BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK AM POSTS
Does Experience Matter? « Diane Ravitch's blog
Does Experience Matter? « Diane Ravitch's blog: Does Experience Matter? by dianerav One of the axioms of corporate reform in education is that experience doesn’t matter. Also, they say, degrees don’t matter. Certification doesn’t matter. Nothing matters except “performance” or “results,” and these are defined as the “measurables,” the test scores. If a teacher can get students to produce higher test scores, he or she is a good teacher. If they can do it year after year, they are “great” teachers. Reformers say that you can’t know in advance who the great teachers are. You have to... more »
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Prop 39 Co-Locations: STATEMENT FROM SUPERINTENDENT DEASY & THE BOARD OF ED RE: CALIFORNIA CHARTER SCHOOL ASSOCIATION V. LAUSD + Court order
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Prop 39 Co-Locations: STATEMENT FROM SUPERINTENDENT DEASY & THE BOARD OF ED RE: CALIFORNIA CHARTER SCHOOL ASSOCIATION V. LAUSD + Court order: Prop 39 Co-Locations: STATEMENT FROM SUPERINTENDENT DEASY & THE BOARD OF ED RE: CALIFORNIA CHARTER SCHOOL ASSOCIATION V. LAUSD + Court order [image: Charter Schools - Dividing Communities since 1991] *LAUSD NEWS STATEMENT* ** *For Immediate Release* June 28, 2012 Contact: Tom Waldman 11/12-239 *STATEMENT FROM LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT JOHN D... more »
A teacher’s perfect moment in the classroom (involving John Milton and John Mayer) - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post
A teacher’s perfect moment in the classroom (involving John Milton and John Mayer) - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post: A teacher’s perfect moment in the classroom (involving John Milton and John Mayer) By Valerie Strauss This *was written by Michele Kerr, a second-career teacher with a master’s in education from Stanford University, with credentials in math, history, and English. She will start her fourth year of teaching in the fall. This appeared on Larry Cuban’s blog, School Reform and Classroom Practice.* By Michele Kerr My best moment as a teacher — so far — came right a... more »
There's No Such Thing as a Super Teacher - Education - GOOD
There's No Such Thing as a Super Teacher - Education - GOOD: There's No Such Thing as a Super Teacher by Liz Dwyer After 10 years in the classroom—teaching everything from elementary school to adult education classes—Roxanna Elden has seen it all. Now working as a writing teacher at Hialeah High School in Miami, Elden, who is the author of *See Me After Class: Advice for Teachers By Teachers* a humorous survival book for new teachers, is on a mission to bust the super teacher myth for good. In the TED-style talk above, Elden told attendees at the recent Education Writers Associati... more »
As private school vouchers expand in New Orleans, eyes turn toward state for accountability plan | NOLA.com
As private school vouchers expand in New Orleans, eyes turn toward state for accountability plan | NOLA.com: As private school vouchers expand in New Orleans, eyes turn toward state for accountability plan Since the flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina, two public school systems have grown side by side out of the wreckage in New Orleans, one operated by the state, another by the local school board. Now, a third school system of sorts, still comparatively small but growing, is elbowing its way into the mix, not entirely public but subsidized by millions of taxpayer dollars. Th... more »
Jersey Jazzman: Teacher Evaluations: A Race To Nowhere
Jersey Jazzman: Teacher Evaluations: A Race To Nowhere: Teacher Evaluations: A Race To Nowhere by Duke New York is rushing to change teacher evaluation, even if they're not ready for it: An important deadline in the state’s ongoing teacher evaluation process occurs Sunday, but most schools will be missing it. July 1 was set as the day for schools around the state to submit plans for their new teacher evaluations to the State Education Department. The evaluations are required in order to qualify for federal grant money that New York State won under the Race to the Top program. ... more »
Daily Kos: Being the person your dog thinks you are
Daily Kos: Being the person your dog thinks you are: Being the person your dog thinks you are by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken) [image: Be The Person Your Dog Thinks You Are] or since it has been years since we last had a canine, that your cats think you are. Let me explain why this thought occurred. My power has now been out for 37 hours. Latest word is we are not likely to get it back before tomorrow. So I have left Arlington for Capitol Hill, for a Starbucks with A/C and lots of outlets. As I do various things online I have been people watching, something I love to do. I have ... more »
Forget It « Diane Ravitch's blog
