Sunday, December 4, 2011

Why School Choice Fails - NYTimes.com

Why School Choice Fails

By NATALIE HOPKINSON

Published: December 4, 2011

Washington

Times Topic: Education

IF you want to see the direction that education reform is taking the country, pay a visit to my leafy, majority-black neighborhood in Washington. While we have lived in the same house since our 11-year-old son was born, he’s been assigned to three different elementary schools as one after the other has been shuttered. Now it’s time for middle school, and there’s been no neighborhood option available.

Meanwhile, across Rock Creek Park in a wealthy, majority-white community, there is a sparkling new neighborhood middle school, with rugby, fencing, an international baccalaureate curriculum and all the other amenities that make people pay top dolla

CPS Closings Spark Outcry - Chicago News Cooperative

CPS Closings Spark Outcry - Chicago News Cooperative:

CPS Closings Spark Outcry

by REBECCA VEVEA

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s education team made its first attempt at improving struggling schools last week, and the negative reviews came quickly. State legislators and community leaders called the proposed closing or restructuring of 21 schools “very troubling” and said administrators were violating the intent of a new state law.

Chicago Public Schools designated 10 schools for turnaround — a controversial process in which existing staff members are fired and changes are made in the school’s curriculum and learning climate. Four elementary schools will be closed, two high schools will be phased out, and six schools, one of which will also begin phasing out, will share buildings.

About 7,800 students will be affected by the proposed changes, and more than 600 teachers and other employees could lose their jobs. All the designated schools are on the city’s South and West Sides.

Legislation signed in August by Gov. Pat Quinn requires the district to follow a strict timeline for school closings

All Education Matters: Debt (The Student Loan Crisis) and Suicide

All Education Matters: Debt (The Student Loan Crisis) and Suicide:

Debt (The Student Loan Crisis) and Suicide

by Cryn Johannsen

I've written about and have been researching the relationship between student loan debt and suicide for well over a year. A fellow activist sent me this clip that dramatizes the crisis in a powerful way. Sadly, I heard from a mother recently who told me that her son killed himself in part because of the debt he owed. (More on that later).

In the meantime, check out this amazing short film. One person commented, "Fuck Sallie Mae!"

Quick Thanks: Your Remarks Regarding My Interview On The Brian Lehrer Show

by Cryn Johannsen

I am glad that I was able to speak about the student lending crisis on The Brian Lehrer Show this past week. I want to publicly thank all of you who complimented my analysis of the situation. Interestingly enough, I almost missed the interview. That morning, I was feeling under the weather, so I slept in (that's not normal for me). However, I happened to check my email and saw that the show had written to me an hour earlier; they urged me to get in touch with them. So, I did just that, and minutes before the discussion about Occupy Student Loan

tomhayden.com - Peace Exchange Bulletin - Pepper spray safe? We still don't know #ows

tomhayden.com - Peace Exchange Bulletin - Pepper spray safe? We still don't know:

PEPPER SPRAY SAFE? WE STILL DON'T KNOW

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2011 AT 11:56AM

This article originally appeared at The Sacramento Bee on December 4, 2011.

The pepper-spraying of 11 peaceful protesters at the University of California, Davis, provides an opportunity to reopen questions long ignored. Is oleoresin capsicum, the key ingredient of pepper spray, known to be safe? And if so, why have the authorities never performed the health risk assessments that were required by law when the weapon was introduced in 1992? Are they afraid of anything?

I was a state senator who worked on the issue when the state's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment was charged with conducting health studies during a three-year period in the 1990s. When the incident last month at UC Davis became a shocking global image, I checked wit

Fatherhood In Patterns | The Jose Vilson

Fatherhood In Patterns | The Jose Vilson:

Fatherhood In Patterns

by Jose

There’s only two ways to really look at every decision you make as a father: either you’ll do it just like you’re father or nothing like him. That goes for everything in life, because the any choice in life we make is binary. With all the exposure I have to children via my godson, nephews, and my own students, I’ve gotten a good grasp of the ins and outs of what it takes to be a full-fledged father. Some of my colleagues remark that we ought to have licenses for parenthood, and I almost tend to agree. As a baby-raiser, you’re a gaga-interpreter, a butt-wiper, a food-hunter-then-preparer-then-feeder-cleaner-repeater, a gyrator-stirrer-shaker-human-bassinet, sleep-deprivation-survivor, and model for every sound that comes out of this little human. It’s a tremendous responsibility that takes almost as much time as living itself, and fatherhood administered properly, is a gift

The Turnaround Timeline Simplified | The Classroom Sooth

The Turnaround Timeline Simplified | The Classroom Sooth:

The Turnaround Timeline Simplified

by classroomsooth

In Chicago, and nationally, if schools don’t “work” we close them down or turn them around. If we take a look at why they do not “work” however, we see a pattern of strategic decision-making:

1) Chronically under-resource a school.
2) Declare it a “failure” after when you have a couple years of test-score results.
3) Throw it away and tell the students and educators to go elsewhere.
4) Re-open the building as a charter school with a $1 lease the following year.

Chicago attorney and edu-journalist Matt Farmer recently reported on th

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