Big Education Ape - Mid Day Banana Break
Van Jones Closes NN12 With Pleas to Save Nation . . . and Obama from Tea Party | FDL News Desk
Van Jones Closes NN12 With Pleas to Save Nation . . . and Obama from Tea Party | FDL News Desk: Van Jones Closes NN12 With Pleas to Save Nation… and Obama from Tea Party by Scarecrow Popout The ghost of the 2008 candidate Barack Obama haunted Netroots Nation 2012 in Providence, Rhode Island. He hovered over every panel — at least the 10 or so panels I attended — and pervaded the general assemblies and closing session in which Van Jones gave the final pitch for progressives not to give up. Obama’s re-election campaign provided a short video in the closing session featuring the Pre...more »
Schools Matter: Pearson's Anti-Social Use of Social Media
Schools Matter: Pearson's Anti-Social Use of Social Media: Pearson's Anti-Social Use of Social Media by Jim Horn FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE District of Columbia, District of Columbia, United States of America ( Free-Press-Release.com) June 9, 2012 -- Educators, parents, and education activists from around the country cried foul as Pearson, the largest private provider of education-related products and services, blocked educators from voicing their opinion on Pearson’s new website, Parents, Kids, and Testing. The site was part of a campaign created by Pearson to offset its growing wave of... more »
Wiring our Students with Galvanic Response Bracelets? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher
Wiring our Students with Galvanic Response Bracelets? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher: Wiring our Students with Galvanic Response Bracelets? by Anthony Cody Follow me on Twitter at @AnthonyCody "We are technocrats," Bill Gates recently boasted. What do technocrats believe and do? They think that technology and science provide the answers for the problems we face. Our educational system is today being rewired by technocrats such as Gates, with the active cooperation of the Department of Education, which uses laws such as No Child Left Behind to coerce states, distric... more »
Jersey Jazzman: Has the Ruiz Tenure Bill Changed?
Jersey Jazzman: Has the Ruiz Tenure Bill Changed?: Has the Ruiz Tenure Bill Changed? by Duke *YARRGGH! Please be scared of me NJ Legislators!* I am withholding judgment until I see the bill itself. But if what the * Star-Ledger* is reporting is true, we may have just seen an enormous breakthrough in the debate on tenure "reform": More than a year after state Sen. Teresa Ruiz began gathering evidence on how to overhaul the state’s century-old teacher tenure law, a bill that would link the job protection to regular evaluations may soon be fast-tracked in Trenton. Ruiz (D-Essex) said ... more »
Nation’s “Leading School Takeover Expert” Calls Connecticut Mastery Test “Not Very Helpful” - Wait, What?
Nation’s “Leading School Takeover Expert” Calls Connecticut Mastery Test “Not Very Helpful” - Wait, What?: Nation’s “Leading School Takeover Expert” Calls Connecticut Mastery Test “Not Very Helpful” by jonpelto For the last six months we’ve seen Governor Malloy and Education Commissioner Pryor stake their careers on tying Connecticut’s Master Test to a new teacher evaluation system that they claim will allow administrators to determine which teachers are doing their job successfully and which need to be removed from the classroom. *In an extraordinary exchange on education expert... more »
Education lobby gets the grease - Worcester Telegram & Gazette - telegram.com
Education lobby gets the grease - Worcester Telegram & Gazette - telegram.com: Education lobby gets the grease Squeaky wheel spurs City Hall Nick Kotsopoulos Politics and the City *3 comments* | Add a comment The fact that the Worcester Public Schools will be able to hire more teachers and school nurses for the next school year is a textbook example of how the squeaky wheel gets the oil at City Hall. Make no mistake about it, had it not been for the concerted efforts of the Citywide Parent Planning Advisory Council, concerned parents of school-age children and members of the Sch... more »
Drummond: Investigate allegations at West Oakland School - Inside Bay Area
Drummond: Investigate allegations at West Oakland School - Inside Bay Area: Drummond: Investigate allegations at West Oakland School By Tammerlin Drummond Oakland Tribune Columnist Posted: 06/10/2012 12:00:00 AM PDT Updated: 06/10/2012 05:13:36 AM PDT Related - Jun 8: - District board members urge investigation of private Oakland school - Jun 5: - A West Oakland church school comes under scrutiny The pastor made me do it. That's what a teenage girl told Will Evans when the California Watch reporter asked her why she was out soliciting donations for a West Oakland chur... more »
PressTV - A future for teachers unions, but only with a fight
PressTV - A future for teachers unions, but only with a fight: A future for teachers unions, but only with a fight Sun Jun 10, 2012 4:38PM GMT Share James Cersonsky, Common Dreams “Things are the way they are” in urban schools, Michelle Rhee professes in Waiting for Superman, because “it all becomes about the adults.” While teachers unions generally scoff at this sort of sloganeering, most lack any effective strategy of resistance to the “student”-focused, union-busting, scorched-earth privatization pushed by Rhee and her billionaire colleagues. Chicago’s teachers union, the third l... more »
Mark Naison: A Liberator | United Opt Out National
Mark Naison: A Liberator | United Opt Out National: Mark Naison: A Liberator by admin Our Don’t Negotiate campaign is possible due to Liberators – those who do not negotiate with children’s lives. Recently Professor Naison of Fordham University was interviewed on Sky vs Sky. As he states, MSNBC won’t let us speak – but we continue to find a way to share the truth. Thank you Sky vs Sky and please follow Mark Naison at With A Brooklyn Accent . In the words of William Lloyd Garrison, who famously declared in the first issue of The Liberator: “*I am in earnest — I will not equivocat... more »
High Stakes Tests Good for Kids and Taxpayers? This Parent NOT Buying it ! -Response to Tampa Bay Times « Continuing Change
High Stakes Tests Good for Kids and Taxpayers? This Parent NOT Buying it ! -Response to Tampa Bay Times « Continuing Change: High Stakes Tests Good for Kids and Taxpayers? This Parent NOT Buying it ! -Response to Tampa Bay Times by gatorbonbc *My response to Tampa Bay Times article entitled, “FCAT Pressure Help Students and Teachers to Achieve” :* *.* *This parent disagrees. You write, “But parents? You are the consumers here. You should insist not only that the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test continues to be administered but that there’s a lot on the line when it is. Beca... more »
HEY, MITT ROMNEY, I HAVE A QUESTION. « Teachers Fight Back
HEY, MITT ROMNEY, I HAVE A QUESTION. « Teachers Fight Back: HEY, MITT ROMNEY, I HAVE A QUESTION. by alkleen Whenever Mitt Romney is asked by a reporter to respond to those who criticize him for being rich, he always answers like this,” I’m not going to apologize for being successful, this is America, we honor success.” Hey, Mitt, how come your supporters like the billionaire Koch brothers and your political party is out to destroy unions because union workers’ salaries and benefits are way to “lucrative”? Why are teachers under fire for their unions having gained “lucrative” sala... more »
Geaux Teacher!: LAE ENDORSES JINDAL RECALL EFFORT
Geaux Teacher!: LAE ENDORSES JINDAL RECALL EFFORT: LAE ENDORSES JINDAL RECALL EFFORT by noreply@blogger.com (Lee Barrios, M.Ed., NBCT) I met with the Board of Directors of the Louisiana Association of Educators Saturday to encourage their educators throughout the state to support the Recall Bobby Jindal Campaign. Governor Jindal's influence on the media and his misrepresentations to the public make communications throughout the state very difficult. Having the support of this statewide professional organization of educators will be a great asset and will serve to inform teachers ... more »
Not Grading is Awful « Cooperative Catalyst
Not Grading is Awful « Cooperative Catalyst: Not Grading is Awful by Pernille Ripp Cover of The Report Card [image: Cover of "The Report Card"]Cross posted from my own blog; Blogging Through the Fourth Dimension. I am just going to admit it; not grading sucks! Not grading means I cannot assign an average, translate it into a grade and be done. Not grading means I have to have anecdotal evidence to back up my final grade on the report card, anecdotal evidence I have to collect throughout the year and then actually keep in one place. Not grading also means that my students have no... more »
Jersey Jazzman: A Question For the Reformy:
Jersey Jazzman: A Question For the Reformy:: A Question For the Reformy: by Duke Derrell Bradford of the very reformy B4K makes his case on Facebook: Derrell is concerned about the gap between rich and poor kids, and the gap between NJ and "the world." Here's my question: *Is it possible, Derrell, that the gap between the rich and the poor and the gap between the US and the rest of the world are related?* * * * *
Big Education Ape - Morning Wink 6-10 AM Posts #soschat #edreform
*BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK AM POSTS* Schools Matter: Gates Research Galvanizing Disgust for All Things Gates coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 27 minutes ago Schools Matter: Gates Research Galvanizing Disgust for All Things Gates: Gates Research Galvanizing Disgust for All Things Gates by Jim Horn Diane Ravitch has uncovered a brave new world of research that makes student clickers as ancient as the knickers. Funded by Gates at Clemson U., which sold its soul to the highest bidder some years back, this new world technology tracks student attention levels with bracelets. Nex... more »
Schools Matter: Gates Research Galvanizing Disgust for All Things Gates
Schools Matter: Gates Research Galvanizing Disgust for All Things Gates: Gates Research Galvanizing Disgust for All Things Gates by Jim Horn Diane Ravitch has uncovered a brave new world of research that makes student clickers as ancient as the knickers. Funded by Gates at Clemson U., which sold its soul to the highest bidder some years back, this new world technology tracks student attention levels with bracelets. Next: shock treatments for daydreaming? by Diane Ravitch Yesterday I posted a blog about the Gates Foundation funding research at Clemson University for something c...more »
