Ed Notes Online: Jennifer Jennings

Showing posts with label Jennifer Jennings. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Carol Burris, Kathy Cashin, (Holy Cow) Jennifer Jennings on District 15 Panel, Dec. 9: TALKING ABOUT TESTING

I agree with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on just about nothing. I think Race to the Top is an evidence-free mess. I think the idea of a test worth teaching to is a willful misunderstanding of the science of testing. And I can’t agree with Duncan’s insistence that the cheating scandals that have garnered widespread attention in recent months are a parable about “rotten” school cultures and not a reflection on the incentives that we’ve forced upon teachers. But as I sat on the floor of a packed ballroom in San Francisco at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association last week, I was embarrassed—no, humiliated—that some of my colleagues booed the secretary of education when he approached the microphone for his keynote speech.....
You had the grace, the guts, and the patience not to reciprocate [EdNotesWTF]. If there is one lesson from this conference, Secretary Duncan, you showed America’s educational researchers that we can have a different debate—one in which we rely on ideas and open disagreement and reason, and not on schoolyard bravado.... Jennifer Jennings, Edweek, May 6, 2013, http://shar.es/lzWnS.

Jennifer for about 2 years was an active participant in that battle [against ed deform] and her own blog was under assault by the deformers as throwing bricks no matter how artistically she threw them.... Shades of how Randi and Unity Caucus chastised those who booed Bill Gates at the AFT2010 convention.....Ed Notes

This should be an interesting panel with Carol Burris, our current top level ed deform fighter, leading the way. And Jennifer Jennings, who I write more about below.

TALKING ABOUT TESTING

A Panel Discussion

hosted by

District 15 Community Education Council & PS 10

December 9, 2015

7-9 pm

Address: Pre-K 280 for PS 10,

500 – 19^th St. at 10^th Ave.(formerly the Bishop Ford School)

Brooklyn

Panelists:

Carol Burris, Exec. Dir. Network for Public Education Foundation

Kathleen Cashin**, NY State Regent

Erika Gunderson, Asst. Principal, PS 172

Jennifer Jennings, Asst. Prof. of Sociology, NYU

Anita Skop, Superintendent of Schools, District 15

Panel presentations will be followed by a moderated discussion and Q & A.

BRING YOUR QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS

Note how they now moderate discussions by having people fill out index cards.

How interesting that Jennifer Jennings, our former leading battler against deform back in 2008, turns up at this event. Formerly known as Eduwonkette, Jennifer was the masked avenger hero for many people in battling ed deform when she blogged anonymously as Eduwonkette in 2008.

eduwonkette Unmasked - NYC - Blogs - Education Week

Education Week

Aug 24, 2008 - You were a tad off.eduwonkette is written by Jennifer Jennings, a final year doctoral student in Sociology at Columbia University. I study many .

How Jennifer Jennings Tried to Cut School-Reform ... - NYC

New York Magazine

Aug 24, 2008 - Just a few days after she handed in her dissertation proposal, Jennifer Jennings, a soft-spoken Columbia sociology grad student who's wicked ...

After being introduced to Jennifer by Leonie Haimson at a rally over a closing of a large high school back in 2007, Jennifer asked me to meet with her to discuss the issues related to closing large schools and she came to some ICE events and we stayed in touch. When she decided to blog she consulted with me over strategies and a few days later she took off and the entire edu-nation became enthralled.

Only a small band of people knew who she was and we kept her secret until she revealed who she was and ended her blog and sort of disappeared.

Actually, there was a curious Jennifer Jennings sighting when she emerged in 2013 to rebuke those who booed Arne Duncan at the AERA conference when Jennifer publicly apologized to Arne Duncan.

The AERA conference is the leading yearly event of the chief academic educational research organization and many ed researchers know full well the destructive force unleashed on the American school system by the likes of Arne Duncan. Jennifer says, let's debate not throw bricks. But when one side has hedge fund ballistic missiles and the other has only bricks, to chastise them is so genteel in a world where war has been declared by one side on the other. And active engagement in fighting back on all fronts has actually managed to compensate for the massive tilt of the playing field. Jennifer for about 2 years was an active participant in that battle and her own blog was under assault by the deformers as throwing bricks no matter how artistically she threw them.

Jennifer is academic who clearly is not feeling the direct effects of ed deform on the entire educational community. Nice to Arne (and maybe by extension Eva Moskowitz) is not an option.

Shades of how Randi and Unity Caucus chastised those who booed Bill Gates at the AFT2010 convention.

I wrote back to back blogs on this event in May 2013:

EdNotesOnline: Jennifer Jennings (formerly Eduwonkette) apologizes to Secretary Duncan over the booing at AERA

May 7, 2013 - Jennifer Jennings is one of my favorite people of all time even though I disagree with almost ... Posted by Norm @ ed notes online at 11:38 PM.

Ed Notes Online: When Davids Boo Goliaths Do They Lack

ednotesonline.blogspot.com/.../when-davids-boo-goliaths-do-they-lack.h...

May 8, 2013 - As promised, I'm following up on yesterday's post "Jennifer Jennings (formerly Eduwonkette) apologizes to Secretary Duncan over the booing ...

Ravitch commented here: Why Did Educators Boo Duncan? Jennings Apologizes.

Here are links to some of the research Jennifer did, with the wonderful Aaron Pallas as her advisor.

Norm's Notes: Do new small schools in NYC enroll more ...

normsnotes2.blogspot.com/.../do-new-small-schools-in-nyc-enroll-more....

In a new report, NYU professor Jennifer Jennings and Teachers College professor Aaron Pallas ... Posted by ed notes online at Saturday, October 30, 2010 ...

