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Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank 4-4 Top Early Evening Posts #SOSchat #p2 #edreform


This Week In Education: Quotes: "I Don't Live In Other Nations"

This Week In Education: Quotes: "I Don't Live In Other Nations": Quotes: "I Don't Live In Other Nations"byAlexander RussoRavitch: Interesting that top-performing and most equitable nations in world do not have vouchers or charters.Fuller: I don't live in other nations I live here I believe we need choice for poor families. If this is Diane u used to believe it too.Exchange between Diane Ravitch and Howard Fuller, via Whitney Tilson. See full Tilson clip below.Fuller: Diane, how long has the ... more »

Just When I Almost Forget I Live in LA, the State Senate Slaps up a Reminder | The G Bitch Spot

Just When I Almost Forget I Live in LA, the State Senate Slaps up a Reminder | The G Bitch Spot: Just When I Almost Forget I Live in LA, the State Senate Slaps up a ReminderbyG BitchLimit to contract clauses proposed, The (Baton Rouge, LA) Advocate, 4/2/12The headline is oddly flat and uninformative, considering what the bill was sparked by and is aimed at: anti-discriminationlanguagein charter school contracts. I think the answer to this “dilemma” is that theorganizationor individual ... more »

PISA: What can parents do to help their children succeed in school?

PISA: What PISA IsPISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) is an international study which began in the year 2000. It aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students in participating countries/economies. Since the year 2000 over 70 countries and economies have participated in PISA.What's newPISA: What can parents do to help their children succeed in school?08-Nov-2011'PISA in Focus N°10' looks at the impact of parents' participation in their children's learning.PISA: School autonomy and ... more »

Pencils Down: Introduction: Why We Need to Rethink High-Stakes Assessment and Accountability | Seattle Education

Pencils Down: Introduction: Why We Need to Rethink High-Stakes Assessment and Accountability | Seattle Education: Pencils Down: Introduction: Why We Need to Rethink High-Stakes Assessment and Accountabilitybyseattleducation2011Rethinking Schools has just come out with its latest publicationPencils Downedited byWayne AuandMelissa Bollow Tempel.To follow is theintroductionto the book.In 2000,Rethinking SchoolspublishedFailing Our Kids: Why the Testing Craze Won’t Fix Our Schools. In that volume, editors Kathy Williams (then Swope) and Barbara Miner pulled together a groundbreaking col... more »

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Geoffrey Canada declares war on teacher unions

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Geoffrey Canada declares war on teacher unions: Geoffrey Canada declares war on teacher unionsbyMike KlonskyRhee Canada lead the war on teacher unions.“Folks are genuinely looking for opportunities to make peace and not war,” Mr. Canada said. “And I think that’s terrific. But someone has to make war.”-- Geoffrey Canada Canada's war declaration comes at the end of aTimes storyannouncing the formation of a well-financed and politically connected alliance aimed at nothing less than smashing teacher ... more »

Schools Matter: Over 230 Texas School Systems Pass Resolution to Rein In High Stakes Testing

Schools Matter: Over 230 Texas School Systems Pass Resolution to Rein In High Stakes Testing: Over 230 Texas School Systems Pass Resolution to Rein In High Stakes TestingIt's only fitting that the most sustained and widespread effort to stop the abusive testing frenzy would come from Texas, which is, after all, the birthplace of testing on steroids and the home of the only former American president who cannot travel abroad for fear of being arrested as a war criminal.The post ... more »

Daily Kos: on religion, belief, political participation and more

Daily Kos: on religion, belief, political participation and moreon religion, belief, political participation and morebyrss@dailykos.com (teacherken)in light of the dueling diaries on the rec list on the subject of belief versus atheism etc., I thought it might be relevant for me to repost this, written almost 7 years ago on April 16, 2005. It might be worthwhile noting that progressives of faith were very much a part of the early days of this site, and we had worship services at ... more »

Can Arts Education Help Close the Achievement Gap? | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

Can Arts Education Help Close the Achievement Gap? | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights: Can Arts Education Help Close the Achievement Gap?byobrienaArecent reportfrom the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) suggests that arts education can help narrow the achievement gap that exists between low-income students and their more advantaged peers. Butnew datafrom the federal government suggests that low-income students are less likely to have access to arts education than their higher-income peers.Certainly arts education is important for ... more »

Billionaire-financed Astroturf Group Coming to N Carolina « Parents Across America

