The Answer Sheet - A School Survival Guide for parents (and everyone else). - The Washington Post
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The Answer Sheet - A School Survival Guide for parents (and everyone else). - The Washington Post: Teacher: One (maddening) day working with the Common CoreValerie StraussatThe Answer Sheet-3 hours agoThis *was written by Jeremiah Chaffee, a high school English teacher in upstate New York for the last 13 years. It’s long but worth reading*. By Jeremiah Chaffee The high school English department in which I work recently spent a day looking at what is called an “exemplar” from the ... more »
Arne Duncan: Newspapers Shouldn't Publish Teacher Ratings - Teacher Beat - Education Week
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Arne Duncan: Newspapers Shouldn't Publish Teacher Ratings - Teacher Beat - Education Week: Arne Duncan: Newspapers Shouldn't Publish Teacher RatingsbyStephen SawchukPublishing teachers' ratings in the newspaper in the wayThe New York Timesand other outlets have done recently is not a good use of performance data, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in an interview yesterday."Do you need to publish every single teacher's rating in the paper? I don't think you do," he said. "There's not much of an upside ... more »
NYC Educator: A Message from Condi
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NYC Educator: A Message from Condi: A Message from CondibyNYC EducatorHi everyone. It's me, your old pal Condoleezza Rice. You remember me. I'm the one who brought you the Iraq War. You know, I was the one who kept saying we didn't want the smoking gun to become a mushroom cloud, that Sadaam had WMDs, and all that. That's why we went to Iraq. Oh, popcorn balls,wedidn't actually go, but we sent an awful lot of soldiers there and spent ... more »
Data Center: School District Grades - Low-Income Students - ContraCostaTimes.com
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Data Center: School District Grades - Low-Income Students - ContraCostaTimes.com: Data Center: School District Grades - Low-Income StudentsByDaniel WillisBay Area News GroupPosted: 03/22/2012 05:06:18 PM PDTUpdated: 03/22/2012 06:24:44 PM PDTCounty:AllAlamedaButteContra CostaFresnoImperialLos AngelesMaderaMarinMercedMontereyNapaOrangePlacerRiversideSacramentoSan BernardinoSan DiegoSan FranciscoSan JoaquinSan Luis ObispoSan MateoSanta BarbaraSanta ClaraSanta CruzSolanoSonomaStanislausSutterTulareVenturaYoloYubaDistrict:AllABC UnifiedAlameda City UnifiedAlhambra UnifiedAlvord Unified... more »
California state report makes recommendations on teacher layoff process | 89.3 KPCC
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California state report makes recommendations on teacher layoff process | 89.3 KPCC: California state report makes recommendations on teacher layoff processMarch 22, 2012 | ByAdolfo Guzman-Lopez0Damian Dovarganes/APTeachers, parents and supporters rally as the Los Angeles Unified School District board meets to consider budget cuts and layoffs.DownloadAnew report saysCalifornia school districts need to change the way they lay off teachers.The state’s Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) says the system now in place carries a high cost — in dollars, morale and teacher ... more »
California state report makes recommendations on teacher layoff process | 89.3 KPCC
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California state report makes recommendations on teacher layoff process | 89.3 KPCC: California state report makes recommendations on teacher layoff processMarch 22, 2012 | ByAdolfo Guzman-Lopez0Damian Dovarganes/APTeachers, parents and supporters rally as the Los Angeles Unified School District board meets to consider budget cuts and layoffs.DownloadAnew report saysCalifornia school districts need to change the way they lay off teachers.The state’s Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) says the system now in place carries a high cost — in dollars, morale and teacher ... more »
Losing experience in teacher layoffs | Thoughts on Public Education
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Losing experience in teacher layoffs | Thoughts on Public Education: Losing experience in teacher layoffs - by Kathryn BaronbyKathryn BaronCalifornia school districts should not be bound by seniority when budget cuts force them to lay off teachers, according to far-reaching report released yesterday by the state Legislative Analyst’s Office. A Review of the Teacher Layoff Process in California also recommends changing the deadline for notifying teachers they may be laid off from March 15 to [...]Weighted student formula is already ... more »
THE MEDIA AND EMBARRASSED AUTHORITY FIGURES « Teachers Fight Back
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THE MEDIA AND EMBARRASSED AUTHORITY FIGURES « Teachers Fight Back: THE MEDIA AND EMBARRASSED AUTHORITY FIGURESbyalkleenWatch out if you do something wrong and your actions are picked up by the news media and or the social media. If your actions caused your superiors to become embarrassed because millions of people saw the wrongdoing, your punishment is likely to be way more severe than it normally would be.Take the case of the five members of the Southern Mississippi pep band who ... more »
California State University Leaders Modeling The “People’s University” After The “For-Profit Education Sector” | California Progress Report