Forget It « Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Forget It by dianerav Just a couple of days ago, I said I wouldn’t blog on weekends. Yet, here I am, reading the news, reading my emails, and having a reaction to everything I read and impelled to share. It’s a Sunday. I just posted a blog. I violated the rule I just announced. Oh, well, they used to say that a woman reserves the right to change her mind. I have changed my mind about NCLB, testing, accountability, choice, competition, now I’m blogging on a Sunday. I’ll try to stick to my book, bu... more »
School Tech Connect: My Report From China
School Tech Connect: My Report From China: My Report From China This is pretty interesting. Affluent people around the globe choose to opt-out of a test-driven culture. The difference in China appears to be that all the test pressure is on the kids and families because colleges look only at the one test score. Here in the states, all of the pressure is on the teachers because federal policies view test scores as a blame mechanism. The kids here will be accepted at colleges no matter what--certainly not "the best" colleges, but we have a lot of colleges here, and those colleges w... more »
The Education Report: New data on Oakland's dropout rates - Inside Bay Area
The Education Report: New data on Oakland's dropout rates - Inside Bay Area: The Education Report: New data on Oakland's dropout rates By Katy Murphy kmurphy@bayareanewsgroup.com Posted: 07/01/2012 12:00:00 AM PDT This is a sampling of The Education Report, Katy Murphy's Oakland schools blog. Read more atIBAbuzz.com/education. Follow her at Twitter.com/katymurphy. June 27: The four-year graduation rate in the Oakland Unified School District rose about four points in the latest estimate released today by the California Department of Education. About 59 percent of students who sta... more »
Are the new national academic standards rotten to the (Common) Core? | Get Schooled
Are the new national academic standards rotten to the (Common) Core? | Get Schooled: Are the new national academic standards rotten to the (Common) Core? by Maureen Downey [image: apple (Medium)] Here is another compelling and passionate piece from*Pelham City, Ga., school chief Jim Arnold*. (You can search the blog for other Arnold essays.) Arnold takes on the new Common Core Standards, in which former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue played a pivotal leadership role through the National Governor’s Association. By Jim Arnold I must state from the outset that I am innately suspicious of th... more »
Education - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress
Education - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress: Bill Introduced: H.R.5996 Mental Health First Aid Higher Education Act of 2012 To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, in coordination with the Secretary of Education, to carry out a 5-year demonstration program to fund mental health first aid training programs at 10 institutions of higher education to improve student mental health. Bill Introduced: S.3325 Mental Health First Aid Higher Education Act of 2012 A bill to authoriz... more »
New Orleans Teachers Get Justice, but Schools Still Under Attack | MyFDL
New Orleans Teachers Get Justice, but Schools Still Under Attack | MyFDL: New Orleans Teachers Get Justice, but Schools Still Under Attack by Michelle Chen (photo: Rain Rannu / flickr) After Hurricane Katrina washed over New Orleans, many survivors had virtually nothing left to lose. But the city’s teachers were then hit by the storm’s ripple effect: the loss of thousands of jobs in the tattered school system. Recently, a civil district court ruled that the state had effectively robbed thousands of school employees of funds that were supposed to help tide them over as the city recov... more »
All Education Matters: Student Loan Rate Bill Passes In The House: Rates Remain The Same
All Education Matters: Student Loan Rate Bill Passes In The House: Rates Remain The Same: Student Loan Rate Bill Passes In The House: Rates Remain The Same by Cryn Johannsen This is big news - so glad that they passed this bill last week. I want to thank all the activists and politicians who have worked tirelessly on this battle. It is one that we've won TOGETHER. Special thanks to Senators Begich, Reed, Brown, and Harkin - we need more people on the Hill like you. This is only the beginning of more triumphs for students and student loan debtors. Here's a link to the AP piece ab... more »
When Education Reform Gets Personal:Confessions of a Policy-wonk Father (Scott Joftus) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
When Education Reform Gets Personal:Confessions of a Policy-wonk Father (Scott Joftus) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: When Education Reform Gets Personal:Confessions of a Policy-wonk Father (Scott Joftus) by larrycuban *Scott Joftus is the president of the education-consulting firm Cross & Joftus. This article appeared inEducation Next, Summer 2012, Vol. 12(3).* Over more than 20 years in the field of education—including two with Teach For America—I have helped promote state standards, the Common Core, the hiring of teachers with strong content knowledge, lo... more »
A Few Good Male Role Models Are Needed.southbronxschool.com
