"We have endorsed President Obama for reelection, but it will be very hard to generate enthusiasm and the campaign would be clearly insensitive to the concerns of teachers/ educators if they send her out.... Therefore, if Linda or other anti-union advocates are here in California, we may not be able to participate in the same fight."
Righteous anger, or thinly veiled threat? You be the judge. The full text of the email is below, courtesy of Simon (who got it from Freitas). Meantime, KPCC's Tami Abdollah reports that only one of the several teacher dismissal bills introduced in the California state legislature this year remains alive. So it's not like the CFT has lost all its clout. PS: Simon has joined Twitter: @SSimonReuters.
She and other reformers are being vilified says Rhee in this Gavin Newsom segment, and she doesn't believe that the teachers unions are particularly the problem blocking better schools. But she also claims that only about half of the money spent on education is going to the classroom, which may not be accurate and is a familiar Republican attack from the 1990s.
Hard Lessons Follow Rocky Start For Chicago Teacher NPR: Tyrese Graham is a second-year science teacher at John Marshall Metropolitan High School on the West Side of Chicago. When he started teaching, Marshall was among the worst public schools in the city.
Why Indian Americans Reign As Spelling Bee Champs NPR: Indian-Americans make up less than 1 percent of the U.S. population, but they've won the last four National Spelling Bees and nine of the last 13. How has this tiny community become a spelling dynasty, and why are they so driven to win?
Here are some links to magazines and sites I don't check during the week, in Twitter form, plus whatever else I come across along the way or missed during the week:
Come across something I've missed? Put it in comments or tweet it out using #thisweekined and it will show up above. Links and retweets aren't necessarily endorsements, you ungrateful wretches, just an effort to give you a range of interesting news and opinion with which to challenge your knee-jerk view of the world.
Per the previous post: Chubb is withdrawing from his role on the Romney advisory team (see full statement below), citing a desire not to "formally or informally, in our professional capacity... be linked to any party or candidate."
At roughly the same time, though not directly connected to the Romney issue, the higher education team at EdSector is going to be moving over to New America, with a formal announcement next week.
Though they often help out behind the scenes, think tank EDs usually avoid taking on official partisan duties like this -- or at least take leaves of absence (as Jon Schnur did during the 2008 campaign). Among other reasons, this is usually to preserve the veneer of independence and to ensure that funders and other candidates don't get mad at them. Others may remember better, I can't think of another education think tank ED -- Jennings, Haycock, Finn -- who's taken on such a role, at least not officially. (That's one of the reasons the Romney announcement notes "Company/organization names are provided for identification purposes only.")
Independence and credibility is especially an issue for Education Sector, which was founded as a quasi-journalistic think tank whose independence was a top priority. Two of its first three heads -- Tom Toch and Richard Colvin -- were journalists rather than political types.
Anyway, I've asked EdSector whether the board knew about and approved of Chubb's joining the Romney team and am curious what happens next. So far it doesn't seem to have been much of an issue. Chubb blogged about the Romney plan on the EdSector here, disclosing his dual roles. But I can imagine a lot of discussion internally, and some hand-wringing among the other analysts (Carey, Silva, etc.). Some of them may have already been fed up by the Rotherham-Toch-Colvin churn. On the other hand, the move could help EdSector attract funding and attention.
Support for private school vouchers (usually with conditions) isn't as unusual as you may think.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker reminded us last week before imploding over private capital that he's one of the small but growing number of Democratic leaders who's pro-voucher in one way or another.
According to Friedman Foundation folks, Antonio Villaraigosa (LA), John Hinkenlooper (Denver), Greg Stanton (Phoenix). Others? Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Former electeds include Anthony Williams, Adrien Fenty, Bill Finch, John Nordquist, Rudy Giuliani, Kurt Schmoke, Norm Coleman, and Andrew Young.
There's a funny and sad impression given off by the way these two photos appeared together in an email sent out by Whitney Tilson from Monday night's screening of The Experiment-- a circle of mostly white college-educated 30+ men talking to each other about how they're saving New Orleans. Then again, the PAA or SOS version of the same meeting would likely be full of college-educated white women, which would be just as annoying (and just as unlikely to produce better results, btw).
With a long apology for not having her on the show earlier -- and a funny moment at the end when he checked in to make sure he'd done ok with his notoriously prickly guest -- Charlie Rose hosted Diane Ravitch on a show that was aired Wednesday.
