The Wall Street Journal Comes Calling on GEM: Who's Really on the Moral Defensive Now?

Did Real Reformer/GEM protest at film make Rupert's crew nervous?

This was the lead in an editorial in today's Wall Street Journal:

The new film "Waiting for 'Superman'" is getting good reviews for its portrayal of children seeking alternatives to dreadful public schools, and to judge by the film's opponents it is having an impact.

Astoundingly, the WSJ devoted one of its 3 major editorials today to the Grassroots Education Movement-led rally at the opening of the film on Sept. 24. My take is that it was our protest that had the real impact for the WSJ to do this editorial condemning the Real Reformers and trying to tie it into the unions.

Not only am I quoted but there is a plug for our upcoming film "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman," – the trailer has already topped 6000 hits and our rally film has almost 800 hits.

Some more funnies from the editorial:

....leaving the monopolists to the hapless recourse of suggesting that reformers are merely the tools of hedge fund philanthropists.
....The odd complaint is that donors to charter schools include some hedge fund managers. [my emphasis]
....We saw a trailer for this anti-"Superman" film, which denounces most of the leading advocates for charter schools. The irony is that most of those criticized are Democrats or noted liberals [we actually agree here] who've been mugged by public school reality.

The editorial closes with:

The teachers unions continue to wield enough power to deny choices to these students, but their days as political supermen are numbered.

Ahhh, so right. The days of top-down worm-like teacher unions' days are hopefully numbered. As CORE in Chicago has proven. Yes, the editorial writers at the WSJ and the ed deformers should be worried.

Read this back story of my interview with the WSJ and then read the full editorial, but don't break a rib laughing.


I get this call late last week from someone named Bari Weiss who writes for the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal. Okaaaay, we know where she stands on ed deform before she utters another word. She wants to talk about "Waiting for Superman" and the protest held in front of the theater by GEM and the Real Reformers. I know, I know Bari. You loved the film and didn't love our protest. But Bari is not going to tell me that openly. She is posing as an unbiased reporter, after all.

So we talk for a good amount of time - at least 20 minutes or more. I tell her the protest consisted of public school parents and teachers. She asks about GEM and the protest. I tell her these are mostly young, activist teachers, some even Teach for America alums – an interesting development in that most of them have spent the overwhelming bulk of their careers working under BloomKlein. In some cases their activism has been fueled when their schools have been invaded by charters run by sons of billionaires, who get favored treatment over the public school. In other words, the actions of the ed deformers have done a whole lot o' organizing by default.

Then Bari gives herself up with this question: "What do you say to parents who I speak to who love their charter schools?" She brings up that loooong waiting list.

Oooh, boy. I go to town. "For every charter school parent who loves their school, I'll match you a hundred to one of public school parents who love their school. Why aren't you talking to them?

And why aren't you talking to the charter school parents who hate their charters schools? Or the numerous parents who have removed their children from the charter? Or who have been counseled out?" I tell her about the parent of special ed children who I interviewed at the Parents Across America/GEM/NYCPA press conference at Rockefeller Center last week. This parent had a child make the lottery for Harlem Success Academy but when they realized she was a 12-1-1 child, they told her her child couldn't be serviced. We know Bari ain't goin' there. This is the Wall Street Journal, after all.

And I got to town on that phony PR drummed up waiting list crap. I talk about the PR budgets of charter schools and ask her how much of a budget does she think public schools get for glossy PR brochures. I don't know if I brought up HSA's own head of PR Jenny Sedlis and how much she gets paid.

She asks me about myself and I tell her chapter and verse that I am not an anti ed deformer because of some ideology but because I spent 30 years in a classroom in the inner city and spent 40 years fighting the old status quo and am now fighting the new status quo. "How about that class size issue," I ask? I tell her about the difference between having 24 and 28 in a class. I even bring up how much longer it takes to line them up and take them to the bathroom with even just a few more kids. And some more blah, blah, blah.

Then we talk union and how the UFT had zero to do with this protest. At this point I hold back in criticizing the UFT since I am representing GEM and the RR's as the press contact and not my own positions on the UFT. So I am careful. I tell her that if she googles me personally she will see how the UFT views me and I view them and that personally I have been a critic for a long time though GEM has been focused on broader issues of defending public education than the UFT so far. But many progressive real reformers see the UFT as being way too cooperative with the ed deformers and not on the side of real reform. I think I mention Chicago.

Bari comes back with, "That's the left doing the criticising." Ahhh, that reveals where she might be going with this. I tell her there may be leftists involved it is broader than that. She then brings up the "other" group led by Marjorie Stamberg who were protesting at the same time and place. She wanted to know if that protest was part of ours. She even asked if it was ISO (International Socialists). Here this got tricky. Navigating through the left for someone like me who doesn't always get all the left messaging is always tricky.

I told her that ISO was working with us and that this was another group called Class Struggle. I told her it was a separate protest that GEM and the Real Reformers were not involved in planning and that when we heard about it we asked them to join our rap but that they declined and wanted to get their message across. I wanted to be clear and not have the Wall Street Journal brand this as some kind of left wing conspiracy. I could imagine her rolling her eyes.

I ask Bari if she is an education writer. She says "No." She certainly seems to be aware of the push button ed issues. I tell her I'm impressed. She tells me she also enjoyed the conversation and asked if it was ok to call again. "Anytime," I said. I won't hold my breath.

Before you get to the editorial itself, here are a few comments for your guided reading

Here is Mariama Sanoh, Vice President of the NY Charter Parents Association, one charter school parent Bari didn't talk to.

We’re still waiting for Superman here in Charterland

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2010/10/were-still-waiting-for-superman-here-in.html 

Note that Bari Weiss was present at the rally but did not interview one participant. Not one of the 50 people who were there to protest. Yet she spent 160 words of a 560 word editorial quoting one Harlem parent who was there with his son. I don't know if this was the same parent who was outside giving out literature, but there are stories out that some people were paid to do so at various theaters. Note he is a parent at Democracy Prep, which has been notorious for certain undemocratic processes.

Hating 'Superman'
Teachers unions are on the moral defensive.

* http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882404575520160925291820.html

The new film "Waiting for 'Superman'" is getting good reviews for its portrayal of children seeking alternatives to dreadful public schools, and to judge by the film's opponents it is having an impact.

Witness the scene on a recent Friday night in front of a Loews multiplex in New York City, where some 50 protestors blasted the film as propaganda for charter schools. "Klein, Rhee and Duncan better switch us jobs, so we can put an end to those hedge fund hogs," went one of their anti-charter cheers, referring to school reform chancellors Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee and Education Secretary Arne Duncan. The odd complaint is that donors to charter schools include some hedge fund managers.

Or maybe not so odd. Teachers unions and the public school monopoly have long benefitted from wielding a moral trump card. They claimed to care for children, and caring was defined solely by how much taxpayers spent on schools.

That moral claim is being turned on its head as more Americans come to understand that teachers unions and the public bureaucracy are the main obstacles to reform. Movies such as "Waiting for 'Superman'" and "The Lottery" are exposing this to the larger American public, leaving the monopolists to the hapless recourse of suggesting that reformers are merely the tools of hedge fund philanthropists.

The Manhattan protest was sponsored by the Grassroots Education Movement, which was co-founded by Norman Scott, a retired public school teacher. Mr. Scott says the group has nothing to do with the United Federation of Teachers, and that it's comprised of New York City teachers and parents who have been "adversely affected by charter schools." Mr. Scott told us he and several others are developing their own film, "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for 'Superman.'" That's a nod to Davis Guggenheim, who directed Al Gore's climate change documentary before he did "Superman."

We saw a trailer for this anti-"Superman" film, which denounces most of the leading advocates for charter schools. The irony is that most of those criticized are Democrats or noted liberals who've been mugged by public school reality.

Though the protestors were the main spectacle that day outside the theater, two others in the crowd provided a counterpoint. Charter school parent Daniel Clark Sr. and his son Daniel Jr., a ninth grader at Democracy Prep, came down from Harlem. "The reason there's such a gravitational pull" to such schools, Mr. Clark says of parents in poor neighborhoods, "is not because they love charter schools. It's because they're the only game in town."

Mr. Clark thinks "Waiting for 'Superman'" is helping people get it. "There's a lack of information in general about the charter schools . . . the movie puts it in personal terms. You can see the kids, you can see the anxiety in the families." He describes his son as "a typical kid on 133rd street. The only difference is that he got lucky enough to get into a charter school. . . . God knows where he would be if he was at the public school he was meant to go to."

The waiting list in Harlem to attend a charter is more than 11,000 and nationwide it is an estimated 420,000. The teachers unions continue to wield enough power to deny choices to these students, but their days as political supermen are numbered.

After burn
Some ed deformer found a typo in our Truth About Charter pamphlet - a double negative - and condemned us as teachers for that error. I wonder - if he reads this editorial and finds a spelling mistakeiIn the WSJ whether that means capitalism is about to fall?

Absurdities and Kneecapping

 Dear Absurdists and Kneecappers,

 Did you see this headline: NY Post Comes Out Against School Grades: These grades flunk

It is becoming increasingly clear that Schools Chancellor Joel Klein is doing no one any favors -- not the public, and certainly not himself -- by assigning letter-grade report cards to city schools. The jerry-rigged system for determining the grades obscures more than it reveals. Thus, the information the cards impart is worse than misleading -- it's virtually useless. And the charter-school movement -- an unambiguously bright light in the city school system -- is particularly ill-served by the letter grades. 

Unambigously bright light? They must suffer from severe pupil dilation.

Poor babies. They're favorite pet charters didn't do so well on the grading system. It must be flawed. But then again we knew that all along. Of course Michael MulGarten stepped into it with this one:

The teachers union -- which detests both the competition from charters and the use of tests to hold teachers accountable -- hopped on the new grades with both feet.
Traditional schools' edge in grades means "either the strategy Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein have touted for so long -- the creation of more charter schools -- isn't working, or that the entire progress-report methodology, which relies almost completely on standardized test scores, is flawed," crowed union boss Michael Mulgrew.

Tweed was quick to point out that the UFT's own charter got a "D" with the comment, "those in glass houses shouldn't cast stones." The UFT charters have suffered one disaster after another with numerous changes in leadership. I actually agree with the Tweedies here. We told the UFT not to get into the charter school game because they would never be able to take a position opposed to charter schools or be able to lead a real fight back for public education if they did. And so they did (get into the game). And so they don't (lead a fight back).

 

Leonie Haimson commented:

Even the NY Post, owned by Murdoch and close buddy of Bloomberg and Klein admits that the school grades are so absurdly unreliable they should be eliminated.

The straw that broke the camel’s back for them this year appears to be the way charter schools got lower scores on average this year.

The jerry-rigged system for determining the grades obscures more than it reveals. Thus, the information the cards impart is worse than misleading -- it's virtually useless.

 Followed by Steve Koss

It's difficult not to guffaw over the absurdist inconsistency in the Post's "new position" on school report cards, what with their having gone from its greatest shills to sudden detractors simply because they disagree with its outcome in respect to the system's assessment of charter schools.

What's even more astonishing is that they either don't see or don't care to see the other astonishing inconsistency in their revised position on the school report cards. If after having spent countless millions of dollars and doubtless reflecting the professional genius of innumerable experts on education, the end result is so inconsistent and unreliable that even the Post's troglodytic conservatives want to throw out this type of reporting at the aggregated school level, what could possibly make any sentient homo sapiens think that INCREASING the granularity of these measurements to the teacher/classroom level will be any better?

Likely without the faintest sense of what they've done, the editors at the Post have kneecapped their own already-indefensible position with regard to value-added analysis and evaluation of teacher performance. After all, if the geniuses at DOE and their wasted millions couldn't do it right for entire schools (where aggregation enables at least some degree of the margin for error to wash itself out), how on earth can it be done for a third-grade teacher with just 25 or 30 children in a classroom?

What could be more better than seeing the Post's editorial troglodytes unknowingly clubbing themselves in the knees without even realizing they're doing it?

Steve Koss

John Powers on Cuomo and the UFT

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

More WfS Critics- Updated

Last Updated: Sat., Oct. 2, 2pm

You know, I think this Waiting for Superman thing will ultimately work out better for the Real Reformers and against the Deformers. Even noted Ed Deformer Brent Staples, editorial writer for the NY Times, has some words that are not total idiocy for a change - if you extract the super praise for Steve Barr. At least he makes the positive point for why teacher unions were founded in the first place.

And here is Rick Ayers who wrote this great critique of WfS Breaking Down "Waiting for Superman" appears on Democracy Now.

"Waiting for Superman": Critics Say Much-Hyped Education Documentary Unfairly Targets Teachers Unions and Promotes Charter Schools

Waiting for Superman, a new documentary by filmmaker Davis Guggenheim, has caused a stir in the education world for its sweeping endorsement of the charter school movement and attack on teachers unions. President Obama has endorsed the film, describing it as "heartbreaking" and "powerful," but some teachers have called for a boycott of the film for its portrayal of teachers and the teachers union. We speak to Rick Ayers, founder of the Communication Arts and Sciences program at Berkeley High School and adjunct professor in teacher education at the University of San Francisco.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/10/1/waiting_for_superman_critics_say_much

And here is another video of Diane Ravitch in Los Angeles this week. You don't have to wait for superwoman - she is all over the place (Detroit). Can someone make her a cape with a giant D?



Update: Additional info on Staples piece from Leonie Haimson:

Brent Staples, author of the NY Times editorials on education, and staunch supporter of mayoral control and charter school expansion,  cautions that the film “Waiting for Superman” is overly simplistic in attacking Randi, especially as she has established charter schools in collaboration with Steve Barr, founder of the “Green Dot” chain of charters that started in LA.  (see below).

Staples writes: “Green Dot is one of the stars of this [charter] movement. Despite the fact that many of its 17 schools serve desperately poor, minority neighborhoods, its students significantly outperform their traditional school counterparts, on just about every academic measure, including the percentage of children who go on to four-year colleges. “

Green Dot currently operates 18 schools in Los Angeles, CA and one in the Bronx, NY, according to its website. Yet Green dot has already closed down one of the first five charters it started in LA: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/22/local/la-me-greendot23-2010mar2

 Caroline Grannan, one of the founders of Parents Across America, has analyzed Green Dot’s results. Based on the API, the California Department of Education’s accountability system, the Green Dot schools have mediocre results, and all but one had worse results than the supposedly “failing” LA public schools that Green Dot ran campaigns to take over, through the “parent trigger” measure, led by their fake grassroots organization, Parent Revolution.  (The Parent Revolution is run by Ben Austin, an attorney who works for the city of LA, http://rdsathene.blogspot.com/2009/07/ben-austin-six-figure-salary-man-green.html lives in Beverly Hills, http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_13185224 , has no school age children, is paid $100,000 as a part-time consultant to Green Dot, and yet regularly claims to be a typical, aggrieved LA public school parent.  http://dailycensored.com/2010/04/24/political-patronage-for-green-dot-public-schools-chief-propagandist/. http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2010/02/parent-revolution-and-green-dot-too.html   

As Caroline writes:
Average API of all Green Dot’s schools (15 total, counting several small schools on one campus, Locke High in Watts): 632 (rounded up to the nearest whole)Average API of the “failing” schools Parent Revolution is targeting with parent trigger campaigns: 670 (rounded down to the nearest whole) ….. By Parent Revolution’s own definition, Green Dot’s other 14 schools [out of 15] are “failing.”

http://www.examiner.com/education-in-san-francisco/14-of-15-green-dot-schools-are-failing-by-parent-revolution-s-definition

According to the LA Times, the achievement results of Locke HS, its most celebrated takeover school have been “lackluster.”, despite substantially increased funding. “First-year scores remained virtually unchanged and exceptionally low.”…. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/17/local/la-me-0817-star-tests-20100817

Moreover, Staples claims that Green Dot charters outperformed traditional public schools in “the percentage of children who go on to four-year colleges.”

Yet Steve Barr admitted that “We only started tracking our graduates during the past year and a half”, in an August 2010 interview published on the Univ. of Phoenix (!) website: http://www.phoenix.edu/uopx-knowledge-network/articles/expert-voices/q-a-steve-barr-founder-of-green-dot-public-schools.html  

I have searched the web for any independent analysis or study that shows that Green Dot has outperformed similar public schools and cannot find any.

This is not to say that these schools may not prove themselves over time, but the claims in this column represent yet another example of the exaggerated hype around charter schools. Someday, Staples might consider talking to some real life NYC public school parents in the same way he apparently communicates with LA-based charter school operators.

Harlem Success Academy Marketing: $1.3 Million Over Two Years

You know the drill ed deformers throw at us. It's all about children, not adults. 

 

The Daily News reporter Juan Gonzalez shows just how much it is all about adults at the leading charter school vulture capitalist, Eva Moskowitz, who generates those huge waiting lists through good old marketing. Note the comment from HSA's Jenny Sedlis, my favorite PR flack (since David Cantor left Tweed). I read somewhere that Jenny makes around 90K a year to do PR. How much does your local public school pay its PR person? Jenny won't apologize for taking public money away from public schools while spending 1.3 mil on glossy brochures. Adults first anyone?

Here are some excerpts from Gonzalez' piece today:

Local charter schools like Harlem Success is big business as millions are poured into marketing

a Daily News review of Harlem Success financial reports suggests the network's huge backlog of applicants is the result of a carefully crafted Madison Ave.-style promotional campaign. In the two-year period between July 2007 and June 2009, Harlem Success spent $1.3 million to market itself to the Harlem community, the group's most recent financial filings show. Of that total, more than $1 million was spent directly on student recruitment.

"We won't apologize for recruiting students for Success Academy charter schools," said Jenny Sedlis, the network's director of external relations.

When she launched Harlem Success four years ago with the backing of a group of hedge fund millionaires, Moskowitz vowed to expand to more than 20 schools in a few years. By generating a huge waiting list, she has been able to pressure state officials to let her open more schools.

That's why Moskowitz chose to be the marketing juggernaut of the charter school movement.
It's worked. This week, her network got multimillion grants in federal and private money.
The selling of charter schools has indeed become big business.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/10/01/2010-10-01_behind_parents_desperation_to_get_kids_in_charter_school_the_news_uncovers__harl.html#ixzz1195rpl16

Removing Superman's Cape

Posted September 29th, 2010 by fairtest

The Real Facts About Waiting for Superman, prepared by Mass. Citizens for Public
Schools and FairTest - available as a flyer in pdf and in text below so you can adapt
it for your own use.

