Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, January 18, 2013

Big Education Ape - Morning Wink 1-18-13 AM Posts #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2



BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTS




Teachers refuse to give test, but aren’t there some tests that are worth giving? | Get Schooled

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 12 minutes ago
Teachers refuse to give test, but aren’t there some tests that are worth giving? | Get Schooled: Teachers refuse to give test, but aren’t there some tests that are worth giving? by Maureen Downey [image: crcted.0920 (Medium)]Teachers in Seattle are taking a stand against standardized testing by refusing to administer a required district-wide test. What’s odd to me is the test Seattle teachers are choosing to protest, which is the Measure of Academic Progress. The high performing City of Decatur Schools uses MAP testing as well, giving it three times a year to see where students be... more »

Gov. Are you kidding me? When arrogance and lying become the norm… - Wait, What?

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 53 minutes ago
Gov. Are you kidding me? When arrogance and lying become the norm… - Wait, What?: Gov. Are you kidding me? When arrogance and lying become the norm… by jonpelto “Really? Really? They are going to argue about whether we should evaluate the effectiveness of people? Really?… That’s an argument I’m more than happy to have.” - Governor Malloy January 2013 According to recent CTMirror articles, that is the response Governor Malloy had when “Told that municipal leaders were expressing concerns about the timeline and costs for implementation of the evaluation system at their annual Coun... more »

Modern School: Teacher Fired For Being Poor Role Model

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 57 minutes ago
Modern School: Teacher Fired For Being Poor Role Model: Teacher Fired For Being Poor Role Model by Michael Dunn Madonna in Sorrow or The Perfect Teacher? In another stunning defeat for free speech and privacy, the California Commission on Professional Competence (CPC) has upheld the dismissal of Stacie Halas, finding her “unfit” to teach 8th-grade science because she had acted in pornographic films in the past, the Los Angeles Times recently reported. (An East Coast appellate court just ruled that a school could fire a teacher for a Facebook posting) The CPC argued that her pornogr... more »

Joy Resmovits: NYC Teacher Evaluation Stalemate, White House Assessing Big Push On Early Education: Ed Today

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
Joy Resmovits: NYC Teacher Evaluation Stalemate, White House Assessing Big Push On Early Education: Ed Today: NYC Teacher Evaluation Stalemate, White House Assessing Big Push On Early Education: Ed Today by Joy Resmovits *Obama 2.0?* As part of the Huffington Post's series on Obama's second term ("The Road Forward,") we reported out this story on his plans. The White House and Education Department have so far been pretty tight-lipped about their plans, but a few little birdies told us that they're cooking something up on the early education front. See here for more. *No Deal!* Y... more »

Two Education Crises: Which is Fake, Which Real? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
Two Education Crises: Which is Fake, Which Real? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher: Two Education Crises: Which is Fake, Which Real? by Anthony Cody Last week there were two important studies released. One tells us that the international test data used to declare our schools broken and uncompetitive is bogus. The other tells us we have a very different crisis we should be concerned about: the percent of students who are engaged and excited about school drops dramatically between elementary and high school. The policies being pursued to fight the first, phony crisis ar... more »

Shanker Blog » Moving From Ideology To Evidence In The Debate About Public Sector Unions

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
Shanker Blog » Moving From Ideology To Evidence In The Debate About Public Sector Unions: Moving From Ideology To Evidence In The Debate About Public Sector Unions by Randall Garton Drawing on a half century of empirical evidence, as well as new data and analysis, a team of scholars has challenged the substance of many of the attacks on public employees and their unions –urging political leaders and the research community to take this “transformational” moment in the divisive and ideologically driven debate over the role of government and the value of public services to deepen t... more »

UPDATE: NY teacher evaluation blows up + Seattle’s Garfield High teacher: “Why we boycotted the MAP test.” « Fred Klonsky

