New Content at SusanOhanian.Org!

 Nothing like starting the weekend with a batch of stuff compiled by Susan with a focus on the common core. I am so far from having been a teacher I can't focus on the educational reasons for opposing CC. I'm more interested in the politics. Like when every enemy of public education and teacher unions unite with these unions to push something down everyone's throats that's all it takes for me to say "Whoa." Yes, Virginia, I am suspicious and also a conspiracy theorist.

I'm working on a piece I'm calling "The Politics Behind the Common Core" and there should be a lot of meat in these links.



From here on it's all Susan -- and send her a donation.

I worked hard on two Common Core items--Common Porn and If You Lie Down with Dogs... I hope you'll read them. I have another piece in this mix--about progressive politicos who don't have time for a Teacher of the Year--but it's good news despite them.


There are new cartoons:
Say It
http://susanohanian.org/cartoon_fetch.php?id=839

Meet Your New Teacher
http://susanohanian.org/cartoon_fetch.php?id=838

Question of the Day
http://susanohanian.org/cartoon_fetch.php?id=837


Tom Toles cartoon
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_cartoons.php?id=971

Kindergarten Test Prep
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_cartoons.php?id=970

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 COMMON PORN: Another school district pulls a raunchy Common Core-approved book
Susan Ohanian
blog
2013-11-08
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=615

A school district rejects a Common Core book, but should we rejoice when nobody seems to have read it?

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If You Lie Down With Dogs. . .
Susan Ohanian
blog
2013-11-08
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=614

Ed Week provides framework to look at Gates funding in education. I dig a bit deeper, showing how circular Gates grant-making is, and how members of the circle are devouring teacher professionalism and obliterating any notion of education for equality, justice, innovation, or. . . fun.



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The biggest weakness of the Common Core Standards
Valerie Strauss and Marion Brady
Washington Post Answer Sheet
2013-11-07
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=613

Marion Brady offers a radical and reasonable view of the Common Core. What are the chances that anybody is listening?

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Catholic scholars blast Common Core in letter to U.S. bishops
Valerie Strauss
Washington Post Answer Sheet
2013-11-02
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=612

 130 Catholic scholars around the country have signed a hard-hitting letter to U.S. Catholic bishops denouncing the Common Core State Standards

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A Serious Flaw in Common Core
Alan Singer
Huffington Post
2013-11-04
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=611

Referring to the way two very different Supreme Court justices read texts, Alan Singer offers a new and important look at the Common Core requirements as presented by David Coleman.

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Should Literature Be Useful?
Lee Siegel

2013-11-08
http://susanohanian.org/show_commentary.php?id=1137

Warning us not to put too much stock in fiction's ability to deliver empathy, Lee Siegel  notes that 'Fiction's lack of practical usefulness is what gives it its special freedom.'

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University Researchers Are Seen as Enablers in Latest Major Drug Fraud
Paul Basken
Chronicle of Higher Education
2013-11-08
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=1730

There seem to be some parallels with the Johnson & Johnson case and Common Core producers, but the latter will never be prosecuted. The sound of one child vomiting just doesn't reach the Attorney General. . . or even the local school board

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Money Follows Values
Susan Ohanian
blog
2013-11-08
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=1729

Where the values are among some Alabama legislators.

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Investigators Confirm Test-Tampering At Hartford School
Kathleen Megan and Vanessa De La Torre
Hartford Courant
2013-11-06
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=1728

Very bad policy in Hartford schools comes home to roost.

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Wristbands provide incentives for better performance at Land O'Lakes High School

Tampa Bay Times
2013-11-04
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=1727

What next, tattoos on the forehead?

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Chris Christie's demented 'you people' movement:
David Sirota
Salon.com
2013-11-04
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=1726

David Sirota does a rare thing: He actually researches education issues before writing about them.

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Poverty in America Is Mainstream
Mark R. Rank
New York Times
2013-11-02
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=1725

Contrary to popular belief, the percentage of the population that directly encounters poverty is exceedingly high. Poverty is a mainstream event experienced by a majority of Americans. For most of us, the question is not whether we will experience poverty, but when.

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Teachers Can Be Bullied Too
anonymous blog/Teaching Tolerance Staff
Teaching Tolerance
2013-11-01
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=1724

Certainly, now is the time to identify teacher bullying when it appears. Stand up. Speak out. Don't allow yourself to be bullied.

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A Major University and How It Works
Stephen Holden
New York Times
2013-11-08
http://susanohanian.org/show_yahoo.php?id=846

The New York Times film critic applauds documentarian Frederick Wiseman's magisterial examination of the University of California, Berkeley.

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 What Happens When Parents Stand Up and Say No to Testing?
Elizabeth G. Hines
AlterNet
0000-00-00
http://susanohanian.org/show_yahoo.php?id=845

Parents in one New York City school have decided to do more than complain about the perils of testing young children. They're taking action, en masse, and getting results.

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Ohanian: Where was the governor? Where was Bernie? Where was the press?
Susan Ohanian
VT Digger
0000-00-00
http://susanohanian.org/show_yahoo.php?id=844

I post this in Good News because I'm very happy that a teacher in alternative ed was named Vermont Teacher of the year. But the absence of the governor, our senator who sits on the Education Committee, and press was both typical and disgusting.

Nov. 3, 2013
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"No Child Left Behind? Bring Back the Joy."
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