There's no embed but you can watch it here. It's a nice update and acknowledgement for Ravitch's supporters and sympathizers, and a good reminder of the other side's arguments for reformers who probably haven't seen Ravitch in action for a while.
Romney Faces Tough Questions From Black Leaders AP via HuffPost: Mitt Romney struggled to find support for his education proposals while campaigning at an inner-city school Thursday, one day after declaring education the "civil rights issue of our era."
Does Tough Love Work With Third Graders? NPR: Some Indiana third graders are already planning for summer school. They're preparing to retake a new statewide test, which they'll need to pass to go on to 4th grade.
NCATE Accredits First 'Nontraditional' Program Teacher Beat: In a first, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education has given its blessing to a non-higher-education-based preparation program, the Denton, Texas-based iTeachU.S.
The question posed by Rick Hess in "How Romney Should Grade Obama on Education has an obvious answer: Romney should give Obama an A+.
The Obama education policy embodies the Bain Capital model of "churn." It has encouraged the mass dismissals of teachers as a part of a risky turnaround strategy where any amount of suffering by the majority is justified if a few innovations pay off.
In fact, President Obama praised the mass firing of teachers. The administration's School Improvement Grants have provided a fig leaf for driving Baby Boomers out of the profession to reduce salaries and benefits. Obama has created incentives for the privatization of public education and a fee for (so-called) student performance value system.
The fact that Romney still attacked the Obama education record in his Wednesday speech reminds us that Romney's agenda goes even further down the corporate line. That's why educators must support Obama's reelection despite our displeasure and misgivings. We cannot risk a Romney presidency where the destructive policies that President Obama has imposed on schools is extended to the entire nation's economy. - JT (@drjohnthompson) image via.
Several thousand protest Philly school cuts, 14 arrested Inquirer: Several thousand blue collar union members marched through Center City today, snarling traffic in a protest against planned cuts and layoffs by the Philadelphia School District.
Pennsylvania school workers protest layoff notices CNN: Protesters marched in at least two major cities in Pennsylvania on Wednesday in response to proposed state budget cuts intended to close gaps in public school funding.
CPS teachers fill union rally with anger toward mayor Chicago Tribune: Mayor Rahm Emanuel bore the brunt of criticism from angry teachers who filled the Auditorium Theatre on Wednesday to make clear their unhappiness with the administration's efforts to overhaul public education in Chicago.
CTU shows strength at rally Catalyst: Weingarten said that she had just come from a conference on labor-management collaboration an hour away where 100 districts were represented. “But here in the second city of America, we have to rally to even be heard,” she said. “I will come back every time you need me.”
It hasn't been that long since she (and the Education Page) have been on the scene but it's hard to remember life before Joy Resmovits, who joined Huffington Post as their main K12 education reporter on April 2011, according to her LinkedIn.
She's had a few scoops and avoided making any horrible mistakes (that I know of). She doesn't feel the need to put herself into the story or go out beyond the edge of her reporting (which I appreciate).
But don't be fooled by the smile and seeming shyness, or distracted by the stupid HuffPost logo and all the commentary and aggregation that makes up the rest of the page. The 2010 Barnard grad will Gchat you into submission, slip questions into casual conversation so smoothly and quickly you don't realize you're being worked.
"She's wily," noted a DC communications person admiringly.
Indeed. See her stories here. See her Twitter here.
*CORRECTED: It's wily, not wiley. Wiley is my publisher.
Oops. Romney edu plan refers to NEA as "National Education Alliance" instead of Association. Another tip from Fritz.
