A Big Education Ape Nite Cap
SHARING THE PAIN – WHERE IS THE “SHARING” PART ? « Teachers Fight Back: SHARING THE PAIN – WHERE IS THE “SHARING” PART ? by alkleen I like the way all the politicians who are pushing for pension reform keep using the phrase, “we all need to share in the pain”. In the recent “negotiations”, teachers were given two choices, a reduced cost of living and keeping the health insurance that we already pay premiums on, or keeping the COLA, but losing the health insurance. Where is the negotiation in all of this? Where is the “shared pain” ? “Shared pain” would sound something like this: ... more »
Peg with Pen: Thank You Wisconsin: Thank You Wisconsin by Peggy In two days an election will occur that will ripple through my core and bring me to tears, no matter what the outcome. If we win, my emotions will be through the roof. We owe so much to the people of Wisconsin. And so today I want to say thank you - as I grab your shoulders and look you in the eye with intense gratitude - *thank you Wisconsin *- my children thank you - our country thanks you. On election day I will get on the phone and call Wisconsin voters for several hours to remind folks to get out and vote. It’... more »
Teacher Performance Assessment and Pearson: Just Opt Out | United Opt Out National: Teacher Performance Assessment and Pearson: Just Opt Out by admin This week United Opt Out National stands in solidarity with the UMass teacher educators and the sixty-seven student teachers at UMass Amherst School of Education who together chose to boycott the Teacher Performance Assessment field test via Pearson. Barbara Madeloni, lecturer at UMass and
Who Else Dreams About Creating a New Reality for Public Education? - The Educator's PLN: Who Else Dreams About Creating a New Reality for Public Education? by Nikki Stansfield I am a 16 year dedicated professional educator with a never ending passion for meeting the needs of all students. It is my professional goal to join/find/create a group of educational leaders who share my professional passion and recognize the need for innovative change in public education. I have come to the realization that I no longer want to make small or minor adjustments to present practices in an i... more »
Wall photos and murals used by students and artists at Santa Monica Community College to struggle against privatization | Dailycensored.com: Wall photos and murals used by students and artists at Santa Monica Community College to struggle against privatization World Renown Artist and human rights activist Banksy has joined SMC students in …their protest to stop the illegal two-tier proposed education system. There have been several other art designs cropping up all over SMC and the city of LA revolving around dreaming big and standing up to defend equal access to public educ... more »
The American Three-Tiered Education System | Lefty Parent: The American Three-Tiered Education System by Cooper Zale American Educational Pironeer Horace Mann According to former public school teacher turned radical unschooler John Taylor Gatto, we have developed a de facto three-tiered education system in the United States as follows… *Tier One* – The elite private schools for the kids of our economic elite (the so called “One Percent”), where they have the opportunity to develop skills of leadership, entrepreneurship, and creative outside-the-box thinking and develop the necessar... more »
End Quiet Desperation - Arlington, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post - A Professional Networking Community for Educators: End Quiet Desperation ** *“Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” -Thoreau* In an era of shifting certainties, there are two ways to move forward: hold on tight to what is comfortable and familiar, or loosen your grip so that you’re ready to grasp new opportunities as they make themselves apparent. A clear-cut enough choice…yes? But easier said than done. Letting go of the security of what has been famil... more »
All Things Education: Some Thoughts on the (ELA) Common Core Standards: Some Thoughts on the (ELA) Common Core Standards by Rachel Levy The idea of having a basic, broad set of knowledge, concepts, and skills that all Americans should learn about, while leaving plenty of room for teacher discretion and creativity and plenty of time for going deeper, resonates with me. I also would like to see American schools stop teaching reading as a subject and, beyond teaching decoding and a limited teaching of reading strategies, stop teaching it as a transferable skill. Reading strategies ar... more »
Seattle Schools Community Forum: This is LEV's Example of Good Pro-Charter Opinion?: This is LEV's Example of Good Pro-Charter Opinion? by Melissa Westbrook [image: Charter Schools - Dividing Communities since 1991] I always like to hear what's going on at educational advocacy groups around our city and state so I check in at LEV's blog (which is a very quiet blog in terms of comments). There was notice that the charter schools bill has been assigned a number - *1240* - and here is the text. (I'll check but I believe that means it is now at the Attorney General's office to be as... more »
