March 15, 2013

Ohio 3rd graders who fail state test not promoted. But they CAN be promoted by not taking test.

There is so much wrong with that scenario. That is not how education should be.

Before I retired we were already having that discussion. It was painful. Some students who had already repeated 3rd grade were held back again. There was talk they would not be promoted the next year unless they passed the required test.

There are students who simply are unable to score high enough on a test. I saw honor students literally freeze and cry under such pressure. Some have learning problems, some have attention problems. Refusing to promote a student based on the single high-stakes test is ludicrous.

This article mentions that many other states are following Florida's policy on this 3rd grade retention. Ohio is one of them, but their policies would allow promotion of those who refuse to take the test.

Ohio Third Grade Reading Guarantee Could Allow Students Who Skip Tests to Be Promoted

The idea behind a new state law called the Third Grade Reading Guarantee was supposed to be simple: All third graders — except for those with disabilities or who are still learning English — must pass the state third grade reading test in order to advance to fourth grade.

But as written, the law allows third graders who don’t actually take the reading test to be promoted anyway, whether or not they can actually read.

That means that parents who are concerned that their third graders won’t pass the test — or parents who oppose “high-stakes” testing — could keep their children home on test days and skirt the law’s intent.

The article quotes the words of one mother from State Impact Indiana:

“They’re spending a month to two months of my daughter’s time where she’s bored to tears because she’s not learning anything — she’s at a gifted school,” (Indianapolis parent Merry Juerling) says. “It makes no logical sense. It wastes my child’s education time. It wastes the teachers’ time. It wastes the school’s time in tracking and preparing for this.”

And yet it continues. Arne Duncan never speaks out about foolish policies like this. They are in effect caused by programs he endorses, such as Race to the Top. Policies that depend on a single test to judge everyone and grade everything.

I believe if enough parents simply opted out of testing, they would be forced to change the policy. When I think back and realize how many hours of work we put into keeping our grade books accurate, keeping up with the latest ideas on what percentage was A, or B, and on down. They changed it a lot.

Those grade books as well as plan books were considered official records, kept on file by the county for years.

Yet they have no role now in determining a child's educational future, only the test does now in many states.

March 13, 2013

Third Way has been trying to privatize Social Security since 1990s. This is not playing chess.

This is for real. Our Democratic leaders have been inundated with propaganda since the late 1980s when the DLC was formed.

There is no way now that President Obama needs to be concerned about following through on his wish to use the social safety nets to achieve a "Grand Bargain". Only those up for re-election need to be concerned.

Seniors are nervous now that both parties are letting them down. I think that though Obama does not have to worry about re-election.....those running next year most certainly do. And that's a shame for many of those who really care.

Jon Cowan, the Third Way president, started writing stuff about this long ago. One article he addressed to Grandpa and Grandma, asking them to give up some of their entitlements so their grandchildren would not have to suffer.

Baloney. But many Democrats have listened.

1993 An Appeal To Grandma And Grandpa by Jon Cowan now Third Way president.

Dear Grandma and Grandpa:

We write to ask for your help. We're in a financial mess, and unless everyone in our family gets together to fix the problem, we're heading for "economic and fiscal catastrophe." That's not a phrase we picked up on MTV-it's from a recent U.S. government report on the budget deficit.

..."We are not ungrateful. We respect and value the sacrifices you've made for our country and have no desire to take money away from those in need. But our generation is in trouble. We were educated in a collapsing school system. Our incomes and skill levels are lower than any previous generation-by the year 2000 over one-third of younger Americans will be living in poverty. And we will be the first Americans to inherit a lower standard of living than our parents.

We're not asking that your generation solve all our problems. And there certainly are many other programs that also must be cut to get the deficit under control. But Social Security must be considered, just like everything else in the budget.

But that's not all he wrote. Jon Cowan was a very busy little conservative bee through the 90s. Still is.

In 1995 he called for privatizing Social Security.

Op ed from Third Way prez Cowan calling to privatize Social Security.

Despite the truth about this imminent collapse of the system, Senate Democrats recently killed the balanced-budget amendment with claims that it left Social Security vulnerable to budget-balancing. And House Republicans swore in the 1994 elections that they'd never touch the program. Why this doublespeak from both parties? A simple political calculation: Older Americans vote, and Generation X doesn't.

Unfortunately for America, this lie-to-get-elected approach is disastrous for our long-term fiscal outlook and will squander any hope of repairing the system before the crisis strikes early in the next millennium.

