Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Big Education Ape - Morning Wink 12-11-12 AM Posts #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2



BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTS



'De facto' discrimination in Connecticut: Where is the outrage? - Wait, What?

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 15 minutes ago
'De facto' discrimination in Connecticut: Where is the outrage? - Wait, What? ‘De facto’ discrimination in Connecticut: Where is the outrage? by jonpelto [image: Charter Schools - Dividing Communities since 1991] What if it became clear that a public school in Connecticut wouldn’t accept many African American children or children from single parent households or children who come from households with same sex parents? There would be outrage, demonstrations would be held and politicians would act to put an end to the “de facto” discrimination that was taking place in our state. “De f... more »

A Sociological Eye on Education | It’s the curriculum, stupid

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 25 minutes ago
A Sociological Eye on Education | It’s the curriculum, stupid It’s the curriculum, stupid by Aaron Pallas A thought-experiment: Ms. Wong is a fourth-grade teacher in Shanghai, and Ms. Stilton is a fourth-grade teacher in Ames, Iowa. Each has a class of 25 students, who on average score at the same level on international assessments of mathematics and proficiency in their native language. In both classrooms, the prescribed curriculum involves study of the history of the local community. At the end of the school year, both Ms. Wong’s students and Ms. Stilton’s students are administered... more »

Dormitories Burn, Activists Killed In Sudan Crackdown on Student Protest « Student Activism

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 27 minutes ago
Dormitories Burn, Activists Killed In Sudan Crackdown on Student Protest « Student Activism Dormitories Burn, Activists Killed In Sudan Crackdown on Student Protest by Angus Johnston Student protest has been swelling in Sudan since the Friday discovery of the bodies of four student activists from Darfur, with reports now saying that one university’s dorms have been burned to the ground today. The four students were reportedly found dead in a canal after their participation in a sit-in protesting Al-Gazira University’s refusal to waive their tuition fees as mandated by peace agreeme... more »

Students Evaluating Teachers | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 32 minutes ago
Students Evaluating Teachers | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice Students Evaluating Teachers by larrycuban Should K-12 student surveys of their teachers be used to determine whether they get a boost in salary or be judged effective or ineffective? [image: cartoon243] The emerging answer, according to Amanda Ripley’s recent article, is yes. Based on surveys given to students about their teachers over the past decade, student judgments about their teachers are highly correlated with test scores. In particular, researchers have found these questions on a 36-item surv... more »

Missouri Education Watchdog: Transition To Local Control Likely To Be Painful

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 34 minutes ago
Missouri Education Watchdog: Transition To Local Control Likely To Be Painful: Transition To Local Control Likely To Be Painful by Anngie If those opposed to Common Core are to be successful, local school districts may have more control than they've had in years. Are they prepared for it? Kirkwood school district, one which could be locally controlled today since so very little of their operating budget comes from the state, has taken what has come from the state as a matter of course. Like many school districts they have enjoyed modest increases in their budget for a number of... more »

WELCOME TO THE TIMSS AND PIRLS 2011 DATA RELEASE TIMSS and PIRLS Home

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
TIMSS and PIRLS Home: WELCOME TO THE TIMSS AND PIRLS 2011 DATA RELEASE [image: TIMSS and PIRLS 2011 Data - New Landmark Release] Latest Publications from TIMSS and PIRLS ------------------------------ TIMSS 2011 International Results in Mathematics Analysis of data collected for mathematics achievement in 63 countries… TIMSS 2011 International Results in Science Analysis of data collected for science achievement in 63 countries… TIMSS 2011 Encyclopedia Education, policy, and curriculum in mathematics and science… PIRLS 2011 International Results in Reading Analysis of data collect... more »

Creating Safe Havens for the Neediest Students - Bridging Differences - Education Week

