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Thursday, August 15, 2013

An Idiot’s Guide to the Common Core The Santa Barbara Independent

An Idiot’s Guide to the Common Core The Santa Barbara Independent:

An Idiot’s Guide to the Common Core

California Schools Adopt New Standards


Thursday, August 15, 2013
This school year, teachers will begin to implement the most significant changes to classroom instruction since California first adopted standards in 1998. Along with 45 other states, three territories, and Washington, D.C., the Golden State is betting its kids’ futures on new guidelines called the Common Core State Standards. This new touchstone is largely the result of pressure from the federal government, which told states they would be ineligible for Race to the Top funds if they did not adopt internationally vetted standards. (Ironically, California will not be eligible in the near future anyway because both the governor and the California Teachers Association refuse to adopt statewide teacher evaluations based on standardized test scores.)
Common Core does not dictate curricula, but it sets goals for K-12 classrooms that emphasize depth over breadth. The new standards are supposed to be fully implemented by 2015, but that means 

Special Late Nite Cap UPDATE 8-15-13 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2


Nite Cap UPDATE

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CORPORATE ED REFORM




Embracing The Elephant
A Man and His Elephant, by Paula Bronstein When I first saw Michael Petrilli’s list of influential education policy tweeters, I laughed. As usual, it’s as important to see who’s left off the list as to see where they rank. We see through whichever lens is given to us at whatever time we read any piece, as well as create it, so this isn’t a personal attack on Michael or EducationNext (or anyone els


ASCD Leaders on Reflection: Matthew Mingle
ASCD Leaders on Reflection: Matthew Mingle August 15, 2013 by ASCD Whole Child Bloggers Leaders envision a future and great leaders shape that future. With that in mind, we asked ASCD leaders to share their thoughts on what reflection means to them as learners, teachers, and leaders. This post has been generated by Page2RSS


Get Schooled: Political scientist: Druid Hills charter cluster vote was neither fair nor legal.
The Druid Hills High School charter cluster vote prompted this critical response from Georgia State University associate professor Henry F. "Chip" Carey, who has been an official observer of elections worldwide. Carey is the author of  "Reaping What You Sow: A Comparative Examination of Torture ...

How Should We React to White Student Unions?
  Ibram X. Kendi In August 2012, Matthew Heimbach, then a senior at Towson University, formed a “White Student Union.” By April 2013, the first WSU had made national headlines and another was established at Indiana University. Earlier this month, an unofficial WSU appeared at Georgia State University, snatching headlines like its predecessors. Georgia State’s WSU mission statement reads: “The Whit
Obama Administration Plans Changes to Parent PLUS Loans
  The Obama administration is making changes to Parent PLUS Loan regulations. In response to outcries from congressional leaders, organizations, parents and students, the U.S. Department of Education plans to make changes to the PLUS loan programs to address the growing crisis in higher education that has blocked as many as 400,000 students nationwide from enrolling in college, according to figure

Duncan pledges more help for parents seeking federal college loans
The Education Department is taking new steps to help parents obtain federal college loans if their applications are rejected because of minor problems in their credit history — an effort to address complaints about tighter lending standards that has hurt enrollment at historically black colleges and universities. Read full article >>    

Remainders: Democracy Prep’s founder explains its low scores
Seth Andrew explains Democracy Prep’s low test scores and points to more useful measures. (Flypaper) A teacher says the Common Core’s authors erred by putting literacy on a pedestal. (Core Knowledge) Here’s a reminder of Diane Ravitch’s unusual ideological journey on the eve of her new book. (Atlantic) Two thirds of city principals and teachers live in the five boroughs, according to the IBO. (G
On education, mayoral hopefuls don’t talk about their limitations
One mayoral candidate wants to ban testing. Another has pledged to close charter schools. And one wants to raise city income taxes to fund early childhood education. Despite coming from different candidates, the pledges have one thing in common: They can’t be fulfilled from inside City Hall, despite mayoral control of the city’s schools. The legislature and the governor’s office change tax laws an
Beverly Hills schools to review principal's on-campus business
The Beverly Hills Unified School District intends to conduct an independent review of its relationship with a for-profit summer sports camp for Beverly Hills High School athletes that is owned by the school’s principal.
Celebrating DACA’s First Anniversary
This blog post originally appeared in First Focus. Today marks the first year anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals(DACA) program, an initiative introduced by the Administration last summer which provides certain DREAM Act-eligible youth with a renewable two-year reprieve of deportation and the ability to obtain social security cards and work authorization. In just one year, t


How Albany Hurts ELLs | Diane Ravitch’s blog
State Commissioner John King, Regents’ Chancellor Merryl Tisch, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Chancellor Dennis Walcott are proud of the Common Core tests that failed 70% of the children of New York State. They say it is “”very good news” that the tests got much harder. They don’t care that the achievement gaps between the advantaged ...read moreThe post How Albany Hurts ELLs | Diane Ravitch’s blog
How to Survive Education Reform Without Losing Your Job, Your Ideals, or Your Mind | Gary Rubinstein’s Blog
by Gary Rubinstein About a year and a half ago, The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) contacted me to ask if I’d write something for the new teacher edition of the magazine Educational Leadership.  So I wrote something called ‘The Don’ts And Don’ts Of Teaching’ about the sorts of mistakes that new teachers ...read moreThe post How to Survive Education Reform Without Los
“Superintendents get pre-school pep talk from Malloy and Pryor” | Wait, What?
Aug 15 As the CT Mirror reported, “Like a football coach in a pre-game pep talk, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy urged the state’s superintendents Wednesday to have courage as they face the challenge of moving their schools to a new national curriculum with a new standardized test.” In the annual “back to school” Connecticut school ...read moreThe post “Superintendents get pre-school pep talk from Malloy an
In the News: CPS boosts graduate rate to 65.4% | catalyst-chicago.org
By: Cassandra West / August 15, 2013 Chicago Public Schools announced Wednesday that 19,905 of the 30,449 students who entered ninth grade in fall 2008 and completed graduation requirements by this summer are now high school graduates. The district is reporting a 65.4 percent five-year graduation rate, which includes the nearly 50 students who finished ...read moreThe post In the News: CPS boosts
National Briefing | South: Florida: Sit-In Ends at Governor’s Office
The Dream Defenders, a group of students who have been occupying the governor’s office since July 16, called it quits on Thursday.    

A City Borrows So Its Schools Open on Time
The city agreed at the last minute Thursday to borrow $50 million just to be able to reopen schools for the fall with minimum staffing.    



Over jeers and shouts, SRC suspends parts of school code
Entering the overflowing room to a chorus of boos, struggling to be heard above the derisive shouts of hundreds of teachers, students, and parents, the School Reform Commission voted Thursday to suspend parts of the Pennsylvania School Code. The move, permitted by the law under which the state took over the School District in 2001, gives Superintendent William Hite the ability to call back laid-of

Gil Trenum Says “School Pool” Ineffective Use of Taxpayer Funds
The letter below was sent by Brentsville District School Board Representative Gil Trenum to each representative of the PWC Board of County Supervisors and School Board on August 3, 2013.  It is published here, in its entirety, with Mr Trenum’s permission. August 3, 2013 Chairman Stewart, I am writing to you because I am out […]


1. Blooms Taxonomy According to Seinfeld
Added by Thomas Whitby on April 6, 2013
2. World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale
Added by Thomas Whitby on February 2, 2012
3. World Battleground, 1000 years of war in 5 minutes
Added by Thomas Whitby on November 2, 2012

Where there is smoke, there is fire….State Investigating CMT Cheating
Categories: Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) Hartford Malloy Mayor Pedro Segarra Standardized TestingTags: CMTHartfordMalloyMayor Pedro SegarrStandardized TestingStefan PryorA major cheating scandal to improve standardized test results took down the superintendent of schools in Atlanta. Allegations of cheating in the Washington D.C. School System have hounded Michelle Rhee, the Patron Saint of the

Teachers look to film to foster critical thinking
Teachers look to film to foster critical thinking Liana Heitin of Education Week Critical viewing, a foundation of film literacy, is more than just putting on a movie or showing the film adaptation of a novel. Like critical reading, it’s a way of analyzing the components of a text and the choices made during its creation—key emphases of the Common Core Standards. A group of educators participa

The Summer of Teachbad
Mr. Teachbad took a longer than planned vacation. I hope you are enjoying your summer. Mine’s been pretty good. Coming up on the blog we’ll look at the final, unconditional validation of Michelle Rhee. I also owe you Part II of her book review (here is part one) and Part II of the review of Paul Tough’s book How Children Succeed (here is part one). Having none of these things prepared, I will tell


I’m NOT quitting. Well, with #highered at least, I’m done for now.
Personally, I’ve tried to keep a pretty low profile. You must be thinking, “You’re nuts!” But no, I have. I’ve been very careful in the last couple of years especially to keep my name OFF of things. I do the best I can to go as “Chalk Face,” even though anyone with two fingers can […]