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Tuesday, December 21, 2010

The Mississippi Governor and the White Citizens’ Councils. « Fred Klonsky's blog

The Mississippi Governor and the White Citizens’ Councils. « Fred Klonsky's blog

The Mississippi Governor and the White Citizens’ Councils.

DECEMBER 21, 2010
President Lyndon B. Johnson and Rev. Dr. Marti...

Former GOP head couldn't remember what Martin Luther King had to say.

Haley Barbour was at one time was the head of the Republican Party. Now he’s the governor of Mississippi.

He’s catching some hell these days.

The NY Times reports:

In a profile published Monday in The Weekly Standard, Mr. Barbour also talked about the White Citizens’ Councils of the late 1960s, which opposed

Me and the next mayor of Chicago. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Me and the next mayor of Chicago. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Me and the next mayor of Chicago.

Chicago City Clerk, Miguel Del Valle, and this blogger at Lazo’s Restaurant in Logan Square. I attended a gathering of Educators for Del Valle. I sat in a Logan Square basement about thirty years ago with a couple of other neighborhood activists working on Del Valle’s independent progressive campaign for the General Assembly. He won. He can win again.

Queens Teacher: Dumbing Down of America

Queens Teacher: Dumbing Down of America

Dumbing Down of America

Dumbed-down curricula is becoming widespread - even in the suburbs. The goal is to replace highly qualified teachers with unskilled rookies who can implement them.

Whole language reading and writing programs teach NO CONTENT whatsoever. The focus is cooperative learning and an increase in the use of technology to replace teachers. Inquiry-based learning is the latest trend with the teacher serving as a facilitator.

Reform Math is more of the same. Kids are taught multiple methods of

Congress Approves Bill Flat Funding K-12 Until March 4 - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Congress Approves Bill Flat Funding K-12 Until March 4 - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Congress Approves Bill Flat Funding K-12 Until March 4

Funding for K-12 programs will remain frozen at last year's levels for more than two months, thanks to a measure passed by both houses of Congress today. The bill now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature.

The bill extends funding for almost all federal programs at fiscal year 2010 levels until March 4. That means a new, more-conservative Congress will get to set 2011 spending levels for K-12 programs.

Education advocates are worried about what that could mean, given that House Republicans, who will soon hold a majority in the chamber, have said they want to roll back spending to fiscal year 2008 levels.

But the bill approved today does include money to help shore up the Pell Grant program to help low-income students pay for college, which was facing a major shortfall, due to high demand. And it contains language on highly qualified teachers aimed at helping those who go through alternative certification programs, such as Teach for America. (Check out this explanation by Steve Sawchuk of our Teacher Beat blog.)

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, cheered the teacher-

Daily Kos: The Perils of Obsessive Management

Daily Kos: The Perils of Obsessive Management

The Perils of Obsessive Management

is the title of a very interesting post from England by David Boyle that has made the rounds (partly with my assistance) of some education lists and sites.

After all, one of the real problems in education is our national obsession with measuring, as if weighing a pig 5 times a day would actually increase its weight.

Let me offer two "rules" from the piece and then discuss the implications:

Goodhart’s Law (after former Bank of England director Charles Goodhart) which says that: any

Top Colleges Reconsider R.O.T.C. After ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Vote - NYTimes.com

Top Colleges Reconsider R.O.T.C. After ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Vote - NYTimes.com

Elite Colleges Rethink Ties to R.O.T.C. After ‘Don’t Ask’ Repeal

Pickets opposing R.O.T.C., the war in Vietnam and American action in the Dominican Republic at Columbia on June 1, 1965.
Robert Walker/The New York Times

Pickets opposing R.O.T.C., the war in Vietnam and American action in the Dominican Republic at Columbia on June 1, 1965.

Some universities have already expressed interest in bringing back the R.O.T.C., but doubts remain about the number of students on elite campuses who would be interested in a military career.

