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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Blog U.: Read the Bad Facebook Book - Technology and Learning - Inside Higher Ed

Blog U.: Read the Bad Facebook Book - Technology and Learning - Inside Higher Ed
  • Read the Bad Facebook Book

    By Joshua Kim May 26, 2010 9:55 pm

    This recommendation is only for people who work in higher education. Civilians should stay away.

    I have 3 reasons why you should read The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal, by Ben Mezrich. (None of these reasons have anything to do with the book helping you figure out your Facebook privacy settings).

    But before I jump into my 3 reasons to read the book, I'd like give you 3 reasons as to why this is not a good book:

    Bad Book Reason 1 - Accuracy: You can pretty well assume that many (if not most) of the details in the book are inaccurate. Zuckerberg did not agree to be interviewed, so therefore all of the first person accounts that the narrative is based on will be largely self-serving and one-sided.

    Bad Book Reason 2 - History: This would have been a much better book if Mezrich had done his homework better about the history of Internet startups and the technologies and

Assembly Dems: Borrow cash to save welfare

Assembly Dems: Borrow cash to save welfare

Assembly Dems: Borrow cash to save welfare

Assembly Dems: Borrow cash to save welfare
Assembly Democrats on Tuesday unveiled a plan to fully fund education and save welfare and government...

Teachers, district remain at stalemate over pay

Oakland teachers walked away from the bargaining table this week, leaving little hope that they could...

Voters face tough choice: pay up or shutdown

Alameda voters embark today on a monthlong, mail-only election to decide whether taxes will be raised to support public schools. Both...
Chronicle 5.25.10 4:00 AM

Voucher vampires. Updated: Possible vote tonight, Wednesday. Call now: http://tinyurl.com/3y4c5on � Fred Klonsky's blog

Voucher vampires. Updated: Possible vote tonight, Wednesday. Call now: http://tinyurl.com/3y4c5on � Fred Klonsky's blog

Voucher vampires. Updated: Possible vote tonight, Wednesday. Call now: http://tinyurl.com/3y4c5on


Just when you thought it was safe, the vampire returns.
SB2494, aka the Chicago voucher bill, which we thought was dead a month ago, may return.
The bill, which would take away $100 million from public schools and hand it to private and
religious schools in Chicago, was 12 votes short of passage on May 5.

Tattooed teen will not return to NH high school Education news - Boston Globe - MCAS results - latest education news - Boston.com

Education news - Boston Globe - MCAS results - latest education news - Boston.com

Tattooed teen will not return to NH high school

A special needs student that police say was coerced into getting a tattoo is no longer attending Concord High School.

How should we teach our future teachers?

Hemant Mehta's formal training taught him how to write a lesson plan and how public schooling began in the U.S., but it was useless when it came to keeping order in the classroom and getting students to pay attention.

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Schools Matter: $50 Million for CMOs

Schools Matter: $50 Million for CMOs

$50 Million for CMOs

The Office of Innovation and Improvement (i3) recently announced $50 million in competitive funding for non-profit charter management organizations (CMOs).

A few interesting tidbits:

1. Only non-profit CMOs are eligible. That would exempt Imagine (although they still claim to be a nonprofit), White Hat, etc.

2. Even if Imagine claims to be a non-profit, they might be exempt because the program specifies the CMO must not have "significant issues in the areas of student safety, financial management, or statutory or regulatory

Remainders: Four ways to do layoffs, and no clear favorites | GothamSchools

Remainders: Four ways to do layoffs, and no clear favorites | GothamSchools

Remainders: Four ways to do layoffs, and no clear favorites

No charter cap deal today; teacher eval bill’s fate also unclear

There won’t be a deal to allow more charter schools in New York today, either, our sources on the train back from Albany report.
That leaves tomorrow and Friday for lawmakers to figure out a way to boost the state’s chances in the Race to the Top competition — without throwing away their concerns with charter schools. The final deadline for submitting an application is June 1, next Tuesday. Lawmakers have Monday off for Memorial Day.
As the deadline nears, a standoff is developing between the state Senate and the Assembly. Each chamber has passed its own legislation tied to Race to the Top: The state Senate already passed a bill that would raise the


Door to door in Crown Heights with a charter school foot soldier

Bianca Blake (check!) and George Banning in Crown Heights, Brooklyn
George Banning canvasses for charter school advocates in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
As next week’s Race to the Top deadline approaches, pro-charter advocates are marshaling all their resources to lift the state’s cap on charter schools. George Banning is one of their foot soldiers.
It’s been hard to miss the advocacy group Education Reform Now’s pro-charter, anti-teachers union ad blitz. The group, backed by millions of dollars raised largely from hedge fund managers, spent $750,000 on a television ad buy last week, for example. Its web ads plaster Google, Facebook and news websites.
But the group is also trying to rally support for its efforts in Albany by sending roughly 40 canvassers like

Now Big Gov/Biz Wants To Test Kids On Collaboration Skills? - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

Now Big Gov/Biz Wants To Test Kids On Collaboration Skills? - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

Now Big Gov/Biz Wants To Test Kids On Collaboration Skills?

