Friday, January 11, 2013

UFT Evaluation Committee Meets Today at 4PM, Will Ratify at Jan. 17 Delegate Assembly With Rumor of Money on the Table

UFT, Students First, E4E all on same page while MORE opposes. Anyone from MORE at the special meeting today will say one word. NO!

The UFT, after 6 months if inaction has called its quasi-democratic Unity packed Evaluation committee into a meeting at 4PM today to make it look like democracy but to force feed a deal that none of the sworn to secrecy members will be allowed to discuss with their own schools.

Oh, the drama continues.

The story is breaking but the scenario means the deal is done and probably has been for a while, but the posturing must continue to convince the members the UFT leaders are putting up a fight.  The DA was moved from Jan. 23 (originally set for Jan. 16) and is not Jan. 17 the last day before going over the edu-cliff.

Why call a DA on the afternoon of the final day when we know the state must have the signature of Mulgrew and has to read and approve the deal? You mean right after the Unity cannibals call the question to end debate to ratify, Mulgrew will sign and have the doc rushed up to Albany?

Oh, the drama continues.

The phones are ringing with rumors there is a contract attached to the deal but my guess is that there is not a contract or at least anything that could be classified as a contract as that would force a vote of the membership. The leadership does not want to get this to the membership and besides that would take us past the Jan. 17 deadline. So in my book, no contract.

But there may be some money on the table with guesses around the idea of it being related to some professional development. Meaning, teachers can get bucks. No idea of details but I have heard this for a few months from various sources.

So, what has all the posturing been about? Whether a teacher can or cannot get a post-observation meeting with the principal? Give me a break.

Oh, the drama continues.

Mike to Mike:
Mulgrew: Hey Bloomie, I have an idea, why don't you compare us to the NRA?
Bloomberg: Great idea Mike. Then you call a press conference and also run some ads denouncing me
Mulgrew: Brilliant, Mike.

Day of action - will there still be on on Monday?

People were spitting blood at the idea of a poorly organized day of action on Monday to "force" Bloomberg to negotiate. "You see, just the very threat has forced him to capitulate," will be the line we will be hearing.

As I reported yesterday, Jeff Kaufman belittled the Day of Action idea (Jeff Kaufman to UFT on Day of Action: You guys are kidding, right?)  and here he continues the debate with a chapter leader (I'm betting Unity) who criticized him. [There are more follow-ups which I will post later.]
Note the Children Above Politics and the rest of the leaflet. Could have been written by E4E or Students First. (See MORE blog -No Deal for Teachers or Students on the similarities.).


-------

Thank you, -------, for your comments. While I disagree with you it is helpful to engage in a dialogue; something Charley Turner is vehemently opposed. To correct one point, although it is much less important than the issue of how we organize to fight this process, the only way that an agreement can be imposed on us is first the declaration of an impasse (the stage our contract is in) then a fact-finding proceeding and then if no further agreement takes place a legislatively imposed contract. This has not occurred since 1971 and has never occurred in our Union’s history.

The main issue, however, is the refusal of the UFT leadership to treat the evaluation issue with the seriousness it deserves. You state you are going to hand the flyers to your members. Great. Shouldn’t they know about the new evaluation system already? The feeble UFT use of the flyers was not for our members but for the public. If you want to sway public opinion we’re supposed to rely on a few ads and us going out to undisclosed transportation hubs to give out this meaningless flyer. We need a leadership that regularly informs the membership and the public about how basing any part of our evaluation on student test scores or VAM will subject us to arbitrary discipline. We need to stop the imposition of the parts of the law which already make accused ineffective teachers bear the burden of proving their competence, the end of tenure as we know it.

We don’t hear any of this because the UFT leadership doesn’t want us to know they sold us out. While I support holding up the evaluation system for a contract I can only imagine what we will lose when they say it is settled.

I don’t have to tell you how much we have lost over the past 10 years. How our teachers are targeted and how we have little or no say in how and what we teach. Until teachers, hopefully guided by their Union and other well-meaning people, speak with the concerted voice we once had. And not told what to think by a leadership that is trying to hide its own self-centered incompetence.

Jason, I hope that you keep your eyes opened and see what is being done to us. Don’t conspire with leaders who are only interested in themselves and buy all the nonsense that the so-called education reformers put out because they are no position to fight for us.

Good luck leafleting your members.

Jeff Kaufman
Chapter Leader
Aspirations High School
Jeff was responding to this email from a chapter leader critical of his stance.
Jeff,

Hi, we have not met at any meetings, so we have not become acquainted yet. I read the emails that have gone between you and Charley today, and I felt very dismayed. I do not think that it is my place to lecture you on the meaning of being leaders in our union movement or how the email list should be used. However I do feel that I should correct two points. First, that I speak for myself, and for my chapter. Second that as a point of fact, Charley is right. If we do not engage in discussions about the new evaluation law that it can be imposed on us. If you read 3012c carefully it refers to article 14 of the NYS civil service act. The NYS civil service act is also known as the Taylor law. It states that when collective bargaining fails, the chief executive of the State can impose a decision. You can read about the exact process below as I have copied and pasted it.

