Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Docking Student Paychecks | Connected Principals

Docking Student Paychecks | Connected Principals

Docking Student Paychecks



In all of your years in the field of education, have you ever been late (in no particular order)
- for a meeting?
- to the start of a class?
- handing in course outlines?
- getting marking back to your students?
- for bus duty?
- calling a parent?

50 Years Since Integration At The University Of Georgia | The Defenders Online | A Civil Rights Blog

50 Years Since Integration At The University Of Georgia | The Defenders Online | A Civil Rights Blog

50 Years Since Integration At The University Of Georgia

By The Editors

On January 6, 1961, Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes became the first African Americans to enroll at the University of Georgia, one of the significant milestones on the road to the climactic civil rights victories of the mid-1960s. One member of the brilliant legal team that had secured the judicial rulings desegregating the university was a newly-minted graduate of Howard University Law School, Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. Like Hunter and Holmes, Jordan had grown up and gone to high school in Atlanta. One of his duties during the legal wrangling that preceded their admission was to escort Hunter through the hostile, often howling mobs of students who tracked their movements on campus. Hamilton E. Holmes went on to become a highly-respected orthopedic surgeon in Atlanta and member of the faculty at Emory University. He died of

Some second thoughts on the Ackerman contracting controversy | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Some second thoughts on the Ackerman contracting controversy | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Some second thoughts on the Ackerman contracting controversy

When I read the front page article in The Inquirer in late November charging Arlene Ackerman with questionable and possibly illegal behavior in relation to the awarding of contracts for installing cameras at city high schools, I wanted to jump up from my morning coffee and high-five my wife. As may be clear by my posts on this website, I'm not a big fan of the superintendent, so public exposure of her apparent missteps was like an early Christmas present.

Featured Title:
We shouldn't be investigating only the acts of the superintendent

read more

Moving Beyond “Us and Them” to only “Us” | Lefty Parent

Moving Beyond “Us and Them” to only “Us” | Lefty Parent

Moving Beyond “Us and Them” to only “Us”

In response to the Arizona shootings, congressperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz said on the PBS News Hour Thursday that we’ve got to “stop treating our opponents as enemies”. President Obama eulogizing nine-year-old Christina Taylor Green said, “I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us – we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations”. The issue of civility in political and legislative discourse, which I attempted to address in my last two blog pieces, is now front and center in public discussion in the media.

Ron Brownstein in his piece “Apocalypse Always” for the National Journal does a good job calling out the

Schools Matter: Will Segregationist Gang of Five Cause Wake County High Schools to Lose Accreditation?

Schools Matter: Will Segregationist Gang of Five Cause Wake County High Schools to Lose Accreditation?

Will Segregationist Gang of Five Cause Wake County High Schools to Lose Accreditation?

If there is provision for voter recall of school board members in Raleigh, I would suggest that Wake County citizens lawyer up and get 'er done before the resegregationists running their schools run them into the ground.

Or on the other hand, the Research Triangle could return to the piney woods of the 1950s, when black children went to apartheid schools and white racists controlled the political economy. From the NewsObserver:
RALEIGH A national accrediting agency that is investigating Wake County's school system rejected a series of hardball demands made by school officials, who have been trying to limit the scope of the probe.

The denial on Thursday forces a showdown that could result in the loss of accreditation for Wake's

America’s “Vaporeducation” « Teacher Reality

America’s “Vaporeducation” « Teacher Reality

America’s “Vaporeducation”

When I think about all of the hype going on in education, I often connect it to the time I worked in sales and marketing in the business software-systems industry. To compete in that industry, I quickly learned that the name of the game was about how a business portrayed itself in the marketplace. So, often times, the company who had the slickest marketing, sales and PR machines in place were able to position themselves as the “biggest gun” worthy of the millions of dollars in contracts. My job was to help my clients reach the decision makers who controlled the million-dollar budgets and who had a problem that they needed to solve. All I had to do was find out who the decision makers were, what the problem was, how much budget was available, and then turn the potential client over to the sales rep for a meeting. This process is one that happens in business, everyday. Problems are defined, meetings are set up, and business deals are made.

In the industry that I worked in, sometimes the business deals that were set up were not made with the most honest or truthful intentions. In fact, it was well known in those “circles” that many heavy-hitter sales pros landed

The Answer Sheet - Education 'Inception' and Michelle Rhee's wrong idea

The Answer Sheet - Education 'Inception' and Michelle Rhee's wrong idea

Education 'Inception' and Michelle Rhee's wrong idea

This was written by Sam Chaltain, a D.C.-based educator and strategist. He was the national director of the Forum for Education & Democracy, an education advocacy organization, and the founding director of the Five Freedoms Project, which helps educators create democratic learning communities. This post appeared on Huffington Post. Chaltain is the author or co-author of five books." By Sam Chaltain I just watched Christopher Nolan’s remarkable new movie "Inception," a futuristic film about a group of people who, through a variety of means, plant a thought so deeply in the mind of one man that it grows naturally and becomes seen as his own. In the opening scene of the movie, protagonist Peter Cobb rhetorically asks the audience: “What’s the most resilient parasite? A bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? No. An idea. Resilient, highly contagious. Once an idea’s taken hold in the brain it’s almost impossible to eradicate.

Martin Luther King Online - Speeches, Pictures, Quotes, Biography, Videos of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.!

Martin Luther King Online - Speeches, Pictures, Quotes, Biography, Videos of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.!



