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Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Mid Morning Posts #ows #edreform


Schools Matter: Why not try the obvious first?

Schools Matter: Why not try the obvious first?:Why not try the obvious first?by skrashenWhy not try the obvious first?Sent to the Chicago Tribune, Jan 9, 2012According to one principal, students need a longer school day so they can catch up in reading (“Chicago schools to begin longer days Monday,” Jan 9).We can get much bigger gains spending less money and with much less work, with an approach that children will like a lot better than staying in school longer: Invest ... more »

Florida’s budget solution: Ban the kids - Fred Grimm - MiamiHerald.com

Florida’s budget solution: Ban the kids - Fred Grimm - MiamiHerald.com:Florida’s budget solution: Ban the kids BY FRED GRIMMFGRIMM@MIAMIHERALD.COMMiamiHerald.com/columnistsPondering the budget Gov. Scott sent to the Legislature, I’m overcome with something similar to the sentiment suffered by adults in the lobby of Disney World’s Animal Kingdom Lodge.One admires the soaring thatched ceiling, huge wooden beams, hard-carved furnishings, faux African artifacts and the wild (or at least wildish) animals roaming the grounds, and lament that this could be one of the ... more »

What’s Wrong With Walcott? « JD2718

What’s Wrong With Walcott? « JD2718:What’s Wrong With Walcott?by jd2718by Lynne Winderbaum, retired ESL teacher, JFK HS, and former Bronx High School UFT District Rep“I’m not going to remove him, but he knows he cannot have any similar type of comments. He is on a very strict line as far as his behavior,” said Walcott, who added that some school staffers want Chase to remain in his post.Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx-principal-fire-outrageous-machine-comments-photocopier-article-1.1002357#ixzz1iy5ky7opFollowing the deplorable moral standards of his predecessors ... more »

Parents’ Rights in Prince William County Schools « PWC Education Reform Blog

Parents’ Rights in Prince William County Schools « PWC Education Reform Blog:Parents’ Rights in Prince William County SchoolsJanuary 9, 2012 — pwceducationreformCan parents review the information the public schools hold about them and their children? Can they access their child’s locker? Can the public schools distribute a student’s information outside the local school district without the parents’ consent, for instance to the state or federal Department of Education or other organizations / institutions?The first, can parents review the information PWCS ... more »

School Tech Connect: Low Morale?

School Tech Connect: Low Morale?:Low Morale?by noreply@blogger.com (Tim)I can't imagine why.Can you imagine trying to teach anything worthwhile while having these stupid pacing guides shoved down your

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Ed Reform Marches On In Washington State

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Ed Reform Marches On In Washington State:Ed Reform Marches On In Washington Stateby Melissa WestbrookLisa Macfarlane, who helped co-found LEV, has moved on and is now the head of Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) with this modest-sounding goal:"..a political organization focused on encouraging a more productive conversation within the Democratic Party on the need to fundamentally reform public education. DFER operates at all levels of government to educate elected officials and support reform-minded candidates for public ... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Late Nite Posts #edreform #ows

Still “Lying to Children”: How No Child Left Behind Corrupted Education - The Daily BeastBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-7 minutes agoStill “Lying to Children”: How No Child Left Behind Corrupted Education - The Daily Beast:Still “Lying to Children”: How No Child Left Behind Corrupted EducationJan 9, 2012 6:53 AM ESTExpecting all students to be college ready is a hopeless utopian goal that inevitably produces test-score inflation and bad results.PrintEmailComments (2)When George W. Bush signed No Child Left Behind ... more »

Support PURE! » “Fire Chris Koch”: ISBE chief hid real costs of testing company junkets

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » “Fire Chris Koch”: ISBE chief hid real costs of testing company junkets:“Fire Chris Koch”: ISBE chief hid real costs of testing company junketsby adminThe Pearson junket scandal broke — i.e. was actually reported – a few months ago in New York, and the NY state attorney general is now investigating local education officials, but Chicago media seems uninterested in the fact that Illinois State Superintendent Chris Koch also took advantage of ... more »

RheeFirst! » Unsolved Mystery: DC Public Schools Cheating Scandal– I​s there a cover up?

RheeFirst! » Unsolved Mystery: DC Public Schools Cheating Scandal– I​s there a cover up?:Unsolved Mystery: DC Public Schools Cheating Scandal– I​s there a cover up?by adminWritten by Catharine Evans and Ann Kane for the Potter Williams Report. Read the entire article here.“The Washington DC school system’s failure to hold higher-ups accountable for their 2008-2010 test cheating scandal has led to more speculation that some are intentionally stonewalling attempts to get at the truth. …… Mayor Gray took the opportunity to ... more »

Schools Matter: Chetty Study: "simpleminded, technocratic, dehumanizing and disturbing"

Schools Matter: Chetty Study: "simpleminded, technocratic, dehumanizing and disturbing":Chetty Study: "simpleminded, technocratic, dehumanizing and disturbing"by Jim HornThe heart of Bruce Baker's first review of the corporate boot-licking conclusions by Chetty Co.:. . . . The authors find that teacher value added scores in their historical data set vary. No surprise. And they find that those variations are correlated to some extent with “other stuff” including income later in life and having reported dependents for females at a young age. There’s ... more »

