Latest News and Comment from Education

Monday, September 23, 2013

9-23-13 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:





It pays for the Sun-Times to beat up on Rahm.
I often complain about today lazy Chicago reporters who never let a good scandal go reported. I long for the old days when Chicago’s investigative reporters investigated like dogs on a bone. They bore no resemblance to the Eric Zorn’s of the Chicago press corp. Remember Zorn’s own kid was at Lane when the Persepolis banning went down. The kid went home and told him about it and Eric went to bed.

Life in Rahm’s Chicago. No art.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Kate Bolduc 773-454-5015 commonsensecps@gmail.com CHICAGO, September 23, 2013 – As Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools announced $24 million in capital projects to build or renovate schools, neighborhood schools in Chicago began their fifth week of school in desperate need of operating funds to pay for textbooks and teachers. In a survey by the Common Sense
The in box. IEA Retired Chair Janet Kilgus on the petition for a graduated progressive income tax in Illinois.
The IEA in coalition with other unions, faith-based and non-profit organizations, as well as small business owners are engaging in a petition drive to demand a fair tax system.  As you are aware, Illinois has a revenue problem; and the only truly effective way to remedy this problem is to amend the Constitution to allow for a graduated income tax.  The first step to getting this amendment in fr

What’s behind door number one? Police powers and our state pension
Question: What scares many teachers about the Democratic leaders attempts to diminish or impair our pensions in spite of the pension protection clause of the Illinois Constitution? Answer: The Illinois Supreme Court may buy into the theory that the state is in such dire financial straits that the constitutional protection and a contractual promise can be abrogated by the state using its right of

Thinking about learning styles.
  Third grade mask-making. I once had a fifth grade student who was, let us say, not fully engaged in the activities I had provided in the art room. He goofed around a lot. One day, following a request to settle down, he turned to me and said, “Mr. K. Your teaching is not really differentiated to meet my personal learning style.” Who had this kid been talking to? Probably my Assistant Superintend



9-22-13 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.
Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Sunday reads.On the road to Three Oaks, Michigan for dinner last night. Rahm announces “rapid-fire” construction plans. If I were Rahm, I’d pick another term. Millions spent on “differentiated instruction” professional development and changes in teacher evaluations. And there’s nothing data driven abo