Ed Notes Online: New Content at SusanOhanian.Org! Sept. 18, 2013

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

New Content at SusanOhanian.Org! Sept. 18, 2013

I can't resist posting Susan's updates. She is the original anti-standardista who has been battling ed deform before there was such a thing. How much irony in that Susan, once a sever critic of Diane Ravitch, was cited on Diane's blog once again yesterday. Shows you how much unity the ed deformers have brought to our movement. (Thanks Uncle Joel!)

The idea is that with all these links on the ednotes blog I and others can get to read some of them when there is some downtime. What is downtime? - Given I just returned from taping Ravitch at her web event which I went to after the UFT special DA to endorse di Blasio -- I win a cracker jack box prize for handing Big Bill the MORE newsletter --- I'll tell you about my confrontation with Uft/Unity attempts to muscle me. "Call the cops," I said "to have me removed." I had my cell phone out to film. I didn't have to.

Susan speaks from here on.

I've let things pile up again. Again, I apologize. I thought I hadn't posted much. I'm still plagued with bad asthma (just pray for hard freeze in Vermont) and trapped into immobility, which I choose to take in front of computer. But I'm working hard on 'other things'--to be announced. So this amount of posting surprised me.

Go on over to http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2013/09/poohs-little-instruction-book-for.html

for the close of an essay I wrote for New England Reading Association Journal--just out. The essay is 'Standards, Rubrics, and Dead Frogs' and has this pull-out quote:
When Standardistos speak, dead frogs fall out of their mouths.'

It leads off with a great gorilla story, if I do say so myself. Followers of this list with good memories will know I've told the story before. It is well worth repeating:
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=26

Cartoon
Baby Branding Nursery Clock
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_cartoons.php?id=956

Assessments 2.0
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_cartoons.php?id=955

Welcome to Charterland
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_cartoons.php?id=954

Susan

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Education Insiders: Common Core's Testing Woes
William J. Mathis
NEPC
2013-09-17
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=580

From Bill Mathis' excellent review of backlash on Common Core, I somehow ended up baboon story in my book.

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Miami-Dade's GOP slaps down Common Core (takes stand against past chair, Jeb Bush)
Marc A. Caputo
Naked Truth: Miami Herald Blog
2013-09-17
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=579

I invite you to read the Republican resolution against the Common Core and see if you'd sign.

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Daniel Ruth
Tampa Bay Times
2012-08-20
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=578

Here we see what qualifies a columnist for the Tampa Bay Times to write about education policy.

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At Core, Better Schools
Phil Handy
Tampa Bay Times
2013-08-21
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=577

Phil Handy, who is loaded with political connections, insists that standards such as Common Core will automatically increase the achievement level of students.

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Channel One News Appoints Anne Schreiber as Vice President of Education; Newly-Created Position Part of Channel One News' Investment in Curriculum Development
Press Release
Globe Newswire
2013-09-16
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=576

Now Channel One is moving in on the profits to be made from the Common Core.

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Rick Hess: Could the Common Core Be Bad for Schooling?
Rick Hess
Straight Up: Education Week blog
2013-09-15
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=575

Rick Hess expresses some concerns about the Common Core.

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How to Stop the Drop in American Education Your math teacher was right: Algebra matters. Common Core standards are vital too.
Rex Tillerson
Wall Street Journal
2013-09-06
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=573

This piece take the prize for the number of unattributed claims supporting need for the Common Core. I offer rebuttal of the NAEP claims.

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NEA Says Its Members 'Strongly Support' Common Core?
deutsch29
blog
2013-09-12
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=572

Here we go again with the CCSS support propaganda from an organization that has accepted millions from Bill Gates to promote the Common Core State Standards.

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Wisconsin Being Led Astray
Susan Ohanian
comment on Wisconsin State Journal
2013-09-11
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=571

Six awesome features missing from the Common Core

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REVIEW: 'Reign of Error,' Ravitch 3.0
P. L. Thomas

2013-09-17
http://susanohanian.org/show_commentary.php?id=1130

Here's an excellent review of Diane Ravitch's new book.

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Encouraging Educator Courage
Peter Farruggio and Alfie Kohn

2013-09-17
http://susanohanian.org/show_commentary.php?id=1129

Peter Farruggio offers an excellent intro to Alfie's latest commentary.

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To the editor
David Lentin
Portland Press Herald
2013-09-15
http://susanohanian.org/show_letter.php?id=1604

Maine school board member writes an excellent letter on the Common Core.

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To the editor
Stephen Krashen
The Tennessean
2013-09-17
http://susanohanian.org/show_letter.php?id=1603

If school time is so limited that students have to get their exercise pumping a bike at their desks, something is seriously wrong with school.

