Big Education Ape - Mid Day Banana Break
Which Comes First–The Child or the Data? « Cooperative Catalyst
Which Comes First–The Child or the Data? « Cooperative Catalyst: Which Comes First–The Child or the Data? by nflanagan One of the most moving and eye-opening experiences of my life was attending a national conference, hosted by the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People and the National Education Association, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the *Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka * decision. Like most Americans, I had been taught that *Brown* was *the* turning point toward justice and equity in educational opportunity for all, the watershed moment where ... more »
Parenting Magazine’s Mom Congress 2012 and Finnish Education « Cooperative Catalyst
Parenting Magazine’s Mom Congress 2012 and Finnish Education « Cooperative Catalyst: Parenting Magazine’s Mom Congress 2012 and Finnish Education by gwynridenhour by Gwyn Ridenhour/gwynridenhour.wordpress.com Last week I had the privilege of attending Parenting Magazine’s Mom Congress 2012 conference in Washington, DC as the delegate from North Dakota. ***Parenting* selected one delegate from each state, flew us in, hosted and fed us, and introduced us to some of the most dedicated and intelligent folks in the country who are working to make a positive difference in their communiti... more »
Usual Faux Reforms in Connecticut « Diane Ravitch's blog
Usual Faux Reforms in Connecticut « Diane Ravitch's blog: Usual Faux Reforms in Connecticut by dianerav A reader asked if I am following the battle over what is misleadingly called school reform in Connecticut. Indeed I am, largely trough te efforts of three smart Connecticut blogger-writers: Jonathan Pelto, Sarah Littman, and Wendy Lecker. [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] The Democratic governor of Connecticut, Dannell Malloy, was elected with the endorsement of the states’ two teachers unions, the NEA and the AFT. It was generally assumed, certainly by me, t... more »
The Week's Answer Sheet - A School Survival Guide for parents (and everyone else). - The Washington Post
The Answer Sheet - A School Survival Guide for parents (and everyone else). - The Washington Post: [image: Answer Sheet] Using comic books (like ‘The Avengers’) to get kids to read Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 2 minutes ago Parents and teachers struggling to get kids to read often overlook a major weapon in the literacy arsenal: comic books. Yes, “Archie,” “Superman,” “The Avengers” and “The Adventures of Tintin” are all great vehicles for getting a reluctant reader to learn to love the power of the written word. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add t... more »
Destroying the Schools « Bill Ayers
Destroying the Schools « Bill Ayers: Destroying the Schools by billayers Published on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 by Bridging the Difference Blog / Ed Week The People Behind the Lawmakers Out to Destroy Public Education: A Primer What You Need To Know About ALEC by Diane Ravitch Since the 2010 elections, when Republicans took control of many states, there has been an explosion of legislation advancing privatization of public schools and stripping teachers of job protections and collective bargaining rights. Even some Democratic governors, seeing the strong rightward drift of our politics... more »
School Tech Connect: Stop Voting For These Guys
School Tech Connect: Stop Voting For These Guys: Stop Voting For These Guys *Stand For Children *is buying Democrats. It would seriously be better to not have these Democrats in office. We can withstand a few years of craziness, but we can't withstand a long-term marriage of Democrats to Republican ideas about public education and the public sector in general. Stand ON Children First: New AstroTurf from Teacher in the Box *Just Like Michelle Rhee's Students first only BETTER* * * *Astroturf lobbying refers to political organizations or campaigns that appear to be made up of grassr... more »
Seattle Schools Community Forum: The Face of Evil
Seattle Schools Community Forum: The Face of Evil: The Face of Evil by Charlie Mas I’ve been doing this for eleven years and people wonder how I can continue in this work without getting burnt out. Why don’t I get tired of it? After all, I never win. And, given the fact that the District has all of the power, all of the authority, and makes all of the decisions unilaterally, I am unlikely to ever win in the future. How can I possibly endure and persist when it is all so futile? I don’t have some well of energy that keeps me going. Honestly, I am not really built for long distance r... more »
Teaching Me About Teaching - NYTimes.com
Teaching Me About Teaching - NYTimes.com: [image: The New York Times] ------------------------------ May 4, 2012 Teaching Me About TeachingBy CHARLES M. BLOW Next week is National Teacher Appreciation Week, and, as far as I’m concerned, they don’t get nearly enough. Damon Winter/The New York Times Charles M. Blow On Tuesday, the United States Department of Education is hoping that people will take to Facebook and Twitter to thank a teacher who has made a difference in their lives. I want to contribute to that effort. And I plan to thank a teacher who never taught me in a classroom ... more »
Schooling in the Ownership Society: Children First -- Really?
