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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

What Meat-Industry's Meatingplace Won't Tell You About LA School Lunches | MyFDL

What Meat-Industry's Meatingplace Won't Tell You About LA School Lunches | MyFDL:

What Meat-Industry’s Meatingplace Won’t Tell You About LA School Lunches

School Lunch (image: krikketgirl/flickr)

School Lunch (image: krikketgirl/flickr)

You could smell the schadenfreude — not that most of big-meat-industry organ Meatingplace’s readers or writers would know the word, much less be able to spell it — a mile away (full article viewable by free subscription only):

Participation in the [LA Unified School District's] lunch program, which serves 650,000 meals daily, dropped by the thousands, and principals reported uneaten meals thrown away en masse.

This was after the district switched to a healthier menu and ditched things like strawberry-flavored milk.

But here’s what Meatingplace — which cribbed its piece from a Los Angeles Times article — won’t tell you: The

Standardized Testing & Creative Thinking | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

Standardized Testing & Creative Thinking | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…:

Standardized Testing & Creative Thinking

An interesting piece in the Huffington Post titled The Education Reform Paradox and the Extinction of Higher Level Thinking Skills led me to another article in The Week, which included this section:

While IQ scores are indisputably on the rise, American creativity levels are bottoming out. Analysis of the results of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking suggests that the creative abilities of American children have been spiraling downward for almost 20 years. The Torrance tests analyze young children’s ability to come up with original ideas and put them into practice. Kyung Hee Kim, an assistant professor at the College of William & Mary School of Education, found that scores on Torrance tests taken by children up to 6th grade between 1968 and 2008 showed a steady decline after 1990.

That’s a serious issue at a time when creative thinking is among the most desperately needed skills in the

Does School Audit = School Accountability? I Don’t Think So! « Diary of a Public School Teacher!

Does School Audit = School Accountability? I Don’t Think So! « Diary of a Public School Teacher!:

Does School Audit = School Accountability? I Don’t Think So!

PREDICTIONS FOR 2012 « Teachers Fight Back

PREDICTIONS FOR 2012 « Teachers Fight Back:

PREDICTIONS FOR 2012

1. The hot topic for teacher workshops will be about overcoming the stereotype that girls are not as interested in, and adept at math and science as boys.

2. Several states will begin to legalize internet gambling and tax it as an additional source of revenue to fund schools.

3. There will be a shortage of teachers as many of the older ones take early retirement because of their disgust with the “teach to the test mentality”.

4. The notion that teacher salaries and pensions have contributed to the financial demise of the states will begin to disappear as the economy improves.

5. The old inner city school buildings that need replacing because of structural problems will be rebuilt as

Uncensored: A Lost Article about the Save Our Schools March | The Jose Vilson

Uncensored: A Lost Article about the Save Our Schools March | The Jose Vilson:

Uncensored: A Lost Article about the Save Our Schools March

Jose Vilson and Pedro Noguera at SOS March

I don’t usually do this, but you’re my people. On August 2nd, GOOD Magazine published an article ostensiblywritten by yours truly … with almost half the article chopped off. I won’t get into reasons why things went missing because a) I still don’t agree with Michelle Rhee, b) the person who cut the piece in half isn’t the person I usually work with on these GOOD pieces, and c) I’m about to publish this joint for you all anyways. Enjoy the uncensored version of “A Bee You Cannot Eat: Education Reform After the SOS March.”

When five thousand educators, parents, students, and other denizens concerned with the state of education come to Washington, DC ready to respond to the call for change, you respond. When these people come together in a coalition for educational social justice and activist, you listen. When you’re prompted as a teacher to speak on behalf of these thousands and the many more who couldn’t show up, you stand up and represent

Battling Anew Over the Place of Religion in Public Schools - NYTimes.com

Battling Anew Over the Place of Religion in Public Schools - NYTimes.com:

Battling Anew Over the Place of Religion in Public Schools

Susan Sawyers: FoundED

Susan Sawyers: FoundED:

Susan Sawyers

GET UPDATES FROM SUSAN SAWYERS




FoundED

Posted: 12/27/11 07:30 PM ET

Today's favorable income tax rates make it attractive for the mega-rich to give their dollars away. But how much of this private funding for social good wields influence over public policy? If and when it does, especially given budget shortfalls in public education, is this bad? Add to that the idea of socially responsible investing, which partners social good with financial returns. The thing is, it's not easy to give away money well and it's harder not to be criticized for motives or mechanics.

With the season of giving upon us, I've got my eye on foundations funding education stories, the who, the what, the why and a bit of but.. Here's a roundup of

State says districts without evaluation deals to lose funds Jan. 1 | GothamSchools

State says districts without evaluation deals to lose funds Jan. 1 | GothamSchools:

State says districts without evaluation deals to lose funds Jan. 1

The State Education Department will cut districts off from one pot of federal funds within days unless they settle on new teacher evaluations for some struggling schools.

In a move that the state teachers union called “an arbitrary exercise of brinksmanship,” State Education Commissioner John King issued the threat today to New York City and nine other school districts that are receiving School Improvement Grants to overhaul their lowest-performing schools.

