Tag: Common Core

Who is it Gonna Be?

Via Newsday…

Diane Ravitch, the outspoken education historian, policy analyst and author, called on educators across Long Island Tuesday to boycott Common Core-related curricula and refuse to administer state tests as an act of defiance against the state and federal governments.

“Your community is your boss, and you do what’s best for children,” said Ravitch, speaking at a Hauppauge meeting that drew about 175 school superintendents and administrators from Suffolk and Nassau counties.

“Do not take the Common Core tests. Stop the testing,” said Ravitch, of Southold, who wrote the critically acclaimed “Reign of Error,” which defends the American education system and criticizes privatization moves as a drain on public schools. “Neither teachers or students are prepared for these tests. Stand together and there will be no punishment.”

This idea has been bubbling for some time now.  Just waiting for the right person to put it out there.  There is no better person to suggest the idea than Diane Ravitch.  This is the year to do it.  It is the perfect storm.  Parents will be refusing in droves.  Teachers are finally feeling emboldened enough to speak out about the reforms that are killing their school.  It’ll be the spring of an election year.  Legislators wouldn’t dare impose consequences on a district (or districts) who boycott the tests as a way of protecting the children in their communities.  We’ve already seen the governor in an all out sprint, attempting to distance himself from the reform agenda.  All it will take is for one school district to take the courageous step.  To say, “No.  Not to our children.  You will not continue to abuse our children.  No state testing in our schools this year.”  Middle Country School District Superintendent Roberta Gerold was quoted in the Newsday article saying, “I would really have to think about it.  I would love us to have the courage.”

Once a district takes that step others will follow.  At that point the entire reform agenda crumbles.  So now the question is, who?  Who is going to be the courageous first district to take that step?  Whoever it is will have the strength of all of our state’s teachers and an enormous number of parents behind it.

The Student Lobbyist Abandons His Public Education Agenda

Andrew Cuomo, who once proclaimed himself to be the “lobbyist for students” is trying to escape his education reform agenda as quickly as possible.

Via capitalnewyork.com…

“I’ve heard quite a bit from the parents who are very concerned about Common Core,” Cuomo told reporters after an event on Staten Island. “It’s part of a national curriculum that the national experts say is actually going to be beneficial.

“But there’s no doubt that there are significant elements, at least in the transition, that are problematic,” he continued.

“It’s actually a decision that the state Education Department is going to make, which ironically, although the state Education Department does not report to the governor … it’s something we’re watching very closely,” he (Cuomo) said. “And it’s something that might be the subject of legislative changes next year. But it’s not anything that I control, so we are watching.”

Cuomo is trying to detach himself from the agenda that has very much been his agenda throughout his term as governor.  Go back and look at his state of the state comments in 2012 to see how this is his baby.  Now, with his numbers starting to tank, Cuomo is running for the hills.

As usual, the Perdido Street School Blog does a great job covering (and exposing) Cuomo…

Also, from @ The Chalk Face is Chris Cerrone with “Cuomo: No longer the ‘Lobbyist’ for students?”

Ken LaValle, Bodyguard to John King

Next Tuesday evening will be the final Common Core Forum on Long Island that features John King.  Earlier in the fall King cancelled his PTA Town Hall Meetings because he didn’t like to be called out on his abusive agenda.  So they created new forums for him to come around and discuss the Common Core with parents, students, and teachers.  However the rules were changed a bit as Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch descended from her ivory tower to sit next to King and hold his hand.  Additionally districts were limited to the number of representatives they could have speak and the amount of time those people could speak for.  At last week’s forum at Ward Melville High School, for example, we were limited to three speakers who were each permitted two whole minutes.  Apparently that was too difficult for Dr. King because the rules have changed once again.

At next week’s forum, hosted by Senator Ken LaValle, district’s are being asked to submit the name of the person they would like to speak for them along with the comments that speaker will be making.  Then, if you are lucky, LaValle’s crack team of hacks will choose you as one of the winners and you will get to speak.  That somehow passes for democracy in this day and age.  I can’t wait to hear what tough questions the commissioner will have to face.  Probably something like, “Commissioner King, why is the Common Core so amazing?”

Ken LaValle, no friend of public education, is making a real mistake here if he thinks this is the way to go about a forum like this.  Parents and teachers are angry.  They are angry at King and Tisch’s abusive agenda.  They are angry that their elected officials, like LaValle, are permitting their children to be bullied.  Now they will be angry that their voice is not being heard.  They are creating a situation where people will need to shout to be heard.  They will need to stand up and demand that their voices be heard.  They have created a situation that unquestionably calls for civil disobedience.

The only question remaning is whether or not those who demand to be heard will be treated like this Common Core opponent in Maryland was…

More Coverage of Tuesday Night

Speaking of our very own Beth Dimino, Diane Ravitch wonders, “Is this how a revolution begins?”

Norm Scott of the famed Ed Notes says “The Slugs are on the Run”.  Speaking of PJSTA President Beth Dimino, and taking a well deserved shot at our parent unions, he says, “You mean there ARE union leaders who stand up instead of seeking a little stool at the table?”

Describing Dimino’s words for Tisch, King, and Flanagan, Sean Crowley of B-LoEdScene says “Beth Dimino unloads on them with all the subtlety of Ray Lewis going unblocked on a zone blitz.”  He then says that “Port Jeff (we gather he means Port Jeff Station!) has a kick ass blog”.  Thank you very much Mr. Crowley, your blog is a kick ass blog as well…. and one every PJSTA member should be reading daily.

Dimino: “You have awoken the mommies!”

In front of 900 in the Ward Melville High School auditorium, and several hundred more in the overflow cafeteria, PJSTA President Beth Dimino shredded NYSED Commissioner John King, Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, and New York State Senator John Flanagan.  She first called out King for what his agenda is: child abuse.  Then she urged Tisch to fire King, citing the 350 letters she has collected supporting this stance.  Finally she warned Flanagan that he had “awoken the mommies” and that “The mommies in New York don’t abuse their children and they’re not going to let bullies do that either!”  She walked off to a rousing standing ovation.

Tisch later stated to the crowd, “I know you are passionate.  We hear you, we get it.”  But of course we know she doesn’t.  We know that as currently constituted, NYSED, the New York State Board of Regents, the state legislature, and the governor have no plans to abandon their abusive reform agenda.  Plutocrats like Tisch stand to make far too much money to abandon the agenda.  Instead they may make minor alterations that change very little.  They will claim these alterations are examples of them listening to parents, students, and educators.  Nobody will buy it.  Their agenda is now crystal clear.  Too many people can now see what’s going on here.  That’s why nothing short of a full withdrawal from Race to the Top, the Common Core, and test based evaluations is acceptable.  Not waivers for special needs students.  Not a three year moratorium.  Only a full withdrawal from the entire agenda is acceptable.

Community members like the ones who filled the auditorium last night can’t fire the puppet John King.  We also can’t fire puppet master Merryl Tisch.  But next November we can vote out John Flanagan.  We can vote out Andrew Cuomo.  Then we can let a new state government deal with Tisch.

Flanagan, who hid in his office two weeks ago when 1,000 people rallied outside, looked like he wanted to slither away and hide under a rock last night.  Don’t let his arrogance fool you.  He knows the days of shoo-in victories in his senate district are over.  He knows, that palling around with John King and taking big money from Michelle Rhee have now attached him to this agenda as much as anybody else.  He knows that next November he will have to answer for the child abuse that he has supported as the chairman of the New York State Senate’s Education Committee.  He knows now that he has awoken the mommies!

There was a slew of coverage of last night’s event.  Just a bit of it is below…

YouTube sensation Dimino:


Fox NY’s coverage.

Newsday’s story.

News12’s coverage.

Perdido Street School’s story.

Diane Ravitch’s story.

Arizona’s Brewer Thinks Citizens Are Fools

“I’ve got it! We’ll just change their name and nobody will ever suspect a thing!”

More from the Theater of the Absurd department…

After sustained backlash against the implementation of the Common Core State Standards in Arizona, Governor Jan Brewer decided to change the name of the standards to “Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards.”

State Rep.Carl Seel, R-Phoenix, one of the foes, said he believes Brewer is trying to blunt the opposition by confusing the issue.

He said people now call state agencies to ask them the status of Common Core standards. With Brewer’s action, he said, callers will be told that Common Core no longer exists, lulling them into believing the new standards have been scrapped .

Initially I thought this must be a joke.  Seriously?!  THIS is their strategy for defending the Common Core?!  Changing the name?!

Reality-Based Educator said it best…

It’s like they think critics and opponents are all Elmer Fudd’s asking a disguised Bugs Bunny which way the wabbit went.

That this is the strategy these so-called Best and Brightest have come up with to push back against Common Core opponents shows you just how much damage the attacks against them have done and how bereft of ideas the reformers are to defend their own agenda.

In Maryland they are arresting people for questioning the Common Core.  In Arizona they are trying to trick the public.  Stay tuned to see what Governor Cuomo comes up with.

 

Man Arrested for Speaking Out Against the Common Core

The reformers will seemingly stop at nothing as they try to silence critics of their policies.  In case you didn’t see it, a man was arrested in Maryland last week for speaking out against the Common Core State Standards at a public forum that the Maryland State Education Department hosted.

At one time in America you weren’t arrested for asking questions and being critical about something.

We know corporate “privatizers” don’t care to hear from teachers.  We know they didn’t care about what parents thought either.  What they care about is making a buck on the backs of our children.  But still, this is simply outrageous.  Where will it end?

Weekend Links

Enjoy the great article about Philly’s teachers and why they deserve a fair contract.

A few links for your reading pleasure before classes start on Monday morning…

The best article I have read all week (and why you should be following what’s happening in Philly).

Cuomo wants to double down on failing schools and take dramatic action.  (We know what that means).

Ravitch with Why Hedge Fund Managers Are So Interested in School Reform… she touches on the public school hating Democrats for Education Reform and Barack Obama

A group of activists wants the CTU’s Karen Lewis to run for mayor against the public school hating Rahm Emanuel in 2015.

AQE’s response to Cuomo’s “death penalty” comment.

WaPo’s Valerie Strauss with Seven Facts You Should Know About the Common Core.

A brand new site to help follow the war on public ed: Public School Shakedown

Links for the Last Week of Summer

I have had a few links to some great reads to share the past few days, but have been busy with some of our other posts, so I’ll give you a few at once here.  As you are laying on the beach enjoying your last week of summer here are a few “must reads” for you…

From the Washington Post, read about what happened when an adult took the Florida state tests.

The Atlantic Journal Constitution tells you who is making money off of the Common Core (WARNING, paywall).  Reality-Based Educator’s take on the article, “Common Core Developers- A Private Club You Are Not In” can be found here.

Seven things to do now that state test scores are in, from NYC Public School Parents.

From Valerie Strauss in the Washington Post, “Teacher: it’s not enough to just ‘teach’ anymore“.

I am convinced that we, as teachers, must be activists. While we all forge personal identities inside the classroom, the diversity of which our kids love and enjoy, we must conceive of ourselves as education activists too. We have, at the same time, front row seats to and lead roles in education today. We are school reform. If we make ourselves aware of policy, trends, and plans that occur outside of the classroom, then we can preserve our autonomy and ability to lead inside the classroom.

How depersonalization is at the heart of education reform.