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CORPORATE ED REFORM
Charter-Mania, High-Stakes Testing and Teacher-Bashing: Can Rhee’s Approach Be Stopped?
Is public education doomed to destruction? Has it already been done in? Everyone has an opinion. The question is will the Vergara v. California court decision permanently define what might be? Will education equity be set free? Stanford Professor Linda Darling-Hammond discusses the case and examines the […]
Get Schooled: April Fools' Day births a great college prank
Here is a clever prank played on Aquinas College macroeconomics professor Stephen Barrows, who maintains a policy that students who receive a call during class must put it on speakerphone for everyone to hear. Students had fun with that policy on April Fools' Day. (Based on interviews I’ve seen, Barrows ...
On Teachers United, WEA Rep Assembly, and Engaging New Educators
I arrived back in Seattle yesterday morning from my first experience at the WEA's Representative Assembly in Spokane, and I learned a lot.I've been a part of a number of different teachers unions in my day (TEA, WTU, UFT, WEA), and I came back from the WEA RA feeling that the WEA is overwhelmingly the strongest among them.Had you asked me about teachers unions ten years ago, I probably would have
Eugene Robinson responds to the Senate Intelligence Report
Torture is immoral, illegal and irreconcilable with this nation’s most cherished values. If defenders of the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” program disagree, they should come out and say so. Instead, they blow smoke. That is the opening paragraph of Here’s an emotional response to the torture report: I’m outraged, Pulitzer Prize winner Eugene Robinson's column for Tuesday's Washington Post It is
Higher ed funding bill sparks high-level differences
It’s rare to see vigorous public debate between the speaker of the House and the lieutenant governor, especially when they’re from the same party. But a proposed higher education funding bill brought out just that at a House Education Committee hearing Monday. At issue is House Bill 14-1319, a proposal by House Speaker Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver. In broad terms, it would shift funding to “access” i
Gresham Elementary principal fights CPS school ‘turnaround’ plan
If Gresham Elementary School Principal Diedrus Brown is going to lose her job anyway, she said Monday she’ll go down telling the truth. The school she has led for the past decade is one of three slated for a staff reboot, which Chicago Public Schools calls a “turnaround,” saying that Gresham’s academics arepoor enough to warrant a full restaffing. But Brown denies her school is among the worst academically, blatantly accusing the district of other motives for choosing her school to hand over to a nonprofit turnaround organization with past ties to the school board president.
Late Night: Kansas State Legislature Takes Teacher Tenure From Thousands
Weekend, overnight exploits by purchased ideologues and rank amateurs in the Kansas State legislature stripped KS public school teachers of due process rights. This will require all teachers to renegotiate their contracts without any union or other support and make them subject to termination if they don’t. Or if administrators randomly feel like it, or are pressured to do so by rank amateurs, app
University of Puerto Rico Students Contemplate Striking Over Tuition Hike
Students at the publicly supported University of Puerto Rico will vote on whether to mount a strike if administrators implement a hike in tuition. The Student Front for an Accessible Public and Quality Education, or FEEPAC, announced on Monday the possibility of staging a 24-hour strike on April 23. The student initiative follows last month’s decision by the UPR board not to extend the moratoriu
Video: Watch Los Angeles Grow In 36 Seconds
I’m adding this video of Los Angeles’ growth to The Best Sites To Learn About Los Angeles:
National Awards For Education Reporting Announced
The Education Writers Association just announced the winners of the 2013 National Awards for Education Reporting. It’s an extensive and impressive list, and includes many links. Unfortunately, you have to make a lot of “clicks” to get down to the names of the winners and links to their articles. It’s worth it, but I do hope they figure out a more user-friendly lay-out by next year…
Get It Right Podcasts: Terry Holliday, Kentucky State Commissioner of Education
Dr. Terry Holliday, Kentucky’s state commissioner of education, shares the power of engaging educators early and throughout the implementation process and the role Kentucky teachers played in unpacking the standards and building great new state assessments. Download as MP3 Additional Resources Kentucky Core Academic Standards
Get It Right Podcasts: Dayna Richardson, Chair, Kansas Learning First Alliance
Dayna Richardson, chair of the Kansas Learning First Alliance, talks about her organization’s role in communicating the need for new standards, deliberately taking implementation one step at a time and the value of multiple measures of success. Download as MP3 Additional Resources Kansas Learning First Alliance KLFA Educational Advocacy Video and Talking Points
Get It Right Podcasts: Terri Hodges, President, Delaware PTA
Dr. Terri Hodges, the president of the Delaware PTA, discusses the importance of proper planning, a collaborative process and the need for the separation of the standards and the tests to ensure progress. In Delaware, parents played a key role in implementation, a process that has taken more than three years. Download as MP3 Additional Resources Delaware PTA DelExcels.org Guide to New Assessment
Important Charter & Voucher Restrictions
Several critical issues related to charter and voucher schools are scheduled to be debated at the House Education Committee this Wednesday, April 9, starting at 9:00 A.M. These bills would help us to defend public schools from predatory charter schools and from further unwarranted expansion of the voucher programs.Please ask your State Representative who serves on the House Education committee to
Tigard High School principal says school's 'heterogeneous grouping' program is working
Though he acknowledged some struggles, Tigard High School Principal Mark Neffendorf on Monday evening presented the Tigard-Tualatin School Board with evidence of how the district’s relatively new “heterogeneous grouping” policy is working.
Rally planned over raft of charter school bills
Feeling challenged by about a dozen bills under consideration in Springfield, advocates of privately run but publicly funded charters...Vallas gets new six-figure job as he runs for lieutenant governor
Paul Vallas, who returned to Illinois last month as Gov. Pat Quinn’s running mate, has been hired to a six-figure job as a municipal...Initiative to reduce Washington school class sizes
SEATTLE (AP) — A group calling itself Class Size Counts is collecting...
City schools honored for music education
Apr 7, 2014, 4:03 p.m.For the third time in five years, the San Diego Unified School District has been recognized as one of the best communities for music education in the country. The district was one of 376 given the honor last month by the nonprofit National Association of Music Merchants Foundation or NAMM as being a Best Community for Music Education. It earlier received the designation in 2010 and 2013. San Diego Unified was recognized after it submitted a music education survey answering detailed questions about district funding, staffing of highly qualified teachers, commitment to standards and access to music instruction provided to students. Karen Childress-Evans, director of visual and performing arts for city schools, said the designation celebrates the district’s many partnerships with arts organizations and community members that provide such things as field trips to performances and instruments for families that ...
Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog 4-7-14
Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog: Canada Takes Steps for Country's HealthCanada has taken steps this week to give more information about diabetes to the country. Approximetly one in four Canadians has diabetes or prediabetes. And that statistic costs the country over $1.6 billion yearly, causing some concern for the countries health care system. Canada gives their citizens free health care and large amo
The Factoid World of Michael Goodwin of the New York Post southbronxschool.com
http://www.southbronxschool.com: The Factoid World of Michael Goodwin of the New York PostI buy two newspapers on Sunday. The Daily News, I read in the car while my son is in Sunday School and The Times to read throughout the day. The Post, except for Phil Mushnick is a waste of my time.But this past Sunday I was able to read a free copy of the Post. I forgot where I was but I came across Michael
Nite Cap 4-7-14 #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 CAP4-7-14 Jersey Jazzman Jammin' All WeekJersey Jazzman: Why Is Michelle Rhee Wrong About Everything?Michelle Rhee is consistently wrong about everything.She was wrong about teaching to the test. She was wrong about her grading of state education po