just breaking in London.
Barkley’s Bank has admitted a form of fraud of fixing the Libor rate
which will also involve major U.S. banks including Citi Group, J.P. Morgan and
others. These banks have bought
the U.S. Congress to prevent effective regulation of their practices.
See Sheila Bair ( a Republican) on Bill Moyers and
Company. Here. http://billmoyers.com/segment/sheila-bair-on-keeping-banks-honest/
Labels:
bank fraud,
Bill Moyers,
Libor,
looting of the economy,
Republican,
Sheila Bair
There is no substitute for organizing
Bill Fletcher
Organizing is incredibly hard
work. And it’s messy work. And the liberal elite, including most union leaders,
are constantly investing in everything but deep organizing. The real reason we
lost in Wisconsin is the same reason that progressives have been on a four
decade decline in the US: it’s because of a deep and long-term turn away from
organizing and education and towards something that more resembles mobilizing.
Organizing expands our base by keeping our energy and resources focused on the
undecideds, and on developing the organic leaders in our workplaces and
communities so that they become part of an expanding pool of unpaid organizers.
Mobilizing focuses on the people who are already with us and replaces organic
leadership development with paid staff. That and the split between “labor” and
“social movements” account for the failure of progressive politics, the loss in
Wisconsin, the ever shrinking public sphere, and the unabashed rule of the
worst kinds of corporate greed.
The work we are describing isn’t an election 2012 program, it’s
not a 12 month program; it must happen every day, every month and every year.
It’s ongoing. Workers are every bit courageous enough and smart enough, but
they experience a lifetime of being told they are not worthy, not smart, and
not deserving. In other words, sit down, shut up and listen. Unions have to
challenge this paradigm, not reinforce it.
Labels:
Bill Fletcher,
education,
leaders,
organizing
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Monday, July 09, 2012
The Save our Schools tax initiative.
The Sacramento Bee
in both its editorial position on Sunday, July 8, and its news reporting name the fall initiative tax measure to preserve funding for our
schools Governor Brown's Tax
proposal. This naming, this framing, is selected to defeat the proposal.
It is not Governor Brown's proposal- it is a proposal from all of us who
worked on the Millionaires Tax, from teachers, union members, the majority in the California
legislature and all of those who wish to save our schools from further
devastation.
The legal title is the Temporary Taxes to Fund Education. Guaranteed Local Public Safety Funding. Initiative Constitutional Amendment. It will be Proposition 30. We should insist that the press use the proper title for this
tax initiative. If passed it would prevent $4.8
billion in cuts from our k-12 schools and $1.3 billion in cuts from our
colleges and universities.
California
voters are faced with a choice.
Shall we raise taxes and fund the schools, or shall we continue the current
practice of cut, cut, cut ? In the fall election we will be faced with at
least three choices. Continue the present austerity program or choose between two tax proposals.
If the anti tax forces have their way and we do not pass new taxes the effects
on the schools will be devastating – as will be effects on public safety, health
clinics and local services.
Sunday, July 08, 2012
Friday, July 06, 2012
The American People Are Angry- Sanders
Labels:
American people,
angry,
Bernie Sanders,
financial crisis,
Recession,
teachers
Thursday, July 05, 2012
More on Texas Republicans seek to ban critical thinking
by Rodolfo F. Acuña
I am having trouble getting into this
essay on the war on critical thinking. I cannot figure out whether it is dumb
or ignorant. My mother would say that the people conducting the war are
malditos, mean. The reality is that the criminalization of rational
thought goes beyond being dumb, ignorant or just plain mean.
Because the consequences are so
calculated and far reaching, it is important to break it down so everyone can
understand it and where we are headed.
Fascism did not start on February 27,
1933 with the burning of the Reichstag building in Berlin; it did not begin
with the building of concentration camps after the fire. It was all planned and
a strategy of division, doubt, and fear simply bore fruit at this point.
Hitler summed up his strategy; he
sowed the seeds of “mental confusion, contradiction of feelings, indecision,
[and] panic.”
Were the German people dumb, ignorant
or just plain malditos? Some were all of the above.
Labels:
critical thinking,
Nazi,
Republicans,
schools,
Tea Party,
Texas
Monday, July 02, 2012
80% of California Trigger cuts come from K-12 education
The California Budget Agreement Assumes
Voters Approve the Governor’s Ballot Measure in November
Additional “Trigger” Cuts
Will Be Made if Voters Reject the Governor’s Ballot Measure in November
The budget agreement would
automatically trigger an additional $6.0 billion in midyear spending cuts if
voters reject the Governor’s November ballot initiative. These reductions would
take effect on January 1, 2013 and would primarily affect public schools,
colleges, and universities. If voters do not approve the Governor’s measure,
the following cuts would be triggered:
·
· $4.8 billion from public schools, with schools authorized to reduce
the school year from the current minimum of 175 days of instruction to 160 days
of instruction in each of 2012-13 and 2013-14 ;
·
· $550.0 million from the California Community Colleges (CCC), with
the CCC chancellor authorized to reduce college enrollment proportionately;
·
· $250.0 million from the University of California;
·
· $250.0 million from the California State University;
·
· $50.0 million from the Department of Developmental Services;
·
· $20.0 million in reduced funding for a new grant program for city
police departments;
·
· $10.0 million from the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection;
Sunday, July 01, 2012
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