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Sunday, May 22, 2011

On Malcolm X And The Importance of Public Opinion | The Jose Vilson

On Malcolm X And The Importance of Public Opinion | The Jose Vilson

On Malcolm X And The Importance of Public Opinion

by Jose

Malcolm X, "Our Freedom Can't Wait!"

For the last few days, some of my fellow math teachers and I have been grading the NYS math test in an elementary school in Harlem. It’s been great because I get to wake up at 7 instead of 6 and still get to “work” on time. Yet, the warmer weather and my natural inquisitiveness has also sent me traversing my relatively new neighborhood in search of the best slices of this proud Black Mecca.

I walked up to 125th Street on Thursday when I noticed that almost every business (save a nationally recognized bank) had closed their doors from 1pm – 4pm. At first, my fellow math teachers and I were shocked; we weren’t used to the tradition for a man so many Americans malign. Yet, I grinned as I walked past the Rapture prophets,

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Restart or Reflux? « EdVox

Restart or Reflux? « EdVox

Restart or Reflux?

by edvoxny

By Carol Boyd

Last week the New York City Department of Education (DoE) announced the names of the 22 persistently low achieving (PLA) schools chosen to implement Restart, one of the four models authorized under the federal School Improvement Grants (SIG) guidelines. Schools that are selected for Restart are eligible to receive up to $2 million per year in SIG funds for a period of three years. Under the Restart model, schools will be under the management of education partner organizations (EPOs). If done well, Restart could be a real opportunity for struggling schools to finally get the guidance and supports they have needed for years. Unfortunately, thus far the Restart process looks more like a recipe for failure.

On Thursday May 19th, representatives of the DoE met at Brooklyn Borough Hall to brief potential bidders for the EPO awards about the Restart process (link to audio recording here). It is common knowledge that turning around the lowest-performing schools is one of the most challenging endeavors in public education, and cannot be successful without-depth planning, consensus-building and research. However, in typical “haste makes waste” fashion, the DoE intends to have bidders submit their proposals by next Friday, May 27th. The DOE plans to notify vendors within 2 weeks of their submittals, or by June 10th. According to the Request for Proposals,

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Spinning Education | MyFDL

Spinning Education | MyFDL

Spinning Education

by dakine01

(photo: Pedro Moura Pinheiro)

Author’s Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can.

I’m not going to act like an economist and claim to be “surprised” that folks are spinning various education pieces today. No, I am not at all surprised that it is happening, but I am a little frustrated when I see something like this from today’s (Sunday May 22) NY Times where the headline uses “grassroots” and “Bill Gates” together. The idea of anything funded from the coffers of a billionaire being considered “grass roots” is beyond ludicrous. But then, we are talking about a TradMed that willfully overlooks the funding of folks like the Koch Brothers and Dick Armey to proclaim various astro-turf organizations as “grass roots.”

To be fair, the Times article does point out a few of the problems:

INDIANAPOLIS — A handful of outspoken teachers helped persuade state lawmakers this spring

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Controversy Over Scholastic Sponsorships Goes Beyond Coal

Controversy Over Scholastic Sponsorships Goes Beyond Coal

Controversy Over Scholastic Sponsorships Goes Beyond Coal

by Huffington Post News Team
Amidst heavy criticism over a "pro-coal" teaching tool called "The United States of Energy," Scholastic Corporation announced in a statement released May 13, that it will discontinue distribution of the controversial education materials.

In the statement, Scholastic acknowledged that there were problems with its sponsorship policy, which allows nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and corporations to produce material that is then distributed to teachers:

"We acknowledge that the mere fact of sponsorship may call into question the authenticity of the information, and therefore conclude that we were not vigilant enough as to the effect of sponsorship in this instance ... Because we have always been guided by our belief that we can do better, we are undertaking a thorough review of our policy and editorial procedures on sponsored content, and we will publish only those materials which are worthy of our reputation as 'the most trusted name in learning.'"


"The United States of Energy" was the result of a partnership between Scholastic and American Coal Foundation(ACF), a nonprofit that provides resources to teachers in an effort to educate young students about coal as a
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How Bill Gates Bought Public Education (or Go Linux!)

How Bill Gates Bought Public Education (or Go Linux!)

How Bill Gates Bought Public Education (or Go Linux!)

It's pretty scary, the way a rich guy can influence an entire nation to succumb to his whim. It's scarier that the public let him.

...
Mr. Hess, a frequent blogger on education whose institute received $500,000 from the Gates foundation in 2009 “to influence the national education debates,” acknowledged that he and others sometimes felt constrained. “As researchers, we have a reasonable self-preservation instinct,” he said. “There can be an exquisite carefulness about how we’re going to say anything that could reflect badly on a foundation.”

“Everybody’s implicated,” he

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Tom King's Blog of De-Fog!: The Animal School Redux

Tom King's Blog of De-Fog!: The Animal School Redux

The Animal School Redux

by Dr. Tom
Does anyone remember reading that classic fable called, "The Animal School" by George Reavis? It was first published back in 1946 and is more true today than ever before. Read it below:

http://www.janebluestein.com/handouts/animal.html

Sad to say, we are still trying to standardize our students by requiring them to take standardized test on a largely standardized curriculum. Never mind that the kid are all different in abilities and interests, but grouped largely by age, as that's the only easy descriptor to measure. We'd like standardized results from them too, with all of them above average.

