Readicide and the Common Core

The common core has been murderous for English classrooms, mandating that students read over 50% informational text throughout grade school and as high as 80% in eighth grade and beyond. Articles from 'Popular Mechanics' about driverless cars and why blue whales are so enormous have taken the place of classic literature because, according to the drafters, boys do not read fiction and prefer topics such as technology, history and science. Most importantly, students need to be able to analyze text, think critically, develop logical arguments and defend these arguments with evidence cited from multiple pieces of text. 

Sounds like we're grooming future lawyers and politicians, not readers, writers and thinkers.

The common core crew chatters on and on about how teachers need to have mastery of the content they are teaching in order to guide  learners  to "work towards gaining a deep meaning of the content; an understanding that goes beyond the surface knowledge of facts and information....to promote "deep reflection of the content and concepts covered..."  

(If the amount of buzzwords crammed into those two sentences haven't made you roll your eyes in disdain, here's some more!)

 "Learners are asked to develop and use skills for reflective practice through discussing, reviewing, analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing" 

It's clear that none of the creators of the Common Core ELA standards have ever read Jules Verne, Richard Wright, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Ralph Ellison (authors that appeal to boys, by the way...and foster a bit more thinking, pondering and discussion than the fatness of whales).

For all those Radical English Teachers out there, I will be compiling some of the best excerpts from classic texts that unfortunately our students are not being exposed to in future posts. 

Stay tuned...

William Shakespeare-Top Ten

top ten quotes

 by william shakespeare

ten

nine

   

                                                                        eight

                             

                                                                      seven

six

five

four

three

two

                                                                 

one

Does the success of black boys really matter to liberals?

                                


Thomas Howell-              

"We keep hearing that “black lives matter,” but they seem to matter only when that helps politicians to get votes, or when that slogan helps demagogues demonize the police. The other 99 percent of black lives destroyed by people who are not police do not seem to attract nearly as much attention in the media. 

We have heard a lot about black students’ failing to meet academic standards. So you might think that it would be front-page news when some schools not only meet, but exceed, the academic standards of schools in more-upscale communities.

Only 39 percent of all students in New York state schools who were tested recently scored at the “proficient” level in math, but 100 percent of the students at the Crown Heights Success Academy school scored at that level in math. Blacks and Hispanics are 90 percent of the students in the Crown Heights Success Academy.

The Success Academy schools in general ranked in the top 2 percent in English and in the top 1 percent in math. Hispanic students in these schools reached the “proficient” level in math nearly twice as often as Hispanic students in the regular public schools. Black students in these Success Academy schools reached the “proficient” level more than twice as often as black students in the regular public schools."

What about black success? Does that matter? Apparently not so much."


If you talk to an average liberal democrat about charter schools, they will most likely parrot back the same talking points touted by MSNBC, Huffington Post and DeBlasio as to how charters siphon money away from public school kids, discriminate against students who need special education and ELL's, line the pockets of wall street investors and deny teachers a living wage, pension and tenure.
                
Yet, you never hear about how these innovative school models are single handedly altering the life path of black and hispanic boys in poor neighborhoods throughout America by employing strategies in direct opposition to our failing traditional public schools-strict discipline, traditional curriculum emphasizing literature, sciences, history and mathematics, personal accountability for student success from all teachers, administrators, parents and students, and proactive intervention to support students before they can fail (as opposed to the traditional and asinine model of remediation or worse, special education and prison).

Which leads me back to my original question-

Does the success of black boys really matter to liberals?



http://www.ebony.com/news-views/education/butler-prep-christopher-goins#axzz4i3DipAGm

http://madamenoire.com/108405/six-african-american-high-schools-that-can-get-100-of-seniors-accepted-to-college/

http://excellenceboys.uncommonschools.org/excellence-boys/our-school/elementary-academy/academics

NYC DOE Special Education Reform-Part I

Consider the following scenarios, occurring across the NYC Department of Education at an increasingly alarming rate ever since the 'Special Education Reform-2012' was rolled out:

• Bob and Jane, an average couple living in Queens, go to their zoned public elementary school in order to enroll their five year old son, Harry, in kindergarten. He has special education needs, and is referred for a 12.1.1 class in his community school district on his Individualized Educational Plan, or IEP. Upon arrival, Bob and Jane are told by an Assistant Principal that the elementary school 'does not offer self contained classes', and their son would either have to be placed in an Integrated Co-Teaching Class with 30 students and two teachers, one general education and one special education.

• Joe is 10 years old and has been attending PS 123 in Brooklyn for elementary school. He is in the 4th grade, in an ICT class of 28 students and two teachers. Over the past several months, his behavior has gotten worse. The IEP team, comprised of his teachers, a school psychologist and parents, sit down to meet and discuss options. The team is recommending a 12.1.1 class in District 75, the self contained school district for special education students in NYC. Dad asks why he can't be in a smaller class and stay at PS 123, and the team tells him that PS 123 is fully inclusive, does not offer self-contained classes, and Joe would have to attend a different school.

• Mary is 9 and is diagnosed with Autism. She has an IQ in the 'superior' range. Her family recently moved from Florida to Staten Island, and her parents are trying to enroll her in third grade. She was in a general education class in Florida with a 1:1 paraprofessional. The Principal tells her parents that the teachers in the school are not 'specialized in Autism' and that they should enroll her in one of the DOE specialized programs for Autism such as ASD/NEST, Horizons or District 75. When dad protests, saying that Mary has always been successful in a regular class, the Principal gets angry and snaps, "We are a general education school, sir. We don't have the ability to create a special Autism program for your daughter and neglect our other 400 plus students".

Not making sense? It shouldn't be...    

Perhaps you have heard the slogan, "Special education is a service, not a place."

Perhaps you have read an article about how self contained classrooms have become the 'dumping ground' for challenging students the schools want to get rid of.

Perhaps you have watched a news story exposing the disproportionate amount of black boys being diagnosed as 'Emotionally Disturbed' and/or 'Learning Disabled.'

Or, how self-contained classrooms fuel the 'school to prison' pipeline by segregating students with behavior problems, restricting their access to their general education peers that serve as models of pro-active behavior, and result in these students only getting worse.

Special education advocates have fought long and hard for students to be included in general education to the greatest extent possible and receive their services in the least restrictive environment. The reforms enacted by the DOE mandate that all students, regardless of disability classification, program recommendation, services mandated and/or supports required, should attend their local community school with their neighborhood peers.

Sounds great, right? What on earth has been happening since 2012?

Why are schools eliminating all self-contained classes?

Or forcing parents to choose between an Integrated Co-Teaching/ICT class of 30 students, or being shipped off to District 75 for a 12.1.1 program even if their child does not display severe and profound disabilities?

Why are school principals making the decision to only offer certain special education programs and refuse others, and how are they being allowed to get away with this?

And, if the 'Continuum of Services for Special Education'  clearly states that self-contained classes (15:1 and 12:1) are the least restrictive option for students and should be considered before making a referral for a self-contained class in a specialized school district, why are IEP teams ignoring this left and right?


Find out soon-NYC DOE Special Education Reform-Part II