Friday, September 21, 2012

LAUSD, (MVUSD et al): THIS AMERICAN LIE




Originally Posted at Perdaily.com

(Mensaje se repite en Español)
Sign In  |  Not a member?  

(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post)

In listening to the This American Life show entitle Back to School, it finally dawned on me what I dislike most about the Los AngelesUnified School District (LAUSD) and public school districts like it around the United States: 
Vacuous rhetoric aside, those running these failure factories have no expectation that all students can learn.

What Ira Glass and the crew at This American Life do is show why a disproportionate number of poor and minority student don't learn in public school and how to fix it.

This well documented program on This American Life shows that an increased allostatic load on students is a valid predictor of everything from physical and mental disease throughout one's life to the failure associated behaviors that make the education of some students so problematic, unless the underlying causes of it are dealt with in a timely manner.

Things like "serious self-control and behavior problems" in school or elsewhere are 32 times more likely in students who have had four or more adverse stress experiences during childhood that increase their allostatic load. And four experiences are really nothing for inner city students who encounter violence at home, in the street, and at school on a daily basis.

Something as stressful as let's say running into a ferocious bear is an exceptional life experience for most human beings. But many inner city poor and minority students encounter equally stressful situations on almost a daily basis. While our body can trigger the necessary hormonal response to deal with such a situation on an exceptional basis, the daily triggering of these reactions, according to the significant research presented by This American Life, has debilitating physical and mental effects that can destroy any student's potential, who remains subject to this cycle of unabated violence.

The good news is that there are relatively simple and inexpensive programs that can turn much of this around, even after the negative symptoms have already become dominant in a student's life. So why don't we do something? I guess it's because the hardest thing for most human beings to say is I was wrong, while being willing to try something the has a great deal of documentation to show it clearly works.

Listen to the show and share your thoughts.

If you or someone you know has been targeted and are in the process of being dismissed and need legal defense, get in touch:

Lenny@perdaily.com

NATIONAL EDUCATION REFORMERS

LA Progressive

Dick Price and Sharon Kyle
http://www.laprogressive.com/
Dick and Sharon dick_and_sharon@yahoo.com
Dick and Sharon are a pair of citizen journalists and information activists who were fed up with mainstream media. Rather than just kvetch about the media, they decided to try to become the media. So, together they founded the LA Progressive. Dick is the editor and Sharon is the publisher and webmaster, handling all technical aspects of the site.

This site was launched in March 2008, with Dick and Sharon doing most of the writing. Today, a host of gifted writers contribute to the LA Progressive's daily offering which typically amounts to about 45 articles a week. Dick and Sharon continue to write for as well as edit and publish the LA Progressive and distribute its daily e-news each morning.

Jo Scott Coe Riverside, California
Jo.Scott-Coe@rcc.edu
www.joscottcoe.com
Excellent Video Interview about Professor Coe
http://vodpod.com/watch/4959969-jo-scott-coe-teacher-at-point-blank

Assistant Professor of English at Riverside Community College and former high school English teacher. She is the author of Teacher at Point Blank and has been a teacher of English and literature in California since 1991. Her writing on intersections of gender, violence, and education has appeared in the Los Angeles Times as well as literary venues including Hotel Amerika, Fourth Genre, River Teeth, Ninth Letter, Memoir(and), Bitter Oleander, and Green Mountains Review. Her essay, "Recovering Teacher," won the NCTE 2009 Donald Murray Prize, and other selections of her work have received a Pushcart Special Mention as well as Notable listings in Best American Essays 2009 and 2010. As an independent researcher, Jo authored and published the most extensive study to-date of Adams v. LAUSD, a nearly 10-year legal case of student-on-teacher sexual harassment, in (Re)Interpretations: The Shapes of Justice in Women's Experience (Cambridge Scholars Press). Jo values the aesthetic, political, and socially transformative powers of literary narrative--especially to dispel unhealthy silences and witness cultural blindspots. She works currently as an assistant professor of English at Riverside Community College in SoCal, and her book, Teacher at Point Blank (Aunt Lute 2010), has been selected as a Great Read for Fall 2010 by Ms. Magazine. Punk rock? Yes. Hockey games? Yes. Coffee? Always black. Find Jo on the web at joscottcoe.com and on Twitter @joscottcoe.

Betsy Combier New York, New York
betsy.combier@gmail.com
Betsy Combier's blog http://www.parentadvocates.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=488
is a jewel that chronicles the corruption in NYC's Dept of Educations (DOE)  . She has accomplished a wonderful piece of journalism, and created one of the rare places where corrupt educational governance is chronicled and revealed

Professor Samuel Culbert Los Angeles, California

is a professor at the UCLA Andersen School of Business who also teaches in the Education Department's Principals' Leadership Institute. Check out the following 3 minutes on ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/conversation-performance-review-11126992

Stuart Goldurs Los Angeles, Califonia
StuartComputers@gmail.com
Don't send LAUSD Librarians to the Inquisition, send the downtown bureaucrats
Tests, What Are They Good For? Absolutely Nothing!
LAUSD students to attend school on contaminated land, again!
Some schools teach only to the tests, so how are the students being prepared for the next grade and for life?
New LAUSD superintendent adds six-figure positions to management team

http://www.examiner.com/public-education-in-los-angeles/lausd-test-scores-up-to-failure-levels-what-are-the-students-learning

Has been a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District for 30 years. He is greatly aware of the district waste, large bureaucracy, and other major issues of the time. He started his blog with the sole purpose of informing the world about the truths of education in LAUSD. E-mail him at: StuartComputers@gmail.com.

