Thursday, July 30, 2015
Walker’s Philadelphia cheesesteak mockery
Several Philly tourists not amused with Scott Walker crashing their lunch. Overheard: “Stand in line with the rest of us.” “Who is that?” — Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) July 28, 2015 This is silly but sometimes you just gotta stop, smell the roses, and indulge in some mockery of Scott Walker’s cheesesteak choices. It’s the standard more »
Walker’s Philadelphia cheesesteak mockery
Several Philly tourists not amused with Scott Walker crashing their lunch. Overheard: “Stand in line with the rest of us.” “Who is that?” — Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) July 28, 2015 This is silly but sometimes you just gotta stop, smell the roses, and indulge in some mockery of Scott Walker’s cheesesteak choices. It’s the standard more »
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
WI Supreme Court “went well beyond what any court has ever held in opening the floodgates to secret money in politics”
Brendan Fischer of PRWatch was recently interviewed by Janine Jackson of Fair.org. A couple of exerpts: JJ: Well, it sounds as though the charge was that Walker actively sought to skirt finance laws and that the ruling is: Yes, he did, but it’s OK? I mean, help us to understand exactly what happened here. BF: That’s about right. more »
Monday, July 27, 2015
Republican presidential candidates cluster accounts at bank with only 1 branch in McLean, Virginia
Hmmmmm. From Bloomberg: “According to the most recent Federal Election Commission filings, Chain Bridge is the sole bank serving Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign, which reported raising $11.4 million as of June 30, and his allied super-PAC, Right to Rise, which says it’s raised $103 million so far. Donald Trump’s campaign banks at Chain Bridge, and it’s more »
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Trump nails Walker on crumbling roads, deficit, underfunded education, Common Core flip-flops
Times are strange when you’re pleased to hear from Donald Trump, eh? What’s really wild is not only do I enjoy hearing Trump slam Walker, I have to admit that Trump is essentially telling the truth about the state of affairs in Wisconsin and about Walker’s flip-flops on Common Core. Donald Trump says he wasn’t more »
Wisconsinite dissents in chalk: “WEASEL WHORE HOUSE”
The dissent: The chalker, who prefers to remain anonymous, gave me permission to upload this photo here. If you have questions about the use of the word “whore” in Wisconsin see this. You just finished reading Wisconsinite dissents in chalk: "WEASEL WHORE HOUSE"! Consider leaving a comment!Visit bluecheddar.net for more news and opinion. You can more »
Saturday, July 25, 2015
“Scott Walker is not Joe McCarthy, but his technique is similar”
This is a bit from an opinion piece by Dana Milbank in the Washington Post: “Scott Walker is not Joe McCarthy, but his technique is similar: He suggests that the nation’s ills can be cured by fighting labor unions (foremost among the “big government special interests” hurting America), even though unions represent just 11 percent more »
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
One of the shady recipients of Walker’s WEDC welfare faces criminal investigation (finally)
As blogger lufthase puts it, “If WEDC had done a simple search on Green Box chairman Ronald Van Den Heuvel before making this loan, they’d have found at least 8 six-figure judgements from 2008 to 2011 against him or the many, many companies he has registered at the same address as Green Box.” Basically, Scott more »
Not Everyone in Rhode Island is Thrilled with New State Superintendent
Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo is a former venture capital entrepreneur. As state treasurer, she redirected the state’s pension funds. Her husband Andy Moffitt is a co-founder of the Global Education Practice at McKinsey. He is active with the anti-union, anti-teacher Stand for Children. He was a member of Teach for America. Moffitt co-wrote (with Paul Kihn and Michael Barber) “Deliverology 101: A Field Guide for Educational Leaders.”
The blog site “RIFuture” wrote of McKinsey:
“In terms of corporate education reform, one prominent McKinsey-watcher and follow-the-money researcher puts the firm in a class by itself:
“They have been the leaders in crafting the dominant narrative of an education crisis for decades, and now deeply entrenched in education reform policies, they are reaping the financial and political benefits of marketing solutions to the problems they manufactured in the first place.”
