Mother Crusader: The Paterson Collegiate Charter School Application, Ascend and Sabis, Part IV

Mother Crusader: The Paterson Collegiate Charter School Application, Ascend and Sabis, Part IV:

The Paterson Collegiate Charter School Application, Ascend and Sabis, Part IV

by darciecima

This is last of a four part series about the Paterson Collegiate Charter School Application. In Part III we explored how lead founder Steven Wilson figured out how to exploit New Markets tax credits to build a charter empire.  Today we will look at the program Wilson is offering the people of Paterson, in exchange for the public funds he will receive.

Community and Parent Involvement

First, it is important to note that no one from the Paterson Public School district seems to be involved in this application in any way.  The "qualifying founder" on the application is Carol Burt-Miller. This is how she is 

Special Late Nite Cap UPDATE 2-14-13 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2

Nite Cap UPDATE

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

Black History Month February 2013

How Are You Going to Spend Your Half-Week Off?

by NYC Educator

I'm not bitter about losing the mid-winter recess. After all, I had big fun the week of October 29th, walking through a foot of water to get to what was left of my house. It was great being homeless for six weeks, and the least I can do for Mayor Bloomberg is give up a frivolous family vacation. I've no doubt my students will be thrilled to come in as well.

As if that's not enough, the DOE, in its infinite wisdom, has decreed that June 24th and 25th will be student attendance days. This is because there's nothing better than bringing kids in after they've finished the course and taken the exams. There's no one more motivated than 

Lehigh University student loses lawsuit over grade

by The Associated Press

The graduate student sued to have a grade of C-plus changed to a B and sought $1.3 million in damages.

“SHOW ME A HERO AND I WILL WRITE YOU A TRAGEDY” – F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

by alkleen

Parents, please don’t allow your children to look up to sport figures as heroes, they will only end up being extremely disappointed.
The biggest hero of the most recent Olympic Games is now an accused murderer. Oscar Pistorius apparently has gone from a world wide inspiration to just another flawed human being.
Who in the sports world should young people look up to ? Baseball players ?  Sorry, way too many drug scandals. Lance Armstrong and the drugged up world of cycling ? Not a chance. N.B.A. players ? Yikes, ask any sportswriter about their behavior on road trips and their number of illegitimate children. Football players ? Check the number of arrests and DUI’s. World soccer players ? I just finished reading about the biggest betting 

Do You Like Bloomberg’s Education Policies?

by dianerav

Here is a chance to make your voice heard.
Crain’s New York is running an opinion poll, asking which of Bloomberg’s policies the next mayor should get rid of. Bloomberg has promoted high-stakes testing, charter schools, school closings, co-locations of charters, and evaluation of teachers by test scores. Class sizes are at their highest in fourteen years.
Express your views here.

New Music: "Valentine" (Paul Dateh Remix) by Kina Grannis

by angry asian man

Today seems like an appropriate day to share this supercool chilled-out version of Kina Grannis' signature tune "Valentine," remixed by Paul Dateh. First, refresh your memory and watch the music video for the original track, directed by Ross Ching. Whoa -- has it really been three years since this came out? And here's Paul's remix: Like it? You can get a free download of the track from 

THE LIST: 12 Top Technologies in Education

by CJ Westerberg

Breakthroughs, Disruptions and Spin
Continue Reading at The Daily Riff

MORE Upcoming Special Events

by ed notes online

Jeez, these guys are busy. MORE pres candidate Julie Cavangh (and maybe Jack) will be at the Park Slope event today. I will be there with petitions.

If you are in Staten Island head on over to meet Might Mike Schirtzer and the always awesome Francesco Portelos.

   

Angela Davis Electrifies Gallaudet University

by cmaadmin

Angela Davis addressed a crowd at Gallaudet University Thursday.

She has been a seminal figure in the civil and women’s rights movements for decades, but educator, feminist and human rights activist Dr. Angela Davis still remains deeply involved in movements for social justice globally.
Davis, Distinguished Professor Emerita of History and Consciousness and Feminist Studies at the University of California, Santa Clara, told a standing-room-only crowd at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., that democracy cannot work if it’s confined only to a small segment of the population.
Throughout her more than hour-long lecture on February 14, Davis linked the social, racial and political environments in the United States in the 1860s, the 1960s and the present day, showing the continuous thread 

UT System Pushing 4-Year Tuition Option

by cmaadmin

AUSTIN Texas — University of Texas System regents on Thursday ordered their campuses to offer students a four-year, fixed-rate tuition option by fall of 2014 to encourage them to graduate on time.
After a decade of rising tuition costs, Gov. Rick Perry has been pushing universities to offer fixed-rate tuition to help students and their families budget for college. The Legislature also is considering writing the four-year tuition option into state law.
The University of Texas System has nine campuses with about 216,000 students. The UT-Dallas campus 

