Big Education Ape - Mid Day Banana Break
IEA’s sellout to Stand for Children was indeed a model for the nation. « Fred Klonsky
IEA’s sellout to Stand for Children was indeed a model for the nation. « Fred Klonsky: IEA’s sellout to Stand for Children was indeed a model for the nation. by Fred Klonsky *The Mass Teachers Association bought the Stand for Children deal hook, line and stinker.* It cuts both ways, you know. While the firm stand taken by the Chicago teachers in their negotiating posture with Rahm Emanuel and his hand-picked board of education inspires teachers across the nation, the sellout by the IEA leadership on Senate Bill 7 undermines resistance to corporate school reform. Look no further than... more »
Los Angeles students and teachers need your help fighting Green Dot Charter Schools | Dailycensored.com
Los Angeles students and teachers need your help fighting Green Dot Charter Schools | Dailycensored.com: Los Angeles students and teachers need your help fighting Green Dot Charter Schools from Dailycensored.com by Danny Weil I have written extensively about *Green Dot Charter Schools*, an educational retail charter chain that gained a foothold in Los Angeles and a step-ladder into the public consciousness due to favorable publicity by the charter charlatans and their corporate allies. You can read about the detestable Green Dot and its takeover of some of Los Angeles schools,... more »
Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky
Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky: Sunday links. by Fred Klonsky *My dad, Robert Klonsky. 1937. Recently returned from the Spanish Civil War. Photographed by famed Life photographer Peter Stackpole for an article on the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.* *Your pay, if you’re working,* only grew half as fast as the average CEO in 2011. *Diane Ravitch on the art teacher knows* what to do with bubble tests. *Alice Walker won’t let an Israeli publisher publish The Color Purple:* *“I would so like knowing my books are read by the people of your country, especially by the young, and by the brave Israel... more »
This Art Teacher Knows What to Do with Bubble Tests « Diane Ravitch's blog
This Art Teacher Knows What to Do with Bubble Tests « Diane Ravitch's blog: An Art Teacher Knows What to Do with Bubble Tests by dianerav I have a visceral distaste for the very idea of measuring the arts with a standardized multiple-choice test. This strikes me the sort of technocratic thinking that is driving creativity and ingenuity underground and crushing it whenever it dares to appear in a schoolroom. We know that the only reason this idea is being considered is in order to generate enough data to evaluate teachers of the arts. Imagine: Asking students in the band to answer b... more »
Adult education programs see major cuts in state’s largest districts | California Watch
Adult education programs see major cuts in state’s largest districts | California Watch: Adult education programs see major cuts in state’s largest districts [image: Print]PRINT June 15, 2012 | Stephanie Snyder Lisa F. Young/Shutterstock State budget cuts, combined with more spending flexibility for school districts, are reducing adults' options for learning English, earning their GED or high school diploma, and training for jobs. California adult education programs have changed dramatically over the last three years, with 22 of the state’s 30 largest school districts making major c... more »
Five Steps to Destroy Public Education « Diane Ravitch's blog
Five Steps to Destroy Public Education « Diane Ravitch's blog: Five Steps to Destroy Public Education by dianerav An earlier post described the four-step polka in North Carolina enroute to destroying public education, demoralizing teachers, and enriching the private vendors. Here is a suggestion by another reader, who says it actually is a five-step process. *1. Under-fund/STARVE the schools financially* *2. Overcrowd the classrooms, reduce programs, supplies* *3. Fail the public school using NCLB and/or Race to the Top laws leaving the public school in death-throws*
Jersey Jazzman: More Chartery Awesomeness
Jersey Jazzman: More Chartery Awesomeness: More Chartery Awesomeness by Duke Totally, charterly awesome: CAMDEN — A city charter school, where a security liaison continues to work despite being charged with aggravated assault on a student, is facing a series of issues. Among the problems at Distinctions in Urban Education Season Charter School are: • Poor academic performance heading into the year before its charter is up for state renewal. • A staff turnover rate approaching 50 percent a year — and separate police investigations into the security worker and a former employee. • ... more »
Wait, What? - Bridgeport: $3.4 Million in return for your democratic rights: Illegal, Racist or Both
