Did Arne Duncan help write the NEA denunciation of Arne Duncan? | Fred Klonsky:

Did Arne Duncan help write the NEA denunciation of Arne Duncan?

“Dennis Van Roekel, who led the NEA in Obama’s first term, used to meet Duncan for breakfast every month, and says they actually agreed on almost every issue—except testing.

“I constantly told him testing was a disaster,” Van Roekel said. “I warned him if he didn’t bring sanity to the testing craze, everything he was doing would collapse under its own weight. I wish he had listened to me about that.”

At the NEA’s convention in 2011, the union formally declared that it was “appalled” with Duncan’s work. But at the same convention, the NEA endorsed the president’s reelection, as if the education secretary whose family hung out with the Obamas at Camp David was some kind of rogue operative. I heard from several sources that Duncan actually helped negotiate the language of his own condemnation; he’s no politician, but you can’t run the Chicago schools without some sense of politics. “Arne understood the political realities,” a former aide said. “The union needed a target for its anger, and he was happy to take a bullet for the president.” Back then, resentment was starting to build over excessive “high-stakes” testing, and horror stories were starting to circulate about math tests being used to judge art teachers, but the dissension had not yet erupted into a movement.

THE COUP TO DESTROY THE AMERICAN DREAM | Dr. Edward F. Berger:

THE COUP TO DESTROY THE AMERICAN DREAM

CURMUDGUCATION: Dear Lily. Re: Betsy DeVos & The NEA RA:

Dear Lily. Re: Betsy DeVos & The NEA RA



Dear Lily:

Many news items came out of the NEA RA this year-- some pretty interesting, and some pretty routine, but I have one to cheer and one to complain about.












Cheer

There will be no photo op.

After years and years of making compromises in order to keep an imaginary seat at a mythical table, this statement from you is a breath of fresh air

I understand the motivations behind Randi Weingarten's attempt to play kind-of-nice with Betsy DeVos, but I think it was a doomed and fruitless effort. DeVos has told us all along who she is and what she wants, and if I'm not going to give her credit for anything else, I will credit this-- she has not wavered significantly from those goals. She is anti-union. And she is anti-public education. After decades of working toward those goals, she is not suddenly going to have an epiphany because someone got her to set foot in a public school.

NEA can call for her removal, as they sort-of called for the removal of Arne Duncan. It's not going to CURMUDGUCATION: Dear Lily. Re: Betsy DeVos & The NEA RA:

Parent/Educator EDU | My Island View:

Parent/Educator EDU 

CURMUDGUCATION: What Bad Bosses Say:

What Bad Bosses Say

Forbes likes listicles with a business bent, but sometimes they seem applicable to other areas. School areas. For instance, here's their piece "Ten Things Only Bad Bosses Say." Let's see what portion of this resonates. Do we hear any of these from our on bad bosses-- and note that these are absolutely Forbes ten markers for bad bosses. That I did not make up.




1. I don’t make the rules — I just enforce them

In all fairness to our superintendents and principals, this is true. They are just loaded with state and federal rules that control their lives and over which they have no control. But if you think about the many reform ideas we've been subjected to over the years, you'll notice that hardly anybody actually owns the ideas they push. Even Bill Gates didn't just say, "Y'all should adopt Common Core because it's a cool thing I found out about that I think you should do." Charteristas don 't just say, "We want these business opportunities to be available to us because we want to make money on this biz." 

No, idea after idea is presented with a general stance of "research and studies show that this reform idea has to be implemented." Which is just one other way to say, "Look, I didn't make this stuff up. I'm just telling you what the research demands." 

2. If you don’t want the job, I’ll find somebody who does

We've heard the message consistently for at least twenty-five years now-- teachers are easily CURMUDGUCATION: What Bad Bosses Say:

Education Law Prof Blog:

Fifth Circuit Holds That Recitation of Mexican Pledge In Spanish Class Not Compelled Student Speech



The Fifth Circuit held last week that requiring that students perform the Mexican Pledge of Allegiance as an assignment for a Spanish language class, and the school's actions afterwards, did not violate the First Amendment. In Brinsdon v. McAllen Independent Sch. Dist., 15-40160 (5th Cir. 2017), a teacher required students to memorize and recite in Spanish the Mexican Pledge of Allegiance. A student, Brinsdon, objected to reciting the Mexican Pledge because she felt pledging allegiance to a foreign country was wrong. The student was allowed to substitute an alternative writing assignment, for which she received a "C" grade.  Because students who did the recited the Mexican Pledge received "A"s, Brinsdon suspected that her grade was retaliatory. Brinsdon surreptitiously filmed her fellow students reciting the Mexican pledge in class, using a spy pen given to her by her father. The father then sent the filmed footage to media outlet The Blaze, which in turn posted the recording to YouTube. Brinsdon and her family were subsequently interviewed by Fox News and Glenn Beck, which brought national publicity to the school, much of it hostile. She was removed from Spanish class for the rest of the semester and completed the class assignments in the school office. Brinsdon, who graduated in 2014, filed suit in the Southern District of Texas, claiming that her First Amendment rights were violated when she was compelled to recite the pledge and that she was retaliated against when she was removed from class and that she suffered disparate treatment under the Equal Protection Clause when she was removed from class. The federal district court below allowed the equal protection and compelled speech claims to proceed to trial and later found granted the district a judgment as a matter of law. On appeal, the Fifth Circuit held that the school officials were entitled to qualified immunity as they Education Law Prof Blog:

Why students at an affluent school want to drop longtime mascot: The Millionaires - The Washington Post:

Why students at an affluent school want to drop longtime mascot: The Millionaires

“The term Millionaires has become associated with the top 1 percent of our country, which excludes and burdens a very large majority of the population and currently plays a large role in the division of the United States.”

