NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education:
Four questions for NY Education Commissioner John King from a Maxwell professor | syracuse.com
Education Department To Renew Sallie Mae Contract, Despite Allegations Of Wrongdoing | Huffington Post
For thousands of Florida teachers, evaluations aren’t making the grade | MiamiHerald.com
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To the Editor: State Education Commissioner John King will be holding a public meeting Tuesday at Fayetteville-Manlius High School. He has faced considerable criticism for a set of policies that embrace standardized testing based on the Common Core, the results of which are partially used to evaluate teachers. The criticism comes from the people most ...read moreThe post Four questions for NY Education Commissioner John King from a Maxwell professor | syracuse.com appeared first on NPE News Briefs.
Shahien Nasiripour Student loan giant Sallie Mae is currently under fire from lawmakers, federal regulators, consumer groups and student advocates for allegedly violating numerous consumer protection laws. The company is facing accusations that it cheats soldiers on active duty, engages in discriminatory lending, pushes borrowers into delinquency by improperly processing their monthly payments, and doesn’t ...read moreThe post Education Department To Renew Sallie Mae Contract, Despite Allegations Of Wrongdoing | Huffington Post appeared first on NPE News Briefs.
BY DAVID SMILEY When Miami-Dade’s 2012 elementary science teacher of the year finally got her annual evaluation last May, she was confused. Despite the top honor from her peers for her work with Howard Drive Elementary fifth graders, the official record ranked Julie Rich as barely effective due to her students’ poor test results — ...read moreThe post For thousands of Florida teachers, evaluations aren’t making the grade | MiamiHerald.com appeared first on NPE News Briefs.
TODAY
Rating system won’t make schools better or solve their problems | Detroit Free Press
Recently, the Michigan Department of Education unveiled a new color-coded scorecard rating system for schools. Like most big and complicated projects, its first moment in the sun was met with some confusion and criticism. Efforts to improve it began immediately and are ongoing. But rather than work with MDE and schools to improve the scorecards, ...read moreThe post Rating system won’t make school
Before state officials expand cyber-charters, take a look at the data: As I See It | PennLive.com
By Adam Schott and James Jack If it was viewed as a single school district, Pennsylvania’s expansive cyber charter sector would represent Pennsylvania’s second-largest district, with more than 35,000 students attending 16 schools statewide. Cyber charters received approximately $366 million in taxpayer funds in 2012-13—drawing payments from 498 of the state’s 500 school districts. The ...read more
Letter to President Obama on Education Policy | With A Brooklyn Accent
Dear President Obama: As a scholar in African American History and a teacher and coach for more than 45 years- it is my unhappy duty to inform you that your education polcies have contributed to the lowest morale among teachers that I have seen in my lifetime, while failing to narrow gaps in opportunity or achievement based on ...read moreThe post Letter to President Obama on Education Policy | W
LI Superintendent Blasts Board of Regents for Creating “Educational Apartheid” | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Steve Cohen, superintendent of the Shoreham-Wading River School District, published an editorial in the local newspaper blasting the New York Board of Regents. Many educators are afraid to speak out against what they know is wrong because they fear for their jobs. Teachers may be fired. Principals may be fired. Superintendents may be fired. When ...read moreThe post LI Superintendent Blasts Board
Should SC Increase Charter School Investment? | the becoming radical
Charter school advocates are calling for more investment from South Carolina, according to Jamie Self at The State (Columbia, SC): South Carolina’s public charter schools struggle to find and pay for space, and often end up without access to kitchens, libraries, or places for kids to play – a problem the S.C. General Assembly needs ...read moreThe post Should SC Increase Charter School Investment?
YESTERDAY
Common Core: Long Island Parents & Teachers Revolt Against Standardized Test | Long Island Press
By Jaime Franchi on November 29, 2013 SHELL-SHOCKED: Eighth grader Ryan Pepe, 13, of East Islip, reads his “intense” Common Core-assigned homework in his parent’s dining room. (Jaime Franchi/Long Island Press) “Uncomfortable. Impossible. My chest hurts,” says Vincent Pepe, 10, pointing to his t-shirt where he feels his heart rate accelerating. He won’t make eye ...read moreThe post Common Core: Lo
Pittsburgh school board agrees to contract with Teach for America, start process of closing Woolslair | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
November 26, 2013 10:02 PM By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh Post Gazette In the final voting meeting before four new board members are sworn in, the Pittsburgh Public Schools board tonight agreed to contract with Teach for America and to start the process of closing Pittsburgh Woolslair K-5 on the Bloomfield-Lawrenceville border. The 6-3 votes ...read moreThe post Pittsburgh school board agrees to co
Who Should See Your Job Evaluation? | Diane Ravitch’s blog
In a recent article about the decision by the Los Angeles Board of Education to extend John Deasy’s contract, there was an interesting section: “Until Tuesday, the district had withheld the Oct. 29 vote total, refusing to release it in response to public-records requests. Officials changed their position, apparently in response to a letter from ...read moreThe post Who Should See Your Job Evaluati
Chicago teacher and ‘urban mom’ responds to Duncan on Common Core | Mike Klonsky’s SmallTalk Blog
Carolyn Alessio, a teacher at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, has a piece on the Common Core in today’s Tribune. Allessio is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council. She’s also a writer of nonfiction and fiction. Notice, she refers to the ...read moreThe post Chicago teacher and ‘urban mom’ responds to Dunc
Jersey Jazzman: When “Reform” Is Really Union Busting
Once again, here’s NJ Education Commissioner Chris Cerf on teachers unions: I always look forward to this event and I’m really delighted. And I want to extend my appreciation particularly to the leadership of the NJEA, with whom I feel that we’ve had a sometimes spirited discussion, but always a positive and a respectful one. ...read moreThe post Jersey Jazzman: When “Reform” Is Really Union Busti
A Charter School’s Struggle for New Students | WSJ.com
By LISA FLEISHER CONNECT Nov. 28, 2013 9:33 p.m. ET A Williamsburg charter school that tried to attract white and middle-class families needs to find more students in the next week, or it could be shut down. Citizens of the World 1, part of a California-based charter-school chain, opened across from Brooklyn’s McCarren Park in ...read moreThe post A Charter School’s Struggle for New Students | WSJ
Best and worst education news of 2013 | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS November 29 at 4:00 am The year is not quite over but veteran teacher Larry Ferlazzo already has his list for the best/worst education news of the year, and here it is. Ferlazzo teaches English and Social Studies at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, California. He has written five books on ...read moreThe post Best and worst education news of 2013 | The Answer Sheet app
Dispatch From Philadelphia: The Brutal End of Public Education | Alternet
The real effects of mass school closures. Reprinted with permission of Colorlines.com. For more news from a racial justice perspective, sign up to receive weekly Colorlines Direct. Othella Stanback could very well be a Philadelphia public school success story in the making. At 19 years old and in her senior year at Ben Franklin High ...read moreThe post Dispatch From Philadelphia: The Brutal End o
Half of Louisiana’s voucher students at D or F schools in program’s first year, data shows | NOLA.com
By Danielle Dreilinger, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune on November 28, 2013 at 3:00 PM, updated November 28, 2013 at 9:22 PM At least 45 percent of students in Louisiana’s controversial voucher program last year attended schools with performance scores in the D to F range of the state’s grading scale, according to data the state ...read moreThe post Half of Louisiana’s voucher students at D or F sc
Derek Bok: A Reform Agenda for Higher Education | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Derek Bok, former president of Harvard University, has some concrete suggestions to improve higher education. His most prominent suggestion is that Ph.D. Candidates should be trained to teach, not just to compete their dissertation. But the most interesting comment occurs near the end of the article when he writes: “A more plausible reason for the ...read moreThe post Derek Bok: A Reform Agenda fo
NOV 28
Do We Have Enough College Graduates–Or Too Few Jobs for Them? | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Arne Duncan often says that our education system must compete with other those of other nations, and President Obama says that we must raise our college graduation rate to first in the world by 2020. But this reader (Reteach for America) disagrees. He or she might have added this recent article about unemployment among college ...read moreThe post Do We Have Enough College Graduates–Or Too Few Job
Four Random Things I’m Grateful For | Teacher in a Strange Land
Four Random Things I’m Grateful For: #1) That I seldom encountered coddled students in my long career–you know, the gritless wonders whose egos are “bloated” from all those unearned trophies and encouraging remarks from their teachers. I’m also grateful for teaching colleagues who regularly gave credit where credit was due and treated my own children ...read moreThe post Four Random Things I’m Gra
Rocketship Charter Fails to Meet Enrollment Target in Milwaukee | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Milwaukee is a city with three competitive sectors: charters, voucher schools, and a shrinking public school system. It is also one of the lowest performing cities on the NAEP, a demonstration of the inability of competition among schools to improve test scores. So what do Wisconsin officials do in response to these dismal facts? They ...read moreThe post Rocketship Charter Fails to Meet Enrollmen
Thanking the educators in my life | Critical Classrooms, Critical Kids
“Gratitude, the simple and profound feeling of being thankful, is the foundation of all generosity. I am generous when I believe that right now, right here, in this form and this place, I am myself being given what I need. Generosity requires that we relinquish something, and this is impossible if we are not glad ...read moreThe post Thanking the educators in my life | Critical Classrooms, Criti
Paul Karrer: My Students Are Not Coddled | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Paul Karrer teaches fifth grade in a low-income community in California. He writes: Frank Bruni’s New York Times piece “Are Kids Too Coddled?” basically states tougher education standards like the Common Core may require a tough love that some parents and educators don’t like. So some parents are opting their kids out of testing. Mr. ...read moreThe post Paul Karrer: My Students Are Not Coddled |
Let Us Be Thankful | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Let us be thankful for life and health. Let us be thankful that we live in a free and democratic society. Let us be thankful for the parents who love and cherish their children. Let us be thankful for the children, filled with dreams and hopes and the joy of childhood, and let us pledge ...read moreThe post Let Us Be Thankful | Diane Ravitch’s blog appeared first on NPE News Briefs.
Kids are preconditioned to draw hand turkeys. Hands down. | @ THE CHALK FACE
NOVEMBER 28, 2013 BY SHAUN JOHNSON I wanted to keep the discussion of Thanksgiving in my classroom to a minimum. What I did do, unsuccessfully, was lead a discussion, after reading through a Peanuts Thanksgiving on the iPad, about the many things they have to be thankful for this holiday. Besides a few initial responses ...read moreThe post Kids are preconditioned to draw hand turkeys. Hands down.
Chicago Drops inBloom, Protects Student Privacy | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Leonie Haimson reports that Chicago has pulled out of inBloom, the massive data collection project funded by the aGates Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation. Leonie has been the key figure nationally in alerting parents, educators, officials, and the media to the plans of inBloom to collect hundreds of points of data about children, using software ...read moreThe post Chicago Drops inBloom, Pro
Dumb Things White People Say About Schools: Frank Bruni | Jersey Jazzman
Let me start by apologizing to Tom Friedman. You see, for years I’ve thought that the Mustache of Understanding was the silliest, most wankeriffic pontificator within in the NY Time’s Op-Ed hierarchy of mandarins. But it’s clear to me now I was completely wrong. The proof? Frank Bruni’s latest column, in which he jumps into the waters ...read moreThe post Dumb Things White People Say About Schools