Eva Moskowitz' Harlem Success Academy Trashes School Books and Supplies

Neethgie Ohfour on Facebook
http://bit.ly/HarlemSuccessAcademythrowsawaysnewbooksandsupplies

What a waste! While nearby schools and children's organizations budgets are cut and are struggling to survive. Harlem Success Academy on117th and 118th on Malcolm X Blvd. in Harlem is throwing away tons of new books and school supplies today. It is sad that they would not donate these needed resources to other schools and organizations in the neighborhood.

Luckily neighborhood children and parents were able to dig through the discarded educational material and grab valuable supplies. 

One child said she found almost all the school supplies she needed for September-pencils, paper,markers, gluesticks, rulers - even a new Harlem Success drawstring bookbag! New math, reading and science books, new clipboards, notebooks, science supplies, scissors were thrown away. Paper, art supplies, furniture, pc cables, wifi routers, looseleaf notebooks, folders, reading lamps, globes, maps pens, markers and many other new items were also discarded. 

Eva Moskowitz, the founder of the school just asked for more money per child, from $1350 to $2000 for her school. I guess she can afford to throw away new supplies. As of 10pm they were still throwing things out. If you are looking for school supplies, I suggest you get out there tonight between 117th closer to Lenox Ave. . Shame on you Success Academy. I guess you are doing better than we thought with charter schools.

Democrats (and Republicans) to Show Parent Trigger Movie at Convention

The Democratic Party has committed the gravest of insults by permitting Rhee's Astroturf group to air the parent trigger film "Won't Back Down" at the Democratic National Convention. SHAME!

Check out my post on StudentsFirst's September 3 screening of the film at the convention.

And: Rhee has also advised Republican Governor Rick Scott:

see how she has advised Republican governor Rick Scott.

No surprised that DFER's Joe Williams, the charter school promoter, is there for the DNC screening of "Won't Back Down."

From:  NY_I has left a comment on your post "Parent Trigger in Adelanto, CA":

Below I have links to Schmidt and Strauss.
In particular for Valerie: It’s really about the principals
Yes it is about principals and on the whole you can't get much worse than NYC.
 Three ed reforms parents should worry about most -- 
One of the great principals Carol Burris is at it again. What a voice for all of us ( and don't forget how Leo Casey attacked her.)

And Rita Solnet: ‘Won’t Back Down’: Realities the movie ignores
 
Substance and Strauss links below the break.

Worth Reading: Charters, Chicago, Tenure, Testing

Lisa North reports: A rep from the NYC Charter School Center came up after and asked why NO UFT reps EVER come to these meetings! As I was walking away I realized it was because they can't talk against charters as they SUPPORT them! I think it is time for the UFT to have a different position on charter schools. They could say that they have run their own charter schools. From that experience they have learned that there is NO silver bullet to improve student learning. It takes resources to help struggling students like smaller class sizes, programs for parents, social supports for students and families, in school intervention programs, and high quality after school and summer programs, to name just a few. The UFT could call for a stop to all new charters and instead for the resources to be used for our struggling public schools. No one is blaming the current charter school teachers who mostly want to help students, it is just that the charter school experiment has NOT worked.

----Lisa North presented the case against charter schools, and for fully funding public education, at a hearing in Brooklyn on Tuesday -- reprint from the ICE blog.

Lisa works with GEM/ICE/MORE. James Eterno posted her complete report on the ICE blog:  TEACHER ACTIVIST LISA NORTH SPEAKS OUT AGAINST CHARTER SCHOOLS

Tuesday Lisa did the work the UFT should be doing. Really, that is why MORE/ICE/GEM/NYCORE exist -- to pick up what falls off the back of the UFT truck.

I could do a list of great stuff to read every day but there are people like Larry Ferlazzo doing an amazing job at Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day and also his best of 2012 so far.  I recently started checking Larry's work out and you can spend all day following the links.

==============
BREAKING from New York City Eye
8/22/12: CTU House of Delegates OKs Lewis Give 10 Day Strike Notice Capping a Week of Nasty Leaks From CPS
 ==============

Ed Notes is an education blog (duh!) but I don't have to worry about doing all the educating (that sounds arrogant -- I prefer "sharing").

Jim Callaghan Says Weingarten Suspended Him Without Pay When He Circulated Pro-Obama information in 2008

Jim Callaghan, former NY Teacher ace investigator commented at NYC Public School Parents on this post:

Jim writes with some irony here, given that I bet lots of teachers probably would have preferred Hillary and in retrospect think Randi was right, but I'll let you draw your own conclusions:

Is Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers going to lend Obama a hand like she did in 2008?

She suspended me for two days without pay on Election Day, 2008, because I had distributed a pro-Obama article to about 100 United Federation of Teachers staffers via email- something I and others routinely did.

The article was written by Larry Hanley, now president of the Amalgamated Transit Union in D.C. and was about why whites should not be afraid to vote for Obama. He based his piece on the 1989 Dinkins for Mayor campaign, which I co-managed on Staten Island. We got a mainly white union Local to endorse DInkins and to hit the streets for him.

Hanley called me "one of the keenest minds in New York City."

