Incoming- DUCK

Excuse the sloppy formatting. There is so much stuff coming in and I'm really falling behind. Here are a bunch of links to check out, many of which I haven't had time for so far.

Also, make sure to check out the new link I added on the side panel to my Los Angeles list - The Charter School Invasion in Los Angeles - (all the links make lovely reading) on tepid results for Green Dot and other schools in LA.

From Patrick Sullivan
(Patrick as the Manhattan borough parent rep has been the lone voice of opposition to BloomKlein on the PEP - the joke of a NYC board of education.)

I've read the Obama Administration's proposal for the 4.5 billion dollar Race to the Top Fund and find it disturbing. I've written two posts for the [NYC Parents] blog here and here.

I encourage everyone to read it and provide a comment on the official form on regulations.gov. There is a pdf version which is best for reading here.

http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#documentDetail?R=09000064809fdd04

Patrick is one parent who gets it as he comments:
I see the main thrust is about holding teachers accountable for student performance using high stakes tests. With parents in the mix then things get messy, someone might actually suggest we are accountable. Better to just focus on the teachers.



From Susan Ohanian's daily updates (you really should subscribe). Yesterday she compiled quite a list. Use her comments to pick and choose. Susan continues to be one of the major voices of the resistance.

This is another posting that got away from me. Sorry there are so many.


There are a lot more articles here that are outrageous almost beyond belief, though these days we know that nothing is so outrageous that the people on
Arne's team won't do it.

Meanwhile, I hope you will send me news of your activism so I can post it at
www.stopnationalstandards.org

Susan
susano@gmavt.net

PO Box 26
Charlotte, VT 05445

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Are charters schools a price of entry to reform?
Donna Gordon Blankinship
Associated Press
2009-08-17
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=8808

So why would these 11 states participate in the Common Core Standards if their lack of support of charters takes them out of the running for Race to the Top
bribes?

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Tutoring tots? Kids prep for kindergarten
Jacqueline Stenson
MSNBC
2009-08-18
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=8807

An article on skills tutoring for pre-kindergartners sets Ohanian toreminiscing. And there's a funny aside about the ads that appear on Amazon.com.

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Veteran teachers treated unfairly in competitive job market, some say
Sarah Carr
Times-Picayune
2009-08-18
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=8806

In the most competitive market for job-hunting teachers in New Orleans in recent
memory -- perhaps ever -- some worry that veteran educators have received short
shrift.

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Education Equality Project Continues Strong American Schools' Mission
Joel I. Klein
Education Equality Project
2009-08-18
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=8805

An e-mail from Joel Klein, you know, the fellow who claims to be building a
civil rights movement.

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Why Most Schools Don't have the Nerve to Ask Third Graders for an Evaluation
Don Perl with Cade
Coalition for Better Education
2009-08-17
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=8804

A third grader starts school and writes and evaluation.

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Oprah Promotes Michelle Rhee
Staff
O Magazine
0000-00-00
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=8803

O Magazine's first ever O Power List. 20 remarkable visionaries who are flexing
their muscles in business and finance, politics and justice, science and the
arts.

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Connecting Anxious Parents and Educators, at $450 an Hour
Susan Dominus
New  York Times
2009-08-18
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=8802

Find out what book wealthy New York parents of pre-schools are buying.

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Obama Pushes States to Shift on Education
Sam Dillon
New  York Times
2009-08-17
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=8801

That aggressive use of economic stimulus money by Education Secretary Arne
Duncan is provoking heated debates over the uses of standardized testing and the
proper federal role in education, issues that flared frequently during President
George W. Bush’s enforcement of his signature education law, called No Child
Left Behind.  NOTE: The two national unions have not formally commented on the
proposed rules.



And California residents need to get on Gloria Romero's case.

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California Teacher Takes Criticism of Race to the Top to the Union
Virginia Tibbetts
Stop National Standards
2009-08-10
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=8800

Isn't it time for every union member to demand some answers and some action from
their union?

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To the editor
Juanita Doyon
News Tribune
2009-08-19
http://susanohanian.org/show_letters.html?id=1067

Three cheers for Juanita Doyon, who helps activist causes throughout the country
with custom-made buttons and advice when she's not writing letters to the
editor.

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Open Letter to Arne Duncan
Herbert Kohl
The Progressive
2009-08-18
http://susanohanian.org/show_letters.html?id=1066

Herb Kohl says Arne Duncan misread his book and offers to send him another copy.

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To the editor
Stephen Krashen and Susan Ohanian
Newsweek
2009-08-16
http://susanohanian.org/show_letters.html?id=1065

Ms. Clift, a professional political writer, and Mr. Duncan, a former
professional basketball player, have not spent enough time with children and
teachers, and neither they nor their staffs are familiar with the vast research
literature that says that children are not programmable robots.

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An Open Letter to NCTE Members about the Common Core State Standards
Kylene Beers, President NCTE
NCTE
2009-08-17
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=582



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Gates Gives 15 States an Edge in Race to the Top
Michele McNeil
Education Week blog
2009-08-18
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=581



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Connecting the Dots
Jay Spuck and Susan Ohanian
Business Week, Wireless PR, & Chicago contract
2009-08-17
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=580



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Dear DOE
Diane Ravitch
Race to the Top Public Comments
2009-08-17
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=579



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Reinventing No Child Left Behind
Stephen Lendman
The People's Voice.org
2009-08-19
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_atrocities.html?id=3688

NCLB's real aim is to commodify public education, end government responsibility
for it, and make it another business profit center. Obama plans to reinvent a
failed policy, give it a new name, and claim it will fix NCLB's shortcomings.

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Race to the Top won't get students any further ahead
Mike Schutz
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
2009-08-18
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_atrocities.html?id=3687

You want to know how best to spend time and money to provide kids with the best
possible learning experience? Ask a classroom teacher.

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Against National Standards:Let the states decide what to teach- they'll do less
harm.
Liam Julian
Weekly Standard
2009-08-10
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_atrocities.html?id=3685

A conservative argues that the quality of the product, and the possibility of
developing excellent standards shouldn't be sacrificed for the sake of middling
countrywide uniformity.

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Educating for individuality
Lynn Stoddard
Ogden Standard Examiner
2009-08-15
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_atrocities.html?id=3684

Lynn Stoddard warns: Now you have a choice. Do nothing and get national
standards for student uniformity imposed on your schools. OR .....

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Freedom in Education Meeting
Joe  Lucido

2009-08-19
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_stories.html?id=399

Fresno is the place to be on August 29. Come organize for resistance.