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Seattle’s Garfield High teacher: “Why we boycotted the MAP test.” « Fred Klonsky: Watching from a distance. NY teacher evaluation blows up. by Fred Klonsky *New York’s bully-boy Mayor.* [image: 18.1N004.Teacherevals1.C--300x300]Watching from a distance, I responded with a smile when I heard that the negotiations over teacher evaluations between the UFT and New York’s Mayor Bloomberg blew up yesterday. Governor Cuomo had put a deadline for an agreement to evaluate teachers based on student test scores, a stupid idea to be sure. We’ve covered that territory before. Cuomo threatened ... more »

Opinion: No one talks about the armed guards already in Latino schools

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Opinion: No one talks about the armed guards already in Latino schools: Opinion: No one talks about the armed guards already in Latino schools by Stephen A. Nuňo 1:46 pm on 01/10/2013 [image: Police watch as school bus takes students to Newtown High School December 18, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)] Someone should ask the principled anti-gun responders why there is so much outrage at the thought of armed guards in schools when school districts throughout California and elsewhere, particularly where Latino and black children go to school, ... more »

Jersey Jazzman: Rhee Lawyers Up

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Jersey Jazzman: Rhee Lawyers Up: Rhee Lawyers Up by Duke Yesterday, I posted about a story by John Merrow that alleges that a memo exists that likely shows Michelle Rhee was warned about potential widespread cheating in Washington, D.C. early in her tenure as schools chancellor. If it turns out that this memo says what Merrow conjectures it does, it calls into question Rhee's claims of success as a school leader, her diligence in pursuing testing irregularities, her current claim that she fully cooperated with investigators, and the efficacy of the climate she built around high-... more »

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-18-13 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] Walmart Made the Bushmaster the Most Popular Assault Weapon in US by dianerav Think of it. The biggest retail store in the US and maybe the world sells the weapon of choice for mass murderers, the Bushmaster AR-15. This was the weapon used to kill a dozen people in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. It was the weapon used to murder 20 children and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut. And it is easy to buy one at your local Walmart. Walmart may be the biggest gun shop in the nation. All that money gets ... more »

Obama Evaluating Early Childhood Education Push In Second Term

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Obama Evaluating Early Childhood Education Push In Second Term: Obama Evaluating Early Childhood Education Push In Second Term by Joy Resmovits Arne Duncan, President Barack Obama's education secretary, has a slogan that summarizes his tenure and the view of his mission that he shares with his boss. "Education is the civil rights issue of our generation," Duncan says. Maybe so, but if Duncan is right, the country remains very far from being "free at last" -- and the president faces mighty challenges in leading us to the mountaintop in his second term. Ironically, as Obama begins ... more »

No, Sidwell Friends School has no armed guards

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
No, Sidwell Friends School has no armed guards: No, Sidwell Friends School has no armed guards Posted by Valerie Strauss on January 18, 2013 at 5:00 am - [image: Smaller Text] [image: Larger Text] Text Size - Print - Reprints - Share: - - - More » [image: Sidwell Friends School. (Gerald Martineau/The Washington Post)] Sidwell Friends School. (Gerald Martineau/The Washington Post) The National Rifle Association is airing a television ad (and has on its website thisfour-minute video) that says the private school that President Obama’s daughters attend, Sidwell ... more »

Legislative leaders assert role in shaping school finance plan | EdSource Today

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Legislative leaders assert role in shaping school finance plan | EdSource Today: Legislative leaders assert role in shaping school finance plan ** January 17th, 2013 | Add a Comment | By John Fensterwald Share on twitterShare on facebookShare on emailShare on print More Sharing Services [image: Brown wants to keep details of his school finance plan in the state budget.] Brown wants to keep details of his school finance plan in the state budget, not create a policy bill. Gov. Jerry Brown hasn’t yet presented the substance of his plan to reform K-12 school finance, but already he’s in... more »

Schools Matter: What the Gates MET Study Really Shows

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Schools Matter: What the Gates MET Study Really Shows: What the Gates MET Study Really Shows by John Thompson The final report by the $50 million Gates Foundation Measures of Effective Teaching experiment concludes that their research into value-added models “should give heart to those who have invested considerable effort to develop practices and policies to measure and support effective teaching.” But, it gives no evidence or logic why those policies would work in the real world. For some reason, Gates researchers claim that studying outcomes of randomly assigned students, from... more »

