Digital Natives, Or Digital Citizens? | Taking Note
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Digital Natives, Or Digital Citizens? | Taking Note:Digital Natives, Or Digital Citizens?by John MerrowHow can we make today's students less consumers of technology -- and more the innovators behind it?I often hear adults describing today’s young people as ‘digital natives,’ usually with a tone of resignation or acceptance: “They are so far ahead of us, but we can turn to them for help,” is the general message I hear.My reaction is “Whoa there, Nellie,” because to me that kind of ... more »
Shanker Blog » A Look At The Education Programs Of The Gates Foundation
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Shanker Blog » A Look At The Education Programs Of The Gates Foundation:A Look At The Education Programs Of The Gates Foundationby Ken LibbyOur guest author today is Ken Libby, a graduate student studying educational foundations, policy and practice at the University of Colorado at Boulder.The Bill Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest philanthropic organization involved in public education. Their flexible capital allows the foundation to change course, experiment and take on tasks that would be problematic for other organizations.Although ... more »
(Real) Graph vs (Fake) Graph Friday « School Finance 101
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(Real) Graph vs (Fake) Graph Friday « School Finance 101:(Real) Graph vs (Fake) Graph Fridayby schoolfinance101This post provides a quick follow up to yesterday’s post (late last night) when I critiqued a questionable graph from an NJDOE presentation here: State of NJ Schools presentation 2-29-2012It turns out that the slide presentation had many comparable graphs that deserve at least some attention. First, there’s this graph which attempts to argue that early reading proficiency is a statewide issue, and not just ... more »
Diane Ravitch criticizes Jindal education plan | The Advertiser | theadvertiser.com
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Author criticizes Jindal education plan | The Advertiser | theadvertiser.com:Author criticizes Jindal education plan11:00 PM, Mar. 1, 2012 | CommentsAAGuest speaker Diane Ravitch delivers her keynote address during the School Board Association Meeting at the Cajundome Convention Center on Thursday in Lafayette.Written byMike HastenFILED UNDERNewsLocal NewsBobby JindalLAFAYETTE — Gov. Bobby Jindal and several other governors across the country have bought into an education reform plan that won't work, a nationally recognized education advisor and author told members of the Louisiana ... more »
The Education Games: Reform as Doublespeak | Dailycensored.com
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The Education Games: Reform as Doublespeak | Dailycensored.com:The Education Games: Reform as Doublespeakby Paul ThomasAlthough we currently live in a world informed by George Orwell’s dystopian unmasking-as-novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, we seem unable to acknowledge that the Ministry of Peace is actually waging war. In our current education reform debate, educators must come to terms with Orwell’s recognition of the essential nature of political speech:“I have not here been considering the literary use of language, but merely language as an instrument ... more »
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
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Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, EFL:The Best Photos — In The World?Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 7 hours agoSmithsonian Magazine just announced the fifty finalists in their annual photo competition. You can see the finalists, and the winners from their previous nine years, here. You can also see a related photo gallery created by the Boston Globe’s Big … Continue reading →Around The Web In ESL/EFL/ELLLarry Ferlazzo at Larry ... more »
Steinberg back with API alternative | Thoughts on Public Education
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Steinberg back with API alternative | Thoughts on Public Education:Steinberg back with API alternative - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guessby John Fensterwald - Educated GuessRebuffed by Gov. Jerry Brown last year, Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg is back with another academic accountability bill, this time giving the governor lots of latitude to help redefine how to measure schools’ performance. SB 1458 needs to be vague, because, at this point, no one but Brown professes to know what he ... more »
Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss. « Fred Klonsky