I distributed because it had been part of my job to be on the lookout for such press clips and also because several of my co-workers said they were sending it to their undecided friends in toss up states. One founder of the union (from 1960) emailed me a letter of praise.

Weingarten, who was still bitter that Obama defeated Hillary Clinton, hit the roof and ordered five of her top bosses to call me to a two-hour meeting on Election Day to suspend me -all without due process that Weingarten is always whining about (for teachers -not her staff).

Weingarten also prevented her 150,000 members from voting on the 2008 race.
She had internal polling showing that Obama was the clear favorite but she announced the UFT endorsement before any member voted!

The members never had a chance.

My suspension was the FIRST time in the history of the union that a staffer was punished for doing his/her job about press clips or for letting UFT officers read something about a UFT- endorsed candidate.

She did the same thing to other black candiates: Bill Thompson for mayor in 2009; (she sat out the Bloomberg-Thompson race because he allegedly told her he was going to use public monies to bribe her with two, four per cent raises in return for her silence. Four years later, the members are still waiting for the raises.

She knifed state comptroller Carl McCall for New York governor (she endorsed Pataki, the right wing Republican) and Latino Freddy Ferrer for mayor in 2001- the clear choice of the membership after he received a rousing standing ovation from 20,000 members at Madsion Square Garden. She, not the members, backed her close friend City Controller Alan Hevesi- who is now in jail for looting a pension fun.

Weingarten also fired four consecutive black female writers; one of them won an NLRB case, was awarded $150,000 and got her job back. Weingarten was trying to break the union.

She also admitted to a group of UFT leaders that she had passed over a black man, Ron Davis, "too many times" for press secretary.
-Jim Callaghan

============
The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

Pearson’s plan to control education

Susan Ohanian included this in her daily update:

Don't miss the research on Pearson's intent to conquer the world. This research was commissioned by the British Columbia Teachers Federation. Where are our unions? The AFT is making model lessons for the Common Core.
http://www.susanohanian.org/show_research.php?id=494

Pearson’s plan to control education
Donald Gutstein
Report to the BC Teachers Federation
2012-06-30
http://susanohanian.org/show_research.php?id=494

Read this Report to the BC Teachers Federation. It is thorough; it is scary. It is critical information.

And here is some good news from Susan:

Schools That Change Communities

Susan Notes:

Schools That Change Communities a film by Bob Gliner 58 minutes Watch the trailer and order the film here
by Susan Ohanian
Rejoice. Here's a film about good things happening in schools.
A celebration of place-based education, Bob Gliner's film will lift your hearts--and your will to combat the regimented, standardized offal that Bill Gates has bought for the schools.
From primary graders in the Mattapan section of Boston learning about their neighborhoods to high schoolers in Watsonville, California documenting their community, these kids don't have to ask, "Why am I learning this?" They know. And so do their communities, which become such a vital part of the education exchange. That's the whole point, really, getting schoolkids connected in very real ways to their communities.
When high schoolers in Howard, South Dakota decided to take on the issue of getting people to spend money at home rather than traveling elsewhere, one girl wrote Senator Daschle for help. Everybody was amazed that he came in person. What astonished the student was "He took the time to listen."
It's a poignant moment, one I replayed several times. Students aren't used to anybody listening.
The whole school reform movement could be turned on end if people would listen more. Really listen.
People in Howard, South Dakota took the students' words to heart--because all the subject area teachers participated in this place-based learning effort to reinvigorate the town. And some of the results turn out to be "cutting edge" technology.
In Cottage Grove, Oregon, students at Kennedy Alternative High School are involved in the sustainability of the surrounding environment, and in Watsonville, California they are interviewing people in the town--migrant workers, the Salvation Army, the mayor, and lots of others--trying to learn about the economic problems and what they can do. As one student says, "There is a problem and we need to help fix it."
Cottage Grove students spend a few days out in the field and this experience energizes their studies back in the classroom. As an administrator says, "These studies aren't easier; they're different." So when students are learning math skills through their work on a wetland mitigation project, they see real problems, not just textbook math problems.
A profound comment 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?
"The neighborhood" is a common curriculum theme for primary graders, but in Mattapan children learn that "a neighborhood is not just where we live." Learning about civic engagement and "not to be a bystander" is an essential part of the pedagogy. Children interview adults, learning that "everybody has a story." At the end of the year the children create a professional quality radio program.
This film is about how schools can--and should--be critical parts of the surrounding communities. It is about students and teachers learning they have value. It is about students and teachers getting up from their desks and doing important work.
My advice is to buy two copies of this film, one for your local school board and one for your PTA. Write a letter to your local paper, advocating that they see the film as a first step to getting place-based learning in your community.
Write and tell members of the House and Senate Education Committees about it. We have schools doing good things, and this film highlights a few of them.

— Susan Ohanian, film review
docmakeronline.com

http://www.docmakeronline.com/schoolsthatchangecommunities.html

AFT innovation Priorities Show Feet Firmly Planted in the World of Ed Deform

Including merit pay, a longer day, common core, time during the day for data analysis and if you dig a little, all sorts of other goodies lurking behind ed deform.
Instead of redefining the debate into terms that would involve real learning, we get this.

