Big Education Ape - Mid Day Banana Break
PSAT for 2-5-13: Fight the tests – and school closings
The enemy has us fighting on at least two fronts: school closings and testing.
Most of the time, the two things are completely connected. Low test scores – which are most closely related to economic status - provide corporate reformers with the excuse to close schools. This year CPS has changed it up a bit by crying poor and “underutilized” using a bunch of data (100,000 “lost” city children, 50% empty schools) that is just as fishy as the test scores.
They have seemingly unlimited resources to fight on several fronts (see, for example, WalMart funding CPS’s bogus school closing hearings and the Gates Foundation funding Common Core tests).
But, as the recent huge turnouts for the CPS school closing “hearings” has shown, we have the people power and the truth.
Tomorrow’s anti-testing petition drive, sponsored by the new More Than a Score group, of which PURE is a
Most of the time, the two things are completely connected. Low test scores – which are most closely related to economic status - provide corporate reformers with the excuse to close schools. This year CPS has changed it up a bit by crying poor and “underutilized” using a bunch of data (100,000 “lost” city children, 50% empty schools) that is just as fishy as the test scores.They have seemingly unlimited resources to fight on several fronts (see, for example, WalMart funding CPS’s bogus school closing hearings and the Gates Foundation funding Common Core tests).
But, as the recent huge turnouts for the CPS school closing “hearings” has shown, we have the people power and the truth.
Tomorrow’s anti-testing petition drive, sponsored by the new More Than a Score group, of which PURE is a
Rhee on Stewart: A Breakdown, Part I
The very shy Michelle Rhee swallowed her fears of public speaking and did The Daily Show last night - you know, for the kids...
As is usual for Jon Stewart, the best part of the interview was not aired:
And:
Let's break this down:
- I know that some of you were looking for a show where Rhee is finally confronted directly for her mendacity and
As is usual for Jon Stewart, the best part of the interview was not aired:
And:
Let's break this down:
- I know that some of you were looking for a show where Rhee is finally confronted directly for her mendacity and
Chicago parents in solidarity with Seattle teachers
Press Alert February 4, 2013 Chicago Public School parents to pass petitions to limit CPS testing Joining National Day of Action to Support Seattle MAP Test Boycott Who: Parents from at least 34 CPS schools will be passing petitions opposing the misuse and overuse of tests in CPS. What: The petitions ask CPS and the Chicago Board of Education to limit standardized testing and provide more transparency about the cost, amount and stakes of the 22 tests now being … →
Better tests- a Chicago forum with FairTest’s Monty Neill
If not tests, then what? That question was soundly answered On January 24, 2013, at the forum, “Assessments that Make Sense” in the south side Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. A room crowded with parents, teachers, students and community members from all over the city heard FairTest’s Monty Neill (pictured right) present two successful alternatives to standardized testing accountability: the Performance Assessment student project-based model used in New York in place of state Regents’ exams, and the Learning Record, a teacher- …→
L.A.’s FIRST HEBREW-LANGUAGE CHARTER SCHOOL RAISES QUESTIONS
Lashon Academy is to teach modern Hebrew, have no religious component and aim for a diverse student body. But some worry that dual-language charters blur the line between public and private schools. By Stephen Ceasar, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/WN8b1M February 4, 2013 :: When Lashon Academy opens its doors this fall, its students will be taught to read and write in both English and
For the Record: Walton Foundation funds community engagement
District officials have said they don’t want to link the volatile issue of school closings with the equally volatile issue of charter school openings. But a major pro-charter foundation is providing financial backing for the current crop of school closing meetings taking place around the city this month.
Online Education is Not the Disruption
Originally posted on the Edunautics blog
I recently returned from the first ever Online Education Symposium for Independent Schools (OESES) conference in Southern California. Overall a pretty good conference, and on a topic that all schools need to be looking at seriously as they plan for the future. While I am interested in the topic of online education, and I think that it is important to stay abreast of the latest developments in all learning spaces and trends, what I was struck most with was my aversion to thinking about online education as the disruption that education needs to move to bring it to the next level of efficiency and efficacy.
I’ve actually been meaning to write this blog post ever since reading Disrupting Class by Clayton
I recently returned from the first ever Online Education Symposium for Independent Schools (OESES) conference in Southern California. Overall a pretty good conference, and on a topic that all schools need to be looking at seriously as they plan for the future. While I am interested in the topic of online education, and I think that it is important to stay abreast of the latest developments in all learning spaces and trends, what I was struck most with was my aversion to thinking about online education as the disruption that education needs to move to bring it to the next level of efficiency and efficacy.I’ve actually been meaning to write this blog post ever since reading Disrupting Class by Clayton
California wants to ramp up its technical education and career training programs in schools
Students learn car mechanics at a school in England. California officials want to increase technical training for students to train them in careers that don't require college. Credit: Matt Cardy/Getty ImagesCalifornia education officials want to expand and promote career and technical education classes offered by public schools.
While we've all heard the rhetoric by some administratos and educators for all high school graduates to be college ready, many students want and will end up in technical careers for whih they w
Read Black
Carter Godwin Woodson once said racial prejudice “is merely the logical result of tradition, the inevitable outcome of thorough instruction to the effect that the Negro has never contributed anything to the progress of mankind.”
February is, of course, Black History Month. It has its roots in the establishment of Negro History Week in 1926 by Woodson, (Dec. 19, 1875 – April 3, 1950).
Woodson, an historian, journalist and educator, had lived for a time in the city where I went to college, Huntington, W.Va. He served there as principal of Douglass High School, a segregated school for blacks.
Some years after college, I had the opportunity to do research on him, and I interviewed some people who had known him personally in West Virginia and in Washington, D.C., where he worked later, and who spoke of him in
February is, of course, Black History Month. It has its roots in the establishment of Negro History Week in 1926 by Woodson, (Dec. 19, 1875 – April 3, 1950).
Woodson, an historian, journalist and educator, had lived for a time in the city where I went to college, Huntington, W.Va. He served there as principal of Douglass High School, a segregated school for blacks.
Some years after college, I had the opportunity to do research on him, and I interviewed some people who had known him personally in West Virginia and in Washington, D.C., where he worked later, and who spoke of him in
Chalk Talk Video Blog: #stewart #rhee
Here it is. The first Face to Face Chalk Talk. In this talk I explain why I criticized Jon Stewart (in a blog post) for interviewing Michelle Rhee.
Popout
I don’t know. What do you think?
Follow Timothy D. Slekar on Twitter: www.twitter.com/slekar
Popout
I don’t know. What do you think?
Follow Timothy D. Slekar on Twitter: www.twitter.com/slekar