Big Education Ape - Mid Day Banana Break
One Blog Adventure Ends, This One Continues
Dear Readers,
Today I ended my five-year association with Bridging Differences, the blog I shared with Deborah Meier. This is my farewell letter on that blog.
I did so because I am devoting all my blogging time to this space.
In less than four months, the blog has had nearly 1 million page views.
I am having way too much fun, and I love the community that we are building together of people who care passionately about the future of education.
I hope you will take the time to read my farewell to Bridging Differences.
Now let’s get on with our work.
Diane
Today I ended my five-year association with Bridging Differences, the blog I shared with Deborah Meier. This is my farewell letter on that blog.
I did so because I am devoting all my blogging time to this space.
In less than four months, the blog has had nearly 1 million page views.
I am having way too much fun, and I love the community that we are building together of people who care passionately about the future of education.
I hope you will take the time to read my farewell to Bridging Differences.
Now let’s get on with our work.
Diane
Chicago Teacher Strike Puts Obama In Awkward Spot
President Obama has a delicate dance in dealing with the Chicago teachers strike. Unions are traditionally his staunchest supporters and enthusiastic campaigners. And while they're not happy with the reform policies his administration is pursuing, they're likely to stick with the president to a point. Mitt Romney meanwhile says he's on the side of parents and students.
Chicago Orgs Scramble To Watch Kids During Strike
Chicago Orgs Scramble To Watch Kids During Strike
Chicago teachers entered their second day of a strike on Tuesday. Meanwhile, thousands of children were supervised by administrators for half a day.
Clarifying Reuters
What a pain it is to comment at Reuters. Fill out this form, fill out that form, check your email. Honest to god.
In an otherwise pretty okay article over at Reuters, there's this:
In an otherwise pretty okay article over at Reuters, there's this:
Chicago also fares poorly compared to other cities. On the most recent national exam, Chicago fourth-graders didn't come close to the average scores posted by students in other large urban districts, in either reading or math.
There are some bright spots. Some elementary schools taken over by private turnaround specialists -
Who Really Stands for Children?
Sabrina Stevens answers the question here.
Who worked to get children out of the factories and into school?
Who worked for a shorter work day for women?
Who worked to help poor people enter the middle class?
Not the Wall Street hedge fund managers.
Not the equity investors.
Not the big corporations.
One guess.
Who worked to get children out of the factories and into school?
Who worked for a shorter work day for women?
Who worked to help poor people enter the middle class?
Not the Wall Street hedge fund managers.
Not the equity investors.
Not the big corporations.
One guess.
It doesn’t work.
There is NO evidence that any of the favorite Duncan et al reforms “work”–even on their own terms (much less mine). None. None. Yes, there are high-scoring schools who fit their description of a good school for low-income kids, and there are high scoring schools that don’t. But both are exceptions. We have to keep on pounding away at that simple FACT. And the by-products of these absurd ideas are frightening. For example: learning to close one’s eyes to cheating (like our corporate leaders have done and gotten away with.)
Keep saying. It doesn’t work it doesn’t work…. Even if the reformers intentions were angelic–it doesn’t work.
My Interview about Strike on Wisconsin Public Radio
Keep saying. It doesn’t work it doesn’t work…. Even if the reformers intentions were angelic–it doesn’t work.
My Interview about Strike on Wisconsin Public Radio
Listen here for a good interview about the Chicago teachers strike.
Bullying at school?
The real problem with Rahm’s school reforms in Chicago
Ed Week and other coverage of the Chicago teacher strike
Bullying at school?
Should somebody get fired for this?
Watch what happens to a student — with a teacher’s involvement — at Kopachuck Middle School in the Peninsula School District in Washington state last February. The video was taken by other students and recently posted by King5News.com.
Read full article >>
Watch what happens to a student — with a teacher’s involvement — at Kopachuck Middle School in the Peninsula School District in Washington state last February. The video was taken by other students and recently posted by King5News.com.
Read full article >>
The real problem with Rahm’s school reforms in Chicago
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been pushing a school reform agenda backed by the Obama administration that is at the center of the strike that the Chicago Teachers Union is now waging in the third largest school district in the country.
Read full article >>
Read full article >>
Ed Week and other coverage of the Chicago teacher strike
The Notebook has a content sharing arrangement with Education Week, where this originally appeared. Stephen Sawchuck, who writes the Teacher Beat blog for EdWeek, is covering the strike.
Other stellar coverage is being provided by Chicago's public radio station WBEZ and our urban education parther, Catalyst-Chicago.
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read more
Fuchs: Teachers and Unions On the Defensive
Speaking on the Brian Lehrer Show, Prof. Esther Fuchs said Chicago has long been a battleground for education policy as well as union activism.