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Creating Safe Havens for the Neediest Students - Bridging Differences - Education Week: Creating Safe Havens for the Neediest Students by Pedro Noguera Dear Deborah, I want to continue on the theme of how schools can work under the constraints they face to make a difference for the students they serve. Some of the educators I work with dismiss the success of schools like Brockton High School and Mission Hill because they claim such schools don't serve the neediest students; those that sociologist William Julius Wilson described as the "truly disadvantaged." I know there is some t... more »

Commentary: Charter schools winning at the expense of public schools | The Town Talk | thetowntalk.com

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Commentary: Charter schools winning at the expense of public schools | The Town Talk | thetowntalk.com: [image: Charter Schools - Dividing Communities since 1991] Commentary: *Charter schools*winning at the expense of public*...* - The Town Talk Alexandria Town Talk - ‎4 hours ago‎ Suzanne McCommon is a former teacher in the Helena-West Helena School District, located just across the Mississippi River in Arkansas and home to much talked-about KIPP *charter schools*. McCommon is quite complimentary of the KIPP *charter schools* *...* * * Con: *Charter schools* mean well, but good i... more »

The Budget Thugs: What Do They Know About the Economy?

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
The Budget Thugs: What Do They Know About the Economy?: The Budget Thugs: What Do They Know About the Economy?Monday, 10 December 2012 11:06By Dean Baker, Truthout | News Analysis - 83 - font size [image: decrease font size] [image: increase font size] - Print - Email [image: Rhee]What would Michelle Rhee (pictured center), the hero of the "school reform" movement, do to a public school teacher if all of that teacher's students had huge drops in scores from the prior year? The economic experts among the Debt Fixers all fit this failed-teacher description, says De... more »

AZ Schools in Danger of Closing Due to Budget Cuts | HispanicallySpeakingNews.com

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
AZ Schools in Danger of Closing Due to Budget Cuts | HispanicallySpeakingNews.com: AZ Schools in Danger of Closing Due to Budget Cuts [image: AZ Schools in Danger of Closing Due to Budget Cuts] The Tucson Unified School District, the largest in southern Arizona, is thinking about closing 14 schools because of budget cuts. The TUSD faces a deficit of $17 million, largely due to cuts approved by the state legislature and a considerable drop in the number of students. “This is a very tough decision we have to take, but unfortunately we have no choice,” school board member Adelita G... more »

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 12-11-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Why Is Big Brother Watching You? by dianerav When I worked in the federal Department of Education twenty years ago, I recall getting blizzards of postcards and letters from individuals and groups that were worried that the government was collecting too much information about them or their children. I pointed out repeatedly that the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which was in my tiny domain, did not collect information about individual students or their families. There was no vast federal ... more »

International Tests Show East Asian Students Outperform World As U.S. Holds Steady

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
International Tests Show East Asian Students Outperform World As U.S. Holds Steady: International Tests Show East Asian Students Outperform World As U.S. Holds Steady by Joy Resmovits The U.S. performed above average on international standardized tests in elementary and middle school math, science and reading, according to reports released Tuesday. But experts said the rankings, along with similar exams that test students at later ages, show a fundamental problem in America's education system: students tend to perform worse as they age. "When we start looking at our older student... more »

Ed Notes Online: Change the Stakes Statement at Monday's Forum

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Ed Notes Online: Change the Stakes Statement at Monday's Forum: Change the Stakes Statement at Monday's Forum by ed notes online Fred Smith with input from the amazing Change the Stake crew, led by Andrea Mata who put on a wonderful event tonight, wrote the statement below. Brian Jones, wearing his MORE shirt, rocks. So did MORE/Change the Stakes' Diane Zavala (below). Pedro Noguera was almost inconsequential and Shael had an answer for everything as he came off looking like a dissident inside Tweed, the role he is assigned to play -- and also maybe part of the underground campai... more »

New Common Core Reading Standards Mark The End Of Literature | toteachornototeach

