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Monday, April 23, 2012

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Early Evening Posts 4-23 #SOSchat #p2 #edreform


No Conflict, No Conflict, Keep Moving; Nothing to See Here… - Wait, What?

No Conflict, No Conflict, Keep Moving; Nothing to See Here… - Wait, What?: No Conflict, No Conflict, Keep Moving; Nothing to See Here…byjonpelto What is it about these Malloy appointees and their notion of what constitutes a conflict of interest. Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor seems to be adding to the list on a daily basis and now we’ve got “Special Master” Steven Adamowski.When it comes to conflicts of interests; you’ve got your straight up “conflict of interest”, your “appearance of ... more »

WISCONSIN GOVERNOR DELIVERS A BLOW TO TEACHERS WHO HOLD MASTER’S DEGREES « Teachers Fight Back

WISCONSIN GOVERNOR DELIVERS A BLOW TO TEACHERS WHO HOLD MASTER’S DEGREES « Teachers Fight Back: WISCONSIN GOVERNOR DELIVERS A BLOW TO TEACHERS WHO HOLD MASTER’S DEGREESbyalkleenThis Wisconsin governor is UNBELIEVABLE ! Gov. Scott Walker has reshaped a rule to lower inflation-based raises that public unions can negotiate for teachers in public schools. The rule change wouldn’t use an individual’s actual salary as a “base salary” to calculate raises and would exclude factors such as a teacher’s higher degree.For instance, a ... more »

What America Owes In Student Loans : Planet Money : NPR #soschat

What America Owes In Student Loans : Planet Money : NPR: What America Owes In Student LoansTotal student debt has gone through the roof. But the average debt per college grad has gone up much more slowly. See our earlier entries in this series:What America Sells To The World,What America Does For Work,What America BuysandWhat America Pays in Taxes The amount of student debt being taken on every year hasbeen rising rapidlyfor years now. You probably know these things already. ... more »

The Politics of Education – Dueling Budgets

The Politics of Education – Dueling Budgets: The Politics of Education – Dueling BudgetsMONDAY, APRIL 23RD, 2012 AT 11:46 AMThis weekend, I was on CNN to speak about President Obama’s and Representative Ryan’s dueling budget proposals, and asked to comment on which of the two lighted the surer path to true education reform. See for yourself:

Shanker Blog » The Allure Of Teacher Quality

Shanker Blog » The Allure Of Teacher Quality: The Allure Of Teacher QualitybyMatthew Di Carlo Those following education know that policy focused on “teacher quality” is by far the dominant paradigm for improving schools over the past few years. Some (but not nearly all) components of this all-hands-on-deck effort are perplexing to many teachers, and have generated quite a bit of pushback. No matter one’s opinion of this approach, however, what drives it is the tantalizing allure of variation in ... more »

Burbank educator named National Teacher of the Year - LA Daily News

Burbank educator named National Teacher of the Year - LA Daily News: Burbank educator named National Teacher of the YearByBarbara Jones, Staff WriterPosted: 04/23/2012 07:48:56 AM PDTUpdated: 04/23/2012 08:27:28 AM PDTFILE PHOTO: Luther Burbank Middle School teacher Rebecca Mieliwocki teaches a 7th-grade English class in 2011. She was named National Teacher of the Year. (Andy Holzman/Daily News Staff Photographer) ((ANDY HOLZMAN/LA DAILY NEWS))Rebecca Mieliwocki, a 7th grade teacher at Burbank Middle School in Burbank was named today as National Teacher ... more »

FCMAT » California Education Headlines

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team: Monday, April 23, 2012Lottery fever not a big windfall for local schoolsLast month's $640 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot ---- and the ticket-buying fervor that led up to it ---- poured big bucks into the state's educational coffers, but won't have much of an effect on local classrooms, officials said.LAUSD chief wants to keep health class as graduation requirementLos Angeles Unified Superintendent John Deasy said Friday that health-education class should remain a requirement ... more »

Departments of Education and Justice Reach Settlement with Boston School Committee to Ensure Equal Opportunities for ELL Students | U.S. Department of Education

Departments of Education and Justice Reach Settlement with Boston School Committee to Ensure Equal Opportunities for ELL Students | U.S. Department of Education: Departments of Education and Justice Reach Settlement with Boston School Committee to Ensure Equal Opportunities for ELL StudentsAPRIL 23, 2012Contact:Education Department, (202) 401-1576Justice Department, 202-514-2007WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Education with the U.S. Department of Justice reached agreement with the Boston School Committee, the governing body of the Boston Public Schools, and its superintendent to... more »

Seattle Schools Community Forum: The Superintendent Selection Process

Seattle Schools Community Forum: The Superintendent Selection Process: The Superintendent Selection ProcessbyCharlie MasIn the end, the Board chooses the superintendent. This is pretty much the Board's most important duty and they are responsible for it. They have to make the choice. Not only that, but they have to determine their process for making the choice. When it comes to everyone else working in the District, the readers and writers on this blog generally support autonomy and oppose micromanagement. We want ... more »

Making Myself Useful (and other items) | Mr. Teachbad

Making Myself Useful (and other items) | Mr. Teachbad: Making Myself Useful (and other items)byteachbad(I’m a bit rushed…driving to Indi­ana in…36 min­utes. More on that in a minute.)Churn ‘n’ Burn and Spin Me to theDoorThere are two short things I read this week that I believe are con­nected. The first was an arti­cle in Edu­ca­tion Week from early in April calledWhen Teach­ers Are Treated Like Wid­gets, Edu­ca­tion Suf­fers. It was writ­ten by aca­d­e­mics who are tired of all their stud­ies ... more »

RIGHT AGAIN :) ! Potter Williams Report: Diane Ravitch Outsmarted by One of Her Own

Potter Williams Report: Diane Ravitch Outsmarted by One of Her Own: DIANE RAVITCH OUTSMARTED BY ONE OF HER OWNEducation Week published aletterfrom Diane Ravitch to another progressive Deweyian educator Deborah Meier entitled “I Don't Understand Michelle Rhee.”Ravitch can't figure out why Rhee lies, why she blames teachers for everything and how she can reel in die-hard Republicans with ease.I guess education historian Diane Ravitch is not in on the endgame!Or is she? Maybe she's playing devil’s advocate for Duncan’s DOE ... more »

Ed Dept seeks to bring test-based assessment to teacher prep programs - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Ed Dept seeks to bring test-based assessment to teacher prep programs - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post: Ed Dept seeks to bring test-based assessment to teacher prep programsbyValerie StraussThe Obama administration wants to expand the use of standardized test scores as an accountability tool from K-12 into higher education.The Education Department just tried — and failed — to persuade a group of negotiators to agree to regulations that would rate colleges of education in large part on how ... more »

The Innovative Educator: The bad pineapple questions are not the problem with standardized tests

The Innovative Educator: The bad pineapple questions are not the problem with standardized tests: The bad pineapple questions are not the problem with standardized testsbynoreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen)I am disappointed that the mainstream story about testing happens to be a poor a test section about pineapples. While I agree the test question was ridiculous, I think focusing on that diverts us from the real problem which is that even if the test had greatest questions on earth, standardized testing at its ... more »

School Tech Connect: The Single Sound Test

School Tech Connect: The Single Sound Test: The Single Sound Testbynoreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman)CPS's now departed turnaround guy, Donald Fraynd, said he was leaving with a heavy heart to begin a start-up company. He called it something else, I can't remember.This appears to be it.I'll give him one thing ; he's a true believer.Decades of research show one thing – nothing affects achievement as much as the quality of teaching students receive. In fact, teacher attributes may account for more than ... more »

StudentsFirst will be in Seattle | Seattle Education

StudentsFirst will be in Seattle | Seattle Education: StudentsFirst will be in Seattlebyseattleducation2011…and that isnota good thing.Ms. Rhee (pronounced "re")StudentsFirst is an organization created by Michelle Rhee after her tumultuous tenure as Chancellor of DC public schools. She was supported by Eli Broad who threatened to pull his financial support for the DC public school system and Rhee specifically if she was not selected to continue as Chancellor of DC schools after Mayor Fenty’s failed re-election bid. After Fenty, who ... more »

