Thursday, April 30, 2015
LULAC Denounces Birthright Citizenship Hearing in U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security @TheNewsTaco @Latism
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Brent Wilkes, LULAC National Executive Director, released the following statement in response to yesterday's hearing on ending birthright citizenship in the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.
“The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security's hearing on ending birthright citizenship was a cynical move by anti-immigrant members of Congress to garner support from their political base and reflects their xenophobic attitudes towards the immigrant community.
LULAC condemns any attempts by members of Congress to utilize scare tactics and false statements to galvanize the support of radical anti-immigrant voters at the expense of immigrant families. Last week, LULAC helped defeat anti-immigrant amendments in the Senate. This week we will work to fight against attempts in the House of Representatives to pass anti-immigrant legislation and repeal birthright citizenship.”
“With Current Education System, Texas On Course To Be Poorer, Less Competitive In 2050” #EdBlogNet @idraedu
“With Current
Education System, Texas On Course To Be Poorer, Less Competitive In 2050” is
today’s KHUF radio installment in a five-part series by Houston Public Media’s
education reporter Laura Isensee.
The state’s former
demographer Steve Murdock said education funding can be a drag on the state’s
future economy, pulling down household income, consumer spending and state
revenue.
Speaking about the
underfunding of education for English language learners, Dr. Albert Cortez,
IDRA director of policy, states in the story: “And so if the state not
providing those special needs students the resources that are needed, districts
are hurting and students are hurting. And again, it isn’t one particular sector
of the state. It’s all of us that are going to be paying the price.
Houston Public Media News 88.7 five-part series 4/28-5/1 takes a look into the past, present and future of public school funding in Texas.
Today’s KHUF
story, “How Parents Search for Opportunities for their Kids with Mixed
Results,” tells the stories of how families saw first-hand the difference between
rich and poor school districts. David Hinojosa, IDRA national director of
policy, is interviewed in this story. [03:58 min]
This week,
Houston Public Media News 88.7 is airing a five-part series by education
reporter Laura Isensee that takes a look into the past, present and future of
public school funding in Texas.
This week,
Houston Public Media News 88.7 is airing a five-part series by education
reporter Laura Isensee that takes a look into the past, present and future of
public school funding in Texas.
Today’s story, “How
One Man's Fight for Justice Continues After His Death,” is about Demetrio
Rodríguez, with interviews of his children Alex Rodríguez and Patty Rodríguez,
along with Dr. Albert Cortez, IDRA director of policy, and Al Kauffman,
Professor of Law at St. Mary’s University.
The Houston
Public Media News website has the audio of the story, a separate write up, a
video feature and other web features.
********************************************************************************************************
Along with its
series of stories on school funding in Texas by Laura Isensee, the Houston
Public Media News website has a quick tutorial “Learn How Texas Funds Public
Schools In 7 Easy Steps.”
********************************************************************************************************
See the online
database “Explore School Funding by District,” created by the Houston Public
Media News to supplement a series of stories on school funding in Texas by
Laura Isensee.
********************************************************************************************************
In honor of
Houston Public Media News’ five-part series this week on school funding in
Texas and the first story on Demetrio Rodríguez, we have put together a list of
the 50 Most Memorable Quotes in School Finance, compiled by IDRA’s founder, Dr.
José A. Cárdenas, in 1994. The last four quotes are from Mr. Rodríguez himself.
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Houston Public Media News’ five-part series this week on school funding in Texas
In honor of Houston Public Media News’ five-part series this week on school funding in Texas and the first story on Demetrio Rodríguez, we have put together a list of the 50 Most Memorable Quotes in School Finance, compiled by IDRA’s founder, Dr. José A. Cárdenas, in 1994. The last four quotes are from Mr. Rodríguez himself.
********************************************************************************************************
See the online database “Explore School
Funding by District,” created by the Houston Public Media News to supplement a
series of stories on school funding in Texas by Laura Isensee.
********************************************************************************************************
Learn How Texas Funds Public Schools In 7 Easy Steps, Hope @NPR picks picks this up!
How One Superintendent Stretches Limited
Resources | KHUF radio story http://budurl.com/KHUFsf3
KHUF radio story on Demetrio Rodríguez
& his fight for equity in ed funding http://budurl.com/KHUFsf1 #txed #txlege
@IDRAedu Hope @NPR
picks picks this up!
Albert Cortez in KHUF radio story on
Demetrio Rodríguez’s fight for equity in ed funding http://budurl.com/KHUFsf1
#txed #txlege @IDRAedu Hope @NPR
picks picks this up!
Learn How Texas Funds Public Schools In 7
Easy Steps, by KHUF http://budurl.com/KHUFsf7stps #txed #txlege Hope @NPR
picks picks this up!
Explore School Funding by District, by KHUF
http://budurl.com/KHUFsfDB
#txed #txlege Hope @NPR
picks picks this up!
50 Most Memorable Quotes in School Finance http://budurl.com/IDRA50list
#txed #txlege @IDRAedu Hope @NPR
picks picks this up!
How Parents Search for Opportunities for
their Kids with Mixed Results | KHUF radio story http://budurl.com/KHUFsf2
#txed #txlege @IDRAedu Hope @NPR
picks picks this up!
April 2015 IDRA Newsletter: Early Learning
April 2015 IDRA
Newsletter: Early Learning
http://createsend.com/t/r-7BC4448137CFF0622540EF23F30FEDED
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Tuesday, April 28, 2015
COMPUTER-ADMINISTERED SCHOOL EXAMS CRASHED IN NINE STATES IN APRIL, 2015 - Bob Schaeffer FairTest National Center for Fair & Open Testing
FairTest National Center for Fair & Open Testing
for further information:
Bob Schaeffer (239) 395-6773
cell (239) 699-0468
cell (239) 699-0468
COMPUTER-ADMINISTERED SCHOOL EXAMS CRASHED
IN NINE STATES IN APRIL, 2015;
WIDESPREAD TECHNICAL, SECURITY PROBLEMS DEMONSTRATE
ANOTHER FAILURE OF POLITICALLY MANDATED TESTING
IN NINE STATES IN APRIL, 2015;
WIDESPREAD TECHNICAL, SECURITY PROBLEMS DEMONSTRATE
ANOTHER FAILURE OF POLITICALLY MANDATED TESTING
New, computer-delivered, school testing programs have been plagued by malfunctions across the nation. So far in April, exam delivery collapsed in at least eight states — Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota and Wisconsin. Several different companies are responsible for these faulty systems. The list includes American Institutes of Research (AIR), CTB/McGraw-Hill, Educational Testing Service (ETS), Measured Progress, and Pearson Education.
According to Bob Schaeffer, Public Education Director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, (FairTest), which monitors standardized exams across the U.S., policy-makers should learn two lessons from these widespread technical problems.
“First,” Schaeffer explained, “State education officials must suspend the high-stakes testing mandate, as Montana’s education commissioner already did. Results from exams that have repeatedly been interrupted are not reliable, valid or even ‘standardized.’ The fact is students ended up taking them under widely different conditions.”
Schaeffer continued, “Second, state and national politicians must step on the brakes to stop testing overkill. Many schools lack sufficient up-to-date computers and other modern equipment for mass test administration. Large numbers of districts do not have the internet bandwidth to handle the volume. Testing company servers do not have the capacity to meet the surge from thousands of students logging on simultaneously.”
Proponents of computerized testing have tried to blame “hacker attacks” in some instances. But Schaeffer said state investigations have concluded that most problems have stemmed from issues within the testing industry’s control.
Schaeffer concluded, “This fiasco is largely caused by politically-driven assessment policies. Policy-makers ignored multiple warnings from educators, technical experts and parents.”
A regularly updated chronology of computer testing problems over the past three years is online at
http://fairtest.org/computerized-testing-problems-2013-2015
TPR airs week-long programs on School Finance Equity in Texas #EdBlogNet @idraedu
How
Parents Search for Opportunities for their Kids with Mixed Results | KHUF radio
story http://budurl.com/KHUFsf2
#txed #txlege @IDRAedu
KHUF radio story on Demetrio Rodríguez & his fight for
equity in ed funding http://budurl.com/KHUFsf1 #txed #txlege
@IDRAedu
Albert Cortez in KHUF radio story on Demetrio Rodríguez’s fight
for equity in ed funding http://budurl.com/KHUFsf1 #txed #txlege
@IDRAedu
Learn How Texas Funds Public Schools In 7 Easy Steps, by KHUF http://budurl.com/KHUFsf7stps
#txed #txlege
Explore School Funding by District, by KHUF http://budurl.com/KHUFsfDB
#txed #txlege
50 Most Memorable Quotes in School Finance http://budurl.com/IDRA50list
#txed #txlege @IDRAedu
Monday, April 27, 2015
A lobbyist for students by dmaxmj > Life, education, and politics, not necessarily in that order.
A lobbyist for students
At the end of this intro is a rewrite, edited down in the neighborhood of a couple hundred words, of this original post. This shorter version appeared in the Cortland Standard on April 24th (page 6). Most important to me is that news media of all formats step up and begin to acknowledge that the “opt out” movement is more than a kerfuffle between a suddenly interested and active teachers’ union and an unpopular and self-interested governor. It is also more than helicopter parents that just don’t understand how good tests are for their children. While much is heard from leaders promoting value for struggling students in underfunded schools via tests, data and a building full of frightened and sad professional educators…many parents are now seeing the inconsistency, evasiveness, and dishonesty in leadership. “Opting out” is not just a fashionable trend. It was not driven by teachers afraid of accountability. It is a public declaration that citizens know they are being misled, that tests are neither truth or the answer. Tests should be the tool they once were-not a weapon of those with dollars in their pockets or dollar signs in their eyes. I like tests. I used to go and score state tests. I used to be able to use the information more efficiently to address student needs and make smart instructional decisions. My daughters are top scorers on these types of things, but that does not stamp a value on the school or their teachers. The misuse of these instructional tools by those with their own agenda in mind, the continued dismissal and disrespect of a profession by those not qualified to even enter the arena…these are the reasons my girls don’t “opt out”, they refuse.
Our leaders continue to defy research and evidence regarding the true needs of our students. Instead of providing more standardized funding and opportunity on the front end, they “opt out” of their responsibilities and hinge school reform on standardized outcomes on the back end-using state tests to enforce and evaluate the efforts of others. The tests and the corporations contracted to create them, meanwhile, are afforded more privacy, respect and protection than the students and teachers being subjected to them. While assessments can provide valuable information when educators are more involved, the current approach isn’t about that. Still, I am not a fan of “opting out”. Opting out is like saying “no thanks” to dessert, and doesn’t address “opting in” to the important stuff: collaborating with teachers, keeping track of progress, homework, behavior, bedtime… and so on. So my children don’t opt out of these tests. They refuse to take them.
But misuse of assessments by politicians isn’t about my kids. It’s about the growing number left behind in the economic competition model of public education. More kids are coming to school tired, hungry, emotionally and economically insecure, with school and academics low on their list of priorities. Children can’t eat tests. Tests can’t hug children. While our governor correctly stated the primary importance of parents and kitchen tables in a late campaign television ad, and has claimed to be a lobbyist for students, he was immediately back on the school attack once reelected. Students will benefit more when our leaders respect the people doing the work that they themselves are incapable of doing.
Whatever the path my daughters choose, I want them to be happy, productive, and smart…not victims of someone else’s plans. To that end: I value parents, kitchen tables and teachers. I am a lobbyist for students.
CREATIVE SCHOOLS by Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica -- Recommendation of the book posted by Kathy Irwin #EdBlogNEt
CREATIVE SCHOOLS
Posted by Kathy Irwin
Forget standardized tests, here’s how we really engage our kids.
Test makers rake in bucks, students and teachers chafe under the strain.
Here's a better way forward for everyone.
Test makers rake in bucks, students and teachers chafe under the strain.
Here's a better way forward for everyone.
Human beings are highly curious learning organisms. From the moment they’re born, young children have a voracious appetite for learning. For too many, that appetite starts to dull as they go through school. Keeping it alive is the key to transforming education.
