Jersey Jazzman: Chris Cerf's Top Ten Reformy MomentsThe resignation of former Acting Commissioner of Education Chris Cerf deserves a contemplative and appropriately serious response.Until then, I present...Chris Cerf's Top Ten Reformy Moments!#10: That's Not A Knife; THIS Is a Knife!Some more insight into Cerf's world:chewytrain Dale Chu @Chiefs4Change Chris Cerf: "This is a knife fight in a

Ed Notes Online: NYSUT and the NEA: Historical Background, Part 1People have been telling me they are confused about what is really going on in the NYSUT split. To better understand what is happening in NYSUT some of the history might help. Much of the info comes from WikiPedia, plus whatever memory I have left.This is a long one, so hang in there if you can. But I bet if you do things will be a l

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » PSAT for 2-11-14: Educate yourself about some Illinois General Assembly primary candidates!: PSAT for 2-11-14: Educate yourself about some Illinois General Assembly primary candidates!Early voting for the March 18th primary begins March 3, so this is a good time to educate yourself about who’s running and what they stand for, especially in

Opinion: The Battle for Public Schools & 'White Suburban Moms': Unpacking Arne Duncan’s Latest Insult - emPower magazine: Opinion: The Battle for Public Schools & ‘White Suburban Moms’: Unpacking Arne Duncan’s Latest InsultWritten by Denisha JonesinShareSocial media is in frenzy over the insulting remarks made by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. As reported in the Washington Post Answer

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education: Pam Stewart Snubs Teachers in Recognizing AP Success, ParticipationFrom an FDOE press release: Tallahassee, Fla., February 11, 2014 – Florida earned high marks for the percentage of graduates from the class of 2013 who took an Advanced Placement (AP) exam while in high s

Why False Compromises Won’t Resolve The Education Debate: Why False Compromises Won’t Resolve The Education DebateLegend has, political disputes are supposed to be resolvable only when parties “meet in the middle” and shake hands on points of agreement that are possible.But in the much-contested issue of “education reform,” only one of the disputing parties in the debate tends to be implored to se

Testing Resistance & Reform News: February 5 - 11, 2014 | FairTest: Testing Resistance & Reform News: February 5 - 11, 2014Submitted by fairtest on February 11, 2014 - 2:12pm news  otherThe ever-louder drumbeat of opposition to standardized test misuse and overuse is now being heard in more than a dozen state capitals.  Across the country, governors, legislatures, and other education polic

Chicago Teachers Union | The Great Chicago Pension Caper is Underway: The Great Chicago Pension Caper is UnderwayBY CTU COMMUNICATIONS  |  02/10/2014CHICAGO – The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) vowed to stand firm in its defense of the retirement security of thousands of retired public school educators in the wake of new threats by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his legislative allies to fire another 3,000

California's Progress in Advanced Placement Exams - Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education): State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Commends California'sSignificant Progress in Advanced Placement® Exams Over Past DecadeSACRAMENTO—Annual Advanced Placement® (AP) results released today show that the number of California public high school graduates taking and passing AP courses continues to climb, with the numb

ED Pulse Poll Results: What Is Most Important in Building School Morale? — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOGED Pulse Poll Results: What Is Most Important in Building School Morale?February 11, 2014 by Kit Harris, ASCD ResearchASCD continually seeks to provide solutions to the challenges that face educators of all levels. A recentASCD SmartBrief ED Pulse poll asked readers asked readers w

 Badass Moms Association:Badass Moms Association Badass Moms Association on Facebook: BACKGROUND: A group of mothers found each other this past year while facing school closings, budget cuts, charter school expansions, teacher layoffs and high-stake testing in Chicago Public Schools. We are from all over the city of Chicago and came together with one common goal. TO SAVE OUR CHILDREN and OUR NEIGH

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District): Morning Read: Wifi upgrades push iPad cost to $1.3 billionLA schools’ wifi networks to cost about $800 million The Los Angeles Unified School District’s board is scheduled to green light $66 million in wifi upgrades Tuesday, bringing the total reported costs of wifi upgrades need for its iPad proposal to

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Tuesday Open ThreadOne of the most cherished memories of my childhood is gone.  Shirley Temple Black died today at the age of 85.  She gave laughter and hope to many after the Depression.  It's hard to pick a favorite moment from her films but her dazzling dance ability was apparent when she danced with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in the The Littlest Rebel.

