Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top 3-19 AM Posts #soschat #edreform

Diane Ravitch: In Defense of Facing Reality

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 4 hours ago

Diane Ravitch: In Defense of Facing Reality: Diane RavitchHistorian, NYU professorGET UPDATES FROM DIANE RAVITCHLike73In Defense of Facing RealityPosted: 03/18/2012 9:24 pmI recently wrote two review articles for theNew York Review of Booksabout the teaching profession. The first wasa review of Pasi Sahlberg'sFinnish Lessons, about the exceptional school system of Finland, which owes much to the high professionalism of its teachers.The second of the two articles was areview of Wendy Kopp'sA Chance to Make History, and it focused on her ... more »

Roy Orbison - In Dreams

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 4 hours ago

A candy-colored clown they call the sandmanTiptoes to my room every nightJust to sprinkle stardust and to whisper"Go to sleep. Everything is all right."I close my eyes, Then I drift awayInto the magic night. I softly sayA silent prayerLike dreamers do.Then I fall asleep to dream My dreams of you.In dreams I walk with you. In dreams I talk to you.In dreams you're mine. All of the time we're togetherIn dreams, In dreams.But just before the dawn, I awake and ... more »

A Sunday evening watch: Diane Ravitch on Public Education, Privatization and Professionalization | Seattle Education

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 4 hours ago

A Sunday evening watch: Diane Ravitch on Public Education, Privatization and Professionalization | Seattle Education: A Sunday evening watch: Diane Ravitch on Public Education, Privatization and ProfessionalizationfromSeattle Education 2010byseattleducation2011This presentation by Diane Ravitch was given in San Francisco on January 20th of this year and sponsored by the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers. It includes a question and answer period.This is the description that was provided regarding her talk:She provides an overview of the corpora...more »

Civic Engagement | Inside Higher Ed

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 4 hours ago

Civic Engagement | Inside Higher Ed: Civic EngagementbyHerman BerlinerBlog:Provost ProseWe have a very active and respected Center for Civic Engagement on our campus. The Center has undertaken many worthwhile initiatives including the development of “a brief workshop for students who will be working with off campus communities.” This workshop, which is slightly over an hour in length, examines how students feel about working with off-campus communities and how these communities feel about working with students. The attitudes stressed to the ... more »

Early Learning: Changing The Rules of Engagement « Cooperative Catalyst

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 4 hours ago

Early Learning: Changing The Rules of Engagement « Cooperative Catalyst: Early Learning: Changing The Rules of EngagementbyStephen HurleyThis is a cross-post of a piece that I submitted to the newly-established websitevoicEd.ca. Inspired by the work that the Cooperative Catalyst has been doing, and dismayed by the polarization that sometimes characterizes online conversations about education, we had the idea thatthe time might be right for a collaborative working space dedicated to schooling in Canada. Please know just how much your efforts ... more »

Real World Business Advice Applied to Education « InterACT

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 4 hours ago

Real World Business Advice Applied to Education « InterACT: Real World Business Advice Applied to EducationbyDavid B. CohenTeachers, how many times have we heard that we don’t work “in the real world”? We finish work at 3:00 p.m. every day, we have summers off, and schools are not results-oriented like businesses. Never mind that we take our work home with us (average teacher works 53 hours per week), or that we work on the weekends and in the summer, or ... more »

School Tech Connect: Reflections on Not Teaching

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 4 hours ago

School Tech Connect: Reflections on Not Teaching: Reflections on Not Teachingbynoreply@blogger.com (Tim)I have been out of the classroom now for a few years. I taught English 7th, 8th, and 9th grade English for 23 years.For me, going into a regular line of work has given me my life back. As an English teacher, I graded and planned every evening and most of every Sunday during the school year. There were also the after-school meetings, the committees, the curriculum mapping, the ...more »

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Lastest Gates Foundation Research Asked the Teachers

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 4 hours ago

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Lastest Gates Foundation Research Asked the Teachers: Lastest Gates Foundation Research Asked the TeachersbyMelissa WestbrookA new Gates Foundationreport(with Scholastic) has just come out calledPrimary Sources: 2012 - America's Teachers on the Teaching Profession.They surveyed about 10,000 teachers via e-mail and in person about schools, their classrooms, student and teacher performance and assessment, tenure, family involvement, job satisfaction and digital content. It was not revealed to the teachers who was sponsoring the survey.One chart that ju... more »

Callahan: 'Double-speak' on charter schools | Online Athens

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 4 hours ago

Callahan: 'Double-speak' on charter schools | Online Athens: Callahan: 'Double-speak' on charter schools‘Double-speak’ on charter schoolsA couple of passages in a Wednesday Banner-Herald column by Tony Roberts, CEO of the Georgia Charter Schools Association, headlined “No private charter schools in Georgia,” need a closer look.Last summer, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled as unconstitutional the authorization of charter schools by a state charter school commission. Also ruled unconstitutional was the funneling of local taxpayer education dollars to charters that had not ... more »

“Testing Fan” Mitt Romney Serves Up Anti-Teacher Union Red Meat on FOX News Sunday | Scathing Purple Musings

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 9 hours ago

“Testing Fan” Mitt Romney Serves Up Anti-Teacher Union Red Meat on FOX News Sunday | Scathing Purple Musings: “Testing Fan” Mitt Romney Serves Up Anti-Teacher Union Red Meat on FOX News SundaybyBob SikesJames Kitfield writing in theNational Journaltakes this snippetfrom Mitt Romney’s interview with Bret Baier:Romney reiterated his support for the testing requirements in the 2001 “No Child Left Behind Act,” but promised as president to push back against a federal teachers’ union that has too much power and often ... more »