The Real Facts About Waiting for Superman

Waiting for Superman may be good melodrama, but the movie fails the test of accuracy, and its purported solutions will not improve education.

We agree: Too many young people, mostly low-income, do not graduate from high school or get a strong education. The questions are why, and what can be done about it. Waiting for Superman and its unprecedented hype risk leading us dangerously astray from real solutions to real problems by making a number of misleading or factually incorrect claims in a number of important areas:

Public school quality: The most recent Phi Delta Kappan/Gallup poll found that 77% of Americans would give the public school their oldest child attends an A or a B. Does this suggest our public schools are failing across the board, as WFS says? In international comparisons, most of our middle class schools do well. Under resourced schools that serve low-income kids who are disproportionately African American, Latino, or recent immigrants, do far less well. However, they face challenges that schools, alone, can never address adequately.  Improving schools is part of the solution - but the changes must help all children obtain a high-quality education.

Poverty: Poverty matters a lot – and the movie shows that it does, even while trying to tell us it does not. The Harlem Children’s Zone spends heavily to provide services to needy children and their families, services the government does not provide. Two-thirds of HCZ funding is private, not public – making it like a well-funded private school. Who will pay for these services for all the children who need them?

Unions: States with the most unionized teachers do better than states with weaker or fewer unions, and countries with strong educational systems mostly have strong teacher unions. WSF’s demonization of unions ignores the real evidence.

Tenure: Tenure says you cannot be fired without due process and a good reason: you can’t be fired because the boss wants to hire his cousin, or because you are gay (or black or…), or because you take an unpopular position on a public issue outside of school. A recent survey found that most principals agreed they could fire if they needed to. While WSF may have its own opinions on the value of tenure, it may not have its own facts.

Charter schools: Charter schools get public money but are run by private groups, which means there is less public oversight. The most extensive national study found that 46% of charters did about the same as regular public schools, 37% did worse, and only 17% did better. Meanwhile, charters routinely accept fewer students with disabilities and fewer English language learners. Since charters only serve 4% of the nation’s K-12 students, they represent a distraction and a drain from the focused work needed to renew quality schools for all children. They are not a solution.

Using standardized tests like MCAS to evaluate teachers: The National Research Council and many other researchers say that evaluating teachers based on student test scores is inaccurate and unfair. Several reports found that some 20-25% of teachers in the bottom groups one year are in the top groups the next - and vice versa. This is because many more things affect student learning or teacher's rankings than just the teacher's own efforts.

Using standardized tests to tell us if schools are successful: Most test score differences are not due to what schools do, but to the kids’ ZIP codes. As opportunity, health and family wealth increase, so do test scores. When schools focus on boosting scores on tests like MCAS, they ignore important subject areas and teach to the test, leaving children less prepared for the future. We need a lot more than test scores to know if schools are doing well and to help schools improve.

How students learn: Most people know what science confirmed years ago: learning is an active process. Pouring disconnected information into kids’ heads, as the movie shows, has no lasting value, and it does not educate students for citizenship, college, lifelong learning or employment. Why didn’t the movie show us what excellent teaching looks like?

Competition: There is no evidence for the claim that competition will improve education. Teachers competing against each other will endanger cooperation among teachers and reduce their ability to help children most in need.

Since No Child Left Behind, the rate of school improvement has declined!  This film pushes for another generation of failed reforms.

Don’t wait for Superman. Take the time to inform yourself, to find out the real stories from teachers, parents and principals.  Get the real facts on which to base your opinion, and consider how you can make a difference by doing what is right and good for children, not what “Superman” tells you to do.
Citizens for Public Schools and FairTest

For more information and genuine ways to improve schools, see http://www.citizensforpublicschools.org and http://www.fairtest.org.

Attachment	Size
Real Facts about waiting for superman.pdf	92.42 KB

Building a Man Cave: A Tale of a Forty Six Inch Tub of Hummus

I'm a trial and error guy. Sort of a throw it up against a wall and see what sticks attitude. And that was often the way I taught - which I think may be a bit taboo today since T&E takes a lot of time. When faced with a problem - a math problem, fixing something or a social situation, I often just try something and see if it works, most often a disaster in the latter situation.
I often applied T&E in teaching - which made me an awesome teacher at times and  awful teacher at others. Probably not the best way to bring stability to a classroom, but it certainly kept the kids on their toes - and somewhat engaged in a guessing game of "what's coming at us next?"

When it comes to home projects, living with someone who is the exact opposite - who needs all the answers before tackling a problem – can be a bit of a challenge. And therein lies a tale.

I was out in Cedarhurst yesterday getting a special pair of computer glasses made up by my pals at Central Vision Care - maybe I will no longer have to stagger around half blind - a serious problem when you are about to drive. On the way back I stopped off at Costco to buy gum and a tub of hummus.

I've been looking for a 42" set to put in my work area while writing and doing video - guaranteed to make me even less productive than I am. Also a room for my buddies and I to watch Jet games without being disturbed. My Man Cave. I convince my wife to go for the 42. She measures and measures to make sure it will not be too big. I mean she is exact. She finds an Ikea TV cabinet that will be just the right height for the TV- to the exact quarter inch. I'm rolling my eyes. Just get anything and I'll do T&E and figure out how to make it fit. No dice.

First, I had to get a new carpet - it is the only room in the house with a carpet because it is over the garage and gets pretty cold in the winter. This part of the project took over a year. But with the old carpet turning green - and not with envy - my wife finally made the move and we ordered from Costco - a nice lady came to the house and the arguments started breaking out with the first sample. She wants a deeper pile. Hmmm. A good idea - she couldn't see all the the broken taco chips that get buried. But, no, better to just fess up and vacuum every 6 months.

Then comes the color argument. She wants light. I want the carpet to be the color of salsa so you don't see the stains. I win this one when the carpet lady pulls out a nice shade my wife likes. So we wait weeks and finally this past Tuesday the carpet guys come and do the installation. (Three hours late of course, which almost makes me late for Leonie's Parents Across America press conference at NBC's Education Shmation.) Carpet looks fabulous. So next on the list is the TV.