Women, minorities see barriers to schools' top job:

Women, minorities see barriers to schools’ top job

Examining the achievement gap between white and black students in Alabama | AL.com:

Examining the achievement gap between white and black students in Alabama 

Red-state school leaders vent frustrations with GOP health bill - POLITICO:

Red-state school leaders vent frustrations with GOP health bill
They say Medicaid funding cuts would hamper their ability to serve low-income and special education students.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s health care bill is getting failing grades from red-state school leaders — even in his home state of Kentucky.

Fleming County Schools Superintendent Brian Creasman was taken aback when he discovered the bill would make cuts that could devastate his ability to provide health services to needy and disabled kids.

 Here in rural Kentucky, the heart of Trump country where three out of four voters cast ballots for Donald Trump and many regard McConnell as their political protector, Creasman initially thought the bill’s potential cuts to school districts must be a misunderstanding.

Only they weren’t.

About $4 billion in annual Medicaid spending goes to U.S. schools to pay for school nurses, physical, occupational and speech therapists, and school-based screenings and treatment for children from low-income families, as well as wheelchairs and even buses to transport kids with special needs.

The funds make up just 1 percent of Medicaid reimbursements, but school leaders in economically depressed parts of Appalachia, the Rust Belt and elsewhere say they are critical to providing services they are required to provide to special Red-state school leaders vent frustrations with GOP health bill - POLITICO:

Drilling “Rote Understanding” | Truth in American Education:

Drilling “Rote Understanding” 

Go Public, Trauma Informed Education and EnCorps | tultican:

Go Public, Trauma Informed Education and EnCorps

How Electronic Devices Are Affecting Kids' Art - The Atlantic:

​​​​​​​The Diminishing Role of Art in Children's Lives

Kids have fewer opportunities to do art in school and at home—and that could have long-term consequences.  

“Ik ben ik”—I am me—was the classroom theme when my son started preschool in the Netherlands two years ago. He painted a portrait of himself, with exaggerated teeth only on the bottom row and three strands of wiry hair on his head (“hair is hard,” he later told me). He went on to depict his home life: our canal-side house more wavy than erect; his father and I standing beside a cat we do not own; and his baby sister next to him while his other sister—his nemesis at the time—was completely absent. It was the first real glimpse we had into his experiences and sense of self, and it was both insightful and entertaining.

My house is covered in the artwork of my three children. My middle child’s self-portrait, for example, is framed and featured in our living room, with her bold red hair painted in broad stripes and a third eye she claims is magic; my son’s bedroom wall displays his sketching of a giraffe. What my kids cannot express in written language they delight in sharing through their scribbles.

As much evidence will support, drawing has significant developmental benefits for young children. It gives them space to represent what they think—territory within which they can exaggerate what is important to them or express ideas they are not yet able to verbalize. Through art, children are able to describe and reveal their notions about themselves, the world, and their place in it.

The role of drawing in enhancing childhood development has been How Electronic Devices Are Affecting Kids' Art - The Atlantic:

Schools Matter: KIPP Houston Forces Parents to Pay $2.3 Million in Unallowable Fees:

KIPP Houston Forces Parents to Pay $2.3 Million in Unallowable Fees


While the KIPP Foundation has hundreds of millions of dollars in banks and investments, KIPP's individual schools are forced to send the Foundation $30,000 per year for using the KIPP name.  

Where does the fee collecting stop?  With the parents of disadvantaged children, who are forced to pay thousands of dollars in fees that are illegally collected?

Did the State of Texas sanction KIPP?  Of course not.

Did KIPP agree to repay the parents?  That's not part of their social justice mission.

From the Houston Chronicle:

Mary Courtney was one of KIPP Houston's biggest advocates, even as she had to borrow money from relatives to keep up with payments to the charter school.

She drove to Austin during School Choice Week, talking to lawmakers about why they should better fund charter schools. She volunteered on campus. She paid thousands in fees so her boys and other students could have access to books and science materials.

But that was before she realized the fees she was paying were optional, something never mentioned by teachers or principals or on the fee agreement forms that the schools - KIPP Liberation College Prep and KIPP PEACE Elementary - tied to student registration. Now, Courtney and several other KIPP Houston parents are furious because they believe they were duped by the charter nonprofit system into paying for what they believe should be a free public education.

"At no time if I thought the fees were optional would I have paid for them, especially when I'm struggling to put Schools Matter: KIPP Houston Forces Parents to Pay $2.3 Million in Unallowable Fees:

This story reveals what’s wrong with how kids learn science (and other subjects) - The Washington Post:

This story reveals what’s wrong with how kids learn science (and other subjects)

'A Failed and Damaging Experiment:' NEA Takes on Unaccountable Charter Schools:

‘A Failed and Damaging Experiment:’ NEA Takes on Unaccountable Charter Schools

The last time the NEA adopted a policy on charter schools W was president and the towers were still standing. | Fred Klonsky:

The last time the NEA adopted a policy on charter schools W was president and the towers were still standing

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:






The NEA Demands Accountability and Transparency from Charter Schools


The Heroes of This Blog! Add Your Name!

YESTERDAY

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: