John King Departure, New Fed Job Linked to Failure of CIA Torture Program

Ed Notes has learned that the CIA was behind the move of John King. Having demonstrated he could run an effective torture program for students and teachers based on high stakes testing and tortuous standards, the CIA jumped at the opportunity to embrace his skills as a way to recover public standing from the recent revelations about their torture program, especially given the fact that so much of it failed to gain useful information.

"This is a win-win," said a CIA source. "Water boarding and rectal infusions never worked but a constant barrage of testing is guaranteed to get results. With so many teachers running screaming out of the profession and so many kids throwing up during testing, it was clear that we've been barking up the wrong torture tree.

"We also looked at John King's success in pushing charters to destroy the public school system. He will be devising charter terrorist groups. Every terrorist deserves a choice.

"And who better than John King to make this work? If I were in ISIS and Al Qaueda I would be packing up and leaving - fast."

Report on John King/Merryl Tisch Dog and Pony Show in Binghamton

Bearing signs reading “We are human, not machines,” “Oust the King” and “End Fed Ed,” Binghamton area residents let state Education Commissioner John King see — and hear — their discontent with Common Core state standards. “Tell the assembly we’re coming for them. We’re coming for them, we’re angry and we vote,” said Christina Bangel, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Owego-Apalachin Middle School and mother of two third-grade students at Owego Elementary School....King gets earful on Common Core

Below are two reports. One personal and the other press.
When I saw Doug Green's headline (Dr. King's Binghamton Tour) I misread it as Birmingham and assumed this was a retrospective of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement. But hey, John King, you are no Martin Luther King. In fact you are the very opposite -- MLK would be standing with the real reformers instead of the ed deformers.

There's a great slide show with pics like this:

http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20131125/NEWS02/311250077/King-gets-earful-Common-Core?nclick_check=1

(See the entire article below the break.)

Here is an edited version of Doug's report.

Last night (11/25) was Dr. King's Binghamton tour. He was accompanied by Ms. Tisch, and regent Talon. They visited three school districts and viewed what sounded like "dog and pony" shows. At 2:00 pm they did a closed Q & A at the local PBS studio. There was a lottery that determined who got in and questions had to be submitted before hand. The event lasted exactly one hour and was pretty tame. There wasn't any hint of passion from the crowd and the answers all sounded pretty canned.

At 6:00 there was a public event at a Binghamton Middle School. The first 45 people who asked to speak were sorted into three groups of 15. After a brief introduction, the first 15 spoke one after another while the folks on stage, which
included local state legislators sat and listened. 

It started out with a bang as the first speaker let them know how bad the common core and the testing is for kids and teachers. The beat went on as the speakers varied in tone from highly critical to hostile. As each one spoke, most of the packed crowd stood as a show of solidarity. Each speaker received applause in spit of the moderator asking them several times not to applaud. 

After the first 15 speakers Dr. King made a few statements in response to some of the comments. Then the next 15 spoke with the same passion about how screwed up they thought the system was. Many talked about their kids crying and hating school. Many non ELA/Math subjects were represented by teachers. 

As King spoke after this bunch, the crowd got rowdy and Ms. Tisch spoke up to chide them for their behavior. That seemed to work. The final 15 was more of the same with the final speaker drawing a standing ovation as he called out the legislators to do something. He was a former elementary principal and friend. I was going to speak, but I gave him my spot as what was needed was his passion as opposed to my nerdy analysis.
Regent Tallon commented at the end with the basic pitch that we can't go backwards. King blamed the feds for the testing and told the audience that pre tests that seem to be part of the problem are a district decision. He also said he has seen great common core lessons by teachers who adapted them.

King gets earful on Common Core

Scum of the Earth Tim Daly Pulls the Race Card

“This is the first African-American leader of the State Education Department,” he said. “And to watch him be shouted at and insulted by largely white audiences in the suburbs is discomforting and it is jarring that, not only has it happened, but it has happened repeatedly.”  ... Tim Daly, TNTP

Is there a more insidious operation than Tim Daly's scam organization The New Teacher Project? I won't go deep into the weeds since so many bloggers have slammed Daly and TNTP so often. But the press always goes there to get another slimy quote.

As usual, RBE at Perdido beats me to the punch (he's so much younger) so I'll just repost:

The Reformers Play The Race Here In New York State

On the heels of Arne Duncan saying Common Core opponents are simply white suburban mothers who have found out their children are not "as brilliant as they thought" comes this doozy in the NY Times:

Some of Dr. King’s supporters blame teachers’ unions for whipping up some of the emotion. Timothy Daly, the president of the New Teacher Project, a group focused on teacher effectiveness and aligned with the reform movement, said that public displays of aggression toward Dr. King were political tactics that should be cause for concern. 

“This is the first African-American leader of the State Education Department,” he said. “And to watch him be shouted at and insulted by largely white audiences in the suburbs is discomforting and it is jarring that, not only has it happened, but it has happened repeatedly.”

Have you got that, folks?

Tim Daly says if you're criticizing Commissioner King over his education reform agenda, it's because you're a bigot and a racist.

King tells the Times that he doesn't believe racism is behind the criticism.

For once, Commissioner King gets something right.

Regents Chancellor Tisch is getting as much abuse as King is, and last time I looked, she was a rich white woman who lives in a mansion on Bloomberg's block.

Racism has nothing to do with the opposition King is facing over his reform agenda.

His reform agenda is the problem, not his race. 

The Slugs Are On the Run: Port Jefferson Teachers Association (PJSTA) President Beth Dimino shredded NYSED Commissioner John King, Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, and New York State Senator John Flanagan

Too many people can now see what’s going on here.  That’s why nothing short of a full withdrawal from Race to the Top, the Common Core, and test based evaluations is acceptable.  Not waivers for special needs students.  Not a three year moratorium.  Only a full withdrawal from the entire agenda is acceptable.... Flanagan, who hid in his office two weeks ago when 1,000 people rallied outside, looked like he wanted to slither away and hide under a rock last night.  Don’t let his arrogance fool you.  He knows the days of shoo-in victories in his senate district are over.  He knows, that palling around with John King and taking big money from Michelle Rhee have now attached him to this agenda as much as anybody else.  He knows that next November he will have to answer for the child abuse that he has supported as the chairman of the New York State Senate’s Education Committee.  He knows now that he has awoken the mommies!... PJSTA

This stuff makes me salivate. You mean there ARE union leaders who stand up instead of seeking a little stool at the table?

http://thepjsta.org/2013/11/13/dimino-you-have-awoken-the-mommies/

Dimino: “You have awoken the mommies!”

Posted on November 13, 2013 by thepjsta

In front of 900 in the Ward Melville High School auditorium, and several hundred more in the overflow cafeteria, PJSTA President Beth Dimino shredded NYSED Commissioner John King, Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, and New York State Senator John Flanagan.  She first called out King for what his agenda is: child abuse.

Then she urged Tisch to fire King, citing the 350 letters she has collected supporting this stance.  Finally she warned Flanagan that he had “awoken the mommies” and that “The mommies in New York don’t abuse their children and they’re not going to let bullies do that either!”  She walked off to a rousing standing ovation.

Tisch later stated to the crowd, “I know you are passionate.  We hear you, we get it.”  But of course we know she doesn’t.  We know that as currently constituted, NYSED, the New York State Board of Regents, the state legislature, and the governor have no plans to abandon their abusive reform agenda.  Plutocrats like Tisch stand to make far too much money to abandon the agenda.  Instead they may make minor alterations that change very little.  They will claim these alterations are examples of them listening to parents, students, and educators.  Nobody will buy it.  Their agenda is now crystal clear.  Too many people can now see what’s going on here.  That’s why nothing short of a full withdrawal from Race to the Top, the Common Core, and test based evaluations is acceptable.  Not waivers for special needs students.  Not a three year moratorium.  Only a full withdrawal from the entire agenda is acceptable.
Community members like the ones who filled the auditorium last night can’t fire the puppet John King.  We also can’t fire puppet master Merryl Tisch.  But next November we can vote out John Flanagan.  We can vote out Andrew Cuomo.  Then we can let a new state government deal with Tisch.

Flanagan, who hid in his office two weeks ago when 1,000 people rallied outside, looked like he wanted to slither away and hide under a rock last night.  Don’t let his arrogance fool you.  He knows the days of shoo-in victories in his senate district are over.  He knows, that palling around with John King and taking big money from Michelle Rhee have now attached him to this agenda as much as anybody else.  He knows that next November he will have to answer for the child abuse that he has supported as the chairman of the New York State Senate’s Education Committee.  He knows now that he has awoken the mommies!

There was a slew of coverage of last night’s event.  Just a bit of it is below…

Video here: http://youtu.be/xQbjvy1iSH0

Fox NY’s coverage.
Newsday’s story.
News12′s coverage.
Perdido Street School’s story.
Diane Ravitch’s story.

Carol Burris on Problems with APPR and the English Regents

Wouldst our union do a tenth of the work Carol is doing to expose the

Marching on NY State Ed Dept

bullshit from the crooks at the NY State Ed Department, the leaders of whom if justice is ever served, would be removed in handcuffs. Carol suggests writing them. My suggestion would be to go after them with pitchforks.

Please consider sharing this with principals, teachers, union reps and parents who would care about this.  So much of this is not known or understood.  It will be good to spread this with all who are effected by this plan.
Janine Sopp

Recently, Commissioner King imposed an APPR plan on New York City teachers. When you look at the plan, you see that the scoring band ranges for the first two categories( student growth), are dramatically different from those used this year. For example, this year's scoring bands for Ineffective range from 0-2. But NYC teachers will have an Ineffective range of 0-12. Likewise, this year Effective starts at 9, but for NYC teachers it will start at 15.

Why? Because the score band that is being used for APPR scores  has serious problems that cannot be addressed through negotiations. For example, if you get the rating of 'developing' in all three categories and the scores are on the low end of developing, you will be rated INEFFECTIVE overall.

Despite the fact that this is known to SED, they have yet to honestly address it or speak about it. What is the right thing to do? Have this year's APPR scores not count, and certainly not have scores shared with parents. It is yet to be seen if the NYC "fix" will even work.  I know this stuff can be hard to understand, (which is probably what SED is counting on), but this needs to come to light.

You can read my explanation of the problems here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/06/18/new-problems-with-new-yorks-teacher-evaluation-plan-found/

On another note, a South Side English teacher, Chris Webster, did a great job explaining how the passing and mastery cut scores for the ELA Regents were manipulated and wrote to John King about the problem. You can read his letter here:

http://roundtheinkwell.com/2013/06/22/english-teacher-the-high-stakes-testing-agenda-is-shameful/

A NYC assistant principal shows how this change made the ELA passing rate in his school dramatically drop

http://gothamschools.org/2013/06/21/broad-concerns-about-harsh-ela-regents-conversion-charts/

Is this preparation for next year's Common Core ELA exam?  The problems that are being caused by the so-called state reform agenda are staggering, as are the tax dollars being wasted. It is now officially summer, and you have a bit more time. Write to the Regents. Write to the legislature. Let them know what the first year of APPR was like. Let them know what testing is doing to your students. You can find all of the email addresses that you need on www.newyorkprincipals.org

If you send me your emails to the Regents, Commissioner, Governor etc, I will post them so that others can see them as well. 

Thanks 

Carol 

follow me on twitter @carolburris