This Teacher Knows How to Game the GRS Bracelet « Diane Ravitch's blog
This Teacher Knows How to Game the GRS Bracelet « Diane Ravitch's blog: This Teacher Knows How to Game the GRS Bracelet by dianerav This teacher sent a comment; he or she has figured it out. If the galvanic response skin bracelet will give teachers a high effectiveness rating when students are excited, there is an easy way to game the system and fool the bracelet: *Can this galvanic contraption distinguish between different types of excitement? Sometimes a beautiful new female student joins my class and the young men are visibly excited–about the girl, but not about my thrilling e... more »
Hudson Reporter - Charter school employees to lose retirement benefits Hoboken JC schools protest possible pension losses
Hudson Reporter - Charter school employees to lose retirement benefits Hoboken JC schools protest possible pension losses: Charter school employees to lose retirement benefits? *Hoboken, JC schools protest possible pension losses* byStephen LaMarca *Reporter Staff Writer* Jun 10, 2012 | 229 views | 0 [image: 0 comments] | 2 [image: 2 recommendations] | [image: email to a friend] | [image: print] [image: The Hoboken Charter School (HCS) passed a resolution opposing the draft IRS regulation.] view slideshow (2 images) Several Hudson County charter schools have joined the effort to oppo... more »
The Education Report: Attendance boundary angst in Oakland - San Jose Mercury News
The Education Report: Attendance boundary angst in Oakland - San Jose Mercury News: The Education Report: Attendance boundary angst in Oakland By Katy Murphy Oakland Tribune Posted: 06/10/2012 12:00:00 AM PDT This is a sampling of The Education Report, Katy Murphy's Oakland schools blog. Read more atwww.IBAbuzz.com/education. Follow her at Twitter.com/KatyMurphy. June 7 The Oakland school district might study its school attendance boundaries once again, if the school board approves such a proposal next fall -- but the new lines wouldn't be drawn before the 2013-14 school year, Dav... more »
Missouri Education Watchdog: Bill Gates, Fairy Tales, Technology, High Stakes Testing and the Sunday Education Weekly Reader 06.10.12
Missouri Education Watchdog: Bill Gates, Fairy Tales, Technology, High Stakes Testing and the Sunday Education Weekly Reader 06.10.12: Bill Gates, Fairy Tales, Technology, High Stakes Testing and the Sunday Education Weekly Reader 06.10.12 by stlgretchen The genius-beasts of reform education and their technological "advances" Welcome to the Sunday Education Reader for 06.10.12. Tweets of the week include the oft-dismissed learning discipline of memorization, the joys of using social media in the classroom, the harm to the brain using social media, stress reducing behaviors by stu... more »
Do Not Accept the New Normal « Diane Ravitch's blog
Do Not Accept the New Normal « Diane Ravitch's blog: Do Not Accept the New Normal by dianerav Since No Child Left Behind began its reign of error a decade ago, the American public has slowly but surely changed its understanding and expectations of schools. We have come to think that every school must “make” every student proficient, and if it cannot, then the school is a “failing” school. We have come to look on schools as “failing” if they enroll large numbers of students who don’t perform well on standardized tests, regardless of their personal circumstances, their language abili... more »
Making Schools about Learning Again « Cooperative Catalyst
Making Schools about Learning Again « Cooperative Catalyst: Making Schools about Learning Again by Paula White I have to say I was one of those kids for whom “school was okay.” I didn’t hate it, but neither did I love it–and I was, and am, a lifelong learner. I like learning, even when it’s hard–I get great pleasure out of figuring something out, gaining new knowledge that I can then use, and then, often sharing it. I like the struggle that comes with solving a puzzle of some kind. I have handheld games (that require strategy to play, such as Othello and Yahtzee) all around my h... more »
Amid a flurry of misspellings, test yourself - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post
Amid a flurry of misspellings, test yourself - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post: Amid a flurry of misspellings, test yourself By Valerie Strauss In the past 10 days or so, we’ve seen some pretty embarrassing misspellings. Mitt Romney’s team was behind the now famous misspelling of the word “America” on an iPhone app (though it is hard not to wonder how many people at Apple missed “Amercia” during the app approval process). Then we learned that diplomas distributed at a (Brendan McDermid/REUTERS)Maryland high school featured a misspelling of the word “program”and had to be rep... more »
Reshaping Teaching through Managerial Use of Student Test Scores | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