Who needs a WAIVER:The Myth of Parent Rights under NCLB

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 9 hours ago

Parent Rights under NCLB: What Parents Need to Know AboutSchool District PolicyNo Child Left Behind is the new education plan that was signed into law by President Bush in January of 2002. It’s designed to improve student achievement and help schools do a better job of teaching. The law includes a number of important opportunities for parents to be involved with the schools. This Tip Sheet, from the Kansas Parent Information Resource Center (KPIRC), is designed to help parents understand ... more »

Jane Addams PTSA passes anti-charter school resolution | Seattle Education

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 9 hours ago

Jane Addams PTSA passes anti-charter school resolution | Seattle Education: Jane Addams PTSA passes anti-charter school resolutionbyseattleducation2011On February 28, 2012, The Jane Addams PTSA board passed the following resolution:WHEREAS Washington State public schools are chronically underfunded, to the detriment of educational opportunities, staffing, and materials;WHEREAS the Washington State Supreme Court has ruled that the State of Washington is not fulfilling its constitutional obligation to fully fund public schools;WHEREAS it has not been demonstrated that charter schools ... more »

Commentary: The shoe, the gourd & integration | EdNewsColorado

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 9 hours ago

Commentary: The shoe, the gourd integration | EdNewsColorado: Commentary: The shoe, the gourd integrationWritten byAlan Gottliebon Mar 18th, 2012. | Copyright © EdNewsColorado.orgAlan Gottlieb is publisher of Education News Colorado. The views expressed below are his alone and do not reflect the positions of EdNews or the Public Education and Business Coalition.I can think of no better preface to this piece than this wonderful clip fromMonty Python’s Life of Brian:A lively comment stream last week on anEducation News Coloradostory aboutDenver’s ... more »

Grumpy Educators: Illinois Parents: "No good reasons for this excessive testing."

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 9 hours ago

Grumpy Educators: Illinois Parents: "No good reasons for this excessive testing.": Illinois Parents: "No good reasons for this excessive testing."bySandra"Since I found out two years ago how much experimental testing was happening, I’ve opted him out of dozens of tests. He has skipped the CPS Learning First Benchmark Assessments, the Scantron Performance Series tests, and the pilot Common Core. CPS administered each of these standardized tests in several subjects, several times a year. But there are no good reasons for ... more »

ALEC Exposed in Wisconsin | Seattle Education

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 9 hours ago

ALEC Exposed in Wisconsin | Seattle Education: ALEC Exposed in Wisconsinbyseattleducation2011Wisconsin Representative Mark Pocan explains in a brilliant speech howALECis working to eliminate public education in the state of Wisconsin specifically in a bill regarding vouchers and special education funding that’s right out of the ALEC playbook almost word for word.This is from the Assembly floor session on March 13th 2012.PopoutFromWisconsin Lawmaker Calls Out Corporate Front Group ALEC For Writing School Privatization Bill:The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the ... more »

Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 9 hours ago

Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky: Sunday links.byFred KlonskyPark Ridge Education Association IEA RA delegate Jerry Mulvihill at the mic, wearing orange to make sure he’s seen by the chair.They are smuggling books by Latino authors into Arizona. The Arizona legislature hasbanned books and curriculumthat promote “ethnic solidarity.”The Walton familyhas a plan and the money to implement it. They want todestroy public education.Joel Klein, Condi Riceand the military-business-educationreform complex.Cecily McMillan had her ribs cracked and suffers a seizureafter being beaten by ... more »

School reform legend prepares to take over wayward John McDonogh High School | NOLA.com

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 9 hours ago

School reform legend prepares to take over wayward John McDonogh High School | NOLA.com: School reform legend prepares to take over wayward John McDonogh High SchoolPublished: Sunday, March 18, 2012, 7:30 AM Updated:Sunday, March 18, 2012, 7:36 AMByAndrew Vanacore, The Times-PicayuneSteve Barr, who describes himself as a "basketball freak," stands taller than 6 feet and talks urgently in sports metaphors. The one on his mind now has to do with John McDonogh High School on Esplanade Avenue.Jogn McCusker, Times-Picayune archiveStill ... more »

Charter schools are about money, not choice | Columbia County News-Times

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 9 hours ago

Charter schools are about money, not choice | Columbia County News-Times: Charter schools are about money, not choicePosted:March 18, 2012 - 12:00am|Updated:March 18, 2012 - 10:51amByBarry L. PaschalPublisherA survey last week of Georgians’ opinions regarding several issues before the state Legislature determined that just 16 percent strongly favor the attempt to amend the state constitution to allow charter schools without local oversight.That tiny minority who still harbor a tingly fondness for charter schools, then, really should read the recent commentary ... more »

Welcome words for teachers | The Journal Gazette

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 9 hours ago

Welcome words for teachers | The Journal Gazette: "policy"Welcome words for teachersAlbrightMullinsSo starved are Indiana educators for affirmation that an overall discouraging address last week seemed to spark hope and reinforcement. Its effect would be even stronger if voters took it as a cue and demanded an end to the attacks on teachers and public education.“Despite what your state superintendent Tony Bennett says, the root cause of poor achievement is not teachers, but poverty,” Diane Ravitch told an audience of ... more »

Mother Crusader: Three Strikes For Regis Academy Charter School; Separation Of Church And State, Enrollment Discrepancies And Skimming Students

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 20 hours ago