Nite Cap UPDATE
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
It's Official: Charters are NOT Public Schools
The National Labor Relations Board gives its verdict: charter schools are NOT public schools!Teachers at a Chicago charter school are now subject to private-sector labor laws, rather than state laws governing public workers. The move could impact how public schools are run down the road.The ruling, made by the National Labor Relations Board last month, said the Chicago Math and Science Academy is a “private entity” and therefore covered under the federal law
My Interview with Seattle Channel's Eric Lui
I was invited to be a guest on Seattle Voices with Eric Lui and I wanted to provide a link to the interview. Eric Lui is a great interviewer and this is probably the best interview I have ever done (and Eric and his crew are great professionals).
Eric is the author of several books including "Guiding Lights; How to Mentor and Find LIfe's Purpose". He also served as a speechwriter in the Clinton White House one term and deputy domestic policy adviser in the second term. He has serve/serves on several civic boards including LEV. He has children in SPS.
Eric is the author of several books including "Guiding Lights; How to Mentor and Find LIfe's Purpose". He also served as a speechwriter in the Clinton White House one term and deputy domestic policy adviser in the second term. He has serve/serves on several civic boards including LEV. He has children in SPS.
The Black and White of School Closures in DC
By Candi Peterson
As 2012 comes to an end, two unmistakable trends have emerged from studies that public schools are being sold down the river to private interests and the rush to close schools has not resulted in any measurable improvement in standardized test scores. The Chicago Teacher’s Union (CTU) just issued The Black and White of Education in Chicago’s Public Schools report on the “underutilization crisis” in the Chicago Public Schools system. CTU contends that this crisis that has been manufactured largely to justify the replacement of neighborhood schools by privatized charters.
“When it comes to matters of race and education in Chicago, the attack on public schools is endemic,”
Wendy Katten's letter to BBB
Letter sent to CEO Byrd-Bennett on Space Utilization: 1/2/2013
January 2, 2013CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett
Chicago Public Schools
125 S. Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60603
Dear Ms. Byrd-Bennett,
We are sending this letter because we have made numerous requests through various staff members at CPS to set up a meeting with you to discuss our space utilization findings presented at the last CPS board meeting and have not yet received a response. We also presented to the CEFTF and at Horner Park space utilization meeting where Frank Clark called our analysis "excellent" and stated that he does not refute our data findings at all.
As Chicago parents we are concerned that CPS is still using a flawed formula that exaggerates under utilization, under-reports overcrowding and ignores other factors reducing classroom size such as percent of
JUDGE JUDY
I’m in love with Judge Judy. The Judge Judy that is on television from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. each day.
I love her because of the way she “disciplines” the people that come before her. It brings back such warm memories of the bygone times when teachers didn’t put up with any nonsense and ran their classrooms in a dictatorial manner. I love the way Judge Judy can spot a liar in the blink of an eye. I love how she tells people exactly what they need to hear and in no uncertain terms and no political correctness involved. I love the way she preaches common sense and has almost no patience for dealing with foolishness. I love the way she uses a humorous sarcasm to show people how ridiculous they are. I love how she commands respect and usually
I love her because of the way she “disciplines” the people that come before her. It brings back such warm memories of the bygone times when teachers didn’t put up with any nonsense and ran their classrooms in a dictatorial manner. I love the way Judge Judy can spot a liar in the blink of an eye. I love how she tells people exactly what they need to hear and in no uncertain terms and no political correctness involved. I love the way she preaches common sense and has almost no patience for dealing with foolishness. I love the way she uses a humorous sarcasm to show people how ridiculous they are. I love how she commands respect and usually
Flagler Charter School Closes – Lets Parents Know the Afternoon Before
From Orlando Sentinel reporter Dave Weber:
Happy New Year!
And, by the way, your school is closed for good!
That’s the word that students attending Global Outreach Academy, a Flagler County charter school, got Tuesday. Parents got phone calls from the school just hours before classes were to resume Wednesday after Christmas break.
That left parents scrambling this morning to find seats for their kindergarten through eighth grade
I think the next time I hear somebody defend using test scores to evaluate teachers with the “95% of all teachers are found to be above average using the old system therefore it must be broken” I going to scream like I do when have a kidney stone (7 last year).
Below is a letter to the editor that I submitted to the Pittsburgh Post Gazetteconcerning a story about the city of Pittsburgh and how it plans to be the first in the state of Pennsylvania to use test scores to evaluate teachers working in the city’s schools.
How is it possible after all the research that has been conducted on Value Added
In the News: Poverty's role in education draws attention
A Sun-Times editorial takes up the role of poverty in academic achievement, citing a speech by CTU President Karen Lewis to the City Club of Chicago in which she said, “We cannot fix what’s wrong with our schools until we are prepared to have honest conversations about poverty and race.”
‘Armed Teacher Training Program’ Launches In 15 States
An Ohio gun owners’ group is launching an “Armed Teacher Training Program” to instruct teachers and school staff on how to shoot off firearms in the classroom.
Perhaps at the outlandish suggestion of the National Rifle Association, who last monthcalled for armed guards in every school as a response to the tragedy at Sandy Hook elementary, such programs are popping up around the country. In Ohio, the Buckeye
Learning Difficulty/Learning Difference.
We can call dyslexia a learning difference - rather than a learning difficulty. This is a positive and useful term because it highlights key aspects of the causes of dyslexic difficulties, which particularly affect acquisition of literacy skills.
Differences in Brain Structure
Research suggests that dyslexia originates in differences in brain structure. Scans taken of dyslexic and non-dyslexic brains – whilst looking at text – show that different parts of the brain
unhistorical: January 2, 1492: Granada surrenders to Spanish...
unhistorical:
January 2, 1492: Granada surrenders to Spanish forces, ending Muslim rule in Iberia.
In the year 711, the first Muslim troops crossed from North Africa across the Strait of Gibraltar to Hispania, which they subsequently conquered over a seven-year campaign; the Umayyad drive north was ultimately halted at the Battle of Tours (Poitiers), but Muslim control over the Iberian Peninsula, formerly ruled by a Christian Visigothic kingdom, was complete. Yet even as the foundations of the state of Al-Andalus were being laid, the Reconquista had already begun
On “building readiness” to see learning
My travel in November derailed some of our work to make a skateboard wheel RPM counter; while that project is idling, some of its participants have gotten deeper into using our MaKey MaKey boards for other projects.I’ve posted about one of those projects on Democratizing Composition (#demcomp), a kind of companion blog to the Coöp for any and all interested in documenting and reflecting on their work to broaden the definition of literacy in public schools to include more than the consumption and production of printed text. #demcomp is