Download the pdf below and leave any comments as you parse.
http://www.aft.org/pdfs/about/
IF_priorities2012.pdf

In case you think we have it bad here. Coming soon?

Lois Weiner

9:53am Aug 22

From Bogota, Colombia where I'm teaching for a few weeks: The Colombian teachers union is preparing a two-day strike for early September. Their primary demand is to push the government to stop the death threats (and assassinations, of which there have been many) against teachers.

Why Support Chicago Teachers at MORE event Thursday?

If you don't see the Chicago Teachers Union battle against all the forces arrayed against them as a seminal event in not only teacher union history, but in the entire labor movement, you are missing an essential point. Yes, Virginia, the success for failure of the CTU if they should strike will affect every single teacher here in NYC and nationally. Full information is a key ingredient for an active union and unionists.

Parent Trigger in Adelanto, CA

How did the Parent Trigger law originate?  The Parent Trigger was first conceived by a LA-based organization called the Parent Revolution, founded by a charter school operator and funded by the Broad, Walton and Gates Foundations.  The legislation was introduced in California by then-State Senator Gloria Romero, who now heads the California branch of the pro-privatization organization, Democrats for Education Reform. ------ NYC Parents Blog (FAQ re the movie “Won’t Back Down” and the Parent Trigger)

With the publicity surrounding "Won't Back Down" parent trigger laws are in the news. This story from Adelanto Ca will prove to be a hot one. As Leonie points out above, these are not grassroots movements as depicted in the film, which turns it into science fiction. While I pointed out in my recent post that I at times have mixed feelings about local bureaucracies (Supporters of Parent Trigger Film "Won't Back Down" Come Under Attack), I found myself rooting for the Adelanto school board in this one.

UPDATE: Aug. 22, 10PM from Ravitch:

President of the Adelanto School Board Challenges “Parent Revolution”

A few facts about this one, again from Leonie:

operatives trained and paid by the Parent Revolution urged parents at the Desert Trails School in Adelanto CA to sign two different petitions: one calling for smaller classes and other positive reforms, the other demanding that the school be turned over to a charter operator.  After the organizers submitted only the charter petition to the authorities, nearly 100 parents asked to withdraw their signatures.  Yet a judge has ruled that parents could not rescind their signatures and the conversion to a charter school should go forward. Even Gloria Romero, the author of the Parent Trigger law, has criticized the organization’s tactics, and said that presenting Adelanto parents with two different petitions to sign was “needlessly confusing.” 

So when it turns out that enough parents were manipulated into signing a petition where they were asked if they wanted to lower class sizes but found out they were being used to trigger a charter and then wanted their names removed which would have untriggered the trigger, the judge ruled against them. But the school board may have done an end run around the push for the school to be replaced by a charter. From Charters and Choice blog

California 'Parent-Trigger' Effort Thrown Back Into Turmoil

A California school board has approved a plan to restructure a school at the center of a closely watched "parent-trigger" dispute, but it's not the plan that a group of parents wanted—and it's not the plan they say a judge ordered put in place.
The Adelanto, Calif., school board voted Friday to accept a petition circulated by a group of parents seeking to become the first in the country to use a parent-trigger law to overhaul an academically struggling school. But the panel rejected the parents' preferred option, which was to convert Desert Trails Elementary into a charter school, the board's president, Carlos Mendoza, told Education Week in an e-mail. The board instead decided to move forward with a form of "alternate governance," he said, which would result in a longer school day, improved technology and other changes to the school.
But whether that plan will ever take effect is anything but certain.
The Adelanto board's actions drew an immediate, angry reaction from the parents seeking to change the school, who said the panel has run afoul of the letter of an court decision issued by a judge last month, which in their view clearly calls for the creation of a charter.
"They've violated the plain language of the order of the court," said Ben Austin, the executive director of Parent Revolution, a group that has helped the parents with the trigger effort. "The district seems to want to hold onto power, no matter what. ... There is no ambiguity about the judge's order."

How nice to see Ben Austin vexed. He will go back to court to force the charter on parents who choose not to have a charter. Now note this big lie in the article to make it appear that parent triggers are a slam dunk without mentioning that Florida turned it down.

A growing number of states have either approved or considered parent-trigger laws, policies that typically allow parents to revamp the operations, leadership, and personnel at academically struggling schools, if a majority of parents agree to those changes. Lawmakers aren't the only ones drawn to the idea. A movie titled "Won't Back Down," which tells the story of a fictionalized attempt at a school takeover, will be released next month.

[Superintendent] Mendoza pointed to the language of the judge's order, saying that school board has done nothing to interfere with allowing the parents to begin sorting through charter school proposals. "We have never stopped them from soliciting applications," he wrote to Education Week. The board simply voted to pursue another option, he said.
"I believe that the alternative governance is closer to what the Desert Trails Parent Union [has] been claiming to want than a charter school," Mendoza argued. The parents "now have a choice," he said. "They can partner with the district through the alternate governance plan and transform the school or they can continue to partner with Parent Revolution to further rob our kids with lawsuits."
Austin, however, scoffed at the board's reasoning, saying the judge had been clear that the school is to be converted to a charter.

Ben Austin wants parent choice, as long as it's limited to charters.