LAUSD has selected a new Superintendent of Schools

Karen Horwitz Chicago, Illinois

wccbook@gmail.com

Former award winning teacher who co-founded NAPTA, National Association for the Prevention of Teacher Abuse, and wrote the book White Chalk Crime: The REAL Reason Schools Fail to expose how teacher harassment and terrorization maintains a system of deeply hidden corruption. Disposing of dedicated teachers forms the core of the White Chalk Criminal's agenda since dedication and white collar crime do not mix. Given that all agree that good teachers are essential to good teaching, a system that cannot tolerate good teachers is worthless. This is what we have in place. With Bernie Madoff-like leaders - he was as much about investing as our school leaders are about educating - anointed with unlimited power, including the ability to fill the airwaves with propaganda, education is no longer about education. It is about money and power for those who play a very corrupt game and with an agenda of privatizing schools so their power will increase. (Privatization may have merits. NAPTA does not take a position on that. But privatizing a system that is rotten to its core - where quality teaching cannot survive, where a cover up of pretense that they do not know this despite so many of us reporting these truths prevails - documents that those advocating privatization cannot be trusted! It shows they want our schools for their own interests, not the children, nor the community.)  NAPTA welcomes parents, teachers, students, citizens or anyone who understands that without a real system of education, we no longer have a democracy. Membership is free. Go to: EndTeacherAbuse.org  or WhiteChalkCrime.com. Become educated about what is going on.

Jerry Mintz Director
Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO)
417 Roslyn Rd., Roslyn Hts., NY  11577

For those of you who cannot wait for corrupt public education to be turned around, AERO offers an excellent source to get connected with viable alternatives right now.

www.EducationRevolution.org
info@EducationRevolution.org
                                                                                                                         
800-769-4171                                                              (domestic)
                                                                                                                         
516-621-2195                                                              (international)

Susan Ohanian Charlotte, Vermont
susano@gmavt.net
http://www.susanohanian.org
She is a longtime public school teacher who, after 20 years, became staff writer for a teacher magazine and then went freelance. I've maintained a website of activism for nearly 9 years--ever since the passage of NCLB. People can subscribe to the website and then they get updates about new content. I answer all the mail I get through the website and with the answer, people have my e-mail.  I also try to stir things up on Twitter, though I find this medium frustrating. I have a Facebook page--just so people can find me. I don't initiate anything on it, The website keeps me busy.
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=9593

Susan Lee Schwartz Suffern, New York

Susan studied literacy education, English literature, and fine arts and holds a BA ('63) and MS ('65) from Brooklyn College, and has the equivalent of two master's degrees, earned in graduate studies of literacy, arts and education. She taught literacy skills and art, for four decades in NYC in elementary and secondary school.  In 1998 she won the New York State English Council (NYSEC) Educator of Excellence Award  for her successful teacher practice, studied by Harvard  and the LRDC at the University of Pittsburgh for the New Standards research. At the end of her research, her unique curriculum was selected by the LRDC to be used in their national staff development seminars for school superintendents. She was among six teachers -- from among the thousands across the nation-- observed during the research project, and her teaching practice met all the  principles of learning. In the nineties, she rose to prominence in national educational circles, while teaching at a new magnet school, East Side Middle School. The reading scores of her seventh grade students were at the top of the city, and on the first ELA, which two thirds of city students failed, her former students (then in the eight grade) were TENTH IN THE STATE.

 She writes often about what she learned about the genuine standards for learning, in an attempt to begin a national conversation about the authentic standards, so that there can be genuine reform. Her experience that ended her fine career in the NYC Public Schools has led her to write about the process that removed the top educators, silencing the voices of the classroom practitioners who would not accept anti-learning policies. Her essay here on Perdaily,  is one that describes this process. Read more as she talks about education, literacy  and learning on her site, from the perspective of the experienced teacher-practitioner of pedagogy. She is the voice of dedicated and talented classroom teachers who know why the schools are failing.

Her website is:

http://www.speakingasateacher.com/Susan_Lee_Schwartz_(Steiner)_/index.html


Joel Shatzky: Brooklyn, New York
Joel.Shatzky@cortland.edu
Professor of English Emeritus--SUNY, College at Cortland (1968-2005)
Adjunct instructor-Kingsborough CC (CUNY) 2006--   )
Regular contributor to the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/searchS/?q=Joel+Shatzky
Author of "The Thinking Crisis" with Ellen Hill (Authors Choice Press: New York, 2001)
Numerous articles on education in Jewish Currents.
Script-writer for three YouTube satires on educational "reform."
 "The Lessons": www.youtube.com/watch?v=D712J1V2Jsg&feature=player_embedded
"Numbers Lie": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57BRNLviVTQ
"The Charter Starters": www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnrrw5CV3Gw

Here's Joel's latest post about the low percentage of "college ready" high school graduates. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-shatzky/educating-for-democracy-t_2_b_821410.html



Lorna Stremcha Havre, Montana

http://www.endteacherabuse.org/Stremcha.html
http://twitter.com/lornapstremcha

lornastremcha.com

callmescarlet.blogspot.com
facebook


HER STORY:
"I know first hand the financial, personal, emotional and physical damage that can result when school administrators, the Montana Education Association and the National Education Association put their own interests above the students, teachers and the taxpayers of the State of Montana My files contain mountains of paperwork including depositions, declarations of truth, notarized documents and exhibits resulting from an arduous legal process that finally ended when the Havre (Montana) School District settled two lawsuits - a Federal suit and one filed in State District Court. These documents also include a letter from a union representative stating, " This is nothing more than a witch hunt." Yet the union continued to allow the school administration to harass, bully and bring harm to me.
These two lawsuits resulted from a single incident that, had it been handled differently and under the light of public scrutiny, would not have snowballed into awards of more than $200,000 worth of damages. Funds that eventually came from the taxpayers' pockets. Ironically, as a taxpayer in Hill County, my family and I are helping to pay for the damages awarded to me. This covered the attorneys' fees. The settlement did not include my attorney fees, however the district, insurance and taxpayers paid the defendants attorney bills, which exceeded mine. The settlement was made on March 2, 2006."http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Jim-Taylor/125893225652
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Jim-Taylor/125893225652
http://twitter.com/search?q=DrJimTaylor

Lois Weiner Jersey City, New Jersey
Professor, Elementary and Secondary Education
New Jersey City University
2039 Kennedy Blvd.
Jersey City, New Jersey 07305
drweinerlo@gmail.com
Blog
http://newpolitics.mayfirst.org/blog/5
Democracy Now
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/3/educators_push_back_against_obamas_business
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Impact of urban school characteristics on teachers' classroom practice
How race, class, and gender mediate academic achievement
Teachers' work and the school as a workplace. Effects of changes in global political economy on teaching, teachers, and schools.

