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CORPORATE ED REFORM
May budget delays adult ed transfer, long-term funding worries persist
Education advocates are applauding Gov. Jerry Brown’s decision to fund a planning period for transitioning administration of California’s adult education program to a regional network of community colleges. But, concerns remain that without dedicated funding in the interim, the system could disintegrate under the proposed K-12 school finance restructuring.
UC schools draw record application numbers; UCLA as exclusive as Tufts -- for state students
Lucky UCLA students sit around the Bruin Bear statue during lunchtime. The school has become as competitive as Tufts and Cornell, according to a recent article.; Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
The University of California system remains a popular destination for incoming freshmen – and getting into UCLA is now as hard as getting into Tufts and Cornell, at least for California students.
The 10-campus U.C. system drew nearly 140,000 applications for the undergraduate class, according to Ralph Becker, a columnist for College Counseling. He said UCLA led all UC campuses with 99,000 applications,
In Berkeley, California Governor Jerry Brown challenges UC Berkeley's newest political science graduates to use their talent and knowledge to imaginatively and boldly make a difference in the world.
| Robert Rogers/Staff |
Mike Miles passes exam to get Texas superintendent certificate, district says
Dallas ISD Superintendent Mike Miles is expected to soon receive his superintendent certificate now that he passed certification exam, the district said Monday.
Miles, who enrolled in Lamar University program to get certified, had until the end of June to get it.
“I took it very seriously,” said Miles in a statement. “I was hoping to learn more about the Texas Education Code, and I do feel more comfortable in my knowledge about the law.”
The Texas Education Agency granted Miles a … [visit site to read more]
CA, feds suspend talks on latest NCLB waiver application
In a cryptic release Monday, state schools chief Tom Torlakson and education board president Mike Kirst announced they had broken off negotiations with federal officials over a waiver that would have given California schools relief from the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act.
Limes or Leeches: A Thought Experiment about High-Stakes Accountability | the becoming radical
by plthomasedd – HIstory is a powerful teacher—if we are willing to learn. Many educators and scholars have triggered the truism “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results,” but that argument seems always to fall on deaf ears among our self-chosen education reformers, the media, and the public. So ...read more
Breaking: Chicago school justice advocates are occupying City Hall. Daley Plaza | Fred Klonsky’s blog
by Fred Klonsky – Following a weekend of marches through the west side and south side of Chicago – marches that connected schools that would close and schools that would receive students – hundreds gathered in Daley Plaza on Monday afternoon. The CPS board will vote Wednesday as to whether they will close the largest ...read more
Join At the Chalk Face this Thursday at 7PM EST with John Merrow
We need need need to keep pushing to get an Atlanta-style investigation up in here. Maybe we’ll have some answers for you, this Thursday at 7PM EST. Filed under: CHALK FACE: General News & Commentary Tagged: john merrow, michelle rhee, pbs, test cheating, Washington dc
Denver schools will tweak “do not rehire” practice
About 80 Denver teachers recently placed on a permanent “do not rehire” list may have a shot at returning to the district one day.
That’s because the Denver school board voted unanimously Monday to urge district staff to tweak a policy that board members described as unfair or egregious. The motion calls for staff to come back with a policy within 30 days that changes the “do not rehire” practice so it will no longer be permanent — except in the case of “serious limited circumstances” — and outlines reasons for placement on the list.
Staff will explore the amount of time the “do not rehire” recommendation would be in place, including a sliding
Cuomo announces first phase of $11 million teacher stipends
Hundreds of top-rated upstate science and math teachers will be eligible for $15,000 in annual stipends under a new mentorship program announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo this afternoon.
New York City teachers won’t immediately be eligible for the stipends because they still lack an evaluation system to identify them as top-rated. But the state is relying heavily on a highly-regarded city-based mentoring
Quote Of The Day: “How Michelle Rhee Misled Education Reform”
How Michelle Rhee Misled Education Reform is an extraordinary article in this week’s New Republic magazine. It’s written by Nicholas Lemann, dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and author of several exceptional books.