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
New Common Core Reading Standards Mark The End Of Literature | toteachornototeach: New Common Core Reading Standards Mark The End Of Literature by aristotlethewise *Common Core Nonfiction Reading Standards* *Mark The End Of Literature, English Teachers Say* [image: BookBurn] Concern is growing among teachers and parents that literary classics will go the way of the dinosaurs under a set of new national curricular standards. The Common Core State Standards, academic benchmarks that have been adopted by 46 states, call for 12th grade reading to be 70 percent nonfiction, or “informat...more »

How Chicago Teachers Got Organized to Strike « Classroom Struggle

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago
How Chicago Teachers Got Organized to Strike « Classroom Struggle: How Chicago Teachers Got Organized to Strike by ClassroomStruggle *This article was submitted to us by a teacher friend. She writes, “The article illustrates in a very simple way what needs to be done to have and be a union that is truly on the side of the working class. Two friends of mine that are teachers, and in the past had made a conscious decision to not be organizers, were pretty inspired by this article. I think the simpleness of the article is a big plus for people that don’t have politics in their heads... more »

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: 'Rowdy' Rauner and the 'Rahminator' are steamin' mad

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: 'Rowdy' Rauner and the 'Rahminator' are steamin' mad: 'Rowdy' Rauner and the 'Rahminator' are steamin' mad by Mike Klonsky The nerve! Doesn't the CTU know that you never mock the rich and powerful? Billionaire fat cats like *Bruce "Rowdy" Rauner*, *Robin "Robbing" Stains* and *Penny "Pincher" Pritzker*, just don't like it. And even *"Rahminator" Rahm*, who is already the target of so much public abuse by his own patrons, is so mad, he's spitting milk all over his whiskers. Yes, the union's gone and done it. They've posted a 5-minute video of a sca... more »

Are expelled students more likely to drop out? | Local News | The Seattle Times

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago
Are expelled students more likely to drop out? | Local News | The Seattle Times: Are expelled students more likely to drop out? After two years of research, two Washington social-justice groups failed to determine just how many students are expelled from school or suspended for more than 10 days. The lack of data, however, underscored their concern that there are tens of thousands of students who end up in educational limbo, with no clear path to finish their schooling. By Linda Shaw Seattle Times education reporter [image: Enlarge this photo] Information *The full report, "Reclaim... more »

UPDATE: Who Gates is funding — the latest education grants

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago
Who Gates is funding — the latest education grants: Who Gates is funding — the latest education grants Posted by Valerie Strauss on December 11, 2012 at 5:00 am - [image: Smaller Text] [image: Larger Text] Text Size - Print - Reprints - Share: - - - More » The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation headquarters in Seattle What/who in education has captured the interest of the powerful Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation these days? The following list of education-related grants — all awarded in November 2012 — show that MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are big w... more »

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle 1240 Stats (and no big surprises)

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle 1240 Stats (and no big surprises): Seattle 1240 Stats (and no big surprises) by Melissa Westbrook I spent time today crunching vote totals for Seattle for 1240. (And no thanks to King County Elections where apparently they can't even give you total votes for the city of Seattle for any race. I couldn't believe it.) Thank you to my husband for his help (and the Excel tutorial). Here are the numbers (and could you please, after all that work, give me credit if you quote them somewhere else): Total registered voters - 411,607 Total voting ... more »

Jersey Jazzman: The Tall Tales of Wendy Kopp

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago
Jersey Jazzman: The Tall Tales of Wendy Kopp: The Tall Tales of Wendy Kopp by Duke Yesterday, Anthony Cody had a question for Teach For America's founder, Wendy Kopp: he wanted proof that her teachers really do stay in teaching for an average of eight years. I looked at the facts for a bit and came to the conclusion that it's very unlikely Kopp's claim is accurate. Cody asked his question because he is a thinking person with an actual, working brain in his head. When he hears a claim like Kopp's - a claim that stands in contradiction to all of the evidence we have about TFA - he'... more »

Schools Matter: Evidence-Driven versus Evidence-Influenced Education Policy

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 12 hours ago
Schools Matter: Evidence-Driven versus Evidence-Influenced Education Policy: Evidence-Driven versus Evidence-Influenced Education Policy by John Thompson Conservative "reformer" Rick Hess demonstrated the best short-term tactic for dealing with amateurs who feel free to editorialize about public schools without having a clue about what they are pontificating about. Yes, the *New York Times' *Tom Friedman's "man crush" on Arne Duncan is illustrative of way Op Ed writers feel free to pass on educational policy analyses that are the equivalent of cocktail party talk. On the other h... more »

This Is Not Wisconsin. It's Worse.

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 12 hours ago
This Is Not Wisconsin. It's Worse.: *This Is Not Wisconsin. It's Worse.* RICH YESELSON DECEMBER 10, 2012 If union adversaries can pass a right-to-work law in the home of the once-powerful United Auto Workers, they can pretty much do it anywhere. 97InstapaperShare on readitlaterPocketShare on emailEmailShare on printPrint Sheldon Dick/Farm Security Administration Strikers guarding window entrance to Fisher body plant number three in Flint, Michigan (1937) Let’s clear one thing up. “Right to work” laws, which permit employees working at a unionized workplace to refuse to join the union ... more »

Special Late Nite Cap UPDATE 12-3-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 12 hours ago
*Nite Cap UPDATE**UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE* Hard to Dispel Myths by debmeier The latest, but “well-established” myth is that more time spent in school equals better test scores. The Center for Public Education checks the aim out and discovers: “The data clearly shows that most U.S. schools require at least as much or more instructional time as other countries, even high-performing countries like Finland, Japan, and Korea….. the U.S. does not require schools to provide less instructional time than other countries.” In fact, in Finland the hours spent in school is considerab... more »

Jersey Jazzman: The Most Obvious Thing In The World

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 12 hours ago
Jersey Jazzman: The Most Obvious Thing In The World: The Most Obvious Thing In The World by Duke Camden is the poorest city in America and probably the most violent. The child poverty rate is 57%. Median income is $21,191. The murder rate is twenty times higher than the national average. Golly, do you think maybe this could affect student learning? Camden’s school district was the outlier during three presentations to the state board of education last week. Across New Jersey, high school graduation rates improved by 3 percent in a year. But in Camden, the rate plummeted by 7 perc... more »

Retired teachers need to get to Springfield on January 3rd. « Fred Klonsky

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 12 hours ago
Retired teachers need to get to Springfield on January 3rd. « Fred Klonsky: Retired teachers need to get to Springfield on January 3rd. by Fred Klonsky [image: IMG_3380] When I retired in June I joined IEA Retired. The folks in Springfield assigned me to the Skokie chapter of IEA Retired. The catch is that *there is no Skokie chapter of IEA Retired.* But there ARE 400 members of IEA Retired in the Skokie area who COULD be members if… Well, anyway. Today we all got postcards with info on the January 3 rally. That’s good.

NYC Educator: What's With Mayor Mike?

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 18 hours ago
NYC Educator: What's With Mayor Mike?: What's With Mayor Mike? by NYC Educator Mayor4Life is shooting his mouth off again, saying he won't accept any evaluation system that doesn't hold teachers' feet to the fire. He also says he wants all teacher evaluation reports released to the public. This is ironic, because Mayor Mike is currently applying to the Supreme Court to make sure his correspondence with failed Chancellor Cathie Black is not made public. After all, accountability is for the little people. The interesting point, though, is that his combativeness does not actually ind... more »

Sen Durbin to hold hearing on school-to-prison pipeline Parents United for Responsible Education

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 18 hours ago
Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » Sen Durbin to hold hearing on school-to-prison pipeline: Sen Durbin to hold hearing on school-to-prison pipeline by admin Testimony is due today for Wednesday hearing. From Dignity in Schools: *Ending the School to Prison Pipeline* *Hearing before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights* For the first time ever, Congress is holding a hearing on the School to Prison Pipeline (12/12/12, 2pm et at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC). If you are anywhere near DC, p... more »

Thirteen Things Nick Kristof Should Know About American Families “Profiting From Iliteracy” « Student Activism