Governor Raimondo recently selected Deputy Commissioner of Education Ken Wagner as the new State Superintendent in Rhode Island. In Néw York, he was known as a strong supporter of high-stakes testing, VAM, and corporate reforms.
Sheila Resseger, a teacher in Rhode Island for many years, was unhappy with Raimondo’s choice. She wrote, in response to a post about Néw York’s Common Core curriculum called EngageNY:
“Here was my comment to the post that Diane referenced. I am going to make it my mission to inform Rhode Islanders about the total disdain that Ken Wagner has for authentic teaching and learning. According to the RI Dept of Ed and Gov. Raimondo, he “developed” EngageNY. By his own admission he is opposed to Opt Out and for data collection. These are the trifecta of evil in my book: Common Core/Pear$on testing/data mining.
“I find this so profoundly disturbing that I can hardly see straight to type this comment. I live in RI. As you may know, our Governor, Gina Raimondo, recently nominated NY State Deputy Commissioner of Ed Dr. Ken Wagner to be our new Commissioner of Education (replacing Broad-trained Deborah Gist). This past Monday night the RI Board of Education and Council on Elementary and Secondary Education met to decide whether or not to confirm Dr. Wagner. I was the only one to speak against his confirmation. Dr. Wagner was credited with developing EngageNY, and seemed to be delighted that it has been downloaded for free 20 million times. He also declared that the Common Core does not script lessons, but actually frees up teachers to teach creatively. Another egregious comment of his was that we don’t have to be concerned with Piaget’s developmental stages–that theory is passé. Now we know that children can do so much more than we had expected of them before. Yes, every first grader is delighted to learn about the Code of Hammurabi.
“Here is my post in RIFuture.org, published before the meeting. http://www.rifuture.org/will-ken-wagners-past-in-new-york-shape-his-future-in-rhode-island.html”
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Round-up of Wisco news: Walker puzzled by gayness, Walker v. G.A.B., 20 wk. abortion ban, MORE
These seem like the key WI political stories from the last 3 or 4 days. If I missed something, please do leave it in a comment. WALKER AND GAYNESS This is how conservative blog NewsMax frames it: Gay marriage opponent and Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker said in a CNN interview broadcast on Sunday he more »
Monday, July 20, 2015
“Governor Walker, why are you trying to break my family apart?” – Leslie Flores
Because a new poll shows that Donald Trump polls nationally at 24% among Republican registered voters while Walker polls 13% I have to admit that I have no idea whether Walker’s comments to this family have an impact positive or negative within the Republican Party base. This guy’s tweet sums up their bigoted wingnuttery: "Obama's more »
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Iowa is smelling the BS around Walker’s Kohls speech
Iowans are learning that Scott Walker doled out over $68 million to Kohls. It’s undermining his “brown bag government” schtick. Excellent! If they keep pulling at loose threads on his stories they’re going to turn up tales of unaccountable millions in corporate welfare he gave out through WEDC. Des Moines Register has the story: Some more »
Friday, July 17, 2015
Looks like my governor is cruisin’ through Iowa in a big gay RV
I sent this to George Takei Dear George: This is a photo of Scott Walker’s new RV. I must say, all I can see is an equal sign with those two red bars on the right. And when I see a red equal sign I am reminded of the red equal sign which you encouraged more »
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Appeal of John Doe decision to SCOTUS unlikely according to Hasen
This is from Hasen’s “Analysis of Wisconsin John Doe Ruling: Bad News for Campaign Finance Laws” U.S. Supreme Court review? The dissent notes that under the U.S. Supreme Court’s Caperton decision, the failure to recuse in this case could be a due process violation. At least theoretically, that’s an issue which could go to the more »
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
CMoR's Move to Short Pump
As many of you already know, we relocated CMoR Short Pump to Short Pump Town Center this past Saturday. We could talk about the events of the day, but since a picture is worth a thousand words:
Campbell Brown Explains Her Goals to Fortune Magazine
Campbell Brown, the pretty and telegenic face of the “reform” movement, was interviewed by Fortune magazine about her new website, funded by rightwing billionaires like the Walton Foundation.