John Legg Urges Tony Bennett to Take Swift Action on SAT and ACT Concordant Scores | Scathing Purple Musings

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
John Legg Urges Tony Bennett to Take Swift Action on SAT and ACT Concordant Scores | Scathing Purple Musings: John Legg Urges Tony Bennett to Take Swift Action on SAT and ACT Concordant Scores by Bob Sikes Good for John Legg. And good reporting by the *Tampa Bay Times *Jeff Solochek: News that the Florida Department of Education has yet to set concordant scores between the FCAT 2.0 and the SAT and ACT for current high school juniors did not sit well with state Senate Education Policy Committee chairman John Legg. Legg, who learned of the situation when reading a story in the *T... more »

Seattle Schools Community Forum: No Clear Answer for the NE

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Seattle Schools Community Forum: No Clear Answer for the NE: No Clear Answer for the NE by Melissa Westbrook I attended today's *Operation Committee of the Whole* where some important issues for school year 2013-2014 were discussed. Those would be transportation and what to do in the NE middle school region. The regular Operations Committee meeting went over some sundry items but President Smith-Blum, who came in late, explained she had been at a meeting about Yesler Terrace. Apparently there will be a large number of very low to moderate income level apartments coming in there... more »

Sanislo Elementary School stands with Garfield High School: It’s a “Kafkaesque situation” | Seattle Education

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Sanislo Elementary School stands with Garfield High School: It’s a “Kafkaesque situation” | Seattle Education: Sanislo Elementary School stands with Garfield High School: It’s a “Kafkaesque situation” by seattleducation2011 [image: testing5] A teacher in Chicago *The following letter was sent to Seattle Schools’ superintendent Jose Banda from the teachers at Sanislo Elementary School in Seattle.* We the staff at Sanislo Elementary, by a unanimous vote, write to express our support for Garfield High School’s decision to not administer the MAP test. We share many of their same concer... more »

The Narcissism of School ‘Reform’ | toteachornototeach

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
The Narcissism of School ‘Reform’ | toteachornototeach: The Narcissism of School ‘Reform’ by aristotlethewise *The Narcissism of School ‘Reform’ * by John Thompson This week, two icons of the contemporary school “reform” — the Gates Foundation and Michelle Rhee — illustrated the movement’s essence. And it wasn’t pretty. They exemplify the late Christopher Lasch’s concept of the “culture of narcissism.” [image: 20100910-waiting-for-superman-1-300x205]Lasch was at its best when describing cultural losses due to deindustrialization. The year his masterpiece was published, 1979, was th... more »

Caught In Their Own Web Of Deception and Deceit: Bloomberg, the DOE and Teacher Evaluation Negotiations | Edwize

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago
Caught In Their Own Web Of Deception and Deceit: Bloomberg, the DOE and Teacher Evaluation Negotiations | Edwize: Caught In Their Own Web Of Deception and Deceit: Bloomberg, the DOE and Teacher Evaluation Negotiations by Leo Casey After he blew up the teacher evaluation agreement that had been reached between the UFT and his own NYC DOE negotiating team, Mayor Bloomberg appeared at a hastily called press conference yesterday to spin an entirely fictional account of what had transpired. The UFT had made agreement impossible, he claimed, because of our unreasonable demands for more... more »

The Educated Reporter: Reporter Shares Lessons From Visiting Family of Sandy Hook Shooting's Youngest Victim

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago
The Educated Reporter: Reporter Shares Lessons From Visiting Family of Sandy Hook Shooting's Youngest Victim: Reporter Shares Lessons From Visiting Family of Sandy Hook Shooting's Youngest Victim by Emily Richmond A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the remarkable work of Naomi Zeveloff, a reporter at the Jewish Daily Forward. She received well-earned praise for her detailed and sensitive profile of the mother of the youngest victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. I've since had the opportunity to talk with Zeveloff, and you can find my "Five Questions" interview over... more »

