Latest News and Comment from Education

Thursday, August 20, 2015

The Great Recession did not cause the "Teacher Shortage." THIS IS WAR! | BustED Pencils

The Great Recession did not cause the "Teacher Shortage." THIS IS WAR! | BustED Pencils:

The Great Recession did not cause the "Teacher Shortage." THIS IS WAR!



Screen-Shot-2015-08-12-at-10.38.02-PM


By now you have probably heard about the “teacher shortage.”  You may have also heard that simple supply and demand economics and the Great Recession can easily explain the “teacher shortage” phenomenon.
However, let’s be honest. We don’t have a teacher shortage! We have an exceedingly high casualty rate from the War on Teachers! In other words, the last 30 years and the War on Teachers have decimated the ranks of teachers.
The attack was beautifully planned and enormously effective.  The War on Teachers was launched simultaneously on three separate fronts. Veteran teachers were pushed into early retirement. Seasoned teachers were blamed for the achievement gap and relentlessly lashed for not fixing it. Anyone thinking of becoming a teacher simply watched the fist two attacks and ran for cover.
In fact here is what I said last week on a Sunday morning news talk show.
What do you think?  Recession or War?  Well here is what one person thought of the television interview.
Dear Tim,
I just want to commend you for your commentary last Sunday per teacher shortages and some of the reasons behind it.  You did a great job, and it amazes me that people are not more concerned about the great teachers leaving early with far fewer (and passionate) young candidates coming in to replace them.
I am now an assistant professor at National Louis University having retired from Fort Atkinson in 2013 after being superintendent there for 14 years.  I now see in my Ed. Leadership classes teachers and principals who just seem overwhelmed by the onslaught of demands upon them via Educator Effectiveness or political and sometimes DPI mandates (I have come to think that we embraced Race to the Top without knowing it was just as oppressive to teachers and administrators as NCLB).  That standardized testing to your point is not used well in schools, and hardly indicate what really is 
The Great Recession did not cause the "Teacher Shortage." THIS IS WAR! | BustED Pencils:





Washington Post Editorial Board Supports Bush in His Common Core Quandary | deutsch29

Washington Post Editorial Board Supports Bush in His Common Core Quandary | deutsch29:

Washington Post Editorial Board Supports Bush in His Common Core Quandary






On August 17, 2015, the Washington Post editorial board wrote a piece in which it “did not blame Mr. [Jeb] Bush from shying away from the term [Common Core].”
Bush has his political career on his mind, and using the term “Common Core” is “poison” to that career. So, Bush is using a carefully-crafted Common-Core euphemism, saying that he is for “higher standards, state-created, locally implemented, where the federal government has no role in the creation of standards, content or curriculum.”
The Washington Post editorial board sympathizes with Bush, who supposedly was put in this position because of the “bogus premise” that Common Core is a “federal takeover of education.”
In 2009, the federal government used future Race to the Top (RTTT) funding to entice governors to sign their states up for a Common Core that did not yet exist. The 2009 National Governors Association (NGA) Symposium is clear about this in its 16-page document from the Symposium.
However, the intention was not only for there to be a Common Core. Common Core was only one of four interconnected, test-centric reforms known as the Four Assurances (listed here in brief):
1. Common standards and assessments
2. Teacher performance (value-added assessment)
3. “Turnaround” of “low performing” schools
4. Building data systems.
In 2009, the governors of 46 states and three territories signed NGA’s agreement detailing how Common Core was to be developed (note that “states” were being directed by the nonprofit NGA and another nonprofit, the Council of Chief State School Officers, CCSSO, on this “state led” development) and which was intended to lead to unquestioned, automatic Common Core adoption.
Why would so many governors fall for this?
The money. US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was at this 2009 NGA Symposium, and he promised these governors a potential slice of billions of dollars in Washington Post Editorial Board Supports Bush in His Common Core Quandary | deutsch29:

Serial School Privatizer "Chainsaw Paul" Vallas Gets Ready For His Next Job | Black Agenda Report

Serial School Privatizer "Chainsaw Paul" Vallas Gets Ready For His Next Job | Black Agenda Report:

Serial School Privatizer "Chainsaw Paul" Vallas Gets Ready For His Next Job



by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

Neoliberalism holds that all human interactions should to be disciplined and mediated by the market. Paul Vallas is the nation's neoliberal chainsaw man on public education. After savaging public education in Chicago, Philly, New Orleans and Bridgeport, he has been summoned home to Illinois by the Democrat governor as his running mate.

Serial School Privatizer "Chainsaw Paul" Vallas Gets Ready For His Next Job

by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

There are many things upon which elite corporate Democrats are in complete agreement with elite corporate Republicans. Often enough they are far more important to the way we live our lives than the cultural rhetoric and stylistic fluff that separates the two parties. Both Republicans and Democrats agree on empire and the wars needed to preserve it. They both agree gentrification, stadiums, and tax breaks for the wealthy are the only way to economically develop cities. They both know that poor and working people ought to subsidize a new round of predatory accumulation with lowered wages, plundered pensions, fiscal austerity and the privatization of public education.
Democrat Paul Vallas has spent the last two decades dismembering and dismantling public schools, lying about deficits, unjustly blaming and firing public school teachers across the country. In 1995 Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, began the reversal of the bottom-up school reform of his predecessor Harold Washington, by assuming direct mayoral control over the city's public schools. Chicago fired its school superintendent, a professional educator, and sent in the mayor's chief of staff, an accountant unqualified to teach half an hour in any classroom to run the nation's third largest school system “more like a business” with the business title of “CEO. That man was Paul Vallas.
If neoliberalism is the economic and social doctrine that all human interactions ought to be disciplined and mediated by the market, then Paul Vallas is the neoliberal chainsaw man on Serial School Privatizer "Chainsaw Paul" Vallas Gets Ready For His Next Job | Black Agenda Report:

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 8/20/15


SPECIAL NITE CAP 

CORPORATE ED REFORM




Mission High and the Full Beauty of the World | The Jose Vilson
Mission High and the Full Beauty of the World | The Jose Vilson: Mission High and the Full Beauty of the WorldLet me first recommend everyone read Kristina Rizga’s Mission High: One School, How Experts Tried To Fail It, and the Students and Teachers Who Made It Triumph (Nation Books, 2015). I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you how many education books I’ve read in the last few years that namedro
Questions linger about who has control of the independent charter school and its public funds.
Old Town Academy agreement with Tri-Valley Learning Corporation raises questions | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com: Charter to open school year amid concerns over governanceOld Town Academy has agreement with Livermore corporationOld Town Academy will welcome students back for a fifth year next month, even as questions linger about who has control of the independent charter school and its public funds.Th
Training in dealing with trauma-affected students is sought for Compton schools - LA Times
Training in dealing with trauma-affected students is sought for Compton schools - LA Times: Training in dealing with trauma-affected students is sought for Compton schoolsCompton Unified student Kimberly Cervantes is part of a class action lawsuit seeking academic and counseling services from the Compton Unified School District. Attorney Annie Hudson-Price looks on.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles
CURMUDGUCATION: Hillary's Teacher PAC, Part II
CURMUDGUCATION: Hillary's Teacher PAC, Part II: CURMUDGUCATION: Hillary's Teacher PAC, Part II You may recall that back at the beginning of the summer, a group calling themselves America's Teachers cropped up as a PAC supporting Hillary Clinton. I did a little websurfing to see what I could find and wrote about the results.The brain behind the PAC is a young man named Naveed Amalfard, who is the P
solidaridad: AALA: Eli Broad and Charter Expansion
solidaridad: AALA: Eli Broad and Charter Expansion: AALA: Eli Broad and Charter ExpansionThe Los Angeles Times reported earlier this month that the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation is leading an effort to expand the number of charter schools in LAUSD. The Broads are being joined by the Walton Family and the Keck Foundations, among others. The expansion of charter schools is supposed to decrease the
TEA Finally Takes a Look at Kids Left Hanging After Charter Goes Belly-Up | Houston Press
TEA Finally Takes a Look at Kids Left Hanging After Charter Goes Belly-Up | Houston Press: TEA FINALLY TAKES A LOOK AT KIDS LEFT HANGING AFTER CHARTER GOES BELLY-UPWhen the Girls and Boys Preparatory Academy closed at the end of last school year, the charter school on Bissonnet left behind a mess of extraordinary proportions – the extent of which is only now beginning to come to light.Transcripts
Jersey Jazzman: Jeb!'s Florida Education Meh-racle
Jersey Jazzman: Jeb!'s Florida Education Meh-racle: Jeb!'s Florida Education Meh-racleAfter watching Jeb! Bush talk about his Florida education "miracle" at Campbell's Brown's little union-bashing festival, I thought it would be instructive to make a quick graph:I've standardized Florida's scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress over time as a way of comparing the state
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: RELEASE: Alliance hits Campbell Brown's 'Summit' on 4th day of Dyett hunger strike
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: RELEASE: Alliance hits Campbell Brown's 'Summit' on 4th day of Dyett hunger strike: RELEASE: Alliance hits Campbell Brown's 'Summit' on 4th day of Dyett hunger strikeFor Immediate Release: August 20, 2015Contact: Madison Donzis, madison@fitzgibbonmedia.com, 210.488.6220Education Advocates Condemn Discussion Around Public Education in Campbell Brown’s New Hampshire Ed
Pedro Noguera to confront inequity in SMMUSD
Noguera to confront inequity in SMMUSD: Noguera to confront inequity in SMMUSDThe Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District can tout the talents, accomplishments and college placements of its most successful students.But, as Pedro Noguera is quick to point out, the district’s mission goes beyond that.“The real challenge for a school system is, ‘How good are we with those who need us more?’” Nogu
Baby Got Class -- A back to school parody
Baby Got Class -- A back to school parodyThis one goes out to all the teachers, bus drivers, administrators, and support staff who teach and love our children. THANK YOU for all you do!CONTACT info@VisitTheGreenroom.com for permissions and to learn about our day jobs
Badass Teachers Association: The Deception Goes Deeper: Friedrichs vs. CTA Part 2
Badass Teachers Association: The Deception Goes Deeper: Friedrichs vs. CTA Part 2: The Deception Goes Deeper: Friedrichs vs. CTA Part 2Rebecca Friedrichs, the main plaintiff behind Friedrichs v California Teachers Association et al has not been working alone. She has been a strong proponent of National Employee Freedom Week (NEFW).While the list behind the coalition of NEFW does not sound like the
New Statewide Education Standards Require Teachers To Forever Change Lives Of 30% Of Students - The Onion
New Statewide Education Standards Require Teachers To Forever Change Lives Of 30% Of Students - The Onion - America's Finest News Source: New Statewide Education Standards Require Teachers To Forever Change Lives Of 30% Of StudentsSPRINGFIELD, IL—In an effort to hold classroom instructors more accountable, the Illinois State Board of Education unveiled new statewide education standards Friday that
Are We Seeing Light at the End of the Re-Segregation Tunnel? | John Thompson
Are We Seeing Light at the End of the Re-Segregation Tunnel? | John Thompson: Are We Seeing Light at the End of the Re-Segregation Tunnel?Are we seeing light at the end of the resegregation tunnel? The work of Nikole Hannah-Jones, Chana Joffe-Walt, Alana Semuels, and the scholars who help inform their journalism provides hope, as does the first episodes of David Simon's and Paul Haggis's new HBO m