The school board took an option that Leonie point to:

But are there other ways to provide better “choices” for parents?  There are many ways that districts can provide more and better choices within the public school system, by creating magnet schools and specialized schools that unlike charters, do not drain resources from public schools, privatize public buildings or take decisions out of voters’ hands. Why should a public school built with taxpayer funds be given to a private corporation just because 51% of current users signed a petition?  If a local firehouse was ineffective in putting out fires, or a police station in fighting crime, would we choose to hand these public services over to a private company, or would we demand that our elected leaders improve them?

Leonie gives us some more history:

The first time the “parent trigger” was tried, Parent Revolution sent operatives into Compton CA, to ask parents to sign a petition saying that their local elementary school should be turned into a charter school. Some parents who signed the petition later said they been misled,  the effort was mired in lawsuits and ultimately fizzled. 

What does the Parent Trigger law call for?  If 51% of parents at a school can be persuaded to sign a petition calling for any of a narrow set of options – either firing all the teaching staff, closing the school, or privatizing the school by turning it over to a charter operator, this must occur.  None of these options has any track record of success.

How did the Parent Trigger law originate?  The Parent Trigger was first conceived by a LA-based organization called the Parent Revolution, founded by a charter school operator and funded by the Broad, Walton and Gates Foundations.  The legislation was introduced in California by then-State Senator Gloria Romero, who now heads the California branch of the pro-privatization organization, Democrats for Education Reform.  

How can we fight back?  Last spring, Florida parent groups, including Parents Across America, banded together to fight Parent Trigger legislation that had been introduced in the state legislature. By holding rallies and press conferences, calling their elected representatives, and speaking out about how the Parent Trigger is a ruse devised by corporate reformers to benefit charter operators rather than children, Florida parents prevented the legislation from being passed. 

Parents Union support the movie

A website, developed by The Protea Group Inc. called Parents for "Won't Back Down" supports the movie. Website is sponsored by:

Connecticut Parents Union, New York City Parents Union, Ohio Parents Union & the Texas Parents Union

Website Developed & Administered by The Protea Group Inc.

If you follow the links you will find direct and indirect attack on Leonie Haimson and Parents Across America.

Gwen Samuel, President of the Connecticut Parents Union closes her press release with this statement where she accuses people opposing the movie with trying to bully parents.

So, again, I ask, what is the big fuss and why would anyone bully parents to not watch a movie that will inspire parents to be more active in their child’s educational journey?

Oh, la di da, it's only a movie - and I neglected to mention that the movie is backed by the very people attacking teachers, unions and public education. 

Really, who is doing the bullying here? 

Mr. Letgo is Excessed, by Zeno

Let's hope Zeno continues the series. Thanks for posting to
EXCESS'D - A Teacher Without a Room 

If you are an excessed teacher or know one, send him/her to gemnyc@gmail.com to be added to the listserve.

Part 1:
http://youtu.be/BTqid3sTttQ


Part 2:
http://youtu.be/ywkQ0C6NSVI

Supporters of Parent Trigger Film "Won't Back Down" Come Under Attack

Over the years, the teachers’ unions have indeed guarded tenure protections and last-in-first-out layoff practices to a zealous degree that could at times seem indifferent to the welfare of schoolchildren. “We bear a lot of responsibility for this,” Weingarten told me in a phone interview on Friday. “We were focused — as unions are — on fairness and not as much on quality.”  -- Frank Bruni on "Won't Back Down" in NY Times

There she goes again. Randi straddling the line instead of using an opportunity to educate the press and the public about what is really going on.

Given my history of frustration with the union and my own maverick tendencies, the idea of teachers and parents voting to overturn the bureaucracy is appealing. In fact, in the late 90s I went to Randi Weingarten and proposed the UFT set up a charter school support system for teachers to work with parents to take over NYC schools one school at a time saying, "The people running the schools are just awful and we will never make progress until we have some control of the system." She responded, "You're probably right, but how can we trust....." and she stopped there. I know she was thinking, "How can we trust just any teachers?"

I had been so frustrated at the joint union and district oppression in my district and if there were a genuine trigger movement I might have gone that way too. I want to stress right here that the film does show a teacher fighting back and I will see the film before saying it out and out sucks.

But we always have to put films like "Won't Back Down" in context. Who is backing it? The same "Waiting for Superman" gang. The parent trigger concept in the hands of the people pushing it is extremely dangerous. And of course the union is evil in the film. But then again how often to I feel that way from the other side of the fence about our own union after fighting the Unity machine for over 40 years?

I will give the film credit for waking up some of our colleagues to the dangers while our union leadership seems to be asleep at the wheel. Or worse, collaborating on the other side, but not collaborating enough according to DFER and right wingers. Which makes my point -- why collaborate at all and not go all out?

The Frank Bruni article in today's New York Time about "Won't Back Down" made some interesting points about  unions and how they are vilified for not being willing to give when in fact Randi has been the gift that keeps giving. My response to Bruni would be how tenure protects kids and how the alternative is so much worse --- why doesn't he touch on the states where there is no tenure or effective union? Why doesn't Randi hammer this home in every interview and every tweet? Because you know my feelings: she is a neo-liberal lawyer with serious ed deform tendencies, not a teacher.