The time has come to reinvent Social Security based on a "cut and privatize" approach that will be fair to all age groups.

He then puts forth 3 principles to follow, one of which is to lower our expectations about the future benefits.

He also offered to "give workers the option of putting their money into private pension programs that offer far higher returns and sounder prospects than today's Social Security system."

President Obama has put benefit cuts on the table willingly, though they are calling it other stuff like Chained CPI.

Enough Democrats will go along with it to get it to happen. Unfortunately the end result will be a lot of anger and frustration next year when election time rolls around. He is not being fair at all to our more progressive Democrats.

It is not chess, it is a deliberate process planned through the years by our Democratic think tanks.

It is playing with peoples' lives and stressing them out. Most of us thought the safety nets would be untouchable if we kept Democrats in power. But the President just warned his own party's Senators about not cooperating.

That is not playing chess.

March 10, 2013

Philly closing schools in spite of public outcry. The reformers don't listen to the people.

They simply do not care what the public thinks. The "reformers" have their agenda, and they have the support of both parties' leaders to privatize education. They do not have to listen to anyone. And they are not.

Billionaire reformer Eli Broad said of Arne Duncan's appointment: "the stars are aligned."

I looked up some background on the situation that helps explain the anger.

Philadelphia votes to close 23 schools after protests, arrests

The closings were opposed by all but one of the 32 people who spoke at the meeting. “The process by which the Philadelphia School District decided on school closures was flawed and must be rejected,” said State Representative W. Curtis Thomas.

Last summer, Chief Recovery Officer Thomas Knudsen pitched the 5-year closure plan to the SRC using terms like "portfolios," "modernization," "right-sizing," "entrepreneurialism" and "competition," reports Philadelphia's City Paper. The plan was prepared with the assistance of Boston Consulting Group, a major global business consultancy and school "right-sizing" mastermind. Boston Consulting Group got a $1.5 million contract paid by the William Penn Foundation to come up with the plan.

Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Jerry Jordan at the time called it "a cynical, right-wing and market-driven plan to privatize public education." Following the SRC vote last night, Jordan said the decision "to close 24 neighborhood schools is a stark illustration of how out of touch the School Reform Commission is with the parents, students, educators and communities that depend on these institutions.”

In Philadelphia, the proportion of students attending charter schools jumped to 23 percent in the 2011-12 school year from 12 percent in 2004-5, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Meanwhile Pennsylvania cut Philadelphia’s financing by a further $419 million this year, and the federal government is providing incentives to close schools that do not measure up to national performance standards.

Glad to see a former member and teacher of the Broad Academy stand with teachers. Maybe they really are pushing things so far that a union head, Randi Weingarten, stood with the public.

March 9, 2013

It was a great memory. A fun time. Elvis in early years.

But the church leaders in the SBC poured on the guilt because we went. There was even a sermon about this new evil music. We ignored it.

He was really leaning out into the crowd, really giving us a show. That is a bunch of us in that corner. Yep, quite a memory. One of his early performances. I can still name most everyone in the group.

The picture was taken by Perkins Photography, and I am sure it is okay to post it with credit.

March 9, 2013

Union-backed L.A. school board candidate beats one with huge donations from billionaire reformers.

From Huffington Post:

Steve Zimmer Defeats the Billionaire Boys Club With a Cost-Effective School Board Campaign

Thanks to a huge infusion of campaign contributions from corporate titans like New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and business big-wig Eli Broad, Anderson's campaign spent almost twice as much as Zimmer's -- $1.9 million to $1 million -- in the race for the school board's District 4 seat, according to the City Ethics Comission. District 4 stretches from the West Side to the West San Fernando Valley.

Despite being outspent, Zimmer's campaign was more cost-effective. Anderson had 29,537 votes to Zimmer's 32,137. Translated into dollars-per-vote, Anderson spent $63 for every vote she received, while Zimmer spent $32 per vote. Zimmer's campaign was leaner, if not meaner.

Anderson's campaign benefitted from huge contributions made to the Coalition for School Reform (CSR), a political action committee created by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa that solicited funds from corporate honchos, many from outside Los Angeles, and is allegedly "independent" of the Anderson campaign. Some of the same people also contributed directly to Anderson's campaign, where the legal limit is $1,000. The direct donors to Anderson's race included individuals involved with private charter schools, attorneys with corporate law firms and executives of banks, businesses, and companies that do business with school districts.

