Dear Staff, You're doing an amazing job. Too bad the union busting mayor and all his acolytes don't get it.
Having cast of the manacles of the Quality Review rubric, the framework for effective teaching... the NYS standards and every other guide, I have relied on my 27 years as a teacher, dean, supervisor and principal to conduct this formal observation... I use my many years in education as my guide.... I know a good school when I see it... Brian De Vale
The operating system for inBloom is being built by Wireless, now renamed Amplify, a subsidiary of NewsCorp owned by Rupert Murdoch and run by Joel Klein. [Note Randi Weingarten on Board of inBloom]Leonie Haimson and crew to hold press conference Thurs, 11AM.
inBloom Inc. is a nonprofit organization established to carry forward the mission of the Shared Learning Collaborative, which is to work to make personalized learning a reality for every U.S. student. inBloom provides technology services that allow states and public school districts to better integrate student data and learning applications to support sustainable, cost-effective personalized learning. inBloom is funded with initial philanthropic support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Carnegie Corporation of New York. For more information about inBloom, visit www.inBloom.org.
Old Secretaries of Ed just keep getting consulting gigs. Margaret Spellings is on the board of directors of the new inBloom enterprise. Here are the rest.
Take a look at the Governance and Organization Technical Advisory Group:
In addition to seeking advice from more than 100 education, technology and business advisors, inBloom benefited from a six-member governance advisory group with a range of expertise. This former group committed significant time to help design and set up the long term governance and organizational structure for inBloom, Inc.:
Michael Horn, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Education, Innosight Institute
Michael Lomax, President and CEO, United Negro College Fund
David Riley, President, Alembic Foundation
Andrew Rotherham, Co-Founder and Partner, Bellwether Education Partners
Cheryl Vedoe, President and CEO, Apex Learning
Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers
AFT dues-paying members, how much will you stand for?
inBloom is nonprofit. All its providers are for-profits. inBloom Providers are the usual suspects.
If you can stand the horror, an inBloom white paper on standards alignment, providing chapter and verse of how they sequence learning.
This whole package provides a bit more information about what the Common Core Gates Standards are really up to.
You can see a small excerpt in Gates Foundation Anal-Retentive, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Strikes Again.
Here's an excerpt from an inBloom white paper Learning Standard Alignment in inBloom Technology, page 20. Copyright 2012 inBloom, Inc. and its affiliates. They want all the skill duckies in neat little rows. No one seems willing to put a name on this document. I don't think there's a human name in the whole paper. The paper describes:Objective assessment results provide an important measure of student fulfillment of learning objectives. Again, for inBloom compatible applications to analyze student objective achievement, assessment results must be provided to the inBloom Data store. But assessment metadata, indicating standard alignment, must also be included in the inBloom Data store; assessment maintainers, vendors and educators will need to provide this alignment information.
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| RTC "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", March 9, 2013 |
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In short, I sell my soul to RW and the AFT for what?!?!? a brief mention about how hard I work. Think of this when there is a ”Share My Lesson“ based book or curricula being published and sold as ”AFT developed.“ --- teacher on ICE-mail.A few days ago I wrote a semi-serious piece about this Share My Lesson crap from the AFT (Does Randi Want to Steal Your Work?). I can't find it now but Susan Ohanian also did a riff on this. Think of it for a second. The AFT/UFT has sat by as the schools are corporatized and teachers are set against each other and in that climate is promoting a sharing approach. Context, context, context. Let's share with fellow test resisters and batters for public ed.
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On Monday March 11th the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) will meet at Brooklyn Technical High School at 6 PM to vote on the closure of 26 schools.
They will also vote to replace and co-locate many of the schools with charters schools.
Join members of the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE), students, parents, and community members.Here is the text of the MORE leaflet
Rally and Action5:00 pm Protest Against Senseless School Closings and Rally In Support of our Fellow Teachers, Faculty, Students, Parents, and Communities6:00pm PEP meetingJoin the rally, stay for the hearing to speak against school closings and co-locations!
From Chicago, to Philadelphia, to right here in New York City the fight against senseless school closings has reached a fever pitch. The communities are coming out by the masses and standing together as one against the corporate “reform” forces. Everyone now knows the truth, closing schools is not about helping our children nor is about better serving our communities; it’s about privatizing education and turning our children into profits. Closing schools is meant to make wealthy individuals wealthier while having no consideration for our children. We are calling on all educators, parents, students, and community members to join us and protest further harm to our students, our city, and our future. The puppet panels making these decisions have no regard for the city they supposedly serve. A mayor, who has no mandate, received less then 55% percent of the vote, appointed these members. He is serving an illegal third term after the the citizens of New York voted for term limits, with less than a year left in his term he has no right to close our schools. The time is now to halt this process, which has not resulted in better schools for our city. Many of the schools that will be closed will be replaced by charter schools where a CEO makes millions, while low paid, in many cases non-union teachers have tremendous turn-over rates. Children in charter schools are routinely exposed to less experienced teachers and there is no substantial evidence that there is any improvement in their education. Instead of filling the pockets of private individuals with public funds, let’s reinvest that money where it should be, with our children in our public schools.
The governor in speeches through-out the state has spoken of wrap-around services, we say why wait? Let’s offer this immediately and not a second later to all the schools that have been targeted for “reutilization”. Let’s provide our children more after-school programs, more one to one services, and offer them a real chance to succeed by giving them the full resources of the state and city.There are excessed teachers and guidance counselors who are shuttled from school to school each week, we demand that these highly trained and experienced professionals be placed in schools targeted for closing immediately. This will allow class sizes to be reduced and students to receive more services. This is reform, this is helping our students, and this is truly serving the community.
The Mayor, DOE, and puppet panels must come out and say the truth, closing schools is racist policy. As our candidate for UFT treasurer Camille Eterno stated "there are never schools that have significant white populations that are targeted for closure but rather it is in places like Southeast Queens, a mostly African American neighborhood and in other predominantly African American or Latino areas where schools are closed." The government must have a full examination of this policy. In a city as diverse as New York the people deserve an answer as to why only schools in communities with African-Americans, Latinos, and immigrant communities are continuously closed. Until we have answers there must be a moratorium on school closings.
The DOE under chancellor Walcott must put aside it’s anti-teacher campaign and work with our union to empower our communities. Let’s work together to rebuild the schools by sitting down with parents, students, and the educators of targeted schools to find real solutions to real issues. The answer is not to bring in consultants that cost millions with ideas they pretended to read in some education journal, the answer is to use those funds to better serve our students by adding classes, staff, and services that directly affect pupils.
The School Leadership Teams (SLT) which are voted in and represent all constituents of the school; parents,staff, and students need to be given power in this process. They should be consulted in any decision that affects the school. Bring in new administrators that are chosen by a procedure that best serves the interests of the entire community, not a superintendent or network leader sitting in an office that has never visited the school. The current C-30 process is a fraud and is for show only. The parents and staff have no voice and they know it. This must change, the people in charge of a school have a real impact and the process for choosing them must seek to be as democratic as possible to ensure students are getting the right person for the job. If the C-30 and SLT have been turned into shams how can we expect the schools to succeed. This was all done on purpose so that the mayor and patronage lackeys could close down schools and bring in their millionaire friends to steal from our public funds. Let's change this now instead of closing schools, let's empower the members of our schools to make changes that best serve everyone.
MORE demands an immediate end to closing schools; we will not rest until this demand is met. We stand in solidarity with all community members everywhere that are fighting to preserve public education against forces of reform that seek to fatten their bank accounts NOT serve our community. Join us this Monday, join every school closing hearing, every PEP, to have your voice heard, and most importantly to protect our children's future.
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| UFT advice to teachers under assault |
Every time my wife and I get the NY Teacher Newspaper, at home, I place $100 on the kitchen table. I bet her that amount that from cover to cover there will be no articles or mentions of real stories of attacks on educators. No stories on the existence of Rubber Rooms. ATRs or abusive administrators. The NY Teacher circulated an article that the number of ATRs dropped to 831 last April. The latest numbers are 1475, yet no story on that increase.
I sit in a Rubber Room, for over 300 days, with no charges. I'm under investigation for over 400 days with no charges. I'm sent 20 miles away from my school and not a word. Where is my union? Where is my union paper? Where is the story?I'm not alone though.There are 17 of us in my building and an estimated 400 across the city. Most have no idea why they are there with almost no contact from their union. Most are veteran educators and minorities. Almost all are career changers. Are educators who were in another field first more likely to perform misconduct or are they more likely to speak up and get targeted?Forget about us though. We still only account for about half of percent. A bigger issue is the thousands of educators attacked while they are still in school. I receive emails from many of them. They feel helpless and can't speak up about issues for fear of retaliation. The students suffer.I'm just saying these are stories that are real and relevant to many rank and file members. They are not covered.Where is Callahan?-Francesco Portelos mrportelos@gmail.com protectportelos.org
Parent
Educator
UFT Chapter Leader IS 49
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” -Martin Luther King Jr.
*sent from my Galaxy S3. Please pardon any typos
Paper(work)-thin: I Thought We Were Supposed to be *Teaching*
http://paulvhogan.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/paperwork-thin-i-thought-we-were-supposed-to-be-teaching/
Like death and taxes, certain things will be with us forever. Teaching will always involve paperwork . But , just as certainly, teaching is not only paperwork. At least it ought not to be.
Our union (UFT) seemed to “get” this at one point; even successfully pushing for a safety-valve mechanism in the 2007 contract to guard against paperwork excess and abuse. (And that’s as it should be. They, our union leaders, were teachers at one point. I think. Weren’t they? ) So… what happened?
I lobbied for *years* to get a ”paperwork reduction” committee established (as per Art 8-I, Sect. 1. of the NYC UFT contract. BTW, people should actually READ THE LANGUAGE of these things. They’re chock-full of surprises.) in my district only to be repeatedly stonewalled by the unelected UFT District Representative then in charge. When I approached him face to face at the Delegate Assembly… after a number of emails on the topic went unacknowledged…. it was like I was speaking a language other than English.: “PaperWHICH?” “ReductionWHAT?” “CommitteeWHO?!?”
After the initial shock, ( Someone was actually calling him out about something important !) he quickly gathered his wits. We didn’t NEED a paperwork reduction committee, he explained. His eyes which darted nervously around the room at first , almost bird-like, now met mine with a dead-on earnestness . The UFT had everything under control. There was a lawsuit making it’s way thru the courts… the outcome of which would surely end “excessive paperwork” as we then ( This was about 3 years ago, I’d say.) knew it.
I went home that night and googled every possible phraseology and word-combination that I thought might elicit a reference to the UFT being involved in a law suit — the subject or object of which was paperwork reduction. Coming up empty, I emailed DR ( “Flash”; I decided that this one needed a name.) again. No response. ( Don’t these folks know how to click the “reply” button ?) Metamessage: “Leave me the fuck alone.”
So I left Flash alone. Maybe I’ll need him someday for something *vital*, I reasoned, not unreasonably. For something URGENT. Better not antagonize him. Instead, I continued… as did everyone else in the district…. to spend hour after unnecessary hour dutifully producing meaningless, superfluous and redundant paperwork for the nightmarishly dysfunctional bureaucratic swamp that increasingly IS the New York City Department of Education in the second decade of the twenty-first century; the hideous offspring produced by the marriage of two distinct, nominally antagonistic yet depressingly similar first cousins).
