Why NY Principals Founder Carol Burris sees the Ball/Zeldin Bill in the NY State Legislature as a Step Forward:

It is the closest thing to a true moratorium that I have seen and it will strike a huge blow against standardized testing and evaluating teachers by test scores. Here is why.

It BANS the use of state tests for retention, placement, gifted programs...everything but AIS. That means that it will make it much easier for opt out and it will protect students.
The tests have to be made public, which will drive Pearson crazy and run up their costs.
It reduces testing times back to 2010 levels and forces a lowering of the proficiency cut scores to what should be 2010 levels as well.

Regarding APPR
VAM and growth scores go away. Remember, they are becoming 25% this year!
State tests can't be used for teacher evals.
Locals become 40%. (which were becoming 15% this year) That is huge. Local measures are subject to negotiations so there is control and they are reasonable. Most Local measures are benign. 
Best of all cut for IE drops to 55. Now, test scores cannot trump all. It also fixes the problems with the bands whereby teachers can be ineffective without any ineffective ratings. It also calls for a committee of professionals to examine APPR.
Would I love for it to go away? You bet. This is a big improvement

Democracy at Risk in the Nation's Schools

Because current Education Policies were made without the consent or input of those who experience them on the ground- teachers, students, and parents- they only way they can be implemented is through an ugly dose  of fear and intimidation, first on the teachers required to teach according to their precepts, then on the students and families who have to adapt to them. Anyone who protests the policies or questions their underlying logic is first dismissed, then threatened. We see this is the treatment of teachers principals and parents who protest school closings in Newark; in the sit and stare policies imposed on children who Opt Out of tests in many school districts in New York State; and the total suppression of free speech by teachers when it comes to challenging testing, the Common Core standards or test based teacher evaluations. What is at stake here is more than the future of education. If you shatter democratic practices in the nation's public schools, you will have a hard time sustaining them in the society as a whole.

A Gates Foundation Dictatorship? - A Response to My Video on "Common Core Stealth Standards"

"Letter I just got in response to what I said about Bill Gates in my "Common Core Stealth Standards" Speech ( now on youtube)

Dear Mr. Naison,

I apologize for contacting you at your Fordham email, but I just watched a youtube video of your talk about the Common Core Stealth Standards, and had something to share. I am hoping you won’t mind. 
In your talk, I felt the last year and a half of my life summarized as I re-lived the sheer panic I have felt for the future of our country. I am that suburban mom, living in Connecticut, but also a former teacher who saw the confluence of what were good practices being distorted into what I now understand very clearly to be the overthrow of public school education. 
As a former middle school teacher, and trainer of teachers for the last 12 years, with a Masters Degree, lots more graduate credits in Instructional Technology, and Educational Leadership including the Administrative certification, I understand that reforms in education are nothing new. I have convinced many teachers that the latest fad or trend really could have some merit in their roles as teachers because I believed they did have merit, but that ultimately, teachers know the students best, and they can make it work. But after what I have seen in the last year and a half, I am no longer training or teaching, I am fighting as hard as I can to bring awareness to the sleepy suburbanites in my town, and to whomever else will listen, in a variety of ways. We have held a Common Core Forum in town, I ran for BOE to get the word out, have a growing mom-group, and I now have a column in the local paper on education matters.

But as I was driving today (after watching your video clip) there was a song on the radio by John Mayer called, “Waiting for the World to Change.” When I heard this line, I just felt the need to convey my thoughts to you for your consideration.
He sang:
"And when you trust your television
What you get is what you got
Cause when they own the information
Oh, they can bend it all they want”

We all know this, right? Well, I've become accustomed to searching the Gates Foundation for any new foundation, organization or person who speaks in favor of many of the current reforms. Nine times out of ten, they have received money from the Gates Foundation. What has started to scare me are the sheer number of libraries that are receiving funding from the Gates Foundation. And truly, if he owns it, he will bend it. I am convinced. 

And as schools, towns, and states move toward this 1:1 personalized learning paradigm, where technology is teacher, and teacher is facilitator, we could quite possibly find that a generation of children will learn content that can be changed at will, and which would effectively limit their ability to be true critical thinkers in their quest for knowledge.

For your reference, here is the link to the Gates Foundation grants, all 910 of them, which fund various libraries and library-related organizations:

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/search#q/k=library&contenttype=Grant
And related work with Pearson:

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database/Grants/2011/02/OPP1031713

I will continue to explore this connection, and hope you find this information useful. I thank you for taking the time to read this. 

Thanks for all your hard work!

Sincerely,""

Guest Post by Art Believeau " I Used to Be a Good Teacher

Guest Post by Art Believeau

" I Used to Be a Good Teacher"

http://mrbchs.blogspot.com/2014/02/i-used-to-be-good-teacher.html.

Why the Left as Well as the Right Opposes Common Core- A Video

Why the Left as Well as the Right Opposes Common Core
A Speech to Parents in Peekskill NY

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3cl00sPWnY

The Badass Teachers Association "Evaluate That" Campaign Goes Viral

The Badass Teachers Association exploded last night on Facebook and Twitter with their #evaluatethat campaign. The idea came to the Facebook page via Georgia BAT Stephanie Lavender Weber who was staying the night with her students in school due to the snow storms that hit Atlanta last week. Stephanie proudly posted about staying with the students and taking care of them until their parents could come get them. She ended the post with #evaluatethat. BATs took it and ran with it. One #evaluatethat meme, made by BAT Kelly Braun, has over 50,000 hits on the BAT Facebook page. Here are some of the BAT stories for #evaluatethat I walked students home who were being threatened and harassed. #evaluatethat I don't just teach science. I teach empathy, self-worth, and the understanding that all life matters. #evaluatethat I treated two of my former students and one of the girls mother to have a haircut and color at a local beauty school before school started so they could enter high school feeling good. We then went shopping for school supplies and clothes. The lady who does my nails donated three bags of clothes from her daughter that went to college and both girls spent the rest of the day trying them on. The smiles on their faces is worth more than any amount of money. #evaluatethat One of my former students published a book of her poetry and dedicated the book to three of her high school teachers - of which I proudly was one. Now - evaluate that. #evaluatethat I had a senior student who couldn’t afford her senior yearbook. I bought it for her – anonymously #evaluatethat I attended the honors ceremony and graduation of a student I had three years in a row as his "mom" as well as the graduation party with his family. When I was honored with a lifetime PTA membership this year he came up to my school with flowers and a card and told my students that once you are one of her kids you are always her kids #evaluatethat We have hundreds of stories like this on the BATs Facebook page and we have thousands streaming on our #evaluatethat twitter feed. We will be making a film of these experiences and also will investigate some sort of publication. BATs fight every day to take back public education. Gates, Murdoch, Walton, and the Broads may have more money but we have more spirit! #evaluatethat Join BATs on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/BadAssTeachers/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/i/connec

Evaluate That!!!

I have students sleep over when they’re thrown out of the house
Evaluate That 
I give them money for carfare when they have no way to go home
Evaluate That 
I stand between them and a knife aimed at their chest
Evaluate That 
I tell my students that I love them and remind them they’re the best
Evaluate That
I tell them that they’re brilliant when their tears fall on the test
Evaluate That

#evaluatethat