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California State University Leaders Modeling The “People’s University” After The “For-Profit Education Sector” | California Progress Report: California State University Leaders Modeling The “People’s University” After The “For-Profit Education Sector”bymeganBy Lillian TaizCalifornia Faculty AssociationWithout a public mandate and without open discussion within democratic processes, the administration of the California State University is transforming California’s great public university—“The People’s University”—into the image of a For-Profit higher education enterprise.This is the ... more »
Report: Pink-slipping costs $706 per teacher | teachers, report, districts - News - The Orange County Register
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Report: Pink-slipping costs $706 per teacher | teachers, report, districts - News - The Orange County Register: Report: Pink-slipping costs $706 per teacherThree in four California teachers who get an initial layoff warning are rehired, the Legislative Analyst’s Office saysToo many teachers in California receive preliminary layoff notices each spring as school districts plan for worst-case budget-cutting scenarios, a time-intensive process that carries a hefty $706 price tag per notified educator, according to an independent review from the state's Legislative ...more »
Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Late Nite Posts 3-22 #soschat #EDReform
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Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee's Cheating Scandal: A Conspiracy of SilenceBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-27 minutes agoArticles: D.C. Cheating Scandal: A Conspiracy of Silence: D.C. Cheating Scandal: A Conspiracy of SilenceByM. Catharine Evans and Ann KaneIt took nine years for rumors of cheating on test scores by school personnel in Atlanta to percolate and trigger a devastating nine-month investigation by their governor. Will it take nine or more years for D.C. schoolchildren to get the same kind of ...more »
Report gives C's, D's to schools in educating poor, minority students - San Jose Mercury News
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Report gives C's, D's to schools in educating poor, minority students - San Jose Mercury News: Report gives C's, D's to schools in educating poor, minority studentsBy Sharon Noguchisnoguchi@mercurynews.comPosted: 03/22/2012 04:18:15 PM PDTUpdated: 03/22/2012 06:33:06 PM PDTRelated StoriesMar 22:Data Center: School District Grades - Low-Income StudentsData Center: School District Grades - Minority StudentsBay Area school districts not only poorly serve their minority and low-income students, they also do worse in general than their Southern California counterparts, according to a rep... more »
School Tech Connect: Open Rebellion Almost
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School Tech Connect: Open Rebellion Almost: Open Rebellion Almostbynoreply@blogger.com (Tim)Did you see this?Sir: The exchange between Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott and myself dealt with the heavy burden state mandated testing has on effective teaching and learning in Texas classrooms.Because of the vigorous punitive measures taken against districts, schools and teachers when scores are below minimum expectations, most districts have created a test based local curriculum. In many school districts, mandated common assessments directly linked to the state exam are ... more »
State report recommends changes to school districts' pink slip process, timing - LA Daily News
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State report recommends changes to school districts' pink slip process, timing - LA Daily News: State report recommends changes to school districts' pink slip process, timingByBarbara Jones, Staff WriterPosted: 03/22/2012 05:36:44 PM PDTUpdated: 03/22/2012 05:52:56 PM PDTA REVIEW OF THE TEACHER LAYOFF PROCESS IN CALIFORNIATo read the report, clickhere.California's system for laying off public school teachers is costly and overly restrictive and could be improved by changing state law to give school districts more leeway in making personnel decisions, a ... more »
Jersey Jazzman: Teachers on the Edge of Poverty
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Jersey Jazzman: Teachers on the Edge of Poverty: Teachers on the Edge of PovertybyDukeBruce Bakerhas an important post up about the Opportunity Scholarship Act - New Jersey's voucher bill. Basically, the way the bill is now written, it would be little more than a massive giveaway of tax funds to yeshivas in Lakewood and, to a lesser degree, Passaic; somewhere on the order of $67 million. All voucher supporters should have to answer to Bruce's arguments here.But his post also ...more »
We No Speak Americano [Future of Teaching] | The Jose Vilson
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We No Speak Americano [Future of Teaching] | The Jose Vilson: We No Speak Americano [Future of Teaching]byJoseExcerpt:While we should always have a skeptical eye towards new research, here’s hoping this movement towards bilingual education doesn’t die the way the movement towards the metric system. (As a math teacher, I’m still annoyed at having to use inches instead of centimeters.) At this point in education, we’ve only had a passing fancy with other languages. Spanish, French, German, and Italian seem ... more »
Missouri Education Watchdog: Ed Reformers Don't Value Public Input nor does this Teacher's Union. What IS "Public" about "Public" Education?