Special Late Nite Cap UPDATE 1-17-13 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 12 hours ago
*Nite Cap UPDATE**UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE* Organized Parents, Organized Teachers: A Video by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform by Edit Barry This is what parent empowerment looks like. Popout Organized Parents, Organized Teachers – Working together for effective reform in America’s public schoolsFrom the Annenberg Institute on Vimeo. To get related resources on parent-teacher collaboration, visit www.realparentpower.com When the teacher is ready, the student will appear by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken) Wait, you say. Can it be that teacherken is confused about the ancien... more »

Big Education Ape - Early Eveving Banana Break 1-17-13 #soschat #edreform

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 15 hours ago
*Big Education Ape - Early Eveving Banana Break* Parents Across America Are Opting Out by Judy Rabin Looks like parents have finally had enough testing too. The Superintendent of Montgomery County Maryland called for a three year moratorium on high stakes standardized testing. The budget squeeze is making it impossible to ignore all the money for testing. The perfect storm. * * *On **January 27 at 1:00 PM PST, 3:00 PM Central and 4:00 PM EST,** Parents Across America will be hosting an online seminar on high stakes testing and opting out of such tests.* Our guests will be: ... more »

Playing with the data! « Deborah Meier on Education

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 16 hours ago
Playing with the data! « Deborah Meier on Education: Playing with the data! by debmeier [image: animated numbers] For all the fuss about multiplication tables , algebra and calculus what’s more alarming is the depth of our layman understanding of statistics–including students with high test scores and elite educational backgrounds. Including, of course, journalists and politicians and newspaper editors. Once again Richard Rothstein of EPI comes to the rescue. Along with Martin Canoy of Stamford they undertook a close examination of the numbers around international test score comp... more »

Dear Schools, Please Stop Discriminating Based on Pregnancy. Thanks, Title IX | MyFDL

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 16 hours ago
Dear Schools, Please Stop Discriminating Based on Pregnancy. Thanks, Title IX | MyFDL: Dear Schools, Please Stop Discriminating Based on Pregnancy. Thanks, Title IX by RH Reality Check *Written by Lara S. Kaufmann for RH Reality Check*. Imagine you’re an honors student at a community college. You’re doing great: you’ve got a merit-based scholarship and you’re enjoying your classes. You’re also pregnant and excited to welcome the new addition to your family. Being the conscientious student that you are, you approach your professors as soon as classes start, tell them that you’re du... more »

This Week In Education: Thompson: Rhee Defenders Increasingly Desperate

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 16 hours ago
This Week In Education: Thompson: Rhee Defenders Increasingly Desperate: Thompson: Rhee Defenders Increasingly Desperate by john thompson [image: Michelle_rhee]I can't deny my enjoyment of Michelle Rhee's fall from grace. It is also fun to witness the convoluted spin of her defenders, as her duplicity is further documented. Despite what he says in "More Rhee!," Andrew Rotherham must realize that Richard Kahlenberg is correct and we have two ways of testing whether Rhee's theories could work. Schools in the American South, where unions are not powerful, have lower student performan... more »

Torlakson, Lockyer Caution Against Bonds - Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education)

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 16 hours ago
Torlakson, Lockyer Caution Against Bonds - Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education): State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson, State Treasurer Bill Lockyer Caution School Districts Against Issuance of Capital Appreciation Bonds SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson and State Treasurer Bill Lockyer today issued the following letter to local educational agencies regarding capital appreciation bonds: Dear County and District Superintendents: CAPITAL APPRECIATION BONDS We understand many districts face a critical need to build or modernize facilities for their children,... more »

School Discipline Report Highlights Tension Between Safety, Civil Rights

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 17 hours ago
School Discipline Report Highlights Tension Between Safety, Civil Rights: School Discipline Report Highlights Tension Between Safety, Civil Rights by Joy Resmovits In Holmes County, Miss., a sheriff's car once picked up 5-year-old. The crime? Wearing shoes with red-and-white symbols, an apparent school dress code violation. In DeSoto County, Miss., cops reportedly arrested and threatened six students for arguing on a school bus. The examples of what advocates are calling Mississippi's extreme discipline problem are part of a reportreleased Thursday by the Advancement Project, a ... more »