Regarding the fliers. The Union leadership is doing a thankless job for us. There are hardworking people who are trying to make the best possible agreement for everybody while negotiating with a relentless union busting Department of Education. It is important to remember that regardless of the quality of the agreement that there will be people, (hopefully not you) that will only recognize the loss of the things that they are comfortable with; while failing to recognize that we must comply with the law that our legislature passes. The flier and the call to action is a small part of a greater whole. I am sure that you have noticed the television commercials that have been airing lately. In my opinion that is a true measure of commitment to all teachers. By broadcasting our message to millions of people the UFT is shaping public opinion on a large scale. Personally I will give out the flier to my chapter. I will ask them to continue educating the public on the true nature of the difficult negotiations that our leadership is having with the Department of Education, and I will wait for a final agreement. I am sure that you are an intelligent and fair minded person who is passionate about our issues. I know that you care as much as I do. I hope that we can continue to have productive conversations about what it means to stand side by side as fellow union members, and chapter leaders. I look forward to seeing you at a chapter leader meeting or a high school committee meeting where we can join forces in doing what's right for teachers, students, and our union.

Best Regards,

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Seattle Teachers Revolt Against High Stakes Test

In perhaps the first instance anywhere in the nation, teachers at Seattle’s Garfield High School will announce this afternoon their refusal to administer a standardized test that students in other high schools across the district are scheduled to take in the first part of January. -- Teachers at Garfield HS, Seattle
 From a teacher at Garfield HS in Seattle, posted on MORE listserve. He is asking for letters of support from unions (forget the UFT), caucuses, individual schools, parents, etc.
My whole school voted to refuse the mandated standardized test.  We need as much support as we can get because teachers may be putting their jobs on the line. If your union, or caucus could pass a resolution of support it would mean a lot. 


M E D I A   A D V I S O R Y
T H U R S D A Y,   J A N U A R Y   1 0 ,   2 0 1 3
Teachers at Garfield High Say MAP Test is Counterproductive,
Say They’ll Refuse to Waste Students’ Time, School’s Resources
--PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY--
What: Press conference to announce Garfield High School’s opposition to the MAP test

When: Thursday, January 10, 3:00 p.m.

Where: Garfield High School (400 23rd Avenue Seattle, WA 98122) in Room 206

For more information:

Jesse Hagopian, Teacher Garfield HS, 206-962-1685, hagopian.jesse@gmail.com

SEATTLE – In perhaps the first instance anywhere in the nation, teachers at Seattle’s Garfield High School will announce this afternoon their refusal to administer a standardized test that students in other high schools across the district are scheduled to take in the first part of January.  Known as the MAP test, it purports to evaluate student progress and skill in reading and math. The teachers contend that it wastes time, money, and precious school resources.
            “Our teachers have come together and agree that the MAP test is not good for our students, nor is it an appropriate or useful tool in measuring progress,” says Kris McBride, who serves as Academic Dean and Testing Coordinator at Garfield.  “Additionally, students don’t take it seriously.  It produces specious results, and wreaks havoc on limited school resources during the weeks and weeks the test is administered.”
            McBride explained that the MAP test, which stands for Measure of Academic Progress, is administered two to three times each year to 9th grade students as well as those receiving extra support services.  The students are told the test will have no impact on their grades or class standing, and, because of this, students tend to give it little thought to the test and hurry through it.  In addition, there seems to be little overlap between what teachers are expected to teach (state and district standards) and what is measured on the test. 
            Despite this flaw, McBride states, results of the MAP tests will be used by district officials to help evaluate the effectiveness of instructors who give the test. “Our teachers feel strongly that this type of evaluative tool is unfair based on the abundance of problems with the exam, the content, and the statistical insignificance of the students’ scores,” she says.
            Refusing to administer a district-mandated test is not a decision the school’s teachers made casually, or without serious internal discussion.
            “Those of us who give this test have talked about it for several years,” explained Mallory Clarke, Garfield’s Reading Specialist. “When we heard that district representatives themselves reported that the margin of error for this test is greater than an individual student’s expected score increase, we were appalled!” 
            After the affected faculty decided unanimously to make a stand against the MAP test, they told the rest of Garfield’s faculty of their decision. In a December 19 vote, the rest of the school’s teachers voted overwhelmingly to support their colleagues’ refusal to administer the test. Not a single teacher voted against the action. Four abstained from voting. the rest voted to support it.
            “We really think our teachers are making the right decision,” said student body president Obadiah Stephens-Terry.“I know when I took the test, it didn’t seem relevant to what we were studying in class– and we have great classes here at Garfield. I know students who just go through the motions when taking the test, did it as quickly as possible so that they could do something more useful with their time.”  History teacher Jesse Hagopian said, “What frustrates me about the MAP test is that the computer labs are monopolized for weeks by the MAP test, making research projects very difficult to assign.” Hagopian added “This especially hurts students who don’t have a computer at home.”
            The $4 million MAP test was purchased by Seattle Public Schools during the tenure of former Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson, who left her position in 2011 and sadly passed away in 2012. Goodloe-Johnson sat on the board of directors of Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), the company that markets the MAP test. At the time, some pointed out this potential conflict of interest for Goodloe-Johnson, but the district went ahead with the purchase nonetheless.  NWEA itself warns that districts should not use the map test to evaluate teachers.  We teachers of Garfield High School believe that the NWEA is right—this test should not be used to evaluate teachers.  For secondary teachers the test cannot provide useful information about students’ skills and progress.  Still worse, this test should not rob students of precious class time away from instruction. “We believe the negative aspects of the MAP test so outweigh the positive ones that we are willing to take this step,” said Language Arts teacher Adam Gish.

Jeff Kaufman to UFT on Day of Action: You guys are kidding, right?