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Missouri Education Watchdog: Ed Reformers Don't Value Public Input nor does this Teacher's Union. What IS "Public" about "Public" Education?: Ed Reformers Don't Value Public Input nor does this Teacher's Union. What IS "Public" about "Public" Education?bystlgretchenFollowingyesterday's postingabout what ed reformers really think about parent and/or taxpayer input into the question of charters comes this story from California about a teacher's union not wanting parents to volunteer in the public schools. FromHotair:In Culver City, Calif., a local union wants toforce ... more »
Lauren Zuniga, To the Oklahoma Lawmakers: a poem
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Lauren Zuniga performs a poem for the Oklahoma legislators that are trying so hard to take away women's reproductive rights. The bill in question will require women to receive an ultrasound and listen to the baby's heartbeat before an abortion.
Response: A Conversation About Building Trust Between #Parents & #Teachers - Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo #soschat
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Response: A Conversation About Building Trust Between Parents Teachers - Classroom QA With Larry Ferlazzo - Education Week Teacher: Response: A Conversation About Building Trust Between Parents TeachersByLarry FerlazzoonMarch 22, 2012 9:11 PM(This is Part Two of a three part series on parent engagement. You can see Part Onehere)Kanwal Sachdevaasked:I enjoyed reading your article on 'how to make students learn to listen'. My question is- How do we make parents to listen to the teachers? You know, for the students ...more »
Corporate Power Grab Initiative | Alliance
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Corporate Power Grab Initiative | Alliance - California Teachers Association: Corporate Power Grab Initiative | AllianceThe Corporate Power Grab initiative, previously referred to as the "Paycheck Deception" initiative, is bankrolled by the ultra-wealthy, would silence the voices of California union workers and strengthen the clout of big corporations.
Join the Network for Sustainable School Change — Whole Child Education
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Join the Network for Sustainable School Change — Whole Child Education: Join the Network for Sustainable School ChangebyASCD Whole Child BloggersCurrent educational practice and policy focus overwhelmingly on academic achievement measured by standardized, mandated tests. This achievement is but one element of student learning and development and only a part of any complete system of educational accountability. ASCD'sWhole Child Initiativeis an association-wide effort to change the conversation about education from a focus on narrowly defined academic achievement to one that ... more »
Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Early Evening Posts 3-22 #SOSchat #p2 #edreform
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Connecticut’s Governor Malloy: My Plan to Reform Teacher TenureBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-1 hour agoGovernor Malloy: Dannel P. Malloy: My Plan to Reform Teacher Tenure: Dannel P. Malloy: My Plan to Reform Teacher TenureJournal Inquirer, op edBy Dannel P. MalloyMarch 21, 2012This winter, I laid out my vision to revitalize Connecticut’s public schools. With our students’ overall performance stagnant and our achievement gap the widest in the nation, I called for reforms potent enough to change the trajectory ... more »
Modern School: Parsing the Black-White School Suspension Gap
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Modern School: Parsing the Black-White School Suspension Gap: Parsing the Black-White School Suspension GapbyMichael DunnDiscipline is Victory or Arbeit Mach du Frei? (Image from Flickr, byAdam Jones)The U.S. Department of Education'sOffice for Civil Rightsrecently released data on suspension rates in the U.S. After surveying 72,000 schools that served roughly 85% of the nation’s students they found that black children represent 35% of all suspensions and 39% of all expulsions, though they comprise only 18% of the student population.Many are calling ... more »
Duncan Heads to Capitol Hill for Budget Hearings | ED.gov Blog