http://www.southbronxschool.com: A Few Good Male Role Models Are Needed by noreply@blogger.com (Bronx Teacher) I never have believed that there is a crisis in education. I mean, a crisis has been created, but that doesn't count. But this created crisis has kept us from discussing and solving the real crisis that is happening right under our noses. The crisis of the family unit, and in particular (nothing against women) the dearth of male role models in the inner cities in our students lives. Having that dad at home, or even just full time in a child's life, particularly a boys lif... more »
At the NEA RA. Getting started. Update. « Fred Klonsky
At the NEA RA. Getting started. Update. « Fred Klonsky: At the NEA RA. Getting started. Update. by Fred Klonsky A summer storm rolled through DC Thursday night. It knocked out power in scattered areas. Maybe that’s why there were no copies of *RA Today* when I arrived at the Illinois Caucus meeting after flying here yesterday afternoon. As a result, I haven’t seen any of the resolutions or New Business Items that will be debated and voted on this week. Maybe this morning. There’s a two hour Caucus meeting at 7AM. DC is hot. Record-setting hot. Senf and I skipped the Illinois Night la... more »
msnbc video: WI voters have a chance to fight back in the war on public education
msnbc video: WI voters have a chance to fight back in the war on public education: The Ed Show | *Aired on June 02, 2012* WI voters have a chance to fight back in the war on public educationGeorge H.W. Bush's assistant secretary of education was a supporter of "no child left behind", charter schools and merit pay. But today, Diane Ravitch spoke out against Governor Scott Walker in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. She joins Ed Schultz to discuss the GOP’s war on education.
Robert Reich (Mitt Romney and the New Gilded Age)
Robert Reich (Mitt Romney and the New Gilded Age): Mitt Romney and the New Gilded Age SATURDAY, JUNE 30, 2012 The election of 2012 raises two perplexing questions. The first is how the GOP could put up someone for president who so brazenly epitomizes the excesses of casino capitalism that have nearly destroyed the economy and overwhelmed our democracy. The second is why the Democrats have failed to point this out. The White House has criticized Mitt Romney for his years at the helm of Bain Capital, pointing to a deal that led to the bankruptcy of GS Technologies, a Bain investment... more »
PA Charter Schools: $4 Billion Taxpayer Dollars With No Real Oversight
Keystone State Education Coalition: *Keystone State Education Coalition* PA Charter Schools: $4 Billion Taxpayer Dollars With No Real Oversight *About the Keystone State Education Coalition:* Established in 2006, the Keystone State Education Coalition is a growing grass roots, non-partisan public education advocacy group of several hundred locally elected, volunteer school board members and administrators from school districts throughout Pennsylvania. Our mission is to evaluate, discuss and inform our boards, district constituents and legislators on legislative issues of common... more »
Privatizing Public Education, Higher Ed Policy, and Teachers - Alec Exposed
Privatizing Public Education, Higher Ed Policy, and Teachers - Alec Exposed: Privatizing Public Education, Higher Ed Policy, and Teachers Increasing Profits for School Companies, Undermining Teachers, and Promoting "Conservatives" on Campus [image: Privatizing Public Education, Higher Ed Policy, and Teachers] *This page reveals how ALEC bills would privatize public education, crush teacher's unions, and push American universities to the right.* Among other things, these bills make education a private commodity rather than a public good, and reverse America’s modern innovation of p... more »
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Blog Business
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Blog Business: Blog Business by Melissa Westbrook We had a comment from a reader who had several complaints about the blog, largely around creation of threads and the belief we don't cover enough individual school items/topics. Our reader acknowledges that we create threads based on demand but apparently that isn't enough (even though readers then take control of the thread and the direction of the discussion). We also have Open Threads twice a week but that isn't enough either. Charlie and I regularly get guest posts sent to us and about 90% ... more »
Pew Hispanic Center: The 10 Largest Hispanic Origin Groups - Hispanically Speaking News
Pew Hispanic Center: The 10 Largest Hispanic Origin Groups - Hispanically Speaking News: Pew Hispanic Center: The 10 Largest Hispanic Origin Groups: Characteristics, Rankings, Top Counties [image: Pew Hispanic Center: The 10 Largest Hispanic Origin Groups: Characteristics, Rankings, Top Counties]Among the 50.7 million Hispanics in the United States, nearly two-thirds (65%), or 33 million, self-identify as being of Mexican origin, according to tabulations of the 2010 American Community Survey (ACS) by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. No other Hispanic ... more »
Teachers Don't Suck !: And The Beat Goes On!
