Mercedes Schneider was unimpressed by the AFT resolutions.
Plaintively, she writes: “It sure would be nice if a national union would aggressively confront the pro-privatization education agenda emanating from the Oval Office.” Neither NEA nor AFT would take on that Herculean task.
She expects that nothing will happen to Duncan, no matter how many absurd things he says or does. He is coated with Teflon.
She sees no point in clinging to the “promise” of the CCSS standards, which are dying the death of a thousand cuts.
She sees much ado about nothing. Duncan stays. The CCSS remains, no matter how troubled and lifeless it may be.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It sure “would be nice”, but everyone who knows the kind of $$$ that goes to the AFT and NEA from the billionaire’s club, knows there is no way that they will ever confront the fraud that is the core curricula.
LikeLike
Total agreement! Teflon too!
LikeLike
Weingarten needs a Duncan style remediation plan. Grants to teachers to revise CCCS is throwing good money after bad. Throw out the baby with the bath water. I am thoroughly disgusted.
LikeLike
Weingarten needs to use the REAL National Standards research to create strategies for LEARNING based not he real, third level research that Pew paid for and Harvard and the LRDC at the University of Pittsburgh ran.
Th zillion dollars GENUINE National Standards research…The Eight Principles of Learning, have been BURIED so the evaluation of TEACHING could replace THE CRUCIAL INGREDIENTS for LEARNING, and the conversation could be narrated by Duncan according to the Gates/Broad/Koch plan.
http://www.perdaily.com/2011/08/subverting-the-national-conversation-a.html
and
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Learning-not-Teacher-evalu-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-111001-956.html
and
http://www.opednews.com/articles/BAMBOOZLE-THEM-where-tea-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-110524-511.html
andhttp://www.opednews.com/articles/Magic-Elixir-No-Evidence-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-130312-433.html
All the above written long before Gates revealed the CC.
LikeLike
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx What’s wrong w/grants to revise the CCSS? One of my main arguments against it has been that it’s copyrighted & there’s no feedback loop to revise it?
LikeLike
In my fantasy world, I would like to readopt the previous New Jersey standards. I am an ESL teacher and New Jersey had a workable set of standards designed specifically for ESL. The Core ELA standards are difficult to adapt for ESL instruction. Which standards would you like to revise?
LikeLike
Weingarten did the same thing when the NYC Standards were first proposed and spent $$$$$$$ on a committee come up with their own. Never saw one iota of the revamp, and I was a chapter leader at the time. Must be nice to get paid to do something that goes nowhere—unless it’s a patronage kind of job.
LikeLike
Sounds to me like the AFT convention was not going in a direction useful to teachers.
LikeLike
To all readers:
I think that it is worth to repeat and reread the paragraph below:
A most excellent posting by deutsch29 [the redoubtable Dr. Mercedes Schneider] on this proposed CCSS debate at the AFT convention:
Link: http://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/the-problem-with-the-aft-offer-for-teachers-to-rewrite-the-common-core/
Be Alert:
CCSS is a product owned by the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). Thus, any content labeled “CCSS” belongs to these two organizations that control the CCSS license. Furthermore, any content in CCSS becomes static– one-size-fits-all, inflexible, and
unable to be adjusted– except by permission of the CCSS license owners.
As well as, Dr. M. schneider’s reminder is as follows:
In closing, I implore my teacher practitioner colleagues nationwide: Do not allow yourselves to be in the position of Louisa Moats, who years later came to the conclusion, “I was so naive.”
One positive experience in my life is that if you play with fire, you will get burn. Yes, no matter how careful and smart one can be, one tries to hook on cocaine, one’s dignity will be slowly ruined by cocain. Similarly, educators try to please greedy corporate and crooked politicians, educators’ reputation will slowly ruined by greedy friends/donors.
To me, entrepreneurship needs to completely detach from education, because these two entities have completely opposite goal. Business just abuses and controls public knowledge to selfishly accumulate money, whereas education just aims to compassionately give away public knowledge in order to maintain humanity and civilization. Back2basic.
LikeLike
Another dog-and-pony show put together by the Weingarten Circus Production folks. I believe people like Joel Klein, Gates, Broad, Duncan, and probably one of the Koch Bros. are on the Circus Board. Nice to know how my dues are being spent.
Heard Leo Casey gave a pro-Common Core speech once again comparing those who don’t like it to the Tea Party. But maybe those teacher bloggers do exaggerate? At least that’s what Mulgrew says. However, I like my tea with lemon.
LikeLike
Lewis of Chicagp should be in charge. Randi and Dennis sold out their membership.
LikeLike
Lewis is considering running for mayor of Chicago. Let’s support her.
LikeLike
The term “unimpressed” hardly describes what took place at the AFT convention, under Randi Weingarten’s firm control.
A far more appropriate and accurate descriptor is “treachery,” which can be defined as a “violation of allegiance or of faith and confidence,” or as “an act of harming someone who trusts you.”
By taking Gates money, and fully supporting Common Core, and linking Common Core standards to teacher and school evaluations, and undermining teacher efforts to sidetrack AFT support for the Common Core, Weingarten has clearly established that she is no friend of the teachers she represents, nor is she a friend of public education.
Teachers who placed their faith and trust and confidence in Weingarten, who believed that she would do what is best for them and for public education, have every right to be sorely disappointed, because she has (again) sold them down the river.
“Unimpressed?”
Teachers should be outraged.
LikeLike
Bravo. Well said. Thank you Democracy. Back2basic.
LikeLike
Exactly. Bravo. Liars a llm bought by Gates and clones.
LikeLike
“He is coated with Teflon.”
That’s because his boss likes him. Our issue is with his boss – Duncan is just a good lap dog.
LikeLike
Even more than that: the banks have destroyed our neighborhoods, now they want to destroy our schools. Obama works for them.
LikeLike
I think we should find a remote island (like ones you read on Yahoo for sale) and retire Duncan to that island to spend a lifetime of reading David Coleman’s grand document – CC whilst sipping on pina coladas. He can be king of his own island (we’ll even throw in a basketball hoop). Did I mention the island will have no internet connectivity, cell reception or even landlines? This would be our best current education policy. Firing or retirement cannot come soon enough for him.
LikeLike
What message should the “Democrats for Public Education” take away from the AFT convention? Is it already time to disband and merge into DFER?
LikeLike
After reading the disheartening reports from the AFT convention and synthesizing the arduous, ofttimes prodigious investigative work of progressive bloggers and journalists, I have come to the following realizations about key sectors and players:
1. Duncan (and his agency) has proved himself to be incoherent , mean spirited and ill-tempered. He is unfit for any job in education. He is Obama’s proxy. Further discussion of his deficient character and agency funding or educational policy, is pointless, repetitive venting. Even if Duncan exits the stage, his replacement will remain Obama’s proxy.
2. Weingarten has irrevocably linked her future and that of the AFT’s membership to the Common Core by the tightly woven bonds of funding and her continued, overweening ambition to be a ‘player’ at the power table.
3. AFT members, even in the so-called “Unity Caucus”, have been deserted in the cold wilderness to wander and to fend for themselves.
4. The education ‘deform’ predators have formed inter-locking domains: private foundations, public policy makers, entrepreneurs of all stripes, right wing/libertarian ‘think tanks’ ideologues, and pseudo pedagogues. They control funding and dominate and drive the current educational narrative.
5. Parent, educator and community groups who struggle to resist educational ‘deform, remain isolated and disconnected, thus precluding from taking any unified large scale actions. The sole hope of the resistance movement will be to form local and regional alliances and shape the outcomes of political processes in order to resist the unrelenting ‘deform’ pressures.
The discussion of pedagogy on this blog have been first rate. How will we transform pedagogy to power?
LikeLike
john,
Wonderful summary of the sad state of affairs. We need to organize nationally. Our lack of a national infrastructure of resistance is our greatest impediment to moving forward.
LikeLike
If we build it, they will come.
LikeLike
The next task is to build a coherent, coordinated “Stop the Deformation” movement from the existing groups, which will unite local and regional efforts via larger, representative coordinating committee(s). I have come to believe that the only viable resistance to the interlocking, coordinated ‘deform’ movement is to build a similar counter effort We know that there are sufficient numbers of independent groups who oppose the ‘deformers’. How can the brought together into a ‘popular front’? If we do not move together we are fated to fragmented, isolated and ultimately ineffective actions . Those who want to destroy public schools. teachers unions and impose a “Common Core”, are in an alliance. We, too, must form our own alliance of opposition that unites progressive pedagogy with political actions, bringing students, parents, community, public schools and education workers into a common struggle.
LikeLike
I agree… A lot of talk and no action.
LikeLike
I must agree with Mercedes Schneider: I am disappointed yet not overly surprised. It is high irony when the teachers union becomes the voice of the status quo nationally especially when considering this puts it on the same page as: NCLB, RTTP, NGA, CCSS and President Obama. An old saying comes to mind, “stand for something or fall for everything.”
LikeLike