Here’s a short excerpt:
Pennsylvania Governor Corbett Delays Implementation of Common Core
Governor Tom Corbett has ordered a delay in implementing the Common Core State Standards. Via PennLive:
Department of Education spokesman Tim Eller said the governor made that decision to push off the implementation date beyond July 1 after consulting with lawmakers.Last week, it became clear in House and Senate education committees‘ meetings that not all lawmakers were on board with the move to these grade-level learning expectations that would have brought Pennsylvania public school instruction more in unison with the standards that 44 other states and the District of Columbia were in the process of implementing.
Pennsylvania still needs to repeal the Common Core State Standards and it doesn’t look like this pause will be
Huge Tornado Hits Moore Oklahoma
A huge killer tornado hit Moore, Oklahoma this afternoon. Entire blocks of home completely destroyed, with at least one elementary school decimated with multiple fatalities. Reported by the KFOR TV meteorologist as 3 times the size of the May 3, 1999 tornado that hit the area. As many as 30 children may have perished in the storm.
UPDATE: 37 fatalities so far confirmed by the medical examiner. AP – http://bigstory.ap.org/article/tornadoes-slam-plains-midwest-1-dead-okla
I Wonder If They Will Be Tough Enough to Face Up to the Trenton Bullies
New leadership elected for NJEA
Steinhauer, Blistan, and Spiller prepare to take the reins
Published on Thursday, May 16, 2013
NJEA members have elected three educators from among their ranks to serve as officers for two-year terms beginning this September.
Wendell Steinhauer, a high school mathematics teacher from Riverside in Burlington County was elected president of the 200,000-member NJEA. Steinhauer currently serves as NJEA’s vice president, a position he has held since 2009 following a four-year stint as secretary-treasurer. Prior to becoming an NJEA officer, Steinhauer held a number of other offices and served as
How Michelle Rhee Misled Education Reform | New Republic
mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
How Michelle Rhee Misled Education Reform | New Republic: *How Michelle Rhee Misled Education Reform* *A memoir illustrates what's wrong with her brand of school reform* BY NICHOLAS LEMANN - Read Later - Listen - Font Size - Facebook - Twitter The other day I picked up a copy of *The Adventures of Augie March*. I hadn’t remembered that Saul Bellow, writing in the early 1950s, when he was not yet forty, about Chicago in the 1920s, had been in full sympathy with the urban poor, as he definitely was not later in his career. There is a hilarious bit in the early pages ... more »
Title I anti-poverty money coming to LAUSD's LACES; SOCES hopes to get its share, too
A Westside magnet school will have $300,000 in federal anti-poverty money restored, and about a half-dozen other campuses will see a boost in their allocation after Los Angeles Unified rectified a bureaucratic error, Superintendent John Deasy said Monday.
Honesty In The Time Of Professionalism
Arne Duncan
In this economy, everyone’s scared to lose their jobs.
Leaders often say they want feedback and honesty, but only if it fits their beliefs about the reality they’ve interpreted. For instance, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently tweeted this:
I laughed and replied:
Perhaps he does. Perhaps he believes that the schools his administration created in Chicago mattered a lot for the most impoverished kids. Perhaps he thinks charter schools offer a way to circumvent obtrusive localities that
With A Brooklyn Accent: Don’t Underestimate the Creativity of Young People – A Hip Hop Story
by Mark Naison – Today in the United States, a soul crushing regime of testing and zero tolerance discipline policies is descending on the nations public schools. Students from pre-K up are being tested and evaluated with great regularity to make them “college and career ready,” at the expense of things they love like art ...read more
Remainders: An call for teachers to write for public consumption
- A teacher lists 10 reasons educators should write for the public. (We take submissions.) (Chicago Now)
- Pam Cantor, of Turnaround for Children, is one of the new Ashoka Fellows for entrepreneurship. (Forbes)
- Neverware, a city firm that aims to help schools maintain technology, has raised $1 million. (TechCrunch)
- Alaska, Hawaii, and West Virginia are the latest states to get No Child Left Behind waivers. (Politics K-12)
- A city charter school teacher is shortlisted for TNTP’s “superlative classroom practice” prize. (GS Twitter)
- The latest dispatch from inside a school that shares space is about lunch inequities. (Inside Colocation)
- It seems that Karen Lewis’s continued success in Chicago might be influencing the AFT. (Teacher Beat)
- Parsing KIPP’s annual report reveals data that raises concern and further questions. (Gary Rubinstein)
- Rick Hess has suggestions, based on his research, for districts facing leadership change. (Straight Up)
- An education professor says it would be better to have late teacher evaluations than bad ones. (Shanker)
Ted Williams Comes to PS 154 in the Bronx
I remember when I was a young lad my dad telling me that if Ted Williams did not have to spend 5 years in the service during his baseball career, that he would have easily hit 800 home runs. If you look at the stats of Williams you could say by dad was exaggerating a bit. But, if you tool what my dad claimed and put Williams playing for the Yankees with that short right field porch. then maybe he would have hit 800 home runs if he did not miss those five years.
