Saturday, February 13, 2010

Problem Solved Chalkdust101

Problem Solved Chalkdust101:

"After you’ve done a thing the same way for two years, look it over carefully. After five years, look at it with suspicion. And after ten years, throw it away and start all over.

The above is from Alfred E. Perlman, a railroad visionary in the 20th Century. Much as we take inflation rates into consideration when comparing dollar amounts from past eras, I think we should do the same with time figures. When Perlman made this quote in 1958 in the midst of turning around the New York Railroad, time and change moved at a much different rate. Let’s look at this quote and remove them time factors that Perlman used.

How often do we need to review what we do as educators when it comes to our classroom or leadership practices?"
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Local News | Bellevue, Issaquah school districts seek legal advice on texts after court decisions | Seattle Times Newspaper

Local News | Bellevue, Issaquah school districts seek legal advice on texts after court decisions | Seattle Times Newspaper:

"That's what worries area school districts which say a pair of recent state court decisions on high-school math textbooks have them seeking legal advice before they make their choice.

The two decisions appear to be big wins for parents who support traditional math instruction. But educators say the Seattle case, in particular, raises questions about a district's ability to pick its own curriculum materials without fearing legal action.

'The courts ought not to be making decisions about curriculum,' said Doug Stolier, senior assistant attorney general for the state of Washington. The state Supreme Court has ruled in previous decisions that 'it's not the role of courts to be micromanaging education,' he said.

The math wars have heated up in other ways. Earlier this month, Bellevue PTSA organizers scrapped a parent math night, fearing it had been taken over by parents on only one side of the issue — those who want the district to adopt a traditional math approach."
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Sacramento Press / Girl Scout Mega Cookie Drop


Sacramento Press / Girl Scout Mega Cookie Drop:

Girl Scout Mega Cookie Drop



"The money earned from Girl Scout Cookie sales fund the Girl Scout programs that build girls of courage, confidence and character.
For more info, check out: www.girlscoutshcc.org "
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Mr. Cortines leave LAUSD now!

Mr. Cortines leave LAUSD now!
February 12, 6:01 AMLA Public Education ExaminerStuart Goldurs

According to the Los Angeles Times on February 12, 2010, you earned more than $150,000 last year for serving on the board of one of the nation's leading publshers. "Since Cortines' arrival, L.A. Unified has paid Scholastic more than $5.2 million for services and products, district records show."
Recently it was revealed that 1,700 temporary employees stayed on and their positions were funded after their jobs expired. The $200 million dollars that they received was a total loss and a waste for LAUSD. You are the man in charge, the person totally responsible for everything! 
The unions are extremely unhappy with you. Dropout rates are high. Layoffs are threatened. Furloughs are taking place. The out of the school bureaucrarcy remains intact. LAUSD does not know what to do with the poor performing schools, so they blame the teachers and are selling the schools to the highest bidders.
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We Are The World 25 For Haiti(WORLD PREMIERE OFFICIAL VIDEO HD)


Subscribe
D4ProdTV2
February 12, 2010
(less info)
http://twitter.com/D4Prod WORLD PREMIERE OFFICIAL VIDEO We Are The World 25 2010 2 MJ Michael Jackson for haiti 4 PREMIER vancouver 2010 LIL WAYNE AUTOTUNE auto tune weezy FAIL

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You Call This Transparency? :: Frederick M. Hess

You Call This Transparency? :: Frederick M. Hess

Yesterday, on a press conference call, Education Secretary Arne Duncan made the following statement about the $4.35 billion Race to the Top (RTT) program and transparency: "Our new competitive grant programs like Race to the Top and the Investing in Innovation fund include greater transparency than ever before including publishing winning and losing applications, reviewer comments, and applicant's presentations." (Thanks to Eliza Krigman of the National Journal for the quotation.) I've been asked, in light of the questions I've raised earlier this week (here, here, and here), about the department's process, and whether this means I'm satisfied and/or abashed. The answer is "neither."