Wait, What? - *Bridgeport: $3.4 Million in return for your democratic rights: Illegal, Racist or Both* Bridgeport: $3.4 Million in return for your democratic rights: Illegal, Racist or Both by jonpelto The State of Connecticut’s Education Funding Formula (ECS) is underfunded by at least $800 million. This means that many towns must raise their local property taxes higher than they should or that schools go without the funds they need to maintain adequate services. Last week Governor Malloy proposed and the Democrats in the Legislature adopted a new law that read; “The Commissione... more »
School Tech Connect: Two Events in Chicago
School Tech Connect: Two Events in Chicago: Two Events in Chicago by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman) CTU is having a public meeting about contract negotiations* on June 25th* at Gage Park High School, 6:30 PM. (I posted the wrong date earlier.) 5630 S. Rockwell. I'll be there. I have some questions. Popout View Larger Map Also, there's this on the 26th. *Stand with Chicago Teachers* * CTU Solidarity Committee Organizing Meeting Tuesday, June 26 6:30 p.m. Grace Place, 637 South Dearborn The Labor Working Group, which brought together the Chicago Occupy movement and unions thr...more »
GOOD Ideas for Cities: Increasing Involvement in Middle School - Cities - GOOD
GOOD Ideas for Cities: Increasing Involvement in Middle School - Cities - GOOD: GOOD Ideas for Cities: Increasing Involvement in Middle School by Alissa Walker Popout Parents know they should be involved in their kids' education during elementary school, but as kids get older, parents become less engaged. The dropoff is greatest for the overlooked middle schools—even their names denote this neither-here-nor-there mentality. How to increase parental and community involvement during this extremely critical time for students? At GOOD Ideas for Cities RVA, the Kids Lead, Parents Follow...more »
Curmudgeon: Value-added measures don't measure up for Evaluation
Curmudgeon: Value-added measures don't measure up for Evaluation: Value-added measures don't measure up for Evaluation Labels: Testing Value-Added Measures don't make a good foundation for a teacher evaluation system. A comment on a Joanne Jacobs article: VAM measures the amount of improvement your students make. There are a number of ways to do this. Some of the early VAM methods were highly unstable. More sophisticated methods do seem to hold up well from year to year and also correlate with positive long term outcomes such as lower teen pregnancy rates and better education an... more »
Evaluating Teachers Using Student Test Scores: Value-added Measures (Part 1) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
Evaluating Teachers Using Student Test Scores: Value-added Measures (Part 1) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Evaluating Teachers Using Student Test Scores: Value-added Measures (Part 1) by larrycuban In most organizations, supervisors measure and evaluate employees’ performance. Consequences, both positive and negative, flow from the judgments they make. Not in public schools where supervisors have commonly judged over 95 percent of all teachers “satisfactory.” Such percentages clearly do not distinguish between effective and ineffective teaching. The refor... more »
A Closer Look at one of the Santa Cruz 11 « occupy california
A Closer Look at one of the Santa Cruz 11 « occupy california: A Closer Look at one of the Santa Cruz 11 by * from SantaCruz11: Desiree Foster, the youngest of the Santa Cruz Eleven, was arrested on February 8th as she and her boyfriend were leaving her home on her way to the Santa Cruz Courthouse in an attempt to quash her arrest warrant by agreeing to appear in court on a certain date. Instead, she spent the next nine hours sitting on plastic seating watching a deputy-controlled television set, having been arrested for two felony counts, conspiracy and vandalism, and two misdemea... more »
When is a Stop-and-Frisk a Violation of Constitutional Rights? « Student Activism
When is a Stop-and-Frisk a Violation of Constitutional Rights? « Student Activism: When is a Stop-and-Frisk a Violation of Constitutional Rights? by Angus Johnston This afternoon I’ll be heading uptown for a march against the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policies. The stats on NYC stop and frisk are by now well known. Cops stopped 685,724 people in the city last year, of whom 84% were black or Latino. They conducted more stops of black boys and men aged 14-24 then there are people in that demographic category. Just 9% of all stops ended in an arrest and just 2% led to the recovery of a ... more »
Seven Thoughts on Bullying « Cooperative Catalyst
Seven Thoughts on Bullying « Cooperative Catalyst: Seven Thoughts on Bullying by John T. Spencer I recently gave a keynote where I talked about personalized learning. In order to give a sense of the context, I shared my experience being bullied. I had decided the night before to scrap it from the presentation. I was afraid that they would pick up on insecurities that I might still have as an adult. Years later, even after counseling and dealing with it in healthy ways, I find myself wanting to hide the story. Instead, I told the story of being thrown into a locker and having my c... more »
