From the CURMUDGUCATION Blog: Duncan Remains Relentlessly Wrong

Duncan Remains Relentlessly Wrong Posted: 08 Dec 2015 10:08 AM PST This afternoon, Arne Duncan is at the Learning Forward conference to fall on his sword deliver some comments that include his spirited endorsement of the Every Student Succeeds Act. A portion of his remarks have been released, and they reveal Duncan in fine form as he cheerily supports the bill devoted to repudiating his work, sort of. The excerpt picks up where Duncan answers the question, “What does this new law mean for your classrooms, schools, and districts?” He starts by saying there’s a lot to be figured out, and that’s about the last thing he gets right. The new law will mean that “you can continue challenging your kids to live up to new, higher standards that you have been working so hard to implement.” Which is true. Under ESSA, states are still free to embrace the Common Core, either in original form or under one of its many aliases. “You will still measure students’ progress every year, typically with new and much better tests that offer actionable information about students’ learning.”Oh, Arne. We’ve been hearing the promise of new tests that aren’t the same old standardized bubble test crap for over a decade. They haven’t come. They aren’t coming. They are never going to come. No large scale standardized test will ever measure critical thinking any more than you can measure hurt with a bathroom scale. He repeats the idea that the feds are really pushing for fewer redundant tests. He is full of it.

To find out what he is full of, go to this source: CURMUDGUCATION: Duncan Remains Relentlessly Wrong

When the Michigan legislators do not want citizens to over-turn a law this is what they do

Eclectablog has posted a new item, ‘Mich Senate passes bill to eliminate
straight-ticket voting with a $1 million appropriation to make it
democracy-proof’, at Eclectablog

You may view the latest post at
http://www.eclectablog.com/2015/12/mich-senate-passes-bill-to-eliminate-straight-ticket-voting-with-a-1-million-appropriation-to-make-it-democracy-proof.html

Avoid Internet Scams, Credit Card Fraud and More with AARP’s Fraud Watch Network

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Source: Avoid Internet Scams, Credit Card Fraud and More with AARP’s Fraud Watch Network

AARP encourages both young and old to ‘take a stand for Social Security’

Source: AARP Volunteers Take a Stand for Social Security – AARP

6 officers, 1 taser… this is how Chicago PD moves a sleepy suspect just coming out of a psychotic episode

New video shows suspect hit with Taser in Chicago police lockup – from the Chicago Tribune

Amid a growing crisis over the Chicago Police Department ‘s use of force, the city late Monday released a video that shows officers in a Far South Side police lockup repeatedly using a Taser on a University of Chicago graduate and dragging him out of his cell in handcuffs.

Source: New video shows suspect hit with Taser in Chicago police lockup – Chicago Tribune

Teacher “de-professionalization” should scare the heck out of parents unless they prefer ‘teacher-temps’ and ‘computer-learning-only’ classrooms

BOULDER, CO (December 8, 2015) — The current era of deprofessionalization of teaching is tied to an easy-entry, easy-exit approach to the hiring and firing of teachers and to the widespread use of standards-based testing to drive accountability. In a new brief released today, Reversing the Deprofessionalization of Teaching, William Mathis and Kevin Welner describe this landscape and offer a path to restoring teaching as a profession.

Three main forces driving teacher deprofessionalizing are addressed in the brief:

(a) alternative (fast-track or no-track) teacher preparation and licensure; (b) teacher evaluation approaches that are largely focused on students’ test scores; and

(c) scripted, narrow curriculum that can be constricting and demoralizing for high-quality teachers.

For the rest of the story: Teacher Deprofessionalization: Research-Based Options for Education Policymaking | National Education Policy Center

Could Gun Control Be The Defining Campaign Issue In 2016? Don’t Bet Against It.

Source: Could Gun Control Be The Defining Campaign Issue In 2016? Don’t Bet Against It.