Brown’s first foray into “education reform” was her campaign against sexual predators in the public schools. So far as I can tell, she never attended a public school and neither do her children, but somehow she concluded that a significant number of teachers in New York’s public schools are sexual predators.
She went from there to the big time, leading a campaign to save children from tenured teachers (who might be sexual predators). The case against tenure has never been clear, since high-performing districts have tenured teachers as well as low-performing districts. Brown seems to think that getting rid of tenure will lead to a better education for all children. It would be helpful if she offered some evidence for this belief.
She claims that she is not opposed to teachers’ unions but she is quick to claim that anyone who disagrees with her is fronting for unions.
I offered her some friendly advice recently. I offered to join with her in a crusade to help the nation’s neediest students, whose biggest disadvantage is poverty, not tenured teachers. We could campaign together for more resources for the schools they attend, the restoration of teachers of the arts, the full funding of the band and physical education and foreign languages. She hasn’t answered.
Saturday, July 11, 2015
AFT Endorses Hillary
The AFT announced its endorsement of Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for President
American Federation of Teachers Endorses Hillary Clinton for President
For Release:
Saturday, July 11, 2015
WASHINGTON—On Saturday, the executive council of the American Federation of Teachers voted overwhelmingly to endorse Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary for president of the United States. The AFT is the first national union to endorse a candidate in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.
“In vision, in experience and in leadership, Hillary Clinton is the champion working families need in the White House,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “Hillary Clinton is a tested leader who shares our values, is supported by our members, and is prepared for a tough fight on behalf of students, families and communities. That fight defines her campaign and her career. In Arkansas, Hillary fought to expand access to early childhood education and care. As first lady, she fought for the right to affordable, high-quality healthcare and helped win that right for our youngest citizens. As senator, she fought for education funding and workers’ rights, and she defended public service workers who came to our nation’s defense on Sept. 11. And as secretary of state, she promoted democracy throughout the world, lifting up the worth and dignity of all people—men and women, gay and straight.”
Weingarten continued, “Hillary Clinton, a product of public schools herself, believes in the promise of public education. From early childhood learning through higher education, she sees how that promise can create real opportunity for kids, building a much-needed bridge to the middle class. Hillary understands that to reclaim the promise of public education, policymakers need to work with educators and their unions. She’s ready to work with us to confront the issues facing children and their families today, including poverty, wage stagnation, income inequality and lack of opportunity. Hillary is the leader we need to help us reclaim the promise of public education and, indeed, of America.”
Upon learning of the union’s endorsement, Clinton said, “For nearly a century, the American Federation of Teachers has worked to expand opportunity for the people and communities they serve. I’m honored to have the support of AFT’s members and leaders, and proud to stand with them to unleash the potential of every American.”
Clinton continued, “I know from my own family that teachers have the power to change lives. We need to make sure every child has access to a quality public education and teachers with the tools to help them succeed. Our country’s future depends on the education we give all our children — and giving them the best means working with the teachers and school personnel who help shape their futures each day.”
As in past elections, the AFT’s 1.6 million members will be a powerful organizing force behind our endorsed candidate. Leading up to November 2016, AFT members are expected to make more than 1 million phone calls and knock on more than 500,000 doors.
The AFT’s endorsement comes a month after Clinton attended an executive council meeting in Washington, D.C. At that meeting, she said, “It is just dead wrong to make teachers the scapegoats for all of society’s problems. Where I come from, teachers are the solution. And I strongly believe that unions are part of the solution, too.”
Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley also spoke with the executive council at that meeting. All potential and announced candidates were invited to complete a questionnaire, and those who returned the questionnaire were invited to meet with the council. No Republican candidates responded to the invitation.
The AFT has conducted a long, deliberative process to assess which candidate would best champion the issues of importance to our members, their families and communities. Members have been engaged online, through the “You Decide” website, through several telephone town halls, and through multiple surveys—reaching more than 1 million members.
Additionally, over the past few weeks, the AFT has conducted a scientific poll of our membership on the candidates and key issues. The top issues members raised were jobs and the economy and public education. Seventy-nine percent of our members who vote in Democratic primaries said we should endorse a candidate. And by more than a 3-to-1 margin, these members said the AFT should endorse Clinton.
