Sunday, September 22, 2013

Reposted: Lost Ravitch Post on "Education Nation"

See the excellent comments on Education Nation at Perdido Street School and Raging Horse. Before anyone chastises Ms. Howard's dignity, whose situation is sympathetically recounted in Perdido St. School, they should first challenge those that insist on having post-secondary education be a private, for-profit venture. We should emulate the abundant trend for nations to offer such education, free of charge. Here? Students accumulate hefty debts, to the extent that student loan indebtedness now is a leading the cause of personal bankruptcy. The law has not always been slanted against student loan borrowers. See this paragraph from the last cited article, this by Mona Adem:

Before the bankruptcy code was significantly altered, college students were able to discharge their educational loans, but after 1976, this came to an end. That year, Congress changed the code so that loans made by the government or a non-profit college loan could not be filed for bankruptcy during the first years of repayment. However, the biggest change came in 2005 when Congress passed the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act which rendered federal or private loans ineligible for bankruptcy, a law that groups student loans with other ineligible debt such as child support and criminal fines. Lobbying certainly pays off. In fact, now you have a better chance to file for bankruptcy for gambling than with student loans.

It is disgusting that the American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten is attending. The only proper role there would be to utterly excoriate the planners for having a hugely lopsided set of panels, in favor of inhumane corporate privatizing of public education, and to counter every one of the lies and distortions that will be no doubt fomented there. Abundant will be apologies for Common Core, hyper-testing, the villification of teachers and the subordinating of students into cogs for privatizers such as Bill Gates. President Weingarten, will you be villifying your co-attendees for their crimes against schools, educators and students, or will you repeat your mantra of the need to cooperate with the corporate agenda?

I Will Not Be Part of Education Nation
by dianerav
Yesterday I received an invitation to sit in the audience at NBC’s Education Nation.

I regret to say that I will decline, as I am very busy these days.

In case you want to know who will be speaking, here is the lineup (http://www.cvent.com/events/2013-nbc-news-education-nation-summit/event-summary-b8182761914b46f69bbb049effaa997b.aspx?i=c201d015-c428-4eae-a71b-b9db619fb3c5).

You will see some familiar names, like Secretary Arne Duncan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, ex-Governor Jeb Bush, Governor Bobby Jindal, Dr. John Deasey, Lloyd Blankfein (CEO of Goldman Sachs), David Coleman (architect of the Common Core standards), Governor Mike Pence of Indiana (but not Glenda Ritz, who defeated Tony Bennett), Mitch Daniels (the ex-governor of Indiana, Tony Bennett (the singer, not the defeated state superintendent). Quite a number of people known for supporting privatization of public education and high-stakes testing.

But, other than Randi Weingarten and David Kirp, you won’t find any of the prominent figures who oppose the corporate model of measure-punish-close schools-fire teachers-TFA, etc. No Linda Darling-Hammond, no Deborah Meier, no Richard Rothstein, no John Kuhn, no Nancy Carlsson-Paige, no Carol Burris, no Leonie Haimson, none of the wonderful brave teachers, principals, superintendents, and parents who have bravely fought a failing set of federal and state policies.

No innovative thinking here, just the Voices of the Status Quo.

Here is the invitation:
We look forward to seeing you in New York City for the
2013 NBC News Education Nation Summit

Monday, October 7 and Tuesday, October 8

This year, the Summit will focus on “What It Takes” to get a student through our public school system ready to succeed in college, career and beyond. Some of the topics we’ll cover include:

• It takes a great start
• It takes engaged parents
• It takes well-trained teachers
• It takes a safe and secure environment
• It takes high standards
• It takes empowered students
• It takes a degree or credential beyond high school

We will profile a variety of students from across the country whose stories provide a collective snapshot of where we, as a country, stand in terms providing “What It Takes” for success.

As in years past, we will welcome some of the biggest names from politics, education, business and entertainment to join the conversation through newsmaker interviews, panel discussions and compelling individual presentations. In addition, this year’s Summit will feature new opportunities for networking and exchanging ideas among attendees and speakers.

Outside the walls of the Education Nation Summit, we will engage the public in this important conversation by utilizing the strength of top NBC News journalists and the reach of all NBC News platforms – from TODAY, Nightly News and Meet the Press, to MSNBC, CNBC and Telemundo, to our digital platforms and social media, local affiliates and owned stations.

