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Was I Blocked? « Diane Ravitch's blog
Was I Blocked? « Diane Ravitch's blog: Was I Blocked? by dianerav Teachers in the New York City public schools are posting tweets saying that they cannot access this blog on their school computers. One posted a screen shot saying that the school’s filter denies access to this site. I wonder why? If anyone is in a New York City public school, pleases let me know whether you can read this blog or any others that I have posted at this location. There is only one way to find out whether I have actually been blocked, and that’s if people in various schools try to get through. I have not... more »
Alfie Kohn Interview: Will the Common Core Benefit Children? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher
Alfie Kohn Interview: Will the Common Core Benefit Children? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher: Alfie Kohn Interview: Will the Common Core Benefit Children? by Anthony Cody Follow me on Twitter at @AnthonyCody As the Common Core standards now are being promised to fix everything in the world of education, I remain a skeptic. Scholar and author Alfie Kohn wrote this essay on the subject back in 2010. This week I asked him to share his current thoughts. *Question 1. Where do you think the drive for Common Core standards is coming from?* *Alfie Kohn:* I don't think we hav...more »
AT&T, Feds Neglect Low-Price Mandate Designed to Help Schools - ProPublica
AT&T, Feds Neglect Low-Price Mandate Designed to Help Schools - ProPublica: AT&T, Feds Neglect Low-Price Mandate Designed to Help Schools (Tim Boyle/Getty Images) by Jeff Gerth ProPublica, May 1, 2012, 10 a.m. - 6 Comments - Republish - Email - Print - - - - 12 inShare At the dawn of the Internet era, Congress set out to avert a digital divide between rich and poor students. In a landmark bill, lawmakers required the nation’s phone companies to provide bargain voice and data rates to schools and to subsidize the cost of equipment and services, with th... more »
A new kind of competition for Special Olympians - ContraCostaTimes.com
A new kind of competition for Special Olympians - ContraCostaTimes.com: A new kind of competition for Special Olympians By Lou Fancher Correspondent Posted: 05/01/2012 08:41:19 PM PDT Updated: 05/02/2012 06:32:01 AM PDT Click photo to enlarge Police officer Brian Dickerson, of the Richmond Police Department, reaches out... (DAN ROSENSTRAUCH) - - 1 - 2 - » LAFAYETTE -- For student athletes in sports-centric Bay Area schools, traveling to away meets and games can mean a boring bus ride, unfamiliar turf and borrowing team uniforms that were forgotten at the last minut... more »
State Officials Throw Out Another Pearson Test Question – SchoolBook
State Officials Throw Out Another Pearson Test Question – SchoolBook: State Officials Throw Out Another Pearson Test Question by Anna M. Phillips For the fourth time this month, state education officials have tossed out a question on the standardized tests after finding that errors by Pearson, the test maker, made the problem virtually impossible for students to solve. The question, which appeared on the fifth-grade math exam, was administered in a trial-run last year and vetted by teachers. Yet it was not until after it was included on a real test last month that teachers found and ... more »
Teacher: Why computerized standardized testing is ‘frightening’ - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post
Teacher: Why computerized standardized testing is ‘frightening’ - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post: [image: Answer Sheet] Charges expected in FAMU hazing death Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 3 minutes ago Criminal charges against at least five people are expected to be announced today in the hazing death of a Florida A&M University band drum major last November, the Associated Press is reporting. Robert Champion, 26, was found aboard a charter bus parked in Orlando after he was reportedly beaten so badly that he was left with internal bleeding, which caused him to go in... more »
Schools Matter: Princeton Review Nailed for NCLB Tutoring Fraud
Schools Matter: Princeton Review Nailed for NCLB Tutoring Fraud: Princeton Review Nailed for NCLB Tutoring Fraud by Jim Horn If there are any educational historians around in a hundred years to examine the records from this generation of corporate reform efforts to privateer public schools into corporate revenue streams, No Child Left Behind will stand out, no doubt, as one of the most useful tools in their arsenal. To those less disposed to celebrate the demise of democratic institutions, NCLB has, thus far anyway, proved itself as the most expensive, toxic, and damaging federal... more »