Here is a comment on the Bruni piece from Leonie Haimson:

As usual, treats this as solely a battle between union and “reformers”, and interviews Micah Lasher and Joe Williams. Dreadful piece. Micah Lasher claims “Democratic executives say “‘I’ve devoted all the resources I can, why can’t I get better results with the resources I have?’” With the largest class sizes in 13 years? Go leave a comment and tweet him at @frankbruni; he also has a Facebook page. He writes: I invite you to visit my blog, follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/frankbruni and join me on Facebook. Please DO!
Teachers on the Defensive - NYTimes.com - http://goo.gl/LNo7l

Diane Ravitch on the Bruni column. Here's an excerpt:

I am not going to write anything substantive about the movie celebrating the so-called "parent trigger" until I have seen it.

But the stories about it continue to miss the point about  why parents and teachers think it is a corporate-conceived and corporate-driven idea, for the benefit of corporate charter chains. Why not mention the Florida parents' fight to stop this so-called "parent empowerment"? If it really empowered parents, why did parents oppose it?

Here is the latest example. Frank Bruni, usually a thoughtful writer, has an article in today's New York Times. He sees the movie as part of the ongoing (and at least partially justified) critique of teachers unions. He never mentions that the two states that enthusiastically endorsed parent trigger laws (after California did it first, during the Schwarzenegger years), are right-to-work states, Texas and Mississippi. Nor did he mention the role of the rightwing group ALEC in promoting the trigger idea as a way to hasten the privatization of public education.

Diane links to another critique by Larry Ferlazzo, a prolific blogger and Sacramento teacher, calls Williams on his line about finding and rewarding the best teachers.

More from Diane: A Parent’s Letter to Frank Bruni of the New York Times
--------

Save Our Schools Takes a Stand

Here is the 6 page document they produced regarding the film and the Teachers Rock concert. You can download it here.

Press Release Teachers Rock Documents

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Mona Davids jumps on the movie bandwagon

In this war we are in those who try to straddle the line don't make friends on either side. See one Randi Weingarten. Thus, some activists in NYC were disappointed to learn that Mona Davids of the NYC Parents Union has jumped on the bandwagon with her support of the film. The press release from Parents Unions in 4 states used the ed deform buzz words (adults and children to define which side you are on:

 putting aside politics and adult self-interests by putting children first

Words that could come right from the pages of Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee.

Tne NYC Parent Union press release with links to the movie FB and Twitter feeds. (Note the WBD FB page is censoring comments.)

Now, Mona has been an ally over the past few years and had a role in our film criticizing charters despite her being a charter supporter. I can't even tell you how much help she was and she has taken flack for her support of the film.

She had gotten off to a pretty bad start when I first met her in the summer and fall of 2009 when she supported Joel Klein and then showed up from her Bronx home at a hearing at PS 15 over PAVE charter school in Red Hook Brooklyn to charge the teachers at the school with being interlopers from outside the neighborhood. I dubbed her "Moaning Mona." Some of the videos I shot were pretty funny.

But Mona began reaching out early in 2010 and over the years everyone made nice despite differences and I began to refer to her as "Magnificent Mona." And she has been a stalwart lining up with anti-corporate ed deformers on many issues, including helping lead the assault on the Cathie Black chancellor case.

Now I should point out that Mona has been pushing her own version of a parent trigger law here in NY State, which has caused some people to take issue with. But as I say, in the overall context of her work, many of us didn't get our underwear in a knot over it.

But her signing onto the film did bother me and some others. I feel that by supporting this film at this time of a general assault on unions and public education by the right, Mona's support for the film puts her in the public perception on the wrong side of the line. Here is a comment from someone associated with the national Save Our Schools Movement -- a person who doesn't know Mona or her work:

We MUST do all we can to fight this. Note the name of the group, "Parent's Union." Someone said at at our meeting that the right wing is taking over our terminology, so no one knows who is on what side.

Mona's hard work being branded by someone in SOS as a right wing front group which is not true. Another parent wrote:

Has she suddenly flipped sides? She quite publicly tweeted her thanks to Campbell Brown as well.

That is the danger Mona faces in linking the NYC Parents Union with a film being pushed by the right wing, DFER and all the other ed deformers. Emails have been flying around about this behind the scenes and there is a renewed wariness about Mona and her motives. I'll wait and see and give her the benefit of the doubt, for now. It might be fun to see her at the premiere of the film on Sept. 28 if we manage to hold some protest rally over the message of the film.

Mona and I had a bit of a testy interchange yesterday over her support for the film after I asked her if "Moaning Mona" was returning. She said she wanted people to see the film and make up their own minds. Hey, Diane Ravitch is also saying she won't comment on the film until she sees it. But I pointed out this point from her press release:

The “Won’t Back Down” movie displays a beautiful partnership between parents, teachers and the community to improve a low performing school.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

FAQ re the movie “Won’t Back Down” and the Parent Trigger 

 

Did CNN's Randi Kaye Ask Rhee About the DC Cheating Scandal Coverup Under Her Watch?

