Nite Cap UPDATE
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
There's Gold In Them There Schools!
Public education is being bought and paid for, all under the guise of helping children. If my suspicions are correct, the welfare of children is being used to camouflage the takeover of the public schools by private interests. Access to the vast sums of money spent each year on educating our children is the golden goose they seek.
This article was published in Salon on November 17th. It makes clear much of the tactics and ploys that will be and are being used to ultimately transfer our schools into cooperate hands.
It is lengthy but I have underlined
AM I THE ONLY OLD PERSON ALARMED BY THIS ?
The Chicago Tribune recently did a front page article about white milk being the only beverage served in elementary schools in Chicago ? Why is this a problem ? According to studies, “lactose intolerance” ranges from 50 to 100 percent among minority groups, which make up 91 percent of students in Chicago Public schools.
Am I the only old person alarmed by the number of ailments among today’s young people ? Old people certainly should know something strange is going on when it comes to this generation of children. Middle age and younger adults might consider today’s frequency of ailments among young people as just typical or the norm. Perhaps they don’t realize fifty years ago all these ailments were virtually unheard of.
In the last few years of my career I was astonished at the number of students with asthma, allergies, disabilities,
Am I the only old person alarmed by the number of ailments among today’s young people ? Old people certainly should know something strange is going on when it comes to this generation of children. Middle age and younger adults might consider today’s frequency of ailments among young people as just typical or the norm. Perhaps they don’t realize fifty years ago all these ailments were virtually unheard of.
In the last few years of my career I was astonished at the number of students with asthma, allergies, disabilities,
The in box. Fool me once.
Fred,
Fool me once, fool me twice…I think we’ve learned a lesson that we can’t depend on the IEA to organize us out of a paper bag!
When I went to Springfield in May with you and the PREA, Lobby Day had been cancelled “due to construction in the Capitol Bldg.” We didn’t see ANY major construction going on–in fact, there was but ONE sign posted in an obscure place, (which I had found, pointed out to Fred, he took a picture and posted it on his blog a few days later) referring to an out-of-the-way wing which was having work done. It was not interfering with big state science fair, house or senate hearings, etc.).
So–to put this kindly–the IEA leadership cancelled Lobby Day for no good reason. (The question
The Wacky World of Andy Smarick
Andy Smarick used to be the Number Two guy at the New Jersey Department of Education. Now that's he's left, we get to enjoy his brain droppings in the press, including this op-ed in the NY Daily News. In the World According to Andy, everything in Newark is coming up roses!
Today, this district has everything it could ask for: a reform-oriented teachers contract, a new state law on tenure and evaluation, funding twice the national average, the $100 million Mark Zuckerberg donation, partnerships with leading nonprofit organizations, freedom from a politically motivated school board, a tough local superintendent, a reform-friendly mayor, the nation’s best state superintendent and an incomparably bold governor.Leaving aside the ridiculous sucking up, does Smarick really believe Newark has "everything it could ask for"? Really?
A child poverty rate of 42% - as the song says: "Who could ask for anything more?" But, hey, at least the
Closing Schools In The Time Of A Hurricane [SchoolBook]
As educators, we are charged with helping our children feel that, as wild as the world may seem, we will pull through. Parents, children, and other invested adults seek asylum in our schools because of our routines, the familiarity, and the dulcet vibrations of the students’ yells, whispers and laughter. The teachers start their classes with their usual routines. The deans remind students of the rules in the hallway as they walk to class. The principals address as many classes as possible about academics and general minutiae.
Whether we like to admit it or
LAUSD Not A Race To The Top 2012 Finalist, John Deasy Reacts: 'We're Not A Finalist? I'm Shocked'
Finalists for the White House's 2012 Race to the Top grant competition were released Monday. To no one's surprise, the Los Angeles Unified School District is not a contender.
In a phone call with The Huffington Post, LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy feigned shock at the news. "We're not a finalist? I'm shocked!" he said, jokingly. But Deasy also expressed sadness that the district's application, which did not have the required support of the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) teachers' union, did not place in the contest.