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Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss. « Fred Klonsky:Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss.by Fred KlonskyToday is Dr. Seuss’ birthday. The NEA initiated Read Across America to mark the occasion. This week my kindergarten and first grade students made Cat in the Hat hats in preparation. And I got to share my favorite Dr. Seuss book. His last. Hooray for Diffendoofer Day.“All schools for miles and miles aroundMust take a special test,To see who’s learning such and such -To see which school’s the best.If ... more »
NYC Educator: Christopher and the Measure of a Teacher
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NYC Educator: Christopher and the Measure of a Teacher:Christopher and the Measure of a Teacherby NYC Educator -by special guest blogger Citizen DoeThe release of Teacher Data Reports in NYC has focused attention on evaluating teachers with the use of numbers derived from complicated algorithms that are said to measure the “value” teachers “add” to their students. These algorithms pivot on the use of student test scores.Numbers do tell stories, and the public is being told that it can trust ... more »
Community Rights Campaign | The Labor Community Strategy Center
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Community Rights Campaign | The Labor Community Strategy Center: Community Rights CampaignAction Sum-UpFebruary 28, 2012 What is the meaning of our 14-0 victory at City Hall?A changed law, civil rights, our generation's fight, the role of organizingLast Wednesday, the City of Los Angeles took an historic step toward becoming a place that upholds the civil, human and educational rights of students and their families and promotes policies that reinvest in our youth to keep them in school and away from ... more »
Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Late Nite Posts 3-1 #soschat #ReclaimingReform
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Making Learning Relevant for the Whole Child « The Whole Child Blog « Whole Child EducationBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-42 minutes agoMaking Learning Relevant for the Whole Child « The Whole Child Blog « Whole Child Education:Making Learning Relevant for the Whole Childby ASCD Whole Child BloggersPost submitted by Tim Magner, executive director of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21), the leading national organization that advocates for 21st century readiness for every student. Magner has had an ... more »
TEACHER HEROES AND MERIT PAY « Teachers Fight Back
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TEACHER HEROES AND MERIT PAY « Teachers Fight Back:TEACHER HEROES AND MERIT PAYby alkleenI hope everyone saw the news conference concerning the school shooting in Ohio. The coach who chased the shooter away was given a few moments to speak. I hope everyone heard the emotion in the coach’s voice as he spoke about not being a hero and wishing he could have done more.I wish people could understand that there are teacher heroes at work every day in almost ... more »
Jersey Jazzman: Once Again, NBC Ignores Teachers
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Jersey Jazzman: Once Again, NBC Ignores Teachers:Once Again, NBC Ignores Teachersby DukeSo there's another one of these big reformy lovefests on the "liberal" (ha!) MSNBC tomorrow. And, oh, huzzah -this one's in Jersey:New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will be at Fort Lee High School for a “special town hall meeting” Friday morning as one of many guests on the live broadcasts of MSNBC’s Morning Joeand Way Too Early, according to producers.Gov. Jack Markell, D-Del., Gov. Dannel Malloy, D-Conn. and Students ... more »
Amazing Graph Proves Poverty Doesn’t Matter!(?) « School Finance 101
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Amazing Graph Proves Poverty Doesn’t Matter!(?) « School Finance 101:Amazing Graph Proves Poverty Doesn’t Matter!(?)by schoolfinance101I just couldn’t pass this one up. This is a graph for the ages, and it comes from a presentation by the New Jersey Commissioner of Education given at the NJASA Commissioner’s Convocation in Jackson, NJ on Feb 29.State of NJ Schools presentation 2-29-2012Please turn to Slide #24:The title conveys the intended point of the graph – that if you look hard enough across New ... more »
Seattle Schools Community Forum: More Stellar Writing on Public Education
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Seattle Schools Community Forum: More Stellar Writing on Public Education:More Stellar Writing on Public Educationby Melissa WestbrookFor the second time in a week, I have been dazzled by some great writing on education. The Times has an op-ed by SPS high school teacher, Dan Magill, in response to the op-ed by Brad Smith (whose piece was about needed ed reform).He very plainly sets out the challenge and the goal:I would like to reframe the reality. There aren't two sides. There ... more »
Modern School: Teachers: the New Satanic Serial Child Molesters?
