ICYMI: Mom's Birthday Edition (11/9)
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My mother will be checking off another year around the sun this week.
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Latest News and Comment from Education
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ICYMI: Mom's Birthday Edition (11/9) - My mother will be checking off another year around the sun this week. We held a modest celebration yesterday because she doesn't like a fuss. Fair enough...3 hours ago
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Sunday, December 29, 2013
Q & A: Transforming toxic school cultures | EdSource Today
Q & A: Transforming toxic school cultures | EdSource Today:
Anthony Muhammad, author of The Will to Lead, the Skill to Teach: Transforming Schools at Every Level
For Anthony Muhammad, a widely recognized expert on school culture, the success of California’s big push to improve public schools rests on the ability of administrators and teachers to put aside blame, learn to talk to each other and work together to support their belief that every student can be successful – which is his definition of a healthy school culture.
Muhammad grew up in Flint, Mich., where he said he learned first-hand how teachers can subtly encourage or discourage their students. A former teacher and middle school principal, he is the co-author of “The Will to Lead, the Skill to Teach: Transforming Schools at Every Level” and the author of“Transforming School Culture: How to Overcome Staff Division.”He has presented his work on creating healthy school cultures to improve student achievement to many schools, districts and educational organizations, including Vallejo City Unified School District, Region 4 of the California Regional System of District and School Support, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Hanford, and the Santa Clara County Office of Education.
Muhammad talked to EdSource by phone from Michigan about school reform, “toxic” school cultures and how administrators and teachers can have tough conversations. Excerpts of the interview are below.
EdSource: As you know, California is in the midst of a momentous change in how it funds education, with more money intended to go to schools that have a high concentration of kids with low incomes. At the same time, Common Core State Standards are being introduced. Many people are excited about new possibilities, but some might say, “Oh, yet another effort to reform.” What
V.A.M.: Value Added Measure: What's In A Name, Or A Title?
V.A.M.: Value Added Measure: What's In A Name, Or A Title?:
Who wouldn’t want to quote both Wayne’s World and a great 19th century Danish philosopher?
What's In A Name, Or A Title?
Once you label me, you negate me Søren Kierkegaard
So, what does it really take to become a leading voice in the 21st century educational reform movement? Well, while sitting in my kitchen; overlooking the Atlantic, it dawned on me. Suddenly the answer materialized, an epiphany, my satori, I realized what it is that I’m missing if I’m ever to be a serious educational reformist.
Now, I can provide a simple answer, or I could go on some longwinded and highly tangential screed, a tirade where I primarily lambast all of the men and women (et al Nitwits) that comprise the great educational reform movement, complete with their grand design and best intentions to restore America’s school system to that exemplar of excellence that it once held within the pantheon of all the other trailblazing nations that have pioneered educational gains and milestones. (That sentence will rack up a myriad of *lexile points) However, I have very little interest in ridiculing the many unrealistic, pedantic and all too tiresome excuses put forth by the deformation of the reformation.
*See Lexile Dysfunction V.A.M. (12/16)
I have decided instead, to allocate all of my resources to discovering what it is that makes someone become an elite reformer. I’ve racked my brain just trying to figure out what
The Educated Reporter: EWA National Awards for Education Reporting: Tips and Tools From Past Winners
The Educated Reporter: EWA National Awards for Education Reporting: Tips and Tools From Past Winners:
EWA National Awards for Education Reporting: Tips and Tools From Past Winners
EWA is now accepting entries for our 2013 National Awards for Education Reporting. You can find all the pertinent details here. We've added some new categories this year, including data journalism and education organizations and experts. I thought this would be a good opportunity to look back at some of thewinners of the 2012 contest, who were featured at our 66th National Seminar at Stanford University in May. Today's guest blogger is education reporter and editor Cathy Grimes of the Daily Press in Hampton Roads, Va.
Think your sources are slow responding to your FOIA requests? Try waiting more than 12 years for the data you need to tell an important story about truant students. David Jackson and Gary Marx, of the Chicago Tribune, were among five reporters and writers who shared the challenges, strategies and rewards of their prize-winning stories during a session at EWA’s National Seminar.
Jackson and Marx won the 2013 Fred. M. Hechinger Grand Prize for Distinguished Reporting for their series “An Empty-desk Epidemic,” an investigation of
Think your sources are slow responding to your FOIA requests? Try waiting more than 12 years for the data you need to tell an important story about truant students. David Jackson and Gary Marx, of the Chicago Tribune, were among five reporters and writers who shared the challenges, strategies and rewards of their prize-winning stories during a session at EWA’s National Seminar.
Jackson and Marx won the 2013 Fred. M. Hechinger Grand Prize for Distinguished Reporting for their series “An Empty-desk Epidemic,” an investigation of
De Blasio Is Said to Choose Schools Chancellor - NYTimes.com
De Blasio Is Said to Choose Schools Chancellor - NYTimes.com:
De Blasio Is Said to Choose Schools Chancellor
By JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ
Published: December 29, 2013
Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio will appoint Carmen Fariña, a former top official of the New York City Education Department, as the next schools chancellor, a person with knowledge of the decision said on Sunday.
Ms. Fariña, 70, is a veteran of the school system, having served as a teacher, principal and district superintendent, and retired as a deputy chancellor in 2006. She met Mr. de Blasio in the late 1990s while he was serving as a school district board member in Brooklyn and emerged as an influential adviser on education during his bid for mayor. Ms. Fariña shares Mr. de Blasio’s skepticism of standardized testing and his focus on early education.
Aides to Mr. de Blasio did not respond immediately to a request for comment late Sunday. Reached at her home on Sunday night, Ms. Fariña declined to comment.
NYC DOE Investigator Lawrence Scott Texts Privates to Teacher He Is Investigating for Corporal Punishment
http://www.southbronxschool.com:
Another "Wow! moment" in the annals of the New York Post, the DOE, it's investigative process, and Uncle Mike's Reign of Terror.
The Post outed OSI investigator Lawrence Scott in not only telling Natalya Sokolson Gordon, a
computer and fifth-grade teacher at PS 329 in Coney Island, that her;
But worse, even more degrading is that Investigator Lawrence Scott sent Ms. Gordon; scores of X-rated texts, a photo of his penis and explicit demands for sex
Obviously he has some serious Freudian issues here.
Soon Investigator Scott told Ms. Gordon that he "likes it dirty" and to call him when she gets the
NYC DOE Investigator Lawrence Scott Texts Privates to Teacher He Is Investigating for Corporal Punishment
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| OSI Investigator Lawrence Scott |
The Post outed OSI investigator Lawrence Scott in not only telling Natalya Sokolson Gordon, a
computer and fifth-grade teacher at PS 329 in Coney Island, that her;
“I have the power to get rid of you just like that,” she said he told her, snapping his fingers, “or I can make everything go away.”Nothing earth shattering really with that revelation my pal and all around first-rate blogger Chaz shared how the investigative process works over 5 years ago.
But worse, even more degrading is that Investigator Lawrence Scott sent Ms. Gordon; scores of X-rated texts, a photo of his penis and explicit demands for sex
Obviously he has some serious Freudian issues here.
Soon Investigator Scott told Ms. Gordon that he "likes it dirty" and to call him when she gets the
Glenda Ritz, Gov. Mike Pence education tussle spills over to cyberspace
Glenda Ritz, Gov. Mike Pence education tussle spills over to cyberspace:
Glenda Ritz, Gov. Mike Pence education tussle spills over to cyberspace
Analysis by Star reporters and columnists of state, local and federal government decision-making
Another sign of the education struggle between state schools chief Glenda Ritz and Gov. Mike Pence’s administration emerged online last week.
When viewers went to the State Board of Education web page,http://doe.in.gov/stateboard, it was no longer functional on the state Department of Education’s website.
That’s because it’s been moved to the website of Pence’s new education agency, the Center for Education and Career Innovation, known as CECI (http://www.in.gov/ceci/).
Guess the governor’s new agency figured that since the board was “officially” under the auspices of CECI, that its website should be, too. The board’s funding and staff have been under this new agency since it was created by executive order in August. The agency has no statutory power, but Ritz, who chairs the board, contends it’s chipping away at the responsibilities of her administration.
However, a CECI spokeswoman points out the board’s website still can be linked to
12-29-13 Seattle Schools Community Forum
Seattle Schools Community Forum:
Ed Reform and NY State
End of the Year Stories about Students
Out of Florida via Ed Week:A new Florida bill would ensure that the state's high school students have a little more time to catch up on their sleep. Filed by state Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican, the bill would make it impossible for any Florida high schools to begin the school day before 8 a.m. starting with the 2014-2015 school year, reports the Tampa Tribune.A recent Education Week story highlig
Ed Reform and NY State
New York State, and in particular, NYC, is a great place to consider what has happened and what changes may be coming for ed reform. Call it the ghost of ed reform today, the future and, of course, the past. NYC - the ghost of ed reform in the futureNaturally, all the change in how NYC will based on new mayor-elect, Bill de Blasio. Here's a selection of what he pledged during the campaign from
12-28-13 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week
Seattle Schools Community Forum:Seattle Schools Community ForumTalking about Teaching MathFirst, a link to a great interview in the NY Times with Liping Ma, a former teacher and principal in China, who writes about the differences in how China and the US teach math. Important reading if you care about math instruction (thanks to reader Dan Dempsey).The writing below is from a member of the SPS ma
12-29-13 Ed Notes Online
Ed Notes Online:
Skynet is Coming: On the movie "Her", artificial intelligence, neural networks and The Terminator
In coming years, the approach will make possible a new generation of artificial intelligence systems that will perform some functions that humans do with ease: see, speak, listen, navigate, manipulate and control. NY Times The scary thing is that I actually understood today's NY Times front-page story "Brainlike Computers, Learning From Experience." In the late 80s I really did study th
NY Post Points to Corruption in OSI, DOE Investigations Unit?
In a meeting at his office on Nov. 14, 2012, Gordon said, Scott boasted that he could get teachers fired — or off the hook. “I have the power to get rid of you just like that,” she said he told her, snapping his fingers, “or I can make everything go away.” The scandal undermines the integrity of the DOE’s Office of Special Investigations, where Scott worked for three years... NY PostUPDATE FROM PO
12-28-13 Ed Notes Online Week
Ed Notes Online: Ed Notes OnlinePaul Krugmam on the imbalanced boss-worker power relationship applied to NYC principals and teachersThe 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
Troubling Stories That Broke During Holidays about Education in Denver and D.C. | janresseger
Troubling Stories That Broke During Holidays about Education in Denver and D.C. | janresseger:
Troubling Stories That Broke During Holidays about Education in Denver and D.C.
The holidays are a busy time. It is easy to miss important news, and it is also a good time for unsavory news to be released quietly. Here are two tidbits you may have missed in the past week.
DENVER—According to the Denver Post and Denver’s ABC Channel 7 News, on Christmas Eve, a judge in Colorado ruled that the Douglas County School District (Denver, Aurora, Boulder) violated campaign laws when white papers were commissioned to praise the school board’s conservative, so called “corporate school reform” practices in the lead up to the November school board election.
Rick Hess, education policy staffer at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), was hired to “‘research, create and publicize’ a white paper that would describe the district’s reforms, explain what made them unique, and ‘describe some of the advantages of the model.’” Hess and AEI were paid $30,000—half from the school district’s public funds and the other $15,000 from the Douglas County School District Foundation, a 501(C)(3). The school district circulated Hess’s paper to 85,000 subscribers. According to Channel 7 News, “The final report uses superlatives like, ‘unusually ambitious,’ ‘remarkable,’ ‘bold,’ ‘illuminating’ and ‘cage-busting leaders,’ to describe the reform agenda.”
The judge also found against the school district for inducing the Douglas County School District Foundation to pay former U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett $50,000 to produce
Helen Gym: Agitator for School Reform
Helen Gym: Agitator for School Reform:
Helen Gym: The Agitator
Fiery Helen Gym has been the bane of school reformers. Is she eyeing the mayor’s office next?
Photograph by Colin Lenton
Helen Gym advances, and Mayor Nutter inches warily back. She waves a thick stack of papers at him, each sheath a complaint lodged by parents lamenting the calamitous conditions in Philadelphia’s reeling public schools. There’s the kid with dangerous asthma at the school without a nurse on hand. The dyslexic, orphaned high-school senior applying for colleges with no counselor to lean on. The bullying victim who fled Overbrook High only to find it impossible to enroll at another school.
“This is what we’re fighting against,” Gym tells Nutter. The Mayor is just a few yards from his office door, but he’s the one shifting his feet, looking to get away.
Minutes earlier, Gym had wrapped up a news conference in the ornate Mayor’s Reception Room, where, with the assistance of City Council, she’d usurped a podium usually used by Nutter and his invited guests. Gym and her allies were there to tout their latest pressure tactic: written complaints designed to compel the state to meet basic education standards and shake loose some badly needed dollars for the district.
“It would be nice to have your support, Mayor,” Gym tells him. Nutter issues a few noncommittal mumbles, cleans his glasses, and back-steps for the stairway. Gym shrugs. Powerful figures often look for the exits when she approaches.
That’s what happens when you develop a rep as perhaps Philadelphia’s preeminent public agitator. Relentless, whip-smart, meticulously prepared and utterly fearless, Gym—a private citizen who works without the heft of any meaningful institutional support—has managed to
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