"It is sad, but I understand the department's decision-making process," he said, referring to the Department of
In a phone call with The Huffington Post, LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy feigned shock at the news. "We're not a finalist? I'm shocked!" he said, jokingly. But Deasy also expressed sadness that the district's application, which did not have the required support of the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) teachers' union, did not place in the contest.
"It is sad, but I understand the department's decision-making process," he said, referring to the Department of
Top Ten Teacher Beliefs
The education reform movement clearly thinks that if it can just get teachers to do all the right things, the Achievement Gap will be crushed. But all the right things to do have to be sold to the teachers. The sales pitch is a core set of underlying beliefs. (Underlying the underlying beliefs is a soothing tonic of wishful thinking and emotional blackmail.) By and large the beliefs are demonstrably false, which makes it all the more important that adherence to them be demonstrated amply through Read more […]
Byrd-Bennett proposes 5-year ban on CPS closures after this year
Chicago Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett Monday announced plans to try to “right-size” a district with about 100,000 excess seats by fall and then declare a five-year moratorium on school closures. The plan is contingent on the Legislature allowing the district to extend its deadline for producing a proposed school action list from Dec. 1 to Mar. 31, Byrd-Bennett told the City Club in prepared remarks.
Brilliant social media experiment?
This story has stuck in my craw for 4 days. Here's Jim Cook Jr., online editor of South Jersey Times:
PILESGROVE TWP. - I really did not expect to win the Woodstown-Pilesgrove Board of Education election.My campaign lasted less than 24 hours.This is a pretty cool social media story, made more interesting because it's a dead tree journalist telling it. We
It didn't cost me a cent.
All I used was a few Facebook status updates saying "Write me in for Woodstown-Pilesgrove School Board candidate."
Officials: A’s reflect successes, but standards may be too low
Chief Academic Officer Shael Polakow-Suransky briefs reporters on the high school progress reports, alongside Deputy Chief Academic Officer Adina Lopatin.
California ranks in bottom half of states in graduation rate
California ranked in the bottom half of states in the overall high school graduation rate in the 2010-2011 school year, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
The new data, the first in which all states use a common metric, replace the variety of different methods used by states to calculate and self-report graduation rates to the education department in years past. The new measurement more accurately accounts for students who drop out or who do not earn a regular high school diploma.
“By using this new measure, states will be more honest in holding schools accountable and ensuring that
The new data, the first in which all states use a common metric, replace the variety of different methods used by states to calculate and self-report graduation rates to the education department in years past. The new measurement more accurately accounts for students who drop out or who do not earn a regular high school diploma.
“By using this new measure, states will be more honest in holding schools accountable and ensuring that
Abortion and Information Management
Blog:
It is a title designed to catch attention, but the content has the purpose of drawing an important similarity to what most take as a distinction.
Often when I discuss information management, or what I have categorized as type three privacy, Public Privacy Laws, with university officials, the initial thought, especially for a private institution, is that constitutional privacy does not apply. In that instance, the kind of privacy to which they refer is the second type, Fourth Amendment. True enough: the Fourth Amendment applies only to state institutions, including colleges and universities, and
Often when I discuss information management, or what I have categorized as type three privacy, Public Privacy Laws, with university officials, the initial thought, especially for a private institution, is that constitutional privacy does not apply. In that instance, the kind of privacy to which they refer is the second type, Fourth Amendment. True enough: the Fourth Amendment applies only to state institutions, including colleges and universities, and
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My NCTE Convention Takeaway
There were teachers everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE. And they weren't your jeans-and-sandals or undertucked-polo-wearing or I'm-overworked-and-underpaid-faced teachers either. These people were professionals!
Every room I sat in, every hallway I strolled through, every lunch conversation I eavesdropped on... Here were experts exploring the problems-of-practice frontier. And the problems-of-practice being discussed were not "I can't get my students to listen" or "Why won't they turn in homework" or "Kareem needs to stop messing with Mona." The problems they discussed were academic in nature, around ways of teaching the content and
Every room I sat in, every hallway I strolled through, every lunch conversation I eavesdropped on... Here were experts exploring the problems-of-practice frontier. And the problems-of-practice being discussed were not "I can't get my students to listen" or "Why won't they turn in homework" or "Kareem needs to stop messing with Mona." The problems they discussed were academic in nature, around ways of teaching the content and
