Ed Notes Online
Paul Krugmam on the imbalanced boss-worker power relationship applied to NYC principals and teachers
The massive power imbalance between principal and teacher in NYC is not due to a weak economy but to a weak union. Let me expound on this point....employment generally involves a power relationship: you have a boss, who tells you what to do, and if you refuse, you may be fired... We don’t know how much of this profit surge can be explained by the fear factor — the ability to squeeze workers who kn
Not a Wonderful Life: Education Writer’s Block
The Wave - Published Friday, Dec. 27, 2013 - www.rockawave.com
DEC 26
Walcott Public Schedule - To Hand Honorary Diploma to 100 year old
Come on Norm he's just trying to improve the graduation numbers.... Jane M from Change the StakesAnd so it comes to this -- but not the worst way to end it – Unless Walcott closes the nursing home on the way out or opens a charter nursing home next door so Rose Shimony's other birthday present could behaving a choice of nursing homes.MEDIA ADVISORYFor Planning Purposes OnlyDecember 26, 2013PUBLIC
Will de Blasio's DOE rescue Adult Education from Superintendent Rose-marie Mills?
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Schools Matter on union leader duplicity - or how many sides of your mouth can you speak out of at the same time?
As a follow up to our Newark post the other day (Randi, Cami and Newark: Anyone for a Quisling Refe...) and after some flame wars with Randi and Leo on twitter today (which I hope to follow up on) here is a piece from Schools Matter worth checking out.On December 10 Randi Weingarten flew into Newark with her gold-plated bullhorn to protest the entirely predicted outcome to a teacher contract that
Farina Delay: Charter lobby, ed deformers and UFT and allies working behind the scenes?
Who might be opposing a Farina appointment? I know some people are left scratching their heads at what seems on the surface an unholy alliance. Can we talk?We know that de Blasio has been getting pressure from the Obama administration to appoint a pro-test person. As Naison says, given that she wants the job and de Blasio supposedly wants her, Farina should have been announced a week ago. That she
DEC 25
Susan O warms us up on a cold Xmas morn
The miracle of this season is that the Burlington paper actually printed an anti-Common Core Op Ed.http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=647They promised to print one of mine but never did. I hope this is a sign of an editorial shift.Elsewhere, the Corporate Rule abounds. Take this cartoon, where sugar plums aren't dancing in infants' heads. Instead they are watching their iPad apps from the comfort
DEC 24
Fred Smith, Poet Luareate of the Real Reform Movement
The Night Before… Once More‘Tis the old year that’s closing rosy and gloomy, In with de Blasio and goodbye to Bloomy. With citywide hope cautiously mingled with doubt, We’ll soon know down here whether to smile or to shout. Some fresh air to breathe, perhaps, while out of the North, Tisch and King blow chill winds and continue to froth.
Cato Holds Conference to PROVE Early Education Makes No Difference
Why hold a conference when you already know the answers? What next, finding research showing that pre-natal care has no impact? Actually, why have health care at all? Ask anyone involved in this sham if they send their own kids to preschool programs. Will they mention the multi-million word gap between wealthy and poor kids entering school? Cato claims benefits of pre-school don't last. Of course
True Confessions: I Used to Give Kids Finish-like Breaks
An American teacher now working in an elementary school in Finland, via the Diane Ravitch blog, writes about the differences. Finnish schools often schedule lessons into hour-long blocks: 45 minutes of instruction, 15 minutes of break. Students rarely have back-to-back lessons without breaks—and at the elementary level, it's expected that children will spend their breaks playing outside, rain or
DEC 23
Randi, Cami and Newark: Anyone for a Quisling Reference?
These two have a long history together. The dynamic works like this: Randi gives Cami whatever she wants, then complains about Cami exercising the freedoms that Randi has given her. It's sort of like the dynamic Randi is alleged to have with everyone else, except the 'gives', and later the 'complaints', are more pronounced and eye catching than anywhere else....she's not just given the keys to a r
DEC 22
Quisling AstroTurf Groups Like E4E and Teach Plus Reality Distortion
...the views of most early career teachers differ from those of many veteran teachers. As a national survey conducted by Teach Plus in 2012 found, early career teachers are more likely than their veteran peers to strongly support rigorous evaluations, performance-based compensation, and inclusion of student growth measures in teacher evaluations..... Balderdash from ed deform astroturf orgs.NYC h
DEC 21
Matt Vaz in The Brooklyn Rail
Then he gets on the train, everybody in the train car has to lie face-down on the floor with their hands behind their head. Then the train goes 150 yards, and then stops in between two stations, and then Bloomberg exits through a private tunnel, and then gets back in his helicopter and flies to Bermuda to get a manicure and pedicure. He goes to Bermuda every day. He loves that spot. He bought a ho
Videos of PS 321 Event: Teachers Talk Testing
Help Us Lower the Stakes Around Testing for Teachers and Families in NYCI attended this amazing event at PS 321 which I reported on (Teachers Talk Testing Forum at PS 321)I didn't have to film as a professional film maker, Michael Elliot, has been working with various groups opposing high stakes testing. He has put up a batch of videos cut into short very watchable segments. They include teachers