Dear Commons Community,

The Huffington Post is reporting that Mitt Romney in an interview with a local television network stated:

“the protesters rallying against Bank of America in Charlotte this week are too young “to really understand how the economy works.”

“Unfortunately, a lot of young folks haven’t had the opportunity to really understand how the economy works, and what it takes to put people to work in real jobs, and why we have banks, and what banks do,” Romney told WBTV in Charlotte, according to National Journal. “It’s a very understandable sentiment if you don’t find a job, and you can’t see rising incomes. You’re going to be angry and looking at someone to blame.”

Romney said the protesters’ blame should be targeted at “the president and the old school liberals that have not gotten this economy turned around.” He made a not-so-subtle 2012 push, insisting he’s the one who “understands how to get the economy going again.”

The protesters — which included Occupy Wall Street activists, environmentalists, pro-union advocates and victims of home foreclosures — held massive demonstrations outside of Bank of America’s shareholder meeting in Charlotte on Wednesday. Occupiers saw the event as a trial run ahead of September’s Democratic National Convention, which will have an increased police presence thanks to a City Council ordinance from earlier this year.

I am 64 years old and I love talking and discussing various issues about education, technology, and life in general with my students most of whom are in their twenties and thirties.  They are so smart and see and hear things in different ways.  I am proud to say that I learn from them. I would suggest that Mr. Romney take a chance and talk to some young people.  He may be surprised at what they know.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The New York Daily News is reporting that former New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein closely coordinated with charter school lobbyists on a 2010 campaign in Albany, even helping to raise money for private groups.  A slew of emails released Friday shows:

“As part of the effort to increase the number of charter schools in New York, Department of Education officials and charter supporters tallied votes from legislators together, collaborated on op-ed pieces and applauded each other while bashing critics — as well as state Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch,…

In one of the cozy communications — obtained by the Daily News after the teachers union requested them under the Freedom of Information Law — New York City Charter School Center executive director James Merriman asks Klein for a “public shoutout from mayor today.”

Two of the emails revolve around an apparent fund-raising call involving Klein, Deputy Chancellor John White and others. In an email from White, Klein is directed on what talking points to discuss in a call that was to include “options for funders…

Dick Dadey, of good-government group Citizens Union, called Klein’s use of his public email address to help raise money a “gray area” requiring approval from the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board.  “A city official should not be raising money for a private enterprise using government resources…”

Dear Commons Community,

There is an interesting piece in the New York Times education website from John Albin, a parent of a school-age child and  the director of purchasing and contracts at Hunter College of the City University of New York, who is formally requesting access to New York State’s standardized tests under FOIL (Freedom of Information Law).  His rationales are that as a parent and a taxpayer he has a right to know about the assessments being used to judge his child’s performance and also how the state is spending his money. He expresses his concern as:

“The debates surrounding high-stakes testing also capture my attention because of my career history: I started out in educational publishing and moved on to public administration, spending much of the last 20 years on performance metrics, accountability and contracting.

So as word began to leak out about pineapple-gate and the other testing gaffes, I started poring over news accounts, editorials and public commentary from educators.

I learned that the tests themselves are being kept secret because the state Department of Education and Pearson, their test development contractor, wrote strong confidentiality provisions into the contract. My understanding is that this was so that they both could reuse test questions in the future. In order for the questions to be reusable, they have to be kept secret, otherwise students could prep too easily for the tests, and Pearson’s other customers would be able to get the tests from the public domain.

We only know about the gaffes because students exposed them. Educators have been sworn to secrecy. The Education Department has emphasized their concerns about test prep, but to me the secrecy seems rooted in economics: Secrecy saves New York on future test development costs and makes it easier for Pearson to re-sell the questions it created for New York (at New York taxpayers’ expense) in other states. “

I would add that since school policy makers and politicians such as Mayor Michael Bloomberg have gone to great efforts to demand public disclosure of public school teacher evaluations, it is only fitting that the public also know the instruments being used to evaluate teachers – talking pineapples and all.  Go for it for John!!

Tony