Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Mid Day Posts 3-5 #edreform #soschat

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

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

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:WEEKEND QUOTABLESby Mike Klonsky31 were arrested at Virginia protest against law requiring women to have an ultrasound before getting an abortion.Rep. Delores McQuinn"The men and women who marched on Capitol Square have a right to peacefully protest without the threat that they will be arrested for exercising that right. At several recent women’s rights events, there has been an overabundance of police presence. In fact, the Capitol Police tactical team has been at all of ... more »

Teachers, students rally against standardized testing

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

Teachers, students rally against standardized testing:Teachers, students rally against standardized testing Calling for fewer standardized tests, about 65 teachers, students and activists marched Friday from the Capitol to the building that houses the Texas Education Agency."More teaching, fewer tests: education at its best," they chanted, building off comments made by the state's education commissioner in January that questioned whether testing in Texas public schools has gone too far.Students begin taking the new State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness this ... more »

Get Ready For The Edu-Debt Crisis | California Progress Report

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

Get Ready For The Edu-Debt Crisis | California Progress Report:Get Ready For The Edu-Debt Crisisby meganBy Jeff BryantLast week the US House of Representatives, with bipartisan support, passed a bill, H.R. 2117, with the misleading title of The Protecting Academic Freedom in Higher Education Act.The title is misleading because the bill has absolutely nothing to do with "protecting academic freedom" and everything to do with making our country more vulnerable to a rapacious campaign to turn America's entire system of ... more »

Occupy the Capitol for Education! | The Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education

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

Occupy the Capitol for Education! | The Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education:Occupy the Capitol for Education!by adminMonday, March 5, 2012 - 10:00amOCCUPY THE CAPITOL!Monday, March 5, 201210 AM: Mass March * Southside Park (6th T Sts)11 AM: Rally at the Capitol Building12:30 PM: Lunch at the Capitol Building3:30 PM: General Assembly and Nonviolent Direct Action Training to Occupy the Capitol!5:30 PM: RALLY NORTH STEPS in Solidarity with Occupy the CapitolThousands of students, parents, teachers, and workers will flood into ... more »

Editorial: Refreshingly, school board is mending fences - Editorials - The Sacramento Bee

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

Editorial: Refreshingly, school board is mending fences - Editorials - The Sacramento Bee:Editorial: Refreshingly, school board is mending fencesSharePublished: Monday, Mar. 5, 2012 - 12:00 am | Page 9ALast Modified: Monday, Mar. 5, 2012 - 12:17 amThursday night's cordial meeting of the Sacramento City Unified School District board of trustees stands in stark and welcome contrast to several contentious recent board sessions.The main agenda item of the night was a school closure, always a hotly debated subject, but not last ... more »

Seventy-five percent of the students left Milwaukee’s voucher program. Journal says that’s a success? « Fred Klonsky

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

Seventy-five percent of the students left Milwaukee’s voucher program. Journal says that’s a success? « Fred Klonsky:Seventy-five percent of the students left Milwaukee’s voucher program. Journal says that’s a success?by Fred KlonskyThe Milwaukee Journal, editorializing about a longitudinal study of the city’s voucher program, says:A multiyear study tracking students in both Milwaukee’s private voucher schools and Milwaukee Public Schools found that the voucher schools were exceeding the public schools in several key areas. The report’s findings may be significant, especially ... more »

Missouri Education Watchdog: Now in the Florida Senate. Coming Soon to a Legislature in Your State?

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

Missouri Education Watchdog: Now in the Florida Senate. Coming Soon to a Legislature in Your State?:Now in the Florida Senate. Coming Soon to a Legislature in Your State?by stlgretchenEducation reform looks more and more like health care reform but with one important caveat. This reform, unlike the Health Care Reform pushed through the US Senate and House, is bi-partisan. Keep an eye out on your state legislature and its stance on school reform. Florida is perhaps the one of the ... more »

Charters choose Brown’s tax plan | Thoughts on Public Education

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

Charters choose Brown’s tax plan | Thoughts on Public Education:Charters choose Brown’s tax planShareLoyal to governor whose support they can count onPosted on 3/05/12 • Categorized as 2012 election, Charters, Initiatives, Jerry Brown, State Budget, Student spending, TaxesBy John Fensterwald - Educated GuessCharter schools and the state’s largest teachers union rarely find anything to agree about. But the California Charter Schools Assn. is now the second major education group, next to the California Teachers Assn., to endorse Gov. Jerry Brown’s ... more »

NYC Educator: To Know or Not to Know?

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

NYC Educator: To Know or Not to Know?:To Know or Not to Know?by NYC EducatorMayor Bloomberg is a stalwart supporter of "value-added" scores being released to the public. After all parents need to have this information. The fact that it is thoroughly unreliable, with margins of error so wide you could drive tanks through them is of no importance whatsoever. They need to know!However, there are also things they don't need to know. For example, they don't need to know ... more »

To train and control or to teach and learn: is there a choice? « Cooperative Catalyst

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

To train and control or to teach and learn: is there a choice? « Cooperative Catalyst:To train and control or to teach and learn: is there a choice?by educatedtodeathOriginally posted at educatedtodeath.comIt seems that the goal of institutions is dominion over mankind. Organizations function to tame wild spirits and make them act civilly. This is not a terrible thing— people acting civilly. But, do the rulers act civilly? Not just the grand rulers, the government, corporations, etc., but the smaller ... more »

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Write to Your Legislator NOW

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

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Write to Your Legislator NOW:Write to Your Legislator NOWby Melissa WestbrookFrom afar I have been following the machinations of the State Senator Republicans (and the 3 Roadkill Dems including Rodney Tom) and the state budget.I can only say that, like Nick Hanauer, this is no way to show loyalty to your party. I think if Senator Tom wants to be a Republican, he should go back to being one (he acts like one anyway). I also ...more »

School Tech Connect: In Which I Admit I'm Squatting....