The plan to unload rural districts in Illinois. « Fred Klonsky: The plan to unload rural districts in Illinois. by Fred Klonsky *I am new to all of this but I noticed that the Madigan Family Foundation of Chicago is an Investor to the New Schools for Chicago (Charter Schools). As a downstate person people down here think Charter schools will never happen to us but I think they are wrong.* *If they cost shift it will kill us. We pay higher property taxes in our rural communities than the suburbs of Chicago’s wealthier districts and Chicago itself. We cannot afford any more property ... more »
When Jeb's Foundation for Florida's Future Is Built from Bologna, Pipe Dreams, and Air Rather than Science - MyEdNext: When Jeb's Foundation for Florida's Future Is Built from Bologna, Pipe Dreams, and Air Rather than Science - Posted by Diane Hanfmann on June 2, 2012 at 5:00am - View Blog When Jeb's Foundation for Florida's Future is built from bologna, pipe dreams, and air rather than science, you get the following taken from their website: Florida’s success dispels common myths about education. Poverty, an absence of parental involvement, language barriers, disabili... more »
The Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice: [image: Great Lakes Center Logo] New Report Analyzes Charter School Finances in New York, Ohio and Texas to Determine How Much Is Spent By Prominent Charter School Operators Bruce Baker of Rutgers University, along with Ken Libby and Katy Wiley of the University of Colorado, prepared the research brief for the National Education Policy Center. The brief was funded in part by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practiceand the Albert Shanker Institute. [image: Read The Press Release] [image: Read The Policy B... more »
Jersey Jazzman: Teacher Salaries Rising? Not!: Teacher Salaries Rising? Not! by Duke John Mooney is he best education reporter in Jersey, and NJ Spotlight is the best education news source in the state. But every now and then... Nonetheless, the financial statistics certainly reflected the tough times that schools faced in 2010-2011, still reeling from the administration and Legislature’s deep cuts in state aid the year before. Total cost per pupil for K-12 districts dropped to $17,469, from $17,885 the year before. In turn, the ratio of students to faculty rose, especially with a... more »
AWKWORD, Prisons, Racism and a New Project from an NYU Student with The Prison Policy Initiative: Prisons, Racism and a New Project from an NYU Student with The Prison Policy Initiative There are *more than seven-million people incarcerated in the United States*. Most are there for drug offenses. Most drug offenses are for marijuana, which is legal or decriminalized, at least for medicinal purposes, in a growing number of states. Plus, conservatively speaking, about 20,000 prisoners — some on death row, some certainly in solitary — are locked up for crimes they did NOT commit. *T... more »
Freddy’s Back!: Senate Bill 1550 snaking its way through the California State Senate would create toll booth for community college students | Dailycensored.com: Freddy’s Back!: Senate Bill 1550 snaking its way through the California State Senate would create toll booth for community college students Posted by: Danny Weil Posted date: *June 03, 2012* In: *Education* | comment : 0 Comments A bill intended to begin the privatization process for California Community Colleges is once again making its way through California Assembly and Senate committees and will soon be up for a vote in... more »
Grumpy Educators: Florida Accountability Concerns Increase: Florida Accountability Concerns Increase by Sandra Florida Accountability Concerns Increase In spite of Florida Commissioner of Education Gerard Robinson whirl-wind talking tour of Florida on the heels of the FCAT fiasco, parents, community members, and taxpayers remain unconvinced of the validity of Florida's assessment initiative. Ocala.com editorial page editor Brad Rogers commented on the FCAT Writing fiasco saying: "Too many people on the front lines — principals, teachers and
The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow . Jim Crow Stories . Plessy v. Ferguson | PBS: *June 7, 1892* [image: Plessy V. Ferguson (1896)][image: Sign: White waiting room] On June 7, 1892, 30-year-old Homer Plessy was jailed for sitting in the "White" car of the East Louisiana Railroad. Plessy could easily pass for white but under Louisiana law, he was considered black despite his light complexion and therefore required to sit in the "Colored" car. He was a Creole of Color, a term used to refer to black persons in New Orleans who traced some of their ancestors to the French, Spanish, and Ca... more »
Engaging Parents In School… » The Nuances Of Parent Fundraising For Schools: The Nuances Of Parent Fundraising For Schools by Larry Ferlazzo Today’s New York Times article, Way Beyond Bake Sales: The $1 Million PTA, highlights the nuances/conundrum/challenges inherent in the issue of parent fundraising for schools: Of course, we want parents to support their kids and their schools. But what about the disparity between economically secure families/communities and those who do not have those resources? And, by focusing so much effort on fundraising, are we then de-emphasizing the m... more »