..."Zimmer's victory was due in part to the backlash against the billionaires bankrolling Anderson's campaign. Thanks to stories in the Los Angeles Times and other news outlets, voters learned about the efforts of the CSR to recruit huge donations, including big ones from outside LA, to defeat Zimmer. The one million dollar donation from Bloomberg was particularly appalling to many voters.

There is a great post in the comment section which shows just how many not so obvious donors go under the radar.

Great piece. Thank you. It's worth noting that Carrie Walton Penner, daughter of Walmart chairman Rob Walton is the vice-chair of the California Charter School Association and that the Walton Family Foundation has given big to the CCSA, so the Walton family got to play in this race, while not having their name directly attached.

The article doesn't mention Michelle Rhee's group Students First. They paid in $250,000 into the school board races.

All of the money pumped into the Los Angeles school board race by Michelle Rhee, Michael Bloomberg, and other billionaire reformers simply did not work very well. Only one of 3 of their candidates won, and one was defeated in a primary.

A group led by former District of Columbia schools chancellor Michelle Rhee donated $250,000 Wednesday to contests for seats on the Los Angeles Board of Education, adding further political fuel to a battle over the direction of reform efforts in the nation's second-largest school system.

.." Rhee's donation follows a $1-million contribution to the same candidates made by New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg last week.The independent campaign, with resources of more than $3 million for the March 5 election, is being managed by the Coalition for School Reform, which is closely allied with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Rhee's donation matches that of philanthropist Eli Broad and media executive A. Jerrold Perenchio. Another large recent contribution, $100,000, has come from philanthropist Casey Wasserman, who has funded positions on Supt. John Deasy's executive staff.

When billionaires play their games in such races they are able to change policy easily. The politicians getting their money will be eager to please. That's how the new "reforms" are being done....one paid-for politician after another.

March 6, 2013

Chicago parent/lawyer posts pretend questioning of billionaire ed reformer Penny Pritzker. Powerful.

This is a powerful video from last year of a Chicago parent and lawyer holding a pretend interrogation of one billionaire school member who refused to answer a sensible question.

Chicago's Substance News wrote about it and included a transcript. Farmer is a powerful speaker who is pretend questioning Penny Pritzker. He points out all the real in depth learning experiences that her own children experience....experiences which have been taken away from many public schools. As the money leaves the public schools for the charter schools, there is less money available for art, music, PE, and the finer more enlightened parts of education.

Matt Farmer cross examines 'Penny Pritzker' at May 23 Auditorium Theater rally

Farmer’s method for exposing the hypocrisy that exists between the rhetoric and the reality of power brokers making public school policy is dramatic and effective. Farmer puts billionaire Chicago Board of Education member Penny Prizker on trial at this CTU rally. By all accounts, the University of Chicago Lab School, where Professor John Dewey first began testing his educational theories in 1896, is indeed an excellent place. The point here is that it offers the model for what politicos, phony philanthropists, and power brokers should want for all children, not just their own. We need to put all politicos, phony philanthropists, and power brokers on trial, exposing what they give to their own children but withhold from everybody else’s

One of the more telling parts of the imaginary exchange is how much the schools of the elites have in comparison with what public schools now have.

And in June 6, you told your old college newspaper the Harvard Crimson, “I always say fine arts opened my eyes and gave me a new sense, and I carry that passion with me”

And that’s why the University of Chicago Lab School has seven --count them—seven art teachers —on its faculty. Isn’t that right, Mrs. Pritzker?

But you’re aware, Mrs. Pritzker that Dyett High School a school you just voted to close a few months ago, had zero art teachers on its faculty in 2011. Isn’t that right?

Yes.

I can not quote more from that article because of copyright issues, but In These Times Mike Elk posted the actual quotes of Dr. Magill of the Lab school. He believes all schools should have what the Lab School has, and he speaks in support of unions.

Director of Private School Where Rahm Sends His Kids Opposes Using Testing for Teacher Evaluations

“Physical education, world languages, libraries and the arts are not frills. They are an essential piece of a well-rounded education,” wrote University of Chicago Lab School Director David Magill on the school's website in February 2009.

Writing on the University of Chicago’s Lab School website two years ago, Magill noted, “Measuring outcomes through standardized testing and referring to those results as the evidence of learning and the bottom line is, in my opinion, misguided and, unfortunately, continues to be advocated under a new name and supported by the current Obama administration.”

“I shudder to think of who would be attracted to teach in our public schools without unions,” Magill wrote on the school’s website in February 2009, adding that, even with unions, many teachers "have had no choice but to take on second jobs to make ends meet.“

In spite of the voices like those of Matt Farmer, there is not even a little bit of support from the leaders of either party for public education and teachers.

Crossposted at Daily Kos

February 26, 2013

If no cuts to Social Security, why must the president include "protections for the vulnerable?"

At the White House website on February 21 there was posted the president's final offer to Boehner on deficit reduction.

A Balanced Plan to Avert the Sequester and Reduce the Deficit

In the middle of all the cuts that are listed is this sentence:

Spending savings from Superlative CPI with protections for vulnerable

From what I have read Superlative CPI is either the president's version of Chained CPI or they are the very same. I have read both.

I have to wonder why the vulnerable need protecting? From what? If there are no cuts intended why is there a need for protection?

Jay Carney told us in December that President Obama included it in the negotiations to find common ground with the Republicans. I find myself resenting that very much.

From the White House transcript:

Why Chained CPI was included by Obama

MR. CARNEY: Well, let’s be clear about one thing: The President didn’t put it on the table. This is something that Republicans want. And it is --

Q But the Republicans --

MR. CARNEY: -- part of his -- if I could please answer Sam’s question, I’d appreciate it. And the President did include it in his counterproposal, his counteroffer, as part of this process, as part of the negotiation process. I would note that this is a technical change -- would be if instated -- to the way that economists calculate inflation, and it would affect every program that has -- that uses the CPI in its calculations. And so it’s not directed at one particular program; it would affect every program that uses CPI. There are also -- as part of the President’s proposals, he would make sure that the most vulnerable were exempted out from this change.

But let’s be clear, this is something that the Republicans have asked for, and as part of an effort to find common ground with the Republicans, the President has agreed to put this in his proposal -- agreed to have this as part of a broad deficit reduction package that includes asking the wealthiest to pay more so that we can achieve the kind of revenue targets that are necessary for a balanced approach to deficit reduction.

Thom Hartmann had sharp words for the use of this CPI.

The pure cruelty of the chained cpi

If Obama goes along with a “chained CPI,” he will be the first Democratic President in the history of the Party to have actually cut Social Security. Even though it doesn’t do a thing – nothing! – to reduce the budget deficit. And, as we saw with Bill Clinton “reforming” welfare, once the Republicans can corner a Democratic president into shooting a Democratic Santa Claus, the Republicans can finish the job through the death of a thousand paper cuts over the next decade and in the states, and everybody just remembers that it was a Democratic President who started it.

Bernie Sanders had equally strong words.

Chained CPI: An economic, moral disaster

The so-called “chained CPI” is Washington shorthand for one of the most-talked-about cuts favored by Republicans and some Democrats.

Unfortunately, few outside the Beltway understand its consequences. It is a devious and underhanded way to wage class warfare against working families.

Wall Street billionaires and other supporters claim that changing the consumer price index is a “minor tweak.” Tell that to the millions of senior citizens trying to survive on just $14,000 a year whose Social Security benefits would be cut overall by $112 billion during the next decade.

Average 65-year-olds would get $650 a year less in benefits when they turn 75 and see a $1,000 a year cut when they turn 85.

It really upsets me that Democrats are putting this on the table. It also upsets me to see so many excusing it for various reasons. They have pounded this austerity, fiscal cliff stuff into our heads until it is part of the language.

I add to that the frustration and anger I personally feel over the casual way people are accepting the privatization of public education, the way so many are in denial that it is happening.

Being the first Democratic president to cut Social Security, being a Democratic president who is finalizing the Bush family plans for education reform.....that is a legacy that needs to be rethought very soon.

February 25, 2013

Rachel's show in 2009: Dorgan warned us 1999 on the repeal of Glass Steagal.

This was posted in 2011. Rachel Maddow interviews Byron Dorgan on his warnings about the repeal of Glass Steagal.

Byron Dorgan's words in 1999

Consequences of Glass-Steagall repeal

“I think we will look back in 10 years' time and say we should not have done this but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past, and that that which is true in the 1930's is true in 2010. I wasn't around during the 1930's or the debate over Glass-Steagall. But I was here in the early 1980's when it was decided to allow the expansion of savings and loans. We have now decided in the name of modernization to forget the lessons of the past, of safety and of soundness."

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D;ND), one of 7 Democrats who voted against the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services "Modernization" Act of 1999

Here is more from Dorgan in the NYT in 2009:

10 Years Later, Looking at Repeal of Glass-Steagall

Mr. Dorgan still feels the same way. “I thought reversing Glass-Steagall would set us up for dramatic failure and that is exactly what has happened,” the senator told DealBook on Thursday. “To fuse together the investment banking function with the F.D.I.C. banking function has proven to be a profound mistake.”

Also from the NYT, look at the lopsided vote. I would say we can pretty much blame bipartisanship for this fiasco.

But 10 years ago, the revocation of Glass-Steagall drew few critics. In the House, 155 Democrats and 207 Republicans voted for the measure, while 51 Democrats, 5 Republicans and 1 independent opposed it. Fifteen members did not vote.

February 24, 2013

Michelle Rhee's group headed to Burbank to buy off the school board race there.

That's amazing how that group is zeroing in on California schools this year. They just finished giving the Los Angeles school district $250,000.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022408570

A group led by former District of Columbia schools chancellor Michelle Rhee donated $250,000 Wednesday to contests for seats on the Los Angeles Board of Education, adding further political fuel to a battle over the direction of reform efforts in the nation's second-largest school system.

Rhee's donation follows a $1-million contribution to the same candidates made by New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg last week.The independent campaign, with resources of more than $3 million for the March 5 election, is being managed by the Coalition for School Reform, which is closely allied with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Rhee's donation matches that of philanthropist Eli Broad and media executive A. Jerrold Perenchio. Another large recent contribution, $100,000, has come from philanthropist Casey Wasserman, who has funded positions on Supt. John Deasy's executive staff.

So now they are on their way to Burbank. The two candidate recipients of the donations by Students First appear to be confused by it all.

Super PAC puts down money in Burbank school board race

StudentsFirst — led by former District of Columbia schools chancellor Michelle Rhee — spent $6,675 each on campaign mailers and other promotional materials for Burbank school board candidates David Dobson and Charlene Tabet, according to reports filed with the city clerk. The expenditures were made through the group's super PAC, Parents and Teachers for Putting StudentsFirst.

...StudentsFirst spokeswoman Jessica Hsiang Ng said in an email that the group seeks to enact “student-focused reforms” and “reform-minded individuals,” and that Dobson and Tabet “will be important partners in our ongoing push to ensure that every student attains a great school and is taught by a great teacher.”

...That a well-known super PAC would get involved in Burbank, where public schools perform above state benchmarks, perplexed even Tabet and Dobson, who said they were unaware the support was coming.

...Dobson had also recently answered a questionnaire for StudentsFirst, but was unaware of the super PAC's support until he received the mailer at his home.

I guess they will know what's going on when the group pressures them to support their favorite....parent trigger laws. And merit pay.

Oh, I am sure before it's over they will figure it out.

February 22, 2013

FL Senate head: Public school teachers not to be paid, treated, or evaluated like charter teachers.

If you can read this statement by Florida's Senate President Don Gaetz and not be alarmed, then the anti-public school propagandists have done their job too well.

It looks like the state will pass the new law that is far more charter school friendly, and thus public schools will be deprived of even more resources.

Gaetz's statement that if a teacher chooses to work in a traditional public school, they should not expect to be treated the same as a charter school teacher.....appalling. Right out in the open.

Teachers shouldn't expect even playing field

Gaetz is a former public school superintendent and school board chairman in Okaloosa County. I guess he has done a complete about face as charter companies have moved into Florida.

Just as parents have a choice about where to send their kids to school, he said teachers should also have a choice about where to work.

“If you think you’d rather work in a charter school so that you’re not necessarily under the thumb of the district or of a union, I think you ought to have a chance to apply to a charter school and get selected,” Gaetz said.

He says teachers who feel more comfortable in a traditional school environment should be able to work there, too.

“But you’re not going to get paid the same, you’re not going to get treated the same, you’re not going to get evaluated the same,” Gaetz said

Maybe Gaetz should be reminded of how teachers are often treated in Florida charter schools by the management teams who run them.

FL failed charter school spent 366,000 on teachers 824,000 on principal

This charter school was closed for failure and financial fraud. It doesn't look to me like they respected and treated their teachers very well.

The principal in question not only received a $519,000 severance check, but she took home her $305,000 annual salary for a grand total of $824,000 during the 2010-2011 school year. The Orlando Sentinel also reported last week the school only spent $366,000 on teacher salaries and instruction during that school year. Nothing can justify that imbalance, especially for the leader of a charter that failed.

Senate leader Don Gaetz is listed as one of Jeb Bush's star reformers at the Foundation for Excellence website

Crossposted at Daily Kos