One the question of opt-out: On NY1 Mulgrew said that parents should do what is best for their children. If they ask us, we would tell them that the tests don't tell parents or educators anything about how their child is doing.I hope Randi Weingarten at least got a lifetime's worth of free product for advancing Coca-Cola’s interests over the well being of children. --- Ray Rogers, Director of Corporate Campaign, Inc. and Campaign to Stop Killer CokeHow many ways can you sell out? Let me count the ways. Didn't the AFT convention pass a resolution on Coke this past summer that Randi had the AFT Exec Council overturn?
From: Lew Friedman
Date: March 29, 2015 at 11:49:09 PM GMT+1
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Fwd: AFT president bows to Coca-Cola: final revised statement for Corporate Crime Reporter--done Sunday 3/29
Hi All:The AFT Exec Council decided to end the Coca-Cola boycott that was presented at last summer's convention and later passed. In addition, Randi and the AFT is partnering with Coca-Cola to address child labor. The following is a statement by Ray Rogers, Director of Campaign to Stop Killer Coke.Lew
Corporate Crime Reporter Editor Russell MoKhiber asked for a comment on 3/27/15 AFT announcement which follows:Statement by Ray Rogers, Director of Corporate Campaign, Inc. and Campaign to Stop Killer Coke: Response to American Federation of Teachers' Announcement on 3/27/15 That The Union Is Partnering with Coca-Cola and Ending Its Short-Lived Boycott
Thank you, Randi, for personally and unambiguously endorsing opt out! Encourage your members across the nation to join those who are defending their students and their profession. It is hard to stand up alone; in unity there is strength... Diane RavitchFred Smith from Change the Stakes writes:
I hope Diane is not falling for this. Fred hasn't. Let's see what Randi does - ie AFT money into supporting opt out - not what she says.I hate when they are spineless until they are forced to do the right thing---and then they have the balls to take credit for it. They are complete cowards, phonies and revisionists. What a sick labor world--when Randi, with no teaching experience, can continue to act out her hollow charade.
Opting out is not about helping the teachers' union or opposing accountability. It is a clear, unambiguous message to governors and legislators, to Congress and the Obama administration that testing is out of control. Testing is not teaching. Since the passage of NCLB in 2001-02, billions of dollars have been spent on test prep and testing. In the case of the Common Core tests, the results are not reported for 4-6 months, the teacher is not allowed to see what students got right or wrong. The tests have no diagnostic value. None. They are used solely to rank and rate students, teachers, principals, and schools. Furthermore, they are designed to fail the majority of students because of the absurd "cut scores" (passing mark) pegged to NAEP's proficient level.Here are some of Randi's social media meanderings -
Randi tries to say she has been consistent in supporting opt out, belying the Ravitch "Breaking" headline.@lacetothetop et al have asked what I'd do if I had kids in NYPS—based on what I’ve seen, if I had kids, I’d opt them out of the PEARSON (PAARC) tests this yrIt’s crazy what’s happening in NY, w/ Cuomo leading the misuse of testing. We understand why @NYSUT and parents are calling for an opt-outWe believe parents have right to opt-out & tchrs shld be able to advise parents how. We’ve said it repeatedly, are fighting for it in ESEA.
Really, how much has changed in Tweed since BloomKleinCott left?CONCOURSE VILLAGE — Parents, students and teachers are fuming mad about a city proposal to expand a Success Academy charter school into a Bronx building that already houses three middle schools, arguing the addition will make the school crowded and dangerous. "The impression I get is that their kids are more important than our kids," said Jim Donohue, an eighth grade English teacher at Arturo Toscanini, one of the middle schools in the building. "I don't understand why they get to push half a school aside." ....DNAinfo
Don't forget to include space for the dungeon
The Department of Education has proposed adding grades three through five of Success Academy Bronx 3, now located at 968 Cauldwell Ave., into the building at 1000 Teller Ave., which currently houses three schools serving grades six through eight: Arturo Toscanini, the Urban Science Academy and New Millennium Business Academy Middle School.They don't know the half of it as Eva's minions start demanding space for every non-classroom activity they can make up - a farting room, anyone?
The building also contains an Alternate Learning Center for students who are serving suspensions of up to 90 days.
Change the Stakes
Bronx Forum: Time to Talk About the Tests - Spring greetings! Change the Stakes is very excited to promote this important discussion on testing this Wednesday, April 1st, in the Bronx. Please share...
 |
| Make my day, ed deformers |
Janine Sopp posted in NYC Opt Out
Opt Out meeting in Queens this Wednesday night! Spread the word! There will be a public forum about opting out of the State Tests hosted by a Jackson Heights, Queens neighborhood organization called People for Public Schools.