[Randi Kaye] and her researchers are totally uninformed. And they feed their uninformed views to the American public. This is what is frightening! --- Diane Ravitch

Biased journalism 101

See the Kaye/Rhee Interview. What any person who considers herself a journalist would ask when Rhee brought up the term "effective" teacher. Define an effective teacher? Then didn't that definition result in a major cheating scandal under your watch as head of DC schools? What about the level of alienation of people that led to the mayor losing the election due to the impact of your policies? That was the type of interview Randi Kaye did with Ravich while letting Rhee off the hook.

I thought Diane had an opening when talking about the failures of merit pay and the testing used to measure it by pointing to the Rhee regime in DC and how it lead to a cheating scandal that was covered up (as even a former Rhee fan Jay Matthews points to).

See my last post earlier in the day: Biased CNN's Randi Kaye Does Not Deserve Merit Pay

And Diane Ravitch's follow-up post today: What Readers Said About CNN and Randi Kaye

I went to CNN assuming I was invited to express my differences with Rhee, who gets far more airtime than I to present her agenda of attacking US education, smearing teachers, calling for an end to tenure and seniority, and demanding merit pay, charter schools, vouchers, for-profit charter schools, for-profit virtual schools, and more testing.
But there was no discussion of my views, no opportunity to present them. Instead I faced a series of loaded questions intended to put me on the defensive (some of the worst were left out of the televised version). They were “gotcha” questions. What do you say to this? And what about that?

Last year at Education Nation, another biased reporter, Raheema Ellis, had Rhee on a panel with a former Atlanta school board member but only talked about the Atlanta cheating scandal. I got to the mic and asked Ellis why she was letting Rhee off the hook.

Rhee almost choked. One of the fun moments although all too brief.

Biased CNN's Randi Kaye Does Not Deserve Merit Pay

[Randi Kaye's) question was nonsensical and made CNN look stupid. Journalists have an audience in millions. That's why US public is so misinformed. Shame on CNN. There was no effort to elicit my views, only a determination to prove me wrong and to assert that US education is terrible.
... Diane Ravitch on her appearance on the CNN Interview: What They Dropped Out

... who needs to read about lack of homework preceding interview.- Tweet from Arthur Goldstein regarding @RandiKaye interview.

Compare how Randi Kaye questioned Diane Ravitch (I can't find the video yet) with her gentle interview where she allowed a grotesque-looking Michelle Rhee to bloviate.

Perdido Street School posted this before the interview but he was totally right:

 CNN Does "Gotcha" Interview With Ravitch After Softball Interview With Michelle Rhee (UPDATED)

Diane Ravitch posts the following:

I taped the interview a few minutes ago.

It airs tomorrow at 9-10 am EST.

It was a gotcha session.

This is the letter I sent to my contact at CNN.

This was one of the most biased interviews I have ever done, and I have done many.
Randi Kaye asked me about NAEP scale scores, which was technically a very dumb question, and I was stunned.
She thinks that a scale score of 250 on a 500 point scale is a failing grade, but a scale score is not a grade at all.
It’s a trend line.
She asserted that the scale scores are a failing grade for the nation.
That is like saying that someone who scores a 600 on the SAT is a C student, because it is only 75% of 800. But that’s wrong.
The scale is a technical measure. It is not a grade, period.
Then she asked me about an issue in Michigan, which fortunately, I had written about. But it was clear she was trying to blindside me.
The point of her question was to blame teachers, and I refused to be pushed into her trap.
Then she read two hostile comments about my CNN post and asked for my response.
Was that supposed to be a balanced or fair interview?
There was no effort to elicit my views, only a determination to prove me wrong and to assert that US education is terrible.
Shame on CNN.

I have already called and expressed my disgust that CNN did a hit piece on Ravitch after doing a softball interview with Rhee.

I also noted that since CNN's ratings are in the toilet and nobody really watches the channel anymore, if Ms. Ravitch goes on another news network and responds to the CNN attack, more people will hear and see her anyway.

You can leave feedback about Randi Kaye, the CNN "journalist" who conducted the attack interview here:

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/#cnn_FBKCNNTV

You can call and leave feedback here about the interview verbally here: 404.827.1500 option 1. That's the "News Tip" line, but they'll transfer you.

Shame on CNN indeed.

Some tweets after the interview:

Arthur Goldstein ‏@TeacherArthurG

At @CNN, since they know nothing about merit pay, they let Rhee blather on about it, and are shocked when @DianeRavitch calls them on it.

1h Diane Ravitch ‏@DianeRavitch

@TeacherArthurG @CNN Share your comments with @randikaye

53m Arthur Goldstein ‏@TeacherArthurG

@DianeRavitch Over at @CNN, @RandiKaye is shocked and stunned that an electronics industry lobbying group supports outsourcing.

Chicago teachers authorize strike! Come build solidarity & learn about the struggle

UPDATE: 10AM




http://youtu.be/IxVYFm2g9CM

The Chicago Teachers Union is currently on the front lines of a fight to defend public education. On one side the 30,000 members of the CTU have called for a contract that includes fair compensation, meaningful job security for qualified teachers, smaller class sizes and a better school day with Art, Music, World Language and appropriate staffing levels to help our neediest students.

