L.A. takes notice.
The August 15th discussion at National-Louis between Green Dot’s Steve Barr, IEA’s Jo Anderson and the CTU’s Marilyn Stewart is provoking interest as far away as Los Angeles.
Sponsored by the Small Schools Workshop, NLU and Catalyst Magazine, the panel starts talking at 6:30 at 122 S. Michigan Avenue, 2nd floor Atrium.
Ingmar Bergman.
Back in 1965 my friend Jeff and I would go to UCLA every Wednesday to Royce Hall for film showings.
Jeff was a surfer and a gymnast. I was into folk music and politics. We had no common friends or other interests in common. Just movies.
But before the invention of video and dvd, you actually got to see great films, old films, art films, experimental films or foreign films on a big screen in the dark. The way they were made to be seen.
It was at the UCLA Wednesday film series that I received my education in the history of movies (not cinema).
I look back now on some of the films that moved me as a teenager and laugh. I once took my wife to see Francois Truffaut’s Jules and Jim because I loved it when I first saw it at UCLA as a teenager. She thought it was hopelessly silly, and in retrospect, so do I.
It is very hard to think of Ingmar Bergman’s films from the viewpoint of 2007 and as an alleged grown-up and not feel that their existential angst is goofy. But being a teenager and existential angst go together like peanut butter and jelly.
Still, Bergman was part of my self-education. He died today at 89.
A Youtube parody of Bergman:
Teacher evaluations.
A Chicago study of teacher evaluations was the big story around the country today. The Sun-Times version is here.
Is there anyone who thinks that poor teaching should be evaluated as excellent, superior or whatever term the local eval plan has come up with?
Is it helpful when the data that gets published in the press simply divides teachers in percentage categories (What are we? Students for goodness sakes?) as if we were being graded on a curve.
Is it helpful when 50% of principals say that union rules keep them from addressing poor teaching? They complain that it’s too hard. It requires too much paper work. Special Ed teachers must be laughing out loud over that one.
Doesn’t good teaching really have a chance to blossom in a school that is organized to take advantage of the skills, knowledge and techniques of the practitioner?
Do struggling teachers have a chance to improve in a school that encourages teacher collaboration, transparent classrooms, mentoring and all the best practices that have been researched to death?
Will the Chicago Tribune run another editorial about teachers demanding, “Off with their heads!”
A friendly discussion about charters, unions, teachers and students.
If you are in the Chicago area on Wednesday evening, August 15th, you should not miss the discussion sponsored by the Small Schools Workshop, National-Louis University and Catalyst Magazine. Moderated by Small Schools Workshop leader, Michael Klonsky (yes, relation), the discussion will address one key issue of the day: Charters and unions.
On the panel will be Green Dot’s Steve Barr, Illinois Education Association Executive Director Jo Anderson and Chicago Teacher Union President Marilyn Stewart.
Wednesday, August 15th, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Nationall-Louis University downtown campus, 122 S. Michigan Avenue, 2nd floor Atrium
This event is free of charge and open to the public.
For additional information:
Call: 773-384-1030
So call your friends and colleagues. E-mail this blog page to people you know. See you there.
Book Review: Tested
The argument hasn’t changed, but the evidence continues to mount: The emphasis on high-stakes testing, more time for test prep, the narrowing of the curriculum to the subjects tested to meet NCLB goals. It’s not good for children.
The test, to be administered in the spring, rules all strategies of teaching and allocation of funds and attention. Narrowed down to math and reading, the students spend hours each day on mind-numbing drills, consultants are hired, curriculum purchased, constant assessments given, and near-daily strategy sessions called for teachers, administrators and counselors to the point where education appears to have taken on more the flavor of grim battlefield maneuvering instead of a flowering of curiosity and spirit. And through it all is the strain on the professionals charged with churning out test-passers … without the acknowledgement that what is going on is teaching to the test. The test. The test.
Susan G, on the Daily Kos, reviews Tested: One American School Struggles to Make the Grade
By Linda Perlstein
Henry Holt and Company
New York, 2007
Three over coffee.
Saturday, and something is up in Springfield.
News coming out of Springfield is that a deal is in the making. How good? We’ll see.
Backing George Miller
The blog site Eliminate NCLB has a list of Congressman George Miller’s major financial contributors who have economic interests in education. And the blog School Matters has more data. Miller heads the House committee dealing with NCLB reauthorization and was a sponsor of the original legislation.