Space is limited, so please RSVP by Monday, September 23rd to attend the 2013 NBC News Education Nation Summit at The New York Public Library. This year’s Summit will conclude in the late afternoon on Tuesday, October 8th. The agenda and event details will be added to the registration site on an ongoing basis. If you have any questions, please contact Isaac Norbe at 646-745-1563 or EducationNationRSVP@nbcuni.com. We hope to see you at the Summit.

2013 Education Nation Summit Preview from NBC News on Vimeo.

2013 Summit Panelists
We will post more details on the panelists for the Summit to this page on an ongoing basis, so keep checking back.

Anant Agarwal
President, edX

Timothy M. Armstrong
CEO and Chairman, AOL Inc.

Melody Barnes
Chair, Forum for Community Solutions & CEO, Melody Barnes Solutions, LLC

Susan Benedetto
Co-Founder and Board President, Exploring the Arts

Tony Bennett
Singer and Co-Founder and Board Member, Exploring the Arts

Steve Beshear
Governor, Kentucky

Lloyd Blankfein
CEO and Chairman, Goldman Sachs

Michael Bloomberg
Mayor, New York City

Michele Brooks
Assistant Superintendent, Family and Student Engagement, Boston Public Schools

Sean P. “Jack” Buckley
Commissioner, National Center for Education Statistics

Governor Jeb Bush
Former Governor of Florida

Dr. Pamela Cantor
Founder, President and CEO, Turnaround for Children, Inc.

Dr. Meria Joel Carstarphen
Superintendent, Austin Independent School District

David Coleman
President and Chief Executive Officer, The College Board

Ron Conway
Angel Investor

Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr.
President, Purdue University

Dr. John E. Deasy
Superintendent, Los Angeles Unified School District

Arne Duncan
U.S. Secretary of Education

Jonah Edelman
Co-Founder and CEO, Stand for Children

Marian Wright Edelman
Founder and President, The Children’s Defense Fund

Debra Eschmeyer
Co-Founder and VP of External Affairs, FoodCorps

Allyson Felix
Olympic Gold Medalist

Dr. Phil Fisher
Psychologist and Professor, University of Oregon

Goldie Hawn
Actress and Founder and Board Chair, The Hawn Foundation

Anne T. Henderson
Author, Beyond the Bake Sale and Senior Consultant, Annenberg Institute for School Reform

Freeman A. Hrabowski, III
President, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Caroline Hoxby
Scott and Donya Bommer Professor in Economics, Stanford University

Jay Jefferson
Parent, Coral Gables, FL

Bobby Jindal
Governor, Louisiana

Ben Kaufman
Founder and CEO, Quirky

David Kirp
Author, Improbable Scholars and Professor of Public Policy, UC-Berkeley

Joel Klein
CEO, Amplify

Paul J. LeBlanc
President, Southern New Hampshire University

Jack Markell
Governor, Delaware

Sara Martinez Tucker
CEO, National Math + Science Initiative

Dr. Anthony Marx
President and CEO, The New York Public Library

Svante Myrick
Mayor, Ithaca

Paul Pastorek
Former Louisiana State Superintendent of Education and Member Emeritus, Chiefs for Change

Mike Pence
Governor, Indiana

Dr. Andre Perry
Founding Dean of Urban Education at Davenport University

Daniel R. Porterfield
President, Franklin & Marshall College

Deborah Quazzo
Founder and Managing Partner, GSV Advisors

Dr. Irwin Redlener
President and Co-Founder, Children’s Health Fund

Amanda Ripley
Author, The Smartest Kids in the World and TIME Investigative Journalist

Joel Rose
Co-Founder and CEO, New Classrooms Innovation Partners

Evelyne Santiago
City Year Corps Member

Dr. William Schmidt
University Distinguished Professor, Michigan State University

Jon Schnur
Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, America Achieves

David Shapiro
President and CEO, National Mentoring Partnership

M. Night Shyamalan
Screenwriter, Director, Producer and Founder of the M. Night Shyamalan Foundation

Dr. Dana L. Suskind
Director, Pediatric Cochlear Implantation Program and Professor, Surgery and Pediatrics, University of Chicago

Brenda Van Gorder
Director of Preschool Services, Granite School District

Dennis Walcott
Chancellor, New York City Department of Education

Randi Weingarten
President, American Federation of Teachers

Robert Wrubel
Chief Innovation Officer and Executive Vice President, Apollo Group

I Will Not Be Part of Education Nation

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NYC Education Activism Calendar

Get involved with the fight to defend public education!

