1/20/10
Quote Of The Day: Dan Savage
“The people of Haiti could really use your help. I made a donation at redcross.org . You should, too. And fuck Pat Robertson and his vile, hateful, santorum-spewing mouth.” -Dan Savage
Schoolhouse To Jailhouse Pipeline
A new study from the Advancement Project showing effects of current education policy.
“The educational opportunities of millions of children across this country are continuously put at risk by zero-tolerance school discipline and high-stakes testing,” said Jim Freeman, director of Advancement Project’s Ending the Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track project. “The devastating end result of these intertwined punitive policies is a ‘school-to-prison pipeline,’ in which huge numbers of students throughout the country are treated as if they are disposable, and are being routinely pushed out of school and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems.”h/t Jim Horn
“Test, Punish, and Push Out” provides an overview of zero-tolerance school discipline and high-stakes testing, how they relate to each other, how laws and policies such as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) have made school discipline even more punitive, and the risk faced if these devastating policies are not reformed. The report explores:
- The common origins and ideological roots of zero tolerance and high-stakes testing;
- The current state of zero-tolerance school discipline across the country, including local, state, and national data;
- How high-stakes testing affects students, educators, and schools;
- How zero tolerance and high-stakes testing have become mutually reinforcing, combining to push huge numbers of students out of school; and
- Successful grassroots efforts to eliminate harmful discipline and testing practices.
Klonsky: For The Sake Of Clarity...
Mike Klonsky clears thing up:
For the sake of clarity, I don't think the current regime is worse than the neo-cons or that Sec. Duncan is worse than Paige or Spellings. The fact that teachers and their union leadership is even at the table, represents a step up from the previous 8 years.
My point was that there are some things, some policies, which are even more destructive and more of a threat to the public aspect of public schooling. What is worse about current policies is the cynical way Duncan has used his power and the threat of withholding desperately-needed federal dollars in the midst of the current economic crisis, to coerce states and school districts into accepting his failed approach to reform (there's now important and overwhelming evidence of this failure coming out in the Chicago media). [emphasis mine]
1/19/10
Tuesday Cartoon Fun: Talk Me Down* Edition
Today's cartoon comes with a concern:
I am very moved by the Haiti disaster. New reports say as many as 200,000 have died. Many survivors still need medical attention, like amputation of their crushed, gangrened limbs. Not to mention food, water and shelter. And toothpaste for the stench.
I am unable to do anything except donate very little money and encourage you to do the same. Of course, if you are an orthopedic surgeon or an OR nurse, you should drop everything and get yourself to Haiti. Bring scalpels and saws and alcohol.
There is something bothering me about the aid effort, and I think most of us are bothered by it--the slow movement of actual stuff getting to those who need it.
I have read reports of Israel's medical team arriving, with mobile hospital, staff and equipment in tow and getting down to medical business almost immediately.
I have read about the smaller NGOs getting moving much faster than the big ones. And the reports of stalls due to leadership arguments are simply amazing and disheartening.
I have seen WWII coverage. We had amphibious landers. Right now we have giant hovercrafts that can transport frickin' tanks. I think we have the ability to drive over rubble, or move it. And I think we don't need a working port. But what the hell do I know.
The giant hospital ship (USNS Comfort) will arrive tomorrow. Tomorrow! 1 week and 1 day after the quake.
Am I being unrealistic, or has our response, even given the horrible infrastructure issues, been too slow and too careful?
I think maybe, just maybe, we should hand off coordination of the effort to a nation with some fucking balls, like Israel. Can you imagine an Israeli leader on the ground recalling doctors because there might be unrest, like the Belgian (?) leadership did when they left Sanjay Gupta to staff the facility alone? No. Israel would not do that. They would send in more doctors if they could. They are tough sons-o-bitches, as Patton might say.
I think our soldiers, if left to their own devices, would find ways to get the relief out but are hindered by leadership. We often have our soldiers led by foreign officers when working in alliances. This time, when there is no war involved, we should maybe look to others for leadership.
I am not saying we are not doing our best. I am saying our best is clearly not good enough. Thoughts?
*A Maddowism
Data-Driven Accountability: Oxymoron?
John Thompson on data-driven accountability:
Data-DRIVEN accountability makes sense for enforcing the Voting Rights Act, fighting Medicaid fraud, or a war on other criminal conspiracies. It also makes sense when numbers have been proven to reflect physical reality or numbers are used to make sure that other numbers are accurate. Data-DRIVEN accountability is appropriate for deterring threats to society, but to improve teaching and learning we need data-INFORMED accountability and evidenced-based decision-making. We need accountability devised "with teachers" not done "to teachers."Read it at the link [emphasis mine].
