The Washington Teacher: Inhumane Learning Conditions at DC's Orr Elementary School: Learning in a Vault: Inhumane Learning Conditions at DC's Orr Elementary School: Learning in a VaultBy Candi PetersonOrr Elementary Vault classroomvault. a room or compartment, often built ofor lined with steel, reserved for the storageand safekeeping of valuables, especially sucha place in a bank.At Benjamin Orr e

Attack on Teacher Pensions: IRTA Sues for Rights – Sarasota, FL meeting update (Part 1) | Reclaim Reform: Attack on Teacher Pensions: IRTA Sues for Rights – Sarasota, FL meeting update (Part 1)Posted on February 6, 2014by Ken PrevitiLiving modestly in inexpensive retirement communities in Florida, many Illinois teacher retirees are deeply concerned about their delayed earned compensation (pensions

Never Ask a Question You Already Know the Answer To — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOGNever Ask a Question You Already Know the Answer ToFebruary 6, 2014 by John HinesOften as teachers we follow this movie lawyer cliché in our classrooms: We ask questions that we have seen lead our students through a lesson like a well-rehearsed play. While the actors may change, the roles and the concl

It’s Sommer Time: TFA alum Critiques Co-CEO’s “Slick Willie” Interview | Cloaking Inequity: It’s Sommer Time: TFA alum Critiques Co-CEO’s “Slick Willie” InterviewI recently caught a rebroadcast of PBS’ American Experience: Clinton, and was reminded that today’s future “first man” was once dubbed “Slick Willie” by the press due to his mastery of duplicitousness in dancing around controversies. Howe

NYC Educator: The ATRs Are Coming!: The ATRs Are Coming!The Daily News has a piece about Absent Reserve Teachers, and oh no, new chancellor Carmen Fariña is actually thinking of putting them to work! The headline itself trumpets they are "considered undesirable by principals."The article suggests this move could save the city $100 million a year, but that's not remotely its main thrust..

Is School Funding Fair in Your State? | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity: Is School Funding Fair in Your State?Posted on: Thursday February 6th, 2014What does "fair" school funding look like? What is it exactly that education advocates and organizers are calling for when they rally at state capitols demanding more money for their school

Seattle Schools Community Forum: KUOW wants Input on Transportation ChangesWant to talk about it to KUOW?  Call Andy Hurst, KUOW producer, ASAP.  They air at noon.Desk: 206.616.7649Cell: 206.617.3302by Melissa Westbrook / 19min  2-5-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum WeekSeattle Schools Community Forum: Advanced Learning: Where are going?Some updates:- according to the AL webpage, as of yesterday,

Thomas Steyer, Michael Bloomberg, and Jonathan Soros give big to super PACs: The next step in the evolution of money politics.: The Rise of the Vanity Super PACs4249For the super-wealthy with a cause, super PACs are in vogue.Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave about $6 million to his own Independence USA PAC in 2013. The first generation of super PACs operated as shadow party committ

Green Ribbon Schools for 2014 - Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education): State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Nominates Three Schools,One School District as 2014 U.S. Green Ribbon SchoolsENCINITAS—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today nominated San Diego County's Encinitas Union School District, Lowell and Twain Elementary Schools of Long Beach, and San Domenico School of San Anselm

Student Voice: #StuVoice Twitter Chat 2.10 – #StuVoice in the Classroom  Join us this Monday, February 10th to hear about the power of Student Voices in the classroom! We will be joined by teachers who have each implemented an environment where student voices are valued and heard, and we will be talking with them about how to create and maintain such an environment. We will talk about what challen

A day of Common Core training | Seattle Education: A day of Common Core trainingTo follow is an excerpt of a post written by a teacher who experienced a day of training for the Common Core Standards (CCS).We began the pivot toward the actual point of the by re-affirming that how we teach should be how we assess. Don’t do a project and then give a test– use the project as the actual assessment. Not

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District): Schools failing to protect students from abuse, US saysVia EdSource | By Jane Meredith Adams The failure of U.S. schools to protect students from sexual abuse by school personnel is a story of district cover-ups, lack of training, incomplete teacher background checks and little guidance from the U.S. Depa

