Tomorrow is Decision Day in Chicago.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has tried to bully the Chicago Teachers Union and its leader Karen Lewis.
Lewis was elected by the members because they knew she would stand up for them.
Emanuel has the support of the Wall Street hedge fund managers organization, somewhat absurdly called Democrats for Education Reform. He also has the other big-monied people in Chicago, as mentioned in this article in the Chicago Tribune, including billionaire Penny Pritzker.
The article mentions that DFER staged a protest at union headquarters to oppose a strike. I wonder how many hedge fund managers send their children to Chicago public schools. I am trying to imagine hedge fund managers marching in front of union headquarters and carrying signs. I am guessing that what happened was that they “staged” a protest, meaning that they hired out-of-work actors to carry protest signs. Maybe the unemployed actors have children in the Chicago public schools.
The great thing about having Karen Lewis there is that every teacher in America knows she will stand strong for them. She will not sell them out. And she will not sell out the children.
She knows that teachers’ working conditions are children’s learning conditions.
Both Rahm and Penny know that too. That’s why they don’t send their children to the schools for which they are responsible. They send their children to a school with small classes, lots of arts and physical education, a great library, experienced teachers, and a full curriculum. The school where they send their children doesn’t give standardized tests and does not evaluate teachers by their students’ test scores.
If you know me well, you know I hold our WEAR RED FOR ED close to my heart. I also hold my CHICAGO teacher friends very close to my heart. They have taught me so much over the years. So, please… wear RED tomorrow. Show SOLIDARITY with Chicago teachers. They are fighting the same fight we are all fighting for our KIDS. They are fighting against high stakes testing, against the closing of public schools, against privatization via charter schools and virtual learning, against funneling public tax dollars to corporations … and against blaming teachers for everything wrong with our schools. FAIR CONTRACTS… please stand with Chicago. ~Wear Red for Public Ed !
Will be donning RED!
What am I missing?? I can’t stand the hypocrisy of Rahm Emanuel, however what is the strike over?? Wages and salaries or the new reformation of education?? Or both?
The system IS broken. I’m not getting any kind of clear message from the union in Chicago that offers any real solution to that problem. If there is a clear message, can you point me to it?
I did read this from a parent in Washington this morning: “Want to control the math curriculum? Support Initiative 1240, the charter school measure. The article below reports that in Utah, and undoubtedly in other states, parents are fleeing conventional schools to enroll their children in charter schools. In a charter school, parents can demand that children receive direct instruction in math, and avoid the failing discovery math curriculum imposed on children by so many conventional schools.”
THIS is the PROBLEM. Until this is addressed, I’m afraid teachers will continue to lose this battle.
The public schools are being destroyed by the anti-knowledge progressive educators that have dumbed down the curriculum and decided that teachers no longer matter. Computers and group think/learning will do the job.
I wish the teachers in Chicago well, but I’m not seeing any real battle plans to address the real problems in public education. I suspect teachers will again, become the victims.
MOMwithAbrain, seems your a troll, since if you knew what you understood the context and positions of both sides, you would already have known that CTU always backs up their proposals with quality research on what works. Sorry, but parent voice is zero in charter schools. Must have watched a new movie trailer or dreamed it. I know parents who have children now in Chicago charters.
After reading your attack on CTU Teachers, I am left with the thought that have no basis for your arguments. The deformers of education NEVER back up their proposals with peer reviews research and lie when their house of cards is blown up.
Where in the world have you been?
The Chicago teachers have been very clear about what they wish to do for the students under their care. If you care to read it, you can find it here:
http://www.ctunet.com/blog/schools-chicagos-students-deserve-presents-comprehensive-plan-to-improve-student-academic-performance-and-strengthen-neighborhood-schools
Sorry…I see that Tim, below, has already posted this.
Um, without commentary on anything else in your remarks, here is what you seem to have missed, “momwithabrain.”
Click to access SCSD_Report-02-16-2012-1.pdf
Thank you Tim. I appreciate the info.
As I scan through the document, here is what I see.
First I do appreciate a document that addresses the quality of education the union would like to see in the schools. I am concerned about some of what I’m seeing though. Social justice?
Again, where is the focus on academic excellence? Why are they not addressing the lousy-dumbed down education ?? The bureaucrats want to get kids out of the Chicago public schools via Charters, vouchers, virtual schools, etc. In fact they claim this is a CIVIL RIGHTS issue now. Sounds like they are also making the case for social justice. All of this social justice and again, the quality of academics go ignored.
No where in that document does it address the programs and curriculum that do NOT teach basic academic content?
Where is the call to TEACH grammar?? To master math skills? To provide direct instruction from teachers?? To raise the bar on academic excellence?
