Friday, December 3, 2010

California's education outlook: huge classes, restive students, overworked teachers - San Jose Mercury News

California's education outlook: huge classes, restive students, overworked teachers

By Sharon Noguchi

Posted: 12/03/2010 05:50:24 PM PST

Updated: 12/03/2010 05:50:25 PM PST

By Sharon Noguchi

After the Legislature opens a special session Monday to discuss how to close a $6 billion hole in the current state budget, schools are likely to endure another big mid-year blow. And then comes the really bad news: the need to reconcile a projected $19.5 billion shortfall for 2011-12, partly by cutting education.

Here's the likely result: "Schools will become more and more like prisons and less and less like schools," said David Plank, a professor of education at Stanford University. "You'll have huge classes, restive young people and overworked teachers."

Sound drastic? So is the budget crisis.

Soon after he is sworn in next month, Governor-elect Jerry Brown will have to present a budget for 2011-12, a year

NAACP's N.C. summit challenges return of segregation - CNN.com

NAACP's N.C. summit challenges return of segregation

By Antoinette Campbell, CNN

December 3, 2010 8:45 p.m. EST

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Representatives from 2,200 NAACP branches and units attend summit
Members discuss complaint filed against Wake County Public Schools
U.S. Department of Education investigation will begin next week, the NAACP says

(CNN) -- Striking back against resegregation in schools, education leaders gathered Friday in Raleigh, North Carolina, to hear the president of the nation's oldest civil rights organization speak about the national state of education.

NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous sounded a warning to representatives of more than 2,200 branches and units during the keynote address the Daisy Bates Education Summit, which began Thursday and ends Saturday.

"School boards across this country are rolling the clock back to the time before Brown vs. the Board of Education," Jealous said in a

The Mind Of A Bronx Teacher 12/7/2010 - Bronx Teacher | Internet Radio | Blog Talk Radio

On tonight's show famed educator Mike Klonsky joins us from the Windy City of Chicago. Mike has written such books as ,"Small Schools: Public School Reform Meets the Ownership Society (Positions: Education, Politics, and Culture)" and "A Simple Justice: The Challenge of Small Schools (Teaching for Social Justice Series)." Klonsy, and advocate of small schools consults for Small Schools Workshop; http://smallschoolsworkshop.wordpress.com/ and blogs at; http://michaelklonsky.blogspot.com/ You can also find him on Twitter @mikeklonsky Mike is a professor of education at DePaul University and University of Illinois-Chicago. As always the call in # is (917) 932-8721

Schools Chancellor-to-be Cathie Black: I'm in touch with public school parents

BY RACHEL MONAHAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Friday, December 3rd 2010, 7:59 PM

Wenig/AP

Since Mayor Bloomberg selected her to be the next Schools Chancellor, Cathie Black has come under fire for her lack of an education background and rich lifestyle.

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City Schools Chancellor-to-be Cathie Black defended herself Friday against critics who say she can't relate to public school parents.

In her first interview since her surprising selection by Mayor Bloomberg, Black dismissed the notion that her high-end lifestyle means she's out of touch.

"I did not grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth. It's as simple that. I've been working steadily, supporting myself for 40 years," the media exec told Channel 7.

"I've had a successful career. It didn't land in my lap like a gift from God," she added. "Do I live well yes? But am I an empathetic person? Absolutely yes."

Hijacked! (Previously Titled “The Battle for Seattle”) | Seattle Education 2010

Hijacked! (Previously Titled “The Battle for Seattle”)

by seattleducation2010

Part Deux

The Broad Foundation was established in 1999 and Eli Broad wasted no time in providing funds to school systems around the country including Seattle.

In 2000, the Broad Foundation provided the Seattle Public School system with $800,000 for “teacher training” by way of the Alliance for Education.

That same year, according to the Broad Foundation’s Annual Report for 2009-2010, “Wendy Kopp, whose decade-old venture called Teach for America grew out of her senior thesis at Princeton University, visits Eli Broad seeking guidance and support. The Broad Foundation makes its first investment of $800,000 in the organization, which recruits and trains recent college graduates to work in urban and rural school districts for a minimum of two years. By 2009, the foundation’s investment in Teach for America exceeds $41 million.” As an aside, Wendy Kopp has no experience teaching and has no degree in the field of education.