Plan Expands College Classes For High Schoolers

by cmaadmin

MONTPELIER Vt. — Gov. Peter Shumlin has unveiled a plan to get more Vermont students into college and better prepared for jobs by expanding a program that allows them to take college-level courses in high school.
The proposal would expand the dual enrollment program to allow more high school juniors and seniors to attend college classes, for free. Students would be able to attend up to two classes at the Vermont State Colleges, the University of Vermont, and participating private institutions.
“We think this is a great opportunity to be able to take students who currently aren’t getting beyond high school or who are having trouble affording college which is our biggest challenge right now facing Vermont’s college-

Bill Gates Discusses Difficulties of Education Investment in Spain

Spain “is a good country” that is “going through tough times” amid economic stagnation and a 26.1 percent unemployment rate, philanthropist Bill Gates said in an interview with Efe in Mexico.
“There is a very direct correlation” between regulation and business creation, Gates said in response to a question about what Spain could do to spur business and job growth.
“It’s hard, investment in education and deregulation are hard to do when you have a tight budget. But Spain will have to make these investments in the 

Ald. Danny Solis, ex-chief of UNO, calls insider charter-school deals ‘improper’

Ald. Danny Solis (25th) — a co-founder and former head of the United Neighborhood Organization — said Wednesday he thinks it was “improper, at the very least,” for the politically influential organization to use a $98 million state school grant to hire contractors with close ties to the leadership of UNO’s charter-school network. The Chicago Sun-Times reported last week that UNO’s insider deals included giving contracts paid for by the state grant to companies owned by two brothers of Miguel d’Escoto, who resigned Tuesday from his $200,000-a-year post with UNO.

UNO hires ex-judge to review its charter-school spending after Sun-Times report

United Neighborhood Organization officials said Thursday they have hired former U.S. District Judge Wayne Andersen to conduct a review of how their charter-school network selected companies to build new schools with state grant money.

Turmoil grips San Jose charter high school

ACE Charter High School, which promised to prepare poor students for college, got off to a rough start. The school opened without textbooks, student Internet access or lunch tables — and not much order in classes.

Homeroom: Burbank Elementary in Hayward gets top honors for English learner program

Elsewhere, Fremont students produce 'iRobbers,' a short heist movie with a math lesson, and more than 200 students get ready to take the stage for the Hayward Band and Orchestra Festival next week  

Update: White House Shares Details of Early Learning Plans

by Emily Richmond

Here's some of the fine print (courtesy of Politics K-12) on President Obama's proposal to significantly expand the nation's preschool opportunities. Also, Eduwonk Andrew Rotherham explains why the proposal faces "an uphill climb," and gives a well-deserved shout-out to Education Week's Sara Mead.

You should also check out Salon editor-at-large Joan Walsh's take. She argues that universal preschool should be a "no-brainer," given that when it's done right the benefits to individual children, families, and the wider community can be substantial. From Walsh's well-balanced piece:

The very fact that preschool proposals seem like the answer to so many social problems has led 

Kids React to Valentine's Day (Humor)

by CJ Westerberg

Video Below Favorite moment: Video: "Where do you parents go on a date?" Answer: Costco
Continue Reading at The Daily Riff

Developing Academic English Skills

by Larry Ferlazzo

I’ve recently updated The Best Websites For Developing Academic English Skills & Vocabulary.
Additional suggestions are welcome…

February’s Best Tweets — Part Two

by Larry Ferlazzo

Every month I make a short list highlighting my choices of the best resources I shared through (and learned from) Twitter, but didn’t necessarily include them in posts here on my blog. Now and then, in order to make it a bit easier for me, I may try to break it up into mid-month and end-of-month lists (and sometimes I’m a bit late).
This month, though, I’m making an exception and publishing a “Part Three,” too.
I’ve already shared in earlier posts several new resources I found on Twitter — and where I gave credit to those 

Teacher, Heal Thyself!

by Oldschoolteach

And if you can’t heal thyself, at least take care of yourself. I pulled a muscle while I was lifting on one of the machines at the gym the other day. I knew when I pulled up, things were not going to be good. My sister said, “You know you’re not as young as you [...]

The FDA Just Approved a Bionic Eye that Lets Blind People See

by Adam Clark Estes

Imagine telling your grandma in 2003 that within a decade we'd invent a wearable video camera that wirelessly transmits images to your eyeball, effectively allowing the blind to see. She would've laughed you out the door! And then she would've asked you to read the TV Guide listings with your young eyes.
Grandma's not laughing now. On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration approved a device that does indeed use a video camera attached to a pair of Oakley-esque glasses that communicate with electrodes implanted in the retina. Very clumsily named the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System — we would've called them Jesus Glasses — these spectacles are specifically designed for people with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare,

Calling All Teachers to Attend Closing School Hearings.

by ed notes online

Guess: UFT or CTU?

Teachers must join our parents, students and community members. Pledge to attend a community meeting by clicking the button below.

Here is the difference between the two unions. In Chicago they consider an attack on one school an attack on all. Here, the UFT takes court action but does not organize the masses of UFT members to act.

Not every CTU member’s school is on the Hit List—but the entire system of public schools in which every one of us works is targeted. In order to save it, we must insist that 

EVERY TARGETED SCHOOL MUST REMAIN OPEN.

Here is the memo the CTU sent out:

Today, February 13th, 2013, Barbara Byrd-Bennett released another revision of the mayor’s Hit List, targeting 129 schools for closure next year. This unprecedented attack targets only schools in Black and Latino neighborhoods—especially the ones in which resources are few. Over the years, charter schools have blanketed these same neighborhoods with marketing materials full of false promises to lure families. In an unsurprising move, every single politically-connected charter school once called “underutilized” has been cleared from the Hit List. All this amidst the growingscandal over UNO charter school patronage.

Not every CTU member’s school is on the Hit List—but the entire system of public schools in which every one of us works is targeted. In order to save it, we must insist that 

EVERY TARGETED SCHOOL MUST REMAIN OPEN.
 
CPS is currently holding “community hearings” underwritten by the Walton Family Foundation (Wal-Mart) to sell these school closings to the public. The public is not buying what the saboteurs and privatizers are selling. Thousands of parents, teachers and community members have attended these meetings to save our schools from closing. Click here to see a video. These parents aren't letting themselves be pitted against one another. They aren't begging for just their own schools to be spared, but are banding together to save ALL neighborhood public schools.

Teachers must join our parents, students and community members. Pledge to attend a community meeting by clicking the button below.

Click to RSVP for a Meeting

In an effort to justify their assault on our schools, the mayor and his schools CEO have tried to mislead the public with irrelevant and misdirectional statistics about school enrollment. They have continued the CPS habit of presenting doomsday budget PowerPoints that later prove absolutely false. They have expanded privatized charter schools while claiming to have “too many seats” to serve all students well.

According to Byrd-Bennett’s own hand-picked closings commission, CPS does not have the capacity to close so many schools without exponentially increasing the chaos that ten years of privatization have already unleashed on the system. Our researchers, using CPS’s own data havedemonstrated the racist effect of closings and privatization on our district. Community activists have even testified in Washington over the related civil rights issues.

View this short video for CTU member Tara Stamps’ call for unity.

Click the image above or this link to view the video.

CTU members, parents, clergy,  and community-based, grassroots organizations have organized summits, knocked on doors, visited El stops and phoned elected officials in an attempt to stop school closings and ensure neighborhood schools get the resources they need.
In addition, several aldermen have called on the City Council for a moratorium on charter expansion. This resolution needs your help.

Contact City Council Rules Committee to insist this resolution be heard.

Click here to take action

Parents, students and community are standing up for our schools. We need YOU to stand with them.

#edreform - Shake Your Money Maker

Shake Your Money Maker 

H.R.510: Transition toward Excellence, Achievement and Mobility through Education Act of 2013 - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress

H.R.510: Transition toward Excellence, Achievement and Mobility through Education Act of 2013 - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress:

Bill Introduced: H.R.510 Transition toward Excellence, Achievement and Mobility through Education Act of 2013

Open Congress : Major Bill Actions in Education programs funding - 10 minutes ago

To amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to make improvements to the individualized education program under that Act and facilitate the transition of children with disabilities to adulthood, and for other purposes.

Bill Introduced: H.R.497 America Works Act

Open Congress : Major Bill Actions in Education programs funding - 10 minutes ago

To allow that certain Federal job training and career education programs give priority to programs that lead to recognized postsecondary credentials.

Bill Introduced: H.R.511 Transition toward Excellence, Achievement, and Mobility through Empowerment Act of 2013

Open Congress : Major Bill Actions in Education programs funding - 10 minutes ago

To amend the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 to provide assistance to States for development and implementation of an individual transition plan for each individual with a developmental disability in the State who is making the transition from the secondary school system into adulthood, and for other purposes.

Bill Introduced: S.169 Immigration Innovation Act of 2013

Open Congress : Major Bill Actions in Education programs funding - 10 minutes ago

A bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to authorize additional visas for well-educated aliens to live and work in the United States, and for other purposes.

Bill Introduced: S.153 A bill to amend section 520J of the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants for mental health first aid training programs.

Open Congress : Major Bill Actions in Education programs funding - 10 minutes ago

A bill to amend section 520J of the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants for mental health first aid training programs.

Bill Introduced: H.R.482 Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act of 2013

Open Congress : Major Bill Actions in Education programs funding - 22 hours ago

To prevent harassment at institutions of higher education, and for other purposes.

Bill Introduced: H.R.394 Nanotechnology Advancement and New Opportunities Act

Open Congress : Major Bill Actions in Education programs funding - 22 hours ago

To ensure the development and responsible stewardship of nanotechnology.

Bill Introduced: S.216 Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act of 2013

Open Congress : Major Bill Actions in Education programs funding - 1 day ago

A bill to prevent harassment at institutions of higher education, and for other purposes.

Bill Introduced: S.47 Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Reporting Act of 2013

Open Congress : Major Bill Actions in Education programs funding - 1 day ago

A bill to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act of 1994.

Bill Introduced: H.R.426 Race to the Top Act of 2013

Open Congress : Major Bill Actions in Education programs funding - 5 days ago

To provide incentives for States and local educational agencies to implement comprehensive reforms and innovative strategies that are designed to lead to significant improvement in outcomes for all students and significant reductions in achievement gaps among subgroups of students, and for other purposes.

Bill Introduced: S.111 Safety for Our Schoolchildren Act of 2013

Open Congress : Major Bill Actions in Education programs funding - 5 days ago

A bill to require all public school employees and those employed in connection with a public school to receive FBI background checks prior to being hired, and for other purposes.

Bill Introduced: S.108 IDEA Full Funding Act

Open Congress : Major Bill Actions in Education programs funding - 5 days ago

A bill to amend part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to provide full Federal funding of such part.

Bill Introduced: H.R.403 To amend the percentage of funds appropriated under title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 required to be reserved for outlying areas and the Secretary of the Interior.

Open Congress : Major Bill Actions in Education programs funding - 5 days ago

To amend the percentage of funds appropriated under title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 required to be reserved for outlying areas and the Secretary of the Interior.

Bill Introduced: S.120 Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act

Open Congress : Major Bill Actions in Education programs funding - 5 days ago

A bill to expand the number of scholarships available to Pakistani women under the Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program.

School Tech Connect: Joe Moore: He Wants A Charter At Gale

School Tech Connect: Joe Moore: He Wants A Charter At Gale:

Joe Moore: He Wants A Charter At Gale

I can't keep doing this..... I don't know how to describe this feeling to all the suburban people who really aren't paying attention to the CPS closings.  You basically have to go to battle with the system night after night after night. My colleagues go home after work--- I prep for war.

Gale had a lovely evening tonight. Craig Benes came out to bask in an evening of not getting yelled at. He wears expertly tailored pants; I never noticed that before. Skinny pants, even. I wish I could carry off that look.  Joe Moore actually materialized instead of being at  whatever non-ward related thing he was "previously scheduled" at. fracking, foie gras, I don't know where he was. Clearly the ward office clued him in into the political disaster he's vacillated into.

I love Gale school. I'm glad they had a chance to review all the great programming they do, and to have those things affirmed. But it's bittersweet, isn't it? Being saved from extinction when so many others weren't; that won't sit will with the Gale community over time. 

Mission Hill Chapter Two: Singing the Same Song | The IDEA Blog

Mission Hill Chapter Two: Singing the Same Song | The IDEA Blog:

Mission Hill Chapter Two: Singing the Same Song

by Dana Bennis in Blog

This is a guest post by Laura Thomas, Director of the Antioch Center for School Reform.  Laura is currently involved in research around the experiences of students and educators in rural environments, particularly in the areas of social justice. Additionally, she is continuing her work in the study of school change (particularly resistance to change) as well as student advocacy and engagement in the change process.
 

“This little light of mine/ I’m gonna let it shine…”

As Chapter 2 of A Year at Mission Hill School ended with kids singing these words, I was struck by the similarities between this moment and one I’ve observed often at Symonds School in Keene, New Hampshire.  The simple act of sharing a song may seem insignificant in the big picture of schools and student achievement, but in this case it represents a common culture built on community and relationships that is the foundation of both schools.

A neighborhood school founded in 1881, Symonds is a k-5 public school of fewer than 400 students.  The Symonds community shares Mission Hill’s commitment to “forming relationships, building trust, and discovering what makes each person unique,” but