By schools, I don’t mean only the conventional facilities that we are used to for children and teenagers. I mean any community of people that comes together to learn with each other. School, as I use the term here, includes homeschooling, un-schooling, and informal gatherings both in person and online from kindergarten to college and beyond. Some features of conventional schools have little to do with learning and can actively get in the way of it. The revolution we need involves rethinking how schools work and what counts as a school. It’s also about trusting in a different story about education.
Too often, those who are succeeding are doing so in spite of the dominant culture of education, not because of it. So what can you do? Whether you’re a student, an educator, a parent, an administrator, or a policymaker— if you’re involved in education in any way—you can be part of the change. To do that, you need three forms of understanding: a critique of the way things are, a vision of how they should be, and a theory of change for how to move from one to the other.
If you want to change education, it’s important to recognize what sort of system it is. It is neither monolithic nor unchanging, which is why you can do something about it. It has many faces, many intersecting interests, and many potential points of innovation. Knowing this helps to explain why and how you can change it.
The revolution I’m advocating is based on different principles from those of the standards movement. It is based on a belief in the value of the individual, the right to self-determination, our potential to evolve and live a fulfilled life, and the importance of civic responsibility and respect for others. The four basic purposes of education are: personal, cultural, social, and economic and the aims of education are to enable students to understand the world around them and the talents within them so that they can become fulfilled individuals and active, compassionate citizens.
CREATIVE SCHOOLS is full of examples from many sorts of schools. It draws on the work of thousands of people and organizations working to transform education. It is also supported by the most current research available that is being put into effective practice.
Revolutions emerge from what people do at the ground level. Education doesn’t happen in the committee rooms of the legislatures or in the rhetoric of politicians. It’s what goes on between learners and teachers in actual schools.
“Creative Schools” by Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica, published April 21, 2015, by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright by Ken Robinson, 2015.
Read More at Salon.com
A Former Success Academy Teacher Steps Forward to Tell Her Story by Diane Ravitch #CharterChicanery #EdBlogNet
After the appearance of the New York Times' article about the
successes and harsh methods of Success Academy, there was quite a lot of discussion about whether
the article was accurate and balanced. Eva Moskowitz said it was
"slanted" with anecdotes.
I received an email from a former SA teacher who wanted to tell
her story. She worked at SA for two years, but quit for reasons she explains
below. She now works in another charter school. Her story is self-explanatory.
She was not one of the teachers interviewed for the story in the New York
Times.
In the recent New York Times article about Success
Academy, CEO Eva Moskowitz defended a school leader’s use of the phrase “misery
has to be felt” in an email about students who were not meeting expectations.
After spending 2 years as a Success Academy teacher, it’s clear to me that misery
was indeed a favorite tactic.
I’ve never worked anywhere where there was such a high chance of
walking into the bathroom and seeing a colleague crying. Over the course of my
two years there, I walked in on someone in tears at least a half a dozen times,
and another half a dozen times the person crying in the bathroom was me.
Teachers felt a lot of misery.
The first - and only - time I called out sick, I received a
phone call around 9am from my assistant principal informing me that having
“just a cold” was not a valid reason to call out sick, and that “unless you are
vomiting, you are expected to medicate and push through.” At the end of the
year, that sick day was given as a reason why my “level of professionalism” was
a concern and why my rehire for the following year was in question.
My principal, who had no formal training as an educator,
nevertheless frequently took control of my classroom in the middle of lessons
and offered nothing but criticism of my teaching. After several weeks of
feeling completely demoralized, a colleague delicately told our principal that
it was getting hard to hear nothing but negative feedback, and that we were
beginning to feel like the leadership thought nothing we were doing was right.
He responded by rolling his eyes and saying “Oh, you want one of those
compliment sandwich things? Ugh, I hate those!”
Another teacher who dared to raise the same concern on behalf of
many of us at a staff meeting was fired. She was quietly brought back a few
days later, but the damage to morale had been done.
One morning our beloved receptionist, an older woman that
everyone regarded their work mom, came around classroom to classroom hugging
each one of us. “There is a dark cloud over this building,” she said. “I want
you to know I’m praying for you and for our kids.”
Misery, indeed.