Is this how we organize against an evaluation system which will undoubtedly cost many of us our jobs and tenure? We have already caved in by allowing most of the evaluation system to be implemented to be made part of the new law. It is no wonder that we end up with the short stick when our Union’s only reaction is a couple of high priced television ads and a half-assed “rally” organized by sending out a one page anti-Bloomberg leaflet by email to Chapter Leaders one week before the governor imposed deadline and expecting them to bring their members to undisclosed locations. You guys are kidding, right?

Jeff Kaufman
Chapter Leader
Aspirations High School
Brooklyn, New York
Great work Jeff. with signs approaching that the Unity gang were softening up for the deal (I will follow up with news of that). Jeff was responding to this email from his District Rep regarding the Day of action flyer - which I will post when I get a copy.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Due to the increasing pressure related to the deadline for the New Teacher Evaluation system, it is urgent that we push our agenda of developing a system that helps teachers help kids. The union is asking every school to hand out flyers either at their school or at a transportation hub on Monday. So, please organize your chapter so that this can be done either in the morning or during the afternoon after school. I have attached a copy of the flyer to this message. Please download and copy it at your school. If this impossible for you to do, let me know and I will make every effort to get you the flyers.
Thank you in advance.
Dist Rep POS
{who will remain nameless but who I refer to as a Piece of Shit -- so POS will do.}
Some CLs responded positively to Jeff and asked what could be done?
Are there any ideas out there? A rally at UFT HQ on Jan. 17?

Fred Smith Tribute: Leonie Haimson Matters

Class size matters, and so does Leonie.
 
Posted to the Change the Stakes listserve:

Dear Leonie,


Hail to you, the People's Queen (not to be confused with Leona, the Queen of Mean).  You deserve accolades and bouquets--but we know you'll never stop to take a bow.

You prove that less is more--as in tireless, fearless, relentless--in your fight for quality public school education for all children.
You are a compass seeking the truth and courageously speaking it in the corridors of power.  Every day you inform us and inspire us to push on. 
You are a one-person news bureau that all of Tweed's press officers can't touch.  You leave no pineapple unturned. You report what you find without fear or favor.
Congratulations on the milestone you have just reached--The 4,000th edition of your NYC Education News Digest.  That's 4K, folks.  In 2012 alone you put together 544 of them and 632 the year before--alerting us to important educational issues, events and efforts.  How's that for prodigious!
If each digest contains and average of ten items (a conservative estimate) that represents about 12,000 entries in two years, ranging from snippets to lengthy pieces--volumes of them uncovered and contributed by you--as well as threads of responses. Each digest is food for thought and action, inviting us to pursue topics of interest, exchange ideas and connect with kindred spirits. 
And while you were generating all this material, you somehow maintained the New York City Public School Parents blog, spearheaded the battle for smaller classes, organized and attended meetings, did radio and television interviews, spoke at hearings and forums, freely shared your knowledge with advocacy groups and anyone interested in improving the schools, critiqued a few movies, served as a go-to resource for savvy reporters and never stopped digging for answers.
You know what matters the most.
Fred Smith

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

UFT/Unity District Rep Spills Beans to Chapter Leaders: Just Shut Up and Shove Our Policies Down Their Throats

My monthly Chapter Leader meetings are for me to give you important information....It is not the place nor the time to get on a soap box and speak about what you want to speak about.  The information that I present ..is information passed down from our leadership to you so that you can act as the conduit of information to the membership in your school. We present the information, not to be filtered by you or to be changed in any way, it is to be presented to your members as you have heard it from me or any of the leadership in this union.... UFT District Rep in letter to Chapter Leaders in district
Apparently there's no interest in the passing of information from the rank and file  slaving away in classrooms. I have sad news for the people running out union. Chapter leaders do not work for them or in their interests (unless they are Unity Caucus.) They actually are supposed to work for the people in their school who elected them. The hierarchy in the UFT doesn't see it that way, especially since Randi killed district rep elections in 2002. I know the old pre-2002 system elected Unity people too but they were at least subject to some accountability to the chapter leaders in their district and could not be so cavalier in their attitudes.

As many signs are leading to the UFT caving in on the evaluation issue (they want to make E4E happy, don't they?) by Jan. 17 -- it is just not in their DNA to resist I guess --- and the postponement of the UFT elections may be for the purpose of giving them time to work the members over --- but I'll leave this for a follow-up ---the revealing letter from a Unity District Rep to the chapter leaders that has been circulating has received a bunch of comments from various bloggers. James Eterno published it on the ICE blog and NYC Educator wrote a scathing piece (UFT Democracy), though I was surprised he was surprised that the union has this view of chapter leaders as their servants.

It was a chapter leader associated with ICE who last week challenged his district rep to deal with the issues of concern to the membership instead of force feeding the Unity Caucus agenda on ed evals by treating chapter leaders elected by the schools and functional chapters as union employees required to push union policy down the throats of the people they supposedly represent. The chapter leader sent out this:
At the dist monthly chapter leaders meeting our dist rep did his unity/scum caucus duty by elucidating as to the wonders that Mulgrew and company were accomplishing vis-a-vis the new teacher termination(evaluation scheme). When I and 2 other chapter leaders began to raise questions and to attempt to shift the discussion away from unity spin and closer to reality he became upset. After all how dare we question and deviate from the script???
The e-mail from the DR was send out later that day. A former CL echoed this sentiment:
This is what surprised me most when I became a chapter leader. I had thought the district chapter leader meetings would be a place for chapter leaders to discuss what was happening in their schools and how we could and should respond. NO, NO, NO.....there was a list of items to TELL us. Any discussion was quickly snuffed out. I was often yelled at by my DR...."whose meeting is this", he would yell at me! Unfortunately the other chapter leaders would support him, but over time they often came to me after the meeting to find out more information since he did not give any background to what he said.
The leadership has rarely, if ever, evidenced concern for what the members really think -- see MORE's report of the Dec. DA, Unity Votes Against Democracy, where they voted NOT to allow the members to vote on an evaluation deal that will change the contract in terms of the way teachers are rated, a violation of the UFT constitution.

This line below has to be the funniest line in the Dist Rep's letter. As if the Unity Caucus which the DR belongs too is not one and the same as the union leadership.

I do support my union and the leadership of this union, however, I do not preach where I stand in terms of the caucus that I belong to or don’t belong to, I do not bad mouth the leadership even if I don’t agree with what is being done.
Given that Unity Caucus chapter leaders have agreed to pushing the union line down the throats of the teachers in their schools -- the very people that elected them ---- since the advent of the caucus 50 years ago, the UFT is not trying to Unityize the rest of the chapter leaders by claiming it is their responsibility to enforce union policy.

If Unity could get away with it they would appoint the chapter leaders like they appoint the district reps. I mean, what a drag to have to recruit a new batch into Unity every time there's an election for CLs. Here is another gem from the Dist Rep's letter.
I support them because they are the leadership of this union and trust that they have the best interest of our members in the forefront of every decision that is made.
How has that trust worked out for the teachers in NYC over the last decade and a half? What he really means is:
I trust the union leadership because they got me this great gig as a district rep where I teach one period a day, earn a 6 figure salary and get a double pension.
Here is the MORE response followed by the letter itself.

Unity Doesn’t Want to Hear from You

9 Jan
An incredible letter is making its rounds. It was an email written by a District Representative of the United Federation of Teachers to the Chapter Leaders in his district. The email is posted on the ICE-UFT blog:
This letter crystallizes very clearly and honestly the leadership philosophy practiced by the Unity caucus. We are being led by a group who believe our union is a top-down affair. This is what corporate unionism looks like.
The final sentence of the letter says “I support them (our union leaders) because they are the leadership of this union and trust that they have the best interest of our members in the forefront of every decision that is made.” MORE believes that our union needs to put the mechanisms in place to ensure that our union leaders have “our members in the forefront of every decision that is made.”
Unfortunately, when our union leadership describes the job of a chapter leader to be “the defender of our contract and to represent, support and guide our members, but also to pass down the information given as was presented to you”, then it is obvious that we are a long way from having the tools as union members to hold our leaders accountable.
Not only do chapter leaders have to faithfully pass down all information from Unity to the members, they cannot “speak about what you want to speak about” at the monthly district meetings with their District Leaders. That means there is absolutely no way to meet with our DLs as a district to highlight common problems and ensure they take steps to address them. Combine this with the fact that members no longer can vote for their District Leaders, since they are now appointed by Unity, and you can see that our union leadership, from District Leaders on up, are totally insulated from the will of the membership.
All we have is faith that Unity is working on our behalf. They represent us in name only, since there is no way for us as members to ensure that their priorities are our priorities.
The first step is allowing membership to elect their District Leaders again. When that happens, district meetings will no longer be a one-way transmission of information and orders from the top-down. Chapters will be allowed and even encouraged to bring up the issues that matter to them so our leaders can act upon them.
But district meetings are not the only places priorities are set. The main forum for this is the monthly Delegate Assembly. As of now, Unity keeps a tight rein on the parliamentary workings of the DA. Everyone knows how Unity wants members to vote and they usually get their way. Some District Leaders have gone as far as to pressure all of their chapter leaders to sit with them at the DA as a way to monitor which way they vote.
MORE believes that any organized UFT meeting should be open and democratic with chapter leaders, delegates, and all members given the opportunity to raise issues of their constituents’ concerns.
Join our chapter leader e-mail list by request at more@morecaucusnyc.org
 --------- Full letter below

Video: DOE Official Shael Polokow-Suransky Says Parents Can Opt Out of Tests




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmfOOJkBlds

UFT and NRA in Merger Talks

Leading UFTers on march to City Hall
NRA head Wayne LaPierre opened talks with Michael Mulgrew on a plan to merge the UFT and NRA against their common enemy, Michael Bloomberg.

"The best way to stop a bad billionaire guy brandishing an assault weapon made out of money is to arm the good guys he is using it against with their own assault weapons," said LaPierre who was interviewed as he entered 52 Broadway wearing a flack jacket and carrying a grenade launcher.

"Expect an agreement on the evaluation system before the Jan. 17 deadline," he said. "Or else."

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Can You Trust John Merrow?

I know from following Merrow that this documentary would reveal very little in terms of pinning anything on Rhee. I had fun reading and writing tweets during the program.

Here are some Ed Notes comments on Merrow over the years.
Aug 11, 2008
I post a few snippets from this discussion on NCLB, narrated by PBS's John Merrow, Education Correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and President of Learning Matters Incorporated, as a warning. Should you wish ...

Apr 05, 2012
John Merrow There was a time not long ago when Merrow seemed to go along with all the sins of ed deform. Then he started talking to teachers. Here he realizes that it is not about the physical act of cheating - which until the ...

I wrote this commentary in May 2008.

John Merrow - Only an Idiot...

...would overlook Merrow's one-sided coverage of education on the News Hour With Jim Lehrer after he wrote a teacher union bashing op ed in the Wall St. Journal.

