Nite Cap UPDATE
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
CORPORATE ED REFORM
The Common Core Equity Swindle
The farther into this experiment we get, the more devastating this latest sorting mechanism appears to be. Every time you stamp "college ready" on a student who has cleared the bar, the students that did not make it past that hurdle are stamped "unworthy."
What we really needed to hear from the Mayor’s budget
Governor Corbett has decimated school districts statewide, but city leadership must do more for Philadelphia’s schools. (Cartoon: Signe Wilkinson for the Daily News) After listening to the mayor’s budget address on Thursday, I had to wonder the last time elected officials had visited our schools to do some real fact-finding. In case a reminder is needed, our schools are barely schools anymore. Is
Sudden Fracking Threat In L.A.
Los Angeles' largest oil production company is abruptly beginning below-ground operations in the West Adams and Jefferson Park neighborhoods in possible preparation for fracking at the sites. The work is taking place despite a 10-0 vote in favor of a moratorium on fracking by the LA City Council on February 28 and overwhelming support for a fracking moratorium at the Democratic state convention he
The special needs victims of “One Newark.”
Suspicions are deep that the “One Newark” plan is simply part of a strategy to portray conventional public schools as failures and to replace them—eventually, replace them completely—with non-union charters and voucher schools that rely on young, short-term and inexpensive teachers from agencies like Teach for America. A document distributed by the Newark Public Schools […]
Reclaiming Public Education 101
Today, I'm opening a branch blog office.I've come to believe there's an unmet need in the edublogoverse (the unmet need is not the one for new made-up words). Most of us who frequent these spots have spent months or years sorting through the giant convoluted multi-threaded novel series that is reformy stuff, and what we write, while perfectly sensible to each other, may leave many other folks scra
Heard and Overheard at SXSWedu 2014
Sights and soundbites from Austin
Crescent Leadership Academy strained by cost of educating expelled students
RSD has boosted its funding to help the alternative school.
Guardians help foster youth achieve college dreams
Foster children rarely make it through college. A new mentor program gives them a helping hand.
Dutch educators take tips from San Diego schools
Dutch educators visit San Diego County schools to learn about problem-based learning.
And All That Without A Gun
I was talking to an assistant principal friend from a neighboring district who was telling me some funny stories from her middle school experience. She said her own mom and dad like to ask her to tell stories from school. When she finishes, her dad, a retired policeman will say, “And to think you do all that without a gun.” I don’t want to get into the politics of whether or not public educators
Rural GOP Voters Surprised Walker Cuts are killing their Schools. Now want handout.
Just a little over 3 years under the Walker Authority and spending cuts to education are now crushing rural schools. Democrats and the state superintendent of public schools have been pushing school funding reform for years, yet that effort has been vilified as nothing more than more liberal overspending on the teachers union.All it took was ONE Republican who noticed how stripped down one of his
SC House Refuses to Restore College Cuts for Books
COLUMBIA, S.C.—The South Carolina House refused Monday to back down from plans to punish two public colleges in the budget for assigning freshmen to read books dealing with homosexuality. The House rejected multiple attempts to restore $52,000 cut from the College of Charleston in the state budget, and $17,142 cut from the University of South Carolina Upstate. Those are the amounts the universitie
Moving Beyond the Nasty in SCA-5, California’s New Affirmative Action Debate
In California, the state senate has proposed a new Democratic-sponsored measure, known as SCA-5, to overturn Prop. 209, the 1996 ballot initiative that prohibited affirmative action and replaced it with colorblind admissions. If the state assembly approves SCA-5 in its next session, the whole thing could go before voters later this year. The battle lines are already being drawn along party and rac
Study: College Bound Scholarship Program Sending Low-Income Kids to College
SEATTLE—Low-income kids who participate in Washington’s College Bound scholarship program are going to college at nearly the same rate as their richer classmates and well ahead of other poor children who did not sign up, according to a new report released Monday. The scholarship program seems to encourage higher than expected college enrollment and continued college attendance, according to a repo
Helping Young Black, Latino Men Succeed Through Support and Challenging Stereotypes
When President Obama announced his $200 million My Brother’s Keeper initiative for Black boys, I wondered why Black and Latino men are still an enigma to the higher education community. Ten years ago I met Kenny, a chatty and bright student from metropolitan New York. He played lacrosse and was active in several student organizations. His charisma, guided by an infectious, boyish smile and endless
Cuomo’s Common Core panel suggests severing ties with inBloom
New York State needs to break up with its embattled student data partner and look for other suitors, a team of outside education advisors to Gov. Andrew Cuomo have concluded in a new report. The report was released Monday night by an 11-member panel of experts convened by Cuomo last month with the purpose of recommending ways to fix the state’s implementation of Common Core learning standards. The
Here is Success’ legal case against the city’s co-location decision
Lawyers for Success Academy argued in a legal petition filed Monday that the city “arbitrarily” targeted the charter network in its decision to block one of its schools from moving into a public-school building, forcing the Success parents to consider sending their children to other local schools with “abysmal” test scores. The full petition is below, but the basic argument is that Mayor Bill de B
Surprise guest at charter operators’ second meeting with city: de Blasio himself
Mayor Bill de Blasio made an unexpected appearance at a meeting of charter school leaders and Department of Education officials today, presenting himself as enthusiastic about charter schools on a day when he has been attacked from both sides for his positions on co-locations. The charter school operators, who represent a coalition that aims to collaborate with de Blasio, were expecting to meet wi
State attorney general backs legislation to fight truancy - by Jane Meredith Adams
State Attorney General Kamala Harris and a team of legislators Monday introduced a package of bills to battle chronic student absenteeism, in yet another sign of the growing reexamination of school attendance and discipline policies. One ... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit the Edsource Today website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Protesters to CPS: Don’t retaliate against teachers who didn’t administer ISAT
A group of about 100 people rallied Monday in the Bridgeport neighborhood to call on Chicago Public Schools officials not to retaliate against a group of teachers who refused to administer a state mandated test to students. CPS had threatened the boycotting teachers with disciplinary measures including decertification if they did not administer the multi-day Illinois Standards Achievement Test, which began last week. CPS issued a statement Monday afternoon saying school officials were “engaged in discussion with the Illinois State Board of Education about appropriate disciplinary action against teachers who chose not to administer the test.” Parents and teachers gathered
#BanBossy to promote girl leadership around the world
When a little boy asserts himself, he's called a “leader.” Yet when a little girl does the same, she risks being branded “bossy.” Words like bossy send a message: don't raise your hand or speak up. By middle school, girls are less interested in leading than boys—a trend that continues into adulthood. Together we can encourage girls to lead. Join the pledge - support the campaign, download the tool
Melba Hernandez: Female Cuban Revoluationary Dies at 92
Melba Hernandez Rodrguez del Rey, known as the “Heroine of Moncada” for her participation in the first armed action led by Fidel Castro against the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship, died in Havana, official media said. She was 92. The Central Committee of the ruling Communist Party reported Sunday “with deep sorrow” the death of Hernandez from complications related to diabetes. “For our people, she
Video: “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
Here’s the premiere episode of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s remake of Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos” (thanks to Alexander Russo for the tip). You might also want to check out the show’s website, as well as a New York Times article about it.
Recent Student Projects From My Theory Of Knowledge Class
As regular readers know, in addition to teaching Beginning and Intermediate English Language Learners English and Social Studies, I also teacher mainstream ninth-grade English classes and an International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge class (and it looks like I’ll be teaching two TOK classes next year!). In addition to IB Diploma candidates, I heavily recruit other students that are not taking
Rochester Teachers Sue Over Bogus VAM Scores
by Christine Fien:The Rochester Teachers Association filed a lawsuit today (read the complaint below) alleging that the new teacher evaluations are unfair because they fail to adequately account for the effects of severe poverty on students. The suit names John King, commissioner of the State Education Department; the State Board of Regents; the State Education Department; the University of the St
Ed Notes Online: Dora Taylor: What is a Charter School
Ed Notes Online: Dora Taylor: What is a Charter School: Dora reminds us of her 2010 piece on charters at the Seattle Education blog. What is a Charter School? The basic difference between a tr...
Did Genethia Hudley-Hayes use John Deasy's ONE WEIRD TRICK to 'earn' [buy] PhD?
L.A. school board candidate accused of falsely claiming doctorate Did Genethia Hudley-Hayes use John Deasy's ONE WEIRD TRICK to "earn" [buy] PhD? #LAUSD #edchat http://t.co/U7GqpbxX7O pic.twitter.com/S6h51rNIhA— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) March 11, 2014
A 95% Dropout Rate, Now That’S An Education Crisis
Are you familiar with MOOCs ? Those are massive open online classes. They’re college classes taught online, some by the world’s leading experts in their fields at famous universities. The courses are free, but they don’t count for credit and don’t lead to a degree. Who wouldn’t want to take an online course in something that is of interest to them, or could possibly help with certain skills the
Justice Sotomayor shares some of life’s lessons with UW students
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor spoke to a packed crowd of 1,200, mostly students, at the UW campus Monday.
California AG promotes bills to reduce truancy - KCRA Sacramento
KCRA SacramentoCalifornia AG promotes bills to reduce truancyKCRA SacramentoThe Sacramento City Unified School District has launched a dropout prevention program that makes it cool to be in school. "With this, you just need to be in school," said Ken McPeters, the dropout prevention specialist with the district. Students with ...
Chris Hayes: Battle wages on over NYC charter schools | MSNBC
Battle wages on over NYC charter schools | MSNBC: Battle wages on over NYC charter schoolsChris Hayes and panel discuss the ongoing battle over charter schools in New York City.Friction erupts between Cuomo and de BlasioChris Hayes and his panel discuss the relationship between New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Money's big role in the Charter School fight | MSNBC
Money's big role in the Charter School fight | MSNBC: Money’s big role in the Charter School fightConservatives turn their effort to destroy public education into a Civil Rights law suit, targeted against Mayor DeBlasio. Ed Schultz and panel discuss.
AFT - A Union of Professionals - Weingarten, Sen. Warren help launch 'Higher Ed, Not Debt'
AFT - A Union of Professionals - Weingarten, Sen. Warren help launch 'Higher Ed, Not Debt': Weingarten, Sen. Warren help launch 'Higher Ed, Not Debt'AFT President Randi Weingarten and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) spoke March 6 at the Washington, D.C., launch of "Higher Ed, Not Debt," a new multiyear campaign advocating for affordable access to higher education for all, without the bur
East Baton Rouge Parish Teachers are under siege and need our help | Crazy Crawfish's Blog
East Baton Rouge Parish Teachers are under siege and need our help | Crazy Crawfish's Blog: Crazy Crawfish's BlogZesty Louisiana Education PoliticsEast Baton Rouge Parish Teachers are under siege and need our helpPosted on March 9, 20141For the past month I’ve been interviewing and receiving testimonials from East Baton Rouge Teachers in most of the non-magnet high schools. This investigation star
Nite Cap 3-10-14 #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 CAP3-10-14 The Whole Child Blog —Keep Students and Parents (and Teachers) Initiative Fatigue Free — Whole Child EducationKeep Students and Parents (and Teachers) Initiative Fatigue Free — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOGKeep Students and
