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Sunday, October 13, 2013

10-13-13 NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education

NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education:


TODAY
Success Charter Network has been just that for Eva Moskowitz but not for public schools | NY Daily News
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2011, 4:00 AM Talk about inflating demand for your product. The Success Charter Network, a chain of charter schools headed by former City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz, spent an astonishing $1.6million in the 2009-2010 school year just for publicity and recruitment of new students, the group’s most recent financial reports show. The network ...read moreThe post Success Charter Net
Some N.J. private schools for disabled students cashing in on taxpayers | NJ.com
By Christopher Baxter/The Star-Ledger TRENTON — The payroll at Somerset Hills School reads like a family tree, with 10 relatives sprinkled throughout. Four of them earn six-figure salaries. The cafeteria serves up a nice profit, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for food to a company founded and owned by the school’s executive director. via ...read moreThe post Some N.J. private schools for
Ratings madness: NO ‘highly effective’ elementary/middle-school teachers in Syracuse? | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS October 12 at 12:00 pm The teacher ratings madness continues. In this piece,  Aaron Pallas, professor of sociology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University, asks and answers this question: Are there really no highly effective elementary or middle-school teachers in Syracuse? Pallas  writes the Sociological Eye on Education blog — where this ...read moreThe post Rat
Teachers: do you agree with Malcolm Gladwell that class sizes below 25 are TOO small? | NYC Public School Parents
On WNYC radio, Brian Lehrer is asking teachers to call in on Monday morning, and comment on Malcolm Gladwell’s claim that classes shouldn’t be too small  — such as 25 students and below, since individual students are MORE likely to be able to disrupt the class and struggling students feel isolated at the bottom of ...read moreThe post Teachers: do you agree with Malcolm Gladwell that class sizes b
Why John King Canceled All Future PTA Meetings: “Special Interests” Took Over | Diane Ravitch’s blog
New York State Commissioner John King’s office issued a statement, explaining that the parents who booed and ridiculed him were being “manipulated” by “special interests.” Who are these “special interests” that have the power to befuddle parents about what is in the best interest of their children? Presumably, he meant the teachers’ union. Maybe he ...read moreThe post Why John King Canceled All F
‘There’s an insidious prejudice against older teachers’ | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS It’s not just in the United States where veteran teachers are feeling a bit unwanted in the push for young recruits from programs such as Teach For America. The Guardian newspaper in England published a post in its Secret Teacher blog, written by teachers who write anonymously, with this headline: “There’s an ...read moreThe post ‘There’s an insidious prejudice against older tea
Does StudentsFirst deserve a seat at the policy table? | dangerously irrelevant
BY SCOTT MCLEOD In August I blogged about the intersection of money, politics, and educator evaluation here in Iowa. Today, reporter Mike Wiser quotes me in his Sioux City Journal article about the growing presence of StudentsFirst, Michelle Rhee’s advocacy organization, in our state: We have seen the rise of influence of outside advocacy groups that are essentially ...read moreThe post Does Stude
The Bush-Obama Era: Built on Ignorance by Non-Educators | Diane Ravitch’s blog
A reader writes: “What I would really like to see is Arnie Duncan in a seventh period class, of whatever subject he could be certified in, implementing his signature policies. Only someone who has never taught in a public school could with a straight face implement race to the top. Should add, it would be ...read moreThe post The Bush-Obama Era: Built on Ignorance by Non-Educators | Diane Ravitch’
Tutoring Company in Texas Draws Fire as State Pulls Back Services | NYTimes.com
When two of Marcos Sifuentes’s children received free laptops from a tutoring program through their San Antonio middle school, the family signed up for wireless access at home for the first time. Mr. Sifuentes added an Internet hot spot to his cellphone plan so they could continue their lessons. But when his son and his ...read moreThe post Tutoring Company in Texas Draws Fire as State Pulls Back
Commissioner King addresses big, critical crowd on Common Core | The Poughkeepsie Journal | poughkeepsiejournal.com
Written by Craig Wolf State Education Commissioner John King faced a critical and often loud crowd Thursday evening as he defended the state’s Common Core curriculum initiative that all students, educators and parents are coping with and that has become increasingly controversial. King was sponsored by the state PTA, which has been collaborating with King to ...read moreThe post Commissioner King
More Parents Opting Kids Out Of Standardized Tests | I AM AN EDUCATOR
As a new school year begins, let me be the first to wish you parents, students, and teachers a year full of intellectual curiosity, problem solving, empowerment, and struggle to make education about more than the ability to eliminate wrong answer choices and shade the box corresponding to the single best answer choice. via More ...read moreThe post More Parents Opting Kids Out Of Standardized Test
An Opt Out Letter That Speaks to All Parents | Education Roundtable
My thanks to a parent who agreed to share her heart- wrenching and powerful opt out letter on this blog. It is our hope that this letter will resonate with other parents and give others the strength and the courage to fight to take back our public education system for our children. The child abuse, ...read moreThe post An Opt Out Letter That Speaks to All Parents | Education Roundtable appeared fi
Dr. Joseph Ricciotti: How CCSS Ruins Kindergarten | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Dear Diane, As an outgrowth of reading your new book, “Reign of Error” and reading your blog, I have written the op-ed piece below to the Connecticut Post. Thank you for all you do in your support of public education. Regards, Joe Ricciotti The Developmental Inappropriateness of the CCSS for Kindergarten Children Ricciotti, Joseph To: ...read moreThe post Dr. Joseph Ricciotti: How CCSS Ruins Kinde