(Para una visión nacional de la reforma de la educación pública ver el final de esta entrada del blog)

En la escucha de la Vida de este americano espectáculo derechoRegreso a la Escuela, que finalmente me di cuenta de lo que más me disgusta el Distrito Unificado de Los Angele s School (LAUSD) y los distritos de escuelas públicas como él alrededor de los Estados Unidos:


Vacuo retórica a un lado, los que dirigen estas fábricas fallo no tiene ninguna expectativa de que todos los estudiantes pueden aprender. 

¿Qué Ira Glass y la tripulación en This American Life hacer es mostrar por qué un número desproporcionado de estudiantes pobres y de las minorías no se aprende en la escuela pública y cómo solucionarlo. 

Este programa bien documentado en esta vida americana muestra que un aumento de la carga alostática en los estudiantes es un predictor válido de todo, desde la enfermedad física y mental durante toda la vida a los comportamientos de fallo asociados que hacen que la educación de algunos estudiantes tan problemático, a menos que las causas subyacentes de la que se tratan de una manera oportuna.

Cosas como "serios problemas de autocontrol y comportamiento" en la escuela o en otros lugares son 32 veces más probables en los estudiantes que han tenido cuatro o más experiencias adversas en la infancia de estrés que incrementan su carga alostática. Y cuatro experiencias son realmente nada para los estudiantes del centro urbano que se encuentran con la violencia en el hogar, en la calle, y en la escuela todos los días.

Algo tan estresante como, digamos, corriendo en un oso feroz es una experiencia de vida excepcional para la mayoría de los seres humanos. Sin embargo, muchos estudiantes del centro urbano pobres y de minorías encontrar situaciones estresantes igualmente en casi todos los días. Mientras que nuestro cuerpo puede desencadenar la respuesta hormonal necesario para hacer frente a esa situación con carácter excepcional, la activación diaria de estas reacciones, de acuerdo a la investigación significativas presentadas por This American Life , ha debilitantes efectos físicos y mentales que pueden destruir las posibilidades de cualquier estudiante , que sigue estando sujeta a este ciclo de violencia sin cesar.

La buena noticia es que existen programas relativamente simples y de bajo costo que pueden convertir gran parte de esta vuelta, incluso después de que los síntomas negativos se han convertido en dominante en la vida de un estudiante. Así que ¿por qué no hacemos algo?Supongo que es porque la cosa más difícil para la mayoría de los seres humanos que decir es que estaba equivocado, y estar dispuesto a intentar algo que el. Tiene una gran cantidad de documentación que demuestre claramente funciona

Escuche el programa y compartir sus pensamientos.

Si usted o alguien que usted conoce ha sido blanco de ataques y están en proceso de ser despedido y la necesidad de defensa legal, póngase en contacto:

Lenny@perdaily.com

Reformadores nacionales EDUCACIÓN

LA Progressive

Dick Precio y Kyle Sharon
http://www.laprogressive.com/
Dick y Sharon dick_and_sharon@yahoo.com
Dick y Sharon son un par de periodistas ciudadanos y activistas de información que fueron alimentados con medios de comunicación. En lugar de simplemente kvetch sobre los medios de comunicación, decidieron tratar de convertirse en los medios de comunicación. Por lo tanto, juntos fundaron la progresiva LA. Dick es el editor y Sharon es el editor y webmaster, manejar todos los aspectos técnicos del sitio.

Este sitio fue lanzado en marzo de 2008, con Dick y Sharon haciendo la mayor parte de la escritura. Hoy en día, una gran cantidad de escritores talentosos contribuir a la progresiva ofrecimiento diario de Los Ángeles que normalmente asciende a cerca de 45 artículos a la semana. Dick y Sharon seguir escribiendo, así como para editar y publicar el Progressive LA y distribuir sus diarios e-noticias cada mañana.

Jo Scott Coe Riverside, California
Jo.Scott-Coe @ rcc.edu
www.joscottcoe.com
Excelente Video Entrevista sobre el profesor Coe
http://vodpod.com/watch/4959969-jo-scott-coe-teacher-at-point-blank

Profesor de Inglés en el Riverside Community College y ex profesor de escuela de Inglés. Ella es la autora de Maestro en Point Blank y ha sido profesora de Inglés y la literatura en California desde 1991.Su escritura en las intersecciones de género, la violencia y la educación ha aparecido en Los Angeles Times, así como lugares literarios, incluyendo Amerika Hotel, Género En cuarto lugar, los dientes del Río, Novena Carta, Memoria (y), adelfa amarga, y revisión Green Mountains. Su ensayo, "Recuperación de Maestros", ganó el NCTE 2009 Donald Murray Premio, y otras selecciones de su obra ha recibido una Mención Especial de la carretilla de mano, así como listados de notables en Best American Essays 2009 y 2010.Como un investigador independiente, Jo autor y publicó el estudio más extenso hasta la fecha de Adams v LAUSD, un caso de casi 10 años de hostigamiento jurídico-estudiante-profesor en la sexual, en la (re) interpretaciones: Las formas de Justicia de la Mujer La experiencia (Cambridge Scholars Press). Jo valores de las facultades estéticas, políticas, y de transformación social de la narrativa literaria - sobre todo para disipar silencios insalubres y testigos ciegos culturales. Ella trabaja actualmente como profesor asistente de Inglés en el Riverside Community College en sur de California, y su libro, Profesor de Point Blank (Lute tía 2010), ha sido seleccionada como una gran lectura para el otoño de 2010 por Ms. Magazine. El punk rock? Sí.Hockey juegos? Sí. ¿Café?Siempre negro. Jo Encuentra en el sitio web joscottcoe.com y en Twitter @ joscottcoe.