But of course, the real tragedy of Success Academy is the misery
of children. The misery of the low-income children of color who Ms. Moskowitz
claims to want the best for. The misery of children who have learning
disabilities and routinely don’t score well on the quarterly in-house
assessments because their legally-deserved testing accommodations were denied
them by the administration. The misery of children who have diagnosed emotional
and behavioral disabilities and are still expected to adhere to the
developmentally inappropriate behavioral expectations. The misery of any child
who might be slightly different than the average, who is forced to comply with
cookie-cutter behavioral and academic expectations that don’t respond to the
needs of the individual child, in the name of systemic uniformity and “no
excuses.”
To this day I feel sick to my stomach over the way I was made to
speak to my students, and the things I was forced to demand from them. Backs
straight, hands still, eyes tracking the speaker every second. Walking in the
hallways silently and with their hands crossed over their chests so they
wouldn’t touch things they weren’t supposed to. Working in complete silence
almost all day long and hardly ever given an opportunity for collaborative
work. For most of one of my years there the first and second graders ate lunch
in silence too, because our principal had decided they couldn’t handle talking
at an appropriate volume.
But of all of the awful stories from my time at Success, none
will top the story of one of my little boys in first grade. He was new to
Success, having left some other charter school for unclear reasons, and at
first presented as a bright, sweet boy. But sometime in the winter, after months
of seeming more and more defeated by a school environment that squashed his
fiery spirit, he grew anxious and fidgety. These symptoms quickly escalated
into weekly full-blown crisis situations in which he would suddenly start
screaming and try to knock down every piece of furniture in our classroom. It
was deeply troubling for the other students as well myself because it was clear
that something very serious was going on in his little mind, and yet all our
administrators seemed concerned about was getting his behavior under control.
Their solution was to have our school security officer, a large man dressed in
uniform, come upstairs and drag him out of our room. Knowing what I do now
about childhood trauma, I understand the extent of the damage that must have
done to him, as well as to all the other children in our class. At the end of
the year it was not-so-subtly suggested to his family that this might not be
the right place for him, and he moved on to to his third charter school in as
many years.
Eva Moskowitz says Success Academy is the answer. She says she
wants all kids to succeed. But she also says they need to feel misery if they
do not rise to her nearly impossible expectations. What kind of success is
that?
The Many Faces of Randi Weingarten A series of posts from Defend Public Education by Ken Derstine #EdBlogNet
... Of concern should also be
Randi Weingarten's collaboration with corporate education reformers to develop
teacher evaluations based on standardized tests. On February 5, 2015 she was
praised at a conference of the right-wing American Enterprise Institute for her
help in doing this. Those who dismiss Gates money given to the AFT as
unimportant should know what this money bought.
I have written extensively about this on my blog. Sorry for the many links but the time is short and I urge everyone to consider what I have written.
Talking to the Choir: AEI panels discuss their attack on public education - April 2, 2015
http://www.defendpubliceducation.net/talking-to-the-choir-aei-confe/
Is Corporate Education Reform trying to Coopt the Opt Out movement? - April 8, 2015
http://www.defendpubliceducation.net/corped-trying-to-coopt-opt-out/
Turning "Collaboration" into a Bad Word - April 12, 2015
http://www.defendpubliceducation.net/turning-collaboration-into-a-b/
Randi Weingarten: Sleight of Hand Artist - Part 1 - April 19, 2015
http://www.defendpubliceducation.net/randi-weingarten-sleight-of-ha/
Randi Weingarten: Sleight of Hand Artists - Part 2 - April 22, 2015
http://www.defendpubliceducation.net/randi-weingarten-sleight-of-2/
I have written extensively about this on my blog. Sorry for the many links but the time is short and I urge everyone to consider what I have written.