Hunger Strikers Fight for Chicago’s Dyett High School | Education Town Hall Forum: Weekly Broadcast Archives, Extended Discussion, plus Monthly BUS Ride
Hunger Strikers Fight for Chicago’s Dyett High School | Education Town Hall Forum: Weekly Broadcast Archives, Extended Discussion, plus Monthly BUS Ride: Hunger Strikers Fight for Chicago’s Dyett High SchoolJeannette Taylor and Anna Jones of the Coalition to Revitalize Dyett High School in Chicago are in the fourth day of their hunger strike demanding re-opening of a neighborhood high school in th
There he goes again: Gov. Scott Walker keeps talking about a teacher who asked him to stop - The Washington Post
There he goes again: Gov. Scott Walker keeps talking about a teacher who asked him to stop - The Washington Post: There he goes again: Gov. Scott Walker keeps talking about a teacher who asked him to stopThere he goes again.For years now, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) has been telling a story about a young award-winning teacher who lost her job in a school district layoff under a last-hired, fir
Fixing Teachers » Missouri Education Watchdog
Fixing Teachers » Missouri Education Watchdog: Fixing TeachersDr. Sandra Stotsky published a book in March of this year titled, “An Empty Curriculum: The Need to Reform Teacher Licensing Regulations and Tests”which both explains how we got to a place where our teachers can barely pass a certification exam, and provides a pathway out of the mess. Michael Poliakoff wrote a great review of her book o
Excitement and Anxiety: The First Day of School — Schoolhouse Voices — Medium
Excitement and Anxiety: The First Day of School — Schoolhouse Voices — Medium: Excitement and Anxiety: The First Day of SchoolOver the last few weeks, I’ve been seeing teachers posting pictures of their classrooms on Facebook, saying, “My classroom’s ready!” That takes me right back to my childhood, helping my mom prepare her classroom for the students in the waning days of August.My mom taught se
CURMUDGUCATION: The GOP's Education Problem
CURMUDGUCATION: The GOP's Education Problem: The GOP's Education ProblemDamn you, internet.I had no intention of watching Campbell Brown's Edfest stream yesterday, but as it turns out, I mostly did. I missed a big chunk of Bobby Jindal and Scott Walker, so I did not follow up my AM postwith a PM one. But the day did crystallize for me some of the huge gaping problems with the narrative that Presid
How Bill and Melinda Gates Want to Transform Teaching
How Bill and Melinda Gates Want to Transform Teaching: How Bill and Melinda Gates Want to Transform TeachingYou know how Bill Gates helped change the way people all over the world work, play, and communicate? Now he and his wife, Melinda, are talking about changing the way we teach and learn.This week, to mark the return to school for millions of American students, Bill and Melinda are posting a s
Charter Schools: The original vision and the morphed reality «Education Talk New Orleans Education Talk New Orleans
Charter Schools: The original vision and the morphed reality «Education Talk New Orleans Education Talk New Orleans: Charter Schools: The original vision and the morphed realityedutalknola:When I was in New Zealand in 2012 and 2013 I often asked people why would New Zealand need charter schools? New Zealand already had a system that included community voices in their local schools. I was able to s
Obama came through with billions to rebuild New Orleans schools after Katrina | The Lens
Obama came through with billions to rebuild New Orleans schools after Katrina | The Lens: Obama came through with billions to rebuild New Orleans schools after KatrinaThe Lens has partnered with PolitiFact for the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina to see if President Barack Obama has followed through on his campaign promises about the storm and the city of New Orleans. Pledge: Rebuild schools
Renowned researcher: ‘Why I am no longer comfortable’ in the field of educational measurement - The Washington Post
Renowned researcher: ‘Why I am no longer comfortable’ in the field of educational measurement - The Washington Post: Renowned researcher: ‘Why I am no longer comfortable’ in the field of educational measurementGene V. Glass is a renowned statistician and researcher who has worked for decades in educational psychology and the social sciences. He created the term “meta-analysis” — a statistical proc
Getting to the ‘why’ of discipline disparities | EdSource
Getting to the ‘why’ of discipline disparities | EdSource: Getting to the ‘why’ of discipline disparitiesIn the process of changing the uneven application of school discipline, school staff move from lack of awareness to full acceptance of the fact that some groups of students are disciplined more harshly than others, according to a U.S. Department of Education action guide for educators.What happ
Are traumatized students disabled? A debate straight outta Compton | 89.3 KPCC
Are traumatized students disabled? A debate straight outta Compton | 89.3 KPCC: Are traumatized students disabled? A debate straight outta ComptonThe defendants may be one Southern California school district and its top officials, but an unprecedented, class action lawsuit could have a big impact on schools across the country.Thursday in Los Angeles, a U.S. District Court judge will preside over t
School choice on steroids - The Hechinger Report
School choice on steroids - The Hechinger Report: School choice on steroidsNew state programs allow students to opt out of their local public schools part time, taking classes online insteadChatfield High School in Minnesota doesn’t offer sociology (or German, or criminology, for that matter), but when senior Keagan Clarke, 18, finished a fall semester class in psychology, his teacher suggested he
Child Trauma and Schools | Education Town Hall Forum: Weekly Broadcast Archives, Extended Discussion, plus Monthly BUS Ride
Child Trauma and Schools | Education Town Hall Forum: Weekly Broadcast Archives, Extended Discussion, plus Monthly BUS Ride: Child Trauma and SchoolsNearly half of all children in the United States have experienced trauma, according to recent research. Children in underserved communities face trauma at a higher rate and are more likely to experience repeated trauma or more than one type.Gun violen