How Gerard Robinson’s Lecture Ignited a Powerful Movement Against Florida’s High-Stakes Testing Regime | Scathing Purple Musings
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How Gerard Robinson’s Lecture Ignited a Powerful Movement Against Florida’s High-Stakes Testing Regime | Scathing Purple Musings: How Gerard Robinson’s Lecture Ignited a Powerful Movement Against Florida’s High-Stakes Testing Regime by Bob Sikes Save Duval Schools founder Deborah Gianoulis Heald attended the Florida School Boards Association meeting this week in Tampa. Here are her comments in a letter to the editor of the *Lakeland Ledger*: In Tampa on Thursday, I watched elected school board members from across the state in a conference exchange glances with clenched teeth or ... more »
Litigation almost a given with education reform | Shreveporttimes | shreveporttimes.com
Litigation almost a given with education reform | Shreveporttimes | shreveporttimes.com: Litigation almost a given with education reform The debate over public school reform often ends up in court. Critics of Gov. Bobby Jindal's education legislation, passed by the Louisiana Legislature in April, already have filed lawsuits against it, citing violations of the state constitution and other matters. "It's almost a given that education reforms will be challenged by someone when you have a statewide voucher piece," said Kathy Christie, vice president of knowledge, information managemen... more »
Is This a Conflict of Interest? « Diane Ravitch's blog
Is This a Conflict of Interest? « Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Is This a Conflict of Interest? by dianerav Last spring, Louisiana held a crucial election that determined who would control the state’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Governor Bobby Jindal–the uber-conservative education reformer with a plan to replace public education with vouchers and charters–wanted to take control. He rallied his friends and allies to win the decisive seat on the board, which was held by a local attorney, Louella Givens. Jindal’s candidat... more »
After long legal fight, Sacramento City Unified has clear path for Waldorf-method schools - The Public Eye - The Sacramento Bee
After long legal fight, Sacramento City Unified has clear path for Waldorf-method schools - The Public Eye - The Sacramento Bee: After long legal fight, Sacramento City Unified has clear path for Waldorf-method schools Share By Melody Gutierrez mgutierrez@sacbee.com Published: Sunday, Jun. 17, 2012 - 12:00 am | Page 1B After 14 years and more than half a million dollars in legal fees, Sacramento City Unified School District appears to have cleared its final hurdle in its fight to offer Waldorf-inspired instruction in its public schools. The nonprofit group – People for Legal and No... more »
Will Governor Andy Cuomo Show That He Has B*lls On Evaluations?
http://www.southbronxschool.com: Will Governor Andy Cuomo Show That He Has Balls On Evaluations? by noreply@blogger.com (Bronx Teacher) What a horrible time to be Governor Andy. Here he is in the middle of a fight over releasing teachers evaluations. On one side he has teachers (not including the UFT because they already caved) and on the other side he has New York City super villain Uncle Mike and his henchman Sock Puppet Dennis Walcott wanting to shame and humiliate teachers in their ques to to diabolically take over the world of education. What is a governor to do? There was a g... more »
Sunday, NYC: Silent March to End Stop and Frisk | OccupyWallSt.org
Sunday, NYC: Silent March to End Stop and Frisk | OccupyWallSt.org: Sunday, NYC: Silent March to End Stop and Frisk by OccupyWallSt [image: if you see something . . .] *via SilentMarchNYC.org:* The Silent March to End Stop and FriskJoin Civil Rights, Faith, Labor and Community groups in a silent march against NYC’s “Stop and Frisk” Policy! On Father’s Day, let’s stand together to show that New Yorkers refuse to let our children be victimized by racial profiling. *Father's Day* *Sunday, June 17th - march begins at 3 pm* *Assemble on West 110th St. between Central Park West/8th Ave. and... more »
Cursive slowly scribbled out of N.J. curriculums as computer skills gain value in schools | NJ.com
Cursive slowly scribbled out of N.J. curriculums as computer skills gain value in schools | NJ.com: Cursive slowly scribbled out of N.J. curriculums as computer skills gain value in schoolsPublished: Sunday, June 17, 2012, 7:00 AM [image: Jeanette Rundquist/The Star-Ledger] By Jeanette Rundquist/The Star-Ledger [image: gawritingboy.JPG]The bulletin board at the front of Melissa Balzano’s classroom in West Orange is decorated with hand-written lists her students wrote in September, expressing their "Hopes and Dreams for Third Grade." For at least half the children in Balzan... more »
No Tests for Kids as Argued by a 4th Grader, PickyKidPix (daughter of Pragmatic Mom) « Cooperative Catalyst