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

School Tech Connect: In Which I Admit I'm Squatting....:In Which I Admit I'm Squatting....by noreply@blogger.com (Tim)Scout In PursuitHere's an image from the day, mashed up in Fotoflexer. So here's a conundrum. I have a number of different URL's that I pay for--- none of them have anything to do with these topics--- and I keep up the payments for those URL's through my web hosting service, A Small Orange, a company I can't say enough good things about. If you ... more »

NYC DOE "Chancellor" Dennis Walcott Says That "Just Cause" in 3020-a Arbitration is Harmful To His Agenda - ParentAdvocates.org

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

Parent Advocates - ParentAdvocates.org:NYC DOE "Chancellor" Dennis Walcott Says That "Just Cause" in 3020-a Arbitration is Harmful To His AgendaGovernment Lies, Corruption and Mismanagement | Posted 3/4/2012 at 4:28 PMWalcott gets my award for the most despicable member of any education administration currently in office. Cant we get rid of him? The reason for my saying this is that I know how school administrators push good people out of their jobs, just read my post on this blog and on ... more »

The Future of the Florida Senate: Will the Anti-Privatization Coalition Extend to Schools | Scathing Purple Musings

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

The Future of the Florida Senate: Will the Anti-Privatization Coalition Extend to Schools | Scathing Purple Musings:The Future of the Florida Senate: Will the Anti-Privatization Coalition Extend to Schoolsby Bob SikesWhat follows is an analysis by a long time observer of Florida politics. The writer desires to be recognized by a pseudonym, Lois Pace.Will the emerging center coalition in the Florida Senate flex its muscle as we enter the last two weeks of the legislative session? Will those Senators who ... more »

One Teacher's Perspective: A Public Challenge to Privatizing Schools

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

One Teacher's Perspective: A Public Challenge to Privatizing Schools:A Public Challenge to Privatizing Schoolsby Imagine WisconsinThis week’s guestperspective comes from Bill Conway—Wisconsin’s 2009-2010 PTA Teacher of the Year.Conway is a veteran social studies teacher at Parker High Schoolin Janesville, WI.I read recently, with greatconcern, a JanesvilleGazette article about a private organization from Florida offering to keeptwo rural Wisconsin elementary schools open at a fraction of the currentoperating costs.It sent chills down my spine to read how this privateorganization cam... more »

Schools Matter: Confessions of a "Bad Teacher"

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

Schools Matter: Confessions of a "Bad Teacher":Confessions of a "Bad Teacher"by Judy RabinFrom the New York TimesMarch 3, 2012Confessions of a ‘Bad’ TeacherBy WILLIAM JOHNSONI AM a special education teacher. My students have learning disabilities ranging from autism and attention-deficit disorder to cerebral palsy and emotional disturbances. I love these kids, but they can be a handful. Almost without exception, they struggle on standardized tests, frustrate their teachers and find it hard to connect with their peers. What’s more, these ... more »

Schools Matter: Teacher, Julie Cavanagh, on Test Scores

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

Schools Matter: Teacher, Julie Cavanagh, on Test Scores:Teacher, Julie Cavanagh, on Test Scoresby Jim HornFrom the NYDaily NewsAccording to the numbers, I am a highly effective New York City public school teacher. But you won’t see me jumping for joy over the news.My teacher data report, along with those of 18,000 other teachers, was released last week by the Education Department after a lengthy legal battle. That report says I have a career rating that falls at or above the ...more »

Breitbart gone. Kyle Olson picks up his banner. « Fred Klonsky

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 11 hours ago

Breitbart gone. Kyle Olson picks up his banner. « Fred Klonsky:Breitbart gone. Kyle Olson picks up his banner.by Fred KlonskyGlen Yarbrough left the Limelighters.To those who thought the passing of Andrew Breitbart last week at the age of 43 meant the end of an era of mindless right-wing yahoo bloggers (and I’m pretty sure that most of you did not), I present Kyle Olson.Olson’s resume has mainly consisted of heading a tiny group of teacher haters in Western Michigan called ... more »

Tampa Bay Times: Charter School Dangers on Display in Scientology Case | Scathing Purple Musings

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 11 hours ago

Tampa Bay Times: Charter School Dangers on Display in Scientology Case | Scathing Purple Musings:Tampa Bay Times: Charter School Dangers on Display in Scientology Caseby Bob SikesThe editors of the Tampa Bay Times have weighed in one week after Drew Harwell’s investigative pieceappeared on its pages last Sunday. They focus their ire on the shady dealings of Life Force Arts and Technology Academy director Hanan Islam while pointing out the dangers that current charter school policies place upon children and ... more »

We need more teachers like this « Cooperative Catalyst

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 11 hours ago

We need more teachers like this « Cooperative Catalyst:We need more teachers like thisby joebowerIf you are proud of your high testsandgrades or ashamed of your low ones, you are a part of the problem.But if those who get low testsandgrades speak up against them they are easily labelled as ‘sour grapes’.That’s why those who get high testsandgrades have a responsibility to speak up and reject any accolades. Because they know that standardized tests measure what matters least. They also ... more »