First, the Duncan claim of "greater transparency than ever before" is just hyperbole. For instance, when contacted by Education Week and asked to share the names of the RTT judges or even the location as to where they were being trained, the department refused. More to the point, none of the stuff Duncan alluded to in yesterday's call has actually happened yet. At this point, it's all prospective transparency. When the department does follow through on these promises, in April or so, that will be terrific and will start to provide crucial protection against political arm-twisting, aggrieved members of Congress, and public skepticism.
Beyond that, however, it's critical to recall that the promised measures will all be after the fact and that none of them actually entails any transparency regarding the RTT process. As far as the actual real-time process, the Department of Education never announced that judges had been selected (until Education Week's Michele McNeil broke that news), hasn't explained how judges were selected or who did the selection, never explained where the 19 priorities themselves came from, hasn't explained how judges are to weigh seemingly conflicting criteria or apply the point system, hasn't explained how conflicts of interest were determined, and hasn't explained how much the secretary will choose to be bound by the review process (important because this is a discretionary program, so the reviews are purely advisory). Even the Bush administration, which I used to slam for appalling insularity and lack of transparency, did better on some of this. And those programs were only a tiny fraction the size of the historic RTT fund.
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Borderland In Case You Missed It

Borderland


In Case You Missed It

Saturday, February 6, 2010
Earlier today, Marc Dean Millot at TWIE, published a report, Three Data Points. Unconected Dots or a Warning? which seems to have been deleted. Millot reported:
I have now heard the same thing from three independent credible sources – the fix is in on the U.S. Department of Education’s competitive grants, in particular Race to the Top (RTTT) and Investing in Innovation (I3). Secretary Duncan needs to head this off now, by admitting that he and his team have potential conflicts of interests with regard to their roles in grant making, recognizing that those conflicts are widely perceived by potential grantees, and explaining how grant decisions will be insulated from interference by the department’s political appointees.
I saw the post in my news reader earlier in the day, and I figured Millot’s warning was yet one more reason to treat money cloaked as school reform with suspicion and cynicism. This evening I saw Kenneth Libby’s 

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Eduwonk � Blog Archive � Hogwarts On The Hudson?

Eduwonk � Blog Archive � Hogwarts On The Hudson?


Hogwarts On The Hudson?

Wow.  Jaw meet floor.  Scholastic, a serious publisher in the education space (that produces some good products, for instance Read 180) is now allowing its bloggers to call out senior government officials as corrupt on the basis of anonymous third party hearsay and no evidence.   We’ve crossed into a strange new - and unfortunate - world if this is the new norm or somehow even remotely acceptable.
Update:  As you can tell from the now broken link it’s to Scholastic’s credit that they’ve removed the post.
This entry was posted on Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 4:00 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

12 Responses to “Hogwarts On The Hudson?”

  1. steve f. Says:
    February 5th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
    seems like a reasonable blog post to me – he’s just asking for a bit more transparency to clear up any perception of favoritism.
    as he said, it’s not like it hasn’t happened before ;)
  2. Ed Pol Says:
    February 5th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
    Steve F.-
    The first sentence is:
    “I have now heard the same thing from three independent credible sources – the fix is in on the U.S. Department of Education’s competitive grants, in particular Race to the Top (RTTT) and Investing in Innovation (I3). ”
    Not implying anything but just asking?
  3. steve f. Says:
    February 5th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
    it’s a blog, i’m not sure of the ethics of blog publishing.
    but the post is asking whether there is favoritism at the dept of ed? that’s reasonable in my book and could be cleared up easily through a transparent process.
    the ny times uses anonymous sources all the time.
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Oakland Teachers Reject District Offer, Authorize Strike! Oakland Education Association

Oakland Education Association  About OEA


Attract/Support/Keep Quality Teachers!
It is About Priorities!