The meeting will be on April 1 at 7:30pm at the Community United Methodist Church at 81-10 35th Avenue in Jackson Heights. For more information you can email peopleforpublicschools@gmail.com
“Our hard work has paid dividends: In a rebuke to the anti-public-school agenda of hedge-fund billionaires, the state Legislature tonight reached agreement on a new budget and a package of education proposals that will immediately increase aid to public schools, ensure that teacher evaluations do not hinge on state test scores and ensure local oversight of struggling schools.”
“Our sellout lawmakers just agreed to turn our classrooms into testing factories. They agreed to make our children worth no more than a score. They have put us firmly down the course to dismantling our unions, and have decided that our voices don't matter. All that is left for us is to say is "we refuse". This classroom killing deal can only work if they get our test scores. We will deny them the weapon being used to destroy our schools. WE DO NOT CONSENT!!!!!! … And UFT/Mulgrew declares victory????? Mulgrew it is DEFINITELY time for you to go. City teachers, time to rise up. I rarely get involved w UFT politics, but his praise of this horrendous deal shows how this has happened. I've had enough. NYSUT, we're waiting for a response, and it had better be a strong one.”
“We are encouraging parents to opt out… we will be taking further steps to make parents aware of this.”
Going on the offense, NYSUT’s Magee calls for test boycott
“We are encouraging parents to opt out,” Magee said explaining that instructions for an opt-out are on their website. She also said “we will be taking further steps to make parents aware of this.”.... Capitol Confidential
 |
| AA (Always Amazing) Lauren Cohen makes reso at DA |
good cop, bad cop ---- desperation -- watch uft begin to reverse on opt out -- maybe even common core --- walls closing in.I usually get uft motivation but on reluctance to jump in with both feet on opt out i just don't get. I need to understand why uft resists jumping on the bandwagon - fear of tabloids accusing them of acting like a union?
We don't need no stinkin' details to know we were screwed -- if there were no rallies or actions, would the result have been much different? I'll do some details another time.NYSUT, UFT Bring Us Another Disaster
So much for all those rallies, ad and rhetoric from union leaders that they're not going to let Governor Cuomo destroy public schools. The budget agreement was announced last night and in it we got details of the new teacher evaluation system and other education reforms agreed to by Cuomo, the Assembly and the Senate.
Three parts should be particularly galling to you if you're a teacher:
UFT members, parents, and supporters of public schools all around New York State took part in rallies, protests and forums, created wonderful signs, reached out to the press and used social media to spread our love for public schools. These actions culminated in a rally at Governor Cuomo’s Manhattan office with thousands of people demanding that the Governor work with us, not against us.Here's the lone press report on the rally
MORE believes these actions should be the start, not the end, of a mass mobilization of educators and parents to have our voices heard. Too many decisions have been made without our input. This needs to change now!
Our due process tenure rights are under attack as is the very concept of being in a union. We must continue to build actions alongside parents, students, and the communities we serve to show our strength.
MORE was well represented at the Rally To Protect Our Schools on March 28 with Mindy Rosier, Jia Lee, and Patrick Walsh all featured as speakers.
Noah Gotbaum - Parent Advocate
http://youtu.be/tl_j-qQ9va4
Mindy Rosier - Jeremy Dudley - Teachers
http://youtu.be/bhHlmaCD21E
Patrick Walsh - Teacher
http://youtu.be/JwSrN_nT3EA
Jia Lee - Teacher
http://youtu.be/gyFpIuJWxIQ
Thousands joined to #protectourschools in Manhattan today! Speakers included Zephyr Teachout, Robert Jackson, Lisa Rudley, PS 321 principal Liz Phillips, Karen Sprowal, Noah Gotbaum, and more!
Students, parents, and teachers protest New York governor's plan to tie standardized tests to teacher evaluations
 |
A get well photo to Norm from 3rd Avei'm at the rally - sort of |
Do reporters at the New York Times know that cheating occurs? We’re fairly sure they do! Just last Tuesday, a news report in the Times ran beneath this headline:“Closing Arguments Begin in Test Cheating Trial of 12 Atlanta Educators”. In the past few years, cheating scandals have been so huge that even our most famous newspapers have managed to report them. But by force of habit and dint of culture, reporters still fail to connect the dots when it comes to a topic like this.One of my fave topics is the biased, but mostly no-nothing reporting on education - and probably most other issues. The tabloids have long-time ed beat writers who get to know the local ed scene but often distort their reporting to reflect editorial. The Times has a different tactic - inexperience - sort of a tfa for ed reporting. People who really know the beat, like Mike Winerip or Anna Philips, are pushed out for new blood that doesn't have a clue. Why? Because the more experience, the more the ed deform scam becomes clear and if honest, a good reporter can't really distort the issues in favor of the deformers.