Billionaire-financed Astroturf Group Coming to N Carolina « Parents Across America: Billionaire-financed Astroturf Group Coming to N CarolinabypagrundyPAA affiliate Mecklenburg ACTS just learned that the astroturf “Campaign for Achievement Now” has targeted our state for its next legislative drive.According to the website, the Campaign plans to spend more than $700,000 in our state to advance its charter and testing-focused agenda in 2012 alone, most of it apparently financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This is in addition to ... more »

School Tech Connect: Dick Ingram Revisited

School Tech Connect: Dick Ingram Revisited: Dick Ingram Revisitedbynoreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman)I'm going to re-run Dick Ingram's presentation from last October during the SB 520 debacle. I'm trying to figure out what has changed, other than that the TRS Board has declared a looming insolvency. I'm also getting ready to film the new round of presentations.I've read itfour or five times, and I'm not sure what the objective of the new TRS position is, or how it squares with what Dick ...more »

ROCKFORD TEACHERS’ “VICTORY” A SIGN OF THE TIMES « Teachers Fight Back

ROCKFORD TEACHERS’ “VICTORY” A SIGN OF THE TIMES « Teachers Fight Back: ROCKFORD TEACHERS’ “VICTORY” A SIGN OF THE TIMESbyalkleenRockford teachers voted overwhelmingly to approve the contract offer that ended the strike. The details of the contract show how anything short of a “give-back” for teachers is considered a win these days.The salary settlement for year one included no base pay increase and only half of the normal step and lane payments. Employees with a bachelor’s degree who are maxed ... more »

Teacher-Prep Rulemaking: Is Consensus in Jeopardy? - Teacher Beat - Education Week

Teacher-Prep Rulemaking: Is Consensus in Jeopardy? - Teacher Beat - Education Week: Teacher-Prep Rulemaking: Is Consensus in Jeopardy?byStephen SawchukThe panelists charged with rewriting federal teacher-preparation rules faced a grueling day today during which major tension points emerged with little resolution, all of which served to call into question whether they will be able to reach consensus by Thursday.You don't have to take my word for it: During some of the breaks, I spoke to a handful of negotiators—they all, reasonably, ... more »

Life in Rahm’s Chicago. A problem with democracy. « Fred Klonsky

Life in Rahm’s Chicago. A problem with democracy. « Fred Klonsky: Life in Rahm’s Chicago. A problem with democracy.byFred KlonskyFromRolling Stone:What Rahm seems to be doing is building a new machine for our age of union busting and austerity. His budget, which the City Council passed 50 to 0 like it was some Soviet Party Congress (maybe it had something to do with the hundreds of thousands Goldner’s PAC had to spend), killed six community mental health clinics, saving $2.3 ... more »

The Dreamer, The Believer [The Race Man Cometh] | The Jose Vilson

The Dreamer, The Believer [The Race Man Cometh] | The Jose Vilson: The Dreamer, The Believer [The Race Man Cometh]byJoseThis is what I getfor reading comments on CNN blogs. Or anywhere else but my blog anyways.The trolls spew racism all over a post that’s simply meant to help progress the conversation about race, not get us stuck in the same epitaphs of indifference and conservatism. For once, I’d like to see people who normally settle upon their asses when it ...more »

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee: New Missouri charter-school law would improve profitability tability

New Missouri charter-school law would improve accountability - KansasCity.com: New Missouri charter-school law would improve accountabilityBY MICHELLE RHEESpecial to The StarMichelle Rhee is the founder and CEO of StudentsFirst, a bipartisan grassroots movement that is working to improve the nation’s schools. She previously served as chancellor of Washington D.C., schools and before that founded the New Teacher Project, which helps districts recruit effective teachers to challenging schools. She splits her time between Sacramento, Calif., and Nashville, Tenn.More NewsNew Missouri ch... more »

NYC Public School Parents: Hearings and my testimony on the DOE's woefully inadequate preliminary capital budget

NYC Public School Parents: Hearings and my testimony on the DOE's woefully inadequate preliminary capital budget: Hearings and my testimony on the DOE's woefully inadequate preliminary capital budgetbyLeonie HaimsonThe NY City Council Education Committee held hearings on the Mayor’s Fiscal 2013 Preliminary Capital Budgeton March 26, 2012 at 250 Broadway. Education Chair Robert Jackson called the meeting to order at 10 am andread opening testimony, focused on how there are only 38,000 seats in the plan, though the DOE admits ... more »