February Neighborhood Meetings
Sponsored by the
Oakland Education Association

 Monday, February 22, 6:30-7:30 pm
Montclair Women’s Club • 1650 Mountain Blvd

Join teachers, parents, students and community organizations to help Create Success in Oakland classrooms. Let’s help set OUSD priorities: keep reduced class sizes; give teachers enough planning time; provide enough materials for students and teachers; make all schools clean, healthy and safe teaching and learning environments! 



Join the discussion to Create Success! Your teachers’ working conditions are your children’s learning conditions! It is about priorities.

Oakland Education Association 272 East 12th Street Oakland, CA 94606; 510-763-4020

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California Progress Report Evans, Torres Say Governor Throwing Women Out of the Lifeboat First

California Progress Report:

"By Assemblymembers Noreen Evans and Norma Torres

SACRAMENTO – In this Democratic weekly address, Assembly Budget Chair Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) and Assemblymember Norma Torres (D-Pamona) discuss the impact of the Governor’s actions that made 100,000 women ineligible for breast cancer screening under the Every Woman Counts program. They discuss findings that this will lead to a substantial increase in later-stage breast cancer cases in low and middle-income women and drive up costs to the state.


Click onto the following link for the English language MP3 file. The running time is 2:24.
Click onto the following link for the Spanish language MP3 file. The running time is 3:27.
Website of Assemblymember Noreen Evans: www.asm.ca.gov/evans
Website of Assemblymember Norma Torres: www.asm.ca.gov/torres
Transcript:
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Los Rios Community College District Receives $5 Million Grant — The Rancho Cordova Post

Los Rios Community College District Receives $5 Million Grant — The Rancho Cordova Post


Congresswoman Doris O. Matsui will join members of the Sacramento health care and the education communities to officially announce and celebrate the release of a $5 million grant for the Los Rios Community College District. A competitive grant administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, this funding will provide Los Rios the opportunity to expand medical training programs through the establishment of a HealthForce Institute. The grant was authorized by the Recovery Act, which Rep. Matsui supported, and the Congresswoman further helped steer the money to Sacramento with a written letter of support to the Department last year on the District’s behalf.
“The Los Rios Community College District continues to shine as a resource for Sacramentans to engage in and accelerate emerging industries in our region,” said Matsui. “From health care to clean energy, Recovery Act grants continue to reinforce Sacramento’s strength in cutting-edge industries while supporting our region’s hard-working men and women. With the creation of a high-quality institute here in Sacramento to train registered nurses and health care workers, our community will benefit in two ways as we address the critical shortage of well-trained health professionals and simultaneously bolster regional job growth. I look forward to meeting the men and women who will make-up this new part of our local workforce.”
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Education Notes Online: Millot: Sound Decision or Censorship at TWIE (II)

Education Notes Online: Millot: Sound Decision or Censorship at TWIE (II)


Please be assured that this isn't really about you or the substance of your post. 
Issues of transparency and accountability have been raised by several folks including hess and edweek…
you try and make it seem to yourself like this is about some higher issue, but it's really just ego and refusing to acknowledge your role.
 
Readers might reasonably guess that the first quote is from someone who supports the argument I made on February 10 in School Matters http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2010/02/millot-sound-decision-or-censorship-at.html; the second from someone who does not. Both quotes can be found here. In a sense they would be right. The first is part of This Week in Education (TWIE)

http://www.thisweekineducation.com/ Editor Andrew Russo’s email to me of 11:06 AM (Saturday the day after he pulled “Three Data Points. Unconnected Dots or a Warning?” . (http://borderland.northernattitude.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/millot_warning.pdf) from his blog. The second, his email of 11:55 PM Monday, sent after firing me from TWIE. (A complete email record can be foundhere. (http://www.scribd.com/doc/26695687/Millot-Russo-Email-Communications-February-5-9-2010)) A new man can emerge over 60 hours – especially when he’s under pressure.
 
Why did Russo pull the post? The short answer, at least the short answer Russo offered over the phone Saturday, lies in his contract with Scholastic. TWIE is not editorially independent. Scholastic decides what will remain on his blog. On Friday afternoon, Russo’s point of contact at Scholastic
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