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 18 hours ago
Thirteen Things Nick Kristof Should Know About American Families “Profiting From Iliteracy” « Student Activism: Thirteen Things Nick Kristof Should Know About American Families “Profiting From Iliteracy” by Angus Johnston This weekend Nick Kristof wrote a column called “Profiting from a Child’s Illiteracy” in which he suggested — without evidence — that a significant portion of American children who are receiving Social Security disability are doing so because their parents find it “easier” to collect government checks than to find and keep gainful employment. Describing their di... more »

The Ghettoization of Public Education

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 18 hours ago
The Ghettoization of Public Education: The Ghettoization of Public EducationMonday, 10 December 2012 15:09By Thom Hartmann and Sam Sacks, The Daily Take | Op-Ed [image: Charter Schools - Dividing Communities since 1991] Quick - when you hear "public housing," what picture jumps into your mind? Or "public hospital"? All around us, our public institutions are disintegrating, and the most important public institution of all – our public education system – is the next to be ghettoized. Despite several progressive victories this Election Day, there was one significant defeat in Georg... more »

Jersey Jazzman: Put Up The Proof, TFA

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 19 hours ago
Jersey Jazzman: Put Up The Proof, TFA: Put Up The Proof, TFA by Duke Anthony Cody points us to a remarkable claim from Teach For America's Wendy Kopp: In this interview, Wendy Kopp states: *"On average, our corps members stay in the classroom for eight years." Honestly, I find this claim incredible.* I have firsthand experience with Teach For America. I worked in high poverty schools in Oakland, California, for 24 years. In my last four years (2007 to 2011) I led a mentoring program that was developed to provide support to the many new science teachers we had in the District. Th... more »

Student Loan Asset Backed Securities and the $1 trillion dollar student loan debt

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 19 hours ago
Student Loan Asset Backed Securities and the $1 trillion dollar student loan debt: Student Loan Asset Backed Securities and the $1 trillion dollar student loan debt by Danny Weil *“In times of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”* *George Orwell* I was fortunate enough to be a guest on the radio show Clearing the FOG – Speaking truth to expose the forces of greed. http://www.facebook.com/ClearingtheFogRadioShow. The show originates from Washington DC on 1480 AM. The issue that was addressed was the spiraling student loan debt, now over $1 trillion and rising... more »

Daily Kos: Clones, Assembly-line Capitalism, and Wage-Slaves

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 19 hours ago
Daily Kos: Clones, Assembly-line Capitalism, and Wage-Slaves: Clones, Assembly-line Capitalism, and Wage-Slaves by rss@dailykos.com (plthomasEdD) Beyond its flair for the fantastic, science fiction (SF) almost always offers the allegorical. In SF, humankind literally masters cloning and produces not quite human slaves, facilitating some sort of truce between the long history of human conquering human to enslave and the contemporary illusion that eradicating institutional slavery absolves us of culpability in the de facto wage-slavery of assembly-line capitalism. David Mitchell's o... more »

Transitioning to Standards-Based Learning — Whole Child Education

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 20 hours ago
Transitioning to Standards-Based Learning — Whole Child Education: [image: ASCD Whole Child Bloggers] Transitioning to Standards-Based Learning December 10, 2012 by ASCD Whole Child Bloggers Cathy Vatterott began her ASCD Conference on Teaching and Learning session, "Not Your Mother's Gradebook: Transitioning to Standards-Based Learning," by asking participants to think about the reasons that conventional tests may not be the best method to assess student learning. Participants shared that - Tests can be rigid, covering only specific goals and objectives as taught in a particu... more »

UPDATE: Connecticut’s Holiday “Budget Deficit Roadmap” uses state credit card for (again) - Wait, What?

