Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Mid Day Posts 2-16 #edreform #soschat

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Good Things at the Board Meeting

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 minutes ago

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Good Things at the Board Meeting:Good Things at the Board Meetingby Melissa WestbrookThe kids from Maple Elementary came and did a wonderful dragon dance to welcome in the new year. Great fun.Also, 38 more teachers were recognized for being board-certified. According to the Board, our district is 5th in the nation for the number of board-certified teachers. Good for all those teachers. (I will try to give a breakdown of where all these newly-certified teachers come ... more »

Modern School: Extrinsic Motivation: Chitown Charter Implements Stiff Fines for Student Infractions

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 minutes ago

Modern School: Extrinsic Motivation: Chitown Charter Implements Stiff Fines for Student Infractions:Extrinsic Motivation: Chitown Charter Implements Stiff Fines for Student Infractionsby Michael DunnImage from Flickr, by Sebastian BergmannThe Noble Network, which runs 10 charter high schools in Chicago, raised nearly $200,000 last year (and $400,000 since 2008) from discipline penalties, the Chicago Tribune reported this week. The Network, which has been praised by Ed Deformer Mayor Rahm Emanuel, has been charging students $5 per violation for such trivial infractions as ... more »

Jersey Jazzman: The Pie-Crust Promises of Chris Cerf

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 minutes ago

Jersey Jazzman: The Pie-Crust Promises of Chris Cerf:The Pie-Crust Promises of Chris Cerfby DukeAs Mary Poppins said: "Easily made, easily broken":The UFT has lost its lawsuit and the DOE says it will release the teacher data reports to the media within weeks, with all the major newspapers expected to print them. These reports, which rate 12,700 NYC teachers by means of numerical ratings of 1 to 100, are based solely on the 2010 test scores of their students, filtered through ...more »

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Chicago area "most corrupt." So let's put mayor in charge of schools

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 minutes ago

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Chicago area "most corrupt." So let's put mayor in charge of schools:Chicago area "most corrupt." So let's put mayor in charge of schoolsby Mike KlonskyA study being released today says the number of public corruption convictions in the Chicago area was higher than in any other federal court district in the entire country from 1976 through 2010.I've got an idea. Let's put the mayor in charge of the schools and make CPS a wing of City ... more »

The Opposite of Social Promotion... - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 minutes ago

The Opposite of Social Promotion... - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:The Opposite of Social Promotion...by Nancy Flanagan...is social demotion. In other words, public humiliation. Failure, writ large.Flunked. Held back. Retained. It's failure, no matter what you call it. Imposed by adults, some of whom honestly believe they're instituting a kind of academic tough love. Suffered by children who struggle with learning, for any one of a galaxy of reasons.And it seems to be all the rage, ... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Late Nite Posts 2-14 #soschat #ReclaimingReform

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 minutes ago

Seattle Schools Community Forum: What is Going on with this MOU?Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-16 minutes agoSeattle Schools Community Forum: What is Going on with this MOU?:What is Going on with this MOU?by Melissa WestbrookI keep trying to get up from this computer but something new pops up.So the Action Report on the Creative Approach Schools has changed (but not the MOU). Here are the changes (the red is new):I move that the Seattle School Board approve the ... more »

FUBU for Teaching Standards [Future of Teaching] | The Jose Vilson

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 5 hours ago

FUBU for Teaching Standards [Future of Teaching] | The Jose Vilson:FUBU for Teaching Standards [Future of Teaching]by JoseExcerpt:I know there are a billion frameworks, most notably from Charlotte Danielson and Robert Marzano. I also don’t have faith in people who sell their products to districts who muck up any effort to improve the teaching profession with real research. Akin to what we do with students, Campbell’s Law comes into effect when we continually hammer in the idea that teachers should ... more »

Education Petition: Do not publish the unreliable teacher data reports! | Change.org

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 5 hours ago

Education Petition: Do not publish the unreliable teacher data reports! | Change.org:Do not publish the unreliable teacher data reports!Signatures30 out of 1,000PetitioningPublic editor of NY Times (+ 6 others)Created ByClass Size MattersAbout this PetitionPetition LetterPetition UpdatesWhy This Is ImportantThese reports, which rated 12,700 NYC teachers based solely on the 2010 test scores of their students, filtered through a complicated value-added formula, are seen by most experts as highly unreliable, based on false or incomplete data and include huge margins of ... more »

WTF Probe: NYC teacher had students write to inmate - Boston.com

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 5 hours ago

Probe: NYC teacher had students write to inmate - Boston.com:Probe: NYC teacher had students write to inmateFebruary 15, 2012E-mail|Print|Comments (0)Text size – +0 0 ShareThisNewNEW YORK—Investigators say a New York City teacher had her students make Christmas cards for an incarcerated felon.The special commissioner of investigation for city schools says Queens public school teacher Melissa Dean asked her fifth-graders to make holiday cards for someone who was lonely.The commissioner's report was issued Wednesday. It says Dean mailed the cards to ... more »

Interesting Interview With Charlotte Danielson | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 5 hours ago

Interesting Interview With Charlotte Danielson | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…:Interesting Interview With Charlotte Danielsonby Larry FerlazzoI have to admit that I’m not well-versed in Charlotte Danielson’s work and her teacher evaluation framework, but it’s sure becoming very popular, very quickly.The New York Times “School Book” has just published an interesting interview with her: An Evaluation Architect Says Teaching Is Hard, but Assessing It Shouldn’t Be.I was particularly struck by this part:Q. When states design evaluation systems, like New ... more »