No Tests for Kids as Argued by a 4th Grader, PickyKidPix (daughter of Pragmatic Mom) « Cooperative Catalyst: No Tests for Kids as Argued by a 4th Grader, PickyKidPix (daughter of Pragmatic Mom) by Pragmatic Mom Everybody thinks tests are so good. Why? People think it is a good way to see a child’s smartness. Why can’t teachers and principals think of a different way? They are the ones who have spent most of their time working with the student, so they should know about the child. All it does is make the kid nervous, scared, and stressed. It doesn’t only cause this for the ki... more »
Daily Kos: Romney Horse Wins Spot on Olympic Dressage Team
Daily Kos: Romney Horse Wins Spot on Olympic Dressage Team: Romney Horse Wins Spot on Olympic Dressage Team by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken) GLADSTONE, N.J. — Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, who plan to attend the opening of the Olympic Games in London this summer, now have a personal rooting interest in the event.Jan Ebeling, Mrs. Romney’s longtime riding tutor, and his horse Rafalca, co-owned by Mrs. Romney, earned a berth on the United States Olympic dressage team on Saturday. Those are the two opening paragraphs of this New York Times story, posted this evening.So I wonder. Do... more »
Oakland School Closures: Sign the petition! | Dailycensored.com
Oakland School Closures: Sign the petition! | Dailycensored.com: Oakland School Closures: Sign the petition! by Danny Weil “Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end you lose at the other. It’s like feeding a dog on his own tail. It won’t fatten the dog.” ~ Mark Twain People’s School for Public Education... *People’s School for Public Education* http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/i-support-the-lakeview-sit-in/ Every child deserves a quality neighborhood public school. The district has the power to keep Lakeview, Santa Fe, Marshall, Max... more »
Visioning Many Educational Paths | Lefty Parent
Visioning Many Educational Paths | Lefty Parent: Visioning Many Educational Paths by Cooper Zale Angelajean and I founded our Daily KOS “Educational Alternatives” group because we both believe that our youth (and their families) would be much better served in their development if they had a wide range of educational options. Currently there are very few such options available to most young people, particularly those from families without the economic means to have sufficient discretionary income to spend on private schools. I wanted to restate the group’s goal, to hopefully recruit... more »
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Pro-Charter Campaign Started
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Pro-Charter Campaign Started: Pro-Charter Campaign Started by Melissa Westbrook [image: DON'T SELL OUT AMERICA] A bit tepid, their website. It's called - big surprise - "Yes on 1240". (Interestingly, a web designer I know told me "No on 1240" domain name is taken - very clever. Only I don't think anyone would want it because, as the designer pointed out, it would read in the URL "noon1240".) There are several things to note about this website: There is *NO* link to the actual initiative. Why wouldn't you want people to be able to read what yo... more »
The future is now, in Louisiana, if corporate reformers get their way « Parents Across America
The future is now, in Louisiana, if corporate reformers get their way « Parents Across America: The future is now, in Louisiana, if corporate reformers get their way by leoniehaimson Louisiana’s Governor is the radical right-winger Bobby Jindal, and its State Superintendent John White, trained under the Voldemort of education reform, Joel Klein. It has a state board of education whose most recently elected member is the state director of TFA, who ran a campaign funded by billionaire Bloomberg. Today, Diane Ravitch wrote about the philosophy behind Jindal and White’s privatizatio... more »
Portland's high dropout rate reveals illusion of success at big high schools (Diplomas denied, Part 1) | OregonLive.com
Portland's high dropout rate reveals illusion of success at big high schools (Diplomas denied, Part 1) | OregonLive.com: Portland's high school dropout rate runs high at alternative schools (Diplomas denied, Part 1) by Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian [image: dropgraphic1.jpg] Portland Public Schools turns out more than 1,100 dropouts every year, largely because leaders have hidden that rampant failure from those best positioned to prevent it, an analysis by The Oregonian has found. That consigns one of every three young people who enter a Portland high school to a life of reduced ea... more »
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Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-13-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2
Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-12-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-12-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-11-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-10-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2Big 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