RHEE-Divided Two D.C. school reform events, competing visions - D.C. Schools Insider - The Washington Post

Two D.C. school reform events, competing visions - D.C. Schools Insider - The Washington Post: Two D.C. school reform events, competing visionsbyBill TurqueThe two education gatherings last Thursday evening were only two miles apart on the map. But in the philosophy and agendas, the expanse separating them is vast.In the spare, concrete-and glass chapel at Metropolitan Community Church in Shaw, about 100 community activists met to discuss the future of D.C. public education in a symposium called a “A Fork ... more »

Hechinger Report | Q&A with Steve Barr: Lessons from charter schools in L.A. and New Orleans

Hechinger Report | QA with Steve Barr: Lessons from charter schools in L.A. and New Orleans: QA with Steve Barr: Lessons from charter schools in L.A. and New OrleansbySarah CarrSteve Barr has often found himself in the minority as a charter school founder who supports teacher unionization, albeit of a transformed nature. About 12 percent of charter schools nationally employ unionized teachers, according torecent datafrom the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.Barr is probably best known for the 2008 takeover ... more »

Ready for Inspection! The Problem with “Quality Reviews” | Mr. D's Neighborhood

Ready for Inspection! The Problem with “Quality Reviews” | Mr. D's Neighborhood: Ready for Inspection! The Problem with “Quality Reviews”byldorazio1“No matter how nitpicky, how fastidious a reviewer can be, he (she)’ll never, ever come close to what you actually do in yourclassroom.”Some time ago, an acquaintance I knew from the Department of Education, a science specialist, told me this when I was complaining about State Quality Reviews (SQRs).As true as this is (and he should know—he actually does SQRs for ... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Early Evening Posts 4-3 #SOSchat #p2 #edreform

Chris Norby: Too many kids stuck with label of English Language Learner | english, language, ell - Opinion - The Orange County RegisterBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-8 minutes agoChris Norby: Too many kids stuck with label of English Language Learner | english, language, ell - Opinion - The Orange County Register: By CHRIS NORBY/ Republican Assemblyman representing FullertonCalifornia kindergartners are being routinely designated as "Limited English" and placed into costly and ineffective programs for years before they're able ... more »

THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: The Ben Chavis / American Indian Public Charter School saga continues

THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: The Ben Chavis / American Indian Public Charter School saga continues: The Ben Chavis / American Indian Public Charter School saga continuesbyThe Perimeter PrimateBen Chavis’s crooked charter school reign is finally being exposed. A preliminaryinvestigationinto his management has found evidence of fraud and multiple violations of state laws. As a result, the Oakland Unified Office of Charter Schools is recommending a denial for the renewal of one of Chavis’s three Oakland American Indian Model design charter schools. ... more »

Will Oakland’s top-scoring school be closed? - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools

Will Oakland’s top-scoring school be closed? - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools: Will Oakland’s top-scoring school be closed?Monday, April 2nd, 2012 at 7:19 pm incharter schools8 Comments »During a 6 p.m. special meeting Wednesday night, the Oakland school board considers the fate of American Indian Public Charter School II, a middle school in downtown Oakland with anear-perfect Academic Performance Indexof 990.American Indian Public Charter School II, one of three schools run byAmerican Indian Model Schools, ... more »

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » New Illinois accountability system: 1/2 star (Not Recommended)

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » New Illinois accountability system: 1/2 star (Not Recommended): New Illinois accountability system: 1/2 star (Not Recommended)byadminPhoto by Sarah-Ji FotografaThe Tribune’s Diane Rado writesa very disturbing storythis morning about the Illinois State Board of Education’s proposed new state standardized tests and rating system for schools.She’s looked at the state’s90 page waiver requestand the500-plus page attachmentto the US Department of Education which asks for permission for Illinois to opt out of No Child ... more »

FairTest | The National Center for Fair and Open Testing

FairTest | The National Center for Fair and Open Testing: K-12 Testingk-12FairTest's work on K-12 testing issues centers on four broad concerns:standardized tests, especially norm-referenced multiple choice tests, are harmfulto children and to education;basinghigh-stakes decisions on standardized tests (high school graduation, advancement, etc.) is bad educational practicewhilebasing decisions about teachers and schools on test results damages eduationauthentic assessment, such as performance assessment and portfolios, must be implemented at all levels, from individual classrooms to... more »