On the other side, the Chicago Board of Education—which is managed by out of town reformers and Broad Foundation hires with little or no Chicago public school experience—has pushed to add two weeks to the school year and 85 minutes to the school day, eliminate pay increases for seniority, evaluate teachers based on student test scores, and slash many other rights.

Teachers, parents and community supporters in Chicago have fought valiantly—marching, filling auditoriums at hearings and parent meetings, even occupying a school and taking over a school board meeting. Most recently, 98 percent of our members voted to authorize a strike. But now we find ourselves facing new opponents—national education privatizers, backed by some of the nation's wealthiest people. They are running radio ads, increasing press attacks, and mounting a PR campaign to discredit the CTU and the benefits of public education.

From George Schmidt

The signs are being printed, and anyone who thinks Chicago's Bullies-In-Chief are going to settle a reasonable union contract for the city's teachers without a serious strike have no experiences with facing down real bullies. Rahm and the billionaires backing him (the same people who made sure he "earned" $18 million during his years as what he called "Relationship Banking") hate unions (unless we are on our knees in company unions) and still feel they can manipulate the media and the "messaging" against the city's teachers and real public schools.

A discussion featuring a presentation by a Chicago Teachers Union member

Thursday, August 23rd

6:30 p.m.

at The Murphy Institute

25 West 43rd Street, between 5th and 6th avenues

18th Floor, Room C/D

Public schools, teachers and their unions are under attack throughout the country.  The drive to privatize our public schools and strip away teacher protections is only accelerating.   In Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel canceled a promised 4% pay raise to Chicago teachers and proposed lengthening the school day by 20% with only a 2% raise.  In addition, Emanuel proposes implementing a merit pay system for teachers--a similar system in Baltimore has led to 60% of teachers receiving unsatisfactory ratings.  In response, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has refused to back down and has shown the power of solidarity, holding large rallies and forging alliances with community members.  The CTU is demanding smaller class sizes, fair pay and a diverse and fulfilling curriculum for Chicago students.  This spring, 90% of all CTU members voted to authorize a strike.  98% of those voting authorized a strike.   

The CTU's campaign has met with some initial success.  Emanuel recently agreed to hire almost 500 teachers, mostly arts, PE and enrichment teachers.  These teachers will be hired from a pool of laid-off, experienced teachers.  The result is that a longer school day will not force teachers to work longer and harder with no compensation.

While this victory is inspiring, the CTU's strike preparations continue, as there has been no agreement on teacher pay, class sizes, merit pay and other important issues.  It is urgent that teachers, parents and community members show our solidarity with CTU.  We also have a lot to learn from CTU's struggle.

Come hear a presentation by a CTU member and help organize solidarity for the Chicago teachers here in NYC!

Stand with CTU!

Sponsored by (list in formation):  Movement of Rank and File Educators, Black New Yorkers for Educational Excellence, Coalition for Public Education, Grassroots Education Movement (GEM), Labor Notes, New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE), New York City Labor Against the War, OWS Labor Outreach Committee, Independent Community of Educators (ICE).

Contact nycctusolidarity@gmail.com to help organize the event or to co-sponsor

Albert Shanker on Merit Pay

Shanker says some interesting and contradictory things in these statements. I raise the issue here to support my theme that in any ways Randi Weingarten has not shifted the position of the AFT/UFT far from where Shanker was coming from, though later in this post you will see Shanker say something that you won't hear from Weingarten.

Meet the Press, May, 1983

Shanker said he was urging all teachers to keep "an open mind" about merit pay. He praised elements of the plan pro-posed by Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander that was blocked by strenuous lobbying by the NEA's state affiliate. Shanker said Alexander's plan would provide "very large rewards" to a large number of Tennessee teachers, who would have a voice in determining who got the bonus pay. He said the plan had some shortcomings, but "meets many of the objections which teachers traditionally have raised."

The MacNeil/Lehrer Report, March 30, 1982

MacNEIL: Are you saying that a teacher cannot by himself or herself make himself better by an act of will in order to gain more pay?

Mr. SHANKER: That's right. If you pay me more money I will not sing any better than I usually sing, and whenever I sing I sing as well as I can, and whenever I teach I teach as well as I can.

MacNEIL: Well, why, if extra pay is an incentive for good performance everywhere else in the American system, should it not be for teachers?

Mr. SHANKER: Well, there are some things where extra pay is an incentive and works, and there are other fields -- for instance, I doubt very much that if you gave a soldier in the middle of a battle more money that that soldier would do any better. And I don't think anybody has ever proposed it. I think that people in battle generally fight as well as they can because they're fighting for their own lives. And I think a teacher in a classroom is fighting for his or her self respect, professional life, and that the -- I would add one other thing. You know, I don't know of any other field where people get punished for being satisfactory, and that's part of this proposal. If you're satisfactory you're punished. I also feel that, you know, whether you're viewed as being satisfactory or superior largely depends on how you stand in relationship or in comparison to your colleagues. And if I'm in a school, and if I know that my evaluation and rating is going to depend on not only how well I do, but [how] everyone else in that school does, I'm not going to help other teachers if I have some professional talents. Instead of cooperating with my colleagues and helping them solve prob-lems, the first thing I'm going to think of is, "Gee, if they've got this same ability that I do, I'm not going to look like I'm superior, because they all have it." So one of the things that this sets up is, instead of setting up a cooperative and mutu-ally supportive atmosphere, it sets up very destructive competition.