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 20 hours ago
Connecticut’s Holiday “Budget Deficit Roadmap” uses state credit card for (again) - Wait, What?: Connecticut’s Holiday “Budget Deficit Roadmap” uses state credit card for (again) by jonpelto On December 19, 2012, the 2011-2012 Connecticut General Assembly will meet one more time, this time for a special session to deal with Connecticut’s growing budget deficit. Call it the Holiday Special Session, or perhaps more aptly, it should be called the, “let’s cut vital human services the week before Christmas” Special Session. In addition to the $123 million the Governor already cut fro... more »

Can This Claim Be True? TFAers in the Classroom for 8 Years? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
Can This Claim Be True? TFAers in the Classroom for 8 Years? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher: Can This Claim Be True? TFAers in the Classroom for 8 Years? by Anthony Cody The Huffington Post this morning features an interview with Teach For America founder Wendy Kopp, focused on how much TFA has to offer the poor of the world. Five years ago, Kopp founded Teach For All, in order to export the TFA model to other countries around the world. In this interview, Wendy Kopp states: "On average, our corps members stay in the classroom for eight years." Honestly, I find this... more »

Schools Matter: The Eternal Failure of a NAEP Mind

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
Schools Matter: The Eternal Failure of a NAEP Mind: The Eternal Failure of a NAEP Mind by P. L. Thomas After Sandy Banks in the *Los Angeles Times* stated, "We see what we are looking for—and that sends a message to students at schools like Jordan. They know we don't expect much of them," David B. Cohen replied: "Do you think that the same lesson applies to the public, or journalists, or legislators, and the messages they send to the faculty and staff at struggling schools? I don’t mean to make excuses for anyone, but is it possible that an honest assessment of the challenges the... more »

Gov. Brown’s top education advisor to retire | EdSource Today

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
Gov. Brown’s top education advisor to retire | EdSource Today: Gov. Brown’s top education advisor to retire ** December 10th, 2012 | Add a Comment | By Kathryn Baron Share on twitterShare on facebookShare on emailShare on google_plusone More Sharing Services Sue Burr Sue Burr, executive director of California’s State board of Education and a key force at local and state levels in guiding California through decades of education reform, is stepping down at the end of this year. Burr, who in her current position also serves as Gov. Jerry Brown’s top advisor on education policy, announce... more »

Shanker Blog » Cheating, Honestly

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
Shanker Blog » Cheating, Honestly: Cheating, Honestly by Matthew Di Carlo Whatever one thinks of the heavy reliance on standardized tests in U.S. public education, one of the things on which there is wide agreement is that cheating must be prevented, and investigated when there’s evidence it might have occurred. For anyone familiar with test-based accountability, recent cheating scandals in Atlanta, Washington, D.C.,Philadelphia and elsewhere are unlikely to have been surprising. There has always been cheating, and it can take many forms, ranging from explicit answer-changing to ... more »

solidaridad: Open letter to Los Angeles County Federation of Labor on School Privatization and Ms. Mónica García

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
solidaridad: Open letter to Los Angeles County Federation of Labor on School Privatization and Ms. Mónica García: Open letter to Los Angeles County Federation of Labor on School Privatization and Ms. Mónica García by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene [image: Robert D. Skeels, a Social Justice Schoolboard Candidate] *"I can't wait until all contracts are thin contracts." — LAUSD President Mónica García on Unions* School Privatization Hurts EveryonePrivatization via charter schools removes agency from communities and encourages the lowest wages possible. Aside from eschewing organized l... more »

New York Teacher | Edwize

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
New York Teacher | Edwize: New York Teacher by W.J. Levay [image: New York Teacher, Dec. 6, 2012]Highlights from the latest issue of *New York Teacher*: UCAN uniting communities and neighborhoods — and they do UCAN. It stands for Uniting Communities and Neighborhoods, and it’s a new good-will project in the Bronx that has dozens of UFT members hammering or cleaning or beautifying or just playing games with children at a shelter. Stress takes a holiday Thanksgiving took on new meaning for the students and staff from PS/MS 105 in storm-ravaged Far Rockaway when their welcoming hosts at... more »