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Modern School: Teachers: the New Satanic Serial Child Molesters?:Teachers: the New Satanic Serial Child Molesters?by Michael DunnTeachers Just Wanna Have Fun (Image from Flickr, by SKPY)Attacking teachers’ unions, collective bargaining and due process rights, pensions, salaries and privacy has not ended the achievement gap nor mollified the critics of public education. Now the witch hunt for teachers is taking a new and twisted turn for the worse, thanks to several recent and coincidental abuse allegations against Los Angeles Unified School ... more »
How, and How Not, to Improve the Schools by Diane Ravitch | #soschat #edreform #edchat
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How, and How Not, to Improve the Schools by Diane Ravitch | The New York Review of Books:How, and How Not, to Improve the SchoolsMARCH 22, 2012Diane RavitchFinnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland?by Pasi SahlbergTeachers College Press, 167 pp., $34.95 (paper) A Chance to Make History: What Works and What Doesn’t in Providing an Excellent Education for Allby Wendy Kopp with Steven FarrPublicAffairs, 229 pp., $25.99 Matt RothDavid Donaldson, a high school teacher in ... more »
Bill Gates Angers Peru After Saying Countries are More in Need - Hispanically Speaking News
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Bill Gates Angers Peru After Saying Countries are More in Need - Hispanically Speaking News:Bill Gates Angers Many In Peru After Saying Other Countries are More in NeedMicrosoft founder Bill Gates recently made a number of people angry when he stated that aid agencies should be concentrating on the poorest countries in the world, not those like Peru, which he said actually has a median income of about $10,000 (adjusting for the price of goods), making it a median-income country.While ... more »
Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Early Evening Posts 3-1 #SOSchat #p2 #edreform
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What Florida is doing to its public schools - The Answer Sheet - The Washington PostBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-26 minutes agoWhat Florida is doing to its public schools - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:What Florida is doing to its public schoolsBy Valerie StraussThis was written by Jean Clements, president of Florida’s Hillsborough County Classroom Teachers Association, representing more than 9,000 teachers and school personnel.By Jean ClementsHorace Mann called public education the “great equalizer.” Quite simply, ... more »
A corporate reform coup d’etat in Bridgeport « Parents Across America
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A corporate reform coup d’etat in Bridgeport « Parents Across America:A corporate reform coup d’etat in Bridgeportby leoniehaimsonBy Norm Pattis, the attorney who litigated this case, cross-posted from his blog.An Open Letter to the Connecticut General Assembly In re: Bridgeport’s SchoolsA call came in moments ago. Mayor Bill Finch and his aides are busy at work in Hartford, lobbying lawmakers to pass legislation retroactively justifying the disbanding of the elected school board in Bridgeport. The governor’s men are also at ... more »
Reform critic speaking in Hub City today - The Independent Weekly
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Reform critic speaking in Hub City today - The Independent Weekly:Reform critic speaking in Hub City todayWritten by Heather MillerThursday, March 01, 2012Diane Ravitch, a distinguished education writer, researcher and outspoken critic of charter schools, vouchers and other reform measures Gov. Bobby Jindal is touting, is scheduled to address attendees of the Louisiana School Boards Association annual conference at the Cajundome Thursday afternoon.Ravitch, who served in the U.S. Department of Education under former President George Bush, is the author of ... more »
At long last, Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee's funders revealed | MinnPost
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At long last, Michelle Rhee's funders revealed | MinnPost:At long last, Michelle Rhee's funders revealedBy Beth Hawkins | 10:09 amdol.govMichelle RheeWalking Rorschach test Michelle Rhee is back in the headlinesthis week, put there by a reporter who found a crack in the infamous wall shrouding the funding sources for her national education-reform lobbying powerhouse StudentsFirst.Whatever you thought of Rhee five minutes ago, prepare to have it confirmed. Her multi-million-dollar backers include top donors to the campaigns of both Barack Obama ... more »
Obesity Rate Slowdown in Students - Year 2012 (CA Dept of Education)
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Obesity Rate Slowdown in Students - Year 2012 (CA Dept of Education):State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson AnnouncesSlowdown in Rate of Obesity Among California School Children SACRAMENTO—Following years of preventive and legislative efforts to positively affect the health of children, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today that the rise in obesity and drop in fitness levels have stabilized in California students. The results are in a peer-reviewed report titled "Obesity and Physical Fitness in California School Children," published ... more »