Schooling in the Ownership Society: Children First -- Really?: Children First -- Really? According to the Miami Herald, The state of Florida is paying Pearson $250 million to administer and score the FCAT through the end of 2013. That's enough to pay for 5,000 additional teachers or dozens of after-school programs for students. Test maker Pearson of course, is the company involved in the test-question* pineapple* scandal that discredited New York's testing program. *GO TO * *National Resolution on High-Stakes Testing*
Big Education Ape - Morning Wink 5-5 AM Posts #soschat #edreform
BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK AM POSTS Calif.'s 4th year of teacher layoffs spur concerns - Boston.com coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 6 minutes ago Calif.'s 4th year of teacher layoffs spur concerns - Boston.com: Calif.'s 4th year of teacher layoffs spur concerns By Christina Hoag Associated Press / May 5, 2012 LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles Unified teacher Mike Newman sighed when he saw the now familiar certified letter in his mailbox last month -- a pink slip, for the fourth year in a row. "Here we go again," said Newman, a 14-year classroom veteran who's had his previous three la... more »
Calif.'s 4th year of teacher layoffs spur concerns - Boston.com
Calif.'s 4th year of teacher layoffs spur concerns - Boston.com: Calif.'s 4th year of teacher layoffs spur concerns By Christina Hoag Associated Press / May 5, 2012 LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles Unified teacher Mike Newman sighed when he saw the now familiar certified letter in his mailbox last month -- a pink slip, for the fourth year in a row. "Here we go again," said Newman, a 14-year classroom veteran who's had his previous three layoffs rescinded and hopes for the same this year. "We keep thinking it'll get better sooner or later, but it's not." A new term is being bandied about in C... more »
Schools Matter: Another Research Study Showing KIPP's Large Funding Advantages, Both Public and Private
Schools Matter: Another Research Study Showing KIPP's Large Funding Advantages, Both Public and Private: Another Research Study Showing KIPP's Large Funding Advantages, Both Public and Private by Jim Horn It's no secret that the segregated KIPP testing camps have been viewed as the final urban education solution ever since Feinberg and Levin trotted out a group behaviorally-altered and culturally-scrubbed children onto the stage at the National Republican Convention in 2000. Just as white philanthropists of the early 20th Century eagerly supported the learning chain gangs of the... more »
Schools Matter: Turnaround Corporate Education Reform
Schools Matter: Turnaround Corporate Education Reform: Turnaround Corporate Education Reform by Judy Rabin Dear Ms Tisch, I heard you speaking last week on NPR and defending what's going on in NYC around the massive investments in testing and companies like Pearson. I'm afraid to tell you, what needs to be turned around is the stupid is as stupid does education materials so Pearson and the others can make billiions more. Perhaps some of those billions spent in testing kids to death might be better spent on programs like Tae Kwon Do, music, dance, art, field trips, you know the... more »
Placing Accountabilty for the College Remediation Epidemic | Scathing Purple Musings
Placing Accountabilty for the College Remediation Epidemic | Scathing Purple Musings: Placing Accountabilty for the College Remediation Epidemic by Bob Sikes Florida children have been conditioned to see that high-stakes tests are the only thing that matters since Jeb Bush launched his school-grade accountability scheme 10 years ago. Yet even with our state’s schools now dominated by a culture of testing, Bush and his acolytes have dodged accountability for the frightening number of Florida college freshmen who need remediation in reading, writing or math. Florida is not alone. ... more »
Charter Schools - Dividing Communities since 1991
CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS WEBSITE CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS A compilation of news articles about charter schools which have been charged with, or are highly suspected of, tampering with admissions, grades, attendance and testing; misuse of funds and embezzlement; engaging in nepotism and conflicts of interest; engaging in complicated and shady real estate deals; and/or have been engaging in other questionable, unethical, borderline-legal, or illegal activities. This is also a record of charter school instability and other unsavory tidbits. Couldn't Find Your Own Special Charter Scho... more »