Read the Most Adorable Presidential Pardon Ever - National - The Atlantic Wire: Read the Most Adorable Presidential Pardon Ever by Connor Simpson While President Obama was attending a series of fundraisers in Minnesota on Friday, he made the unexpected decision to pardon an (adorable) criminal he met at one of the functions. Tyler Sullivan is in the fifth grade,according to HyperVocal, and he skipped school on Friday to attend go to work with his dad, Ryan Sullivan. The President was scheduled to make an appearance at the Honeywell factory where the elder Sullivan works. The Sulliv... more »
Fraud, waste hijack tutoring program | StarTribune.com: Fraud, waste hijack tutoring program - Article by: JEFFREY MEITRODT and DAAREL BURNETTE , Star Tribune - Updated: June 3, 2012 - 7:18 AM A decade of problems has failed students, schools and taxpayers. - 36 - comments - [image: decrease font size] resize text [image: increase font size] - print - buy reprints - - - [image: Share] Jeremiah Jackson is supposed to be working on his online tutoring lesson, but the 8-year-old can't keep his eyes off "Burnout Paradise," a high-speed car raci... more »
*BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK AM POSTS* Teaching Tots to Twitter Instills Love of Writing: Part II Transform Teaching With Twitter - The Educator's PLN coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 14 minutes ago Teaching Tots to Twitter Instills Love of Writing: Part II Transform Teaching With Twitter - The Educator's PLN: Teaching Tots to Twitter Instills Love of Writing: Part II Transform Teaching With Twitter by Ary Aranguiz If students learn to tweet in the primary grades, is it possible we may begin to see an improvement over time in students' writing skills and overall attitude to... more »
Teaching Tots to Twitter Instills Love of Writing: Part II Transform Teaching With Twitter - The Educator's PLN: Teaching Tots to Twitter Instills Love of Writing: Part II Transform Teaching With Twitter by Ary Aranguiz If students learn to tweet in the primary grades, is it possible we may begin to see an improvement over time in students' writing skills and overall attitude toward writing? I believe Twitter, if properly implemented, can support writing and reading instruction and promote a love of writing. Twitter in the elementary classroom can be essential for establishing the... more »
Did Self-Styled 'Mr. Morality' Scott Walker Father a Love Child in 1988? | MyFDL: Did Self-Styled ‘Mr. Morality’ Scott Walker Father a Love Child in 1988? by Phoenix Woman Daddy, is that you? (photo: WisPolitics.com/wikimedia) This just hit the interwebs a couple of hours ago: Bernadette Gillick was a college freshman in 1988 when she first met Scott Walker. It was spring semester, and she had just transferred to Marquette University. She was assigned a room in O’Donnell Hall (then a women’s dormitory), which she shared with her new roommate, Ruth (not her real name). Ruth was dati... more »
Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky: Sunday links. by Fred Klonsky *Rahm brings Chicago together. Chicago cop wearing CTU buttons at teacher demonstration. Photo: John Kugler.* *John Dillon’s vocabulary of the day.* Hobson’s Choice. The perception of a choice when there really isn’t one. *Diane Ravitch talks about the War on Public Education* and Tuesday’s election in Wisconsin on the Ed Show. Excuse the Wal-Mart advertisement. *Matt Farmer can do more than play a mean guitar* and give a great speech. He produced the The Electric Rebel Monkeys. *Where are the job losses?* In the public sect... more »
Why some kids can’t do homework (and what teachers should do about it) - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post: Why some kids can’t do homework (and what teachers should do about it) By Valerie Strauss T*his was written by Kenneth Goldberg, a clinical psychologist with 35 years of professional experience working with children, adolescents and adults. Now in private practice, he served previouslsy as clinical director for a children’s resident treatment facility, director of a psychiatric day-treatment program for the chronically mentally ill, and head of a rural mental-health ce... more »
Will Orange County School Board Be Next to Pass Resolution on High Stakes Tests? | Scathing Purple Musings: Will Orange County School Board Be Next to Pass Resolution on High Stakes Tests? by Bob Sikes ***WMFE* Radio reports: The Broward County School Board has become the fourth in Florida to pass a resolution opposing the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test as the primary means for measuring student progress. And now, an Orange County School Board member is leading a task force that will ask state education officials to re-evaluate the FCAT next month. Rick Roach of the Orange... more »