This discussion came out of an email from James Boutin, our former NYC colleague now working in Seattle.

Hi NYCers,

It seems we have something similar to E4E sprouting out here in Seattle. The guy below says Al Shanker endorsed merit pay. Anyone know if this is true?

Teachers United is an interesting development to me. They work with Stand for Children, support charters and merit pay, tell stories about how their TFA members raised test scores dramatically at all the schools they ever worked at, and say they support the Washington Education Association and people in the WEA while suggesting that teachers consider working outside the union to get things done....

http://crosscut.com/2012/06/21/k-12/109245/teachers-

James Boutin

Public School Teacher, www.anurbanteacherseducation.


Pat Dobosz suggested some sites:

Ed Notes Online: Merit Pay, the UFT, TJC, and NCLB

Shanker Blog » Revisiting The Merits Of Merit Pay

What Albert Shanker Said About Merit Pay « Diane Ravitch's blog

Jeff Kaufman found some interesting items

Like many issues Shanker’s views on merit pay were nuanced and at times appeared contradictory. I have attached two articles (SEE PDFs BELOW). One, a transcript from the MacNeil Lehrer News Report in 1982 seems to be emphatic in his opposition to merit pay and the second article is about an appearance less than a year later on Meet the Press (but after a then Tenn. Gov Alexander proposal to teacher distributed merit pay) in which he speaks in favor. I have not reviewed hundreds of other statements and articles he is either quoted or wrote about this issue but I am sure there are more nuanced positions in there.

John Lawhead followed up with:

Shanker's openness to merit pay in May '83 followed his endorsement of the Nation at Risk report which was released a month before.  Merit pay was one of its recommendations.  In supporting the report he reversed himself on a number of issues.

In the Kahlenberg biography Sandra Feldman is quoted saying, "We all had this visceral reaction to it. You know, 'This is horrible.  They're attacking teachers.'  Shanker's shift shocked everyone.  He obviously didn't bother waiting for consensus from the rest of the AFT leadership.  For him it didn't work that way.

Here are the pdfs from 30 years ago. Wow. Really interesting stuff. Thanks Jeff.

The MacNeil/Lehrer Report, March 30, 1982
Meet the Press, The Associated Press, May 29, 1983

Here is something Shanker said that some might wish Weingarten/Mulgrew would repeat:

Shanker, asked if his union would defend incompetent teachers against firing, said, "We'd defend them, but we defend murderers in our society, too, and rapists and everybody else. The fact is that you're innocent until proven guilty."

Reagan's Attacks Hurt Teaching Profession, Meet the Press, Al Shanker


Grading Teachers the MacNeilLehrer Report M

Today- Change the Stakes Meeting Plus Some Facts

UPDATE: 7PM - I'm sitting at the meeting for the past 2 hours with over 20 teachers, parents, college teachers, researchers and even some kids. On an Friday in August. And every minute of the meeting has been so rich and enlightening. These meetings will continue the 3rd Friday of every month. Next: Sept. 21, 5:30PM at CUNY.

Change the Stake, an offshoot of the  Grassroots Education Movement, has become one of the few true parent/teacher groups that I know of. We have a full agenda today and I will update people on the status of our next film about high stakes testing.

Friday, August 17th, 5 PM SHARP (everyone welcome to arrive at 4:30 for pre-meeting mingling)

Room 5414 CUNY Grad Center, 5th Ave. between 34th and 35th Streets

PLEASE BRING ID TO ENTER THE BUILDING

We have tentatively scheduled a separate meeting on Tuesday, September 4th to specifically discuss the Opt Out experience of last school year, and think strategically about the Opt Out strategy for the coming year.

===

Pat D writes:

Here is a good article to read.  Kohn speaks about boycotting tests as wellas why we should be against them and what we can do. Fighting the Tests by Alfie Kohn

Some Statistics:

... a recent poll in Texas which showed that only 27% of teachers in Texas felt that increased test scores reflected increased learning and higher quality teaching. 85% of teachers said that they neglected subjects not covered by the TAAS exam.

Senator Paul Wellstone Speech on High-Stakes Testing: http://www.wpaag.org/

WellstoneHighStakesTests.htm

The following are from:

Correlations: Pass Rates and Poverty Rates « GFBrandenburg's Blog

 Janine follows:

The link to Sen. Wellstone's speech isn't connecting, (maybe you must be a member?) but lead me to seek it out here: 
http://www.wpaag.org/

WellstoneHighStakesTests.htm

The site that (likely once) had the post is an organization I've never heard of and maybe we should be reaching out to them, since (unless funded by those who are only pretending to be for children), seem to hold the values we also hold:  http://www.
educationrevolution.org/

Though I was not familiar with Sen. Wellstone's perspective on most things, I always thought his death was questionable.  After reading this, I'm even more suspicious......What a loss to this cause.  For those who look further into things like this:  http://www.snowshoefilms.com/
wellstone.html


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