This week, the AFT will begin its biennial TEACH conference, a gathering of thousands of educators. Weingarten will address the conference at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, with a press availability to follow. Her remarks will include information about the endorsement. For more information on the TEACH conference, please email Laura Pometto at lpometto@aft.org (link sends e-mail).
– See more at: http://www.aft.org/press-release/american-federation-teachers-endorses-hillary-clinton-president#sthash.jyB1FdvI.dpuf
Thursday, July 9, 2015
ALDI Hiring Event: July 14th
Store Associates
$11.35/hour
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With an opportunity to earn $75,000/yr as a Store Manager
*$21.60/hr (average 45 hours/week)
Opportunities available at the Mechanicsville and Henrico locations
Individuals can apply in person at the following event:
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
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9933 Mayland Drive
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Requirements include;
Be a team player
Be able to lift 45 lbs
Must have a flexible schedule
Have a High School Diploma or G.E.D.
Be able to work in a fast paced environment
Must pass drug test as well as background check
Excellent customer service skills
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Chelsea and Scott’s The Mill at Fine Creek Wedding
Vendors: Ceremony and Reception Venue: The Mill at Fine Creek Florist: M Henry Designs Hair and Makeup: Lou Stevens Glam Squad DJ: Steve Mueller, Choice Entertainment Cake: Pearls Cupcake Shoppe Bridal Gown: Simply Elegant Bridal
Leonie Haimson: Setting the Record Straight about the Every Child Achieves Act
Leonie Haimson, leader of Class Size Matters and Student Privacy Matters, writes here about the Every Child Achieves Act and the distortions that are filling her email box these days. Haimson is also a member of the board of the Network for Public Education and a fearless supporter of public education.
She writes:
Over the last few days, I have been flooded with blog posts, Facebook comments, memes and tweets, claiming that the bi-partisan bill to be debated this week in the Senate, called ECAA, or Every Child Achieves Act, must be opposed, because it “locks in” Common Core and many of the worst, test-based accountability policies of Arne Duncan and the US Department of Education.
Yet this is far from the truth. For nearly 13 years, students have suffered under the high-stakes testing regime of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the 2002 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). NCLB was likely the dumbest law ever passed by Congress, because it required that all public school children in the United States reach “proficiency” by 2014 as measured by test scores, or else their schools would be deemed failing.
The inanity of NCLB was exacerbated by Race to the Top and other policies pursued by Arne Duncan that put testing on steroids. These policies treated our children as data points, reduced our schools to test prep factories, and attempted to convince parents that their education must be handed over to testing companies, charter operators, and ed tech corporations. This disastrous trend resulted in huge parent protests and hundreds of thousands of students opting out of state exams last spring.
The current Senate bill is admittedly far from perfect. It still requires annual standardized tests in grades 3-8, as did NCLB. It would allot far too many federal dollars and too little accountability to charter schools, while encouraging merit pay for teachers – all policies likely to lead to wasted taxpayer funds that would be better spent on programs proven to work, such as class size reduction. It would do nothing to protect student data privacy, while allowing the continued disclosure of sensitive personal information to vendors and other third parties without parental knowledge or consent. Hopefully this critical issue will be addressed separately by Congress, by improving one or more of the many student privacy bills introduced during the past few months.
Yet ECAA still represents a critical step forward, because it places an absolute ban on the federal government intervening in the decision-making of states and districts as to how to judge schools, evaluate teachers or implement standards. In particular, it expressly bars the feds from requiring or even incentivizing states to adopt any particular set of standards, as Duncan has done with the Common Core, through his Race to the Top grants and NCLB waivers.
It would also bar the feds from requiring that teachers be judged by student test scores, which is not only statistically unreliable according to most experts, but also damaging to the quality of education kids receive, by narrowing the curriculum and encouraging test prep to the exclusion of all else. The bill would prevent the feds from imposing any particular school improvement strategy or mandating which schools need improvement – now based simplistically on test scores, no matter what the challenges faced by these schools or the inappropriateness of the measure. Finally, the bill would prevent the feds from withholding funds from states that allow parents to opt out of testing, as Duncan most recently threatened to do to the state of Oregon.