Talking to the Choir: AEI panels discuss their attack on public education - April 2, 2015
http://www.defendpubliceducation.net/talking-to-the-choir-aei-confe/
Is Corporate Education Reform trying to Coopt the Opt Out movement? - April 8, 2015
http://www.defendpubliceducation.net/corped-trying-to-coopt-opt-out/
Turning "Collaboration" into a Bad Word - April 12, 2015
http://www.defendpubliceducation.net/turning-collaboration-into-a-b/
Randi Weingarten: Sleight of Hand Artist - Part 1 - April 19, 2015
http://www.defendpubliceducation.net/randi-weingarten-sleight-of-ha/
Randi Weingarten: Sleight of Hand Artists - Part 2 - April 22, 2015
http://www.defendpubliceducation.net/randi-weingarten-sleight-of-2/
Friday, April 24, 2015
Annual IDRA La Semana del Niño Parent Institute yesterday PHOTOS online on Flickr page: http://budurl.com/IDRAflkrApr15
La Semana del Niño Parent Institute
Photos
Photos
Annual IDRA La Semana
del Niño Parent Institute yesterday photos online on Flickr page:
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Live-streamed sessions (CST) Webcast: Family Leadership for Student Success Bilingual Parent Institute • April 23, 2015 • San Antonio
Webcast: Family
Leadership for Student Success
Bilingual Parent
Institute • April 23, 2015 • San Antonio
Video Streamed by NowCast livestream where participants can
view and participate via chat
http://bit.ly/IDRAInstitute
Live-streamed
sessions (CST)
Session 1 / Sesión 1 9: 45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
Room 101 – Livestream: Biliteracy Project / Proyecto de
alfabetización en dos idiomas
Presenters / Oradores
Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD
Ms.
Fabiola Cicena
Ms.
San Juanita Lerma
Ms. Wendy Lerma
Ms. Maria Muñoz
Session 2 / Sesión 2 10:55 a.m. – 11:55 a.m.
Room 101 – Livestream: Comunitario PTA
Presenters / Oradores
ARISE PTA Comunitario
Ms.
Ludivina Escalante
Ms.
María S. Esparza
Mr.
Pedro Nepomuceno
Session 3 / Sesión 3 12:05 p.m. – 1:05 p.m.
Room
101 – Livestream: Fathers
in Action / Padres en acción
Presenters / Oradores
San Antonio ISD
Mr.
Ted Guerra
Mr.
Luis Pérez
UNIVISION will be joining IDRA to share their Clave/Academia
work
Family Leadership for
Student Success
Liderazgo familiar en pro del éxito estudiantil
#AllMeansAll #TodosSonTodos
Liderazgo familiar en pro del éxito estudiantil
#AllMeansAll #TodosSonTodos
Bilingual Parent
Institute • April 23, 2015 • San Antonio
Designed for families, community groups & educators of school-age children
Designed for families, community groups & educators of school-age children
This annual institute
offers families, school district personnel and community groups from across
Texas the opportunity to network, obtain resources and information, and receive
training and bilingual materials on IDRA’s nationally-recognized research-based
model for parent leadership in education. This institute is interactive and
participatory.
All presentations are
bilingual (English-Spanish).
Webcast: Family Leadership for Student Success - Bilingual Parent Institute • April 23, 2015 • San Antonio - #EdBlogNet @idraedu
Webcast: Family
Leadership for Student Success
Bilingual Parent
Institute • April 23, 2015 • San Antonio
Video Streamed by NowCast livestream where participants can
view and participate via chat
http://bit.ly/IDRAInstitute <<<
Live-streamed
sessions (CST)
Session 1 / Sesión 1 9: 45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
Room 101 – Livestream: Biliteracy Project / Proyecto de
alfabetización en dos idiomas
Presenters / Oradores
Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD
Ms.
Fabiola Cicena
Ms.
San Juanita Lerma
Ms. Wendy Lerma
Ms. Maria Muñoz
Session 2 / Sesión 2 10:55 a.m. – 11:55 a.m.
Room 101 – Livestream: Comunitario PTA
Presenters / Oradores
ARISE PTA Comunitario
Ms.
Ludivina Escalante
Ms.
María S. Esparza
Mr.
Pedro Nepomuceno
Session 3 / Sesión 3 12:05 p.m. – 1:05 p.m.
Room
101 – Livestream: Fathers
in Action / Padres en acción
Presenters / Oradores
San Antonio ISD
Mr.
Ted Guerra
Mr.
Luis Pérez
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