Saturday, October 9, 2010

Daily Kos: Education: Manifesto versus Manifesto

Education: Manifesto versus Manifesto

by teacherken

Sat Oct 09, 2010 at 04:49:36 PM PDT

Sunday's Washington Post features How to fix our schools: A manifesto by Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee and other education leaders. I will be blunt. It is anti-teacher, anti-teacher union. My good friend Anthony Cody rightly calls it A Manifesto of Error Consider only this:

The glacial process for removing an incompetent teacher -- and our discomfort as a society with criticizing anyone who chooses this noble and difficult profession -- has left our school districts impotent and, worse, has robbed millions of children of a real future.

That is baloney. Any administration doing its job can move incompetent teachers, (a) would not hire them or (b) allow them to get tenure in the first place.

I refuse to quote more. Instead let me offer a different and better vision, written 20 years ago by Ken Goodman, and titled A Declaration of Professional Conscience for Teachers.

PLEASE - keep reading

teacherken's diary :: ::

This link, identical to that above the fold, will take

Catalyst Notebook :: State issues draft of new rules for principal preparation programs

Catalyst writers and editors share their perspectives, analyses and the news behind the news on improving Chicago area public schools. Our on-the-ground reports will tell you what’s happening in schools and education circles here and elsewhere. Our views will tell you what to make of it.

State issues draft of new rules for principal preparation programs

In late September, the Illinois State Board of Education released draft rules raising the standards for principal and assistant principal preparation. Now, the rules face public comment, and some universities have pledged to oppose them.

Continue Reading State issues draft of new rules for principal preparation programs »

Posted By: Rebecca Harris On Fri Oct 8, 2010 In Principals
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In the News: S&P downgrades CPS bonds; Justice Dept. targets racial disparities in disciplineThe outlook for the Chicago Board of Education has turned negative, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said on Thursday, citing the state's financial woes and the district's "limited ability" to raise more funds.

Continue Reading In the News: S&P downgrades CPS bonds; Justice Dept. targets racial disparities in discipline »

Posted By: Cassandra West On Fri Oct 8, 2010 In In the News
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In the News: City Council orders CPS to put off Whittier demolitionThe City Council on Wednesday "ordered" Chicago Public Schools to postpone demolition of the Whittier School field house and restore heat cut off on protesting Pilsen parents.

Continue Reading In the News: City Council orders CPS to put off Whittier demolition »

“The bankrupt ’school reform manifesto’ of Rhee, Klein, etc.” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

“The bankrupt ’school reform manifesto’ of Rhee, Klein, etc.” Valerie Strauss at the Washington Post has just published “The bankrupt ’school reform manifesto’ of Rhee, Klein, etc.” It’s her commentary on the recent appalling piece authored by several School Superintendents published by the Post (see What Are ...

Interested In Hosting An Upcoming Edition Of The ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival? The ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival has been going on for over three years. You can see all of them here. Every other month, blog posts from English teachers all around the world are combined into one post hosted by a teacher. Leave a comment on this post ...

Suicide surge: Schools confront anti-gay bullying - Boston.com

Suicide surge: Schools confront anti-gay bullying

By David Crary

AP National Writer / October 9, 2010

Text size – +

NEW YORK—A spate of teen suicides linked to anti-gay harassment is prompting school officials nationwide to rethink their efforts against bullying -- and in the process, risk entanglement in a bitter ideological debate.

The conflict: Gay-rights supporters insist that any effective anti-bullying program must include specific components addressing harassment of gay youth. But religious conservatives condemn that approach as an unnecessary and manipulative tactic to sway young people's views of homosexuality.

It's a highly emotional topic. Witness the hate mail -- from the left and right -- directed at Minnesota's Anoka-Hennepin School District while it reviews its anti-

Saturday Solutions: Humanize Schools � Failing Schools

Saturday Solutions: Humanize Schools

OCTOBER 9, 2010

by Sabrina

One main reason I stopped believing in the dominant narrative about school reform is because I experienced firsthand how top-down policy churn impacts teachers’ ability to focus on our actual work. When people who are too far removed from the classroom attempt to control what’s happening there, problems arise. Standardization becomes virtually irresistible, because it makes it so much easier to perform “quality control” (which then ends up being more about conformity than actual quality). And of course, there has to be some way of tracking what’s going on, so documenting and reporting on your work becomes an urgent responsibility. This documentation has to be friendly to the non-educators who increasingly run schools, too, which means it will most likely be reductive in nature.