It is true that many states have already drunk the Common Core/testing Koolaid, led by Governors and legislators influenced by the deep pockets of corporate reformers or tempted by RTTT funds. ECAA also still requires annual testing, which the Tester amendment would replace with grade-span testing, as many organizations including FairTest and Network for Public Education have strongly urged. (Full disclosure: I’m on NPE’s board.) The bill has a provision aimed at alleviating over-testing, by requiring that states audit the number of standardized exams and eliminate duplication, though it’s not clear how effective this requirement will be.
But with or without the Tester amendment, ECAA would release the stranglehold that the federal government currently has on our schools, and would allow each of us to work for more sane and positive policies in our respective states and districts. For this reason alone, it deserves the support of every parent and teacher who cares about finally moving towards a more humane, and evidence-based set of practices in our public schools.
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Fitz says Walker was involved in attempted ax of open records law
I’ll keep this brief. Here’s the headline: Scott Fitzgerald: Scott Walker’s office was involved with open records changes The most important thing to take away is that Fitz and the boys will make another effort to cut you and the world off from legislative records: “I think it’s something that there are many different entities more »
Pearson’s Plans to Dominate the Global Education Market
This report is a fascinating and scary analysis of Pearson’s ambitious efforts to create a demand for their products around the world and to satisfy that demand while making profits.
It is called “Pearson and PALF. The Mutating Giant,” and it was written by Carolina Jünemann and Stephen Ball. It shines a much needed light on the international ambitions of the privatization movement and the commercializing of education as a consumer good. It is worth your time to read this important report. Arm yourself with knowledge and information.
It begins:
Education is big business. There are global, national and local businesses all seeking to profit from education and educational services. Increasingly, business, education policy and what it means to be educated are intimately intertwined.
Pearson is the world’s largest edu-business. Over the last 10 years Pearson has been involved in a process of re-invention, leading to its re-branding in 2014 as a ‘learning’ company with a vision, summed up in the strapline ‘always learning’, and with the aim of contributing to “the very highest standards in education around the world.”
This transition has at least two aspects to it. The first relates to Pearson’s repositioning of the brand as a social purpose company, one which portrays itself as having a positive, and measurable, impact on society, that of “help(ing) more people make measurable progress in their lives through learning”. The other relates to Pearson seeking to position itself as an increasingly powerful global policy actor in education – “to playing an active role in helping shape and inform the global debate around education and learning policy” (2012 annual report p. 39). But as Pearson is contributing to the global education policy debate, it is also reconfiguring the education policy problems that will then generate new markets for its products and services in the form of educational ‘solutions’.
In 2012, Michael Barber Pearson’s Chief Education Adviser, previously Head of the UK’s Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit (2001-2005) launched PALF (the Pearson Affordable Learning Fund) as a for-profit venture fund to support and encourage the development and expansion of affordable learning school chains in developing countries.
The creation of PALF is an integral part of the repositioning of Pearson as a global company rather than one focused strongly on European and the US markets. It fits into Pearson’s business strategy of venturing into new markets (geographical) and uncovering new market opportunities, in this case, a new market segment (socio-economic), moving the company away from its traditional position as mid-market and high-end operator in education. PALF has been created to develop an unconventional market niche – the need and ambition of the poor in developing countries to give their children a good education.
The main focus of investment in PALF’s first phase of activity was for-profit Low Fee Private School (LFPS) chains. PALF’s first investment was in Omega Schools, a chain of Low Fee Private Schools operating in Ghana. Another is Affordable Private Education Centres (APEC), a chain of low-cost secondary schools in the Philippines. A third investment within the LFPS chain sector in 2014 is eAdvance, a company that manages the first South African blended learning low fee school chain called Spark schools.
However, PALF’s initial focus on Low Fee Private School chains has been inhibited by the absence of appropriate investment opportunities – sustainable, innovative businesses that could provide the expected financial returns. This has resulted in a recent shift in PALF’s scope to include a more general mix of investments and a broader focus on commercial education ‘solutions’ that, as Pearson explains, “might involve new business models, investing in new technology, or testing innovative partnerships or distribution channels” (Pearson plc, 2014, p. 56).