Forman on Merit Pay
James Forman Jr.’s blog Extra Credit has a lengthy think piece on the topic of merit pay. Worth the read.
Unions Organizing Charter School Teachers: A forum.
The Small Schools Workshop, National-Louis University & Catalyst present: Unions Organizing Charter School Teachers
A conversation with charter school activist Steve Barr, Chicago Teacher Union President, Marilyn Stewart and Illinois Education Association Executive Director, Jo Anderson.
TEACHERS UNIONS & CHARTER SCHOOLS:
NEW PROSPECTS, NEW CHALLENGES
“If union bosses start patrolling their hallways, that’ll be the death knell of charters, as it has been for public schools.” –Charter school advocate Clint Bolick
“We could have and probably should have organized the Green Dot schools…They started with one charter school, now have 10, and in short order they’ll have 20 schools in Los Angeles, with all the teachers paying dues to a different union. And that’s a problem.”–UTLA President A.J. Duffy
__________________
In Los Angeles, Steve Barr founded the Green Dot Public Schools, which currently operate 10 high-performing, unionized public charter high schools. They are about to start a new high school in New York in collaboration with the UFT and its president, Randi Weingarten. Is Chicago next? How will local unions respond?
The Small Schools Workshop’s Michael Klonsky will moderate a panel discussion with Green Dot CEO Steve Barr, CTU President Marilyn Stewart, and IEA Executive Director Jo Anderson, exploring the role of teacher unions in charter schools in Chicago and other Illinois districts.
Wednesday, August 15th, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
National-Louis University downtown campus, 122 S. Michigan Avenue, 2nd floor Atrium
This event is free of charge and open to the public.
For additional information:
Call: 773-384-1030
smallschoolsworkshop@yahoo.com
“Ed in ‘08.” Is anybody watching?
When billionaires Bill Gates and Eli Broad announced that they were forming a group, Ed in ‘08, and pooling some of their spare change to try and influence the education policy discussions leading up to the election in 2008, there were some postings on some ed blogs (I have officially sworn off using the word “blogosphere”). But since the original announcement, there hasn’t been much said.
I was attending the Illinois caucus at the NEA RA one morning. Between presidential candidate speeches, we were trying to get through 95 New Business Items. Your eyes glaze over after a while. An NBI came up trashing the Broad Prize for Urban Education.
The fact was that in a room full of 600 IEA delegates, few knew what the Broad Prize is, or who Eli Broad is, or much about Ed in ‘08.
Those who had initiated the NBI attacking the Broad Prize had clearly done it for the same reason as many of the delegates propose NBIs to the convention. They want to shine a light on an issue. Whether or not the NBI ends up passing is less important than a chance to talk about an issue. That’s fine.
And so it was at the Illinois caucus (I frankly don’t remember what happened to the issue when it got to the floor of the RA). Although it wasn’t my NBI, I did go to the microphone and talk about Gates and Broad and what I thought was their top-down change, corporate approach to school reform. The NBI opposing Broad ended up being supported by the Illinois caucus and a little education had been done.
Susan Ohanian writes more about the stealth Ed in ‘08 campaign.
1-800-651-0315
A+ Illinois, the state coalition fighting for school funding has sent this message:
Will lawmakers pass another “band-aid” budget that leaves schools and families behind? Illinois’ temporary one-month budget is about to expire, and legislators will be in Springfield all weekend crafting a new plan. We’re asking A+ Illinois supporters across the state to call their state representatives and senators on our toll-free legislative hotline. Even if you’ve called before, lawmakers need to hear the message again before its too late.
Spread the word! Copy and paste this message into e-mail and forward it to your friends and colleagues.
Springfield Update from IEA.
Today, the IEA posted this latest report on their website:
Despite rumors a one-year budget would be passed out of the Illinois Senate, it doesn’t appear there are sufficient votes for that plan. The budget would be balanced with gambling expansion and loophole closings, however, the internal politics that have permeated the Senate all session long may prevent this bill from passing.
The bill includes a $900 million increase for education and the education component is viewed by many of the members of the General Assembly as one of the key motives for the budget idea. In fact, several legislators have been holding back on supporting the health insurance plan until they see some progress on education funding. President Jones’ “bottom line” on an education funding increase is said to be $900 million, with 20 percent of that going to the Chicago public school system.
Finally, next week there will be a Committee of Whole in the House to discuss, you guessed it, education! Stay tuned.