Did you ever stop and think what it means to have everyone above average? I don't recommend it, as it can cause an instant headache.

Since these NCLB tests we give our kids tell us little or nothing about how to help Jason with his reading or Gwen with her grammar, we have to figure out something useful to do with them. Billions are being tossed by states and feds into the test-makers' coffers annually, largely to assure us that while our students are not quite
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Daily Kos: Brothers and Sisters at Daily Kos - Silence

Daily Kos: Brothers and Sisters at Daily Kos - Silence

Brothers and Sisters at Daily Kos - Silence

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)
Welcome to Brothers and Sisters, the weekly meet-up for prayer* and community at Daily Kos. We put an asterisk on pray* to acknowledge that not everyone uses conventional religious language, but may want to share joys and concerns, or simply take solace in a meditative atmosphere. Anyone who comes in the spirit of mutual respect, warmth and healing, is welcome.

Silence is more than absence of speech. It can be an essential part of emptying oneself to make room for someone or something else.

Ocne in a class on the symphony, the late William Heartt Reese asked a group of us at Haverford College what the motif was of the Beethoven Fifth Symphony. One young man said "dit-dit-dit-DAH" almost as if doing the Morse code for the letter V. Reese told him he was wrong, to look at the score, that the motif was "rest-dit-dit-dit-DAH." That rest was an essential part of that structure.

Sometimes it is surprising or sudden silences. Beethoven is famous for them.

Sometimes it is that we need to remind ourselves of the need

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Big Education Ape: 5-22-11 PM Grass-Roots School Advocacy, Bill Gates' Behind Edition

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Published by Coopmike48 – 5 contributors today



“The Sixties” Debate | Firedoglake

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - “The Sixties” Debate | Firedoglake“The Sixties” Debateby Glenn W. SmithKent State MassacreWe were idling away the evening on the balcony, drinking wine and talking about everything from the Keith R...
coopmike48

Mr. Duncan, you are a shining example - Topeka K-12

examiner.com - Mr. Duncan, I’ll begin with a small sample of relevant adjectives just to get them out of the way: condescending, arrogant, insulting, misleading, patronizing, egotistic, supercilious, haughty, in...
DianeRavitch

Behind Grass-Roots School Advocacy, Bill Gates

nytimes.com - INDIANAPOLIS — A handful of outspoken teachers helped persuade state lawmakers this spring to eliminate seniority-based layoff policies. They testified before the legislature, wrote briefing papers...
DianeRavitch

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Behind Grass-Roots School Advocacy, Bill Gates

nytimes.com - INDIANAPOLIS — A handful of outspoken teachers helped persuade state lawmakers this spring to eliminate seniority-based layoff policies. They testified before the legislature, wrote briefing papers...
mikeklonsky

PoliticsSee all


Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky's blog

preaprez.wordpress.com - Plenty of folks showed up in Lansing, Michigan to show their anger at Governor Rick Synder’s education cuts. Barack Obama’s education plan: Just make the lowest performing kids disappear. Those fre...
fklonsky

We Should Never Privatize Public Safety | MyFDL

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - We Should Never Privatize Public Safety | MyFDLWe Should Never Privatize Public Safetyby WhyIHateCCA1 person liked this(photo: LiuTao)“We Should Never Privatize Public Safety”Florida’s legislature ...
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Two Souls Get Raptured in Brooklyn Heights

brooklynheightsblog.com - Archives Select Month May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 201...
DianeRavitch

Sacramento Press / Student Review of 'Tommy' Opening Night

sacramentopress.com - The Who’s ‘Tommy’ Opening Night UC Davis Wright Hall Main Theatre Thursday, May 19, 2011 With an impressive cast of young performers, “Tommy” lives up to its past Broadway reputation in this UC D...
coopmike48

Korea's Tripitaka: More Than Just 80,000 Wooden Blocks

rosemont.patch.com - “This is it?” my boys muttered in a chorus. I can’t blame them for being grumpy and disappointed after a forceful march across the countryside of Korea to visit another temple (Haeinsa) up on a...
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School Tech Connect: A Note To Kelly Cassidy

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - School Tech Connect: A Note To Kelly CassidyA Note To Kelly Cassidyby effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)Dear Kelly,Congratulations on being appointed to complete the term of Harry Osterman in Illinois...
coopmike48

What educators sometimes say... - The Educator's PLN

edupln.com - …that you wouldn’t hear in any other profession! Every profession has a way of doing business that makes the profession unique; education is no different. That said, every profession can also beco...
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Immigrants For Sale: $5 Billion a Year

fdlaction.firedoglake.com - You always knew there were billions being made in the for-profit prison system, but it’s really sobering to watch the latest Brave New Films video on the immigrant detention racket. Micah Uetrich...
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