Betsy Combier Nueva York, Nueva York
betsy.combier @ gmail.com
El blog de
​​Betsy Combier http://www.parentadvocates.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=488
es una joya que narra la corrupción en la ciudad de Nueva York Departamento de Educación nacional (DOE). Ella ha logrado una maravillosa pieza de periodismo, y creó uno de los pocos lugares donde se narra gestión de la educación corruptos y reveló

Profesor Samuel Culbert Los Angeles, California

Es profesor en la Escuela de Negocios de UCLA Andersen quien también enseña en el Instituto de Liderazgo de Directores del Departamento de Educación. Echa un vistazo a los siguientes 3
​​minutos en ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/conversation-performance-review-11126992

Stuart Goldurs Los Angeles, Califonia
StuartComputers@gmail.com
No envíe bibliotecarios LAUSD a la Inquisición, enviar a los burócratas del centro
Las pruebas, ¿qué son bueno?Absolutamente nada!
LAUSD a los estudiantes a asistir a la escuela en tierras contaminadas, otra vez!
Algunas escuelas enseñan sólo a las pruebas, así que ¿cómo son los estudiantes que se preparan para el siguiente grado y para la vida?
Nuevo superintendente de LAUSD añade seis cifras posiciones al equipo directivo



Ha sido profesor en el Distrito de Los Angeles Unified School durante 30 años. Él es muy consciente de los residuos del distrito, burocracia, y otros aspectos importantes de la época.Él comenzó su blog con el único fin de informar al mundo sobre las verdades de la educación en el LAUSD. Él E-mail a: StuartComputers@gmail.com.

LAUSD ha seleccionado un nuevo Superintendente de Escuelas

Karen Horwitz Chicago, Illinois

wccbook@gmail.com

Profesor galardonado ex cofundador NAPTA, Asociación Nacional para la Prevención del Abuso de Maestros, y escribió el libro Crimen White Chalk: Las Escuelas verdadera razón Fail to exponer cómo el acoso y el terror profesor mantiene un sistema de corrupción profundamente ocultos. Eliminación de los profesores dedicados forma el núcleo de la agenda Penal White Chalk desde la dedicación y la delincuencia de cuello blanco no se mezclan. Teniendo en cuenta que todos están de acuerdo que los buenos maestros son esenciales para una buena enseñanza, un sistema que no puede tolerar a los buenos maestros no sirve para nada. Esto es lo que tenemos en su lugar.Con Bernie Madoff-como líderes - que era tanto sobre la inversión que nuestros líderes escolares sobre la educación - ungido con poder ilimitado, incluyendo la capacidad para llenar las ondas con la propaganda, la educación ya no es acerca de la educación.Se trata de dinero y poder para aquellos que juegan un juego muy corrupto y con una agenda de privatización de las escuelas por lo que su poder se incrementará. (La privatización puede tener méritos NAPTA no toma una posición al respecto, pero la privatización de un sistema que está podrido hasta la médula -.. Donde la enseñanza de calidad no puede sobrevivir, en un encubrimiento de la pretensión de que ellos no saben esto a pesar de que muchos de nosotros informar estas verdades prevalece - documentos que los privatización defender no se puede confiar Esto demuestra que queremos que nuestras escuelas para sus propios intereses, no los niños, ni la comunidad) NAPTA bienvenida a los padres, maestros, estudiantes, ciudadanos o cualquier persona que entiende que sin un real!. sistema de educación, ya no tenemos una democracia. La membresía es gratuita. Ir a: EndTeacherAbuse.org o WhiteChalkCrime.com. Educarse acerca de lo que está pasando.

Jerry Mintz director
Educación Alternativa Resource Organization (AERO)
417 Roslyn Rd., Roslyn Hts., NY 11577

Para aquellos de ustedes que no pueden esperar a que la educación pública corruptos que se dio la vuelta, AERO ofrece una excelente fuente para conectarse con alternativas viables en estos momentos.

www.EducationRevolution.org
info@EducationRevolution.org
 800-769-4171 (nacional)
 516-621-2195 (internacional)

Susan Ohanian Charlotte, Vermont
susano@gmavt.net
http://www.susanohanian.org
Ella es una maestra de escuela pública que desde hace mucho tiempo, después de 20 años, se convirtió en redactor de una revista y luego fue profesor freelance. He mantenido un sitio web del activismo por casi 9 años - desde la aprobación de la ley NCLB. La gente puede suscribirse a la página web y luego obtener actualizaciones sobre el contenido nuevo. Respondo todo el correo llegue a través de la página web y con la respuesta, la gente tiene mi dirección de e-mail. También trato de agitar las cosas en Twitter, aunque me parece medio frustrante. Tengo una página en Facebook - sólo para que la gente me puede encontrar. Yo no iniciar nada en ella, el sitio web me mantiene ocupada.
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=9593