I always take a run by the TV sets at Costco but never buy. I've been researching this LG 42LD550 with internet access. Cheapest price was at Amazon for $750. So I'm strolling down the aisle and there it is. For the same price. Quick decision. Wrestle it into the cart. Is there still room for the humus and gum (and the special jumbo franks for my dad-  almost 93 and eating freakin Hebrew National crap, God bless him)?

Okay. Go grab the other stuff I need - phone calls are coming in with new additions to the list. Do I need 2 carts?" Buy a white shirt for the wedding this Saturday," (sorry all you guys going to DC on Oct. 2. I am really partying.) "What size am I?" Okay, you ladies, I know what you are thinking. And you are right. "I'll go look and call you back," she says. I want to get that LG sucker home so I get shirts with 2 possible sizes and will return the one that doesn't fit. T&E baby.

I'm on the checkout line when I notice the TV box. "46LD550." 46 inches? For $750? I assumed at that price it was a 42 so I never looked carefully. What to do? Ahhh, buy it and take it back if it doesn't fit. T&E.

So, I wrestle the humus and TV upstairs. And the battle begins. Out comes the tape measure. "Go look up the dimensions. I measured exactly and it won't fit." Oh, boy. "Why don't we just set it up and see if it works?" T&E. Nooooo. Printing dimensions for the 42 and 46. It comes to maybe an inch difference in the height. "I'll raise the shelves," I scream! Okay. That gets settled.

Then it's off to Ikea to buy the stand. That's another story altogether.

How am I going to put this sucker together? Don't need no stinkin' directions. T&E baby. T&E.

Right now I am surrounded by cabinet parts all over the salsa colored carpet. I'd take a picture and show you but if you know me, there's plenty of time. It will look the same in a week.

Update: Sat. Oct. 2: It's hummus, stupid
I knew something was missing when I tasted the humus. It was an "m". But just eat the stuff, not look at labels.

Hedge Fund Pair o Dice - Another Rap Inspired by Real Reformers

This just came in over the transom. Real Reformers: Get out those capes.

Inspired by the Real Reformers calling BS on all those slim shadies. As Tom Lehrer used to say, "Every revolution needs a folk song.... Ready, Aim, SING."

Best,
Schoolio

 _________

Hedge Fund Pair o Dice

-- Schoolio

As I walk through the city and my mind is bereft,
I take a look at my grades,
And mediocrity’s left.
'Cause I've been tested and messed with so long,
That even Obama thinks that my mind has gone.
And his homeboy Arne Duncan said we need a Katrina,

To overhaul the schools, or he’ll squeeze us like sardines, yo.

To the suits in the news we need nuthin’ but charters,

To them an inner city kid’s political barter.

They act like there ain’t nuthin’ to rampant co-location,

But damn if you’d see their Muffy in a bowl-shit situation.

Don’t gimme EIP’s -- how’s an IEP gonna fit, son?

Fool, I’m the kinda G that little homie’s wanna be like,

On my knees in the night,

Prayin’ for a “3” in the street light.



[Chorus]
They’re spreading edu-lies,

Playing with a hedge fund pair o dice.

They’re spreading edu-lies,

Playing with a hedge fund pair o dice.

They’re spreading edu-lies,

Living in a hedge fund paradise.

They’re spreading edu-lies,

Living in a hedge fund paradise.


Proficiency ain’t suffient, see?

Excellence be gettin’ hell away from me.

In my situation, a graduation proclamation,

No regents scholar, diploma and a buck can’t even buy a dollar.

Remedial classes just to fit in with the masses,

Credit recovery, where’s the class room that I didn’t see?

Where’s MY Campaign for Frickin’ Equity?

My mama brought the suit, and still there’s nothing left for me!

My passion is my destiny.

I know the truth, now which of you all fakers got the guts to say I’m free?

I scored a “2” yo, will I live to see a “4”?
I need recalibratin’, if I’ma raise my score.



Tell me why are some still blind to see,

Their only move -- blame the UFT.
- Show quoted text -


[Chorus]
They’re spreading edu-lies,

Playing with a hedge fund pair o dice.

They’re spreading edu-lies,

Playing with a hedge fund pair o dice.

They’re spreading edu-lies,

Living in a hedge fund paradise.

They’re spreading edu-lies,

Living in a hedge fund paradise.


Power in the money, money in the power,
Pay me for my test score! hour after hour.
Everybody's cramming, but half of them ain't booking.
It's going on in Tweed,
Where School Prog Reports are cooking.
They say I gotta learn,
Sent an intern here to teach me.
If they can't understand me, how can they reach me?
I guess they’re tryin,
But inside I’m dyin.
They blame it all on tenure,
But that’s Bloomberg manure!

[Chorus]
They’re spreading edu-lies,

Playing with a hedge fund pair o dice.

They’re spreading edu-lies,

Playing with a hedge fund pair o dice.

They’re spreading edu-lies,

Living in a hedge fund paradise.

They’re spreading edu-lies,

Living in a hedge fund paradise.


[Refrain – and Retain]
Tell me why are some still blind to see,

Their only move -- blame the UFT.

Tell me why are some still blind to see,

Their only move -- blame the UFT.


-- Schoolio

The Real Reformers Stood Up: Video of the Rap at the Waiting for Superman Gap

Here is a compilation of the performances Will the Real Reformers Please Stand Up at the Loews Lincoln Square movie theater at the Waiting for Superman premiere on Sept. 24, 2010. It includes a brief section of the Real Reformers running into Michael Moore on the street (It was opening night at the NY Film Festival.) See press release below.

Press Release                                  

Date:  Wednesday, September 29, 2010   

Contact: Norm Scott: 917-992-3734

Parents and Teachers, the Real Reformers, Organize Response to “Waiting for Superman”

On Friday, September 24th, parents and teachers participated in a demonstration outside of the premier of “Waiting for Superman”.  The film, which has garnered significant publicity in recent days, has taken the lead in framing the conversation regarding education reform.  A grass roots group, The Real Reformers, reject this framework and offered an alternative voice to the conversation.