Videos for the Classroom: Interview about “Slavery by Another Name” | Mr. D's Neighborhood

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 5 hours ago

Videos for the Classroom: Interview about “Slavery by Another Name” | Mr. D's Neighborhood:Videos for the Classroom: Interview about “Slavery by Another Name”by ldorazio1A few nights ago, PBS showed a documentary that chilled me to the bone.Slavery by Another Name is a documentary based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon. It details an often-overlooked chapter in African American history: the ... more »

Hear from Parents Across America members on how to fight back against corporate reform | Seattle Education

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 5 hours ago

Hear from Parents Across America members on how to fight back against corporate reform | Seattle Education:Hear from Parents Across America members on how to fight back against corporate reformby seattleducation2011Feeling overwhelmed by all the negative legislation and education policies being imposed by corporate reformers on your school or district?On Monday night, February 20th at 8 PM EST, Parents Across America will be sponsoring a conference call, open to all parents and concerned citizens, to brief you on strategies you ... more »

Federal Regulations are Not Making College More Expensive

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 5 hours ago

Federal Regulations are Not Making College More Expensive:Federal Regulations are Not Making College More Expensiveby KEVIN CAREY on FEBRUARY 15, 2012in UNCATEGORIZEDShareA couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to testify at a U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee hearing on innovations in higher education affordability. You can watch the video here. It was an interesting morning marred by a long discussion of an essentially bogus idea: that college keeps getting more expensive because of onerous federal ... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Early Evening Posts 2-12 #SOSchat #p2 #edreform

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 5 hours ago

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Education - Day of Action. March 5 -SacramentoBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-4 minutes agoSACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Education - Day of Action. March 5 -Sacramento:Education - Day of Action. March 5 -Sacramentoby Duane CampbellJoin Us on March 5 Day of ActionTo Demand that the California Government:Fully fund public education, which is a public good and is the cornerstone of a democratic society, a vibrant economy, and the social and intellectual development of every individual.Fully fund social ... more »

No cussing in class for teachers, lawmaker says - NorthJersey.com

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 5 hours ago

No cussing in class for teachers, lawmaker says - NorthJersey.com:No cussing in class for teachers, lawmaker saysWEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2012, 6:59 PMASSOCIATED PRESSTHE RECORDPAGES: 1 2 3 4 DISPLAY ON ONE PAGE | PRINT | E-MAILPHOENIX — A teacher's role may be to expand a student's vocabulary, but one Arizona lawmaker wants to make sure that doesn't include four-letter words.ASSOCIATED PRESSFloyd Brown and his daughter Olivia Brown pose for a photo Monday, Feb. 13, 2012, in Anthem, Ariz. Borwn, pulled ... more »

Seattle Schools Community Forum: What is Going on with this MOU?

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 10 hours ago

Seattle Schools Community Forum: What is Going on with this MOU?:What is Going on with this MOU?by Melissa WestbrookI keep trying to get up from this computer but something new pops up.So the Action Report on the Creative Approach Schools has changed (but not the MOU). Here are the changes (the red is new):I move that the Seattle School Board approve the Memorandum of Understanding between the Seattle Education Association and the Seattle School District No. 1 regarding the Collective ... more »

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Who Can You Trust? Part 2

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 10 hours ago

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Who Can You Trust? Part 2:Who Can You Trust? Part 2by Melissa WestbrookI guess no one.So from what I was following on the superintendent search (both in person and reading minutes), I thought I understood how the superintendent search would be working. Of course, we are still waiting on the webpage for this information (tick tock). I had understood the search committee to be made up of the following:7 Board members1 SEA rep1 PASS rep1 SCPTSA ... more »

This Week In Education: Thompson: Collective Effort Vs. Teacher Scapegoating

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 10 hours ago

This Week In Education: Thompson: Collective Effort Vs. Teacher Scapegoating:Thompson: Collective Effort Vs. Teacher Scapegoatingby john thompsonDavid Cantors’ EdWeek commentary (Who Is Responsible for Student Achievement?) starts as if it was another exercise in the blame game. Cantor’s focus groups with teachers, parents, and other stakeholders could never answer the question "who should be responsible for making things better." But Cantor listens and realizes that educators "were shouting to policymakers: You can't put anything else on our plate" and that ... more »

To Catch a Plagiarist | Edwize

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 10 hours ago

To Catch a Plagiarist | Edwize:To Catch a Plagiaristby Senorita in the CityPirillo Fitz[Editor's note: Señorita in the City is the pseudonym of a fifth-year teacher in a high school in Manhattan. She blogs at senoritainthecity.com where a version of this post first appeared.]Recently I found myself identifying with these words spoken by Liam Neeson’s character in the movie “Taken”: “What I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills that I have acquired over a very long ... more »

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Education - Day of Action. March 5 -Sacramento

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 14 hours ago

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Education - Day of Action. March 5 -Sacramento:Education - Day of Action. March 5 -Sacramentoby Duane CampbellJoin Us on March 5 Day of ActionTo Demand that the California Government:Fully fund public education, which is a public good and is the cornerstone of a democratic society, a vibrant economy, and the social and intellectual development of every individual.Fully fund social services, which to a large part provide a crucial safety net for the most vulnerable members of society ... more »