Wait What?: Steve Perry, the reader known as “Reality Ed” and disaster know as Capital PrepAs Wait, Wait? has investigated the allegations associated with Capital Prep Steve Perry and the potential violations of federal and state laws and Hartford regulations and policies at Capital Prep, readers have become accustomed to the constant comments and attacks from Steve Perry or one or more of his sup

NYC Public School Parents: Tepid recommendations from the Regents taskforce on the Common Core: Tepid recommendations from the Regents taskforce on the Common CoreThe most accurate story about the recommendations of the Regents taskforce on the Common Core was reported by WNYC/Schoolbook, which called them "tepid" and "tweaks.” Nevertheless they enraged Gov. Cuomo who called them “t

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team: School suspension rates declineEducation HeadlinesTuesday, February 11, 2014FCMAT provides links to California K-12 news stories as a service to the industry. However, some stories may not be accessible because of newspapers' subscription policies.Conejo Valley Unified expects to have budget surplus next fiscal yearThe Conejo Valley Unified S

Is School Desegregation a Failed Movement? - Dana Goldstein: Is School Desegregation a Failed Movement?I turned in the revisions of my book to my publisher yesterday (!), so my plan for the next few weeks is to get back into the swing of daily journalism. So. Over at Slate, Tanner Colby is writing a series on "The Massive Liberal Failure on Race." His first entry was "how the left’s

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Zimmer’S Plan For Lausd District 1 Vacancy Facing Big Voteby LA School Report | http://bit.ly/1glP5Ze Posted on February 10, 2014 The LA Unified school board has an unusually long agenda for its monthly meeting on Tuesday, 39 items plus a handful of reports and updates. Each has consequences but few of them carry the import and emotional impact of Steve

@ THE CHALK FACE: “What These Children Are Like”: Rejecting Deficit Views of Poverty and Language“What These Children Are Like”: Rejecting Deficit Views of Poverty and Language. via “What These Children Are Like”: Rejecting Deficit Views of Poverty and Language.1 by plthomasedd / 34min 2-10-14 @ The Chalk Face@ THE CHALK FACE: Progressivism and Whole Language: A ReaderProgressivism and Whole Langu

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): “What These Children Are Like”: Rejecting Deficit Views of Poverty and Language“I am an invisible man,” begins Ralph Ellison‘s enduring modern classic Invisible Man, which transforms a science fiction standard into a metaphor for the African American condition in the U.S

California School Officials Debunk Right-Wing Lies About Transgender Student Law | Blog | Media Matters for America: California School Officials Debunk Right-Wing Lies About Transgender Student LawBlog ››› 2 hours and 9 minutes ago ››› LUKE BRINKER124Evidence continues to mount that a new California law allowing transgender public school students to use the restroom facilities that correspond to t

Monstrous Labels, Part I: Springtime for Hitler - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher: Monstrous Labels, Part I: Springtime for HitlerBy Nancy Flanagan on February 11, 2014 10:24 AMPrologue, quoting from a blog I wrote in the spring of 2009:[Recently] I wrote a piece describing a particularly vociferous and opinionated group of education bloggers and commenters as "reform Nazis

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Rotten to the CORE: Rotten to the CORE The following piece was written by fellow Sacramento Teacher, Lori Jablonski and appears on The Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education Website:Few would argue that we need relief from the test-driven reform failure that is No Child Left Behind; unfortunately, the remedy that President Obama and Secretary of Educ

BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTSLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 2-11-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for allDiane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Teacher: Why “Stupid Bubble Tests” Are MeaninglessIn this post, which arrived a few days ago as a comment, Ron Lapekas, a retired teacher, explains why standardized tests have no value or validi

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Teacher: Why “Stupid Bubble Tests” Are MeaninglessIn this post, which arrived a few days ago as a comment, Ron Lapekas, a retired teacher, explains why standardized tests have no value or validity for many students: “I am a retired teacher. I always thought the SBT’s (Stupid Bubble Tests) had little value for my East Los Angeles 99

The Problem of Standards and Kindergarteners | Truth in American Education: The Problem of Standards and KindergartenersFiled in Common Core State Standards, Education at State Level by Shane Vander Hart on February 11, 2014 • 0 Comments34Valarie Strauss had a good piece in Answer Sheet last week addressing the issue of Kindergarteners and standards.  She notes the problem as Kindergarten has lite

The Answer Sheet: Snow days don’t hurt student achievement, study saysThe messy winter weather in many parts of the country have forced schools to close over and over, forcing school districts around the country to alter their schedule for the year to find time to make up for lost instructional time. But is that really necessary? How much do kids lose when school is closed […]    24 by Valerie Str

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog: Pussy Riot on ColbertNadya Tolokonnikova and Masha Alyokhina, the former members of the Russian group Pussy Riot, who spent two years in prison stopped by the Colbert Report to discuss their imprisonment, Vladimir Putin and human rights.  They're remarkable.   Part One and Part Twoby L. Jablonski / 8h Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog 2-8-14Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog:D.C's &qu

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: I Began This Blog Seven Years Ago: Here Are My All-Time Most Popular PostsWow! Seven years ago, I began writing this blog. Nearly fourteen thousand posts, twelve hundred “The Best…” lists, five million visitors, and six books later, I’m still at it….I hope I’ve got at least another seven years of writing in me…. It’s been q

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: I received a Christmas card from an NEA director.In December I received a Christmas card from a member of the National Education Association’s Board of Directors. It was nice. I didn’t even know the guy. How did he know my home address? He has access to every member’s home address and contact informat

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement": “Famed Harlem Children’s Program Will Get New Leader”Famed Harlem Children’s Program Will Get New Leader is the New York Times headline about Geoffrey Canada’s departure from being Director of the Harlem Children’s Zone (he will, however, stay on as President of its Board). It doesn’t quite fit, but I’ll still add this info

The Louisiana Department of Education rushed and ruined the implementation of Common Core, on purpose and for quick cash | Crazy Crawfish's Blog: The Louisiana Department of Education rushed and ruined the implementation of Common Core, on purpose and for quick cashPosted on February 10, 20146I’ve been researching this story for close to 4 months now talking to local superintendents, teachers, par

V.A.M.: Value Added Measure: The Common-Core Vending Machine: The Common-Core Vending MachineNo need to insert dollar bills or coins at this time.  You simply make your selection from the wide array of common cores.  Press the button and federal funding will spill from the machine straight to your hand.  Don't forget to take the apple, too!by Adam Bergstein / 3h hide  //  savePink Floyd's "A

Perdido Street School: Chris Cerf Leaving As New Jersey Education CommissionerProbably got nothing to do with BridgeGate, but another member of the Christie crew is slinking out:New Jersey Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf, who pushed for charter schools to give parents more choices and helped draft a landmark tenure law with the state’s powerful teachers union, is stepping down at the end o

GoPublicSchool.com « An open discussion of public school issues. GoPublicSchool.com: Must watch – Portrait of Inequality…From the Children’s Defense Fund… “Black children in America are being pushed deeper and deeper into an abyss of poverty and despair.” Read it. Spend some time here… What do you think? Read and share comments here… The post Must watch – Portrait of Inequality… appeared first on

We Can’t Measure What We Treasure about Our Best Teachers | janresseger: We Can’t Measure What We Treasure about Our Best TeachersPosted on February 11, 2014 by janressegerMy husband grew up here in Ohio near the town where we now live, and last Sunday afternoon he told me he had noticed in the newspaper that his elementary school was celebrating its hundredth anniversary with an open house.  He w

Shanker Blog » Matching Up Teacher Value-Added Between Different Tests: Matching Up Teacher Value-Added Between Different TestsPosted by Matthew Di Carlo on February 11, 2014The U.S. Department of Education has released a very short, readable report on the comparability of value-added estimates using two different tests in Indiana – one of them norm-referenced (the Measures of Academic Progress te

NYC Educator: Blended Learning: Blended LearningThere's a piece in the New York Post that pretty much confirms everyone's worst suspicions about so-called blended learning. Actually, this particular brand does not appear to have been blended very well at all. In fact, it sounds like the very worst sort of credit recovery, and I only wish it were restricted to that which the story describes.How man

Teacher ratings would be kept private :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet: Debunking myths around Title I, Part A ‘schoolwide’ schoolsDebunking the long standing myths on use of Title I, Part A funds in schools identified as schoolwide will assist you in providing a wider range of academic strategies for updating the entire instructional program

Cerf gone? The viper may be leaving, but the venom lingers on: Guest blog | Bob Braun's Ledger: Cerf gone? The viper may be leaving, but the venom lingers on: Guest blogChristopher CerfBy Becca FieldChris Cerf may be leaving as education commissioner but the toxins he brought to the state education department remain—as will his Broad-financed flunkies who will obediently carry out the policies tha

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Cerf jumps Christie's ship in N.J. Goes to work for Murdoch: Cerf jumps Christie's ship in N.J. Goes to work for MurdochCerf hooks up with MurdochDarling of scandalized Gov. Chris Christie and the state's corporate school "reformers," Chris Cerf is out as New Jersey schools chief. Cerf said Monday he will leave his $141,500-a-year job on Feb. 28 to bec

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: DE BLASIO LEADING THE WAY ON INCOME GAP AND SCHOOL INEQUALITY: DE BLASIO LEADING THE WAY ON INCOME GAP AND SCHOOL INEQUALITYMayor de Blasio delivers his first State of the City Address. Offers "a future of greater equality and opportunity,” N.Y. Mayor Bill de Blasio isn't folding his post-election cards as many predicted, despite stiff opposition from Gov. Cuomo

Nite Cap UPDATEUPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATECORPORATE ED REFORMIn closely watched trial, student testifies one teacher berated her, another was incompetentThe Vergara v. California lawsuit challenges state teacher job protections as unconstitutional.; Credit: Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/KPCC The first of several student plaintiffs - who have sued California claiming teacher job protections robbed them of an

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement":  Infographic: “Ways A Parent Can Help With Spelling”I’m adding this infographic to The Best Infographics About Parent Involvement In Schools:by Larry Ferlazzo / 21min British School Plans Hefty Parent Fines When Kids Are Late — Uh, I Think They Might Want To Rethink That…Emerson Valley School plans fines for pupil lateness

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Week in Class: Weeks 13-20 the Lost Files: Week in Class: Weeks 13-20 the Lost Files I have been a super-bad correspondent since winter break started over a month ago. For this I will apologize. Writing about what I am actually doing in my class is important, and not just for the handful of readers perusing my blog. It’s important for me to think honestly a

NYC Public School Parents: Dr. Johnny Lops, child psychiatrist, reflects on the damaging pressure from testing on NYC parents, teachers and kids: Dr. Johnny Lops, child psychiatrist, reflects on the damaging pressure from testing on NYC parents, teachers and kidsDr. Johnny Lops is a child psychiatrist who works at a hospital in Brooklyn and has a private practice.  His website is at Drjohnnylops.c

The Assessment Landscape - Chris Tienken

The real problem with US Common Core: it further outsources education | Ana Marie Cox | Comment is free | theguardian.com: The real problem with US Common Core: it further outsources educationNew York is the latest to revolt against Common Core. What's especially scary is more business intrusion into the classroomBETAAna Marie Coxtheguardian.com, Monday 10 February 2014 10.44 ESTJump to comments (

James Baldwin said it best: "For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAPStudentsFirst forming small donor campaign fund for local, state elections | EdSource TodayStudentsFirst forming small donor campaign fund for local, state elections | EdSource Today: StudentsFirst forming small donor campaign fund for local, sta