Parents Across America Webinar: The Journey for Justice in Education with Karran Harper-Royal

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Dora Taylor Posted in Webinar | Comments Off

Parents Across America Webinar The Journey for Justice With New Orleans Parent and Education Advocate Karran Harper-Royal March 3, 2013 1:00 PM PST Free tickets available through Eventbrite. With moderator Dora Taylor. Journey for Justice is an emerging alliance currently comprised of grassroots community-based organizations from 18 cities across the United States representing constituencies of youth, parents, and inter-generational organizations who have been impacted by the closing, turnaround, and charter expansion of schools in communities of color. The goal of … →

The Weekly Update: Seattle teachers stand firm, testing push back around the country, a parent offers ideas for those opt-out days and Yong Zhao on testing and standardization

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Dora Taylor Posted in High stakes testing, Opting Out, Weekly Update | 1 Comment

The Weekly Update for the news and views you might have missed. It’s been quite a week in our fair city. Many of us here in Seattle have watched the destruction of the teaching profession, schools and communities around the country based on the use of standardized test scores to further an agenda of corporate reform and privatization using the scorched earth approach to education and we do not want to see that happen in Seattle or anywhere else for … →

The Weekly Update: What can I say…Seattle teachers rock!!!!

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Dora Taylor Posted in Opting Out, Weekly Update | Comments Off

As you might know by now, teachers at Garfield High School in Seattle held a press conference on Friday and announced that they were not going to give the Measurement of Academic Progress (MAP) test to their students for a number of reasons. For the details, see the letter that was issued by the teachers of Garfield High School. Within hours, teachers at Ballard High School followed suit. The Garfield High School PTSA issued the following statement today in support … →

The Weekly Update: Charter schools: Public or private? Brian Jones in Portland, teachers rally in Illinois and a petition to Obama: Stop privatizing our schools!

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Dora Taylor Posted in Weekly Update | Comments Off

The Weekly Update: For the news and views you might have missed First up, more Facebook pages are popping up on the subject of education: Our Village Our Schools Public Education Crusaders Long Island Chapter Save Our Schools March 350 This one is related to the climate crisis and I post it on this blog because it does affect our children. Next up, a petition to be sent to President Obama. Maybe one of these days he’ll start to listen … →

The Weekly Update: Teachers Speak Up

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Dora Taylor Posted in Weekly Update | Comments Off

The Weekly Update for the news and views you might have missed. This week has been a slower news week than usual for obvious reasons but the internet is burning up with announcements of new Facebook pages sprouting up started by an array of parents and teachers from around the country standing with their teachers and students and against the privatization of their schools. Just this morning I was invited to like four Facebook pages related to education. They are: … →

Over $1B and counting for TFA, Inc., de facto discrimination in charter schools, the failed Microsoft model hoisted onto our educational system and Maryland superintendent says “Stop the insanity”

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Dora Taylor Posted in Weekly Update | Comments Off

The Weekly Update for the news and views you might have missed. “Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.” Frederick Douglass I keep wondering when folks in this country are going to say enough is enough. Until then the Wendy Kopp’s, Michelle Rhee’s, the Waltons and the Gates will continue to plow on and plow us under. Today, we’ll begin … →

Introducing the Edu$hyters of the week and they all hail from the great state of Michigan

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Dora Taylor Posted in Misc | Comments Off

The Edu$hyster ring in Michigan Utica Community Schools, as the second largest district in Michigan, has always been a leader in education. Students have always had a high rate of success. In comparison to districts across the nation, Utica has always been financially healthy. Utica has been a wealth of potential for multiple facets of education, art and culture and many of those programs have been decimated to cater to the special interest of profiteers and politicians. Carol Klenow, … →

Weekly Update: K12, Inc. tanks with parents and Wall Street, how “non-profit” charter school$ fleece taxpayers, a school to prison pipeline, literally, and much, much more.

Posted on December 1, 2012 by Dora Taylor Posted in School to prison pipeline, Weekly Update | Comments Off

The Weekly Update for the news and views you might have missed Helen Barkin writes a thorough review of what happened state by state on November 6, 2012 in this article. What Happened to Public Education on Election Night? An excerpt: Barack Obama’s K-12 “reform” policies have brought misery to public schools across the country: more standardized testing, faulty evaluations for teachers based on student test scores, more public schools shut down rather than improved, more privately managed and … →

Part 4: High Stakes Testing and Opting Out : The Consequences

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Dora Taylor Posted in High stakes testing, Misc, Opting Out | Comments Off

The Consequences As long as policy and funding are determined by test results, we will be dealing with the consequences. There is the narrowing of focus to math and reading and less focus on history, social studies, the arts, foreign languages, writing, physical education, or developing research and critical thinking skills. The emphasis on test scores precludes looking more carefully at the cause of low test scores which include poverty, health and family issues as well as the effect … →

Part 3: High Stakes Testing and Opting Out: The Variables

Posted on November 18, 2012 by Dora Taylor Posted in High stakes testing, Misc, Opting Out | Comments Off

The Variables High stakes testing has ramifications including ending careers and affecting communities by closing schools. Hence, we need to look carefully at the variables that might affect a student’s performance on a test. Teachers and principals do not work in a vacuum. They have students with lives outside school. Students live in a real world. The real world affects how they behave and their ability to focus in class. These factors include: English being a second language The physical … →

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