Parents contest charter schools proposed for crowded District 2 | GothamSchools
Parents contest charter schools proposed for crowded District 2 | GothamSchools: Parents contest charter schools proposed for crowded District 2 by Rose D'souza A hearing about Success Academy's proposed expansion into District 2 drew a standing-room-only crowd Tuesday evening. A public hearing to discuss Success Academy’s bid to open two new charter schools in Manhattan’s District 2 next year was dominated by angry residents who said the district’s schools are too crowded to share space. Parents from the district and members of its elected parent council said they opposed the propo... more »
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Gun Education in Public Schools
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Gun Education in Public Schools: Gun Education in Public Schools by Melissa Westbrook *Danny Westneat: **Last week, when I wrote that we are so awash in guns we may as well teach gun safety in the schools, people across the political spectrum had fainting spells.* *We are now one of the most heavily armed states (according to gun-permit counts). Some object to gun classes on the grounds they only endorse this arms race.* *McAuliffe has introduced a resolution for the state to promote the use of the National Rifle Association's Gun Safety Program i... more »
Affordable College is not a Luxury. It´s the Foundation of a Healthy Middle Class « MomsRising Blog
Affordable College is not a Luxury. It´s the Foundation of a Healthy Middle Class « MomsRising Blog: [image: Lily Eskelsen] Affordable College is not a Luxury. It´s the Foundation of a Healthy Middle ClassPosted May 2nd, 2012 by Lily Eskelsen I was lucky that I went to college in 1976. I was working as a secretary but I wanted so much to be a teacher. My husband and I were living paycheck to paycheck and could meet our bills just fine, but we had no extra money to send me to college. My parents were doing just fine, but they were still raising my little brothers and sisters, and the... more »
MY REFLECTIONS FROM EDJEWCON | Connected Principals
MY REFLECTIONS FROM EDJEWCON | Connected Principals: MY REFLECTIONS FROM EDJEWCON May 2, 2012 By Akevy Greenblatt [ Editors Note: There is so much I still need process and want to blog about but wanted to share my quick highlights right away. ] WOW!! I am not sure what else to say about my recent experience at the EDJEWCON conference. First is foremost are thank you to the amazing organizers *Jon_Mitzmacher* * langwitches* *edtechworkshop* I would also like to thank them for asking me to present ( a topic for a separate blog post very shortly ) I would also like to thank my school th... more »
Homeschool Under Siege | Human Rights Blog for Home School Teachers
Homeschool Under Siege | Human Rights Blog for Home School Teachers and Students | Homeschool Under Siege | Human Rights Blog for Home School Teachers and Students: Children’s Bill Of Rights – The Right To Time Off The following is part of a series of articles on the rights and responsibilities of children and of families. On our site, we’ve published a... Read More » Children’s Bill Of Rights – Right To Associate With Others Of His Choosing The following is part of a series of articles on the rights and responsibilities of children and of families. On our site, we’ve published a... more »
CONDOM DONATIONS TO HIGH SCHOOL PROMS
*CONDOM DONATIONS TO **HIGH SCHOOL PROMS * *NUVO CONDOMS* *WILL MAKE CONDOM DONATIONS TO * *HIGH SCHOOL PROMS * *NEW YORK, May 2, 2012* -* NuVo Condoms*, manufactured by NV Healthcare LLC., has announced a new offer they will be providing to high schools throughout the U.S. The NuVo Cares program, an initiative founded by NuVo Condoms in 2011, will donate condoms to any high school administration that would like to have a free supply of condoms available to distribute to students before their school prom. According to recent reports, *one in five* seventeen-year-olds plan to have ... more »
The Washington State PTA repeats misinformation regarding charter schools | Seattle Education
The Washington State PTA repeats misinformation regarding charter schools | Seattle Education: The Washington State PTA repeats misinformation regarding charter schools by seattleducation2011 Ramona Hattendorf, the “Government Relations” staff person (and LEV activist) with the WSPTA has a resolution prepared for a vote at the PTA Convention this Friday that would make charter schools a plank in the platform of the PTA in our state for the next two years. What that means is that Ramona and Bill Williams, the Executive Director of WSPTA, would then be able to go to Olympia and say t... more »
Modern School: Who Is Profiting From the Common Core Standards?
Modern School: Who Is Profiting From the Common Core Standards?: Who Is Profiting From the Common Core Standards? by Michael Dunn Common Core Standards (CCS) is one of the fastest growing Ed Deforms, with over 30 states already having adopted them in hopes of winning relatively small Race to the Top grants from the Obama administration. The basis for the “reform” is the presumption that all U.S. children should be learning the same things and all American teachers should be accountable for teaching the same things. While this might seem a no brainer, it turns out that standards we...more »
Missouri Education Watchdog: Turner Decision Sends MO Legislators Back To the Drawing Board
Missouri Education Watchdog: Turner Decision Sends MO Legislators Back To the Drawing Board: Turner Decision Sends MO Legislators Back To the Drawing Board by Anngie In an unusual ruling yesterday judge David Lee Vincent III ruled in favor of the Clayton School District saying that students did not have the right to transfer to accredited districts for free. The ruling hinges on the last two words in that sentence. Judge Vincent said that the Hancock Amendment, which prevents the state from creating unfunded mandates, makes it impossible for school districts to comply with the stud... more »
Column: Teach black and Hispanic students differently – USATODAY.com
Column: Teach black and Hispanic students differently – USATODAY.com: Column: Teach black and Hispanic students differently By Richard Whitmire Updated 16h 3m ago - Comments - - - - - - In late March, a panel of 10 education experts gathered in Washington to nominate four most-improved urban school districts for a national education prize. What should have been a routine review of student data, however, suddenly took a new direction. - [image: In Tyler, Texas: Students recite the Pledge of Allegiance.] 2003 photo by Mario Villafuerte, Getty Ima... more »
Misreading the Achievement Gap: A Tale of Bi-Partisan Failure | Education | AlterNet
Misreading the Achievement Gap: A Tale of Bi-Partisan Failure | Education | AlterNet: Misreading the Achievement Gap: A Tale of Bi-Partisan Failure It's not student achievement, but student equity that should concern us, says this Professor of Education. *May 2, 2012* | *Photo Credit: John Steel | Shutterstock.com* LIKE THIS ARTICLE ? Join our mailing list: Sign up to stay up to date on the latest Education headlines via email. It took about twenty years, and then another secondary ten years, but the hysterical and misleading *A Nation at Risk* under the Reagan admi... more »
Louisiana Educator: A Day In the Field
Louisiana Educator: A Day In the Field: A Day In the Field by Michael Deshotels I spent a whole day yesterday visiting schools and talking to principals and teachers. I was able to visit the high poverty school featured recently in the national blog *Teacher in a Strange Land.* What a treat! Last year this school was considered a failing school and was close to being taken over by the state. Most children were performing as very low levels and some suffered from neglect, abuse and handicaps. All the students are high poverty. Instead of being taken over, the school was allowed to ... more »
Charter Schools Are… [Public? Private? Neither? Both?] « School Finance 101
Charter Schools Are… [Public? Private? Neither? Both?] « School Finance 101: Charter Schools Are… [Public? Private? Neither? Both?] by schoolfinance101 [image: DON'T SELL OUT AMERICA] *…Directly Publicly Subsidized, Limited Public Access, Publicly or Privately Authorized, Publicly or Privately Governed, Managed and Operated Schools* Let’s break it down: *Directly publicly subsidized* Charter schools are directly subsidized by a combination of (primarily) state and local tax dollars (state dependent) transferred to charter schools on the basis of their enrollments. This funding is... more »
Blue Jersey:: NJDOE Coup d'Etat
Blue Jersey:: NJDOE Coup d'Etat: NJDOE Coup d'Etat by Jersey Jazzman A couple of bombshells dropped out of the NJ DOE yesterday. First, from Kevin Shelley at the Courier-Post: CAMDEN - A secret Department of Education proposal called for the state to intervene in the city's school district by July 1, closing up to 13 city and charter schools.But while reserving the right to exercise his "statutory authority," Gov. Chris Christie has no plans to enact the DOE scenario, according to his spokesman. "It never made its way to the governor's office," said Michael Drewniak. No one from ... more »
A Lose-Lose Deal: Timid Leadership Yields Half-Baked Policies :: Frederick M. Hess