Even as a Student Activist, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Hated Student Activism « Student Activism: Even as a Student Activist, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Hated Student Activism by Angus Johnston If the voters of Wisconsin throw governor Scott Walker out of office in Tuesday’s recall election, it will be in large part the work of the state’s activist students, who have been organizing against Walker since the day he took office in 2011. For Walker, this is merely the latest chapter in a fight that goes back to before most of today’s undergrads were born. Scott Walker’s car... more »
School Tech Connect: No Posting Today: No Posting Today by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman) There's nothing like actually blogging to give you respect for the effort it takes to crank out a consistently readable blog with a clear voice, interesting subject matter, and a strong point of view. Anyone who achieves it is living a transformed-by-writing life, I assure you. I'm not there yet but I know people who are. And they know who they are. I mention this because I often see some Twitter chat about the difficulty people encounter in getting kids to blog, and I have to say this one t... more »
Mayor Kevin Johnson raises big money outside Sacramento - Elections - The Sacramento Bee: Mayor King 1% Kevin Johnson raises big money outside Sacramento Share By Phillip Reese and Ryan Lillis preese@sacbee.com Published: Sunday, Jun. 3, 2012 - 12:00 am | Page 1A Last Modified: Sunday, Jun. 3, 2012 - 12:34 am Media baron Rupert Murdoch. Television personality Dr. Mehmet Oz and his wife, Lisa. Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg. Disney CEO Robert Iger. As Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson seeks a second term in Tuesday's election, his campaign has been bolstered by large contributions f... more »
Firing Day at a Charter School | Seattle Education: Firing Day at a Charter School by seattleducation2011 *I am re-posting this in full from CoLab Radio. A must read.* An image of Dany Edwards. Art by Sean Flaherty, who was also fired from this charter school on June 1, 2011. I just quit my job as a teacher in an urban charter school. Even though I still don’t have another job and I support myself entirely, it is the best decision I ever made. It is especially liberating this week while my colleagues – and after five incredibly stressful years on the education front lines, my truly ... more »
Newsflash: Bloomberg Backs Down on Social Promotion « Diane Ravitch's blog: Newsflash: Bloomberg Backs Down on Social Promotion by dianerav The Bloomberg administration in New York City made national headlines in March 2004 when the Mayor unilaterally decided to end social promotion. He told the city’s “Panel on Educational Policy” (the successor to the once-powerful Board of Education which Bloomberg turned into a toothless group) that students should not be promoted if they scored at the lowest level on the state tests. Bloomberg controlled the eight votes on the 13-member pane... more »
Drum Roll: The Bunkum Awards « Diane Ravitch's blog: Drum Roll: The Bunkum Awards by dianerav Just days ago, the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado announced the winners of its annual Bunkum Awards. These are awards given to the worst educational research of the previous year. Being mundane or trivial is not enough to win these awards. They go only to “prime exemplars of incompetent science.” The Grand Prize for Bunkum, or “Cancer is Under-rated” award,” went to the Progressive Policy Institute, for its report “Going Exponential: Growing the Charter Sch... more »
For Shame, Penny Pritzker « Diane Ravitch's blog: For Shame, Penny Pritzker by dianerav One of the most powerful videos I have yet seen is making its rounds of the Internet. I urge you to watch it. Matt Farmer, a parent of children in the Chicago public schools, addresses a rally of the Chicago Teachers Union, where he “cross-examines” Penny Pritzker, the billionaire member of the Chicago Board of Education. Farmer is a trial lawyer. He describes how he bristled when he heard an interview on the radio in which Pritzker described what Chicago students need: enough skills in reading... more »
Why Do We Treat the Tests As Scientific Instruments? « Diane Ravitch's blog: Why Do We Treat the Tests As Scientific Instruments? by dianerav I posted a blog called “A Reader Wants to Know,” in which a teacher asked how he could be evaluated on test scores when the students were in the middle of the second semester. How were the scores affected by the teacher of the previous years? Other teachers have asked how they can be evaluated by scores when so many other factors affect test scores. A reader commented on this blog with the most pertinent question of all. Why do we (and state ... more »