Gulf Oil Spill:
The "Morning Joe" Segment Below
May Blow Your Mind

"SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT"


A "Test-Worthy" Example of
Problem-Solving, Collaboration,
Communication & Critical Thinking Skills

By C.J. Westerberg

Senator Sessions (R) from Alabama, Joe Scarborough (where the oil spill hitting his home-town back-yard, is almost frothing at the mouth) and Mika Brzezinski, rightfully so, ask why hasn't President Obama been convening every bright mind in the world ....getting the best minds together -- to solve this problem? The oil is spewing, birds and wildlife are being suffocated, and now chemicals that have been approved by the EPA are, well, now being questioned as may being not the best choice, with the related implications to the fishing & tourist businesses (basically the lifeblood of this area) representing 1/3 our national seafood, let alone the bigger impact on the entire eco-system in the Gulf? Do we really think this just affects a few fishermen? What about the pregnant mom in Seattle or New York who eats the fish or shrimp that "got through the system" in a few years? And we are waiting for a big executive from BP to tell us what is going on? Horrors! Where the hell is everybody?

Sorry, just not good enough.

With NYTimes Andrew Ross Sorkin and Mike Barnicle shaking their heads in dismay on the s-l-o-w developments in the Gulf, it is apparent there is not much going on in the communication,

School: Sacramento special needs student, 13, arrested after fight, attack on cop | News10.net | Sacramento, California | Local News

School: Sacramento special needs student, 13, arrested after fight, attack on cop | News10.net | Sacramento, California | Local News

Sacramento special needs student, 13, arrested after fight, attack on cop

Jason Kobely Last updated 2 hrs ago

SACRAMENTO, CA - Sacramento police and school authorities are looking into what happened on the campus of a south Sacramento middle school after a 13-year-old special needs student was pepper-sprayed and arrested after allegedly attacking a police officer, according to school officials.

The incident started on the campus of Rosa Parks Middle School on 68th Avenue in south Sacramento around 2 p.m. Tuesday when the boy alleged started a fight with another 13-year-old student, Sacramento City Unified School District spokesman Gabe Ross said.

Ross said the boy continued to fight with school staff as they broke up the brawl. When the boy was taken to a private room to give a statement about the fight to a Sacramento police officer, Ross said the student became aggressive again, attacking the officer with a chair.

Fearing for his safety, the officer used pepper spray on the teen and arrested the boy on charges of felony assault, resisting arrest and vandalism, Sacramento police Sgt. Norm Leong said.

During the altercation, Ross said the student smashed a glass window, opening a large cut on his hand. The boy was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment.

"There's nothing more important than the safety of our students," Ross said. "We're trying to gather as much information as we can to figure out what happened and to make sure nothing like this happens again."

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Cleaning up Rhee's act

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Cleaning up Rhee's act

Cleaning up Rhee's act


D.C. Rhee offered to clean up her crappy image for fiance [not finance, WaPo copy ed.] K.J. He says, "Honey, just be you. Let's not create false hope." (Bill Turque in Washington Post)

The Education Report Big changes in Oakland’s special ed department

The Education Report

Big changes in Oakland’s special ed department

By Katy Murphy
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010 at 3:42 pm in special education

The Oakland school district’s special education department is about to undergo some serious staffing changes. Not only is its executive director, Lisa Ryan Cole, leaving, but so are elementary school coordinator Kimberly Noble and personnel coordinator Iris Wesselmann.

To top it off, all of the coordinators’ administrative assistants have been bumped into other jobs, according to Ryan Cole. (More on bumping — a huge issue right now – later.) “There are a lot of changes, and I want to believe they are going to be positive for the kids in this district,” she said.

Read the rest of this entry »

Destroying Public Education in America: Part II | Dissident Voice | Educational New York

Destroying Public Education in America: Part II | Dissident Voice | Educational New York

Destroying Public Education in America: Part II | Dissident Voice