Randi Weingarten talks up labor-management cooperation and wraparound services in Cincy public schools MSNBC http://ow.ly/b6FsV
NYT shouldn't be "hostile" to tax credit scholarships, say Checker and @aemerson http://ow.ly/b6Gse
On Friday, WA state chapter of @Stand4Children endorsed a Republican candidate for governor via EdWeek http://ow.ly/b6EOt
Another Chicago charter school - Youth Connection Charter School -- goes union ow.ly/b6Dvf
Todd Farley on the Florida scores: "There was no statistic that couldn't be doctored... no figure that couldn't be bent to our collective will."ow.ly/b6CtW
Larry Strass: "Experienced, proven, successful teachers should be collaboratively in charge of the schools at which they teach." " ow.ly/b6CjZ
Apologies for another Chicago blog post but it's worth noting that the teachers union there may have found a way around the supposedly supposedly insurmountable 75 percent strike threshold that was included in last year's SB7 reform. The solution is to open the strike vote early -- next month, before school ends -- so as to get the support of veteran and even retiring teachers, and also to keep the vote open for as long as necessary in order to get the 75 percent of membership that CTU somehow agreed to in SB7. That's union VP Jesse Sharkey at yesterday's press conference. There's a rally today. Union president Karen Lewis doesn't get a ton of respect in Chicago but is widely admired among rabble rousers in other cities for taking on the district and the mayor. The district seems to be somewhat fearful of a strike vote in advance of the conclusion of negotiations, and I'm sure there are all sorts of Democratic operatives who are worried about the possibility of a big-city strike during the end of summer conventions or the weeks leading up to the election. For more details and links to coverage go here.
Sometimes it seems sad how little money is spent on education at the federal level -- in many cases, it's not even enough for education to get its own category.
Remember what he did to Romeo and Juliet? Well he's back to do the same to The Great Gatsby. High school English teachers everywhere keen and gnash their teeth.
Romney Considering Big School Choice Expansion Politics K12: Disadvantaged families and parents of students in special education could choose to spend federal funds at any district or charter public school, tutoring provider, or online course, according to the document circulated over the weekend. ALSO: Romney Names Education Policy Advisers
National Labor Conference Focuses Seeks To Improve Teaching Profession AP via HuffPost: Educators including the U.S. secretary of education, teacher union leaders and school administrators will focus this week on ways to transform the teaching profession with such targets as better recruiting, preparation and career development, and evaluations based on effectiveness.
AFT Task Force Eyes Teacher Preparation, Again Teacher Beat: The American Federation of Teachers has convened a task force to make recommendations on how to improve the quality of teacher preparation.
Do ‘zero tolerance’ school discipline policies go too far? TIME/Hechinger Report: The teenage girls knew they were being loud when they belted out Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” and the gospel favorite “We Lift Our Hands” during lunch at New Orleans’ Sojourner Truth Academy charter school. But they never expected school officials would slap them with out-of-school suspensions just for singing in the cafeteria.
Are Teachers Prepared To Learn From Standardized Tests? HuffPostEDU: Some teachers agree that their education didn't prepare them for the torrent of information they'd have to analyze. "The college I went to did not prepare us for the push on 'data, data, data,'" says Christine Yarzabek, a first-grade teacher in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
There haven't been any breakout commencement speeches this spring so far that I know of, but here's Ira Glass's speech at Goucher from over the weekend (his grandmother went there), which isn't bad if not quite viral:
Slate and Longform have combined forces to create a roundup of best speeches of all time (what's a commencement speech if not a long essay?). My favorite speech in recent memory is Jonathan Franzen's speech at Kenyon last year, which prompted me to write Education Will Break Your Heart.
Have you or your lobbyist been to the White House for a visit or two over the past three years, whether it's to schmooze Roberto or just for a stakeholder briefing of some kind? Here's a very partial list of who's visited how many times -- note that folks sometimes meet at Starbucks and that not all the visits are tallied for some reason:
306 visits to Heather Higginbottom http://ow.ly/b4VJX
143 White House visits for USDE's Carmel Martin -- best I've found so far http://ow.ly/b3SAl
Arne Duncan is listed twice as host http://ow.ly/b4VUo and 32 times over all http://ow.ly/b4W5N (including a handful where he's logged as Arne S. Duncan -- who knew?)
Just 5 visits for Jonathan Schnur http://ow.ly/b3SWi
Just one Feb 2010 visit for LDH http://ow.ly/b3SZO
Not content with letting EdWeek and Education Next be the only ones to write about all the education advocacy going on -- Scholastic Administrator (which sponsors this blog) has a sidebar explainer about the rise of c3s, c4s, PACs, and superPACs: PACs Go To School.
But not all CANs are alike, I've learned just this morning: ConnCAN isn't organizationally part of 50CAN, but rather it's own c3. ConnCAN is also a "coalition," while 50CAN and all the other state CANs are "campaigns."
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in This Week In Education are strictly those of the author and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Scholastic, Inc.