I could say only an idiot would write, "Only an idiot would overlook student performance, be it dismal or outstanding" and then go on to talk about the narrowest form of assessment possible while ignoring all the other assessments of student "performance" - how about attendance? how about functioning effectively in a social setting? - what's the matter, John, too hard to figure all this stuff out for a supposed "expert" on education.

It is no surprise Murdoch's Wall Street Journal gives him a platform. What's next? The NY Post?

Merrow's Learning Matters is funded by Annenberg, Gates, Broad, Kellogg - the usual suspects in the phony ed reform movement.

AND OF COURSE,
Check Eduwonkette's take: Who Slipped a Mickey in John Merrow's Kool-Aid?
Unfortunately I can't access either the WSJ Merrow teacher bashing article of Eduwonkette's piece.  Too bad we lost her brief shining star.
And this from Leonie:


John Merrow and his new documentary about the “amazing rebirth” of NOLA schools under Paul Vallas.  Due to be screened March 2013.


You can see some of the backers here:

One is Greg Richmond, CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers



I’m sure there were many not listed on Kickstarter. Here are the benefits listed to large donors:

2 backers who paid ·  Pledge $5,000 or more
2 backers
Thank you! At the REX level. You'll get all of the above, PLUS DINNER for two with John Merrow. You choose the date, we’ll choose the restaurant. (A nice one!)

·  Pledge $1,000 or more
9 backers
Thank you! It's the CARNIVAL level, dear friend. You'll have the benefit of all of the above, PLUS 2 tickets to an EXCLUSIVE SCREENING of REBIRTH in New Orleans, New York, or Palo Alto. We can't pay your travel costs, but we can guarantee a meaningful evening that you'll be proud to say that you made happen!

·  Pledge $500 or more
2 backers
Thank you! At the PRALINE level, you'll enjoy all of the benefits above, including DVD CREDIT. You'll also get a BACKSTAGE PASS for 2 to see John Merrow live at the JCC in Manhattan. We'll send you your choice of up to 4 DVDs or totes, because -just like PRALINES- you can't have just one...
Estimated delivery: Mar 2013
Ships within the US only
Estimated delivery: Apr 2013

·  Pledge $250 or more
7 backers
Thank you! It's the CRESCENT level. You'll get all the benefits above, plus you’ll be CREDITED as a SUPPORTER on the DVD version of the film! We'll include an AUTOGRAPHED copy of John Merrow’s acclaimed book 'The Influence of Teachers' as well. See http://theinfluenceofteachers.com/ for more info.
Estimated delivery: Mar 2013
Ships within the US only

Etc.

Rhee on TV Frontline Tonight - Cheating Scandal Addressed But What Else?

There is some excitement about John Merrow's Frontline report on PBS tonight at 10PM with people feeling she may get her comeuppance. I have my doubts. Even the title: The Education of Michelle Rhee bothers me.

As if she actually learned something from her experience instead of executing a political, not educational, agenda, which she has continued to this day. One thing Rhee learned: she could manipulate media types like Merrow who went all mushy over her at one time. Is this film Merrow's minor mea culpa for bad reporting?

One of the MORE people sent this email.
You might want to spread the word to interested parties to watch the Frontline coming up tonight, PBS, 10 PM, which centers on Michelle Rhee's rise to wealth and fame on wings of reform, DC testing scandal - cheating, reform issues. I'm watching.
My husband just emailed me this Esquire article by Charles Pierce who writes a scathing piece on corporate stink in ed reform, has done so before, too. He mentioned the upcoming show. Comments on his blog are good, too...

Also see: 
NYC Public School Parents : “Our parent report card for Michelle Rhee and StudentsFirst”

 
When Merrow sent out an email last week advertising we would learn a lot about Rhee I emailed him: You mean she is married to a child molester? No response.

But I never expect much from Merrow who used to love Rhee - and Vallas in New Orleans – he ignores way too much stuff.

Just heard John Merrow on NPR. I don't have high hopes he will pin too much on Rhee. It is the pressure she put on people but she did not intend for people to cheat -- as if she did not know what the outcomes of the pressure would be and her career would hang on good outcomes.

Her big mistake may be that she didn't understand the need for collaboration in education. What a crock.

And then he echos her lies that she raised test scores (she claims astronomically) when she taught -- I believe Bob Somersby took that lie apart - he also taught in the Baltimore schools for over a decade. See GF Brandenburg's brilliant analysis.

UPDATE FROM DIANE:
Norm, 

I saw an embargoed copy of the show. I'm not permitted to say much, but will say that Rhee's claim of astronomical score gains when she taught in Baltimore were restated in the documentary without correction---although they were thoroughly debunked by GF Brandenburg and others. I pointed this out to John, even sent him the column in which Jay Mathews admits he is convinced that her claims were inflated. Maybe he added a correction? We will see.

Diane
Well, there you go. 

My brief moment of glory came at an Education Nation 2011 panel with Rhee that was chaired by NBC's Rahema Ellis who focused questions at the Atlanta former school board rep while ignoring Rhee's cheating scandal. I got to the mic and asked Ellis why she was ignoring that point. Embarassed she turned to Rhee and asked but did no follow-up. So much for the ed deform press. And though I feel the Frontline report will focus on the cheating, I am betting Rhee will escape relatively unscathed. Though of course her report card media blitz yesterday was designed to deflect -- though if you read all the blogs -- start with Ravitch -- you will see what a farce even that turned out to be -- her top states have the worst test scores.

No sense from this interview on NPR that Merrow gets a hint of the Rhee political agenda from the very beginning. He tries to straddle the fence now after being on the side of deformers but has seen the outcomes. Hmmm, like Randi.