Explaining the impetus for Friday night’s actions and the development of a forthcoming grassroots documentary, Julie Cavanagh, a teacher in Red Hook, Brooklyn said, “We felt compelled to demonstrate a resistance to a film that can be described only as propaganda.  The film continues to propagate myths about the so-called crisis in education and further espouses false claims about supposed reforms and reformers that are garnering much of the media’s attention right now.  It is time for Real Reformers to stand up, and lead the conversation on what works in our public schools, and the policies needed to improve our public schools.  There are no easy answers.  Viewing charter schools as a silver bullet and blaming teachers, the vast majority of whom work tirelessly for students and families every day, is part of a larger movement to privatize public education.  We must be vigilant in protecting, while improving, true public education, the pillar of our democracy.”

Lisa Donlan, a public school parent and President of Community Education Council One added, “For too long now our children have been the pawns of powerful politicians and their handpicked bureaucrats who paint themselves as reformers while they reinforce the status quo, depriving our neediest children of the quality education that is their birthright. No man, not even Superman can alter the sad reality: the achievement gap persists, our schools and communities are segregated and less money is spent on students despite tripled budgets.  In the words of Frederick Douglass in 1857:  "If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation…want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters…. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."

Outside of the Loews Lincoln Square movie theater, the Real Reformers stood up and presented their vision for real education reform.  The Grassroots Education Movement provided two pieces of literature including:  “The Inconvenient Truth About Waiting for Superman” which outlined information regarding misleading and factually inaccurate claims in the movie and “The Truth About Charter Schools”, a brochure that outlines “myths” and “truths” about charter schools.  The group also released the trailer for their upcoming documentary, “The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman”, which will be shown in New York City neighborhoods, and across the country, this fall.  The trailer for this film is posted at http://www.waitingforsupermantruth.org/.

Parents and Teachers also engaged in a flash mob performance of “Will the Real Reformers Please Stand Up”.  (The video of this performance and the movie trailer can be found at (see the trailer at:  www.waitingforsupermantruth.org).

Various groups were represented at Friday night’s event.   Attendees expressed a myriad of objections to the film, while joining in a shared mission to expose the narrow lens with which Guggenheim tells his story. 

Mona Davids, President of the New York Charter Parents Association commented, “The so-called education reformers consisting of hedge fund millionaires and billionaires do not respect parents and the communities of color they serve.  Charters in NYC have been denying parents their civil rights by vehemently opposing PA/PTA's in charters.  NYCPA in it's one year of existence has brought about charter reform including charters serving special education and English Language Learners; PA/PTA's in every charter in NYC; audits by the state comptroller; public lotteries; monthly board meetings, stronger conflict of interests requirements and the ban of for-profit charter schools, to name a few.  These reforms should have been enacted 10 years ago.  It's hypocritical of the charter lobby and education reformers to say this is the civil rights issue of our time when they are refusing to comply with the revised charter law requiring PA/PTA's in charters and violating the civil rights of charter parents.  Apparently, their children attending private schools can have PA/PTA's but not the children of color attending publicly funded privately run charter schools.  Charter parents don't matter. Just the per pupil funding does!”

Sam Coleman, a teacher in Sunset Park, Brooklyn and member of Grassroots Education Movement and NYCORE, had another take, “The insinuation that teachers and teacher unions are to blame for what ails public education is insulting to teachers and distracts from the real issues. Talk to students who are getting police records for school hallway scuffles about what is stopping them from graduating and getting a job. Talk to high school students who are also parents and are forced to drop out because there is no childcare in their schools. Talk to immigrant students who cannot go to college because of their immigration status, or to queer youth who are bullied and pushed out of school. Ask any of them; their stories reveal the complexity of what ails our educational system. Let’s stop blaming teachers and teacher unions. Let’s give control of education to communities and educators. Let’s fund communities equitably and let the corporate lawyers hold bake sales to buy their shredders."

Visit:  www.waitingforsupermantruth.org for more information

Additional Contacts:

Lisa Donlan, Parent: 917-848-5873

Mona Davids, Parent: 917-340-8987

Sam Coleman, Teacher:  646-354-9362

Julie Cavanagh, Teacher: 917-836-6465

Diane Defends Detroit - Advice From Ravitch and Nancy Flanagan: Never Stop

Nancy Flanagan writes: 

I asked Ravitch how teachers can organize to preach our own experienced truth, if our unions have been rendered toothless and the media juggernaut has overwhelmed reason and research.

Oh--never stop, she said. Teachers need to build their own networks of social capital. Form and join groups. Read good books to arm yourself with information. (She recommended Richard Rothstein, Daniel Koretz and Linda Darling-Hammond.) [see http://www.amazon.com/Grading-Education-Getting-Accountability-Right/dp/0807749397/ref=pd_sim_b_2 ] Know that the struggle will last for a long time. Refer to other high-achieving nations as models--countries that have systemically designed their public schools and their teaching profession as long-term investments in civic excellence. It can be done. So don't give up.
 -----
[Flanagan closes with] In education policy, we are witnessing a power grab of epic proportion; the very folks we hoped would lead us toward equity and opportunity have decided that it's easier to rely on the market. Oh well. Never give up. Never give up.

So, yes. Follow Diane's and Nancy's advice. Don't give up. Blog. Join groups. We have choices here in NYC. Last night's GEM meeting was packed with a bunch of new teachers, mostly young, who we met through our action at the Superman opening. Will they stay? Let's hope so. Join them. GEM's next meeting is Oct. 26 and will focus on closing schools. 

And look for our new video of the rally coming out today on ed notes, gem and the inconvenient truth behind... blogs.

I posted Nancy's full piece at Norms Notes. Here is the original link:

From Teacher Magazine - Education Week's Blog, Teacher in a Strange Land, Saturday, September 25, 2010. See http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teacher_in_a_strange_land/2010/09/diane_does_detroit.html

Real Reform on Front Page of NY Times - HUH?

Yes, kiddies, on the very front page of the NY Times we see some example of Real Reformers at work at the giant Brockton HS in Massachusettes. (4,100 Students Prove ‘Small Is Better’ Rule Wrong.)

It took real teachers without interference from administrators. Union teachers who followed the contract to a tee. And one of these teachers became the principal instead of the 30 day wonders who know nothing about education. And it has taken over a decade.