Schools Matter: Please Sign the Petition in Support of Garfield Teachers

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 17 hours ago
Schools Matter: Please Sign the Petition in Support of Garfield Teachers: Please Sign the Petition in Support of Garfield Teachers by Jim Horn *Go here to sign the petition.* The Measure of Academic Progress test used in Seattle Public Schools needs to be removed because: -The MAP’s margin of error is greater than expected gains. -The MAP is not aligned with state standards which teachers are expected to teach. There is no way to see the content of the test and thus prepare for it. -Administering the MAP takes time away from instruction. The test is taken 3 times a year and requir... more »

I am "Paul - .southbronxschool.com

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 17 hours ago
http://www.southbronxschool.com: I am "Paul" by noreply@blogger.com (Bronx Teacher) You don't get to meet a lot of really good people in this "business" of education. The type of people where you know they will have your back, be honest with you, and hope for the best. Two of these people are David Greene and Diane Ravitch. The first time I met Dave, I got an instant respect for him when he put me in my place for generalizing TFA teachers. I was like, "Wow, this guy says what is own his mind!" But it was not only that, it was the encyclopedic knowledge he has of education and the ... more »

Rethinking Schools: Chicago points the way for a new teacher unionism. « Fred Klonsky

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 17 hours ago
Rethinking Schools: Chicago points the way for a new teacher unionism. « Fred Klonsky: Rethinking Schools: Chicago points the way for a new teacher unionism. by Fred Klonsky [image: edit272] The editors of Rethinking Schools draw lessons for the teacher union movement from the recent events in Chicago. Some people describe this new unionism as an organizing model. Others call it “social justice unionism” or “social movement unionism.” Regardless, the Chicago teachers demonstrated its main features: - Unapologetically defend wages and working conditions of public school ed... more »

NYC Public School Parents: Who is to blame for the failed negotiations over teacher evaluation?

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 17 hours ago
NYC Public School Parents: Who is to blame for the failed negotiations over teacher evaluation?: Who is to blame for the failed negotiations over teacher evaluation? by Leonie Haimson If the Governor goes ahead with punishing NYC children for the mayor’s failures by subtracting $250 million from state aid, it will be terribly unfair. Yet there is little doubt that most parents will blame Bloomberg for this latest fiasco, as the just-released Quinnipiac poll shows that NYC voters trust the UFT by 53 to 35 percent over the mayor. And 63 percent of those polled believe that the mayo... more »

SCUSD School Closure List Makes Some Students Winners or Losers | The Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 17 hours ago
SCUSD School Closure List Makes Some Students Winners or Losers | The Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education: SCUSD School Closure List Makes Some Students Winners or Losers by Kate_Lenox [image: Home] The SCUSD school closure list is out and some of the criteria behind the selection of the schools on it has been revealed. Three of the Superintendent's Priority Schools get a pass, despite the fact they are under enrolled. Oak Ridge was on a closure list two years ago because of low enrollment and the poor shape of its facility. Now it will be a receiving school for... more »

We Must Question and Dream | Connected Principals

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 17 hours ago
We Must Question and Dream | Connected Principals: We Must Question and Dream by John Marschhausen “Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things,” President Ronald Reagan eloquently stated in his 1988 speech at Moscow State University. “It is the right to dream – to follow your dream or stick to your conscience even if you’re the only one in a sea of doubters.” [image: DSC_0144]I thought of this quote by President Reagan as I read the headline I had been anticipating – school reform is back on the state agenda. Ohio school districts will soon be ... more »

Green Dot to reorganize Locke High School - latimes.com

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 18 hours ago
Green Dot to reorganize Locke High School - latimes.com: Green Dot to reorganize Locke High School In a move to address slumping academic performance of incoming ninth-grade students, charter school operator Green Dot Public School is proposing to reorganize Locke High School in Watts. The Locke campus is split into five small schools. Rather than dividing the ninth-grade students among the five, most new freshmen will be placed in a single academy on the campus. One of the schools, Animo Watts, will continue to serve ninth through 12th grade. There will be three 10th-12th-grade ... more »