“There was an early effort in Chicago to focus on reform of both the managerial infrastructure of the public schools as well as the pedagogy,” she said. “Also bringing in this issue of accountability front and center, and bringing in the question of charter schools and vouchers, so Chicago was sort of the lead on this. New York City was not.”
One caller pointed out that he considered some things the teachers are asking for completely reasonable, such as social workers in needy schools. A teacher called in to note that the tone of the dispute in Chicago is more
Other stellar coverage is being provided by Chicago's public radio station WBEZ and our urban education parther, Catalyst-Chicago.
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read more
Fuchs: Teachers and Unions On the Defensive
“There was an early effort in Chicago to focus on reform of both the managerial infrastructure of the public schools as well as the pedagogy,” she said. “Also bringing in this issue of accountability front and center, and bringing in the question of charter schools and vouchers, so Chicago was sort of the lead on this. New York City was not.”
One caller pointed out that he considered some things the teachers are asking for completely reasonable, such as social workers in needy schools. A teacher called in to note that the tone of the dispute in Chicago is more
Disruptive Innovation, Coming To A Public School Near You
We Need Democrats To Act Like Democrats On Education | OurFuture.org
We Need Democrats To Act Like Democrats On Education | OurFuture.org: We Need Democrats To Act Like Democrats On Education by Jeff Bryant *[My guest writer today is Cynthia Liu, PhD. Cynthia launched member-supported K12NewsNetwork.com to amplify grassroots education news and provide a national platform for people to use sophisticated online organizing tools to better improve and strengthen public schools. It's "MoveOn" for school communities. K12NN's relaunch was funded by a Ford Foundation grant to re-envision journalism and civic engagement. Site tools are currently being used ... more »
Jonah’s strike. « Fred Klonsky
Jonah’s strike. « Fred Klonsky: Jonah’s strike. by Fred Klonsky *Jonah Edelman of Stand for Children.* I warned them. But they didn’t listen. Early on I said that Senate Bill 7 would lead to no good end. Ken Swanson, then President of the IEA, and Audrey Soglin, who still to this day goes around claiming Senate Bill 7 is teacher led reform, pronounced it as a national model. I said, “no, no, no.” Senate Bill 7 was the work of Jonah Edelman, his corporate reform group *Stand for Children*, and all those who wanted to bust teacher unions. But it was designed and targeted for states lik... more »
How GERM is infecting schools around the world? | Pasi Sahlberg Blog
How GERM is infecting schools around the world? | Pasi Sahlberg Blog: How GERM is infecting schools around the world? Posted on June 30, 2012 Ten years ago — against all odds — Finland was ranked as the world’s top education nation. It was strange because in Finland education is seen as a public good accessible to all free of charge without standardized testing or competitive private schools. When I look around the world, I see competition, choice, and measuring of students and teachers as the main means to improve education. This market-based global movement has put many public sc... more »
Daily Kos: Teachers and the Death of the American Worker
Daily Kos: Teachers and the Death of the American Worker: Teachers and the Death of the American Worker byplthomasEdDFollow 1 PERMALINK1 COMMENT The first decade of the 21st century has been an ominous harbinger for the American worker. Children and adults in poverty, the working poor, and the working class are increasing; the middle-class is eroding; and the pooling of capital among the 1% is expanding, forming the anchor stalling the progress of the *USS Democracy*. In *The State of Working America* (12th ed), Mishel, Bivens, Gould, and Shierholz identify the disturbing trends... more »
Chicago teachers strike poses a larger test about teacher evaluations around the country | OregonLive.com
Chicago teachers strike poses a larger test about teacher evaluations around the country | OregonLive.com: Chicago teachers strike poses a larger test about teacher evaluations around the country WASHINGTON — The massive teacher strike in Chicago offers a high-profile test for the nation's teacher unions, which have seen their political influence threatened as a growing reform movement seeks to expand charter schools, get private companies involved with failing schools and link teacher evaluations to student test scores. Union leaders are taking a major stand on teacher evaluatio... more »
The Chicago teachers strike, Rahm Emmanuel, Stand for Children, the Gates Foundation, DFER, the Tea Party, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan | Seattle Education
The Chicago teachers strike, Rahm Emmanuel, Stand for Children, the Gates Foundation, DFER, the Tea Party, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan | Seattle Education: The Chicago teachers strike, Rahm Emmanuel, Stand for Children, the Gates Foundation, DFER, the Tea Party, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan by seattleducation2011 So what do all of these folks have in common? Listen up Seattle. The Chicago Teachers Union is currently on the front lines of a fight to defend public education. On one side the 30,000 members of the CTU have called for a contract that includes fair compensation, meaningful j... more »
Neoliberal Democrats Attack: Chicago Teachers Strike | Dissident Voice
Neoliberal Democrats Attack: Chicago Teachers Strike | Dissident Voice: Neoliberal Democrats Attack: Chicago Teachers Strike by Ben Schreiner [image: (L-R) Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel participate in a forum about education in big cities at the Katzen Arts Center on the campus of American University March 2, 2012 in Washington, DC. Calling their municipalities "city-states," the mayors suppored the idea of individual school districts being able to compete with states for the $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" ... more »
