Monday, November 22, 2010

Cathleen Black’s Reviewers for Schools Job Cause Own Stir - NYTimes.com

Cathleen Black’s Reviewers for Schools Job Cause Own Stir - NYTimes.com

State Didn’t Vet Advisers on Chancellor Pick for Conflicts

By MICHAEL BARBARO
Published: November 22, 2010

As new revelations surfaced about extensive ties between MayorMichael R. Bloomberg and members of the panel evaluating his choice for school’s chancellor, state officials acknowledged on Monday that they did not screen the panel members for conflicts of interest or connections to the Bloomberg administration before appointing them.

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Andrew Burton for The New York Times

David Dobosz, a parent of a New York City public school student, signed a petition Monday opposing a waiver for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's choice to be schools chancellor.

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The panel has been asked to consider whether Mr. Bloomberg’s selection,Cathleen P. Black, a publishing executive, should be exempted from a state law that requires experience in the education field. The New York Times reported last week that three of the eight panelists previously worked inside the city’s Education Department during Mr. Bloomberg’s tenure.

But a fourth, Louise Mirrer, the head of the New-York Historical Society, has lobbied Mr. Bloomberg’s office on behalf of the museum, and is chairwoman of an academy for which the mayor has helped raise millions of dollars. He has personally donated $475,000 to the historical society

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NYC Public School Parents: Steiner's Stacking of Waiver Panel is Unethical

NYC Public School Parents: Steiner's Stacking of Waiver Panel is Unethical

Steiner's Stacking of Waiver Panel is Unethical

by Patrick J. Sullivan

There was wide coverage this weekend and today of the unethical stacking of Commissioner David Steiner's waiver advisory panel with people deeply connected to Mayor Bloomberg. The panel was convened by Steiner to determine if job requirements should be waived for chancellor candidate Cathie Black.

Beyond the three individuals who formerly held senior posts in Bloomberg's DOE, the Times revealed deeply troubling and undisclosed conflicts of interest held by Louise Mirrer:
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School Tech Connect: The Altar of Data

School Tech Connect: The Altar of Data

The Altar of Data

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)
Worship, commoners!

Private schools wisely ixnay all of this data collection. Excessive testing breaks the ties that bind teachers to students and these schools know it. Schools like the one where Arne Duncan spent his entire education, or
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To Pretend Perfection, Sinful; To Aspire Towards It, Divine — The Jose Vilson

To Pretend Perfection, Sinful; To Aspire Towards It, Divine — The Jose Vilson

To Pretend Perfection, Sinful; To Aspire Towards It, Divine

by Jose



Banksy Art, "Wall Art Swept Under The Rug"

Today, I sat with some fellow math teachers across the district to further investigate the new Common Core Standards. We’re looking through the new standards, creating questions and analyzing tasks (while I intermittently joke about my CoCoLoCo theory). We’re churning up great ideas while the moderator’s doing his best to moderate a bunch of rowdy NYC math teachers and coaches. At some point during lunch, the people at my table invited one of the people who is developing high performing tasks that may make it into the body of

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School Tech Connect: In Which I Give Bill Gates What For

School Tech Connect: In Which I Give Bill Gates What For

In Which I Give Bill Gates What For

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)
Hello, yeah, it's been a while. Not much-- how 'bout you?

(Name that tune.)

Listen, I hate to go all Bea Arthur every time Bill Gates chimes in with his latest inanity about public education, but let's face it:



I apologize. Name-calling is beneath the dignity of this blog. But you have to admit, her delivery was flawless.

The puppetteer, as Mike Klonsky aptly refers to him, needs to be resoundingly ignored by sensible people when he sells his money-for-test-scores bullshit. His basic theme is that we need to spend less on education by
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Damn Good Education Daily, Education

Damn Good Education Daily, Education
Damn Good Education Daily

Education
edutechmusings.blogspot.com - "A grassroots effort to help create and support education reform." That's what they said it would be - this day of National Blogging for Real Education Reform. In this time of financial crisis we...

EDPressSec
voices.washingtonpost.com - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg likely did not anticipate the heavy pushback he would get against his decision to tap a media executive with no experience in public education as the next chan...

leoniehaimson
washingtonpost.com - Three years into the mortgage crisis, the public debate over how to stem the unprecedented tide of foreclosures and the damage they are doing to the housing market has largely overshadowed any disc...

fklonsky
nydailynews.com - Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo could dramatically advance the cause of school reform with a bold move after he takes office: He could back tuition tax credits to help working-class families send their chi...

leoniehaimson
nbcnewyork.com - On Monday a petition will be submitted to New York Education Commissioner David Steiner opposing the Mayor?s choice for School Chancellor. Since the announcement, there has been a fair amount of co...

leoniehaimson
preaprez.wordpress.com - Today is the Day of National Blogging for Real Education Reform. I think this is a good idea, although for me it is a little like a Day of National Having Two Cups of Coffee in the Morning Because ...

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State releases Black’s college coursework, but not her grades | GothamSchools

State releases Black’s college coursework, but not her grades | GothamSchools

State releases Black’s college coursework, but not her grades

by Maura Walz

We now know what classes Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s schools chancellor appointee Cathleen Black took in college, but how well she did in them remains a mystery.

Black took mainly English and theology classes as an undergraduate at Trinity College in the 1960s. She spent her junior year studying in Rome, learning to speak Italian and studying European and art history.

But Black’s academic record there is still unknown. The state education department released Black’s transcript today, but redacted her grades, citing privacy concerns. The city also declined to release Black’s grades.

At her all-girls Catholic high school in Chicago, Black has been described as a hard worker but not a standout student.

Outgoing chancellor Joel Klein’s grades were made public last week by the New York Times. Klein had a stellar academic record, though he did receive B’s in “Philosophy of Education” and “Guidance in Human Learning.”

Black’s transcript, with grades redacted, is below.

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Megan Allen: Teachers Must be Part of the Conversation on Education Policy

Megan Allen: Teachers Must be Part of the Conversation on Education Policy
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Education News

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President Obama's advisors have signaled that education reform will be one of the administration's main policy thrusts between the midterm elections and 2012.

No matter how the reshuffled Congress shapes what the new version of the No Child Left Behind Act looks like, we already know who it will be implemented by: Teachers. So shouldn't we be part of the national policy conversation?

Unfortunately, that's rarely the case when it comes to public discourse on public education. Consider all the talk on NBC News' recent "Education Nation."

For hours, we heard from governors, mayors, TV anchors, software kings, and others as they lamented the state of education and pondered what could be done to fix it. Superstar superintendents were there, as was the U.S. Secretary of Education. Even the teacher union heads

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