Jersey Jazzman: Rhee-ly Big Trouble

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 19 hours ago
Jersey Jazzman: Rhee-ly Big Trouble: Rhee-ly Big Trouble by Duke Oh, my: It’s been over six months, and we have still not received the McGoldrick-Sanford emails. How hard can it be to find email? Or could there be something in the McGoldrick-Sanford communications that DCPS does not want the public to read? But we know the Sanford memo is out there. What does it say? *Three secondary sources have told us that Sanford was troubled by the widespread erasures. An anonymous letter was mailed to me on June 20, 2012, stating in part, “The memo indicated there was cause for concern wi... more »

Diane in the Evening 1-17-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 19 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: Jersey Jazzman on Rhee’s Memogate by dianerav Jersey jazzman dissects John Merrow’s report on the Case of the Missing Memo. Why won’t DCPS release the memo? What secret Charter School Math in Connecticut by dianerav Connecticut has the misfortune to have a bad combination: a significant group of very rich hedge fund managers devoted to charter schools and a state commissioner of education who wants to open more charter schools. The charter schools in the state serve disproportionately small numbers of English language learners. So is it a good idea to ope... more »

$500 million question: What to do with Mark Zuckerberg’s gift? | EdSource Today

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 19 hours ago
$500 million question: What to do with Mark Zuckerberg’s gift? | EdSource Today: $500 million question: What to do with Mark Zuckerberg’s gift? ** January 16th, 2013 | Add a Comment | By Contributors Share on twitterShare on facebookShare on emailShare on print More Sharing Services In December, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg donated $500 million to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation for projects related to health and education. Zuckerberg and the Community Foundation haven’t announced yet what they have in mind, so that got us thinking: why not pass along some ideas? We asked ... more »

THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: 2011-2012 Gulen charter school enrollment = 51,950 students

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 19 hours ago
THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: 2011-2012 Gulen charter school enrollment = 51,950 students: 2011-2012 Gulen charter school enrollment = 51,950 students To date, a total of *140* U.S. charter schools have been established which can be associated with the secretive and controversial Gulen Movement. This school year (2012-2013), *136* of the 140 are still active. Two of the four which are no longer active as Gulen charter schools have been converted into private schools and are taking advantage of tax credit scholarship (in GA) or school voucher (in WI) programs. For the 2011-2012 school ye... more »

UPDATE: Parents Across America Seattle supports Garfield High School teachers’ principled opposition to the costly and inaccurate MAP test | Parents Across America

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 19 hours ago
Parents Across America Seattle supports Garfield High School teachers’ principled opposition to the costly and inaccurate MAP test | Parents Across America: Why parents support teachers by pagrundy Parents Across America is pleased to stand with our nation’s schoolteachers in efforts to improve education for all children – efforts that range from the issues raised in the Chicago teachers’ strike to the Seattle teachers’ boycott of wasteful standardized tests. We are proud to be part of a long tradition of parent support for public schoolteachers. Parents voice support Although th... more »

The Washington Teacher: DC's Ward 8 Parents Tell Mayor "Enough is Enough" !

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 19 hours ago
The Washington Teacher: DC's Ward 8 Parents Tell Mayor "Enough is Enough" !: DC's Ward 8 Parents Tell Mayor "Enough is Enough" ! by noreply@blogger.com (Candi Peterson) *By Candi Peterson* On a cold, rainy night (January 15) an estimated 300 parents, students and concerned citizens took a page from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s social action playbook on his official birthday and took direct action by holding a vigil at the home of Mayor Vincent Gray, who chose to work late rather than meet with his neighbors.****** *Led by Ward 8 State Board of Education representative Trayon White,... more »

School Tech Connect: Come Out And Meet Your Neighbors!

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 20 hours ago
School Tech Connect: Come Out And Meet Your Neighbors!: Come Out And Meet Your Neighbors! I'm on the road, but here are a couple reminders. *January 19, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM:* Community Task Force For Gale. Meeting at Gale in the social room. Organizing the resistance to Gale's incorrect "underutilized" label. *January 31, 6:00 PM-8:00 PM:* *The Inconvenient Truth About Waiting For Superman*, Sullivan High School Auditorium, co-hosted by RPNPF and Parents 4 Teachers. Popcorn and panel discussion. Everyone is welcome. And this, which I just heard about.