That, of course, has the unfortunate consequence of turning principals and district personnel into

The Answer Sheet - The bankrupt 'school reform manifesto' of Rhee, Klein, etc.

The bankrupt 'school reform manifesto' of Rhee, Klein, etc.

There are so many things wrong with the new “school reform manifesto” signed by 16 school district chiefs -- including New York’s Joel Klein and Washington’s Michelle Rhee -- and published in The Washington Post that it is hard to know where to start. There’s the intellectual dishonesty and scapegoating: It starts by saying that everybody is responsible for improving schools but then proceeds to bash teachers, and doesn’t say a single thing about the responsibility of superintendents. After eight years as the czar of New York City’s public schools, Klein might want to stop blaming other people for his failures.

Old school. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Old school.

by preaprez

Happy 70th birthday.

Saturday coffee.

by preaprez

Anne and I took a break from our diet regimen of coffee and oat meal for Saturday breakfast. It such a beautiful Chicago Fall morning. We put the top down on the Mini and went off to Peat’s. We had the bagel, but skipped the toppings.

My colleagues and friends, Harley and Matthew. are running in the Chicago Marathon tomorrow. Like last year, Anne and I will go cheer them on at the twenty-mile mark. Anne has some friends from work running as well. Good luck to everyone who is running. It will be a warm day for marathoning.

Monday night I will head up to the Heartland Restaurant in Rodgers Park. Mike

Suicide surge: schools confront anti-gay bullying - NorthJersey.com

Suicide surge: schools confront anti-gay bullying

Saturday, October 9, 2010

THE RECORD

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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NEW YORK — A spate of teen suicides linked to anti-gay harassment is prompting school officials nationwide to rethink their efforts against bullying — and in the process, risk entanglement in a bitter ideological debate.

AP PHOTO/THE BAKERSFIELD CALIFORNIAN, HENRY A. BARRIOS

This Oct. 1 photo shows a message written on a vehicle window at Seth Walsh's memorial service at the First Baptist Church in Tehachapi, Calif. The gay teen, who police determined was bullied for at least the past two years, was found Sept. 19 by his family, unconscious after he hanged himself from a tree in their back yard, according to police reports. He died the next day.

It's a highly emotional topic. Witness the hate mail — from the left and right — directed at Minnesota's Anoka-Hennepin School District while it reviews its anti-bullying strategies in the aftermath of a gay student's suicide.

The invective is "some of the worst I've ever seen," Superintendent Dennis

Please, Don’t Hype Teacher-run Schools � Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Please, Don’t Hype Teacher-run Schools

by larrycuban

In 1990, Terry Moe and John Chubb published Politics, Markets and American Schools. The book was a hit among business and civic leaders, policy wonks, parents, school board members, superintendents, teachers. The authors argued that the 1980s reforms–teacher empowerment, school-site management, and restructuring–would disappoint advocates because political compromises with unions and foot-dragging school bureaucracies would suck the blood out of the reforms. Rather than sizzling reforms, they would slowly fizzle. What needs to be done to make schools effective, they argued, is completely change the governance and organization of the school by giving parents the right to choose schools. If parents, particularly low-income ones, could receive government vouchers that they could take to any school they thought would be best for their children, their sons’

Schools Matter: Georgia Charter Authorizers - Shades of FL

Georgia Charter Authorizers - Shades of FL

by Kenneth Libby

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

A pivotal case over money and power could chart the future for charter school approvals and unravel a network of state campuses.

The second round in a case over the local control of public education will be heard Tuesday. Lawyers for seven metro districts head to the Georgia Supreme Court to argue that a state board is illegally opening and funding charter schools.

Lawyers for Gwinnett County Public Schools and several other districts will ask the State Supreme Court to overturn a Fulton County Superior Court decision upholding the constitutionality of the Georgia Charter Schools Commission, and its authority to approve and fund charter schools

Simple vs. Complex In Improving Education / Chicago News Cooperative

Simple vs. Complex In Improving Education

by JAMES WARREN

It’s neat to see my son, a first grader, get off his Chicago Public Schools bus when it drops him back home. It also reminds me of what’s wrong with our education system.