Oppose & resist Cuomo, DeBlasio, DeVos, Farina!

- The MORE caucus UFT's important upcoming events:
  
  Friday 1/5/18 4:30-6:30pm
  City As School
  16 Clarkson St
  Manhattan
  We will strategize about resisting DeBlasio's plans to close or merge 14 Renewal Schools.
- Map: https://www.google.com/maps/place/16+Clarkson+St,+New+York,+NY+10014/@40.7291091,-74.0082884,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c25992ac002507:0x68aa91fb40bff351!8m2!3d40.7291091!4d-74.0060997

Sign the Petition: Terminate Comm. John King's Employment

New York State Board of Regents: Terminate the Employment of State Education Commissioner, John King

2. Petition by
  Coalition for Justice in Education

PETITION TO TERMINATE THE EMPLOYMENT OF NYS EDUCATION COMMISSIONER, JOHN KING
(references substantiating each charge available at www.coalitionforjusticeineducation.com)

John King has served as New York State Commissioner of Education since 2011. During his tenure, the quality of education in NY has continued to decline; particularly in poor and rural districts.

1 The Commissioner’s solutions rely upon blindly accepting NCLB, RTTT and Common Core policies and implementing more high-stakes, standardized testing for evaluation of students and teachers,

2 implementation of an untested national curriculum,

3 undemocratic corporate management strategies for operating schools,

4 more privatization of schools

5 and insistence that poverty-related conditions are not an excuse for low student achievement.

6 Furthermore, Commissioner King: · Refuses to lend credibility to staff and community-voiced concerns that much of Common Core curriculum and testing is developmentally inappropriate for students, and that NYS teachers received no significant training for the implementation of Common Core,

7 Refuses to allow meaningful dialogue about Common Core tests by imposing a “gag order” on teachers and administrators, preventing them from discussing test questions among themselves or with students,

8 Supports policy to allow private corporate vendors to have access to personal student data, without parental consent, for the purpose of marketing educational services,

9 and ·Remains silent on the stress-related suffering by many students taking recent Common Core tests,

10 Promotes the reduction of the reading of fiction in favor of an increase in informational texts (50% informational texts in elementary school, and 70% for 12th grade readings by 2014)

11 with the generally predicted impact of a further reduction in the joy of reading and learning for all students especially those with learning challenges,

12 Continues to advocate more high-stakes, standardized testing, despite research concluding that it is ineffective for motivating students and increasing their learning,

13· Continues to ignore positive research results for the use of performance-based assessment, such as portfolios, performances, presentations and exhibitions, by more NYS schools,

14· Advocates for more closings and privatization of low-performing schools,

15 despite research indicating that charter schools are generally less effective than public schools,

16 and promote more racial and class-based segregation,

17 and create negative impact on community morale, motivation and development,

18· Advocates the use of poorly designed, ineffective corporate strategies, such as APPR, which de-professionalize teaching,

19 We, the undersigned, strongly believe that New York State’s education reform agenda is fundamentally flawed and must be re-directed in a humanistic, research-based manner; directly counter to the direction Commissioner King has taken. New York State children, parents and teachers need an education commissioner who passionately supports and actively works for:
· De-concentrating the impact of poverty in classrooms and schools,
· Institutionalizing performance-based assessments,
· Ending the obsessive use of high-stakes, standardized testing,
· Developing creative, alternative curriculum, assessments and schools,
· Assisting poverty-stricken, low-performing schools through collaboration with teachers, parents community members and students, rather than through closures and privatization,
· Ending corporate reform,
· Using school practitioners and constructivist-oriented consultants for developing and implementing curriculum & assessments,
· Implementing a moratorium on the Common Core Curriculum,
· Transforming the NYSED to serve as helpful consultants to schools and school districts, rather than enforcers of top-down policies that are disrespectful to teachers and harmful to students.

Therefore, we, the undersigned respectfully urge the NYS Board of Regents to terminate the employment of John King as NYS Education Commissioner, and immediately search for, and hire a candidate who strongly reflects the characteristics described above.

Cent. NY English Teacher's Lament: 'I am a teacher, and I am tired'

By Savanna Kucerak, English teacher, Homer C.S.D., as published by NYSUT:

"I am a teacher, and I am tired"

Tired of coming home every night angry, abused, and insulted.

Tired of being treated as a child, as a robot, as a stepping stone for politician$ and publi$hing companie$ to make more money.

Tired of ignorance littering the air: “the Common Core is an exciting time in education!” or “APPR is just showing off the wonderful work you already do!”

Tired of being told to “wait it out,” that the “pendulum will swing the other way eventually” while witnessing the casualties pile up — casualties with names and dreams and futures and the RIGHT to the BEST EDUCATION we can give them.

Tired of being afraid to stand up for what I know is right for our kids and our country because I am afraid of losing my job and being unable to pay my bills.

Tired of my superiors being afraid to stand up for what they know is right for our kids and our country because they, too, are afraid of losing their livelihood.

Tired of wanting to be better, volunteering to do additional work, and watching helplessly as any progress I have made is brushed aside by the newest educational reform acronym.

Tired of being told, “Ohh, sorry, but my hands are tied,” accompanied by a half smile, a shrug of the shoulders.

Tired of spending hours of my life documenting and sorting and filing instead of revising and learning and improving.

Tired of wasting taxpayer money on binders and tabs and computer paper and ink.

Tired of being a taxpayer, watching as my money is spent on binders and tabs and computer paper and ink instead of STUDENTS and STUDENTS and STUDENTS and STUDENTS.

Tired of paying my student loan bills and nostalgically remembering that I chose to be a teacher, that I wanted to teach, blissfully ignorant of what lay ahead.

Tired of my two degrees and experience and individuality being ignored and devalued.

Tired of knowing what’s best for my students, but being told NOT to do it.

Tired of telling the best and brightest young people NOT to be teachers — and meaning it.

Tired of being told that if I love literature, then I’d better choose another profession.

Tired of Googling “what can I do besides teach?” only to close out of the browser every time, knowing there is nothing I’d be better at or love more than what was formerly known as “teaching.”

Tired of living in a country where my dream job no longer exists – where “teacher” is now synonymous with data-collector, test-prepper, script-reader, automaton.

Tired of grappling with the notion that I now have a job instead of a life or even a career.

Tired of disillusionment poisoning even the best of days.

Tired of telling my students that they will be heard if they support their arguments with evidence, yet knowing in my heart that that is a lie.

Tired of worrying about my own future children, who will either be numbers under this developing “educational” system – or dealing with the wreckage of a failed, expensive national tragedy in which all the best teachers have either abandoned this sinking ship or remain on board as empty shells, whispered voices, gasping for air.

I am tired, but I am still here – and there are many of me.

Join us. Say something. Do something.

Our collective future depends on it.”

S.I. parents chafing under the Common Core perversion of curriculum

The Common Core - that's that toxic result of ill-minded state and federal policy plus a tone-deaf collaborationist union leadership.

"My son made a comment to me the other day. He asked, 'Did I become stupid?'" said his father, James Hardison. "We're supposed to be inspiring students, and giving them what they need to be successful. For a 10-year-old child to feel discouraged like this, something is not right." --from SILive.com, 3/28/13, powered by the Staten Island Advance.

Culture of testing takes a toll on Staten Island pupils and their families (photos/video). [Ed.: It's not mere testing, it's testing to support the Common Core, foisted upon America by the unelected, non-educator, David Coleman.]

MORE -Our working conditions are our students' learning conditions

Check Out New Yorker's App on Inequality and the Subway

This cool app at the New Yorker's website, "Inequality and New York's Subway," takes each MTA subway/elevated line and matches stations with U.S. Census-provided household income.

The results are stark. Along the 6 train in the upper half of Manhattan, the results vary from over $150,000 to under $25,000.

New York City has a problem with income inequality. And it’s getting worse—the top of the spectrum is gaining and the bottom is losing. Along individual subway lines, earnings range from poverty to considerable wealth. The interactive infographic here charts these shifts, using data on median household income, from the U.S. Census Bureau, for census tracts with subway stations.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Reposted: Lost Ravitch Post on "Education Nation"

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