Susan Lee Schwartz Suffern, Nueva York

Susan estudió la alfabetización, la literatura Inglés, y las bellas artes y tiene una licenciatura ('63) y MS ('65) de Brooklyn College, y tiene el equivalente de dos grados de maestría, obtuvo en los estudios de postgrado de la alfabetización, las artes y la educación. Ella enseñó habilidades de alfabetización y el arte, durante cuatro décadas en Nueva York en la escuela primaria y secundaria.En 1998 ganó el estado de Nueva York Inglés Consejo (NYSEC) Educador del Premio a la Excelencia por su práctica docente con éxito, estudió en Harvard y la LRDC en la Universidad de Pittsburgh para la investigación de nuevas normas. Al final de su investigación, su plan de estudios único fue seleccionado por el LRDC para ser utilizado en los seminarios nacionales de desarrollo del personal para los superintendentes escolares. Ella estuvo entre los seis profesores - de entre los miles en todo el país - observó durante la investigación, y la práctica docente, se reunieron todos los principios del aprendizaje. En los años noventa, se levantó a la prominencia en los círculos educativos nacionales, mientras enseñaba en una escuela magnet nuevo, East Side Middle School. Las calificaciones de lectura de sus estudiantes de séptimo grado se encontraban en la parte superior de la ciudad, y en el primer ELA, que dos tercios de los estudiantes de la ciudad no, sus antiguos alumnos (en ese entonces en el octavo grado) se DÉCIMO EN EL ESTADO.

Ella escribe a menudo sobre lo que aprendió acerca de los estándares reales de aprendizaje, en un intento de iniciar una conversación nacional sobre los estándares auténticos, por lo que no puede haber una verdadera reforma. Su experiencia que puso fin a su carrera muy bien en las escuelas públicas de Nueva York le ha llevado a escribir sobre el proceso que elimina los mejores educadores, silenciando las voces de los practicantes del aula que no aceptaría las políticas anti-aprendizaje. Su ensayo aquí en Perdaily, es el que describe este proceso. Lea más, mientras habla sobre la educación, la alfabetización y el aprendizaje en su sitio, desde la perspectiva de la experiencia docente-profesional de la pedagogía. Ella es la voz de los maestros dedicados y talentosos que saben por qué las escuelas están fallando.

Su sitio web es:

http://www.speakingasateacher.com/Susan_Lee_Schwartz_ (Steiner) _ / index.html


Joel Shatzky: Brooklyn, New York
Joel.Shatzky @ cortland.edu
Profesor Emérito de Inglés - SUNY, Colegio de Cortland (1968-2005)
Adjunto un instructor Kingsborough CC (CUNY) 2006 -)
Colaborador habitual para el Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/searchS/?q=Joel+Shatzky
Autor de "La Crisis Pensamiento" con Ellen Hill (Prensa Autores Choice: Nueva York, 2001)
Numerosos artículos sobre la educación en Corrientes judío.
Guionista de tres sátiras de YouTube en la educación "reforma".
"Las lecciones": www.youtube.com/watch?v=D712J1V2Jsg&feature=player_embedded
"Los números Lie": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57BRNLviVTQ
"Los arrancadores Carta": www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnrrw5CV3Gw

Aquí está el último mensaje de Joel por el bajo porcentaje de "listos para la universidad" graduados de escuela secundaria.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-shatzky/educating-for-democracy-t_2_b_821410.html



Lorna Stremcha Havre, Montana

http://www.endteacherabuse.org/Stremcha.html
http://twitter.com/lornapstremcha

lornastremcha.com

callmescarlet.blogspot.com
facebook


SU HISTORIA:
"Sé de primera mano los daños financieros, personales, emocionales y físicos que pueden resultar cuando los administradores escolares, el Montana Asociación de Educación y la Asociación Nacional de Educación ponen sus propios intereses por encima de los estudiantes, los profesores y los contribuyentes del Estado de Montana Mis archivos contienen montañas de papeles incluyendo declaraciones juradas, declaraciones de la verdad, documentos notariales y exposiciones como resultado de un arduo proceso legal que finalmente terminó cuando el Havre (Montana) del Distrito Escolar se establecieron dos demandas -. una demanda federal y una presentada en la Corte de Distrito del Estado Estos documentos también incluyen una carta de un representante del sindicato diciendo: "Esto no es nada más que una caza de brujas." Sin embargo, el sindicato continuó permitiendo la administración de la escuela para acosar, intimidar y hacer daño a mí.
Estas dos demandas como resultado de un solo incidente que, de haber sido manejado de manera diferente y bajo la luz del escrutinio público, no habría una bola de nieve en premios de más de $ 200,000 en daños y perjuicios.Los fondos que finalmente llegó de los bolsillos de los contribuyentes.Irónicamente, como contribuyente en Hill County, mi familia y yo estamos ayudando a pagar las indemnizaciones concedidas a mí.Esta cubierto los honorarios de los abogados. El acuerdo no incluye mis honorarios de abogado, sin embargo, el barrio, los seguros y los contribuyentes pagan las facturas de los abogados defensores, que superó la mía. El acuerdo se hizo el 2 de marzo de 2006 ". Http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Jim-Taylor/125893225652
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Jim-Taylor/125893225652
http://twitter.com/search?q=DrJimTaylor

Lois Weiner Jersey City, Nueva Jersey
Profesor de Educación Primaria y Secundaria
New Jersey City University
2039 Kennedy Blvd.
Jersey City, New Jersey 07305
drweinerlo@gmail.com
Blog
http://newpolitics.mayfirst.org/blog/5
Democracy Now
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/3/educators_push_back_against_obamas_business
LÍNEAS DE INVESTIGACIÓN
Impacto de las características de las escuelas urbanas en la práctica docente de los profesores
Como raza, clase y género mediar el rendimiento académico
Trabajo de los profesores y la escuela como lugar de trabajo.Efectos de los cambios en la economía política mundial sobre la enseñanza, maestros y escuelas . 

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

IMAGINE!



Imagine…  union leadership that truly represents rank-and-file interests and those of students...instead of themselves and the school district. 

