I want to focus on my kids. And I do, as much as possible. We went to the beach today. But at the same time I can’t help but think–we are facing crises on so many different levels in this country right now. Isn’t part of my responsibility as a parent to do everything I possibly can to fight the injustice that threatens their very future? In one sense I feel that my own parents neglected their responsibilities by remaining uninformed. They didn’t keep up with the issues, they didn’t read enough. They didn’t fight the injustice that was going on right under their noses. Look where it’s gotten all of us. I look at all the retirees around me–people with two houses, nice cars, secure pensions. Homes in Florida. And in some ways I can’t help but resent them. Nice for them to have their secure retirements. They say to me “We earned it. We worked hard, now we deserve to rest, have nice things.” Well, yes. But will I ever be able to rest? I won’t have a pension. I might not even have Social Security. Living paycheck to paycheck, how will I ever put away enough money so that I can retire?

So yes, it”s nice for them. But while they were living the American Dream and working toward that second house instead of paying attention to what our government was doing,the American Dream was being slowly but surely destroyed. Is there going to be any American Dream left for my children–for all of our children?

So the education reform movement, and the lack of active oppposition against it, is just one more symptom, for me, of a country that is falling apart while everyone just watches it happen.  

Hi again:

Of the few responses I got, there wasn’t one really good day/time. Since
we are all coming from different places in Connecticut, I want to make our
in-person meetings as productive as possible. To that end, I will draft up a
platform for action, based on our previous meeting and discussions, together
with any supporting documentation. Then, I think it would be best if everyone
reviews what I send and then we meet in late August or early September to gear
up for action. That way, I hope we can get the most out of our in-person
meeting.

Thanks.

Regards,

Wendy

Which suggests to me that not much will be accomplished until at least September. Sometimes I wish I could just pack up and take my kids someplace else–leave America to wallow in its own shit.

We certainly need more adminstrators and head honchos who never taught telling all of us what to do…oh please dear masters…please help us to become better and if not the floggings will continue until morale improves.

It gets to a point where you can’t even make this ____ up anymore.

Soon after agreeing to Patrick’s reforms, though, SFC broke away from the pack. Claiming that the measures weren’t bold enough — specifically, that principals, superintendents, and school boards should have more if not all power over teacher evaluations and firing — the group paid more than $300,000 to gather signatures to advance a unilateral proposal in the form of a ballot initiative. The compromise that’s likely to pass the state legislature in July is less severe in its stripping of union controls, but the fact remains that SFC is the new education power broker on Beacon Hill, and that its agenda represents the will of corporations — not the grassroots.

Read more: http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/140448-as-schools-struggle-to-get-better-is-selling-out-/#ixzz1zmWUFd1T

There are even bigger issues with the evaluation system. We will be shifting from the CMT/CAPT to the Smarter Balanced Consortium. Are we rating teachers by the old test for two years and then the new test? Is there a comparison to be made between the years when we switch.

The Common Core State Standards say all teachers are responsible for literacy, so are ALL teachers being tracked by their reading and writing scores?
Let’s persecute some teachers first and see how that goes. So pit us against each other rather than encourage teachers to collaborate and share ideas.

Are we just singling out the elementary school teahers and those who teach math, reading and English once the kids are in middle and high school?

They don’t even know how they are evaluating most teachers whose subject is not on a standardized test…foreign language, art, music, gym, guidance, special Ed., etc.

They haven’t figured that out yet. But, let’s lay off teachers to hire more administrators, to get rid of bad teachers and this, Pelto readers, is going to close the achievement gap.

Baffle us all with bullshit and maybe we will be too confused to know what is actually happening and I am not sure they even know.