As part of this change of focus, in March 2014 PALF made an equity investment in Zaya Learning Labs and another in Avanti Learning Centres, a provider of college entrance exam preparation for students of low-income families through a pedagogic approach based on peer-to-peer learning and self-study, both in India. This kind of investment, as those in Ed-tech more generally, also facilitate, and illustrate, the increased used of non-teacher based or blended learning pedagogies.
An important aspect of PALF’s outcomes driven ‘demonstration’ work is related to the role of technology as an enabler of scale through delivery cost savings, that is, by reducing the reliance on qualified teachers as the primary medium of instruction. There are complex and over-lapping profit opportunities in the technology – teaching equation. This has profound implications for the role of teachers. The commitments and functions of the teacher are increasingly narrowed to include only those deemed necessary for enhancing performance and outcomes, at the same time as teachers are residualised and ‘de-professionalised’.
Monday, July 6, 2015
I have to ask: Are the Old Boys down at M.J.Sentinel shitting their pants right now?
Plenty of facebook commenters and at least two bloggers have proposed that the JFC’s attack on WI open records law is actually a set-up to eventually make Walker look the hero. As in, they think that the “dirty dozen” on the Joint Finance Committee conspired to nuke open records law with the budget add-on called more »
Ohio: Time to End Charter Corruption!
Bill Phillis is a watchdog for Ohio public schools. He is a man of great integrity who cares passionately about fair and equitable funding of the schools. He was Deputy State Superintendent many years ago and is now a fighting octogenarian, with no goal but the public interest. He created and leads the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy.
Here is his reaction to the collapse of charter school reform a few days ago:
“An initiative petition for a law or a constitutional amendment will be necessary to hold the charter industry accountable or phase it out
“High hopes were dashed by the refusal of House leadership to schedule HB 2 for a vote on June 30th. Democrats and Republicans, charter proponents and charter opponents were in support of HB 2 as amended by the Senate. Had the bill been scheduled it would most likely have passed; hence House leadership kept it off the House floor.
“This lack of House action on HB 2 demonstrates the absolute legislative control the for-profit sector of the charter school industry has on charter policy in Ohio. It matters not that the industry is laced with fraud, corruption and education malpractice. It matters not that Ohio is the butt of jokes regarding its deregulated, injudicious charter policy. Maybe Senate leadership permitted the Senate amendments with a nod from the House that the bill as amended would not pass in House. Who knows?
“When will Ohio taxpayers rise up to demand accountability of their legislators and the Governor? Until state officials are held accountable, charters will extract a billion dollars annually from school districts. Much of this money flows to for-profit management companies which is used for campaign contributions, cozy business arrangements, marketing and of course, PROFITS. When one thinks Statehouse turpitude can’t get worse, it does. Citizens must rectify this matter by by-passing the legislature and Governor with an initiative petition.”
William Phillis
Ohio E & A
ohioeanda@sbcglobal.net |
Ohio E & A | 100 S. 3rd Street | Columbus | OH | 43215
Ohio: The One Reform That Is Forbidden
This past year, there were numerous reports of scandals, arrests, and convictions of charter operators in Ohio. There seemed to be real hope to enact legislation that would hold charter schools accountable and make their finances transparent. But that died in the closing hours of the legislative session.
Why?
Charter operators wrote the charter law. They give millions of dollars in campaign contributions to key legislators. The Speaker of the House took a free trip to Turkey, thanks to the Turkish Gulen charter chain.
Charters don’t want to be regulated. They don’t want to be accountable or transparent. The leading charter operators receive hundreds of millions from taxpayers each year, even though most of their schools are rated as low-performing by the state.
In this post, Denis Smith explains the inner workings of the charter industry, which he calls “the dark side.” Smith worked in the State Department of Education, in the office intended to oversee charter schools.
He writes:
“At a national charter school conference in Indianapolis several years ago, two attendees saw my registration badge at a reception and approached me. “Ohio, huh? So you’re from the Wild, Wild West!”