Originally posted by Leonard Isenberg
Perdaily.com
posted in LAUSD,UTLA

Strike Continues as Chicago Teachers Mull Contract's Gains and Losses
Theresa Moran
|  September 17, 2012

Striking Chicago teachers will remain out of the classroom until Wednesday at least, after delegates decided to give union members time to debate the tentative contract negotiators brought to them on Sunday.
Delegates said that all members of the union--not just elected representatives--should get a chance to review and weigh in on the proposed agreement before a decision was made to go back to work.
The agreement makes significant gains on many key issues for the union, including how teachers are evaluated, while accepting concessions in health care and job security. Still left to be determined is how the city will find the funds needed to overhaul crumbling schools and pay for the libraries, health, and social services that the union demands for schoolchildren.
The school board has been trying for the past week to isolate the union negotiating team from the Chicago Teachers Union's broader membership, going so far as to tell the press that a settlement was sure to be in place by the beginning of this week, long before delegates, let alone rank-and-file members, had even seen contract summaries.
But CTU's leadership refused to push the tentative agreement on members without letting them decide for themselves whether it was acceptable. "I'm not going to say this is the greatest thing since sliced bread and try to sell it to them. I'm not a marketer," said union President Karen Lewis. "Our people know how to read, they know how to do math, and they understand these things."
According to Vice President Jesse Sharkey, "the board forgot to do one thing: bring along the people who actually do the work."
MOMENTOUS DECISION
Delegates agreed. High school history teacher Jen Johnson, a member of the team coordinating strike logistics, said even though delegates could have decided on ending the strike themselves, they didn't think it was fair to make such a "momentous decision" without broader member input.
"It's not just a contract vote," she said. "We're on strike and it's a different context. People felt very strongly about having a little time with their members."
At Hibberd Elementary, picket line chants were replaced with murmurs and questions this morning as teachers huddled in groups of three and four to peer over contract summaries circulating through the crowd.
"Morale is much higher today than it was last week because now we have a framework and something tangible in our hands," said kindergarten teacher Emily Gann.
After the morning picket, Hibberd teachers filed into a nearby church for a report from delegates on yesterday's meeting and a discussion of members' opinions on the tentative agreement.
Union delegates held similar meetings with their members today across the city.
Delegates will meet again Tuesday night to vote on the tentative agreement.
WHAT'S IN IT
The tentative agreement contains some bright spots. Not only was the union able to stave off merit pay, but it maintained raises based on education and experience that Mayor Rahm Emanuel (and corporate education interests nationwide) have vowed to end.
Student test scores will now comprise up to 30 percent of a teacher's evaluation, the minimum allowed by state law. Mid-year evaluations, which principals often use to oust teachers, have been disallowed.
The union also gained ground on recall rights, a key concern for teachers as the city is poised to close some 200 schools. Laid-off teachers would have full recall rights if their old jobs are reinstated within 10 months. At least half of all positions that open up must now be filled with a laid-off teacher.
At the same time, the agreement is by no means perfect. Keeping teacher health care contributions low required the union to sign off on an unpopular "wellness program" that uses carrot-and-stick incentives to force members to participate in diet, nutrition, and disease monitoring.
The evaluation system will include a "needs improvement" category that makes it easier for teachers to be let go.
And not much progress was made on an issue considered vital to the union's community supporters, reducing class size. School officials had attempted to gut the contract language that governed class size, which CTU fought off. But the language as it stands has proved insufficient and difficult to enforce. Current policy requires the district to take action when class size exceeds 35, but teachers have reported kindergarten classes over 40 and high school classes over 50.
Perhaps most worrisome to teachers anticipating school closures, though, is the fact that laid-off teachers would now receive only six months of severance pay as opposed to a year, the current practice.
While she's encouraged by the progress that's been made, Johnson says she's still "very concerned about teacher evaluations, the length of the displacement pool, and the lack of movement on wraparound services."
The board agreed to increase those services by hiring more social workers, psychologists, counselors, and nurses, but only if new revenue became available. The union has campaigned to redirect millions of dollars in tax breaks handed to downtown business interests to schools.
Johnson hopes that by staying out longer, more progress can be made on these key issues. "This is a game of chess and it's the board's move. We've shown our strength."
COURT-SIDE
Emanuel tried to make his next move today by filing for an injunction against the union, claiming members were striking over illegal non-economic issues like class size and recall rights.
The union, though, has announced legal reasons for the strike since the beginning. When the strike was announced last Sunday, union leaders gave evaluation procedures and policies as their major reason for going out.
In deciding to continue the strike, delegates said only that they wanted to give members the chance to review the agreement.
The injunction request also says CTU is putting the city's children in danger by closing down schools and leaving them nowhere to go.
The Chicago Sun-Times rebutted the idea that children were in grave danger, reporting that homicides in the first four days of the strike were even down from the same dates last year.
The district's "spur-of-the-moment decision to seek injunctive relief some six days later appears to be a vindictive act instigated by the mayor," said CTU spokeswoman Stephanie Gadlin.
Cook County Judge Peter Flynn seemed to agree this morning. He moved to delay a hearing on the board's request for an injunction until Wednesday, saying he wanted to speak with the union first.
To change the terms of the deal, the union's membership would have to reject the tentative agreement and send negotiators back to the table.
Gann, for one, is happy with the deal as is.
"There are a lot of things in the contract we didn't think we were going to get," she said. "No one thought we'd get them down to 30 percent" on evaluations.
Nonetheless, she's glad members get the chance to do a close reading.
"We want to make sure things are set up to benefit students and get the educational system more towards the way we want it to be," she said. "If it's not, we'll just keep fighting."
18
09 2012

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Zero tolerance for intoxicated drivers - except Judge H. James Ahler. The fact he killed a pedestrian on that drive seems to matter even less!