A Lose-Lose Deal: Timid Leadership Yields Half-Baked Policies :: Frederick M. Hess: A Lose-Lose Deal: Timid Leadership Yields Half-Baked Policies *by Frederick M. Hess • May 2, 2012 at 8:44 am Cross-posted from Education Week* Print Send RSS [image: Share] Share Readers may know that I'm currently finishing the manuscript of my *Cage-Busting Leadership* book for Harvard Education Press, with the crack assistance of Whitney Downs (who coauthored this post). Writing the book has made it clear that one major problem with leaders failing to take advantage of the operational freedoms ... more »
Ravitch: A primer on the group driving school reform - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post
Ravitch: A primer on the group driving school reform - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post: Ravitch: A primer on the group driving school reform by Valerie Strauss This was *written by education historian Diane Ravitch for her Bridging Differences blog, which she co-authors with Deborah Meier on the Education Week website. The item was first published on May 1. In their blog, Ravitch and Meier exchange letters about what matters most in education. Ravitch, a research professor at New York University, is author of “The Death and Life of the Great American School System,” a critiq... more »
USA Today: Common Core Standards Drive Wedge In Education Circles | Truth in American Education
USA Today: Common Core Standards Drive Wedge In Education Circles | Truth in American Education: USA Today: Common Core Standards Drive Wedge In Education Circles by Shane Vander Hart A balanced article by Greg Toppo of USA Today. Here’s a not so balanced excerpt as I wanted to point out the CCSS critics: Also in February, Brookings Institution scholar Tom Loveless issued research calling into question whether the Common Core would have much of an effect. He noted that state standards have done little to equalize academic achievement within states. The reaction, he says, was “like... more »
Four-day school week: Could it increase teen pregnancy? | Get Schooled
Four-day school week: Could it increase teen pregnancy? | Get Schooled: Four-day school week: Could it increase teen pregnancy? by Maureen Downey [image: In poor rural counties, there is not much for teens to do with an extra day off, a fact that worries health officials. (AP Image)]In poor rural counties, there is not much for teens to do with an extra day off, a fact that worries health officials. (AP Image) A big question about four-day school weeks — a budget solution that several Georgia systems adopted to cut
OEA elections: a new leader, more calls for change - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools
OEA elections: a new leader, more calls for change - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools: OEA elections: a new leader, more calls for change Tuesday, May 1st, 2012 at 10:11 pm in Uncategorized1 Comment It’s election week for the Oakland teachers union, and that has extra significance this year. Betty Olson-Jones, the Oakland teachers union president since 2006 (since I’ve been covering Oakland schools!), has reached her term limit. She’ll be succeeded by Mark Airgood or Trish Gorham, who are running to replace her. Olson-Jones has endorsed Gorham — as well a... more »
Blue Jersey:: Speaking Truth to Power on Teacher Tenure
Blue Jersey:: Speaking Truth to Power on Teacher Tenure: Speaking Truth to Power on Teacher Tenure by A New Jersey Farmer *Cross-posted at A New Jersey Farmer*Are we really going to have to go through this every time a so-called education reformer gets kicked in the head by politics? Evidently so. Case in point? The Passion of Perth Amboy Superintendent of Schools Janine Walker Caffrey as related by the Gospel of Tom Moran in Sunday's Newark Star-Ledger. When we last left the story, Moran was singing Caffrey's praises as someone who was trying to get rid of ineffective teachers in h... more »
Schools Matter: K-12 Teaching: A Service Industry
Schools Matter: K-12 Teaching: A Service Industry: K-12 Teaching: A Service Industry by P. L. Thomas At *The New Republic*, "Making the Grade" poses this about the difference between college professors (notice that term "professor," as in "one who professes") and K-12 teachers: "The vast majority of states have long granted public school teachers tenure. The way it works is simple: After a certain number of years, teachers qualify—'virtually automatically' in most states, according to the National Council on Teacher Quality—for a form of job protection that makes it extremely diff... more »
The Educated Reporter: Atlanta Journal-Constitution Investigation: New Allegations of `Suspect' Test Scores at Blue Ribbon Schools
The Educated Reporter: Atlanta Journal-Constitution Investigation: New Allegations of `Suspect' Test Scores at Blue Ribbon Schools: Atlanta Journal-Constitution Investigation: New Allegations of `Suspect' Test Scores at Blue Ribbon Schools by Emily Richmond The latest installment in the *Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s* ongoing series examining suspicious test scores has cast a pall on the federal “Blue Ribbon Schools” program, which recognizes campuses that demonstrate dramatic improvement among at-risk students. As part of its “Cheating Our Children” investigation, the AJC previou... more »