Reshaping Teaching through Managerial Use of Student Test Scores | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Reshaping Teaching through Managerial Use of Student Test Scores by larrycuban *The path of educational progress more closely resembles the flight of a butterfly than the flight of a bullet. Philip Jackson, 1968* Top governmental policymakers and private insurance companies, deeply concerned over ever-rising health care costs and unwilling to rely upon doctors to restrain expenditures, have built structures over the past quarter-century to hold physicians accounta...more »
Schooling in the Ownership Society: Testing contractors bleeding La. schools dry
Schooling in the Ownership Society: Testing contractors bleeding La. schools dry: Testing contractors bleeding La. schools dry by Mike Klonsky John Kennedy, state Treasurer, holds two books listings contracts for the Department of Education. Kennedy spoke with the News-Star Editorial Board on May 23. / Margaret Croft/The News-StarThe Louisiana Department of Education is spending more than $132.9 million with two out-of-state companies for
Real Reform: What we DO want (?) « Cooperative Catalyst
Real Reform: What we DO want (?) « Cooperative Catalyst: Real Reform: What we DO want (?) by iteach4change Easy way to get a new post – paste your treatise from another blog… Yesterday (Sat. 6/9) this was posted on BlueJersey: *“There’s a lot written here about what we don’t like about the right wing education “reform” agenda – the attack on unions, privatization, etc.* *I’m at an education panel at Netroots Nation, and a Rhode Island blogger asked the question what is the progressive reform agenda. Not what we don’t like, but what actions we should be proactively promoting?* *Blue ... more »
More about Our Brave New World « Diane Ravitch's blog
More about Our Brave New World « Diane Ravitch's blog: More about Our Brave New World by dianerav Yesterday I posted a blog about the Gates Foundation funding research at Clemson University for something called Galvanic Response Skin bracelets. The project will enable researchers at Clemson to work with researchers in the Gates Foundation’s Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project to measure student engagement physiologically. MET is the Gates program to identify the most effective (and ineffective) teachers. It is the heart of the Gates’ teacher evaluation program, into whic... more »
Look To Westchester County To Fight Pearson and the Deformers http://www.southbronxschool.com
http://www.southbronxschool.com: Look To Westchester County To Fight Pearson and the Deformers by noreply@blogger.com (Bronx Teacher) *PEARSON CEO "DAME" MAJORIE SCARDINO*For those who don't know who Janine Sopp is, run do not walk, and check out her blog Change The Stakes. Janine is a parent in Brooklyn, in fact she is not an educator, as well as an artist and she is leading a movement to end testing as we know it. I have spoken and emailed with her a on several occasions and she is smart as a whip and really is quite knowledgeable. I bring Janine up for several reasons tonight. ... more »
Merit Pay for Teachers? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Bribe! « Diary of a Public School Teacher!
Merit Pay for Teachers? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Bribe! « Diary of a Public School Teacher!: Merit Pay for Teachers? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Bribe! by Oldschoolteach COMING SOON? And you know they would! [image: :)] Merit pay, how realistic is it that our pay could actually be tied to test scores? Very realistic! What is merit pay? *Noun :extra pay awarded to an employee on the basis of merit (especially to school teachers)* What “think tank” thought up this idea, maybe the same one that stated that smaller class size doesn’t matter? I am amazed by what people (non-educators) c... more »
Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-9-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-8-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-7-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-6-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-5-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-4-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-3-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2
Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-9-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-8-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-7-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-6-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-5-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-4-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-3-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2
Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-9-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-8-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-7-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-6-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-5-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-4-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-3-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2