Martin Luther King Pictures

Hundreds of great pictures of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. including 
his childood and family, with other civil rights leaders and many 
from the famous I Have a Dream Speech!
Martin Luther King Pictures



Martin Luther King Videos

Watch videos of Martin Luther King Jr's famous speeches such as the
I Have a Dream Speech and I've Been to the Mountaintop.



Martin Luther King Jr Speeches

Watch, read and listen to Martin Luther King's most famous speeches.

I Have A Dream Speech


Quick Facts, timeline with key events in the life of
Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement.



A large list of powerful quotes from I Have a Dream and a number of Dr. King's other speeches.



"Remember, Celebrate, Act A Day On Not A Day Off!"
Discussing the importance of continuing his work, why and ways to celebrate, and history of the holiday itself.


In association with Amazon.com, we offer a comprehensive Martin Luther King store with dvds, books, audio CDs, video, clothing and more!

Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Saturday coffee.

Monday is the official Martin Luther King holiday. But today is his birthday. Honor him. We could use a man like him now.

We’ve gotten into the heart of Chicago winter. It’s just Gray and chilly with snow flurries every other day.

On the other hand, it’s kind of perfect for a three-day weekend and the NFL playoffs. I have a bet with my Brooklyn brother-in-law. He’s a Jets fan which are doomed to play the Patriots. And, of course, the Bears and Seahawks tomorrow at noon.

The couch awaits.

Cathie Blacks solution to classroom overcrowding: Sophie’s Choice.

In the novel by William Styron and in the film with Meryl Streep, the character of Sophie is a holocaust survivor

Old School.

Stevie Wonder.


Yong Zhao » Blog Archive » You must be joking, Professor Chua: An open letter to the Chinese Tiger Mom

Yong Zhao » Blog Archive » You must be joking, Professor Chua: An open letter to the Chinese Tiger Mom

You must be joking, Professor Chua: An open letter to the Chinese Tiger Mom

15 JANUARY 2011 8 NO COMMENT

You must be joking, Professor Chua: An open letter to the Chinese Tiger Mom

Dear Professor Chua,

By now, your Wall Street Journal article Why Chinese Mothers are Superior has circled around the globe and you have appeared on many media outlets. Undoubtedly you are aware of the firestorm the article has created everywhere. Frankly I was at first appalled by your article because I have read your book Days of Empire, in which you suggest that tolerance is the force that helped build great empires. But in this article, you seem to suggest otherwise—that a totalitarian, authoritarian, and dictatorial approach will produce a successful person. This contradiction helped to realize that you must be joking, just like this YouTube video by Eric Liang that makes fun of how “crazy Asian moms” react when their children get a B.

I am sure, as a well-educated Professor of Yale, you must know that even in China only “garbage parents” call their children garbage. And those who call their children garbage or similar things are generally looked

4LAKids - Opinion: JOHN DEASY IS A DISAPPOINTING CHOICE FOR LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Opinion: JOHN DEASY IS A DISAPPOINTING CHOICE FOR LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT

Opinion: JOHN DEASY IS A DISAPPOINTING CHOICE FOR LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT

imageBY DAVID LYELL (LEFT), LAUSD SUBSTITUTE TEACHER, OPED IN THE SOUTH LOS ANGELES REPORT | HTTP://BIT.LY/HG49YG

1-13-2011 | I'm disappointed by the appointment of John Deasy as the superintendent to the LAUSD School Board. The school board didn't even bother to consider any other candidates, which is very strange. The public needs to remember that the mayor, who celebrated this appointment, after recently attacking UTLA, was also handed a vote of "no confidence" by teachers at eight of the 10 schools he takes credit for operating.

The reality is that the teachers at those school sites operate those schools. The mayor, who rarely shows up, only operates them on paper, and dismally at that. We need to remember that this is the same mayor who, in 2009, spent 15 times as much as his nearest opponent on his campaign, then refused to debate him.

Deasy embraces Value-Added. Value-added testing is yet another example a punitive, ineffective, dictatorial management style. A July 2010 report by the Institute of Education Sciences concluded that, "more than 90 percent of the variation in student gain scores is due to the variation in student-level factors that are not under the control of the teacher." An August 2010 report by the Economic Policy Institute warned in a report that it would be "unwise" to give substantial weight to

Mission & Vision - Build the Dream

Mission & Vision - Build the Dream

Mission and Vision Statement of the Memorial Project

Mission Statement

To commemorate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by leading a collaborative funding, design, and construction process in the creation of a memorial to honor his national and international contributions to world peace through non-violent social change.

Vision Statement

Dr. King championed a movement that draws fully from the deep well of America's potential for freedom, opportunity, and justice. His vision of America is captured in his message of hope and possibility for a future anchored in dignity, sensitivity, and mutual respect; a message that challenges each of us to recognize that America's true strength lies in its diversity of talents. The vision of a memorial in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. is one that captures the essence of his message, a message in which he so eloquently affirms the commanding tenants of the American Dream — Freedom, Democracy and Opportunity for All; a noble quest that gained him the Nobel Peace Prize and one that continues to influence people and societies throughout the world. Upon reflection, we are reminded that Dr. King's lifelong dedication to the idea of achieving human dignity through global relationships of well being has served to instill a broader and deeper sense of duty within each of us— a duty to be both responsible citizens and conscientious stewards of freedom and democracy.