What makes Brockton High’s story surprising is that, with 4,100 students, it is an exception to what has become received wisdom in many educational circles — that small is almost always better.
That is why the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the last decade breaking down big schools into small academies (it has since switched strategies, focusing more on instruction).
The small-is-better orthodoxy remains powerful. A new movie, “Waiting for Superman,” for example, portrays five charter schools in New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere — most with only a few hundred students — as the way forward for American schooling.
Brockton, by contrast, is the largest public school in Massachusetts, and one of the largest in the nation.

Ooooh! Is that a smash mouth directed at Bill and Melinda?

At education conferences, Dr. Szachowicz — who became Brockton’s principal in 2004 — still gets approached by small-school advocates who tell her they are skeptical that a 4,100-student school could offer a decent education.

“I tell them we’re a big school that works,“ said Dr. Szachowicz, whose booming voice makes her seem taller than 5-foot-6 as she walks the hallways, greeting students, walkie-talkie in hand.

She and other teachers took action in part because academic catastrophe seemed to be looming, Dr. Szachowicz and several of her colleagues said in interviews here. Massachusetts had instituted a new high school exit exam in 1993, and passing it would be required to graduate a decade later. Unless the school’s culture improved, some 750 seniors would be denied a diploma each year, starting in 2003.

 Wow! Teacher driven. And the teacher who led it became the principal.

Fear held some teachers back — fear of wasting time on what could be just another faddish reform, fear of a heavier workload — and committee members tried to help them surmount it.
“Let me help you,” was a response committee members said they often offered to reluctant colleagues who argued that some requests were too difficult.

Brockton never fired large numbers of teachers, in contrast with current federal policy, which encourages failing schools to consider replacing at least half of all teachers to reinvigorate instruction.

You mean they didn't fire the entire staff? What would Obama/Duncan say?

Teachers unions have resisted turnaround efforts at many schools. But at Brockton, the union never became a serious adversary, in part because most committee members were unionized teachers, and the committee scrupulously honored the union contract.
An example: the contract set aside two hours per month for teacher meetings, previously used to discuss mundane school business. The committee began dedicating those to teacher training, and made sure they never lasted a minute beyond the time allotted.
“Dr. Szachowicz takes the contract seriously, and we’ve worked together within its parameters,” said Tim Sullivan, who was president of the local teachers union through much of the last decade. 

Union rules strictly followed. My goodness.

So why not try a radical idea? See what students think:

..the school retained all varsity sports, as well as its several bands and choruses, extensive drama program and scores of student clubs.

Many students consider the school’s size — as big as many small colleges — and its diverse student body (mostly minority), to be points in its favor, rather than problems.
“You meet a new person every day,” said Johanne Alexandre, a senior whose mother is Haitian. “Somebody with a new story, a new culture. I have Pakistani friends, Brazilians, Haitians, Asians, Cape Verdeans. There are Africans, Guatemalans.

“There’s a couple of Americans, too!” Tercia Mota, a senior born in Brazil, offered. “But there aren’t cliques. Take a look at the lunch table.”

“You can’t say, those are the jocks, those are the preppy cheerleaders, those are the geeks,” Ms. Mota said. “Everything is blended, everybody’s friends with everyone.”

 So, let's sum up: unionized teachers, contract followed, experienced teacher in same school becomes school leader, takes a decade, teachers not fired but won over, large school with a full range of activities and services you can't find in small schools. And the kids seem to love it.

Now, here's my caveat. The article talks only about the narrow judgement through the lens of test scores and data. There's probably more to this story. I do believe it is possible to have an impact even when money remains the same. Due to the unique relationship between the teachers and the admin - one of them ended up leading the school - I believe it is absolutely crucial that teachers have a major role - along with parents - in choosing the school leader. As a matter of fact, though it is ignored in the article, it just may be the missing ingredient.

So, okay Bill Gates, let's funnel some of that cash for a true reform that would work- teachers and parents elect the principal.

Brian Jones Made Sure to Touch on Ruelas Suicide on Education Nation Forum

Boy I bet they are sorry they allowed the fox into the pen. Standing all alone (don't count Randi on his side), among all the other points, Brian Jones made sure to bring up the suicide of Rigoberto Ruelas toward the end of the forum on MSNBC's ed deform fest.

People have been asking for links but I can't find any. Since Brian's points dominated the discussion, they probably burned the tapes.

We will be at Rockefeller Plaza today at 4pm with Leonie Haimson, Mona Davids, Julie Cavanagh and others - Parents Across America, Class size matters - CAPE, GEM and NY Charter Parents Association - to let them know what we think about this sham. map here.

After Brian brought up the story, LA Teachers Union President AJ Duffy called out from the audience to confirm the story about a well respected teacher being so distraught over the embarrassment of having been publicly identified as a poor teacher. For most people it is hard to imagine but when a teacher goes so far beyond the call like Ruelas seems to have done, the devastation must have been intense. (See Brian's panel here: http://tiny.cc/wf4jh).


Sunday night I and a whole bunch of bloggers wrote about Rigoberto. You can find links in this post.

Blood on Their Hands

This morning GEM received this email from a colleague of Rigoberto:

Hello Fellow Educators,

I am a teacher at Miramonte Elementary School located in South Los Angeles. Recently, the elementary public school teachers of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) have become the subject of a series of articles published by the LA Times which focus on the creation of a database that publicly ranks our performance as educators using a highly controversial evaluative method known as Value-Added Methodology (VAM). The pressure to increase test score output, along with the humiliation that came from receiving a widely disseminated poor review have seemingly resulted in the loss of one of our most beloved educators, Rigoberto Ruelas. This type of evaluation that is so highly regarded by proponents of "Race to the Top" brand of educational reform has caused irreparable damage and is being used as a weapon to destroy public school education. I ask for your help in spreading the word about what has happened to us and to stand in solidarity with us as we fight on behalf of our dear friend, Rigoberto Ruelas, and all educators and students across the nation who are being damaged by the policies of NCLB and the current administration.

Here's a link to an article about Mr. Ruelas:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/27/rigoberto-ruelas-lausd-te_n_740544.html

Peace and Justice,
Grace Marroquin

Also read this piece in the LA Times, which is trying to wash the blood off its hands.

