Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Late Nite Posts 3-20 #soschat #EDReform

Schools Matter: The Big Lie

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 21 minutes ago

Schools Matter: The Big Lie: The Big LiebyJudy RabinHere we go again.A new report,part of the shock and awe campaign being waged against public education, teacher unions and anyone who can still think critically and ask questions, is being brought to us by Condoleezza Rice and Joel Klein. The nation's security is at risk if the nation's public schools don't improve. Excuse me while I throw up.With education budgets being slashed to the bone across the country: more money being ... more »

Doubts About High-Stakes Tests and Their Effect on Teachers – SchoolBook

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 21 minutes ago

Doubts About High-Stakes Tests and Their Effect on Teachers – SchoolBook: Doubts About High-Stakes Tests and Their Effect on TeachersbyAnna M. PhillipsThe chief academic officer of New York City’s public schools said on Monday night that principals were not alone in being concerned about the state’s new teacher evaluation system: He also has qualms.At a panel discussion on high-stakes testing held at the Brooklyn Secondary School for Collaborative Studies, Shael Polakow-Suransky, the chief academic officer for the city’s Education Department, ... more »

I was ordered by my President to assassinate Arne Duncan! | Dissident Voice

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 21 minutes ago

On Orders of the President | Dissident Voice: On Orders of the PresidentbyMyles HoenigI was ordered by my President to assassinate Arne Duncan! It has been a state secret, up until now.I can’t give any details of the exchange (for my house with my wife and my pets might be droned), but President Obama communicated to me directly that his presidency is in danger because even to most Americans, it’s becoming obvious that his treacherous plans to dumb down our ... more »

The specter of the orange shirt. « Fred Klonsky

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 21 minutes ago

The specter of the orange shirt. « Fred Klonsky: The specter of the orange shirt.byFred KlonskyBack in 2010 I was standing at the microphone at the IEA RA waiting for Executive Director Audrey Soglin to finish her report on PERA, the law that ties teacher evaluations to student growth scores on tests never designed for teacher evaluation.The IEA was instrumental in writing the PERA law, which later became the basis for Senate Bill 7.You know the story: I stood at ... more »

S.2194: American Dream Accounts Act of 2012 - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 21 minutes ago

S.2194: American Dream Accounts Act of 2012 - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress: S.2194- American Dream Accounts Act of 2012A bill to award grants in order to establish longitudinal personal college readiness and savings online platforms for low-income students.view all titles (2)OverviewActions VotesNews(0) Blogs(4)Comments(0)Bill's ViewsToday:8Past Seven Days:39All-Time:39IntroducedSenatePassesHousePassesPresidentSigns03/14/12Official Bill TextComment on about 17 PagesSponsorSenatorChris CoonsD-DEView Co-Sponsors (2)CommitteesSenate Health, Education, Labor, and PensionsRelated Issue A... more »

School Reform's Establishment Turn - WSJ.com

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 21 minutes ago

Review Outlook: School Reform's Establishment Turn - WSJ.com: School Reform's Establishment TurnThe Council on Foreign Relations endorses choice and competition.The Council on Foreign Relations is the clubhouse of America's establishment, a land of pinstripe suits and typically polite, status-quo thinking. Yet today CFR will publish a report that examines the national-security impact of America's broken education system—and prescribes school choice as a primary antidote. Do you believe in miracles?American schools have several national-security duties, the report notes. First is edu...more »

Trayvon Martin’s girlfriend recalls final conversation before shooting | The Raw Story

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 21 minutes ago

Trayvon Martin’s girlfriend recalls final conversation before shooting | The Raw Story: Trayvon Martin’s girlfriend recalls final conversation before shootingBy Andrew JonesTuesday, March 20, 2012 9:25 EDTTopics:doj♦George Zimmerman♦Trayvon MartinTrayvon Martin’s girlfriend toldABC Newslate Monday night her final phone conversation with him before he was shot dead by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman.The girl, whose parents requested not to make her name public, was questioned by the Martin family’s attorney Benjamin Crump and described that her boyfriend was cornered by... more »

Modern School: Pacifica Hires Union-Busting Law Firm

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 21 minutes ago

Modern School: Pacifica Hires Union-Busting Law Firm: Pacifica Hires Union-Busting Law FirmbyMichael DunnImage from Flickr, byRochelle, Just Rochelle)The liberal Pacifica Foundation (parent of lefty radio stations like KPFA, in Berkeley, WBAI, in New York, and KPFK, in Los Angeles) has hired Jackson Lewis, a notorious anti-union law firm, according toCal Labor Fed. The law firm, which the AFL-CIO has called “America’s number one union-buster,” advises bosses how to obstruct their employees from forming unions and how to undermine existing unions. ... more »

DoJ, FBI Announce Probe in Trayvon Martin Case | FDL News Desk

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 21 minutes ago

DoJ, FBI Announce Probe in Trayvon Martin Case | FDL News Desk: DoJ, FBI Announce Probe in Trayvon Martin CaseBy:David DayenTuesday March 20, 2012 6:00 amTweetThe Justice Department and the FBI, responding to a growing display of outrage, willopen an investigationinto the killing of Trayvon Martin, a 17 year-old African-American killed in a gated community in Sanford, Florida by a neighborhood watch captain.Thestory of Martin’s deathslowly but persistently reached the public consciousness in the three weeks since the incident on ... more »

Confirmed: Alan Hays Voted NO on Parent Trigger Because Haridopolis Blocked His Worker’s Comp Bill | Scathing Purple Musings

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 21 minutes ago

Confirmed: Alan Hays Voted NO on Parent Trigger Because Haridopolis Blocked His Worker’s Comp Bill | Scathing Purple Musings: Confirmed: Alan Hays Voted NO on Parent Trigger Because Haridopolis Blocked His Worker’s Comp BillbyBob SikesWritesJim Turner inSunshine State News:The failure of a single bill to reach the Senate floor —a controversial onethat Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty claimed would lower workers’ compensation costs for businesses — doomed the “parent trigger” for school choice in the final days of the 2012 session.Sen. ... more »

Our Children, Our Future and an EXCELLENT DEAL FOR CA CHARTER SCHOOLS #SOSCHAT

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 15 hours ago

Our Children, Our Future 2012 // Welcome: UR CHILDREN, OUR FUTUREShareOur Children, Our Future willgive Sacramento Charter High, Sacramento, 95817$1,013,7542013-2014$1,763,4742017-2018$2,385,6952023-2024Source MethodologyFind aOur Children, Our Future will raise billions in new, dedicated funding each year to invest in our children, with funds tending to increase over time. These numbers reflect a snapshot of how much new funding a school or district will get in the first full year of OCOF implementation (2013-14), the fifth year of OCOF implementation (2017-18), and the ...more »

NYC Public School Parents: Aggressive marketing by charter schools, soliciting applicants

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 15 hours ago

NYC Public School Parents: Aggressive marketing by charter schools, soliciting applicants: Aggressive marketing by charter schools, soliciting applicantsbyLeonie HaimsonThe Bloomberg administration and the charter school operators always claim that in the rapid proliferation of charter schools across the city, they are merely responding to parent “demand” but this ignores the aggressive recruiting methods they use to build up their “waiting lists.” Eva Moskowitz has hired paid recruiters to “poach” students for her Success Academy charters, as in the video below, ... more »

Modern School: Helping SPED Students by Increasing Their Class Sizes?

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 15 hours ago

Modern School: Helping SPED Students by Increasing Their Class Sizes?: Helping SPED Students by Increasing Their Class Sizes?byMichael DunnFull Inclusion or Full Immersion? (Image from Flickr, byGui Seiz)One of the latest trends in Special Education is “Full Inclusion.” The idea is that all students benefit from being in the “least restrictive” environment. Special day classes (SDC)—where many special needs students were traditionally exposed to much of their curriculum—segregated them from the general student population and relied on special education (SPED) ... more »

Mulgrew spells conditions for backing college loan forgiveness | GothamSchools

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 15 hours ago

Mulgrew spells conditions for backing college loan forgiveness | GothamSchools: Mulgrew spells conditions for backing college loan forgivenessbyPhilissa CramerThe UFT would consider supporting Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to pay back the loans of top college graduates who become city teachers — but only under certain conditions.In a letter to Chancellor Dennis Walcott today, UFT President Michael Mulgrew spelled out what it would take for him to support a loan forgiveness program of the type Bloomberg proposed in January duringhis State of ... more »

Department of Justice WILL NOT be present at meeting to discuss racial bias in hiring and firing of teachers Denver's far northeast - The Denver Post

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 15 hours ago

Department of Justice will not be present at meeting to discuss racial bias in hiring and firing of teachers Denver's far northeast - The Denver Post: Department of Justice will not be present at meeting to discuss racial bias in hiring and firing of teachers Denver's far northeastBy The Denver Post The Denver PostPosted:DenverPost.comThe U.S. Department of Justice this morning said it is neither hosting nor will it send a representative to a meeting planned for 6:30 p.m. tonight at ... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Early Evening Posts 3-19 #SOSchat #p2 #edreform

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 15 hours ago

Action Alert: Get the charter school clause out of the state budget | Seattle EducationBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-1 minute agoAction Alert: Get the charter school clause out of the state budget | Seattle Education: Action Alert: Get the charter school clause out of the state budgetbyseattleducation2011Senator Tom with his Republican buddies presented a budget last Thursday which included the K-12 funding that had been agreed to previously but a clause regarding charter schools had been added. It ... more »

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Ethics Ruling

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 15 hours ago

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Ethics Ruling: Ethics RulingbyCharlie MasI filed an Ethics complaint against Director DeBell for his participation in the discussion of the MOU with the Alliance for Education despite the fact that he sits on the Alliance board.The District's Ethics Officer, Mr. Wayne Barnett, dismissed the complaint because Mr. DeBell's service on the board of the Alliance isex officio. That is, he isn't there as himself but as the president of the school board and therefore there is ... more »

On Privatization and Brutalizing Campuses – The New Inquiry #ows #ucdavis

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 15 hours ago

On Privatization and Brutalizing Campuses – The New Inquiry: On Privatization and Brutalizing CampusesByAARON BADY(By Gina Patnaik and Aaron Bady, both graduate students at the University of California, Berkeley)Last November, a few days aftervideos of riot police beating Berkeley student protestorswere blowing up on youtube, an article in theNew York Timesannouncedthat UC-Berkeley’s Chancellor Robert Birgeneau had been travelling to establish a satellite campus within the intimate confines of Shanghai’s Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park. Because Birgeneau had been in Asia during the ... more »

Best Questions: Good Schools — Whole Child Education

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

Best Questions: Good Schools — Whole Child Education: Best Questions: Good SchoolsbyMolly McCloskeyDespite the rumors, school improvement is hard. It's not about a single passionate leader. It's not about "fixing" teachers and teaching or parents and parenting. It's not about poverty. It's not about money. And it's not about standards. It's about all of them. And more.In this column, I'll take on the real deal of school improvement—for all schools, not just certain kinds. And for all kids. Because it's ... more »

Triggers Create Nothing but Chaos and Division - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

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

Hopes and Feard for Parent Trigger Laws - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com: Triggers Create Nothing but Chaos and DivisionCaroline Grannan is a San Franc isco public school parent and a founding member ofParents Across America.UpdatedMarch 18, 2012, 7:00 PMThe first parent trigger – a ploy born here in California – collapsed amidchaos, controversy, charges and countercharges of fraud and intimidation.The second, also in California, ignited more battles, which are still being fought.There've been no other parent triggers. So it's ... more »