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Deasy Addresses “School Choice Week” Photo-Op Event At Union Stationby smf for 4LAKidsNews from the NSCW Facebook Page. How many kids do you see who should’ve been in school? 6 Feb 2014  :: A week ago  Dr. John Deasy, the superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District took time from his busy schedule running the nation’s second largest school dis

@ THE CHALK FACE: Teflon, Fatalism, and AccountabilityTeflon, Fatalism, and Accountability. via Teflon, Fatalism, and Accountability.1 by plthomasedd / 22min 2-5-14 @ The Chalk Face@ THE CHALK FACE: The Moratorium Miracle: Delaying PARCC Can Actually Help Save ItToday I read two articles regarding testing and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). After reading both, I am left with the same thoug

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): Teflon, Fatalism, and AccountabilityOne legacy of Ronald Reagan’s presidency is his being tagged the Teflon president, as Patricia Schroeder explained: As a young congresswoman, I got the idea of calling President Reagan the “Teflon president” while fixing eggs for my ki

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team: Brown calls for new fees on teacher preparation reviewEducation HeadlinesThursday, February 6, 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.Lodi Unified School District officials approve raises for teachersLodi Un

Civil Rights Hero James Meredith Issues the American Child's Education Bill of Rights - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher: Civil Rights Hero James Meredith Issues the American Child's Education Bill of RightsBy Anthony Cody on February 6, 2014 10:30 AMA while back I shared  a review of James Meredith's memoir, A Mission From God: A Memoir And A Challenge For America.For those too young t

Trust Minnesotans, not outside franchises, on school reform | Star Tribune: Trust Minnesotans, not outside franchises, on school reformArticle by: DENISE SPECHT Updated: February 5, 2014 - 6:31 PMA dogmatic bunch, including the controversial Michelle Rhee, will make presentations at an event in St. Paul on Thursday.Rhee-lated $tory: Michelle Rhee answers Ravitch in New Bookal$o $ee Rhee-lated $tor

BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTSLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 2-6-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for allDiane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Inquiring Reporter Wants to Know: Who Is Sponsoring Minneapolis Education Summit?The Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce announced an “education summit” on February 8, featuring the ever-controversia

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Inquiring Reporter Wants to Know: Who Is Sponsoring Minneapolis Education Summit?The Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce announced an “education summit” on February 8, featuring the ever-controversial Michelle Rhee (who canceled out of our debate at Lehigh University on February 6). The original sponsors, in addition to the Chamber, in

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Aldermen Bob Fioretti (2nd), Scott Waguespack (32nd), Brendan Reilly (42nd) and John Arena (45th). That’s it.Aldermen Bob Fioretti (2nd), Scott Waguespack (32nd), Brendan Reilly (42nd) and John Arena (45th). That’s it. Those are the names of the Chicago aldermen who voted against Rahm’s plan to add an

Wait What?: Connecticut Commissioner of Education Stefan Pryor must goEven putting aside the fact that Governor Dannel Malloy’s re-election dreams face an insurmountable hurdle if Commissioner of Education Stefan Pryor and his gang of corporate education reform industry staff and consultants remain in place; Pryor must go if Malloy and the Democrats are truly interested in improving the state of t

The Answer Sheet: A really scary headline about kindergartenersRob Saxton is Oregon’s deputy superintendent of public instruction. Jada Rupley is the early learning system director within the state Department of Education. Together they wrote an op-ed in The Oregonian that was published online with this headline:  Kindergarten test results a ‘sobering snapshot’ What could possibly be sobering abou

Schools Matter: Two Decades Is Enough to Show Value-Added Is a Scamby Joey Garrison at The Tennessean:Tennessee’s largest teachers union has turned against the policy of including student learning gains in the evaluation of teachers, a flip that shows its growing discomfort with a major Race to the Top reform.When Tennessee applied for $501 million in federal Race to the Top funds in 2010, a criti

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education: Florida’s Race-Based Goals and Test Reliance Slammed in Senate ChamberA remarkable press conference was called by an influential Florida state senator yesterday to highlight contradictions in its accountability system. Bill Cotterell writes in the Florida Current: A stat

Education - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress: Bill Introduced: H.R. 3983: Total Learning ActTo establish a competitive grant program assisting the development of innovative early learning curricula for low-income children.6h hide  //  saveBill Introduced: S. 1968: Scholarships for Kids ActA bill to allow States to let Federal funds for the education of disadvantaged children follow low-income children

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: This Week In Web 2.0In yet another attempt to get at the enormous backlog I have of sites worth , I’ve recently begin a regular feature called “The Week In Web 2.0.” (you might also be interested in The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2013): ExamTime is sort of a flashcard site on steroids that provides a number

Perdido Street School: The Problem With Always Making Students Show Their WorkFrom David Ginsburg at Ed Week:As a new teacher, I upheld the longstanding requirement among math teachers that students must always show their work. And like many teachers, I deducted points when students refused to comply. But the more pushback I got from them--"you shouldn't make us work the problems out if we al

With A Brooklyn Accent: Guest Post by Art Believeau " I Used to Be a Good TeacherGuest Post by Art Believeau" I Used to Be a Good Teacher"http://mrbchs.blogspot.com/2014/02/i-used-to-be-good-teacher.html.by Mark Naison / 4h hide  //  saveWhy the Left as Well as the Right Opposes Common Core- A VideoWhy the Left as Well as the Right Opposes Common CoreA Speech to Parents in Peekskill

GoPublicSchool.com « An open discussion of public school issues. GoPublicSchool.com: Vergara v. California: The agendas, the facts…Ben Spielberg at 34Justice… “Ted Boutros believes corporations that destroy lives with reckless policies should suffer minimal financial penalties in court.  Boutros’s partner, Marcellus McRae, proudly defends white-collar criminals.  Eli Broad pretended to support Pro

empathyeducates: Down With TextbooksAmy Conn-Gutierrez/AP Photo By David Cutler | The Atlantic. January 31, 2014 When it comes to teaching history, nothing destroys student interest faster and more completely than a heavy reliance on textbooks. During my first three years of teaching high-school history I would see students’ eyes glaze […]by empathy / 4h hide  //  saveTrayvon’s Birth Date Marked W

Where inBloom Wilted | EdSurge News: 'Where inBloom WiltedLessons from inBloom’s difficult first yearCreative CommonsJudging by this recent headline in the Washington Post, inBloom is anything but in bloom.Back in March 2013, inBloom had a big coming-out party at SXSWedu, with a posh room filled with suede white couches and promises of a game-changing data warehousing tool for U.S. school district

How Gates Foundation Helps Shape Public Education Policy | janresseger: How Gates Foundation Helps Shape Public Education PolicyPosted on February 6, 2014 by janressegerStephanie Simon has written a major article for Politico on the growing political influence of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.Simon describes the Foundation’s investment in driving policy in public education: “About $400 mil

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The Whitenizing of Detroit: The Whitenizing of DetroitI'm heading to Detroit next week for the annual meeting of the North Dakota Study Group. I used to attend every year for at least part of the meeting. But since it was moved from near Chicago to Motown, I haven't been able to make the trip. But withdrawal has been tough. I miss hanging out with some of the best pr

Portland Public Schools teachers vote to authorize a strike, walkout set for Feb. 20 | OregonLive.com: Portland Public Schools teachers vote to authorize a strike, walkout set for Feb. 20Portland Public Schools teachers gathered Wednesday to vote to authorize a strike. They've been negotiating with district leaders since April. (Emily Jan/The Oregonian)Portland Public Schools teachers have authori

solidaridad: Stoner Public Elementary School community to hold protest against corporate charter school co-location: Stoner Public Elementary School community to hold protest against corporate charter school co-locationPress release – Stoner Elementary community to hold protest against charter school co-location that is creating segregation and safety issues on and around campus.FOR IMMEDIATE RELE

All Standards will Be In Effect Until the Next Earthquake | Gatsby In L.A.: All Standards will Be In Effect Until the Next EarthquakePosted on February 5, 2014“The times, they are a-changin’,” Carlos Gordillo warns via email as we arrange for me to visit his Special Ed English class.  Since I talked to him a month ago, one of the small schools on his site has been closed, a charter middle school h

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 CAPRe-election of Tom Torlakson as State Schools Chief - California Teachers Association- California Teachers Association: CTA Votes to Support Re-election of Tom Torlakson as State Schools Chief and Jerry Brown for GovernorContact: Claudia Briggs a