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Thursday, June 27, 2013

Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-27-13 #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2


James Baldwin said it best: 

"For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."


A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAP


Diane in the Evening 6-27-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 7 minutes ago
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: The Latest NAEP Report: Don’t Believe What You Read about It by dianerav Today the federal government released the NAEP 2012 “Trends in Academic Progress.” This is known as the Long-Term Trend report. These tests seldom change in content. They are given every four years to national–not state–samples of students at ages 9-13-17. The reports say that achievement is stagnant, but it is not true. What is truly stagnant are the scores for the past four years. There were big achievement gains from 1971-2008 for whi... more »

Make and Take the Time to Reflect, Refresh, and Recharge — Whole Child Education

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 28 minutes ago
Make and Take the Time to Reflect, Refresh, and Recharge — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG [image: Podcast][image: Whole Child Podcast]Make and Take the Time to Reflect, Refresh, and Recharge June 27, 2013 by Whole Child Podcast Download Podcast Now [Right-Click to Save] Summer for educators is often a time to look back on the past year—and look forward to the coming one. What worked, what didn't, and what will you change? Educating the whole child and planning for comprehensive, sustainable school improvement requires us to be "whole educators" who take the time to rech... more »

Perdido Street School: Arne Duncan, One Of The Biggest Common Core Proponents, Insists Feds Have Nothing To Do With Common Core

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 29 minutes ago
Perdido Street School: Arne Duncan, One Of The Biggest Common Core Proponents, Insists Feds Have Nothing To Do With Common Core: Arne Duncan, One Of The Biggest Common Core Proponents, Insists Feds Have Nothing To Do With Common Core by reality-based educator [image: Photo]Nothing To Do With Common Core Rick Hess wrote the following last week as attacks from the the Tea Party right threatened to take down Common Core implementation in some states: Sec. Duncan needs to give a speech in which he pleads "mea culpa" and acknowledges that federal involvement and money played a nontrivi... more »

Ed Notes Online: PRESS ALERT - TODAY! NYC DOE’s TEST-OBSESSED PROMOTION POLICIES LEAVE MANY NYC FAMILIES IN LIMBO AS SCHOOL ENDS

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 38 minutes ago
Ed Notes Online: PRESS ALERT - TODAY! NYC DOE’s TEST-OBSESSED PROMOTION POLICIES LEAVE MANY NYC FAMILIES IN LIMBO AS SCHOOL ENDS: PRESS ALERT - TODAY! NYC DOE’s TEST-OBSESSED PROMOTION POLICIES LEAVE MANY NYC FAMILIES IN LIMBO AS SCHOOL ENDS by ed notes online PRESS ALERT - TODAY! FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 26, 2013 Contact: Change the Stakes changethestakes@gmail.com Jane Maisel (917) 678-1913 Edith Baltazar (646) 326-8953 NYC DOE’s TEST-OBSESSED PROMOTION POLICIES LEAVE MANY NYC FAMILIES IN LIMBO AS SCHOOL ENDS First day of summer i... more »

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Human Resources at SPS: Going Up or Down?

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 38 minutes ago
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Human Resources at SPS: Going Up or Down?: Human Resources at SPS: Going Up or Down? by Melissa Westbrook There are sometimes days doing this watchdog work that are defeating, sad and frustrating. Today is one those. I'll get to the issue at hand but a few thoughts first. I've said this before - I do truly believe we have some good and decent people working in SPS. There are several up the food chain who are almost great but, like many a bureaucracy, have those whose work either drags them down or mires them in place. I've also said this before... more »

Time for a strong message on ESEA | Parents Across America

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 49 minutes ago
Time for a strong message on ESEA | Parents Across America: Time for a strong message on ESEA by pureparents There are a lot of petitions and sign-ons these days. Do they do any good? This one, called the Declaration to Rebuild America, gets at most of PAA’s priority issues and includes a good mix of people and organizations as early endorsers. It may be an indication that the message of true education progressives is becoming clearer and more unified. The full Declaration is too long to reproduce here, but its main aspects are very similar to PAA’s statement of beliefs. A strong, u... more »

NYC Educator: Why the War on Teachers This Week?