Teachers need to be accountable, but to whom? | Sweat to Inspire

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
Teachers need to be accountable, but to whom? | Sweat to Inspire: Teachers need to be accountable, but to whom? On Thursday night, after working all day and attending a union round table discussion about education, I met up with an old college friend at the bar to catch up. He is a vice-president of a small financial services company, lives in an affluent community, and enjoys the finer things in life. After getting past the normal pleasantries and catching up with news about each others families, he asked me Why I was on his “side” off town. As I attempted to explain about the “e... more »

Inside ALEC's Education Task Force: Private Players Manipulating Public Education | Alternet

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
Inside ALEC's Education Task Force: Private Players Manipulating Public Education | Alternet: Inside ALEC's Education Task Force: Private Players Manipulating Public Education The author infiltrated ALEC's inner sanctum -- and what she saw was chilling. *December 6, 2012* | *EDITOR'S NOTE: On Monday. we published this video of educator-activist Sabrina Stevens confronting members of ALEC's education task force over their destructive plans for America's schools. Below, she shares more about her experience inside the doors of ALEC's highly secretive proceedings.* *“When plund... more »

Taylor Graham – The Privacy Dilemma: Putting Power Back In the User’s Hands | Student Voice

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
Taylor Graham – The Privacy Dilemma: Putting Power Back In the User’s Hands | Student Voice: Taylor Graham – The Privacy Dilemma: Putting Power Back In the User’s Hands by admin [image: IMG_2738] Each Sunday night, an average audience of 100 million people tune in to NBC to watch Sunday Night Football, allowing the network to charge over $500,000 for a 30 second commercial slot during that time (Ludwig, 2012). Now, imagine the amount of advertising revenue that social media giant Facebook commands during that same evening with over one billion active users. Websites suc... more »

Moco schools chief calls for three-year moratorium on standardized testing

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
Moco schools chief calls for three-year moratorium on standardized testing: Moco schools chief calls for three-year moratorium on standardized testing Posted by Valerie Strauss on December 10, 2012 at 12:35 pm - [image: Smaller Text] [image: Larger Text] Text Size - Print - Reprints - Share: - - - More » (Katherine Frey — The Washington Post) Montgomery County Superintendent Joshua Starr said Monday that the country needs a three-year moratorium on standardized testing and needs to “stop the insanity” of evaluating teachers according to student test scores ... more »

JFK Was First to Acknowledge Latino Voting Bloc, Hours Before He was Killed - COLORLINES

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
JFK Was First to Acknowledge Latino Voting Bloc, Hours Before He was Killed - COLORLINES: JFK Was First to Acknowledge Latino Voting Bloc, Hours Before He was Killed by *Jorge Rivas*, Tuesday, December 4 2012, 2:25 PM EST 39 Comments The night before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the president visited with Mexican American civil rights leaders at a League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) gala in Houston, Texas. Historians believe this was the first time a sitting president ever met with or acknowledged Latinos as a new voting block. Russell Contreras, an Assoc... more »

Equitable staffing of our Seattle schools demanded by Nova High School | Seattle Education

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
Equitable staffing of our Seattle schools demanded by Nova High School | Seattle Education: Equitable staffing of our Seattle schools demanded by Nova High School by seattleducation2011 [image: Nova High School Relocated] It has been brought to my attention that four of our schools in Seattle have been chronically underfunded and therefore understaffed. The schools are Nova High School, the Center School, South Lake and the World School. There has been no explanation given as to why these schools have never been allocated sufficient staff except that they were termed “non-traditiona... more »

Parent Trigger Laws Coming To Georgia This Year – The Privatization of Education Marches On | Black Agenda Report

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
Parent Trigger Laws Coming To Georgia This Year – The Privatization of Education Marches On | Black Agenda Report: Parent Trigger Laws Coming To Georgia This Year – The Privatization of Education Marches On Wed, 12/05/2012 - 03:00 — Bruce A. Dixon - school privatization Printer-friendly version *A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Bruce A. Dixon* The forces of education privatization scored a major victory this November in Georgia, thru passage of a cleverly written constitutional amendment back by a multiimillion dollar deceptive ad campaign, and the active backing or complicit... more »