Mayoral candidates should join me as the bus arrives about 2:45 p.m. That means he has been in school for, at most, five and a half hours. Chicago has the shortest school day of the 50 largest districts in the United States.

Ron Huberman, head of Chicago Public Schools, confirmed to me once that our school year is about seven weeks shorter than New York’s.

The length of the school day is one of many topics being faced as education experiences another paroxysm of interest. It’s partly due to “Waiting for Superman,” a documentary about our flagging schools. Oprah Winfre

Who puts the "J" in Mayor KJ

Jay Schenirer, Mayor Johnson's "Shill" to promote "strong Mayor" initiative

and he is pushing privatization too!

Exclusive Diane Ravitch Interview on No Child Left Behind

Author and education historian Diane Ravitch supported the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. She recently spoke at EPI about why she now believes the policy poses a threat to public education. To see the panel event, click here: http://bit.ly/cE1v89.

Obama says GOP wants to 'cut education by 20 percent' - TheHill.com

Obama says GOP wants to 'cut education by 20 percent'

By Bridget Johnson - 10/09/10 06:00 AM ET

President Obama pitched education initiatives and funding as key to preparing kids for the jobs of the future, and accused congressional Republicans of standing in the way of goals to graduate more students from college.

In his weekly address, Obama began by saying he was fighting to create jobs and rebuild the economy as American families are struggling. But he said that kids need to be better prepared for the jobs of the future in a global economy. "China and India aren’t playing for second," he said. "South Korea and Germany aren’t playing for second. They’re playing for first – and so should America."

He touted the Skills for America's Future initiative introduced earlier in the week intended to connect students with employers, and the Race to the Top

The Washington Teacher: Hot Off The Press:Update on DCPS Pay Freeze

Hot Off The Press:Update on DCPS Pay Freeze

by The Wash. Teacher

Featuring Candi Peterson, blogger in residence & candidate for WTU General Vice President

Earlier this week, I wrote about Mayor Fenty's Executive Order which went into effect on October 6 and places a 'freeze' on DC Government hiring, vacant positions and negotiated wage/salary benefits. I am glad that I was able to to advocate for teachers and school personnel by elevating our issues. We can now bring some closure to questions that we had about whether our future pay raises would be

California Teachers Paying for Their Own Supplies and More - TIME

California Teachers: Paying for School Supplies Themselves — and More

By KRISTIN KLOBERDANZ / MODESTO Friday, Oct. 08, 2010

Christine Balderas / Getty Images

To secure writing materials for her classroom, Sandi Sidor is willing to jump through a lot of hoops these days. Make that throw: "I will toss beanbags through anything for a packet of pens," says the fifth-grade

Ron Huberman Out? Michelle Rhee May Be Looking for a Job - Felsenthal Files - October 2010

Ron Huberman Out? Michelle Rhee May Be Looking for a Job

BY CAROL FELSENTHAL

Michelle Rhee and Ron Huberman
D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and Chicago schools CEO Ron Huberman attend a meeting at the White House in this March 2009 photo.

With Ron Huberman set to step down as CEO of Chicago Public Schools before the end of the school year, could D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee—who is likely to leave her post in the near future—be a good fit for the job?

The most famous urban schools chief in the country, Rhee—whose brash approach to her job may have cost the re-election of her boss, Mayor Adrian Fenty—has taken a sledgehammer to the District’s teachers and their union, closing down 21 schools and firing 241 teachers

Obama: U.S. should step up education - UPI.com

Obama: U.S. should step up education

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama said Saturday the United States "should be doubling down" rather than cutting spending on education.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, the president acknowledged that for Americans who are out of work and facing foreclosure "all that really matters is a new job."

"All that really matters is a roof over your head. All that really matters is getting back on your feet," he said.

However, Obama said "we also know that when i

Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Education: Manifesto versus Manifesto

by teacherken

Sat Oct 09, 2010 at 04:49:36 PM PDT

Suicide surge: Schools confront anti-gay bullying

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Saturday Solutions: Humanize Schools

Obama says GOP wants to 'cut education by 20 percent'

California Teachers: Paying for School Supplies Themselves — and More

Ron Huberman Out? Michelle Rhee May Be Looking for a Job

Obama: U.S. should step up education