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Lies, Damned Lies, and APPR Ratings
bgfay750
blog
2013-09-16
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=1694

I doubt you'll read an uglier story about teacher evaluation.

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Schools That Change Communities
Susan Ohanian

0000-00-00
http://susanohanian.org/show_yahoo.php?id=833

In a film about schools & communities working together, a profound comment is made in Watsonville, where 50% of the population do not have high school diplomas: 'Teachers discover they have a voice ... seeing themselves as people who can effect change in the system.'

And how many teachers do you know who have said
THAT lately?

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School Superintendents Sign Protest Against State Department of Education
Andrea Zelinski
Nashville Scene
0000-00-00
http://susanohanian.org/show_yahoo.php?id=832

Almost half of the state's superintendents have signed a petition criticizing the Tennessee Department of Education for having 'no interest' in working with school district leaders.

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Electric Schlock: Did Stanley Milgram's Famous Obedience Experiments Prove Anything?
Peter C. Baker
Pacific Standard
2013-09-10
http://susanohanian.org/show_research.php?id=530

Stanley Milgram's test subjects were not the only ones misled by his famous experiments on obedience.

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Rich First-Grader Buys Whole Sheet Of Gold Stars
Staff
The Onion
2003-03-05
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_news.php?id=901

Short and cuts to the bone.

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Mexico City Erupts Over Neoliberal Education Bill
Michelle Chen
In These Times
2013-09-12
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_atrocities.php?id=4273

Teachers protest neoliberal ed reform in Mexico City.

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'Race to the Top’'for education a flop, report finds
Nirvi Shah
Politico
2013-09-12
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_atrocities.php?id=4272

The Obama administration's signature $4 billion Race to the Top initiative, designed to spur far-reaching education reforms across the country and raise student achievement, is largely a failure, an analysis by the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education concludes.

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Baby Branding Nursery Clock

2013-09-12
http://susanohanian.org/nclb_cartoon_fetch.php?id=0

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Assessments 2.0

2013-09-10
http://susanohanian.org/nclb_cartoon_fetch.php?id=0

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Order the CD of the resistance:
"No Child Left Behind? Bring Back the Joy."
To order online (and hear samples from the songs)
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/dhbdrake4
Other orders: Send $15 to
Susan Ohanian
P. O. Box 26
Charlotte, VT 05445

No comments:

"A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

What media call "philanthropy" for the public schools are actually seed monies to establish a private "market" in publicly-financed education - an enterprise worth trillions if successfully penetrated by corporate America. Cory Booker, one of the "New Black Leaders" financed by the filthy rich, is key to creating a "nationwide corporate-managed schools network paid for by public funds but run by private managers.

"Ed Reformers" want to cash in on public education and to control its content and outcome, not improve it. Provide great education? Baby boomers had as close as this country has ever gotten to it when we were growing up. The Ed Reform Movement has no interest in seeing such a well-educated, democratically astute population ever again.

http://blackagendareport.com/content/cory-booker-clear-and-present-threat-public-education

History of the UFT Pre-Weingarten Years

This award-winning series of articles by Jack Schierenbeck originally appeared in the New York Teacher in 1996 and 1997.

Naturally, from a certain point of view. But, despite certain biases, Schierenbeck, a great guy, was one of the best NY Teacher reporters so this is worth reading. Jack suffered a debilitating stroke many years ago (I used to get secret donations to ed notes from him through a 3rd source.)

This chapter looks interesting:

Class struggles: The UFT story, part 3

“The schism in the union over radical politics [is] a major reason for stalling the growth of a teacher union for decades.” Revolutionary politics and ideology take center stage, as the original Teachers Union becomes a battlefield, pitting leftist against leftist and splitting the union.

Clarence Taylor's "Reds at the Blackboard" focused on the old Teachers Union which disbanded in 1964 after suffering from anti-left attacks.

Of course for another view, check out the review at New Politics of the Kahlenberg Bio on Shanker by Vera Pavone and me: Albert Shanker: Ruthless Neocon

Effective Union Organizing

A video series put together by Jason Mann from the British Columbia Federation of Teachers about social media and how to use it for effective union organizing.

The first series was called New Media For Union Activists Roadmap and it's still available on-line at:
http://www.newmediabootcamp.ca/welcome/
I watched some of them and need to rewatch as they are loaded with information.