This looks like a formula for progressive ideas that have nothing to do with academic excellence. It has everything to do with income redistribution.
Sorry Tim, if this is the case the teachers are going to make, I see no real solution at all.
Perhaps more than a scan is due…
From CTU statement linked by Tim above… “Fully Fund Education. A country and city that can afford to take care of its affluent citizens can afford to take care of those on the other end of the income scale. There is no excuse for denying students the essential services they deserve.”
You may not see this as a solution and you may label this as “formula for progressive ideas” … but, WE parents across the country see it as important. Remember, as Diane says, when the parents awaken… watch out. Game over.
Now, that is progress, I agree.
Thank you, Chicago.
You say that the education offered by Chicago teachers is “lousy-dumbed down education.” Where did you get that information? How do you know that it’s lousy and dumbed down?
You say there are “programs and curriculum that do NOT teacher basic academic content.” This implies that no basic academic content is taught. How do you know this? Where is the study showing that Chicago schools do not teach basic academic content? What is your definition of basic academic content?
How do you know that the public schools in Chicago don’t teach grammar and math skills? How do you define academic excellence and how do you know that it’s not being taught in Chicago?
What are your sources for all these statements?
Remember, COMMON CORE has been called: NO VENDOR LEFT BEHIND.
http://collaboratechicago.blogspot.com/2012_08_01_archive.html
Since Phil Daro is advising the CPS on math I will just add this from a friend:
Phil Daro’s role in a group called MARS (Mathematics Assessment Resource Service). Go to the link and it’s a bunch of topics with advice for teachers, school districts and the like and who gives what professional help. Click on the tab “Challenges and barriers” and look at the topics under “teaching”. http://toolkitforchange.org/toolkit/view.php?obj=110&menu=r
Click on the tab called “tools” and then click on “math wars”.
Phil Daro was one of the chief authors of the CC math stds. To say his agenda is constructivist pedagogy is an understatment.
He can be seen on a You Tube video in which he addressed teachers at the Dana Center in Bellevue WA, with Uri Treisman. Sound quality is bad, but of interest is Phil’s response to how one handles the “calculator question” from parents, at 6:13.
Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFuJ4RjAh6o
Looks like we are seeing MORE from those who are willing to set teachers up for failure in the classroom.
Stu, let’s begin with the CPS web site where they say they will follow Common Core Standards: http://www.cps.edu/Programs/DistrictInstructionStrategy/Pages/Districtinstructionstrategy.aspx#sub2-tab
Embedded in that page is this:
Inherent in the Framework for Teaching is the “constructivist” approach to student learning.
Well since they’ve decided to assign teachers to sit on the sidelines instead of teaching, do you honestly think this is GOOD?? This has been one of the BIGGEST problems WITH Common Core: The Pedagogy.
Why is Common Core dictating pedagogy in the classroom? Especially when you can see the numerous problems with Constructivism:
Click to access kirschner_Sweller_Clark.pdf
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090326114415.htm
http://educationnext.org/eighth-grade-students-learn-more-through-direct-instruction/
http://www.jefflindsay.com/EducData.shtml
http://educationnext.org/harvard-study-shows-that-lecture-style-presentations-lead-to-higher-student-achievement/
Constructivism puts students at a DISADVANTAGE.
This is a recipe for failure in the CPS in math and science. Who will get the blame when this fails?? TEACHERS. That’s who parents will blame. When teachers don’t teach, who do you think the parents will blame?? Not OBAMA. Not ROMNEY. Not the Administrators, but the teachers.
Why is the Union ignoring this?
Constructivist math has been a great money maker for private tutoring services like Kumon and Sylvan.
From the Chicago Tribune:
Nearly 25 years after Everyday Math first appeared in classrooms, it is now one of the most widely used math curricula in the country. Nationally, the pre-K through sixth-grade program is used by about 4.3 million students in more than 220,000 classrooms. In Illinois, about 30 percent of school districts teach it, as well as slightly more than half of the Chicago Public Schools, according to Patti Cowles, a spokeswoman forMcGraw-Hill Education, which publishes the curriculum.
Half??
Why on earth would the union ignore this lousy math program in the CPS?
I’ve personally refused to put my child in any school that uses fuzzy math. In our town, we never had a tutoring service UNTIL the school decided to use fuzzy math: Everyday Math.
Now parents have to pay taxes AND a tutor for their kids.
Until the union decides to address the real problems in education and why parents are pulling their kids OUT of these schools, you are missing the opportunity to speak to the parents who are frustrated that their kids are NOT learning the basics.
That is unfortunate.
I don’t think you will ever win this battle until the focus shifts to academic excellence vs social engineering/social justice.