Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, March 28, 2014

Nite Cap 3-28-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2



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 CAP




3-28-14 The Whole Child Blog — Engage Students with Motivation 3.0 — Whole Child Education
Engage Students with Motivation 3.0 — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOGEngage Students with Motivation 3.0March 28, 2014 by Klea ScharbergIn this video, Daniel Pink talks to the Patterson Foundation about the need to upgrade our approach to motivation in schools. He uses the metaphor of an outdated computer operating system to characterize motivational practices that rely on punishments
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Your machine politics took a beating, Big Daddy. Get over it.
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Your machine politics took a beating, Big Daddy. Get over it.: Your machine politics took a beating, Big Daddy. Get over it.“Guzzardi was able to walk the district for four years, didn’t have to work, didn’t have to do anything.” -- Joe "Big Daddy" Berrios. My only response to Chicago machine boss Joe Berrios, after reading this inane piece in the Sun-Times
Turnarounds denounced - Substance News
Turnarounds denounced - Substance News: BOARDWATCH: Board's claims about 'turnaround' success are challenged by parents and community leaders while complaints about conflicts of interest are ignored... Parents, union and community leaders denounce AUSL 'network' in Black Chicago, West Side schools as new AUSL turnarounds are proposedGeorge N. Schmidt - March 27, 2014In a series of dramatic moments
3-28-14 The Answer Sheet
The Answer Sheet: The Koch brothers’ influence on college campus is spreadingThere’s been a flurry of recent stories (here, here and here, for example) about the role the billionaire Koch brothers are playing in politics by backing conservative political candidates through a number of organizations that they fund. My Post colleague Matea Gold wrote in this story: The political network spearheaded
3-28-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Friday Open ThreadI have many threads to write - student surveys about teachers, Charter Commission meeting, Work Session on data privacy, transportation and athletics (all had very interesting parts).It appears that LEV has joined forces with the City for the universal pre-school initiative.  This is fine except that LEV has been tweeting that people should send e
Mother Crusader: We All Stand Together! Statewide Advocates Turn Out To Support Newark Public Schools
Mother Crusader: We All Stand Together! Statewide Advocates Turn Out To Support Newark Public Schools: We All Stand Together! Statewide Advocates Turn Out To Support Newark Public SchoolsIt was a great honor to participate in yesterday's NJ Ed March, which brought together education advocates from all over the state, a fact the Star-Ledger failed to mention, instead choosing only to report that &q
LAUSD board member Zimmer says stand with Beatriz against Vergara
LAUSD board member Zimmer says stand with Beatriz against Vergara: LAUSD board member Zimmer says stand with Beatriz against VergaraPosted on March 28, 2014 9:00 am by Steve ZimmerSteve ZimmerJust over a year ago, I won re-election to the Los Angeles Unified School District board. It was an unlikely victory in what may have been the most expensive school board race in U. S. history. The wealthiest
Ed Notes Online: De Blasio Rolled - Say no to this budget deal; call the Speaker & your Assemblymember NOW!
Ed Notes Online: De Blasio Rolled - Say no to this budget deal; call the Speaker & your Assemblymember NOW!: De Blasio Rolled - Say no to this budget deal; call the Speaker & your Assemblymember NOW!I hate to tell you I told you so, but I told you so. That Eva would never pay a dime in rent.Not only that but now de Blasio will have to pay her rent. Here's the lesson boys and girls. We can'
Wanted: More public school heroes | Bob Braun's Ledger
Wanted: More public school heroes | Bob Braun's Ledger: Wanted: More public school heroesDeborah Gregory Smith opens rally yesterday in Trenton with Mildred Crump, the president of the Newark City Council.It was all there yesterday in Trenton. Frustration with  20 years of failed state education policy. The invigorating idealism of young people who haven’t yet learned to accept the lies of dissemb
Public Education: Who Are the Corporate Reformers? | Blog, Connecting the Dots | BillMoyers.com
Public Education: Who Are the Corporate Reformers? | Blog, Connecting the Dots | BillMoyers.com: Public Education: Who Are the Corporate Reformers?March 28, 2014by Diane Ravitch1Former Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, center, speaks during a news conference to announce the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's donation of $51.2 million dollars to the New York City school system at Morris High School
Taveras withdraws from Adirondack education retreat featuring Cuomo, Democratic mayors | Politics - Rhode Island & US political news | Providence Journal
Taveras withdraws from Adirondack education retreat featuring Cuomo, Democratic mayors | Politics - Rhode Island & US political news | Providence Journal: Taveras withdraws from Adirondack education retreat featuring Cuomo, Democratic mayorsMarch 27, 2014 07:23 PMComments   1  103 +10  1  0  2BY PHILIP MARCELOpmarcelo@providencejournal.comPROVIDENCE, R.I. – Providence Mayor and gubernatorial c
New York Schools: The Roar of the Charters by Diane Ravitch | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books
New York Schools: The Roar of the Charters by Diane Ravitch | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books: New York Schools: The Roar of the ChartersDiane RavitchBryan Smith/ZUMA Press/CorbisNew York Mayor Bill de Blasio reading Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, Northside Center for Child Development, New York, December 3, 2013In his speech at Riverside Church last Sunday, New York Mayor Bill
FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Friday, March 28, 2014
FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team: Fensterwald: Attorneys give final arguments in Vergara suit challenging laws for teacher hiring, firinghttp://www.utla.net/vergaraEducation HeadlinesFriday, March 28, 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.S
NYC Public School Parents: Please say no to this budget deal; Call the Speaker & your Assemblymember NOW!
NYC Public School Parents: Please say no to this budget deal; Call the Speaker & your Assemblymember NOW!: Please say no to this budget deal; Call the Speaker & your Assemblymember NOW!According to today’s NY Post, the legislature is about to make the worst possible deal imaginable: considerably more per pupil funding for charters, including more than $1100 per student over three years, an
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Mass school closings 'great success' declares Byrd-Bennett
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Mass school closings 'great success' declares Byrd-Bennett: Mass school closings 'great success' declares Byrd-Bennett“None of the negative predictions have come true. In fact the opposite has happened.” -- Byrd-BennettHow do we know Chicago's mass school closings in black and Latino communities were a "success"? Because Byrd-Bennett declared them such. No
Morning Wink 3-28-14 AM Posts #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2
BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTSLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 3-28-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for allDiane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Mr. Katzoff Writes an Open Letter to Chris Matthews and MSNBCHoward Katzoff doesn’t understand why the commentators at MSNBC are so ill-informed about education issues. With the exception of Ed
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 3-28-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Mr. Katzoff Writes an Open Letter to Chris Matthews and MSNBCHoward Katzoff doesn’t understand why the commentators at MSNBC are so ill-informed about education issues. With the exception of Ed Schultz and possibly Chris Hayes, the commentators at MSNBC have swallowed the snake oil of corporate reform. Although they are usually out
In New Jersey, Abbott School Districts Model Unified, Enriched Pre-Kindergarten | janresseger
In New Jersey, Abbott School Districts Model Unified, Enriched Pre-Kindergarten | janresseger: In New Jersey, Abbott School Districts Model Unified, Enriched Pre-KindergartenPosted on March 28, 2014 by janressegerThis morning the NY Times reports new analysis from economist James Heckman showing that the North Carolina Abecedarian Project, a study developed in the 1970s to mitigate hardship in ear
3-28-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher
Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Springfield goes home until April Fool’s Day.Our Miss Brooks. John Stewart famously called state government the meth lab of democracy. Yesterday the Illinois General Assembly acted more like my old high school pal who spent our senior year and most of his freshman year at UC Berkeley stoned and on the
3-28-14 Schools Matter
Schools Matter: Know any social justice oriented UCLA students? Get them to #resistTFAI wrote the Op-Ed following this introduction for the Daily Bruin when I first returned to UCLA as an undergraduate last September. It was patently ignored by the editorial staff, as were my requests for modification guidelines to get it published. While I have a haunting suspicion that some of the editorial staf
3-28-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida
Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education: Florida Charter School Scheme Unmasked in Standard Contract BidRep. Manny Diaz (R-Miami) went first in the House Education Committee yesterday and announced a “postponement” of HB 7083. Among other things, Diaz bill provided for standard charter school contracts, the man
3-28-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: March’s Infographics & Interactives Galore – Part FiveThere are just so many good infographics and interactives out there that I’ve begun a new semi-regular feature called “Infographics & Interactives Galore.” You can see others at A Collection Of “The Best…” Lists On Infographics and by searching “infographics” on 
3-28-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD
LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District): Vergara trial ends, with CA teacher laws hanging in the balancePlaintiffs’ lawyer Ted Boutrous Lawyers from both sides in Vergara v California — the state’s most significant teacher rights case in two decades — unleashed their final arguments today, in a last attempt to amplify their own case and destroy
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 3-28-14
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: VERGARA v. CALIFORNIA LAWSUIT ENDS …but not reallyTestimony ends, “final” arguments heard, both sides are to submit written briefs by April 10, with a ruling due within 90 days after that – in July.  Both sides already have said they would appeal if they lose. Students' interests at center of trial over teacher protection laws Plaintiffs want to be able
3-28-14 Wait What?
Wait What?: SURPRISE: Malloy administration’s back room deal to hand Hartford’s Clark Elementary School to an out-of-state charter school company is backAs Wait, What? readers have known for months, the Malloy administration has been engaged in a campaign to force the City of Hartford to turn their Clark Elementary School over to a private, out-of-state private charter school chain based in Washin
3-28-14 @ The Chalk Face
@ THE CHALK FACE: #optout contemplation 2011: This is how it happened.For as long as I can remember I have had serious issues with high stakes standardized tests. However, it wasn’t until after NCLB was in full swing and my son started to dread going to school that I actually contemplated doing something about it. I know that sounds kind of funny coming from me—a full […]34 by Timothy D. Slekar / 
3-28-14 With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs All Week
With A Brooklyn Accent: Why Scripted Learning Sucks!Scripted learning SUCKS. It totally inhibits teachers from displaying the creativity they need to best reach their students. Let me give an example. I was part of a panel on Race and Activism in the 1960's at the University of Maryland. I spent six hours working on what I thought it was a great speech. I was really proud of it. However, I was the
3-28-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD
the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): Reclaiming “No Excuses”: A ReaderWith Waiting for excuses for the inexcusable, Leonard Pitts Jr. offers us all a watershed moment—one that involves reclaiming the language and the narratives in order to take direct action against the one thing we refuse to acknowledge or
3-28-13 Curmudgucation
CURMUDGUCATION: Jeb Bush's Shiny CampaignIf you wanted to find all of the bullshit talking points about the CCSS Reformy Complex, you'd be hard pressed to do better than clicking on over to Learn More. Go Further.It takes a little clicking to learn that LMGF is brought to you by the Foundation for Excellence in Education (and I'm sure I'll be neither the first nor last person to point out how appr
3-28-14 Perdido Street School Week
Perdido Street School: Cuomo Sticks It To De BasioThat's the Post's takeaway this morning:Charter schools will be big winners in the new state budget under a tentative deal hammered out by Gov. Cuomo and legislative leaders Thursday night, sources close to the talks said. For the first time the privately operated schools will be eligible for government funds to cover the costs of leasing classroom
Governor Cuomo Puts The Needs of Eva Moskowitz First and Foremost southbronxschool.com
http://www.southbronxschool.com: Governor Cuomo Puts The Needs of Eva Moskowitz First and ForemostThis looks like good news, but Newsday is reporting that; "A proposal to allow charter schools to receive state funds for building has been dropped." Yippee!!The above was what I was in the process of writing until I saw what Reality-Based Educator wrote and what I read in the New York Rag,
NYC Educator: Are Electronic Gradebooks Changing the World?
NYC Educator: Are Electronic Gradebooks Changing the World?: Are Electronic Gradebooks Changing the World?So I was sitting in the library with my laptop. I don't usually bring it, but the fact is Skedula works abysmally on my iPad. We won't even discuss their iPad app.The laptop version is hard to scroll, does all sorts of unpredictable things, and requires multiple extra steps to get pretty much
Spend an evening with Diane Ravitch | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!
Spend an evening with Diane Ravitch | Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!: Spend an evening with Diane RavitchFiled under: Ravitch — millerlf @ 8:38 am Spend an evening with Diane Ravitch, author of Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public SchoolsWednesday, April 30, 2014MATC Cooley Auditorium, 700 W. State, MilwaukeeDoors open at 5:30 p.m. P
Troubled Youth, Troubled Learning (Dave Reid) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
Troubled Youth, Troubled Learning (Dave Reid) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Troubled Youth, Troubled Learning (Dave Reid)Dave Reid is a high school mathematics teacher in his third year of teaching.   He received his MA in Education and credential in secondary mathematics and physics from Stanford University in 2011.  Dave spent a quarter of a century in high-tech primaril
K-12 News Network | The Vergera v. California Trial: More Double Standards From the 1%
K-12 News Network | The Vergera v. California Trial: More Double Standards From the 1%: The Vergera v. California Trial: More Double Standards From the 1%admin March 16, 2014 Los Angeles, Orange County, Sacramento, San Francisco, State Education Law 0We know that two epicenters of the funding for profiteering from public schools are Silicon Valley and Wall Street. And in looking at some of the maj
Schools are doling out suspensions “like Tic Tacs,” here are some ways to keep kids in the classroom | Hechinger Report
Schools are doling out suspensions “like Tic Tacs,” here are some ways to keep kids in the classroom | Hechinger Report: Schools are doling out suspensions “like Tic Tacs,” here are some ways to keep kids in the classroomBy Tanya E. CokeAs a recent school board member in a racially and economically diverse district, I know there has never been a tougher time for educators.Tanya E. CokeSchools are

YESTERDAY

A VAM Shame, again, from Florida |
A VAM Shame, again, from Florida |: A VAM Shame, again, from Florida Another teacher from Florida wrote a blog post for Diane Ravitch, and I just came across it and am re-posting it here. Be sure to give it a good read as you will see that what is happening in her state right now and why it is a VAM shame!She writes:I conducted a very unscientific study and concluded that I might possibly have the
Missouri Senator Excoriates Gates Funded Fordham Institute Witness on Common Core | Missouri Education Watchdog
Missouri Senator Excoriates Gates Funded Fordham Institute Witness on Common Core | Missouri Education Watchdog: Missouri Senator Excoriates Gates Funded Fordham Institute Witness on Common CoreinShareFordham witness needs to be reminded by Missouri Senator how much Gates Foundation gave Fordham for its Common Core support.The Missouri Torch provides video of Michael Brickman’s testimony in Missou
Teacher job protections attacked, defended in landmark trial’s closing arguments | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC
Teacher job protections attacked, defended in landmark trial’s closing arguments | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC: Teacher job protections attacked, defended in landmark trial’s closing argumentsAdolfo Guzman-Lopez | March 27th, 2014, 4:32pmAdolfo Guzman LopezPlaintiff Elizabeth Vergara speaks during a lunch break news conference during the closing arguments of the trial in Los Angeles.The closing argume
Weeks of Testimony Demonstrate Empty Premises of ‘Vergara v. State of California’ Suit as Closing Arguments Wrap Up Trial - California Teachers Association
Weeks of Testimony Demonstrate Empty Premises of ‘Vergara v. State of California’ Suit as Closing Arguments Wrap Up Trial - California Teachers Association: Weeks of Testimony Demonstrate Empty Premises of ‘Vergara v. State of California’ Suit as Closing Arguments Wrap Up TrialFor CFT: Fred Glass 510-579-3343For CTA: Frank Wells 562-708-5425Students stand to win or lose based on Judge’s decisionLA
Nite Cap 3-27-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2
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 CAPResearchers: One out of every 68 U.S. children has autism | The Raw StoryResearchers: One out of every 68 U.S. children has autism | The Raw Story: Researchers: One out of every 68 U.S. children has autismBy Agence France-PresseThursday, March 27