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 53 minutes ago
NYC Educator: Why the War on Teachers This Week?: Why the War on Teachers This Week? by NYC Educator Aside from my typical disgust when we are targeted for the egregious offense of dedicating our lives to guiding children, I know there must be a particular reason the Daily News and legal expert Campbell Brown targeted us this week. There are big issues with this story. The primary issue is the teachers they discuss have not been found guilty of anything. The person who determines guilt, or lack thereof, is the arbitrator. So the Daily News, abetted by legal expert Campbell Brown, c... more »

The Keynote was a Key Note | My Island View

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 54 minutes ago
The Keynote was a Key Note | My Island View: The Keynote was a Key Note by tomwhitby I had a rare opportunity to experience a wonderful sharing of a meaningful, unselfish, insightful, reflective, and most enlightening, and personal keynote address at ISTE13 from my friend, Adam Bellow. I was also aware of his struggles with its creation over the last several months. I have come to believe that a thought not shared is simply a passing thought, but a thought shared is an idea. That was never more evident to me than it was yesterday as I experienced the closing ISTE13 Keynote address ... more »

Seven Observations on Duncan's Common Core Address :: Frederick M. Hess

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 54 minutes ago
Seven Observations on Duncan's Common Core Address :: Frederick M. Hess: Seven Observations on Duncan's Common Core Address Yesterday, our earnest Secretary of Education delivered a big speech on the Common Core to the American Society of Newspaper Editors. In a move that will surprise pretty much no one, he disregarded my advice from last week on how to tamp down some of the push-back to the Common Core. Instead, he basically opted to double down on the administration's rhetorical approach, offering skeptics the back of his hand, and not much else. You can read the whole thing fo...more »

The Great Divide in High School College Readiness Rates | Edwize

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
The Great Divide in High School College Readiness Rates | Edwize: The Great Divide in High School College Readiness Rates by Rhonda Rosenberg *10 percent of the schools produce nearly half the college-ready graduates* Last week the city announced that 22.2% of students from the high school Class of 2012 met the state’s college-ready standard, up from 21.1% for the Class of 2011. What the announcement didn’t say was that this already weak college-readiness rate was inflated by a small group of schools that contribute a disproportionate number of students to the city’s college-ready... more »

New technology is poised to disrupt America’s schools, and then the world’s | The Economist

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 4 hours ago
Education technology: Catching on at last | The Economist: New technology is poised to disrupt America’s schools, and then the world’sJun 29th 2013 | CHICAGO AND NEW YORK |From the print edition - - IN A small school on the South Side of Chicago, 40 children between the ages of five and six sit quietly learning in a classroom. In front of each of them is a computer running software called Reading Eggs. Some are reading a short story, others building sentences with words they are learning. The least advanced are capturing all the upper- and lower-case Bs that fly past in th... more »

DCPS Program Fosters Global Awareness and Exemplifies Student Learning | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 5 hours ago
DCPS Program Fosters Global Awareness and Exemplifies Student Learning | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights: DCPS Program Fosters Global Awareness and Exemplifies Student Learning by Tarsi Dunlop When District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) gets press coverage, it’s not always glowing news. In recent years, DCPS (a major urban city system with a recent history of controversial reforms) is often associated with topics such as their new teacher evaluation system (IMPACT), charters, or poverty and inequity. But just a few weeks ago, I learned about a truly amazing D... more »

Strategies for Children to Participate in National Policy Academy |

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 5 hours ago
Strategies for Children to Participate in National Policy Academy |: Strategies for Children to Participate in National Policy Academy by Alyssa Haywoode Here’s a press release announcing our new project. • • • Strategies for Children (SFC) has been named to the Massachusetts team for the National Governors Association Early Education Policy Academy. On June 17, 2013, the National Governors Association (NGA) announced that six states, including Massachusetts, have been selected to participate in an intensive policy academy to improve learning outcomes from early childhood through t... more »

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog: Supreme Court Rulings Advance Same-Sex Marriage

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 5 hours ago
Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog: Supreme Court Rulings Advance Same-Sex Marriage: Supreme Court Rulings Advance Same-Sex Marriage by L. Jablonski Same-sex Marriage Granted Federal Government Recognition, while California's Prop 8 Suit Dismissed. Dismissal Clears Way for Same-Sex Marriage in Golden State The U.S. Supreme Court ruled yesterday that same-sex married couples are entitled to federal benefits, striking down section 3 of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment and granting full federal recognition of same-sex marriage. The Cour... more »

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Is this the face of the future of public ed?