One revealing comment he made when talking about the 2 sides of the ed divide-- one by Rhee, the other by Ravitch. He slips when he says that the Ravitch side has fewer voices but quickly corrects himself. Like the enormous numbers of teachers and parents out there don''t count for much.
As if there are 2 voices -- one funded by billionaires and one grassroots but somehow the imbalance is never addressed.

One billionaire voice counts for many. And make sure to check the funding sources of Frontline -- bet Gates money is floating around somewhere. Any ed deformers involved?

I wonder if there is a clip of Randi as a supposed major opponent to Rhee when in fact Randi helped sell a contract that helped undermine the teachers and the DC union. And Randi also interferred in a union election for fear they would not ratify her and Rhee's contract.

I will be watching though to see just how deep Merrow was willing to go in a complex story.

Here is lots more info on Leonie's listserve from Rethinking Schools' Stan Karp.

Rhee-form in the spotlight again


Former Washington, DC Superintendent Michelle Rhee and her organization, Students First, will be the subject of a PBS documentary tonight. Despite misrepresenting her own teaching career, presiding over an extensive cheating scandal, and getting poor results during her tenure as Supt., Rhee has become the media face of corporate education reform. She recently released a “state report card” grading states on the basis of how thoroughly they have adopted proposals for test-based teacher evaluation, charters, and privatization. States with more funding equity and better academic performance generally received lower grades than states that passed legislation advancing Rhee’s political agenda. In NJ, Rhee has been a favored ‘reform’ partner of the Christie Administration. Her Students First NJ affiliate is “Better Education for Kids” a lobbying group backed by Republican hedge fund billionaire David Tepper.
 
 
Frontline, PBS Documentary, airs Tuesday 1/8
 
Washington Post
 
Esquire
 
Valerie Strauss, Washington Post
 
NJ Spotlight
 
NYC Public School Parents
 
Jersey Jazzman

Marie Corfield, Blue Jersey
 
 
 
 

Breaking: UFT Doesn't Announce Election Committee, Indicating Postponement

Coming evaluation deal and loss of mid-winter break days may be factor in delay.
Monday, Jan. 7

Tonight's UFT Executive Board meeting was pretty much drop-dead date for the UFT elections to take place within the rough time-frame that they have been run in the past: process begins in early January, petitions due in mid-February, ballots go out in March with vote count around April 1 (a very appropriate day for anything related to Unity Caucus).

The UFT constitution says elections must take place sometime in the spring, which ends around June 20, I guess. Is the Unity caucus leadership thinking they would fare better with ballots going out in May or June when the lost Feb. vacation days would become a memory and whatever eval deal they make would have been spun any which way the leadership wants?

Before anything can take place, an election committee must be formed, usually with people from the opposition on the committee, and ratified by the Executive Board.  I was told by a high UFT official a few ago that someone from MORE would be included. This committee sets all the rules and parameters for the election. Usually, the committee is formed in November or December and takes a few weeks to formulate things.

So at tonight's Ex Bd meeting there was some expectation that if we were to meet the timetable, the committee would have to be announced tonight. The next EB meeting is on Jan. 22, the day before the DA, so even if announced that day, we would have to wait for it to report back to the EB meeting after that, which would be Feb. 4 and with mid-winter break, even then the election would be delayed. Even New Action, which will endorse Mulgrew in exchange for Exec Bd seats, were in the dark.

Some of us have been trying to figure out what advantage might accrue to the leadership to postpone by 2 or 3 months and that is not clear. Could it just be delays due to other stuff going on? Sandy? Too busy with Bloomberg to deal with the election?

Conspiracy theorists like me don't buy that. Within the opposition there are those who think Mulgrew will resist on the eval issue and others who feel he will cave, which the UFT has had a history of doing. Maybe they are waiting to see how whatever deal they work out plays out amongst the membership.

Then there is the link to a possible contract and the charges by the DOE the UFT was looking for money in exchange for the eval deal, which wouldn't surprise me given that they could sell any eval deal to the members for bucks and in an election the money always helps the people in power. Maybe the delay is about their hope they can stare down Bloomberg and convince him to toss enough bucks on the table to allow Mulgrew to sell the deal. Maybe just point their assault weapons at Bloomberg with their new pals at the NRA.

Now here was an interesting tidbit at Gotham today. Remember when MORE brought a reso to the Dec. DA calling for a membership vote on any deal, pointing out a change in how teachers are evaluated is a change in the contract and the constitution says members must vote on contract changes. Leroy Barr argued the case that only the Unity dominated DA should vote (be men and stand up for your right to keep the vote in the DA, you lilly livererd spineless geeks). Then Leroy closed by saying contracts are one of the only things that must go to the members. Huh? Can Leroy contradict himself any more in a 5 minute speech?

So read this point by Mulgrew today:
In a sober-toned response to the city on Thursday, Mr. Mulgrew called the allegations a “serious misunderstanding” of the union’s position and the law; he argued that the teachers’ contract, by law, must address the evaluation system, so it was fair to tie the two together.
Oops, Mulgrew better tell Leroy Barr that the eval system is tied to the contract. Can MORE get a do-over at the Jan. 23 DA?

NEXT: Check ICE blog and NYC Educator for another outrageous UFT view of "democracy".