California Administrative Per Se- Facts (Zero tolerance for intoxicated drivers - except Judge H. James Ahler!)
Administrative Per Se (DUI) Background
Prepared by DMV Research and Development Branch
In 1990, California became the 28th state to implement an immediate driver license suspension law for alcohol-impaired drivers, also referred to as an “Administrative Per Se (APS)” or “on-the-spot” license suspension law.  The California APS law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to suspend or revoke the driving privilege of persons who are arrested for driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08% or more, or who refuse a chemical test upon arrest.  In January 1994, California implemented a companion driver license suspension law, known as the “zero tolerance law,” which requires DMV to suspend for one year any driver under age 21 with a BAC of .01% or more as measured by a preliminary alcohol screening test, or who refuses or fails to complete the test.  These administrative actions are independent of any criminal penalties imposed in court for conviction of the driving-under-the-influence (DUI) offense.  Upon arrest, or detention (as applicable in the .01% APS law), the driver’s license is immediately confiscated and an order of suspension or revocation served.

For either law, due process is allowed by the issuance of a 30-day temporary license intended to provide the driver with sufficient time to challenge the suspension through DMV administrative review.  (Oh, yeah. Ahler was DMV staff attorney before becoming a quasi-judge) The time allowed to challenge the suspension was reduced from 45 days on July 1, 1993.  As of January 1, 1993, offenders who are dismissed for insufficient evidence or are never charged by the court may request an APS dismissal hearing to consider setting aside the associated APS action.  Under the .08% APS law, when a driver submits to and “fails” a BAC test and has no prior DUI convictions or APS actions (within 7 years prior to September 20, 2005 and within 10 years thereafter), a 4-month license suspension is imposed.  Following 30 days of “hard” suspension, and providing they first demonstrate proof of insurance, show proof of enrollment in an approved alcohol treatment program, and pay all penalty fees, the law provided for such drivers to obtain a 5-month restricted license that allows only driving to and from an alcohol treatment program, and to, from, and during the course of employment.  A 1-year suspension is imposed on drivers having one or more prior DUI convictions or APS actions within 7 years prior to September 20, 2005 and within 10 years thereafter, with no provision for a restricted license. 

Under this law, for offenders refusing a BAC test, a 1-year license suspension is imposed for a first offense, a 2-year revocation is imposed for a second offender refusal, and a 3-year revocation is imposed for a third-or-subsequent offender refusal (within 7 years prior to September 20, 2005 and within 10 years thereafter).  There are no provisions for issuance of a restricted license following a BAC test refusal.

The .01% BAC law requires a 1-year suspension and provides for a hardship restriction only if a BAC test was completed and the driver can demonstrate a critical need to drive.
As of September 20, 2005 commercial drivers arrested in a noncommercial vehicle and having no 
prior DUI convictions or APS actions (within 7 years prior to September 20, 2005 and within 10 years thereafter) are handled no differently than other first offenders and are no longer granted an automatic restriction to drive to, from, and during the course of employment following a 30-day “hard” suspension as they originally were.  (A noncommercial vehicle is one not requiring a commercial driver license, or heavy-vehicle operator’s license, to drive.) 

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Am I crazy too


Here's how every child can have an excellent teacher--
without firing or laying-off any teachers!

Follow up to the post, "Am I crazy to think that...
San Diego Education Report

By Maura Larkins 
"There’s very good evidence that teacher quality
matters a lot in terms of student performance in
school and success later on in life.


The economist Raj Chetty of Harvard, for example, has found that students randomly placed with more experienced kindergarten teachers not
only perform better on tests but earn more and save more for retirement as adults, are likelier to go to college, and go to better colleges 
than their peers with less experienced teachers.

Eric Hanushek of Stanford estimates that a good teacher – defined as at the 84th percentile... Provides students with test scores associated withan increase of between $22,000 and $46,000
in lifetime earnings.
"--
Washington Post
Lots of kids get stuck for years with various incompetent teachers, but it doesn't have to be that way. We can fix the problem. And not spend any more money!

HERE'S THE PLAN:

An excellent teacher could come into each classroom for just a few hours a week and make a huge difference--if that teacher had responsibility for student  success and authority to make decisions.

Parents should not need political clout to get a good teacher for their child. Every student should--and could--have a great teacher, without wasting time and energy on the losing battle to fire incompetent teachers.

The truth is that the critical moments in learning don't happen continuously five hours a  day. They add up to at most a couple of hours each day, and probably much less. The rest of the time an ordinary, mediocre teacher can handle the skill practice and lesson reinforcement, omputer activities, art projects, silent reading (how much skill is needed to be in charge of that?) and so on.

GIVING SUPPORT TEACHERS A REAL JOB

At my old school we were paying a top salary--well over $60,000, for a computer teacher who was very nice, but her job was merely to familiarize kids with computer programs. An aide could have done the job. When the principal (Ollie Matos) tried to switch that computer teacher to giving basic reading and math lessons, the teachers went ballistic. The story became a sensation in the San Diego Press, and a group of angry teachers were named the "Castle Park Five" by San Diego Union-Tribune editor Don Sevrens. Basically, what the teachers wanted was 45 minutes a week in which they could send their students to another teacher. But in my plan, classroom teachers would have this kind of help and relief for more than an entire day each week! The nice computer teacher could become a master teacher!

Resource teachers like computer teachers and language and math support teachers could become master teachers. And let's face it: how much good are those resource teachers able to do? They go around and offer suggestions, but they are really doing the equivalent of passing out band-aids. I would never want such a job. It might be relaxing not to have direct responsibility for student learning, but isn't that the point of being a teacher?

NO MORE ABUSIVE TEACHERS

Academics would not be the only thing that master teachers would be responsible for. 
Abusive, immature teachers with a habit of undermining students could be overruled and 
guided by the master teacher.

WE COULD SAVE MONEY!

Why do we pay bad teachers the same amount of money as good teachers? It makes no 
sense!

Excellent teachers should be paid much more than average teachers, and could be responsible for all students in several classrooms.

Each classroom could have a full-time regular teacher who be paid a lower salary, but would be eligible to become a master teacher. The master teacher would also be responsible for helping and guiding the regular teacher.