Talking Title IX on Twitter | ED.gov Blog

Talking Title IX on Twitter | ED.gov Blog:Talking Title IX on TwitterPosted on January 9, 2012 by Cameron BrenchleyThis year marks the 40th anniversary of Title IX, the civil rights law that ensures educational institutions that receive federal funding do not discriminate on the basis of sex. Secretary Duncan has said that Title IX is “one of the great civil rights success stories in education.” To kick off the anniversary year, Secretary Duncan and Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Russlynn ... more »

No honor among thieves. Wing-nuts defend Romney when it comes to job destruction. « Fred Klonsky

No honor among thieves. Wing-nuts defend Romney when it comes to job destruction. « Fred Klonsky:No honor among thieves. Wing-nuts defend Romney when it comes to job destruction.by Fred KlonskySome of the crazy right-wingers in the GOP would rather lose the White House than elect Mitt Romney, in spite of his claim of being conservative. He’s just not conservative enough for the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.But when Newt Gingrich came out with a blistering video on the ... more »

HechingerEd Blog | The reliability problem in grading teachers

HechingerEd Blog | The reliability problem in grading teachers:The reliability problem in grading teachersby Sarah GarlandA new study underwritten by the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation (which is among the funders of The Hechinger Report) tackles the question of whether the new teacher evaluation systems going into effect in school districts across the country are accurate and reliable in identifying which teachers are good and which are not. The researchers found that the new evaluation systems are likely to be more ... more »

In Case You Missed It: A State suspension, A Cuomo commission, and a lot of 2012 tension « EdVox

In Case You Missed It: A State suspension, A Cuomo commission, and a lot of 2012 tension « EdVox:In Case You Missed It: A State suspension, A Cuomo commission, and a lot of 2012 tensionby edvoxnyTuesdayAfter months of back-and-forth, warnings by State officials, and a breakdown in talks about a teacher evaluation system that ended with City DOE refusing to negotiate further with the teachers union, the State education commissioner suspended payments of federal grants to struggling schools across New ... more »

WATCH OUT FINLAND, HERE COMES ILLINOIS ! « Teachers Fight Back

WATCH OUT FINLAND, HERE COMES ILLINOIS ! « Teachers Fight Back:WATCH OUT FINLAND, HERE COMES ILLINOIS !by alkleenI was looking at the wording of the goals for the new curriculum in Illinois, the “Common Core Curriculum”, (which by the way is about the 1,876th curriculum change in the last 40 years), but then again, who’s keeping score? One of the curriculum statements reads, “the standards were developed while considering the standards of top performing countries”. So, one of the goals ... more »

Still “Lying to Children”: How No Child Left Behind Corrupted Education - The Daily Beast

Still “Lying to Children”: How No Child Left Behind Corrupted Education - The Daily Beast:Still “Lying to Children”: How No Child Left Behind Corrupted EducationJan 9, 2012 6:53 AM ESTExpecting all students to be college ready is a hopeless utopian goal that inevitably produces test-score inflation and bad results.PrintEmailComments (2)When George W. Bush signed No Child Left Behind legislation into law 10 years ago this week, it seemed like the perfect expression of his brand of “compassionate conservatism,” while also ... more »

Governors Association Examines Teacher Merit Pay - High School Notes (usnews.com)

Governors Association Examines Teacher Merit Pay - High School Notes (usnews.com):Governors Association Examines Teacher Merit PayGovernors Association Examines Teacher Merit PayBy JASON KOEBLERJanuary 9, 2012 RSS Feed PrintMany pro-reform education experts, including U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, will tell you that one of the most important factors in a child's education is the quality of the teacher—and the way to retain the best teachers is to pay them more. But states and teachers unions nationwide are having trouble agreeing ... more »

Education Reform Now’s 2010 IRS 990 Form « DFER Watch

Education Reform Now’s 2010 IRS 990 Form « DFER Watch:Education Reform Now’s 2010 IRS 990 Formby ken libbypEducation Reform Now’s IRS 990 form and audited financial statement were recently posted on the NY Charities Bureau a href=”http://bartlett.oag.state.ny.us/Char_Forms/show_details.jsp?id={D4BB3F84-544C-4371-A9D0-05EB216A4445}”website/a. Below is a summary of relevant information. This post then concludes with a few brief notes./p pstrongSummary:/strong/p pERN’s total revenue and total expenses grew between 2009 and 2010:/p pimg style=”display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-r... more »

NJ Spotlight | In the Suburbs, Charter Schools Raise Concerns About Local Control

NJ Spotlight | In the Suburbs, Charter Schools Raise Concerns About Local Control:In the Suburbs, Charter Schools Raise Concerns About Local ControlCan a local school district block a charter from opening or refuse to fund it? print | email | shareBy Marilyn Joyce Lehren, January 9, 2012 in Education |1 CommentCredit: Marilyn Joyce LehrenLili Meddahi, a Maplewood third grader, decorates a protest sign against charters.When a charter school opens in a gritty urban neighborhood, few parents and officials argue that ... more »

Sacramento Press / "Strong Mayor" Proposal at Secret Public Meeting

Sacramento Press / "Strong Mayor" Proposal at Secret Public Meeting:"Strong Mayor" Proposal at Secret Public Meetingby William BurgOn January 7, 2012, Sacramento city staff held a public meeting about the newest proposal to change the city charter, the “Checks and Balances Act of 2012.” However, this public meeting was not announced to the general public—instead it was directed at a small group of neighborhood leaders.I found out about the meeting via the chair of the Midtown Neighborhood Association, who received ... more »