Sunday, April 10, 2011

Charter Schools Outsource Education to Management Firms, With Mixed Results - ProPublica

Charter Schools Outsource Education to Management Firms, With Mixed Results - ProPublica

Charter Schools Outsource Education to Management Firms, With Mixed Results

Excerpt from Hope Academy Broadway Campus's lawsuit against White Hat Management. Inset: Screenshot from a White Hat Management promotional video.
by Sharona Coutts
ProPublica, April 6, 2011, 10:09 a.m.
Since 2008, an Ohio-based company, White Hat Management, has collected around $230 million to run charter schools in that state. The company has grown into a national chain and reports that it has about 20,000 students across the country. But now 10 of its own schools and the state of Ohio are suing, complaining that many White Hat students are failing, and that the company has refused to account for how it has spent the money.
The dispute between White Hat and Ohio, which is unfolding in state court in Franklin
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School Tech Connect: Rothko, and Red Herrings

School Tech Connect: Rothko, and Red Herrings

Rothko, and Red Herrings

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim)
Ok, we're back. In the aftermath of the burglary and the exhausting week, I've tried to stay blissfully ignorant of what's going on in the world around me. I will say this: spring has sprung. It was warm and windy here in Chicago today, which means that it's going to be harder than ever to concentrate.

I was walking Scout down an alley when I came across a few boarded up windows--- each one had been painted green and then patched with a different shade of green, probably to cover up some graffiti. "Each one a Rothko," I told Scout. She gave me that look that she gives me. Here's one of them, tarted up a bit with some color rotation.

Rogers Park Rothko 3

Really, things can be lovely, even in an alley.

I missed all the great labor activity over the weekend, but I did get to hear David Warlick talk about "cracking the native information experience" on Saturday. It's a pretty good talk-- if you get a chance, go hear it. He talks
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Oakland teacher convention ends on a high note | The Education Report

Oakland teacher convention ends on a high note | The Education Report

Oakland teacher convention ends on a high note

By Katy Murphy
Saturday, April 9th, 2011 at 4:35 pm in teachers.

A standing ovation at the Oakland Teacher Convention

Day 2 of the Oakland teacher convention ended with anger and frustration. Today ended with standing ovations.

“What a turn,” said Mercedes Ugarte, a fourth-year teacher at Melrose Leadership Academy. “It’s turned into something that’s teacher-owned. We’ve never had this space before to share these things out.”

A last-minute change to the program, made in response to the sharp criticism, was well received. This morning, the 200 delegates divided into six groups. Each one papered the walls of their rooms with lists of what was working and not working in their classrooms, in their schools and in the district, and recommendations for resolving them. They came up with their top priorities and shared them with everyone, including Superintendent Tony Smith, at the end of the day.

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Different Figureheads, Same Boss | The Jose Vilson

Different Figureheads, Same Boss | The Jose Vilson

Different Figureheads, Same Boss

by Jose

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Dennis Walcott, and Cathleen Black

“YES! Cathie Black is out! Woo! Congratulations!”

Cheers and smiles in the building abound as the 100-day chancellor of NYC schools has come and gone without making any major dent on the largest school district in the nation. Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s miscalculations about the appointment of Cathie Black as chancellor proved deleterious to the already tenuous relationship between him and his city. Already suspicious of the oligarchic fist under which the Mayor rules the city, NYC citizens grew weary of decisions that proved to the general public Michael Bloomberg’s aloofness to the

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4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: DEAR PRESIDENT OBAMA (in 338 words or less),

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: DEAR PRESIDENT OBAMA (in 338 words or less),
DEAR PRESIDENT OBAMA (in 338 words or less), By Bill Ivey, Bill Ivey’s blog/Independent School Educators Network | http://bit.ly/gIdiOS April 10, 2011 at 3:54pm Dear President Obama, Like millions of Americans, I wept on the night you were elected. For me, the audacity of hope and the fierce ...
THE 338 WORD (or less) CHALLENGE: “President Obama - We Want for Our Children What You Want for Yours” By Anthony Cody | EdWeek / Living in Dialogue |http://bit.ly/dOZib8 April 7, 2011 9:42 AM | Last week I kicked the hornet's nest by pointing out that President Obama's remarks at a town hall meeting do not align with the policies being carried out by his ...
338 WORDS: Obama Blasts His Own Education Policies By Anthony Cody | EdWeek / Living in Dialogue | March 29, 2011 12:29 AM | - If only the Department of Education could hear this guy Obama, boy, they would have to rethink their approach! In a town hall meeting hosted by Univision, President Obama was ...
FORMAL SEARCH NEEDED FOR NYC SCHOOLS CHANCELLOR smf: …what a concept! By ANDREW WOLF, Special to the NY Sun | http://bit.ly/gDlWSX April 10, 2011 -- From all we’ve seen, Dennis Walcott, Mayor Bloomberg’s choice as the city’s new schools chancellor is a fine fellow, a loyal deputy to the mayor, ...
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A message from IEA Prez Swanson. I’m worried. « Fred Klonsky's blog

A message from IEA Prez Swanson. I’m worried. « Fred Klonsky's blog

A message from IEA Prez Swanson. I’m worried.

by Fred Klonsky

IEA President Ken Swanson sent out an email to all IEA Board of Directors this afternoon. A number of BOD members forwarded it to me.

On the issue of the right to strike, Swanson says:

The deadline to be finished with the process led by Senator Kimberly Lightford and the Senate Educational Reform Committee is now Tuesday afternoon. There are still some unresolved issues, many that will come to resolution before Tuesday – one big issue that may not be resolved – the right to strike.

The parties have fundamental differences about the right to strike. The union team, IEA, IFT, and CTU have committed to each other that if one group’s right to strike is threatened, we will all come together in unison to fight it. We have been working hand in glove together for three months, and we are not about to change that strategy now. We will need your help, and our members’ help as

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Educational Transformation? It’s the Governance, Stupid! | Lefty Parent

Educational Transformation? It’s the Governance, Stupid! | Lefty Parent

Educational Transformation? It’s the Governance, Stupid!

by Cooper Zale

In my most recent piece “Schools: Trying to Balance Coercion, Inspiration and Facilitation”, I put forward that many American public schools are on increasingly shaky ground because they are tasked with at least six very challenging and at times conflicting goals, and are being asked to achieve all of those goals with shrinking budgets. In this increasingly difficult juggling act of doing more with less, the focus is generally on curriculum, teachers, and even at times educational methodology. But I believe the mostly unexamined element in transforming our schools (as well as other institutions in our society) is the governance model – who makes the decisions and how.

Like the cautionary reminder made famous from Bill Clinton’s presidential campaigns, whenever I think about our society’s developmental path forward and I forget to focus on who the decision-makers are and how the decisions are made, I need to be shaken out of my stupor and reminded that, “It’s the governance, stupid!”

I believe that in any venue where people are brought together to try to accomplish something important, who

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Big Education Ape:4-10-11 Read Ed News Now #wiunion #fok #p2 #tcot #tlot

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now


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nytimes.com - Few would argue that she was a good choice. But as you watched the almost giddy reception that greeted the departure of the New York City schools chancellor, Cathleen P. Black, last week — “She was...

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necn.com - The results, released by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, showed that voucher students are nowhere near their public school counterparts — even in the Milwaukee public schools they l...

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washingtonpost.com - The spending deal agreed to Friday night to avert a government shutdown includes a provision banning the District from spending its own funds to provide abortions to low-income women as well as fun...

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dailykos.com - First, I am well aware of the immediate pain that was avoided by not shutting the government down. My wife works for the Federal government and makes far more than do I. We would have been person...

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dailykos.com - I read what was agreed to, and it makes no sense. At a time when we are trying to conserve energy, to diminish both the pollution caused by internal combustion engines and cares on the road as well...

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leoniehaimson @DianeRavitch thank so much Diane;I only started tweeting in 1st pl to follow you! Now it's almost as fun as anything else I doabout 1 hour ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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leoniehaimson cozy! Sundays w/Wendy Kopp’s [& Richard Barth & 4 kids] NYTimes.com: http://nyti.ms/haovsZ But who watches kids when she runs & he to gym?25 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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leoniehaimson Kopp asks 9 & 7 yr sons to do homewrk when they awake @7 AM & family has "value of the month" but do they go to KIPP? http://nyti.ms/haovsZ21 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

We Party Patriots » Blog Archive » Budget Compromise Could Gut the NLRB, Deliver a Back Door Blow to the Burgeoning Labor MovementPublished on The #union Daily
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nydailynews.com - Hermann/News; Savulich/News Dennis Walcott (l.) may come from a more experienced background than his much maligned predecessor, Cathie Black, but don't expect many policy changes. In announcing his...

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huffingtonpost.com - A Maine school system may be adding the iPad 2 to its list of mandatory kindergarten classroom items, with the district footing the bill.The Auburn Schools Committee voted unanimously to provide al...

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washingtonpost.com - Labor Department officials ruled Monday that Prince George’s County schools shortchanged more than 1,000 teachers recruited from foreign countries and ordered the district to pay $5.9 million in ba...

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presstvmobile.com - Published: Sun, 10 Apr 2011 07:55:24 More than 5,000 Union members from 3 states attended a rally at Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago to show their solidarity in the midst of what they say is an inc...

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news.in.msn.com - Himani Kumar Chicago, Apr 9 (PTI) Thousands of Illinois teachers, carpenters and other public service workers gathered here in support of union employees against the proposal of limiting collective...

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firedoglake.com - Yglesias, on the budget deal. I hope people remember this year next time large Democratic majorities produce an inadequate stimulus bill, a not-good-enough health reform bill, a somewhat weak finan...

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nytimes.com - The founder and chief executive of Teach for America, Wendy Kopp, 43, is also the author, most recently, of “A Chance to Make History: What Works and What Doesn’t in Providing an Excellent Educatio...

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bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Glenn Beck/Howard Beale: I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel'...

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bluecheddar.wordpress.com - Maher: “If I had to pick a phrase that encapsulates the American economy in the last decade, it surely would be, “I’ve already got your money dude.”“I’ve already got your money dude.” That’s what C...

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thenation.com - NPR Station in LA Suspends Planned Parenthood Spots April 10, 2011 Share | || Recommended by 0|One of two NPR stations in the Los Angeles area, KPCC-FM, suspended its regularly-scheduled Planned P...

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bigeducationape.blogspot.com - If Teachers Were Treated Like Stars! A Short Story… « Diary of a Public School Teacher!If Teachers Were Treated Like Stars! A Short Story…Can you imagine what it would be like if teachers were trea...

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politico.com - One night last week at The Dubliner, an Irish bar near the Capitol, an unassuming Denver billionaire who has quietly made himself a player in Washington’s relatively small media world, had dinner w...

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host.madison.com - STEVEN VERBURG | sverburg@madison.com | 608-252-6118 madison.com | | Posted: Saturday, April 9, 2011 1:01 pm On the heels of a shocking reversal in a critical Supreme Court race, union members and ...

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teamsternation.blogspot.com -  Bangladeshi workers say they're inspired by workers in Wisconsin and Ohio. Gov. Paul LePage ordered a labor history mural removed from the Labor Department in Maine almost 100 years to the day...

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firedoglake.com - A Lacuna There’s a hole in the rhetorical bucket of America’s extreme right, a lacuna that reveals more than all their selfish dismissals of common purpose or their condemnations of egalitarian pri...

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firedoglake.com - we'll play you a tune, Jaime (photo: darkuncle) Jamie Dimon, the CEO of Too Big To Fail JPMorgan Chase, has been whining about the fact that sensible people loathe him and his ilk. You’d think a gu...

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salsa.wiredforchange.com - To the CA State Legislature and Governor Brown: California and its residents are reeling from a fiscal and economic crisis so severe that it threatens the quality of life in our Golden State in pro...

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