“They, of course, were talking about a state that allows two charter school operators to direct several million dollars in GOP campaign donations during the last decade in return for favorable treatment (read: weak oversight) and the receipt of hundreds of millions of dollars from state funds. Finance types and Wharton School profs would marvel about such a robust return on investment.
“They were also talking about a state that does not require charter school board members to be American citizens and doesn’t have a problem with non-citizens serving on charter boards, and where one of the members of the House Education Committee advocates burdensome Voter ID requirements for citizens trying to vote.”
Ohio has an excellent website called “KnowYourCharter.” It was not created by the State Education Department, but by independent groups using official data. The charter sector has some of the state’s lowest performing schools and is far behind the state’s public schools. But don’t expect Givernor Kasich and the current legislature to hold them accountable.
Accountability is only for public schools.
Birthday Freebies! (July Birthdays)
Happy Birthday to those with a birthday in July!! Make sure to enjoy those birthday freebies! Check out my list of Birthday freebies!
Some Tips:
1. Check expiration dates on birthday deals-some you must use on your birthday and some you have the entire month to use!
2. Use a separate e-mail account for coupons, free sample requests and birthday deals
Why the “Reformers” Will Lose
In response to Gary Rubinstein’s post about “the three stooges of reform,” reader “Chris in Florida” sent this comment:
From the article:
“Then the panel gets underway and three times I hear a new catch-phrase three times[sic]. In terms of accountability, schools that are not measuring up and teachers who are not getting the test scores they should will “lose the privilege of educating kids.” Such a nice way to say ‘get shut down’ or ‘get fired.’”
So now they are going to make our profession a ‘privilege’ instead of a job that one studies for, earns a degree in, attempts and receives certification in, and then applies for teaching jobs and gets hired to teach. BS.
This harkens back to the days when schools were run by unmarried women in poverty, religious brothers and sisters with vows of poverty, and men with families who lived in poverty because of the low wages for teachers.
Deep at the heart of this reform movement is a deep hatred of women, teachers, unions, independent thinkers, the middle class, people of color, the poor, and anything that threatens the old status quo of powerful, rich, racist old white men controlling everything. It is part and parcel of the culture wars and will be fought under that context. They are losing their grip and are squeezing ever tighter.
The ship is about to sink but they cling and insist that all is fine. I am beginning to understand that there is no way they can achieve a lasting victory here with this pathetic war against teacher, students, schools, and hippies.
I may be very old or dead when their final defeat is achieved but it will come.
Corporate Reformers Descend on Detroit to Pick Over the Ruins
Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse for Detroit, here come the stars of the corporate reform movement with advice to do more of what Detroit has been doing without success.
More than half the students are in charter schools, but Detroit doesn’t have enough, it seems. The lowest-performing schools were dumped into the woebegone “Education Achievement Authority,” under an emergency manager with dictatorial powers, but that didn’t go anywhere.
If Detroit can’t get its school problems solved, it won’t be for lack of quality advice from national education experts.
As city and state leaders seek to figure out how best to salvage Detroit Public Schools and improve performance across a complex network of school choices, top school reformers from around the country want a piece of the action, too.
Last week, Michael Petrilli, CEO of the D.C.-based Fordham Institute, and Eric Chan, a partner at the Charter School Growth Fund, were a few of the latest to drop in on Detroit. Excellent Schools Detroit, which is helping lead the conversation locally about improving all city schools, invited them to town to discuss how best to create the right environment for quality charter school growth.
The more insights, the merrier. Other cities have undergone major school turnarounds, and there are consistent guidelines for success. When asked what Detroit needs to do to start showing results for kids, Petrilli and Chan echoed similar ideas.
“Deal with low-performing schools, and encourage high-performers,” says Petrilli, whose organization works to raise the quality of U.S. schools. “There are concrete things we can do.”
The examples of success offered by Petrilli and Chan: New Orleans, the District of Columbia, and Memphis. Privatization is the answer. Neither Petrilli nor Chan has an idea about how to improve public education. Just privatize it. Get rid of it. Bring in high-quality “seats.”