Monday, January 7, 2013

MORE on Opt-Out Day and Ravitch on Opt-Out and Change the Stakes

One of the best organized groups functions in New York state. It is called Change the Stakes. .... Diane Ravitch
Having a group I belong to and helped found described by Diane Ravitch no less as "one of the best organized" is shocking. But given that I leave most of the work to all the other amazing people I wrote about on Friday, it works for me.

CTS has been very involved in opting out of tests for parents and some of the members have been doing so. CTS has helped guide people through the process and build solidarity.

MORE, closely allied with CTS, put out a great statement today on National Opt-Out Day.

 

On National Opt Out Day

by morecaucusnyc
Image
 
On National Opt Out day, the Movement of Rank and File Educators stands in solidarity with the brave parents who have stepped forward and said no to high stakes testing! The best way to stop the corporate takeover our schools is to refuse to participate.
 
Learn more about National Opt Out Day, 2013 by reading here or here or here or here or here or here 
 
Visit the Change the Stakes Website for information about how New York parents and teachers are united in the struggle against high stakes testing  here
 
Be one of the 2,300 people who have signed the petition to Give New York State Parents the Right to Opt their Children Out of High Stakes Testing
 
Or one of 4,000 who have signed Carol Burris’ petition to Governor Cuomo and the LEgislature to End High Stakes Testing
 
We care MORE about the people our students become and LESS about the scores on the tests they take.
These MOREs have been busy little bees lately with lots MORE to come. The 4 Bloggers of the Apocalypse have brought some life to the MORE blog.
 
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Diane Ravitch gives kudos to Change the Stakes
 

It’s Time to Change the Stakes–Diane Ravitch

Parents across the nation are taking a stand against the use of tests to measure, rate, and rank their children.
Local school boards are passing resolutions against high-stakes testing.
People are increasingly angry that tests are being used inappropriately in ways for which they were not designed.
They are forming groups to protest.
One of the best organized groups functions in New York state.
It is called Change the Stakes.
It adopted a statement in opposition to high-stakes testing drafted by testing expert Fred Smith.
In addition to their concerns about narrowing the curriculum and demoralizing students, parents and educators want to know more about the testing. They want to know, for example:
“How many professionally designed and developed tests are being given in New York schools? What is the purpose of each? When are they scheduled to be given? How much time is spent administering each test? How many students and schools are involved? And how much money does each test cost (the material, the scoring and the reports)?
Which publisher constructed or supplied each exam? Who owns the exams we are paying for? Which ones are field tests—tests and questions that do not count but enable commercial publishers to develop and sell exams for future use? Which exams are used to screen children for entry into special programs
or selective schools? Which must be passed as a basis for promotion or to fulfill graduation requirements? Surely, the city and state know and can give us these details for the current year.”
The state and city education officials act as though they own the children and can do whatever they want without supplying even the most basic information to parents.
This is wrong. This is contrary to democratic control of public education. The people in charge don’t know more. They just have more power. And they are using it in ways that disrespects parents and educators.


UP YOURS: Are Charter Schools so unregulated, or 'private', they are exempt from providing students with their constitutional rights?

Hello Boston Globe. UP (Yours) IS the mainstream charter movement.
Charter crooks abound. I don't mean stealing in the classic sense but creating an entire industry feeding at the public teat. Here is a follow up to my earlier post (just read Inside Colocation and seethe) on the usual outrages by Success Academy schools, something we will wait til hell freezes over for the NY Times to cover. Before I get to Lisa Donlan's pointing out how the lead shield put around charters protects them from accountability, Boston based EduShyster today reports on the end of the love affair between the Boston Globe and UP (Yours) Academy charter.
It’s time now for another installment of EduShyster’s favorite telenovela: “Nos Encanta Los Escuelos Charteros.” This long-running series features the Boston Globe in the role of love-besotted suitor, intent on showing its love for local charter schools through cartas de amor, otherwise known as news articles. When we last tuned in, the Globe’s mad luv for local miracle school UP Academy, appeared to have hit a rough patch. EduShyster can now officially confirm that the Globe and UP Academy are done, splitsville, broken up.

What went so wrong?

The Globe went public about the split last week, airing UP’s dirty laundry all over the Metro section...
Edushyster exposes the sleazy connection between a mayoral aide and UP:
With the Mayor all but out of commission since October, and his powerful aide Michael Kinneavy presumed to be running the show, it might strike the more conspiracy-minded among us as a bit rich that Mr. Kinneavy sits on the board of UP Academy, which stands to benefit directly and most profitably from the legislation. (UP keeps a cool 15% commission each year for miracle-izing the formerly public schools in its growing orbit). I believe that this is what is known as a conflicto de intereses.
Apparently, the Boston Globe, which had lavished loving praises on Up, felt spurned since it had been fed charter pablum and bought it hook, line and sinker. I guess hearing this kind of crap made them take notice...
by the time you factor in 20% annual student turnover AND the multiple categories of students shunted off to enclaves of non-excellence, it turns out that this former-public-school-turned-miracle-charter isn’t so miraculous after all. And that’s not all. The Globe acknowledged what EduShyster reported late last year
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But the true tabloid take-a-way was the Globe’s recounting of a young student with behavioral problems being driven to a nearby public school by UP administrators and dropped off, still wearing her UP Academy uniform. 

Did you get that? I’ll let the Globe break it down for you again for emphasis:
Ultimately, of the pupils eligible to apply at the Gavin, 84 percent enrolled at UP Academy last fall. But as the year progressed, 44 of those former Gavin pupils left. A few of those students landed at the McCormack Middle School in Dorchester. The pupils generally had discipline problems, and UP Academy drove one girl there while she was wearing her school uniform, said Paul Mahoney, dean of students at the McCormack.