NEA President Van Roekel on Chicago Teacher Strike | NEA Today
NEA President Van Roekel on Chicago Teacher Strike | NEA Today: NEA President Van Roekel Statement on Chicago Strike WASHINGTON - September 10, 2012 - The following statement was made today by NEA President Dennis Van Roekel: “Although the members of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) are not members of the National Education Association (NEA), our three million members stand proudly behind CTU. “For more than a year, the teachers and education support professionals who serve Chicago’s children have been working toward an agreement that would improve learning conditions in Chicago’s ... more »
Missouri Education Watchdog: UN Trying to Take Away Parental Authority of Parents of Disabled Kids - Maybe Even Denying the Right To Homeschool
Missouri Education Watchdog: UN Trying to Take Away Parental Authority of Parents of Disabled Kids - Maybe Even Denying the Right To Homeschool: UN Trying to Take Away Parental Authority of Parents of Disabled Kids - Maybe Even Denying the Right To Homeschool by Anngie The US Senate is being pressured to take action this month on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In addition to making the government (in this case the UN), not the parent, the final decision maker on the rights for persons with disabilities, the UNCRPD removes any final impedi... more »
FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Tuesday, September 11, 2012
FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team: Education Headlines *Tuesday, September 11, 2012* Study: Most O.C. districts haven't defined student defianceOnly a quarter of Orange County school districts report in a new survey that they have a clear definition of what constitutes a willfully defiant and disruptive student, even as this behavior classification constitutes the No. 1 reason students are suspended in California. Schools mark 9/11 with lessons, memorialsSchools across the nation will mark the 11th anniversary of the attacks with memorials, moments of silence and... more »
We Bridged Our Differences - Bridging Differences - Education Week
We Bridged Our Differences - Bridging Differences - Education Week: We Bridged Our Differences by Diane Ravitch [image: Bridging Differences] Dear Deborah, We started this weekly exchange of letters more than five years ago, to what must have been the shock and amusement of those who knew both of us. We were supposed to be at opposite poles of the education debates of the day, so there was a certain logic to the idea that we might engage in "Bridging Differences." I remember when we first began this journey. In the fall of 2006, we were invited by New York University to discuss t... more »
Top U.S. Education Officials to Visit Salt Lake Wednesday as Part of 2012 Cross-Country Back-to-School Bus Tour Promoting Education
David Bergeron, acting assistant secretary for the U.S. Education Department’s Office of Postsecondary Education, and Brenda Girton-Mitchell, director of the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, will visit Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Sept. 12 to engage in events spotlighting classroom success, college affordability and the link between education and jobs.
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By Tom Chorneau
Thursday, September 06, 2012
Legislation pending before Gov. Jerry Brown seeks to resolve long-standing concerns of the U.S. Department of Education that not enough emphasis is placed on student achievement for all subgroups when it comes to charter school renewal in California.
The issue, which dates back more than two years, escalated enough that federal officials formally notified the state last summer that it was out of compliance with the Public Charter Schools Grant Program, putting at risk some $300 million California would receive from the program through 2015.
But SB 1290 by Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-Santa Clara, would require that charter authorizers must consider pupil academic achievement for all subgroups as measured by the API “as the most important factor” for renewal and revocation.
According to analysis from legislative staff, the state currently requires that a charter school must meet at least one of five criteria to receive renewal, including having attained its Academic Performance Index growth target in the prior year or in two of the last three years or in the aggregate for the prior three years.
But there is also room for an authorizing entity to determine that the academic performance of the charter school is at least equal to those traditional public schools in the surrounding area. And there’s an option that the charter has qualified under an alternative accountability system approved by the state.
Federal officials had argued that charters must have a binding contract with their authorizing agency on student
Chicago Teachers Push Back Against Neoliberal Education Reform
September 11, 2012
Picket lines can be sordid affairs. When a union is on strike or locked out—like the recent Caterpillar strike in Joliet, Illinois or the Cooper Tire & Rubber lockout in Ohio—the smell of receding worker power can permeate the air. The air in Chicago has none of that. At schools across the city, 29,000 Chicago teachers and education professionals are on strike—demanding both a fair union contract and a radically different vision of school reform than that propagated by nearly the entire nation’s political class. At the largest teachers’ strike in two decades, educators are fired up to fight for wraparound services for students, with more school social workers, counselors and psychologists; a holistic educational environment where all students have access to school libraries, world languages, art, music, physical education; and the preservation of the tenure system—because good teachers are made through experience in the classroom.
Big Education Ape - Morning Wink 9-11 AM Posts #faircontractnow #CTUSTRIKE #soschat #edreform
BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK AM POSTS