Equity, Schmequity | EduShyster

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
Equity, Schmequity | EduShyster: Equity, Schmequity by edushyster2012 *Elitism and the education reform movement* Like many of your fine states, Massachusetts is now home to a veritable alphabet-soup of education reform groups, albeit a can in which the letters FER seem to be somewhat overrepresented. Just yesterday, for example, a reader sent me a notice from a new chapter of a student reform group at Tufts University, headed up by a young equestrienne whose own secondary education came courtesy of a $33,000 private school. She is helping to mobilize the next generation of educat... more »

How Social Studies Should Be Taught Student Voice

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
Student Voice: Justin Strudler – How Social Studies Should Be Taught by admin Originally posted at: http://justinstrudler.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/how-social-studies-should-be-taught/ I love social studies. I love tracing the realities of now to the events of then. I love thinkin about what my ancestors were likely doing at each period of history. I love looking at todays problems and finding the causes or even the solutions in history. History can teach us so much about the world we in and the people we live in, but when If I were to step into the average Social Studies class in... more »

The Quick and the Ed » Common Core: What’s Educational Justice Got to Do With It?

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
The Quick and the Ed » Common Core: What’s Educational Justice Got to Do With It?: Common Core: What’s Educational Justice Got to Do With It? by Peter Cookson Jr. Last spring I completed a study of American high schools; I looked at five schools serving very different economic and social communities. Here is the headline: If a student is not lucky enough to attend a high school located in an upper-middle or middle-class neighborhood, he or she is likely to get a watered down, uninspiring and inadequate set of academic choices — often taught in a hit-or-miss manner. If a student ... more »

Great Expectations: Transforming Practice Through Common Core Implementation — Whole Child Education

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 23 hours ago
Great Expectations: Transforming Practice Through Common Core Implementation — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG [image: Podcast][image: Whole Child Podcast]Great Expectations: Transforming Practice Through Common Core Implementation January 17, 2013 by Whole Child Podcast Download Podcast Now [Right-Click to Save] We as educators have a unique opportunity to reset the playing field and make the Common Core State Standards work for us. We can implement the standards, align them to a whole child approach to education, and ensure that both support and enhance each other to p... more »

UPDATE: Seattle Schools Community Forum: In Advance of Today's Operations Committee Meeting

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 23 hours ago
Seattle Schools Community Forum: In Advance of Today's Operations Committee Meeting: Sanislo Supports Garfield Teachers by Melissa Westbrook ...but they are not boycotting the MAP test. Their letter to the Superintendent is both alloquent and heartfelt. From the West Seattle blog comes this report about a letter sent to Superintendent Banda from the teachers at Sanislo: *We the staff at Sanislo Elementary, by a unanimous vote, write to express our support for Garfield High School’s decision to not administer the MAP test. We share many of their same concerns, including the imp... more »

SI&A Cabinet Report – SBE moves one step closer to implementing common core math

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 23 hours ago
SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources: *SBE moves one step closer to implementing common core math * *By Tom Chorneau* Thursday, January 17, 2013 The California State Board of Education moved ahead Thursday on several fronts aimed at facilitating instruction in the common core math standards statewide within the next two years. In addition to setting a schedule for evaluating new and supplemental instructional materials aligned to the nationalized curriculum goals, the board also formally wiped away confusing, dual standards tied to eighth grade math – a lasting imprint from ... more »

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Reformers' narrative about lagging U.S. schools covers up poverty

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 23 hours ago
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Reformers' narrative about lagging U.S. schools covers up poverty: Reformers' narrative about lagging U.S. schools covers up poverty by Mike Klonsky *“The brutal fact here is there are many countries that are far ahead of us and improving more rapidly than we are."* -- Arne Duncan *"Our competitors understand that the nation that out-educates us today will out-compete us tomorrow." -- *Pres. Obama The rationale behind corporate-style school reform begins and ends with this disturbing narrative that portrays U.S. schools as lagging behind in the glob... more »

News Flash: Corporate Education Reformers Spend $563,000 and counting in Bridgeport loss - Wait, What?