Schools Matter: Nashville School Board Puts the Brakes on KIPP Expansion: Nashville School Board Puts the Brakes on KIPP Expansion by Jim Horn Recently Mayor Karl Dean and the corporate fat cats who made him mayor shoved through a $16,000,000 giveaway to renovate the Nashville KIPP test prep factory. We can only wonder now if that decision will be revisited after considering last year's results on state tests, even though this information was available to Dean's staff when the decision was made. KIPP Nashville had the lowest value-added scores in social studies and science of a... more »
University of Minnesota Scientist Drops Bombshell About Walker: Says He Fathered Child at Marquette | Uppity Wisconsin: University of Minnesota Scientist Drops Bombshell About Walker: Says He Fathered Child at Marquette by Jud Lounsbury Yesterday, the University of Minnesota's Dr. Bernadette Gillick was best known as a nationally recognized scientist for her research into how the brain recovers from injuries. After today, she will likely be forever known for coming forward and telling the world that Scott Walker fathered a child and refused to take responsability for it while at Ma... more »
Daily Kos: Imagine you are in a classroom: Imagine you are in a classroom by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken) the teacher asks as question. The answer the student gives is not what is expected. What should happen next? The answer is, it all depends. Perhaps the teacher should ask WHY the student gave that answer. It may be the student has a misconception that by asking for clarification the teacher can help correct that misconception immediately. It is also possible that the way the question was asked pointed the student in the wrong direction, or was misleading. By clarifying the qu... more »
Not true that urban schools fail all students: Intown white high school students outperform suburban counterparts. | Get Schooled: Not true that urban schools fail all students: Intown white high school students outperform suburban counterparts. by Maureen Downey A Midtown reader sent me an interesting analysis of Georgia SAT scores, *similar to one that I ran a few years ago*, showing that white students in metro schools outperform suburban counterparts. Except he went a bit deeper. Here is why he compiled the data and what he hopes we learn from it: Since my analysis has some n... more »
Sacramento County education board races hotly contested - Education - The Sacramento Bee: Sacramento County education board races hotly contested Share By Diana Lambert dlambert@sacbee.com Published: Sunday, Jun. 3, 2012 - 12:00 am | Page 1B A once-sleepy school board election – in which candidates often ran unopposed and rarely accumulated large war chests – has turned into a hotly contested race bringing in nearly $175,000 and prompting armies of volunteers to call their neighbors and walk the streets promoting candidates. Teachers unions are throwing tens of thousands of dollars ... more »
The Best Places For ESL/EFL/ELL Teachers To Get Online Professional Development | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…: The Best Places For ESL/EFL/ELL Teachers To Get Online Professional Development by Larry Ferlazzo There are quite a few very good ways for ESL/EFL/ELL teachers to get online professional development. I’ve already shared some of those ways in previous “The Best…” lists, including: The Best Ways ESL/EFL/ELL Teachers Can Develop Personal Learning Networks The Best Online Videos Showing ESL/EFL Teachers In The Classroom Here are three other resources that are worth c... more »
Missouri Education Watchdog: Bush = Obama = Duncan and the Sunday Education Weekly Reader 06.03.12: Bush = Obama = Duncan and the Sunday Education Weekly Reader 06.03.12 by stlgretchen Jeb Bush (R) loves Obama's (D) & Duncan's (D) education plan. Welcome to the Sunday Education Weekly Reader for 06.03.12. The elections are quickly approaching. *Will Republicans change the tide (either on the state or national level) and stop the centralization of education?* It looks doubtful, according to these tweets: - *Delaware Republicans failing to make the grade on education issues ... more »
Applause for Teachers « Diane Ravitch's blog: Applause for Teachers by dianerav On Saturday afternoon, I went to a matinee of the Broadway show “Godspell” with family. It is a very engaging show with a wonderful young cast. I enjoyed their boundless energy. Most of them seemed to be just a few years out of high school or college, and so very talented and attractive. If any of you are in New York City this summer, go to the TKTS booth in Times Square and buy a ticket. Every seat in the house is a good one. The star of the show, by the way, is a graduate of the Los Angeles High Scho... more »
Schools Matter: New Jersey's Cerfdom Brings Treasure to Corporate Broadies: New Jersey's Cerfdom Brings Treasure to Corporate Broadies by Jim Horn Below is an email I received from a former NJ DOE employee whose moral fatigue forced her from a good paying job with the State. Read it and then you will know why the Eli Broad calls his kind of philanthropy investments rather than grants. _______________________ I am a former NJ DOE employee who resigned recently because I could no longer be a part of the extortion and fraud that is taking part there under the Broad Administration of C... more »