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 6 hours ago
Schooling in the Ownership Society: Is this the face of the future of public ed?: Is this the face of the future of public ed? by Mike Klonsky Deborah Duazzo *Chicago Magazine's *headline on *Whet Moser's piece*, reads: "The New School Board Member Is a Glimpse at the Future of Education." They are referring to Deborah Quazzo, Rahm Emanual's latest hand-picked school board member. Quazzo, a white, wealthy investment banker, replaces billionaire heiress Penny Pritzker, Obama's new Commerce Secretary. Quazzo's company, GSW Advisors has this view of education: *In the venture capit... more »

Test Scores Show Achievement Gap Narrows As High School Students Stagnate -- NAEP Report

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 7 hours ago
Test Scores Show Achievement Gap Narrows As High School Students Stagnate -- NAEP Report: Test Scores Show Achievement Gap Narrows As High School Students Stagnate -- NAEP Report by Joy Resmovits [image: test scores] Despite the popular hand-wringing over America's schools, younger students are actually performing at significantly higher levels in reading and math than they were in the 1970s, according to a new government reportreleased Thursday. The report also shows a dramatic gradual reduction of the so-called "achievement gap," the gap between scores of ethnic minorities. Bu... more »

Ruling may ease Wake’s path to income-based school assignments | Education | NewsObserver.com

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 7 hours ago
Ruling may ease Wake’s path to income-based school assignments | Education | NewsObserver.com: Ruling may ease Wake’s path to income-based school assignments Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/06/27/2991684/feds-ruling-could-ease-wakes-path.html#storylink=cpy [image: Photo] Federal officials have opened the door for Wake County to reintroduce students’ family income as a basis for school assignments. U.S. Department of Agriculture attorneys say Wake can use data on students who receive subsidized lunches to balance schools by family income as long as the process d... more »

New NAEP data: Getting it right with younger students.... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 7 hours ago
New NAEP data: Getting it right with younger students.... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com: New NAEP data: Getting it right with younger students. Stalling at high school. Why? - COMMENT(1) - 0 0 4 6 Previous Posts - Campaign to let Georgia girl play football goes worldwide June 27, 2013 - A Georgia Teacher of the Year: Common Core requires change but change is needed June 27, 2013 - A diminished HOPE turns 20. And the debate continues June 26, 2013 By Maureen Downey This morning the Nation's Report Card: Trends in Academic Progress 2012 was released, ... more »

Mike Klonsky...: All Male Youth Summit, Calumet City, IL

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 7 hours ago
Mike Klonsky...: All Male Youth Summit, Calumet City, IL: All Male Youth Summit, Calumet City, IL by Mike Klonsky On Monday, March 25, 2013 we had over 500 male students from third through eighth grade and well over 20 presenters from various professions attend this phenomenal event.Distinguished Presenters Dr. Michael Klonsky, DePaul University Professor & Educational Consultant Marc Augustave, Assistant Corporate Counsel Don Murphy, American Family Insurance Honorable Judge Orville E. Hambright,Jr., Circuit Court Honorable Judge William Boyd, Circuit Court Dr. James Cunneen, Retired... more »

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Thursday, June 27, 2013

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 8 hours ago
FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team: *Yoga trial extended another day* Education Headlines *Thursday, June 27, 2013* Elk Grove school district tables planned administration reorganizationA planned reorganization of Elk Grove Unified School District's administration that would have raised salaries of top employees was postponed Wednesday night after most of the school board and audience spoke out against it. San Ysidro recall moves forwardProponents of an effort to recall three San Ysidro School District trustees can start circulating petitions, according to the San... more »

Thoughts for Summer: Aspirations, Not Requirements - Bridging Differences - Education Week