Teachers Don't Suck !: And The Beat Goes On!: And The Beat Goes On! by Walt S. *This letter was sent to me by one of our readers.* *I think it pertains not only to Social Security but also to the New Jersey State Pension Fund. * *Essentially, all governors and their cohorts in the Assembly and Senate from Whittman on, have raided the Fund so as to give the illusion of lower taxes and thereby effectively bought votes with our money.* *Like it or not, your money was inessence contributed to the political campaigns of all these politicians so as to help ensure their reelection.* *And t... more »
Jersey Jazzman: Getting Teacher Evaluation Basics Right - Or Not
Jersey Jazzman: Getting Teacher Evaluation Basics Right - Or Not: Getting Teacher Evaluation Basics Right - Or Not by Duke Oh, Laura... Here's four challenges that face New Jersey's public school system as it implements new procedures under a harsh spotlight. None of these challenges are insurmountable, but all will require careful oversight and strong leadership. [...] *Refine Teacher Evaluation Rubric:* Last year, *the DOE rolled out a pilot program of value-added teacher evaluations* under the heading of Excellent Educators for New Jersey. Participation was limited to 11 distr... more »
THE MINDFUL SCHOOL LEADER « Cooperative Catalyst
THE MINDFUL SCHOOL LEADER « Cooperative Catalyst: THE MINDFUL SCHOOL LEADER by Kirsten Olson ssoosay’s Simple iphone Lock Screen Mindfulness Reminder *(Hey Folks, A version of this post is currently running at Education Week, and is written by Kirsten Olson andValerie Brown.)* * * The work of skillful, mindful leadership in education has never been more challenging. Recently a visionary, Twitter-connected and forward-thinking superintendent wrote to one of us describing her sense that the pockets of innovation and exemplary teaching in her district, “aren’t even scalable to our ... more »
Jack Hassard: The National Science Teachers Association Takes on the NextGen Science Standards - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher
Jack Hassard: The National Science Teachers Association Takes on the NextGen Science Standards - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher: [image: Living in Dialogue] Anthony Cody Anthony Cody spent 24 years working in Oakland schools, 18 of them as a science teacher at a high needs middle school. He is National Board certified, and now leads workshops with teachers focused on Project Based Learning. With education at a crossroads, he invites you to join him in a dialogue on education reform and teaching for change and deep learning. For additional information on Cody's work, vi... more »
This Week's Answer Sheet 6-30 - School Survival Guide for parents (and everyone else). - The Washington Post
The Answer Sheet - School Survival Guide for parents (and everyone else). - The Washington Post: [image: Answer Sheet] Testing mandates flunk cost-benefit analysis Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 1 hour ago This *was written by Peter Smagorinsky, Distinguished Research Professor of English Education at The University of Georgia.* By Peter Smagorinsky According to Wikipedia, cost–benefit analysis “is a systematic process for calculating and comparing benefits and costs of a project, decision or government policy (hereafter, ‘project’). CBA has two purposes: Read full article... more »
Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » We need to be willing to commit ritualized suicide…
Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » We need to be willing to commit ritualized suicide…: We need to be willing to commit ritualized suicide… by alicemercer Now that I have your attention, I wanted to share something that I found more disturbing than the Promethean guys in orange spandex bodysuits. It was a quote that I heard not once, but on twiceat the ISTE conference: “We need to be willing to drink the koolaid” –presenter appearing on a video feed at ISTE You might have used this quote yourself in trying to extol others to join the bandwagon of ed tech (or some other inno... more »
School Tech Connect: In Case You Missed The Veteran
School Tech Connect: In Case You Missed The Veteran: In Case You Missed The Veteran by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman) I hate to be Mr. LazyBlogger just posting videos, but here's a veteran who I guess got an answer from Mitt Romney. Popout I'm so with the veteran on this one. Bittersweet Jubilation by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman) Really? I once added my name to United Opt Out's mailing list--- does that make me a member? I don't know. Am I a party to the eradication threat now? Will I have to do the bittersweet jubilation dance when it's all over? I see Fred's already cove... more »
Big Education Ape 2nd Banana 6-23-12 Recap of Last Week's Best PostBig Education Ape 2nd Banana 6-16-12 Recap of Last Week's Best PostBig Education Ape 2nd Banana 6-9-12 Recap of Last Week's Best PostBig Education Ape 2nd Banana 6-2-12 Recap of Last Week's Best Post
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