1/18/10
Diane Ravitch On MLK's Legacy And Eduformers
Yes:
Today's education "reformers" think they are advancing a civil rights agenda by creating charter schols, advocating merit pay, enshrining standardized tests of basic skills as the highest measure of acheivement, closing neighborhood schools, and getting rid of unions.
Was that Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream? King fought for equality of educational opportunity, not for a "Race to the Top" for the lucky few. He fought for fundamental fairness and justice for all, not for special treatment for the few. He never promoted private management of public education. When he was assassinated, he was defending the right of workers to join a union. It is impossible to imagine him standing alongside the business executives and politically powerful who demand more standardized testing, more privatization of public schools, and more schools in which teachers have no organized voice.
Diane Ravitch
Why I Chose The American Red Cross
I live in the Bay Area. I lived through the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 as well as the big fire in Oakland and the surrounding area in 1991 (not to mention the 1971 Sylmar earthquake in SoCal, but that's neither here nor there).
The Oakland fire burned the private school where I was working at the time. Being a very prestigious and wealthy school with good local connections, we were able to secure a building to use during the amazingly fast reconstruction of the school. But there was a week or so right after the fire when we were all unemployed and school-less--all of us, students, teachers, day care dudes (me).
During that week I decided I would volunteer with the Red Cross, as many many people had been displaced due to the fire--something like 3000 homes were destroyed--and the agency needed people. Given, these were upper-crust homes that burned, with well-off owners, but when everything you have goes up in smoke, whatever you might have in the bank is no match for getting what you need presently. I remember seeing people I knew and even gave vouchers to some. It was sobering.
I can't remember the details of the designation I was given, but it was something like Family Management/Services or something. (I got a laminated badge, but I've since lost it. I was proud of it!) I sat in the social hall of a local women's club (after a 1-day training) the RC was using. Families, waiting in queues and chairs like at the DMV, would come up, sit across from me at the table and tell me they had nothing. They had lost everything--the car, the house, clothes, pictures, old photos, the dog and the fish (so tragic for so many kids), grandma's silver and china, the kids' ceramic hand prints from pre-school and kindergarten. Some of the folks were dirty, tired, smelly and clearly in desperate need. Others less so. They didn't have their wallets, or any way to get money. All their phone numbers were burned back in the house so they had to rely on memory. Nobody was a freeloader as far as I could tell. It was a disaster and all were thankful, especially we volunteers. It feels good to help. And it's helpful.
My job was to assess the veracity of their claim, figure out what their immediate needs were and then give them a voucher for a good or service to meet those needs. I gave out vouchers for coats, food, hotel rooms--lots of hotel rooms. Sometimes I would have to call a merchant to convince them to take a voucher, pleading with them that the Red Cross is good for the money. They all took them, eventually. At one point I made a house call to an elderly gentleman who had been taken to a convalescent home and left there! I was able to get him found, fed, and confident he would be fine. All good.
I have placed a link in the sidebar to the American Red Cross for you to donate money for the Haiti relief effort. The Red Cross was fantastic in the aftermath of the fire in Oakland in 1991. I saw this first hand as a volunteer with responsibilities and some limited authority (to dole out vouchers). The system was incredible.
The Red Cross attends every disaster in the world. They are indispensable. They need cash in the coffers BEFORE a disaster. That is why I think you should donate to the Red Cross. And you should donate monthly, if you can. Haiti is going to be expensive and take some time.
Donate. It's there on the upper left of this page. (Of course I don't really mind if you give in some other way or to some other NGO. Just do your part.)
The Oakland fire burned the private school where I was working at the time. Being a very prestigious and wealthy school with good local connections, we were able to secure a building to use during the amazingly fast reconstruction of the school. But there was a week or so right after the fire when we were all unemployed and school-less--all of us, students, teachers, day care dudes (me).
During that week I decided I would volunteer with the Red Cross, as many many people had been displaced due to the fire--something like 3000 homes were destroyed--and the agency needed people. Given, these were upper-crust homes that burned, with well-off owners, but when everything you have goes up in smoke, whatever you might have in the bank is no match for getting what you need presently. I remember seeing people I knew and even gave vouchers to some. It was sobering.
I can't remember the details of the designation I was given, but it was something like Family Management/Services or something. (I got a laminated badge, but I've since lost it. I was proud of it!) I sat in the social hall of a local women's club (after a 1-day training) the RC was using. Families, waiting in queues and chairs like at the DMV, would come up, sit across from me at the table and tell me they had nothing. They had lost everything--the car, the house, clothes, pictures, old photos, the dog and the fish (so tragic for so many kids), grandma's silver and china, the kids' ceramic hand prints from pre-school and kindergarten. Some of the folks were dirty, tired, smelly and clearly in desperate need. Others less so. They didn't have their wallets, or any way to get money. All their phone numbers were burned back in the house so they had to rely on memory. Nobody was a freeloader as far as I could tell. It was a disaster and all were thankful, especially we volunteers. It feels good to help. And it's helpful.