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Duncan Heads to Capitol Hill for Budget Hearings | ED.gov Blog: Duncan Heads to Capitol Hill for Budget HearingsPosted onMarch 22, 2012byCameron Brenchley“We must come together as a country to make sound, bipartisan investments in education,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said earlier today at a budget hearing on Capitol Hill. “It is unconscionable for us to ask a generation of students to pay the price for adult political dysfunction.”Archive photo of Secretary Duncan testifying on Capitol Hill. Official Department ... more »
Teachers and Parents Prepare to Occupy the Department of Education - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher
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Teachers and Parents Prepare to Occupy the Department of Education - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher: Teachers and Parents Prepare to Occupy the Department of EducationbyAnthony CodyLast summer many of us marched to protest the US Department of Education's policies at theSave Our Schools march in Washington, DC.While there, I met two activists, Pennsylvania parent Tim Slekar and Florida teacher Ceresta Smith. They are now working to organize an"occupation" of the Department of Education, beginning next Friday, March ... more »
New research supports PAA LSC model « Parents Across America
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New research supports PAA LSC model « Parents Across America: New research supports PAA LSC modelbypureparentsLast week PAAcelebratedalongside Florida parents with the defeat of so-called “parent trigger” legislation, which would have allowed parents in “low-performing” schools to vote to close it, fire all the staff, or turn it into a charter school. But that doesn’t mean that we are completely satisfied with our schools and see no need for improvement.In fact, we are very concerned about our schools. We’re especially ... more »
Daily Kos: Teacher turnover negatively affects student performance
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Daily Kos: Teacher turnover negatively affects student performance: Teacher turnover negatively affects student performancebyrss@dailykos.com (teacherken)so says a recently released study titledHow teacher turnover harms student achievement, about which Steven Sawchuk writes inthis Education Week piece.The authors of the study are the University of Michigan's Matthew Ronfeldt, Stanford University's Susanna Loeb, and the University of Virginia's Jim Wyckoff. Quoting from Sawchuk's summary: Among their findings:• For each analysis, students taught by teachers in the same grade-level t... more »
One more letter to the Seattle School Board regarding Teach for America, Inc. | Seattle Education
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One more letter to the Seattle School Board regarding Teach for America, Inc. | Seattle Education: One more letter to the Seattle School Board regarding Teach for America,Inc.Posted onMarch 22, 2012byseattleducation2011|1 CommentI told you in my last post that those would not be my last words on TFA, Inc.Yesterday evening I found this letter in my inbox and found it so compelling that I wanted to share it.DoraTo the SPS Board Directors,Let’s first be clear about what the contract does. ... more »
Updated Update on the PWCS 2012 Budget « PWC Education Reform Blog
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Updated Update on the PWCS 2012 Budget « PWC Education Reform Blog: Updated Update on the PWCS 2012BudgetMarch 22, 2012 — pwceducationreformThe school board rejected the revised budget proposals at the meeting on March 21st and sent the division back to the drawing board. The school board will meet again on March 28th to discuss and hopefully approve a budget that:Provides a step increase for PWCS teachers, not just a 2% salary increase. Estimates are that providing a step increase ... more »
Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee's Cheating Scandal: A Conspiracy of Silence
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Articles: D.C. Cheating Scandal: A Conspiracy of Silence: D.C. Cheating Scandal: A Conspiracy of SilenceByM. Catharine Evans and Ann KaneIt took nine years for rumors of cheating on test scores by school personnel in Atlanta to percolate and trigger a devastating nine-month investigation by their governor. Will it take nine or more years for D.C. schoolchildren to get the same kind of justice?Investigators in Atlantareported'"a culture of fear and a conspiracy of silence" had existed during Superintendent Dr. Beverly Hall's ... more »