Then… around March 2011…. my writing hand beginning to throb, the fingers on BOTH hands seeming to strike the keyboard with increasing inaccuracy, ( Is this what early carpal tunnel feels like? I fretted uselessly.) I decided to pick-up the paperwork gauntlet once again.; give the swamp people one more try. I wrote to the UFT VP with jurisdiction over Flash in March of 2011 as follows:
“I’m a Special Ed teacher … and a UFT Delegate. We are DROWNING in paperwork. I am told by administrators to anticipate that it will get worse. Our contract with the DOE reads as follows: ‘Committees composed equally of representatives of the Board and the Union shall be established at the central , district and division levels to review and reduce unnecessary paperwork required of employees.’ (ARTICLE 8, SECTION I; # 1) Is there, in fact, a committee established ( in my district) as described? If so, when does it meet? Where does it meet? Does it issue minutes or summary reports for public consumption? Can I participate in the activities of the committee(s) ? Our District (Rep.) … has not responded to emails pertaining to this topic. Again, we are DROWNING in paperwork. Can you help us?”
The Veep’s reply was a bit indirect but the upshot was : yes, all districts, including mine, are supposed to have paperwork reduction committees and she would see to it that the District Rep ( i.e. Flash) would take the necessary steps to get this going. “About time”, I muttered to myself. The date on the contract is October 2007. We were now in March 2011. But, grateful for the confirmation that I *wasn’t* crazy after all, and that there was at least ONE person in the union hierarchy with whom I could profitably communicate, I looked forward to the chance to participate in a process that promised to free-up more time for the teachers I represented. So that they’d have at least SOME time to actually, you know, *teach*.
But we weren’t out of the woods yet. ( Are we ever?) If the DOE’s wheels grind notoriously slowly, waiting for the UFT to implement its OWN part of the deal is “like watching (educational) paint dry.” April came and went. As did May. Instinct ( and experience) told me it was time to act.
In June I wrote the UFT Veep as follows:
“It’s been a long time — over two years — since I asked this question originally: ‘Is there an actual paperwork reduction committee in (my district) as described by the contract?’” (Yes, I was back to square one. But at least I was somewhere again.)
The VP replied the same day. It was as if we were communicating for the first time. “I have copied ……. (“Flash”; alas, still my DR); he will give you the updates to the status of the …. paperwork committee.”
June passed. As did July. Still no sign of life from Flash. On August 21, I wrote the Unity Veep as follows:
“Still haven’t heard from (Flash). In fact, I’ve *never* heard from (Flash), despite the fact that I began asking him about this… at polite but regular intervals … over two years ago.”
(Was there something going on here that no one was telling me? My mind raced. Did Flash even exist? “Getta hold of yourself, pops. You saw him yourself at the DA two years ago. Remember?” )
I talked myself down but I was getting tired of playing this game. I know in the DOE cultural taboo-hierarchy, going over someone’s head is *way* up there on the gravity scale. It is… second only perhaps to going public… the penultimate transgression.” Bette Davis, comes to mind all of a sudden: “Men have been hanged for less!” , she screams in All About Eve.
Screw it. I was getting too tired to care anymore.
After not hearing back from UFT Veep regarding the apparent disappearance of Flash, I wrote President Mulgrew on Sept 7, 2011 as follows: “Perhaps at this point you should intervene. I’ve been trying to get a simple answer to what I thought was a simple question for about three years. The contract says there are “paperwork reduction” committees established at the district level. I’m in District ____. I’d like info re. my committee:
1. When does it meet?
2. Are there minutes from these meetings and can I access same?
3. How can I participate?
Michael, we are drowning in paperwork. Please help.”
The next day, I received my first email ever from my new ‘best friend forever’, Flash.
Hey, guess what? We’re setting up a joint UFT/DOE paperwork reduction committee. Would I be interested in participating?
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| Penny gives paw of approval |
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| Penny signing petitions |