My job was to assess the veracity of their claim, figure out what their immediate needs were and then give them a voucher for a good or service to meet those needs. I gave out vouchers for coats, food, hotel rooms--lots of hotel rooms. Sometimes I would have to call a merchant to convince them to take a voucher, pleading with them that the Red Cross is good for the money. They all took them, eventually. At one point I made a house call to an elderly gentleman who had been taken to a convalescent home and left there! I was able to get him found, fed, and confident he would be fine. All good.
I have placed a link in the sidebar to the American Red Cross for you to donate money for the Haiti relief effort. The Red Cross was fantastic in the aftermath of the fire in Oakland in 1991. I saw this first hand as a volunteer with responsibilities and some limited authority (to dole out vouchers). The system was incredible.
The Red Cross attends every disaster in the world. They are indispensable. They need cash in the coffers BEFORE a disaster. That is why I think you should donate to the Red Cross. And you should donate monthly, if you can. Haiti is going to be expensive and take some time.
Donate. It's there on the upper left of this page. (Of course I don't really mind if you give in some other way or to some other NGO. Just do your part.)
Arne Duncan's Ren10 Is A Confirmed Failure
Mike Klonsky has been exposing Arne Duncan's failure as Chicago schools CEO regularly. Now with the exposure of the truth about Duncan's Ren10 failure, Klonsky takes his well-deserved shot (sans links):
Duncan should apologize
I can't help but look back to 2006, when in response to our early critical assessment of Ren10, Arne Duncan wrote:Academics are supposed to stick to the facts and remain impartial, but Ayers and Klonsky have clearly failed the test...Closing and reopening a failing school is an absolute last resort, intended only for the small handful of schools that have consistently underperformed while the rest of the system has made steady and dramatic gains...All of us in Chicago are grateful to Ayers and Klonsky for their work with small schools in our city and their continuing commitment to education, but they need to get their facts straight.Duncan's response was at best misleading. He is calling for the closing of thousands of schools, not as a "last resort" but as the mainstay of his mandated Race-To-The-Top strategy and threatening the losses of badly needed school funding if states and districts fail to comply.
He owes us and more importantly, the children and parents of Chicago Public Schools an apology for what they've been put through. He also needs to get HIS OWN facts straight. Reading the recent studies from the Civic Committee, the Consortium on Chicago School Research, the Washington Post, or even the Sunday Trib would be a good start. The verdict is in on Renaissance 2010 and on the myth of the Chicago Miracle.
Finally, he needs to stop reproducing, on a national level, his now obviously failed Ren10 strategy.
Torture Killed Them
An amazing article by Scott Horton in Harper's about Bush's torture regime:
4. “He Could Not Cry out”
The fate of a fourth prisoner, a forty-two-year-old Saudi Arabian named Shaker Aamer, may be related to that of the three prisoners who died on June 9. Aamer is married to a British woman and was in the process of becoming a British subject when he was captured in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, in 2001. United States authorities insist that he carried a gun and served Osama bin Laden as an interpreter. Aamer denies this. At Guantánamo, Aamer’s fluency in English soon allowed him to play an important role in camp politics. According to both Aamer’s attorney and press accounts furnished by Army Colonel Michael Bumgarner, the Camp America commander, Aamer cooperated closely with Bumgarner in efforts to bring a 2005 hunger strike to an end. He persuaded several prisoners to break their strike for a while, but the settlement collapsed and soon afterward Aamer was sent to solitary confinement. Then, on the night of June 9, 2006, Aamer says he was the victim of an act of striking brutality.
He described the events in detail to his lawyer, Zachary Katznelson, who was permitted to speak to him several weeks later. Katznelson recorded every detail of Aamer’s account and filed an affidavit with the federal district court in Washington, setting it out:
On June 9th, 2006, [Aamer] was beaten for two and a half hours straight. Seven naval military police participated in his beating. Mr. Aamer stated he had refused to provide a retina scan and fingerprints. He reported to me that he was strapped to a chair, fully restrained at the head, arms and legs. The MPs inflicted so much pain, Mr. Aamer said he thought he was going to die. The MPs pressed on pressure points all over his body: his temples, just under his jawline, in the hollow beneath his ears. They choked him. They bent his nose repeatedly so hard to the side he thought it would break. They pinched his thighs and feet constantly. They gouged his eyes. They held his eyes open and shined a mag-lite in them for minutes on end, generating intense heat. They bent his fingers until he screamed. When he screamed, they cut off his airway, then put a mask on him so he could not cry out.The treatment Aamer describes is noteworthy because it produces excruciating pain without leaving lasting marks. Still, the fact that Aamer had his airway cut off and a mask put over his face “so he could not cry out” is alarming. This is the same technique that appears to have been used on the three deceased prisoners.
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