Readers of this blog have read again and again that most charter schools in New Orleans are rated D or F schools by the state of Louisiana; D.C. continues to be one of the lowest performing districts in the nation, as judged by the NAEP; and Memphis is home to the all-charter Achievement School District, whose founder Chris Barbic promised would produce a dramatic turnaround in only five years. That turnaround has not happened. Not in New Orleans, D.C., or Memphis.
Surely there must be better examples of success for corporate reform. Or are there?
Your attention please, Independence Day-celebrating Wisconsinites. Still LOTS of alarming BS in that last minute add-on to the WI budget.
Wisconsin’s Governor has released yet another Orwellian decree. It asserts that despite the fact that a radical stripping of open records law was tucked into Thursday’s “motion 999″ that the changes were “never intended to inhibit transparent gov’t in any way“. That’s special. Let’s assume I can pretend that Scott Walker and associated Republican legislators more »
Office Depot/Office Max Back to School Deals Week of 7/5
- Pencil Pouch LIMIT 3
- Office Depot Brand Beveled Erasers LIMIT 3
- Tug 2-Hole Manual Pencil Sharpener LIMIT 3
Office Depot Brand and Office Max Brand 12 Inch Ruler $0.25 LIMIT 3
Scholastic and Office Max Brand Glue $0.25 LIMIT 3
Scholastic Art Broad Tip Markers $0.25 LIMIT 3
Mini Stapler $1 each LIMIT 3
Sharpie Fine-Point Markers 5-Pack $1 LIMIT 3
Paper Mate Clear Point Mechanical Pencils 2-Pack $1 LIMIT 3
Sunday, July 5, 2015
“The burning churches south of the Ohio River are a striking reminder that fascism thrives in America”
The note below appears at the blue cheddar blog with Tom Neale’s permission. The burning churches south of the Ohio River are a striking reminder that fascism thrives in America; for one of fascism’s most telling characteristics is its racist component. The demonized other is essential to this evil. In the wisdom traditions it is more »
Friday, July 3, 2015
Friday Favorites- 7/3
Happy (almost) 4th of July! I hope you’ve all got fun plans with friends and family and you can enjoy the link weekend with a little rest and relaxation! Before you disconnect for the weekend, check out some of these awesome posts from last week’s link up: I need everyone to read How to Host […]
The post Friday Favorites- 7/3 appeared first on Virginia Bloggers.
UPDATED: Walker will “make changes” / WI Legislature aims to destroy public access to drafting docs. IT TAKES EFFECT JULY 1st.
UPDATE: Gov. Scott Walker plans to work with lawmakers to change heavy restrictions on public records before the state budget is voted on, his spokeswoman said Friday. “Prior to the budget going to the full Legislature for action, Governor Walker plans to work with legislative leaders to make changes to the provisions included in the more »
Rahm is So Clever: Don’t Try This at Home
Mike Klonsky updates us on Rahm’s financial hustle.
Rahm Emanuel, who learned his creative financing tricks, like “scoop and toss” bond financing while working for Bruce Rauner at GTCR, plans to borrow $500M from the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund, one day after paying the Fund $634M in overdue required city contributions.
The real cost of this trickery is felt right in the classroom with 1,400 teachers and staff being hit with lay-off notices yesterday.
That is what is called “chutzpah.” He pays the pension contribution, borrows from the teachers’ pension funds, and lays off 1,400 teachers.
IHOP: $0.57 Original Pancakes on July 7th!
We're celebrating 57 years of #IHOPSmiles with 57¢ pancakes!
On July 7th, in celebration of our 57th anniversary, we're rolling back the price of our Original Buttermilk Pancake Short Stacks (3 pancakes) to 57¢! Stop by your local participating IHOP from 7AM-7PM to join the celebration! Restrictions apply. One per person. Dine in only.
Thursday, July 2, 2015
WI Legislature aims to destroy public access to drafting docs. IT TAKES EFFECT JULY 1st.
I’m going to go ALL CAPS. WISCONSIN IS RULED BY ARROGANT SLIMEBALLS. I mean, it’s not enough for Wisconsin’s Republican legislators and the dairyland dictator to have one-party-rule. They demand secrecy! A motion proposed by the Joint Finance Committee today takes away our access to drafting documents. Yes, it IS part of the Wisconsin budget more »
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