E.P.A. to Inspect New York City Schools for PCB Contamination

The federal agency told the city of the decision after light fixtures in some buildings were found to be leaking the toxic chemical.

SQUARE FEET

New York’s Schools Seize a Chance to Expand

The New York School Construction Authority has swooped in to take advantage of lower construction costs, amenable landlords and available land.

E.E.O.C. Sues Kaplan for Hiring Practice

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission wants to stop Kaplan’s use of credit histories in job offers.

City Will Require Police to Report on School Arrests

Advocates have complained that police officers have sometimes been too aggressive in dealing with students.

Susan Herbst will be the 15th president of the University of Connecticut.

U. of Connecticut Announces Pick for Its President

The board of trustees unanimously voted to appoint Susan Herbst, an administrator at the University System of Georgia.

NYC Public School Parents: For Arne Duncan and Bill Gates – A lump of coal in your stocking

NYC Public School Parents: For Arne Duncan and Bill Gates – A lump of coal in your stocking

For Arne Duncan and Bill Gates – A lump of coal in your stocking


This guest column is by Peter Huidekoper, Jr., a former teacher in Colorado.
The two portly gentlemen have asked for a contribution. Scrooge insists on giving nothing:

"I wish to be left alone," he said. "... I help support the establishments I have mentioned--they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there." - A Christmas Carol

Sorry to disappoint if you'd like a story of good cheer. But if Dickens could tell a Christmas story with more than a little bitterness and anger, it's okay to follow in his shoes. True, Scrooge finds happiness and becomes a second father to Tiny Tim. This piece ends with another vulnerable child, little Bianca, still waiting for a better school where she is not lost in a large class.

Those who are "badly off must go" to schools and sit in classrooms with 29 other students. "They cost enough." Teachers and parents begging for smaller classes--"We can't afford it." Let's even add more kids! No big

A tale of two documents: the city’s impact statements evolve | GothamSchools

A tale of two documents: the city’s impact statements evolve | GothamSchools

A tale of two documents: the city’s impact statements evolve

At the heart of the city’s major courtroom loss to the union earlier this year over school closures were 19 short documents — the “educational impact statements” that the city used to make its case for shuttering schools.

Now, the city has given those documents a makeover. But a review of last year’s and this year’s versions of the EIS for one school — Beach Channel High School in Rockaway, Queens — shows that while the reinvented statements are vastly more informative, they still skirt many of the points cited by critics opposed to closing the schools.

When a panel of judges blocked the closures last year, they acknowledged that the law gives city officials little guidance on what to include in the documents but does give them the discretion to close schools they believe

Leonie Haimson: Diane Ravitch Wins the 2011 Moynihan Prize

Leonie Haimson: Diane Ravitch Wins the 2011 Moynihan Prize

Diane Ravitch was just selected as the 2011 recipient of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Prize, created by the American Academy of Political and Social Science to honor those individuals whose careers in the academic or public arena have been dedicated to the use of social science research to improve public policy. The $20,000 prize was awarded in recognition of her long career of distinguished work on urban education as a researcher and public official.

Ravitch is a true public intellectual, someone who is fully engaged and committed towards ensuring that local, state, and federal education policy is informed by history, social science research and good sense. She has also passionately advocated for the parent and teacher voice to be recognized in the national debate over education reform. I can't think of anyone else in the field of public

Feds eye CA district's handling of bullying claim

Feds eye CA district's handling of bullying claim

Feds eye CA district's handling of bullying claim

By LISA LEFF
The Associated Press
Tuesday, December 21, 2010; 5:37 PM

SAN FRANCISCO -- Federal education officials say a California school district is being investigated over its handling of harassment by classmates of a gay, 13-year-old boy who later committed suicide.

Justin Hamilton, a spokesman for Education Secretary Arne Duncan, confirmed the probe Tuesday.

Investigators from the department's civil rights division are trying to determine if Tehachapi Unified School District employees failed to address bullying that preceded the