In California the average teacher salary is roughly $60,000 (with a starting salary of $35,000.) We could allow regular teachers to rise in salary to an average of $50 thousand, and allow master teachers to rise to an average of $100 thousand--for overseeing our classrooms (or, in a time of better budgets, three classrooms.

Money for support teachers and teacher aides would be switched to master teacher positions in the classrooms. (Of course, special education would still require teacher aides.) Some people who are currently teacher aides could become regular teachers.)

Here's the comparison for four classrooms and one extra salary (thousands):

Currently: $60 + $60 + $60 + $60 + $60 = $300

New plan: $100 + $50 + $50 + $50 + $50 = $300

MEANINGFUL EVALUATIONS OF TEACHERS WOULD BE REQUIRED
Of course, meaningful evaluations of teachers would have to be instituted to make this plan work. Current evaluation systems are worse than useless. My plan would call for frequent observations by both master and regular teachers, but they would observe classrooms in other districts to keep school politics out of the process as much as possible. The observations would have a beneficial side effect: they would allow teachers to pick up new ideas.

I believe it would be good to use student test scores when choosing who is to be a master  teacher, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary. The good thing about it is that it would take some of the politics out of teacher evaluation. It should be noted that although student test scores vary widely from year to year for most teachers, some teachers do get 
consistently high scores from their students year after year.

This is the fight of our professional careers. Are You In or Out?

What's taking so long? This is the fight of our professional careers. Are You In or Out? "Hell has a special level for those who sit by idly during times of great crisis."
Robert Kennedy

The Art of SETTING LIMITS, Its not as easy as it looks.

Art of Setting Limits Setting limits is one of the most powerful tools that professionals have to promote positive behavior change for their clients, students, residents, patients, etc. Knowing there are limits on their behavior helps the individuals in your charge to feel safe. It also helps them learn to make appropriate choices.


There are many ways to go about setting limits, but staff members who use these techniques must keep three things in mind:
Setting a limit is not the same as issuing an ultimatum.
Limits aren’t threats—If you don’t attend group, your weekend privileges will be suspended.

Limits offer choices with consequences—If you attend group and follow the other steps in your plan, you’ll be able to attend all of the special activities this weekend. If you don’t attend group, then you’ll have to stay behind. It’s your decision.
The purpose of limits is to teach, not to punish.
Through limits, people begin to understand that their actions, positive or negative, result in predictable consequences. By giving such choices and consequences, staff members provide a structure for good decision making.
Setting limits is more about listening than talking.
Taking the time to really listen to those in your charge will help you better understand their thoughts and feelings. By listening, you will learn more about what’s important to them, and that will help you set more meaningful limits.
Download The Art of Setting Limits

SYSTEMATIC USE OF CHILD LABOR


CHILD DOMESTIC HELP
by Amanda Kloer

Published February 21, 2010 @ 09:00AM PT
category: Child Labor
Wanted: Domestic worker. Must be willing to cook, clean, work with garbage, and do all other chores as assigned. No contract available, payment based on employer's mood or current financial situation. No days off. Violence, rape, and sexual harassment may be part of the job.

Would you take that job? No way. But for thousands of child domestic workers in Indonesia, this ad doesn't just describe their job, it describes their life.

A recent CARE International survey of over 200 child domestic workers in Indonesia found that 90% of them didn't have a contract with their employer, and thus no way to legally guarantee them a fair wage (or any wage at all) for their work. 65% of them had never had a day off in their whole employment, and 12% had experienced violence. Child domestic workers remain one of the most vulnerable populations to human trafficking and exploitation. And while work and life may look a little grim for the kids who answered CARE's survey, it's likely that the most abused and exploited domestic workers didn't even have the opportunity to take the survey.

In part, child domestic workers have it so much harder than adults because the people who hire children are more likely looking for someone easy to exploit. Think about it -- if you wanted to hire a domestic worker, wouldn't you choose an adult with a stronger body and more life experience to lift and haul and cook than a kid? If you could get them both for the same price, of course you would. But what if the kid was cheaper, free even, because you knew she wouldn't try and leave if you stopped paying her. Or even if you threatened her with death.



Congress Aims to Improve Laws for Runaway, Prostituted Kids

by Amanda Kloer

categories: Child Prostitution, Pimping

Published February 20, 2010 @ 09:00AM PT

The prospects for healthcare reform may be chillier than DC weather, but Democrats in the House and Senate are turning their attention to another warmer but still significant national issue: the increasing number of runaway and throwaway youth who are being forced into prostitution. In response to the growing concerns that desperate, runaway teens will be forced into prostitution in a sluggish economy, Congress is pushing several bills to improve how runaway kids are tracked by the police, fund crucial social services, and prevent teens from being caught in sex trafficking. Here's the gist of what the new legislation is trying to accomplish:

Shelter: Lack of shelter is one of the biggest vulnerabilities of runaway and homeless youth. Pimps will often use an offer of shelter as an entree to a relationship with a child or a straight up trade for sex. In the past couple years, at least 10 states have made legislative efforts to increase the number of shelters, extend shelter options, and change state reporting requirements so that youth shelters have enough time to win trust and provide services before they need to report the runaways to the police. Much of the new federal legislation would make similar increases in the availability and flexibility of shelter options.

Police Reporting: Right now, police are supposed to enter all missing persons into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database within two hours of receiving the case. In reality, that reporting doesn't always get done, making it almost impossible for law enforcement to search for missing kids across districts. This hole is a big problem in finding child prostitution victims and their pimps, since pimps will often transport girls from state to state. The new bill would strengthen reporting requirements, as well as facilitate communication between the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the National Runaway Switchboard

We Must Never Forget These Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen and Women

We Must Never Forget These Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen and Women
Nor the Fool Politicians that used so many American GIs' lives as fodder for the fight over an english noun - "Communism"