My dad was even wiser, but first a little background.
In 1969, Teddy Ballgame was named manager of the Washington Senators, now the Texas Rangers. Kind of made sense at the time? The greatest living hitter, one can say he had his doctorate in hitting, managing young ballplayers and imparting his wisdom upon them. Of course the Senators would soon become an American League juggernaut and march through the AL and win pennant after pennant.
Chicago Teachers Union | Twenty Six Arrested Protesting School Closings
Chicago –Twenty-six people who are against Rahm Emanuel’s school closing policies were arrested at City Hall today during a sit-in where they blocked elevators and sang protest songs made famous during the Civil Rights Movement. After delivering a number of petitions calling for a moratorium on school actions to the mayor’s office on the fifth ...read more
Terminating a Whistleblower 3020-a – NYC DOE vs Portelos | Educator Fights Back
by Francesco Portelos – On Friday May 17, 2013 I was handed a packet of papers. These papers indicated that the NYC Department of Education was going to start the new chapter of this crazy saga and attempt to terminate me. Now I know and they know that isn’t really what is happening. You do ...read more
With A Brooklyn Accent: A Teacher From Upstate NY Explains Why She is Leaving the Profession She Loves
by Judi M. Carter Martin, posted by Mark Naison – I’m retiring early. I started teaching later in life and LOVED LOVED LOVED it! Until now. We are taking a huge cut in pay by my retiring, and I still want to work, but I’m not a statistician, my kids aren’t little data pieces, and ...read more
With A Brooklyn Accent: The Notorious Phd “Activists Curriculum!” Take That Common CORE!!!
by Mark Naison – One of these days, I am going to write an “Activists Curriculum” which will show how students can learn more organizing protests than they can sitting at a desk in school trying to memorize material. Writing Skills Component A. Drafting Leaflets B. Writing Petitions C. Developing Press Releases D. Producing Position ...read more
Vocabulary and Spelling City: Lovin' It One Year Later!
It's been a year since I began using SpellingCity. I have to say that my students and I really enjoy using it. Not only that, but SpellingCity keeps finding new ways to keep my students engaged with added features, all beneficial to the classroom. These are the features I loved a year ago, and thankfully, still exist today: You can set up individual student accounts.
LAUSD'S PART IN MAKING AN UNIFORMED ELECTORATE THAT MAKES IRRATIONAL CHOICES
The following lecture by Professor Noam Chomsky seemed an appropriate post for election day in Los Angeles, because it gives an overview of the premeditated failure of public education in this country, why it is taking place, and who it serves.
The phrase that is used most by teachers when confronted with the corruption of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) directed against them is, "I can't believe." Implicit in this incredulous response to the war on teachers and public education is another question, Why would those in power in this country dismantle something as essential to the well being of those who live here? Well, the simple answer is those in power are no longer concerned with the interests of all who live here. Chomsky's on Liberal Disillusionment with Obama offers one possible explanation. Take a moment and let us know whether this assessment makes any sense to you.
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If you or someone you know has been targeted and are in the process of being dismissed and need legal defense, get in touch:Lenny@perdaily.comEn EspañolLa siguiente conferencia del profesor Noam Chomsky parecía