Actually, the real Boston Globe take-away from this sleazy affair? Not that there is an inherent fatal flaw in the charter movement...
Last week, a Globe editorial took a swipe at Mayor Menino, warning that his love legislation to UP Academy and other in-district charter schools actually undermines the “mainstream charter movement.”  

Hello Boston Globe. UP (Yours) IS THE MAINSTREAM CHARTER MOVEMENT. 

This ties into this great work done NYC Lower East Side Parent activist Lisa Donlan.
Charter schools can call themselves public all they want (and have the term sprinkled into state law) but the courts will need to determine soon just how "public" charter schools are, in fact. 
 Are they so unregulated, or 'private', that they even are exempt from providing students with their constitutional rights, as the quote below might indicate?

The District’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education in August proposed rules that would govern discipline policies at all public schools, including charters. They called for minimizing suspension and expulsion of children 13 and younger and outlined due process rights for students. Charter leaders mounted a vigorous opposition, saying the federal law that established D.C. charters frees them from such local mandates.


If so, this would give a whole new meaning to separate and unequal!

Lisa
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/01/02/judges-look-at-whether-charter-schools-are-public/



 
Charter schools are publicly funded but increasingly people are asking whether many of them more resemble private schools. 

Here’s a different look at this notion from Julian Vasquez Heilig, an award-winning researcher and Associate Professor of Educational Policy and Planning at the University of Texas at Austin. A version of this appeared on his Education and Public Policy blog.
By Julian Vasquez Heilig
The common refrain is that charter schools are public schools. Critics, such as Diane Ravitch, have said that charter schools accept public money but act private. I have levied a variety of critiques at charters despite the fact that I was an instructor at an Aspire charter school in California and that I currently sit on UT-Austin’s charter school board. See CI’s full thread on charter schools here.
At the recent UCEA convention in Denver, I had the pleasure of presenting in a conference session about charters schools and equity. At the conference I was blown away how judges are treating charters schools as private schools and the implication that these choices have for student who attend those schools. I have excerpted below from a law journal article authored by Preston C. Green III, Erica Frankenberg, Steven L. Nelson, and Julie Rowland.
Citation: Green, P., Frankenberg, E., Nelson, S., & Rowland, J. (2012). Charter schools, students of color and the state action doctrine: Are the rights of students of color sufficiently protected? Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice, 18(2), 254-275.
A recent federal appellate court decision suggests that students of color should also be concerned about the legal protections that charter schools might provide to students.18Because state authorizing statutes consistently define charter schools as “public schools,”19 it would appear that charter school students are entitled to constitutional protections.20 Students attending public schools have challenged deprivations of federal constitutional and statutory rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which establishes a cause of action for deprivations of federal constitutional and statutory rights “under the color of state law.”21 Students have sought damage awards pursuant to § 1983; “actions for injunctive or declaratory relief are [also] a major portion of the case law.”22 However, in 2010, the Ninth Circuit concluded in Caviness v. Horizon Learning Center23 that a private, nonprofit corporation running an Arizona charter school was not a state actor under § 1983.24 The Ninth Circuit specifically rejected the assertion that charter schools were state actors because they were defined as “public schools” under the state statute.25

Although the Caviness case was an employment case, it is important to recognize that a similar analysis could lead to the conclusion that charter schools are not state actors with respect to student constitutional issues. Students attending public schools are guaranteed constitutional protections.156 There are constitutional safeguards for student expression.157Public school students are protected from unreasonable search and seizure.158 The Constitution also requires public schools to provide procedural due process safeguards when suspending or expelling students.159 Of the seven states in the Ninth Circuit with legislation authorizing charter schools,160 only Oregon guarantees that all federal rights apply to charter schools.161 With the exception of Oregon, state legislatures do not compel charter schools to follow constitutional guidelines with respect to due process. California and Idaho merely require potential charter school operators to disclose their disciplinary policies in their initial charter application.162 Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, and Nevada do not even demand that charter schools disclose their disciplinary policies at the time of application.163

Students of color attending charter schools should be concerned about the potential lack of constitutional due process protection. Studies of data at the national, state, district, and building levels have consistently found that students of color are suspended at two to three times the rate of other students.180 African-American students should be especially concerned about the possible lack of due process protection.181 According to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, in the 1970s African-Americans were two times more likely than white students to be suspended from school.182 By 2002, the risk of suspension for African-Americans increased to nearly three times that of white students.183 Further, a study of office discipline referrals in 364 elementary and middle schools during the 2005-06 school year found that African-American students were more than two times as likely to be referred to the office for disciplinary issues as white students.184 The same study found that African-American students were also four times more likely to be sent to the principal’s office than white students.185

Because of their foci on autonomy and accountability, supporters of charter schools have argued that they are the perfect vehicle for addressing the educational needs of students of color. This article points out, however, that charter schools may not be state actors under federal law with respect to student rights. Consequently, students of color may be unwittingly surrendering protections guaranteed under the Constitution in order to enroll in charter schools.
I have already discussed how charters can wield contracts to exclude students from schoolhere. In conclusion, Professor Green commented via email:
The key takeaway about Caviness is that it’s unclear whether the constitutional rights of kids are protected in charter schools. In a NEPC brief, Julie Mead and I point out that charter school statutes can address this confusion by clearly stipulating that children are guaranteed the same rights in charter schools as they would receive in traditional public schools… there are important implications for African-American males with respect to Due Process, suspensions, and expulsions.