King said all but two had not met the requirements to continue receiving the funds — most notably, the requirement to hammer out agreements on new teacher evaluation systems. Those agreements are supposed to

Big Education Ape: 11-27-11 PM SoFla Charter School Connections to Tallahassee EDition

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now:
Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Published by Coopmike48 – 6 news spotters today

Online publication recognizes Walker - JSOnline

jsonline.com - Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has been named 2011 Governor of the Year by Governors Journal. The online publication said Walker "served as the embodiment of the state by state battle to balance budge...

DianeRavitch

Top Stories of 2012 (Gotham Gazette, Dec 26, 2011)

gothamgazette.com - Top Stories of 2012 by David Howard King Dec 26, 2011Round and round it goes. A number of our pundits made some big bets last year, pushing all their chips into the center of the table, only to see...

leoniehaimson

A Union of Professionals. www.nysut.org

nysut.org - ALBANY, NY December 27, 2011 -- Commissioner King's decision to cut off funding to School Improvement Grant (SIG) districts will disrupt services to our neediest students and deprive their schools ...

leoniehaimson

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coopmike48 Edutopia: A Neurologist Makes the Case for the Video Game Model as a Learning Tool - The Educator's PLN - goo.gl/zLZlXabout 1 minute ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 NYS Teacher Evaluation Controversy - The Educator's PLN -goo.gl/2NIa740 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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leoniehaimson Hundreds of NYT reporters sign protest letter to Sulzberger re pension cut of overseas staff & freeze of own pensions goo.gl/sh0Arabout 1 hour ago · reply · retweet · favorite

EducationSee all

Video

nypost.com - A shocking one in four students at a Bronx high school slated for closure is a teen parent or pregnant, The Post has learned.That startling statistic is buried in thousands of pages of documents th...

leoniehaimson

SocietySee all

Keeping Students From the Polls

nytimes.com - Next fall, thousands of students on college campuses will attempt to register to vote and be turned away. Sorry, they will hear, you have an out-of-state driver’s license. Sorry, your college ID is...

mikeklonsky

A Living Wage, Long Overdue

nytimes.com - New York City provides hundreds of millions of dollars a year in taxpayer-financed subsidies to private developers. It is only right that the jobs created by those projects pay a decent wage. The F...

mikeklonsky

Abstinence-Only Education--It's Baaack for 2012!

alternet.org - Reproductive-health experts breathed a sigh of relief in 2009 when President Barack Obama did away with over a decade of funding for abstinence-only funding under previous administrations (which ha...

leoniehaimson

StoriesSee all

Ben Falik: We Bought a School

huffingtonpost.com - After news this week that Governor Snyder lifted the limits on the number of charter schools operating in Michigan, you may be asking yourself, "What's stopping me from opening my own charter schoo...

mikeklonsky

Test your Ed Reform IQ!

pureparents.org - Washington Post education blogger Valerie Strauss has a quick end-of-year quiz for us school reform aficionados. For Public Schools Action Tuesday today, take the quiz, print it out for your New Ye...

coopmike48

PoliticsSee all

Half of America In Poverty? The Facts Say It's True

commondreams.org - Recent reports suggest that almost 50% of Americans are in poverty or at a "low income" level. The claim is based on a new supplemental measure by the Census Bureau that includes health care, trans...

mikeklonsky

School Spending Under Microscope - WSJ.com

online.wsj.com - The New York City lawyer who helped win a landmark court ruling in 2006 that ordered billions of dollars more spent on schools has been quietly building a new case to show that even after more than...

leoniehaimson

Newt: I Would Never Vote For Ron Paul

2012.talkingpointsmemo.com - Benjy Sarlin December 27, 2011, 4:57 PM Newt Gingrich on Tuesday lit into Ron Paul over extremist newsletters he once published, saying that he would not vote for him if he were the Republican nomi...

mikeklonsky

LeisureSee all

Changes made for school return dates

signonsandiego.com - NORTH COUNTY — Parents, mark your calendars: After winter break, classes resume on different dates for elementary and high school students in Escondido and San Marcos public schools.In the San Marc...

coopmike48

Photo Galleries Of The Week

larryferlazzo.edublogs.org - Obviously, photos can be great educational tools with English Language Learners and with any students (see The Best Ways To Use Photos In Lessons). I post about many photo galleries, also called sl...

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#eduRead this paperSee all

Jersey Jazzman: Poverty, Shmoverty: Part IV

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Jersey Jazzman: Poverty, Shmoverty: Part IV:Poverty, Shmoverty: Part IVby DukeThis is a little wonky, but I think the payoff is worth it. Bear with me...So I've been going on a bit about internatio...

coopmike48

#owsSee all

Cops Ready for War - Yahoo! News

news.yahoo.com - Nestled amid plains so flat the locals joke you can watch your dog run away for miles, Fargo treasures its placid lifestyle, seldom pierced by the mayhem and violence common in other urban communit...

mikeklonsky

Occupy activists meet in Iowa, plan caucus events

northjersey.com - DES MOINES, Iowa — Already they have interrupted Michele Bachmann and drawn a withering putdown from Newt Gingrich as "all noise, no thought." Now, to the dismay of Iowa Republicans, Occupy activis...

coopmike48

OCCUPY EDUCATION - Asking students: revolutionary? #ows

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - OCCUPY EDUCATION - Asking students: revolutionary?:Asking students: revolutionary?OCCUPY EDUCATION - 6 minutes agoAsking students: revolutionary?Whether I shall be the hero of my school life, or wh...

coopmike48