Teamster Nation: Giant student uprising in Canada
Teamster Nation: Giant student uprising in Canada: Giant student uprising in Canada by Teamster Power Popout More than 125,000 students have been on strike for weeks in Quebec over a proposed tuition increase. As Martin Lukacs writes in the Guardian, the strike is about more than just tuition. It's about austerity and inequality: The social unrest roiling Quebec is colour-coded red. One cannot miss the hundreds of thousands of people with cloth of the colour pinned to their coats and satchels; the stickers pasted on street poles and storefront mannequins; and the sheets fluttering... more »
Why is Cinco de Mayo Important to Americans? - Hispanically Speaking News
Why is Cinco de Mayo Important to Americans? - Hispanically Speaking News: Why is Cinco de Mayo Important to Americans? [image: Why is Cinco de Mayo Important to Americans?]The Battle of Puebla on May 5,1862, when Mexican troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza stopped French troops en route to Mexico City, may not seem as important to Americans but it is. In order to understand its importance one must fully understand the impacts of the Civil War on the American psyche. As the Confederates fired on Fort Sumter in 1861, it was obvious that events were escalating towards War. While few belie... more »
This Week's Education Research Report 5-5-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #EDREFORM
Education Research Report: This Week's Education Research Report Minority Students Receive Less Rigorous Feedback Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 19 hours ago Remember that teacher you grumbled about back in your school days, the really tough one who made you work so hard, insisted you could do better, and made you sweat for your A’s? The one you didn’t appreciate until after you graduated and realized how much you had learned? Minority students in the U.S. might have fewer of those teachers, at least compared to white students, and as a result they might be at ... more »
Big Education Ape 2nd Banana Recap of Last Week's Best Post #EDchat #EDreform #soschat #p2 #1u
*Big Education Ape 2nd Banana Recap of Last Week's Best Post * Latest skeptic of teachers unions is clothing label’s city billboard | GothamSchools coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 6 days ago Latest skeptic of teachers unions is clothing label’s city billboard | GothamSchools: Latest skeptic of teachers unions is clothing label’s city billboardby Rachel Cromidas, at 2:18 pm This spring, the West Side Highway’s typical advertising fare also includes a political message that seems aimed at teachers unions. A billboard advertising Kenneth Cole — the clothing company owned by Gov. Andr... more »
Appreciating teachers | Outside the Cave
Appreciating teachers | Outside the Cave: Appreciating teachers by Stephen Lazar If you haven’t already read Charles Blow’s Op-Ed in this morning NY Times, you should: Next week is National Teacher Appreciation Week, and, as far as I’m concerned, they don’t get nearly enough. On Tuesday, the United States Department of Education is hoping that people will take to Facebook and Twitter to thank a teacher who has made a difference in their lives. I want to contribute to that effort. And I plan to thank a teacher who never taught me in a classroom but taught me what it meant to be ... more »
Daily Kos: Another Sat. AM reflection on teaching, perhaps one of the last?
Daily Kos: Another Sat. AM reflection on teaching, perhaps one of the last?: Another Sat. AM reflection on teaching, perhaps one of the last? by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken) I wonder how many more of these I will write? It could be this series comes soon enough to an end. After all, my last day in the classroom with students is June 6th. That Saturday I will be at Netroots Nation, although since my panel on what Progressives Can Do to Save Public Education is the day before, I will certainly have something on which to reflect. Two weeks before that I will be at the 45th reuni... more »
CTA President Dean E. Vogel speaks about his appreciation for teachers
- California Teachers Association: CALIFORNIA DAY OF THE TEACHER Print Share on twitter Share on facebook_like CTA President Dean E. Vogel speaks about his appreciation for teachers. California Day of the Teacher is May 9th. [image: Day of the Teacher 2012] THANK YOU, TEACHER! We know how we were all influenced by teachers in our lives. It’s what motivated many of us to go into this great profession. For this year’s Day of the Teacher, how about sending in a few words of thanks to your favorite teachers? It’s Your Turn!
Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky
Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky: Saturday coffee. by Fred Klonsky Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week. Funny. I spent last Wednesday in Springfield talking to legislators. I’m not feeling the love. Oh. There was the requisite *wuzzas.* That’s when the politician or the governor’s young assistant starts out by telling all of us that her brother *wuzza* a teacher, or their mother *wuzza * a teacher or even that they w*uzza* teacher. They’re making *a connection*. You know? And then later, I get home and read that the state senator took $50,000 from the anti-teacher group* Stand For C... more »
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: CALIFORNIA MAY TRY FOR PERSONALIZED NCLB WAIVER: State Board to consider seeking relief from parts of law smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 8 hours ago By Kathryn Baron | TOP-Ed | http://bit.ly/JT2C8P 5/04/12 :: The State Board of Education will once again consider applying for a waiver from some of the more untenable requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, only this time the request is personal. Instead of applying for the waiver package that Education Secretary Arne Duncan has offered to states, which require... more »
Missouri Education Watchdog: A Tale of the Two Julias. Which Life do you want for Your Child?
Missouri Education Watchdog: A Tale of the Two Julias. Which Life do you want for Your Child?: A Tale of the Two Julias. Which Life do you want for Your Child? by stlgretchen Is this the life envisioned for "Julia"? Is this what you want for your child? The Obama Administration has released "The Life of Julia", the story of the government taking care of "Julia" from cradle to grave. She has no worries in her educational decisions (they are scripted out due to Race to the Top and Common Core standards), her college is practically paid for, as well as her health and retirement pen... more »
Court ruling could expel high-achieving charter school - latimes.com
Court ruling could expel high-achieving charter school - latimes.com: Court ruling could expel high-achieving charter school CHARTER SCHOOLS *Dividing Communities since 1991* A court ruling has invalidated the lease of a high-performing charter school in Glassell Park, threatening it with closure when the school year ends in June. The Alliance Environmental Science and Technology School, whose students have some of the highest test scores in the Los Angeles Unified School District, will lose its campus under a ruling Friday by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ann I. Jones.... more »
Grumpy Educators: Indiana: Parent Opts Out and Indiana DOE Overreacts
Grumpy Educators: Indiana: Parent Opts Out and Indiana DOE Overreacts: Indiana: Parent Opts Out and Indiana DOE Overreacts by Sandra Indiana: Parent Opts Out and Indiana DOE Overreacts Recently, Grumpy Educators reported on a New York parent who opted her student out of student testing. The response from the school was disheartening. Now, a parent in Indiana reports a similar experience in asserting her parental rights to opt out her son from standardized testing. In both cases, the parents were mistreated, harassed, and in New York, threatened, their students had an IEP, and the st... more »
The Trib’s Eric Zorn and Glen Brown talk tenure and pensions. « Fred Klonsky
The Trib’s Eric Zorn and Glen Brown talk tenure and pensions. « Fred Klonsky: The Trib’s Eric Zorn and Glen Brown talk tenure and pensions. by Fred Klonsky [image: File:Deweytruman12.jpg] Retired teachers Merle Taber, John Dillon and Glen Brown attended a Chicago Tribune Board meeting on April 23rd. After the meeting, Eric Zorn invited Glen to engage in a “blogging” discussion about clearing “up points of difference between current and former public school teachers and critics of at least certain aspects of the education system.” Here is the link to the first discussion: http://... more »
The Data-Driven Parent (Mya Frazier) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
The Data-Driven Parent (Mya Frazier) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: The Data-Driven Parent (Mya Frazier) by larrycuban *This appeared in The Atlantic, April 2012. Mya Frazier is a business journalist based in Columbus, Ohio. I raise a question at the end of this post.* The day their son was born, Monica Rogati and her husband began obsessively plotting his life via thousands of bits of data they punched into the smartphone app Baby Connect. They called the data “baby I/O,” a reference to the computing expression *input/output* and the kind of “geeky joke,”... more »
Big Education Ape Nite Cap 5-4-12
A Big Education Ape Nite Cap