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 23 hours ago
News Flash: Corporate Education Reformers Spend $563,000 and counting in Bridgeport loss - Wait, What?: News Flash: Corporate Education Reformers Spend $563,000 and counting in Bridgeport loss by jonpelto The final reports from Bridgeport’s November 2012 education reform referendum are in and it turns out that the corporate education reform industry and its supporters spent at least $562,955.16 in their effort to pass Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch’s anti-democracy initiative, a proposal that would have eliminated the City’s democratically elected board of education and replaced it... more »

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 23 hours ago
FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team: *Fensterwald: It’s final - State Board shifts policy on eighth grade Algebra * Education Headlines *Thursday, January 17, 2013* Board nixes legal fees for schools bossNot only did the San Ysidro school board reject a plan Tuesday night to pay criminal defense fees for Superintendent Manuel Paul, the board also placed him on administrative leave for 45 days. Alliance of big city school districts aims for more healthful mealsThe Los Angeles Unified School District and five others are striving to make wholesome food a national stand... more »

Wayne Au on His Alma Mater Garfield High School | Seattle Education

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 23 hours ago
Wayne Au on His Alma Mater Garfield High School | Seattle Education: Wayne Au on His Alma Mater Garfield High School by seattleducation2011 Wayne Au on His Alma Mater Garfield High School Posted on January 17, 2013 by seattleducation2011 | Leave a comment *This article has been reposted in full with permission by the author.* ** *Proud to be a Garfield Bulldog* The growing support for Garfield teachers’ resistance to the MAP test is a testament to just how much the collective action of teachers at one school means to the rest of the world. On the afternoon of Thursday, January 10t... more »

Best of the Ed Blogs | National Education Policy Center

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
Best of the Ed Blogs | National Education Policy Center: Best of the Ed Blogs *Best of the Ed Blogs* features a frequently updated selection of interesting and insightful blog posts on education policy. The views expressed by the bloggers on our blog roll are thoughtful, original, and entirely their own. We hope you make *Best of the Ed Blogs* your first stop for concise takes on today's most important education topics. What’s Going On in Seattle? Best of the Ed Blogs Steph Rivera January 17, 2013 $50 million. 3 Years. No Clue. Best of the Ed Blogs Gary Rubinstein January 17, 2013 NC... more »

UPDATE: The inbox. From the Teacher Retirement System. « Fred Klonsky

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
The inbox. From the Teacher Retirement System. « Fred Klonsky: Ten minute drawing. Making the CPS board more accessible. by Fred Klonsky [image: robyn ziegler] Click on image to enlarge. The inbox. From the Teacher Retirement System. by Fred Klonsky TRS members received this yesterday: *Dear Frederick Klonsky:* *The new 98th Illinois General Assembly convened on January 8, 2013, but will not return to Springfield and begin work on legislative proposals until the end of the month. * *All legislation introduced and debated during the 97th General Assembly, but not enacted, is no... more »

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-17-13 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] John White Is #1, And So Is Louisiana by dianerav Crazy Crawfish has a regular blog where he skewers the mighty, the powerful, the phonies, and the masters of data manipulation. Like EduShyster, CC knows data, and he has humor. And he seems to know more about state school data–and the games people play–than most people. Read this brilliantly witty report of John White’s statistical legerdemain. So what if Education Week gave Louisiana an F for academic performance? Michelle Rhee *Diane in the Evening... more »

It Breaks My Heart - Bridging Differences - Education Week

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
It Breaks My Heart - Bridging Differences - Education Week: It Breaks My Heart by Deborah Meier Dear Pedro, I'm so glad that you mentioned the New York Performance Standards Consortium. It has been a pioneer for a different approach to standards and accountability for more than 25 years! One of the many "failed" successes in New York City's and state's history. Founded under the "regime" of Superintendent Tom Sobol in the late 1980s, alas subsequent superintendents never followed up on the commitment to study the results of their work. But when the schools waivers were threatened... more »






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