The stench of death in New Orleans and school reform. | Fred Klonsky
The stench of death in New Orleans and school reform. | Fred Klonsky: The stench of death in New Orleans and school reform..– By Corey Mitchell in EdWeek.Billie Dolce’s memories of her final day as a teacher at Colton Middle School haunt her.With Hurricane Katrina headed toward New Orleans, Dolce pleaded with her classroom aide, Gertrude Hackett, to flee the city and seek refuge with out-of-town r
Kasich: ‘If I were king in America, I would abolish all teachers lounges where they sit together and worry about how woe is us’ - The Washington Post
Kasich: ‘If I were king in America, I would abolish all teachers lounges where they sit together and worry about how woe is us’ - The Washington Post: Kasich: ‘If I were king in America, I would abolish all teachers lounges where they sit together and worry about how woe is us’Ohio Gov. John Kasich said a number of interesting things Wednesday during an interview at an “education summit” where six
Report: States Lack Consistent Standards for Literacy Teacher Preparation -- THE Journal
Report: States Lack Consistent Standards for Literacy Teacher Preparation -- THE Journal: Report: States Lack Consistent Standards for Literacy Teacher PreparationOnly 18 states require elementary teacher candidates to complete specific courses in literacy education, according to a report from the International Literacy Association.The report, "Preliminary Report on Teacher Preparation for Li
Nashville schools finance team puts price on charters
Nashville schools finance team puts price on charters: Nashville schools finance team puts price on chartersMetro Nashville Public Schools' finance department has created a formula placing an expense on opening a charter school.The idea is akin to how the state assesses the financial impact of a bill on the state's coffers. At the district level, the process explains as closely as possible the cos
Racism in the classroom: the "soft bigotry of low expectations" is just regular bigotry - Vox
Racism in the classroom: the "soft bigotry of low expectations" is just regular bigotry - Vox: Racism in the classroom: the "soft bigotry of low expectations" is just regular bigotryWhen black teachers and white teachers are asked to sum up black high school students' potential, white teachers are much less likely to see black students as college material.And that's true even w
Does Cheats For Change Have A Turnover Problem | WPRI 12 Eyewitness News
RI Mayoral Academies leader tapped for national school reform gig | WPRI 12 Eyewitness News: RI Mayoral Academies leader tapped for national school reform gigPROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – The co-founder of Rhode Island Mayoral Academies (RIMA) is leaving his job to join one of the country’s most well-known school reform advocacy organizations.Dr. Michael Magee, who helped launch RIMA with lieutenant g
Good Soil: The overlooked aspect of school reform By Rod Paige | The Mississippi Link
Good Soil: The overlooked aspect of school reform | The Mississippi Link: Good Soil: The overlooked aspect of school reform“And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and  increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” – Mark 4:8, Holy Bible, English Standard VersionThe importance of the home and community role in student learning has for years been sh
GOP education summit: Six candidates meet with Campbell Brown in New Hampshire.
GOP education summit: Six candidates meet with Campbell Brown in New Hampshire.: The Republican Primary Candidates’ Daylong School-Choice LovefestOn Wednesday six GOP candidates for president—Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, John Kasich, Scott Walker, Bobby Jindal, and Chris Christie—sat on a stage in a Londonderry, New Hampshire, high school to talk K–12 education policy with former CNN anchor-turned-“ed
The Bright Students Left Behind - WSJ
The Bright Students Left Behind - WSJ: The Bright Students Left BehindWhile everyone focuses on boosting the weakest students, America’s smartest children are no longer being pushed to do their bestA great problem in U.S. education is that gifted students are rarely pushed to achieve their full potential. It is no secret that American students overall lag their international peers. Among the 34 co
What's behind the AFT's rush to endorse? | SocialistWorker.org
What's behind the AFT's rush to endorse? | SocialistWorker.org: What's behind the AFT's rush to endorse?New York City teacher Bill Linville, a UFT member and chapter leader at his Bronx high school, explains how the AFT's early presidential endorsement is stirring discontent.LAST MONTH, with nearly 16 months to go until the 2016 presidential election and almost seven months before the start of par

YESTERDAY

AFT’s Weingarten on the Republican Education Forum | American Federation of Teachers
AFT’s Weingarten on the Republican Education Forum | American Federation of Teachers: AFT’s Weingarten on the Republican Education ForumWASHINGTON—American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten on the Republican education forum:"At an event where the big public education ideas are test, blame, punish and privatize, it's sad but no surprise that our union was the piñata. That just
At N.H. forum, Christie again trains fire on teachers unions
At N.H. forum, Christie again trains fire on teachers unions: At N.H. forum, Christie again trains fire on teachers unionsGov. Christie continued to wage verbal war against teachers unions at an education forum in New Hampshire Wednesday, saying the unions deserved a "political punch in the face."The word political was a qualification to the sentiment Christie expressed in an interview e
Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 8/19/15
SPECIAL NITE CAP CORPORATE ED REFORM“If I were King in America” attends a private/public NH EdSummit that refuses attendance to a pre-approved teacher | Reclaim Reform“If I were King in America” attends a private/public NH Education Summit that refuses attendance to a pre-approved teacher | Reclaim Reform: “If I were King in America” attends a private/public NH Education Summit that refuses attend