In 2001 Superintendent Olfchefske participated in the New Schools Venture Fund Summit and spoke on the subject of Convergence of the Sectors: Public, Private, and Non-Profit. The moderators included Tom Vander

Green Change : The corporate takeover of American schools

The corporate takeover of American schools

Paul Thomas | Guardian | 12.03.2010

The top positions in state education across the US – for example, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, recent chancellors Joel Klein (New York) and Michelle Rhee (Washington, DC), and incoming Chancellor Cathleen P Black (New York) – reflect a trust in CEO-style leadership for education management and reform. Along with these new leaders in education, billionaire entrepreneurs have also assumed roles as education saviours: Bill and Melinda Gates, and Geoffrey Canada.

Gates, Canada, Duncan, Klein and Rhee have capitalised on their positions in education to rise to the status of celebrities, as well – praised in the misleading documentary feature Waiting for Superman, on Oprah, and even on Bill Maher's Real Time.

What do all these professional managers and entrepreneurs have in common?

Little or no experience or expertise in education. (Instead, they have degrees in government and law, along with nontraditional entries into education and strong ties to alternative certification, such as Teach for America). Further, they all represent and promote a cultural faith in the power of leadership above the importance of experience or expertise.

When Klein quit his post as chancellor in New York – soon after Michelle Rhee left DC – the fact that he was leaving for a senior position at News Corp and that his replacement would be a magazine executivesent a strong message. The implication was that the American public distrusts not only schools, but also teachers and education experts.

More telling, however, is the appointment of Duncan as secretary of education under President Obama. This appointment of a CEO-style leader of schools in Chicago comes under a Democratic

Parents urged to explore Portland teacher contract | OregonLive.com

Parents urged to explore Portland teacher contract

Published: Friday, December 03, 2010, 4:25 PM Updated: Friday, December 03, 2010, 4:37 PM

Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian
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The detailed terms of the Portland teachers contract may sound arcane, and at times they are, but they also influence what students experience at school, ranging from how much time teachers plan together to improve instruction to how early and how late the school day can run.

The Portland chapter of Stand for Children, a school advocacy group that has worked for years to change teacher hiring and evaluation practices, is trying to get Portland Public School parents revved up about what the next teacher contract might look like -- and why they should care.

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The group is hosting a forum at Jefferson High School on Wednesday evening to discuss teacher contracts and to let two framers of the new Seattle teachers contract promote what the features of that agreement will accomplish for Seattle's teachers and students. Leaders of the Black Parent Initiative also are urging their members to attend to see how a new contract might help African American students get more out of school.

If you go: "Understanding the Portland Contract”

Where: Jefferson High School auditorium, 5210 N. Kerby Ave.

When: 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday

Details: Free; RSVP to twhitmire@stand.org

Portland Public Schools' current contract with its teachers expires in June, and the district and union are already gearing up to negotiate a new one.

The Portland Association of Teachers plans to survey all 3,000 members

Remainders: As Black opens up, Klein gives his lessons learned | GothamSchools

Remainders: As Black opens up, Klein gives his lessons learned

by Anna Phillips

In her first interview, Cathie Black says she’s a “strong, seasoned manager.” (ABC)
Joel Klein reflects on what he “learned at the education barricades.” (Wall Street Journal)
Polakow-Suransky, the soon-to-be chief academic officer, is meeting State Island parents. (SI Advance)
A middle school in lower Manhattan is having a hard time attracting students. (Tribeca Trib)
Members of a Philly folk band performed with students from P.S. 171 in East Harlem. (NYT)
The feds will be grading how well RttT winners have lived up to their promises. (Politics K-12)
Are Valerie Strauss and Diane Ravitch the anti-elite Sarah Palin and Glenn Becks of the left? (Russo)
Checker Finn critiques Ravitch’s call for a GOP push for more local control of schools. (Flypaper)
A TN report on teacher training deems TFA grads the most effective. (Commercial Appeal via Eduwonk)
If WikiLeaks had any dirt on NYC’s operations, Joel Klein and Cathie Black would make the list. (NYT)

Black sits down for questions, and we pose some of our own | GothamSchools

Black sits down for questions, and we pose some of our own

by Maura Walz

For her first sit-down interview today, Cathie Black enjoyed a friendly softball toss with WABC 7’s Art McFarland.

In the first excerpt of the interview to air, Black defended her qualifications as a manager against critics who charge that she lacks the education credentials necessary to do a good job.

“We’re all human beings,” she said. “It is about people. After all, it is about people. They can be little people as young students or teachers or principals or any of the other organizations that surrounds it.”

McFarland then asked if Black expected the public outrage over her appointment.

“First of all, I’m not taking it personally,” she said. “They dont know me. If they knew me and said this, that’s something different. But they dont know me. So they’re venting their anger. I have three words: let’s go forward. None of this is going to change the outcome. So let’s go forward, together.”

This clip, the first excerpt of McFarland’s long interview with Black, did not include more details about how

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Friday, December 3, 2010