Has Governor Cuomo thought about this? We don’t have the slightest idea! Our mightiest paper, the New York Times, seems disinclined to ask.... Daily Howler
in the process of writing about this ideological battle, the reporter, Maggie Haberman, characterizes Democrats for Education Reform, one of the principle hedge fund-backed lobby groups as a “left of center group,” which is absurd. For some reason, DFER has managed to persuade reporters that it has any liberal credentials, despite the fact that as Diane Ravitch pointed out, the California Democratic Party has repudiated it.And the Howler takes the Times to task on reporting on the evaluation issue where he raises the purposeful ignoring of cheating as a factor -- go test some of Eva's charter kids at random in June - or September.
Parents Across America wrote an open letter to the NPR ombudsman in 2011, objecting to the fact that Claudio Sanchez, the NPR reporter, had called DFER a “liberal” organization, while quoting their criticism of the progressive participants in the anti-corporate reform Save Our Schools march in DC.
We also pointed out that DFER’s founder, hedge fund operator Whitney Tilson, admitted that the only reason he put “Democrats” in the organization’s title and focused on convincing Democrats to adopt their pro-privatization agenda was that GOP leaders were already in agreement with most of their positions.
march 24, 12pm
[update - this was one of my last blog posts -- originally posted Tues march 24, 2015 but reverted to draft as new info on my hand came in -- back from 3 nights in joint diseases hospital today [friday] after operation on hand - yes very scary stuff -- when i wrote this tues morn i was optimistic - by late afternoon i figured i was being attacked by flesheating bacteria - not true - i hope -- excuse one hand typing -- will give details in follow-up tomorrow with perspectives on health care and a surprise about what they found in my hand --- and you wont be seeing me at tomorrow's or any rallies or events for a while. thanks to those who sent best wishes.]
“They produced a defective product, and don’t want you to know about it,” said Fred Smith, a former city test analyst who discovered the missing items... The alterations suggest serious flaws in the high-stakes tests, which Gov. Cuomo wants to rely on more heavily to rate students, teachers and schools, said Smith, who published his findings last week in City Limits magazine... NY Posthttp://nypost.com/2015/03/22/
We must use SED's dishonesty to support the following:NY Post piece below.
Fred
- An independent investigation of the NYS Testing Program and the SED/Pearson relationship.
- A sufficient reason for parents to opt their children out of the April exams and for teachers to actively encourage them. And leverage for MORE to use against the UFT's double games.
- The implementation of better assessment alternatives as a replacement for the current useless year-to-year abominations.
- The ouster of Ken Wagner, SED's chief stonewaller, and the above-it-all Chancellor Tisch.
- A demand for transparency and revision of the NYS Truth-in-Testing Law.
- Pressure on the Regents and politicians to do what's necessary and in their self-interest by supporting this agenda. Better late than never.
Others talked about how their children loved school - until they hit a testing wall - and started not liking school in the 3rd grade. The very same stories I hear coming from white parents.... My Report from a PTA meeting.
Slowly, CTS has been making headway and when a Brooklyn elementary school PTA President asked Change the Stakes to send a representative to speak about opting out to parents at a PTA meeting last week, no parent was available that morning and I was asked to represent the group.
Mar 07, 2015Dewey has one of the highest number of ineffective rated teachers by Elvin while at the same time she claims enormous success due to fraudulent credit recovery schemes. Red flag anyone? Here are the latest comments:Dec 25, 2014Based on the comments, a major issue is a phony credit recovery scheme and some ridiculous work rules imposed by the Elvin administrators, some of whom seem to be so awful. Hearing about how these slugs continue to ...Dec 10, 2014Gerard Papa, 61, who runs Flames, a basketball tournament and mentoring program for 700 kids ages 8 to 19, says Kathleen Elvin, the principal of John Dewey High School, closed off the school's secondary gym last ...Sep 26, 2014Are Elvin and Creveling the local version of ISIS, using this teacher as a hostage in retaliation for actions taken by the union - beheading the teacher, economically, by taking her job. The actions of Principal Elvin, along with ...
The Post story below the break.Sep 25, 2014“We're sorry you won't have health insurance for your child and thank you for serving your country. You're fired!” • Single Mother • Iraq War Veteran • Teaching for Only Four Months This is who Elvin and the AP of English ...Jun 26, 2014Kathleen Elvin was sent into John Dewey HS as a closer a few years ago - to make sure to drive the final nail in Dewey's coffin and remove many of the teachers, mostly senior. But the UFT lawsuit stopped that process over ...Dec 17, 2014Mrs Elvin, who was behind the non-stop attack on this teacher all last year and this year, was suddenly eulogizing her over the loudspeaker, and making sure everyone knew she was so deeply, deeply saddened by the loss of ...