NYC Educator: Not My Job, Man
NYC Educator: Not My Job, Man: Not My Job, Man by NYC Educator That's essentially the DOE policy on Facebook and social networking. They recommend you not friend your students. No, wait, they STRONGLY recommend you not do so. I recommend the same, to tell you the truth. But my motivations are quite different. I think it's a bad idea because it's entirely possible your Facebook comments could be printed out and sitting on the principal's desk the next time you get called in for a friendly chat. Do you really want to explain why you chose that particular string of obscenities? Did y... more »
UTLA's Failure and Why (Video #4) - Perdaily.com
UTLA's Failure and Why (Video #4) - Perdaily.com: UTLA's Failure and Why (Video #4) by Leonard Isenberg [image: UTLA Large.jpeg] *(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) * *While no union wants to go on strike, it must be the real threat of a strike that causes management- in this case LAUSD- to bargain in good faith. The fact that UTLA has never organized its rank and file and sees itself as an adjunct of LAUSD makes it a de facto non-union that adds insult to injury by collecting monthly dues for services as a... more »
Geaux Teacher!: One Community, One School District -
Geaux Teacher!: One Community, One School District -: One Community, One School District - by noreply@blogger.com (Lee Barrios, M.Ed., NBCT) Got this notice from Hanna Wilems in Baton Rouge. A group of parents have orchestrated a well-organized attempt to break a few schools (magnet types I believe) away from the East Baton Rouge Parish School System. If you click on the link to the web site you will see a fantastic brochure that *One Community, One School District *has put together with excellent support for retaining the schools within the EBRPSS. April 18 Hannah Dober Wilems ...more »
Daily Kos: Something to consider about May 2
Daily Kos: Something to consider about May 2: Something to consider about May 2 by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken) On this date in 1933, Hitler banned unions in Germany. When we read anti-union rhetoric from various sources, which unfortunately includes some supposed Democrats when they talk about education, we should remember that tyrants do not like unions because they provide a way for ordinary workers to organize as a substantial economic and politic force. Without unions employers of all sorts are often able to put downward pressure on wages and benefits. Without unions, most unio...more »
Bi-partisan Failure: Misreading Education "Gaps" | National Education Policy Center
Bi-partisan Failure: Misreading Education "Gaps" | National Education Policy Center: Bi-partisan Failure: Misreading Education "Gaps" Share by Paul Thomas May 1, 2012 - Paul Thomas - Achievement Measurement - School Reform and Restructuring It took about twenty years, and then another secondary ten years, but the hysterical and misleading *A Nation at Risk* under the Reagan administration successfully kicked off three decades of public school accountability. In the beginning, the hysteria revolved around several points that were factually inaccurate, but publicly ef... more »
Acadamica Charter Schools Overstated Enrollment, Accused of “Double-Dipping” Taxpayer Money | Scathing Purple Musings
Acadamica Charter Schools Overstated Enrollment, Accused of “Double-Dipping” Taxpayer Money | Scathing Purple Musings: Acadamica Charter Schools Overstated Enrollment, Accused of “Double-Dipping” Taxpayer Money by Bob Sikes If Florida’s legislators are ever shamed into ending their charter school favoritism, *Miami Herald*reporters Kathleen McGrory and Scott Haisson will have played a role. The two investigative journalists were joined by colleague Shiaa Sen last weekend in a story which exposed the policy of double-dipping federal grant money by declaring two schools exist withi... more »
Evaluating Doctors on Their Performance with Patients | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
Evaluating Doctors on Their Performance with Patients | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Evaluating Doctors on Their Performance with Patients by larrycuban The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Systems (CMS) and private insurers have identified numerous pay-for-performance measures, confirmed in large part by evidence-based medicine, and implemented them in hospitals, clinics, and doctors’ offices. For example, there are process measures for hypertension and heart disease where, for example, periodic readings of patient’ blood pressure and blood sugar levels a...more »