May Day Wildcat March Called for 1pm | OccupyWallSt.org #ows

May Day Wildcat March Called for 1pm | OccupyWallSt.org: May Day Wildcat March Called for 1pmbyOccupyWallStviaSTRIKE EVERYWHERE!:A call has gone out for a massiveWildcatmarch in NYC on May 1st, starting at 1PM. The original call is availablehere. Secondingstrikeisaverb, See you in the streets! Forward and Repost widely.https://www.facebook.com/events/297929263615205/and print and distribute flyers (wildcatmarchflyer-single,wildcatmarchflyer-quarter)CALL FOR A WILDCAT MARCH FOR GENERAL STRIKE PARTICIPANTSMAY 1ST, 2012 1PMWe were told by bosses, by activists, by union leaders we could... more »

NYC Educator: Don't Know Much About History

NYC Educator: Don't Know Much About History: Don't Know Much About HistorybyNYC EducatorIs NY State right to abolish theGlobal History Regents exam? Lots of us have had our fill of standardized testing, and would like to see far less of it. Of course that's not the case, as the state plans all sorts of nonsense, largely to assess teachers. Kids will be spending hours of potential learning time indulging in nonsensical junk science, to appease those who wish to fire ... more »

Zoning The Poor Out of Good Schools | California Progress Report

Zoning The Poor Out of Good Schools | California Progress Report: Zoning The Poor Out of Good SchoolsbymeganBy Peter SchragMost of us have long known that in places like Oakland and Berkeley, and probably in a lot of other cities as well, the easiest way to predict a school’s test scores is by the altitude of the building.The higher up the school, the more likely it will be in an affluent neighborhood. The schools in the flats, where the poor ... more »

REASONS NOT TO SIGN GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN'S TAX INITIATIVE PETITION - Perdaily.com

REASONS NOT TO SIGN GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN'S TAX INITIATIVE PETITION - Perdaily.com: REASONS NOT TO SIGN GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN'S TAX INITIATIVE PETITIONbyLeonard Isenberg(Mensaje se repite en Español)(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post)In the bleak reality of coordinated political and corporate siege against public education, one is tempted to grasp at straws in trying to stop this continued onslaught against teachers and the ever worsening degradation of the essential democracy formative institution ... more »

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? pineapple question stumps ... everyone!

Captain: Are ya ready kids?Kids: Aye, Aye captain!Captain: I can't heeeaaar yooouuu!Kids: AYE, AYE CAPTAIN!Captain: oooooooooooo...Captain: Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?Kids: Sponge Bob Square Pants!Captain: Absorbent and yellow and porous is he.Kids: Sponge Bob Square Pants!Captain: If nautical nonsense be somethin' ya wish.Kids: Sponge Bob Square Pants!Captain: Then drop on the deck and flop like a fish.Kids: Sponge Bob Square Pants!Captain: Ready? Sponge Bob Square Pants,Captain Kids: Sponge Bob Square Pants, Sponge Bob Square Pants, Sponge Bob ... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Late Nite Posts 4-22 #soschat #EDReform

What Do New Studies Say Happens If You Are Treated Unfairly And/Or Feel Controlled? | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-13 minutes agoWhat Do New Studies Say Happens If You Are Treated Unfairly And/Or Feel Controlled? | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…: What Do New Studies Say Happens If You Are Treated Unfairly And/Or Feel Controlled?byLarry FerlazzoProf. Armin Falk, a professor at Bonn University, unveiled some very intriguing studies on motivation last week. ...more »

Educator Musing: Real Parent Empowerment is a Rebellion

Educator Musing: Real Parent Empowerment is a Rebellion: Real Parent Empowerment is a RebellionbyEducator Musing If without medical justification, [your son] is absent fromschool on any dayduring the Assessment period, the District will deem thisabsence as unexcused. Further, if you keep [your son] home from school during theAssessment period,without medical verification, it is within the District’sdiscretion to deemthese absences as indicia of educational neglect, whichwould leave the Districtlittle choice but to contact Child Protective Services(“CPS”). Pursuant to theNew York

Teacher Appreciation:From the Mouths of Babes! « Diary of a Public School Teacher!

Teacher Appreciation:From the Mouths of Babes! « Diary of a Public School Teacher!: Teacher Appreciation:From the Mouths ofBabes!Some of my studentswrote a letter for the state department’s Teacher Appreciation Day contest. After reading the letters, it gave me some insight as to what my students appreciate about me. I chose to use the letters as an informal evaluation tool to see what I am doing right,(or wrong). I found some of the responses quite amusing.:)I bustle (Vocabulary word) around on ... more »