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 8 hours ago
Thoughts for Summer: Aspirations, Not Requirements - Bridging Differences - Education Week: Thoughts for Summer: Aspirations, Not Requirements by Deborah Meier *This is Deborah Meier's last Bridging Differences post before she begins a well-deserved summer break. She will return to the blog in September.* Dear Todd, I visited two schools in Boston last week. One, the Green Academy, just finished its second year, and the staff half laughingly told me that, best of all, "they survived." The other, Mission Hill, always leaves me elated—as well as worried. Enjoying "the moment" while ... more »

UPDATE: Mark drags himself to yet another community meeting with Dan Biss +The problem is old people. | Fred Klonsky

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 8 hours ago
The problem is old people. | Fred Klonsky: “How many promises to the state’s workers do you want to break?” by Fred Klonsky [image: IMG_0060] *Photo: Fred Klonsky* The Civic Committee’s Ty Fahner walked into the hearing room like he owned the joint. And in some ways he does. I spent four hours today at the *Committee of Ten* hearings at the *Michael Bilandic State of Illinois Building*, sixth floor committee room that shares the floor with The Madman’s Chicago office. The *Committee of Ten* was set up following the early-June failure of the Illinois legislature to pass a pension cutt... more »

Education giant Pearson debuts the first class of its virtual ed tech startup accelerator — Tech News and Analysis

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 9 hours ago
Education giant Pearson debuts the first class of its virtual ed tech startup accelerator — Tech News and Analysis: Education giant Pearson debuts the first class of its virtual ed tech startup accelerator by Ki Mae Heussner 10 HOURS AGO **No Comments - - - - - - A** - A** [image: education technology] photo: OHiShiapply SUMMARY: Pearson Catalyst, the new ed tech startup program launched by publishing company Pearson, has announced the companies in its inaugural class. **tweet this Pearson, the U.K.-based educational publishing powerhouse, is getting ... more »

The Best- And Worst-Paying Jobs In Education - Forbes

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 9 hours ago
The Best- And Worst-Paying Jobs In Education - Forbes: The Best- And Worst-Paying Jobs In Education Comment Now Follow Comments The Best- And Worst-Paying Education Jobs 1 of 12 [image: The Five Best-Paying Education Jobs] +show more The Five Best-Paying Education Jobs People’s career choices should be based on passion over paychecks—and that’s especially true for those who are educating America’s youth. But even if you’re pursuing a profession in education for the all right reasons, you still have to wonder which are the highest- and lowest-paying positions in the field. Forbes sift... more »

6-27-13 @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 9 hours ago
@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER: [image: gears] Perhaps the NEA and AFT both adhere to an old model of lesson planning by Chalk Face, PhD This whole idea of monetizing lesson plans seems like a very antique method. This from the Huffington Post on a very similar initiative soon to be released by the NEA that is strikingly similar to AFT’s Share My Lesson, or whatever. The NEA’s is called, what, BetterLesson or something? I mean, OK, I guess. Who […] Charter Schools, the Invisible Hand, and Gutless Political Leadership | the becoming radical by plthomasedd Charter Schools, ... more »

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 6-27-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 9 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Who Should Save the Philadelphia High School Orchestra? by dianerav A reader explains why the Philadelphia All-City High School Orchestra is being closed and who should rescue it: “Actually, philanthropy wouldn’t help. The orchestra is endangered because classroom instrumental music instruction has been eliminated from the budget (hence, no musicians to play in it). The cut was among those made to close a $300 million budget deficit caused largely by state cuts t... more »

The earliest intervention: How to stop the achievement gap from starting? | Hechinger Report

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 9 hours ago
The earliest intervention: How to stop the achievement gap from starting? | Hechinger Report: The earliest intervention: How to stop the achievement gap from starting? by Sara Neufeld [image: After having a stillborn baby in 2009, Dwana Harris wanted to do everything right when a second chance at motherhood came her way. (Photo by Kim Palmer)]CHICAGO—Her first baby, a boy she planned to call Jaidan, arrived stillborn on June 25, 2009, the same day Michael Jackson died. More than three years later, when a second chance at motherhood finally came her way, Dwana Harris was determined t... more »

UPDATE: Indiana Continues It’s Slide Away From Common Core, PARCC | Scathing Purple Musings

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
Indiana Continues It’s Slide Away From Common Core, PARCC | Scathing Purple Musings: Expect Student Test Scores to “Nosedive” With Common Core-PARCC Tests by Bob Sikes From *NPR* reporter Gabriel Spitzer in Seattle. Seattle families should expect steep drops in student test scores as public schools adopt new national learning standards, according to a report to be presented Wednesday evening to the Seattle School Board. Starting next year, students in Washington, 44 other states, and the District of Columbia will be held to new, tougher standards known as Common Core. That could cau...more »

News Update: Public Education Champion Diane Ravitch reports More on financial problems Ed. Chair Kenneth Moales, Jr. a- Wait, What?

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
News Update: More on financial problems facing Bridgeport Board of Ed. Chair Kenneth Moales, Jr. and his church - Wait, What?: Warning! Warning! Alliance Districts Beware: by jonpelto Tomorrow, Connecticut’s poorest and most challenged school districts must submit their “Year 2 Alliance District Plans” to Commissioner Stefan Pryor and his loyal band of education reformers. If you are a student, parent, teacher or administrator in one of the following towns…you should be worried….very worried. The towns include: Ansonia, Bloomfield, Bridgeport, Bristol, Danbury, Derby, [...]*(Read ... more »

John Thompson: What Can We Learn From Alternative Schools? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
John Thompson: What Can We Learn From Alternative Schools? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher: John Thompson: What Can We Learn From Alternative Schools? by Anthony Cody *Guest post by John Thompson.* Education Week's special edition, "Second Chance: Turning Dropouts into Graduates," reports that the nation's graduation rate has increased to nearly 75%, and it may be approaching our all-time high point. This good news is the result of innovations that are the antithesis of test-driven "reform." They point the way towards humane policies that could be the cornerstone of... more »

MOOCs and Reforming Higher Education (Kentaro Toyama) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
MOOCs and Reforming Higher Education (Kentaro Toyama) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: MOOCs and Reforming Higher Education (Kentaro Toyama) by larrycuban *This post appeared in “Educational Technology Debate: Exploring ICT and Learning in Developing Countries,” in April 2013. The debate is managed by three editors. They can be reached athttp://edutechdebate.org/contact/* *The following biography is taken from Toyama’s description of himself.* *Kentaro Toyama is a researcher in the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley, and a fellow of... more »

Daily Kos: Obama thinks same sex marriages should be recognized everywhere

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
Daily Kos: Obama thinks same sex marriages should be recognized everywhere: Obama thinks same sex marriages should be recognized everywhere by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken) I just received a breaking news email from Politico, the key contents of which are this: President Barack Obama said on Thursday that he believes that same-sex marriages performed in one state should apply in another."It's my personal belief -- and I'm speaking now as a president [not] as a lawyer -- if you're married in Massachusetts and you move someplace else, you're still married," he said at a press confer... more »

Jersey Jazzman: Chris Christie Must Go

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
Jersey Jazzman: Chris Christie Must Go: Chris Christie Must Go by Duke *New Jersey's problems aren't my fault! Nothing's my fault! It's all you greedy teachers!* I don't know about the rest of you, but I am so very, very tired of this crap: [NJ Governor Chris] Christie said parents must stand up to organizations who he said care more about pensions, wage increases, generous benefits packages and summers off than about extending quality education to all students. *And yet this pompous fool has done more to decimate New Jersey's excellent public schools than any man ever, and his ... more »

Ed Notes Online: Video: Chicago Students Tossed From Board of Education Meeting

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
Ed Notes Online: Video: Chicago Students Tossed From Board of Education Meeting: Video: Chicago Students Tossed From Board of Education Meeting by ed notes online Video of Chicago students taking over the Board of Education Meeting to save schools, prevent education cuts. From Xian Barrett: *Published on Jun 26, 2013* Members of Chicago Students Organizing to Save Our Schools speak out against unjust and illegal school closing and draconic budget cuts. The Board of Education continues to sabotage public education and divert money to their political allies. We stood up as the on... more »

Lessons from a budget battle | Parents United for Public Education

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
Lessons from a budget battle | Parents United for Public Education: Lessons from a budget battle by helengym [image: 10sept]Last Thursday, City Council decided democracy was inconvenient. [image: Tonayia Marla Fox Chase]Faced with a deluge of phone calls and an unprecedented outpouring of parent action around the progressive Use & Occupancy tax, City Council President Darrell Clarke shut down an expected vote on the tax and instead announced that the City would seek over $74 million for schools through a tax on cigarettes and improved delinquent tax collection. One City Hall insider... more »

Goldman Sachs Gets Into Public Education | toteachornototeach

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
Goldman Sachs Gets Into Public Education | toteachornototeach: Goldman Sachs Gets Into Public Education by aristotlethewise *Goldman Sachs Gets Into Public Education* By DSWright The corporate “ed reform” movement to privatize public education is quite lucrative – public education spending runs in the billions across the country. So should anyone be surprised that Wall Street has stepped out of the shadows to get in on the action? Wall Street has already been the funding base for Michelle Rhee and other privatizers but has always presented itself merely as trying to benevolently cont... more »

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The Mayor 'bristles' while budgets burn

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The Mayor 'bristles' while budgets burn: The Mayor 'bristles' while budgets burn by Mike Klonsky At yesterday's protest, teachers wore stickers with the cut amounts on them: -$535K on Tracy Barrientos from Jungman. -$1.1 million on several students from Whitney Young Magnet High School. As hundreds of people braved yesterday's storms to protest Rahm's draconian budget cuts, the mayor was busy "bristling" at reporters questions and spreading more manure around. Rahm put the blame for his $82 million budget cuts on greedy retirees and on the legislature... more »

After legal ruling leaves some parcel taxes in jeopardy, clarity must come from Legislature | EdSource Today

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
After legal ruling leaves some parcel taxes in jeopardy, clarity must come from Legislature | EdSource Today: After legal ruling leaves some parcel taxes in jeopardy, clarity must come from Legislature - by John Fensterwald by John Fensterwald [image: Source: Flickr] State law mandates that parcel taxes be levied equally on all property owners in a district, regardless of parcel size or number of living units. Some school districts have sought creative approaches to raise additional revenue from larger parcels, but a recent Court of Appeals ruling puts those approaches in jeopardy.... more »

Education Research Report: The Magnitude of Student Sorting Within Schools

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
Education Research Report: The Magnitude of Student Sorting Within Schools: The Magnitude of Student Sorting Within Schools The authors of this study use administrative data from three large urban school districts to describe student sorting within schools. Students are linked to each of their teachers and students’ classmates are identified. There are differences in the average achievement levels, racial composition, and socioeconomic composition of classrooms within schools. This sorting occurs even in self-contained elementary school classrooms and is much larger than would b... more »

Why it’s time for a reset of education reform

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
Why it’s time for a reset of education reform: Why it’s time for a reset of education reform By Valerie Strauss, Published: June 27, 2013 at 5:00 amE-mail the writer [image: http://www.freepik.com/] www.freepik.com/ It’s the end of a difficult school year, and the education world is in some turmoil. Here’s a piece about where we stand by Jeff Bryant, an associate fellow at theCampaign for America’s Future and the owner of a marketing and communications consultancy that serves organizations including Human Rights Watch, Doctors Without Borders and PBS. He writes extensively about pub... more »

Thomas publishes new book on education

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
Thomas publishes new book on education: Thomas publishes new book on education By Vince Moore Filed in Education, Feature Stories, Homepage News June 26th, 2013 @ 8:02 pm GREENVILLE, S.C.—Furman University education professor Paul Thomas has published his 15th book, *De-Testing and De-Grading Schools*. The book, a collection of essays co-edited by Thomas and Canadian educator Joe Bower and published by Peter Lang USA, looks at a century of education and education reform along with the last three decades of high-stakes testing and accountability to show the failure of testing and grad... more »

Report Card: Activists, Dickinson use drama to examine disciplinary issues

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
Report Card: Activists, Dickinson use drama to examine disciplinary issues: Activists, Dickinson use drama to examine disciplinary issues [image: willful.JPG]The state Capitol featured theatrics Wednesday, but not on the Assembly floor. In a committee room, student actors put on a 10-minute play called "Willful," in which a black high school student named Tom heads to the principal's office for yet another disciplinary action. His mother is sick, and his family has problems at home. Tom expects a suspension. But this time, Principal Burton decides to send the student to counseling an... more »

Jersey Jazzman: Once Again, Joel Klein Is Full Of It

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
Jersey Jazzman: Once Again, Joel Klein Is Full Of It: Once Again, Joel Klein Is Full Of It by Duke [image: Photo] Thanks to Leonie Haimson and Lisa Fliesher, we now know that there is no accountability whatsoever at the top of the New York City schools: nobody gets evaluated, even as they scream for more test-based evaluations for teachers. But there was one other part of Fliesher's story really caught my eye: Joel Klein, schools chief from 2002 to 2010, said he received constant feedback from the mayor, and evaluated his team daily. "*When a member of my team's performance wasn'... more »

When Jeanne Allen Comes Out Against the CREDO Study, the News Can’t Be Good for Charters – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
When Jeanne Allen Comes Out Against the CREDO Study, the News Can’t Be Good for Charters – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER: When Jeanne Allen Comes Out Against the CREDO Study, the News Can’t Be Good for Charters by Jim Horn Apparently, world champion charter industry promoter, Jeanne Allen, did not get the memo from the corporate ed offices that all corporate education welfare recipients should pretend that the new CREDO study was full of good news for the corrupt charter school industry. Jeanne, who otherwise is a lifelong member of the Test and Punish Society for High Stak...more »

Jersey Jazzman: Dennis Walcott Makes Case For Cutting His Salary

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
Jersey Jazzman: Dennis Walcott Makes Case For Cutting His Salary: Dennis Walcott Makes Case For Cutting His Salary by Duke Diane Ravitch points us to a piece by Lisa Fleischer in the *Wall Street Journal* about the complete lack of accountability at the top of New York's City's schools under Generalissimo Mike Bloomberg's rule: Top administrators at the city's Department of Education haven't been subject to formal evaluations during the Bloomberg administration, a break from past practice and an unusual occurrence among school districts across the U.S. The disclosure follows the cul... more »

NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education: *NPE News Briefs* 1 2 3 4 5 6 … 240 Next » Real education reform would focus on ____________ | Teachers’ Letters to Bill Gates JUN 26 2013 by Harry Proudfoot – Dear Bill, Someone posted something on Facebook today I have to take issue with here. The post suggested the math skills learned in high school are not applicable in real life. Actually, we use the skills taught in math classes every day. The important thing we are supposed to get from ... read more → **Activism · Gates Foundation · Teacher Issues · Testing / Opting ... more »

Supporting Teacher Growth with Instructional Rounds — Whole Child Education

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
Supporting Teacher Growth with Instructional Rounds — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG [image: ASCD Whole Child Bloggers]Supporting Teacher Growth with Instructional Rounds June 26, 2013 by ASCD Whole Child Bloggers *Post written by Robert J. Marzano and Michael D. Toth* In *Teacher Evaluation That Makes a Difference*, our recommendations for best practices are based on the assumption that teacher evaluation should have two purposes—development and measurement—but that development should be the more important of the two. If districts and schools share this perspective, th... more »

Diane in the Evening 6-26-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Lisa Fleisher of WSJ: Evaluations for Thee, But Not for Me by dianerav Lisa Fleisher of the Wall Street Journal reminds us what investigative reporting looks like. In New York City, we nearly forgot, especially since Michael Winerip of the New York Ztimes was taken off the education beat. Fleisher filed a Freedom of Information Act request to find out whether top officials at the New York City Department of Education receive job evaluations. As we know, the Bloomberg DOE evaluates everyone in its *LISTEN TO D... more »

Sacramento closes nine schools - Substance News

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
Sacramento closes nine schools - Substance News: California city gets the usual barrage of verbiage about 'budget deficits' and 'underutilization' crises... Parents file lawsuit on behalf of poor families as Sacramento closes seven elementary schools following the neo-liberal attack on public schools with seven closings George N. Schmidt - June 16, 2013 Sacramento California, where the school board is elected, joined the neoliberal racist attack real public school serving children who live in poverty with a vote to close nine of the city's real public schools. Last week, a group rep... more »











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