New York City's Small Schools Experiment: Who's Benefiting?

normsnotes2.blogspot.com/.../new-york-citys-small-schools-experiment....

A research presentation by Jennifer Jennings and Aaron Pallas of Columbia University will be ... Posted by ed notes online at Monday, September 21, 2009 ...

Eduwonkette: The Turnaround at Evander Childs: A NYC ...

eduwonkette2.blogspot.com/.../turnaround-at-evander-childs-nyc-small....

Oct 9, 2007 - ed notes online said... How did the NY Times reporter miss this? It is the NY Times' agenda to support BloomKlein so "missing" this is not an ...

**I don't count former Region 5 supt Cashin as a fighter against deform just yet since when she was in the system as District and Region supt she did so much to support it -- and there are still currently some awful legacy principals in District 27 from her tenure. But I do believe that former deformers can be redeemed and reformed.)

*In 2008 I attended the one in NYC as Jennifer's stringer while she sat anonymously in the back of the room in front of a panel that included Andrew Rotherham, one of the original chief apologists for ed deform who used his blog Eduwonk as a weapon. When Jennifer went live with her blog, purposely named to chide Rotherham, he was charmed and publicized Eduwonkette widely the very first day - but later turned sour and was one of the chief pursuers trying to flush out her real identity.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Updated: Jennifer Jennings (formerly Eduwonkette) apologizes to Secretary Duncan over the booing at AERA

I have heard this before; critiques from the people in power or their apologists saying “why can’t you be more civilized.” In my mind, it is similar to a well-equipped army that invades your country, takes over your institutions, and then argues with the natives that their resistance is not “civilized” enough. ... Leonie Haimson

Jennifer Jennings is one of my favorite people of all time even though I disagree with almost every word in Jennifer's apology to Duncan which today surprised the world of long-term Real Reform activists battling ed deform. One commentator used the term, "bizarre."

Given Jennifer's former superstar status when she blogged anonymously as Eduwonkette from Sept. 2007 to Aug. 2008 and through her final post in Jan. 2009 under her own name, this was somewhat of a bombshell.

I wouldn't classify this, as some may have, as the reverse of the Ravitch desertion of the ed deform camp but Jennifer's absence from the public discourse over the past 4 years has made people forget just how important she was in debunking so much ed deform in a very short time, to such an extent that a nationwide witch hunt was on to find out her identity, with some of Joel Klein's minions jumping in to attack her on a regular basis.

I haven't seen or heard from Jennifer in years but though I disagree with her here I still consider her a friend. We shared a whole bunch of times together. She attended some ICE meetings and tested out her blog on me before going public and I was one of the very few who knew her identity. We were together when we heard Joel Klein got the Broad Award (she punched me in the arm in frustration). The only AERA conference I attended was here in NY because of her. I posted about Jennifer in Jan. 2009 when she "came" out and I was the first blogger to post about her right after her first blog post came out. She went viral soon after.

But I will talk more about why this story is so interesting and include other reactions in a follow-up and include some thoughts.

If you want to catch up on Eduwonkette's work, here are the links to her initial blog and the one after she was picked up by Edweek.
http://eduwonkette2.blogspot.com/
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/eduwonkette/2009/01/

Ravitch comments here: Why Did Educators Boo Duncan? Jennings Apologizes.

Before I post any more, read what Jennifer had to say at Edweek.

http://shar.es/lzWnS

Published Online: May 6, 2013
Commentary

An Apology to Secretary Duncan

By Jennifer Jennings

Premium article access courtesy of Edweek.org.

I agree with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on just about nothing. I think Race to the Top is an evidence-free mess. I think the idea of a test worth teaching to is a willful misunderstanding of the science of testing. And I can’t agree with Duncan’s insistence that the cheating scandals that have garnered widespread attention in recent months are a parable about “rotten” school cultures and not a reflection on the incentives that we’ve forced upon teachers.

But as I sat on the floor of a packed ballroom in San Francisco at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association last week, I was embarrassed—no, humiliated—that some of my colleagues booed the secretary of education when he approached the microphone for his keynote speech. It is one thing to disagree with some of the Obama administration’s policies, to bring countervailing data to the table, and to engage in reasoned—and, one would hope, enlightened—conversation. It is another thing entirely to abdicate our most sacred responsibility as researchers—a commitment to ideas, to data, to truth, to real debate—at the altar of one-upmanship.

“I was embarrassed—no, humiliated—when some of my colleagues booed the secretary of education when he approached the microphone for his keynote speech.”

What saddens me is that the educational policy debate has become an overwhelming chorus of boos, of shout-downs, and of bitter personal insults, rather than a real debate about ideas and data and first principles. Unfortunately, this mirrors the direction that most American political debates have leaned in recent years. It is toxic. It is unnecessary. And it is not befitting of a community of researchers who stand in front of students on most days of the week and call ourselves educators.

I have no senior standing, official office, or public mandate with which to offer this apology, but nonetheless: I’m sorry. I’m sorry that a faceless minority of the educational research community lacked the courage to meet you with ideas rather than with the heckling that is so easy to deploy when you are sitting among hundreds of others, none of whom will ever be called personally to account for their actions.

You had the grace, the guts, and the patience not to reciprocate.
If there is one lesson from this conference, Secretary Duncan, you showed America’s educational researchers that we can have a different debate—one in which we rely on ideas and open disagreement and reason, and not on schoolyard bravado.

Jennifer Jennings is an assistant professor of sociology at New York University. She is the former author of Education Week's eduwonkette blog.

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"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

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

An Apology to Secretary Duncan