The second series started last week and it's called "Online Campaigning for Union Activists"

You can sign up for this free series at :
http://act.bcfed.ca/online-campaigning-for-union-activists/

You Don't Have A Choice - Join the Revolt

Ex-Harlem Success Teacher Comments on Eva the Diva

Ex-HSA Teacher has left a new comment on your post "Fear and Loathing at Evil's Harlem Success Empire ...":

I am a former Harlem Success teacher. Not many people who work/worked for her like her very much. I once made the comment that she is very nice when I first was hired. Two of her closest colleague responded immediately almost in unison, "Eve is not nice!" Over time I realized that there was a lot of political games going on. Another colleague once said to me that he was tired of "being part of a political campaign." Sending out 15,000 applications for only 400 seats in a school is reprehensible. The money that paid for those mass mailings could have paid the yearly salary of another teacher not to mention the heartache of all those parents who applied but did not get a spot. She does good work trying to give disadvantaged students a quality public school education but at a great cost to staff AND the school's educational budget! school budget.

Davis Guggenheim Compared to Riefenstahl

“Waiting for Superman" is the second most intellectually dishonest piece of documentary work I have seen. It is surpassed only by Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will," the pro-Hitler propaganda classic, in that regard. Uses personal narratives of adorable children to create narrative suspense that overrides public policy discussion with pure emotion in unscrupulous attack on teachers and their unions, among others

Timothy Tyson
Professor of African American Studies and History
Duke University

How Teaching Experience Makes a Difference

Even as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee and others around the nation are arguing for experienced teachers to be laid off regardless of seniority, every single study shows teaching experience matters. In fact, the only two observable factors that have been found consistently to lead to higher student achievement are class size and teacher experience, so that it’s ironic that these same individuals are trying to undermine both.
- Leonie Haimson on Parents Across America web site

Full article with charts here.

Weingarten/Gates Foundation announce drone-driven teacher evaluation

According to a press release issued by the Gates Foundation, the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, these three have entered a ground-breaking partnership to evaluate teachers utilizing the drone technology that has revolutionized warfare in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. A bird-size device floats up to 400 feet above a classroom and instantly beams live video of teachers in action to agents at desks at Teacher Quality Inspection Stations established by the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

When asked if the drones were authorized to drop bombs on teachers who exhibit inadequacy, Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, replied, "Don't be ridiculous. Gates money puts other methods at our disposal."

Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.5-million-member American Federation of Teachers said the powerful union has signed on to the drone project...

More at Substance

The Real Reason Behind Push for Standardized Tests: It's All About the Adults

On standardized testing in our schools

A must read article about the standardized test industry.
Written by an insider who has worked as a test scorer, the article outlines a multinational industry based on an army of temporary workers paid by the piece at $0.30 to $0.70 per test, translated in the need to grade 40 tests per hour to make a $12 salary. The article goes on to show how the companies gauge the grading "results" based on the need to ensure new contracts to continue profiting off of our youth. The original article is from Monthly Review. Here it is on Schools Matter blog.

http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2010/12/on-growing-use-of-corporate-test.html

Parallels between America today and Germany in the 1920's and early 30's

"Resentment and obstruction are all the right wing in America have to peddle. Their policies are utterly discredited. Their ideology - even by its own standards - is a sham. They are so bereft of leaders, their de facto leader is a former drug addicted, thrice-divorced radio talk show host. That is literally the best they can muster. But they have built a national franchise inciting the downwardly mobile to blame the government, not the right, for their problems, exactly as Hitler did in the 1920s."

The US Is Facing a Weimar Moment

Published on Sunday, March 15, 2009 by CommonDreams.org

Chicago View of Unity/UFT on Charters

After many meetings and debates, the Chicago delegation succeeded in working with the New York United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 (UFT) to push the AFT to take stronger stands on charter school accountability and school closings — though many delegates from Chicago would have liked the language to have been even stronger.

Generally speaking, the New York delegation represented organizing charters as the best model for handling their role in reshaping unions, despite the fact that according to many reports few charter schools in New York have been organized as is the case in Chicago. This logic is the same touted by the Progressive Caucus of the AFT. The few that have been organized are a part of the UFT local though they have separate contracts negotiated with the help of UFT. The Chicago delegation reflection the mindset that allowing new charters to continue to proliferate while attempting to organize existing charters is an end game in which public schools and the union lose.

Jen Johnson, CTU, Local 1 in Substance

Ed Notes Greatest Hits: HSA Rally and Founding of GEM

SEE MY VIDEO ON HARLEM SUCCESS RALLY 2009:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEp7rg_L5JI

Angel Gonzalez and I attended that rally and used the footage to promote our conference on Mar. 28, 2009, which is where the concept of a group like GEM emerged. Until then we had basically been a committee of ICE working with the NYCORE high stakes testing group. The actions of Eva and crew helped spawn GEM. Mommie Dearest!!

I have more video somewhere. I was hoping to get Leni Riefenstahl to edit it but she died. We would have called it "Triumph of the Hedge Fund Operators."

Ed Notes Extended

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

New Content at SusanOhanian.Org! Sept. 18, 2013

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