SI&A Cabinet Report – Accreditation fees on teacher prep programs moving forward

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources: Print this articleAccreditation fees on teacher prep programs moving forward *By Tom Chorneau* Monday, December 10, 2012 Despite some misgivings tied to robbing Peter to pay Paul, the state’s Commission on Teacher Credentialing gave its consent late last week to to moving ahead on imposing a fee for accrediting university preparation programs. As one of the few state agencies that is self-funding, the CTC is under pressure from the Brown administration and legislative leaders to find ways to streamline operations and recover more of its ope... more »

Union! I'm Stickin' to the Union! - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
Union! I'm Stickin' to the Union! - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher: [image: Teacher in a Strange Land] Union! I'm Stickin' to the Union! by Nancy Flanagan Well, it's official. Come tomorrow, Michigan teachers will live and work in a Right to Work state. In thirty-odd years of working as a Michigan educator, the one boundary I was sure would never be crossed has been swept away by a group of short-sighted legislators and One Tough Nerd. As I type this, rumors are swirling. State employees planning a walkout! State police instructed to barricade the city of Lansi... more »

Introducing Iowans for Local Control | Truth in American Education

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
Introducing Iowans for Local Control | Truth in American Education: Introducing Iowans for Local Control by Shane Vander Hart [image: logo-FB-Twitter]I started up Iowans for Local Control as a Facebook page, and now it joins Hoosiers Against Common Core with a brand new website. Please also follow on Twitter. This entity is now a TAE participant. Be sure to let your friends know – especially the ones who live in Iowa! It’s a work in progress so new content will be continually added. Also if you live in Iowa be sure to sign-up for the legislative alerts email (form on the front p... more »

Gabby Pacheco: Student, Dreamer and Rabble Rouser - Lily's Blackboard | Lily's Blackboard

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 23 hours ago
Gabby Pacheco: Student, Dreamer and Rabble Rouser - Lily's Blackboard | Lily's Blackboard: [image: Lily's Blackboard Rotating Header Image] Gabby Pacheco: Student, Dreamer and Rabble Rouser Dec 10th, 2012 by Lily. Gaby was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador. She doesn’t remember much of her city, but her family was close. She remembers her grandmother saying, “If everything else is taken from you, you will always have family.” When Gaby was eight years old, her parents came to the United States where they believed their children would be safer and be able to get a good education. They didn... more »

UPDATE: FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Monday, December 10, 2012

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team: *Darling-Hammond elected new chair of Credentialing Commission | EdSource Today* Education Headlines *Monday, December 10, 2012* Change in the wind as Stockton USD nears 2013A variety of factors appears to make conditions ripe for change in a wide range of central-office and school-site leadership positions in 2013, say several Stockton Unified officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Long Beach USD high school projects will exemplify `smaller is better'For a string of new high schools slated to open in the Long Beach Unif... more »

MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 12-10-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] What’s the Deal with Students for Education Reform? by dianerav Students for Education Reform thinks teachers should promptly agree to be evaluated by student test scores. They like standardized tests and want them to be the determinant of their teachers’ careers. They even held a demonstration at New York City’s City Hall to say so. But not so fast. Bruce Baker has studied and critiqued the New York State educator evaluation plan. He says it is so inaccurate that it should be rejected. He calls SFER “Sockp... more »

UPDATE: The in box. Glen Brown on defending our pensions from a legislative siege. « Fred Klonsky

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
The in box. Glen Brown on defending our pensions from a legislative siege. « Fred Klonsky: The in box. Glen Brown on defending our pensions from a legislative siege. by Fred Klonsky *“[Nonetheless, there are those among us who want to abandon] “the fundamental principle that the rules of the game for contracting parties are not to be changed midstream… This is especially hard to comprehend when public employees have diligently and faithfully paid their contributions while their government employers have failed to pay their required share. Indeed, for decades, states have treated ... more »






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