Join us Tuesday, Sept. 28 to protest Education Indoctrination, NBC's non-stop propaganda

I'm all excited. My co-editor on the new video going up now deals with the GEM/CAPE – Real Reformer rally at the theater showing WFS.

Lots of discussion of the film today at the NBC sham Education Nation. I neglected the issue until today when I focused on Brian Jones' great work sitting right next to Michelle Rhee and a few feet away from Randi Weingarten, with Steve Brill in between and the head of the Gates Foundation along for the ride. Viewers might have thought Brian and Randi were allies, but of course Brian ran with the opposition to Unity and is with Teachers for a Just Contract. And has been somewhat active in GEM. Brian made a stand on merit pay and Randi waffled. Brian is a Real Reformer (he was at our rally on Friday - see my video interview with him in post below). Randi is not. I view her as a quasi ed deformer who in many ways has more in common with Rhee (who actually taught longer than Randi) than she does with Brian.

Many bloggers have been out there on this issue - see my blog roll - Failing Schools, Flowers and Sausages, Accountable Talk to name just a few.

But let's get to Tuesday's events: GEM meeting at CUNY at 4:30
But before that at 4pm:

Join Parents Across America, Class Size Matters, GEM, CAPE, and the NY Charter Parents Association at a press conference tomorrow, to protest Education Nation’s total exclusion of NYC parent voices and its unilateral presentation of views, unrivaled in its propagandistic flavor since the days of the Soviet Union.



Ed Notes will be there to tape it.

Here is a message from Leonie:

Since Sunday, NBC and MSNBC have been running a non-stop series of programs called Education Nation, touting the top-down policies of school closings, privatization, charter school expansion, teacher-bashing and high-stakes testing that have failed so miserably here in NYC to improve the quality of our public schools.  (For more on our recent test score debacle, and how NYC has fallen behind other cities since the Bloomberg/Klein policies were put in place, see my testimony today at the City Council hearings.)

At the very same time as members of the City Council, the Bronx BP Ruben Diaz and the UFT head Mulgrew were lambasting the fraudulent use of data by the DOE and the lack of positive results in terms of student achievement, MSNBC gave Bloomberg 15 minutes of uninterrupted time to read a speech on air, in which he touted the progress of schools under his command, without reporters being allowed to ask a single question.

They have invited not a single NYC public school parent onto any of their panels, and have excluded prominent critics including Diane Ravitch.   Brian Williams spent two thirds of tonight's nightly news, with rosy segments about charter schools and the movie "Waiting for Superman.”

The straw that broke the camel’s back for me was when MSNBC scheduled a show, originally entitled, “Does Education Need another Katrina?”   (For more on this, as well a critique of "Waiting for Superman," see my Huffington Post column, Education Indoctrination. )

Please join Parents Across America, Class Size Matters, GEM, CAPE, and the NY Charter Parents Association at a press conference tomorrow, to protest Education Nation’s total exclusion of NYC parent voices and its unilateral presentation of views, unrivaled in its propagandistic flavor since the days of the Soviet Union.

When: Tuesday, Sept. 28 at 4 PM

Where: 50^th and Rockefeller Plaza, in front of the ticket booth for the Observation deck; map here . (subway: take the B, D, F, M to Rockefeller Center.)

Please join us tomorrow and make your voices heard! 

And whether you can make it to the press conference, please send a message to  the President of NBC News, by signing the letter from Parents Across America,  here:

Email me at leonie@att.net if you’re interested in making a statement at the press conference tomorrow, and please forward this message to others who care..

Thanks,

Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
212-674-7320
classsizematters@gmail.comwww.classsizematters.org

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leonie-haimson

Follow me on twitter @leoniehaimson

MSNBC -Brian kicking Ass

Brian just laid all of them out on merit pay.
Brill asked Randi why she went for merit pay - is she squirming.
Brian is dominating the conversation.

GEM's Brian Jones on MSNBC at 4:30 - streaming live

Brian Jones who works with GEM and ISO will be on a panel today at NBC - unless they shoot him - with Rhee, Randi and Canada. Ed Deform apologist and slug Steve Brill will be moderating.

Brian was at our rally at WFS on Friday and I did an interview with him and another teacher from his school on how the invasion of one of Eva's schools has impacted on their school.



Brian has written a piece for the International Socialist web site that is as good as it gets. There is so much good stuff in this essay that you have to read it 3 times. He closes with this:

There's a racial dimension to these questions that can't be ignored, either. It irks me to no end to hear hedge fund managers refer to the charter school cause as the "civil rights movement of our generation." Education Secretary Arne Duncan says that Waiting for Superman is a "Rosa Parks moment."

Interestingly, Black voters in Washington, D.C. and in Harlem recently--and overwhelmingly--rejected pro-charter school candidates. That's why I think it's more appropriate to call this a Glenn Beck moment. That is, a moment when we should realize that these people are wrapping themselves in the mantle of a movement to which they bear no relation.

Dr. King once said, "The forces that are anti-Negro are by and large anti-labor." Apparently, Black voters are beginning to think that the reverse is also true.
But folks from the business world have an extremely hard time shaking off their faith in free-market principles and their hostility to unions. Evidence and research be damned.
There is more than a slight element of hypocrisy here. To hear the billionaire school reformers tell it, class size doesn't matter, resources don't matter, and experienced teachers are standing in the way of success. But when these same people spend five figures to send their kids to private schools, what do they insist on? Small classes, excellent resources and experienced teachers.

How can we make every public school a great school? Those three things--the things that the wealthy demand for their children--would be a perfect place to start.

NYC Teacher Brian Jones: What I want to say on NBC today: Stop scapegoating teachers

Answer No. 1: Stop scapegoating teachers

September 27, 2010

As part of its "Education Nation" summit, NBC invited New York City teacher Brian Jones to participate in a panel discussion on the future of the teaching profession. Joining him on the panel are Michelle Rhee, the Schools Chancellor of Washington, D.C.; Geoffrey Canada, CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone Project, a network of charter schools; Allan Golston, president of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association; and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

The title of the panel is "Good Apples: How do we keep good teachers, throw out bad ones and put a new shine on the profession?" The discussion will stream live at MSNBC.com today at 4:45 p.m. (Eastern time).

First, though, Brian has a few thoughts to share before the bell rings.

The entire essay at Norms Notes: