1. Teach for America (TFA)
1.1. Ironies of TFA
1.2. Insights from College Student Re: TFA
1.3. Hidden agenda of TFA
1.4. Why TFA Can't Recruit in my Classroom
2. Start Here - Big Picture
2.1. Going Public:(Documentary in Progress)
2.2. Connecting the dots
2.3. The major players
2.3.1. Broad Exposed
2.3.1.1. ALEC and the education reform agenda
2.3.1.1.1. Corporate Reform organizations
2.3.1.1.2. DOE emails reveal connection to Gates, Murdoch, etc.
2.4. America's education crisis and who stands to gain
2.5. Diane Ravitch video
2.5.1. Rise Above the Mark: Documentary
2.6. ALEC exposed
2.6.1. Which CEO made $5 million stealing your child's lunch money?
2.6.1.1. Privatizing schools
2.6.2. Creating a scheme to deem public schools "educationally bankrupt"
2.7. It's time to wake up America
2.8. Will this new teacher survive?
2.9. Ted Talk: Occupy Kindergarten
2.10. The Benevolent Arrogance of Self-Insulated Power
2.11. Laying Seige to NJ public schools
2.12. A Warning to professors From A High School Teacher
2.13. Challenging Corporate Education Reform & Ten Hopeful Signs of resistance
2.13.1. A Primer on corporate school reform
2.14. Let's apply the lessons of NCLB to the Common Core
2.15. What happens when profits drive reforms?
2.16. Conversations with Arne Duncan
2.16.1. Arne Duncan Open Letter Makes Teachers Furious
2.17. History of the reform movement
2.17.1. The Bait and Switch of the Reform Movement
2.17.1.1. Why The US is Destroying Its Educational System
2.18. A Call for President Obama to Change Course on Education Reform
2.19. You might be a reformer if...
2.20. Achievement Gap Starts Before School Starts
2.21. Bill Gates: Selling Bad Advice to Public Schools
2.22. Why 'School Reform' is a Misnomer
2.23. US vs High Achieving Nations
2.24. Ironic Extremes Lauding and Bashing Teachers
2.25. Will Firing 5-10% of Teachers Make us Finland?
2.26. What International Test Scores Really Tell Us: Lessons Buried in PISA Report
2.27. Is School Reform Making us Less Competitive?
2.28. Big Funders - CHART
2.29. How Billionaires Run Our Schools - MSNBC News Clip Interview
2.30. Reforms Parents Should Worry About Most
2.31. A Few Quick Fixes For School Accountability Systems
3. Actions to Take
3.1. Join SOSNJ
3.2. NJEA letter writing to State Board of Education members
3.3. Fair Test Organization
3.4. Join National Opt Out
3.5. Sign the National resolution against standardized tests
3.6. United Opt Out resources
3.7. How to help the movement
3.8. Opt Out Letters
3.8.1. Opt Out: An Open Letter to Parents
3.9. Eight steps to work for testing reform
3.10. NJ Opt Out of testing
3.11. If you Want to Save America's Public Schools: Replace Secretary of Education Arne Duncan With a Lifetime Educator."
3.12. Educate * Organize * Mobilize - A Toolkit
3.13. NJDOE Broadcast list - check regularly
4. Alternatives: There is a Better Way
4.1. Education in Finland
4.1.1. Dan Rather Report
4.1.2. Canadian Radio Broadcast
4.1.3. Ted Talk: GERM that kills schools
4.1.4. Finnish Lessons
4.1.5. What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's Success
4.1.6. The Children Must Play
4.2. Create a Design
4.3. Alternate teacher evaluation model
4.3.1. research PAR
4.4. An Open Letter to Bill Gates: Why Not Measure This?
4.5. Zinn Education Project
4.6. WhyTeachers Should put Students to Work
4.7. The Value of a school librarian
4.8. Culture and work environment more important than salary
4.9. In Support of the Whole Child
4.10. Teacher Leadership as a School Improvement Strategy
5. Inspiration
5.1. MLK: There comes a time...
5.2. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” ― Margaret Mead
5.3. “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” AND "Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person." ― Mother Teresa
5.4. Surely, we should demand more from our schools than to educate people to be proficient in reading and mathematics. Too many highly proficient people commit fraud, pursue paths to success marked by greed, and care little about how their actions affect the lives of others. - Nel Noddings
5.5. Excellence in education is when we do everything that we can to make sure they become everything that they can. - Carol Tomlinson
5.6. Pink Flyod - Another Brick in the Wall
5.7. Not on the Test - song
5.8. More Than a Number: song for kids
5.9. DangerousTalk
5.10. “What the best and wisest parent wants for his child, that must we want for all the children of the community. Anything less is unlovely, and left unchecked, destroys our democracy.” --John Dewey
5.11. With great knowledge comes great responsibility
5.12. Darkness can only persist in the absence of light
5.13. Rise Above the Mark: documentary trailer
6. Major Movements Across the Nation
6.1. Occupy DOE 2013
6.2. The end is coming. High stakes testing must go.
6.3. LA teachers use privitization to build community movement
6.3.1. California Governor Puts the Testing Juggernaut on Ice
6.4. Two moms take on Common Core
6.5. Rhode Island
6.5.1. Student zombies protest standardized tests in RI
6.6. Seattle Boycotts
6.6.1. Seattle Teachers Protest Exams
6.7. Opting out in NY
6.7.1. Long Island Principals - Open Letter opposing evaluating teachers with VAM
6.7.1.1. New Paltz School Board Unanimously Passes Resolution Against High Stakes Testing
6.7.1.1.1. NY mom writes a letter to NY state Department of Education re: memo sent to all district superintendents intending to scare them into not allowing families to opt out of standardized tests
6.8. Madison, NJ superintendent speaks out
6.8.1. The NJ Education Reform Train Wreck
6.8.1.1. The Teacher Evaluation Traveling Road Show Plays Trenton
6.8.2. Engelwood Panel speaks out against standardized tests
6.9. More than 130 Massachusetts professors and researchers urge less reliance on standardized tests
6.10. Is Texas ending standardized testing
6.10.1. Teaxas- revolts brewing against standardized testing
6.10.2. Thousands Rally in Texas for Education Reform
6.10.3. Robert Scott (TX) Blasts Common Core-Video
6.10.3.1. Former Texas Chief Takes Anti Common Core Show on the Road
6.10.4. Texas senators slam testing regime
6.10.4.1. Testing has become a 'perversion' claims ex Texas ed Commissioner
6.11. Federal commission on equity blasts reforms
6.12. Standardized tests boycotts
6.13. It is time we threw standardized tests out the door
6.14. Georgia wastes money on testing
6.15. Alabama Withdraws From Both Testing Consortia
6.16. Kansas - former Texas Education Commissioner addresses Legislature about dangers of Common core
6.17. Common Core Rumblings in Utah and South Carolina
6.18. Indiana Senate Votes to Halt Common Core Standards
6.19. Maryland Superintendent Calls for Three Year Moratorium on Standardized Tests
6.20. Standford - Pearson Test for New Teachers Draws Fire
7. Reform Topics
7.1. High Stakes Testing
7.1.1. What's Wrong? (Infographic)
7.1.2. Cartoon: When Teachers Are Forced to Teach to the Test
7.1.3. High Stakes Testing Research
7.1.4. Why Bill Gates Favors Testing
7.1.5. PARCC Testing Expense
7.1.5.1. Cost to Piscataway
7.1.5.1.1. Cost to Jackson
7.1.5.2. PARCC States
7.1.5.2.1. PARCC Homepage
7.1.6. Pressure to Raise Scores Corrupts
7.1.6.1. Campbell's Law
7.1.7. Narrowing of Curriculum
7.1.7.1. Arts in LosAngeles
7.1.8. Not a Valid Measure
7.1.8.1. Opting Out
7.1.8.1.1. Minority Opting Out
7.1.9. The end is coming
7.1.10. 10 facts you might not have known about high stakes testing in NYC
7.1.11. Definition of high stakes testing
7.1.12. What is NCLB
7.1.13. Appropriate use of standardized tests
7.1.14. Biggest testing scandal of all
7.1.15. Legal consequences of using high stakes testing to evaluate teachers
7.1.16. Battle Creek Editorial: High Stakes Testing is Killing Our Schools
7.1.17. Feds cut funding - but testing will survive
7.1.18. Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC)
7.1.19. Teachers sound off about testing
7.1.20. Has Testing Reached a Tipping Point?
7.1.21. Testing Mandates Flunk Cost-Benefit Analysis
7.1.22. Complete List of Problems with High Stakes Testing
7.2. Charter Schools
7.2.1. Why Hedge Funds Favor Charter Schools
7.2.2. Former Public Schools, Now Charter
7.2.3. How to Privatize in 12 Steps
7.2.4. Gulen Schools
7.2.4.1. Charter tied to Turkey-TX
7.2.4.2. Bill Gates Funds Gulen Schools (Source?)
7.2.4.3. Gulen Charters Expand in NJ
7.2.5. Charter school scandals
7.2.6. Corporate takeover of Illinios schools
7.2.7. Charter scandal in NJ
7.2.7.1. Effects of charter enrollment on Newark district enrollment
7.2.8. Chinese investors invest millions in Florida charters
7.2.9. Have a just closed public school ? Give it to a chater at no cost
7.2.10. From Portfolios to Parasites: The Unfortunate Path of U.S. Charter School Policy
7.2.11. Newark Parents and Activists Head to D.C. for Civil Rights Hearing Over School Closings
7.2.12. Florida Public Charter School Linked To Scientology
7.2.13. Revisiting The "Best Evidence" Theory of Charter School Performance
7.2.14. GREAT Charter School OVERVIEW by STAN KARP of the Education Law Center
7.3. New Teacher Evaluation Models
7.3.1. Connecticut
7.3.2. How NJASK will be used as a growth model for NJ teacher evaluation
7.3.2.1. Another example from the NJDOE website
7.3.3. NY - 19 Legislators
7.3.3.1. Comments on the NY Teacher/Principal Rating Models Report
7.3.3.1.1. 2011-2012 Growth Model for Educator Evaluation Technical Report
7.3.4. Speeding up the treadmill
7.3.5. A Teacher Evaluation Session Out of 'Star Wars'
7.3.6. Teachers Remain Skeptical About New Evaluation System
7.3.6.1. Teacher Evaluation Skeptics: Don't Doubt us
7.3.7. Teacher Evaluation: getting it right takes time
7.3.8. Ed Reform 101: Teachers
7.3.8.1. Overemphasis on Teachers' Effect on Student Achievement
7.3.8.1.1. Research on Teacher Effect on Student Achievement
7.3.9. A Validity Argument Approach to Evaluating Teachers with Value Added Scores - A research study
7.3.9.1. Researchers brief to congress on problems with value added measures
7.3.9.1.1. Value Added Measuring - a study
7.3.10. A Three Way Error Analysis of Educational Productivity
7.3.11. Take Your SGP and VAMit, Damit!
7.3.11.1. A Few Points About the Instability of Value-Added Measures
7.3.11.1.1. When Growth Isn't Really Growth
7.3.12. How to evaluate dentists (a metaphor on teacher evaluation)
7.3.13. Letter from Assessment Experts
7.3.14. Leading Mathematician Debunks Value Added Measures
7.3.15. Why We Shouldn't Link Teacher Evaluation to Test Scores
7.3.15.1. Why we Shouldn't Assess Teachers with Standardized Test Scores
7.3.16. Letter to district admin about unveiling teacher eval details March 2013
7.3.17. Jesse Rothstein: Using Value Added to Asses teachers. What could go wrong? video
7.3.18. American Education Research Association - A Research Briefing - Getting Teacher Evaluation Right - A Challenge for Policy Makers
7.4. Common Core
7.4.1. CCSS = more standardized testing
7.4.2. Gates financed common core
7.4.3. The not so common core standards: implications for all
7.4.4. Susan Ohanian blasts the common core
7.4.5. Choking on the Common Core Standards
7.4.6. Opposition to Common Core Grows Across the Political Spectrum
7.4.7. The Core Conundrum
7.4.8. Common Core Nationally Imposed - Timeline
7.4.9. Common Core background info
7.4.10. Speaking Back to the COmmon Core
7.4.11. Why I Cannot Support the Common Core Standards - Diane Ravitch
7.4.11.1. WhyThe Common Core Will Fail
7.4.11.1.1. My Concerns About The Common Core
7.4.12. infographic
7.5. Virtual Schools
7.5.1. Some Cyber Schools Falling Short of their Sales Pitch; NPR
7.5.2. k12 website
7.6. Poverty
7.6.1. Bill and Arne's Misguided Adventure: An Open Letter
7.6.2. How to address poverty
7.6.3. Will more Gatesian measurements improve education for the poor?
7.6.4. Study shows growing education gap between rich and poor
8. Blogs & Websites
8.1. Jersey Jazzman
8.2. Diane Ravitch
8.3. Shanker Blog
8.4. Students Last
8.5. Deborah Meier
8.6. @ the chalk face
8.7. School Finance 101 - Bruce Baker
8.8. Edushyster
8.9. Answer Sheet
8.10. Ed Notes
8.11. Education Reform: A Blog of Cartoons
8.12. Cloaking Inequality
8.13. Education Law center
8.14. Deciminyan
8.15. Class Size Matters
8.16. K-12 News Network
8.17. Mother Crusader
8.18. Parents Across America
8.19. PureParents.org
8.20. Rethinking Shools
8.21. Pencils Down: Rethinking High Stakes Testing and Accountability in Public Schools
8.22. Testing to Dispair
9. Who profits?
9.1. Pearson
9.1.1. No Educator Left Behind: Pearson, Leading Scorer of Standardized Tests, Subpoenaed
9.2. Business Opportunities Seen in New Tests, Low Scores
9.3. Private Firms Eyeing Profits From U.S. Public Schools
9.4. Duncan Press Secretary working for Murdoch
9.5. Balancing Opportunity and Risk In North american K12 Publishing
9.6. Billionaires for Education Reform
9.7. Big Funders - CHART
9.8. Cuomo + Common Core + Pearson = profits$
10. Rebuilding Teachers Unions with a focus on Social Justice
10.1. New Teachers Union Movement in the Making
10.2. Lessons in Social Justice Unionism
10.3. Best resources for Understanding Why Teachers Unions are Important
10.4. Book- The Future of our Schools: Teachers Unions and Social Justice
10.5. Moving From Ideology To Evidence In The Debate About Public Sector Unions
10.6. The New Great Debate about Unionism and Collective Bargaining in U.S. - research study Cornell
10.7. How to Make a Misleading Public/Private Earnings Gap Disappear
11. Documents/Research
11.1. Highlights from PISA 2009
12. NJDOE Documents
12.1. EE4NJ
12.1.1. Contradictions to MET Survey
12.1.2. Rubenstein
12.1.3. 50 Million Dollar Lie
12.1.3.1. Gates Still Doesn't Get it. Circular reasoning by bruce baker