Latest News and Comment from Education

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Special Late Nite Cap UPDATE 4-7-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2


Nite Cap UPDATE

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE


CORPORATE ED REFORM




L.A. teacher wins job back after removal for science projects
A Los Angeles high school science teacher is returning to the classroom two months after being suspended over concerns that two students had assembled "dangerous" science projects under his supervision.
L.A. Unified can keep teacher ratings anonymous, judges say
The Los Angeles Unified School District does not need to release the names of teachers in connection with their performance ratings, according to a tentative court ruling issued Thursday.

What Will it Take to Educate the Gates Foundation?
Bill Gates has made it clear that this was an experiment from the start. What he did not seem to allow for in his scenario was the possibility that his experiment would not succeed.


National Briefing | Northwest: Washington: State Loses Control of Some School Funds
Washington has become the first state to lose its federal waiver for some requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind education law as well as control over how $40 million is spent to improve student performance in its public schools.


Book Review: Doing the Right Thing: A Teacher Speaks by David Greene
A few days ago, after receiving a new prescription, I picked up my eyeglasses. Reading David Greene’s book, Doing the Right Thing: A Teacher Speaks, was a similar eye-opening experience. What I saw every day was much clearer and more detailed, such as the trees across the street, individual leaves and all. In addition, there were things I had not really noticed much which were now clearly in view


False advertising & Concept Schools
This coming fall, Concept Schools will be adding two more charter schools to its collection. Both are in Chicago and come courtesy of the Chicago school board members who voted to approvethe two proposals in January. The promotional brochure designed to attract student enrollment states: “Concept serves 12,000 students in 30 high-performing charter schools across the Midwest, including 3 schools

Author Janet Mock Propels Transgender Conversations in Academia
Janet Mock (third from right), author of Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much MoreJanet Mock’s bestselling memoir, Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More, is inspiring academic exploration of transgender issues and helping shape the evolution of women’s, gender and sexuality studies. On Wednesday at Barnard College in New Yor

Testing issue coming back to the boil
The waning days of the 2014 legislative session may see a Democratic-sponsored bill to cut back on statewide testing. Sen. Andy Kerr, chair of the Senate Education Committee, confirmed to Chalkbeat Colorado Thursday that he is working on a late bill that would roll back the currently scheduled expansion of testing in high school and also trim the frequency of social studies tests, which launched j


Districts may have funding flexibility to repair and improve school facilities - by Karla Scoon Reid/EdSource correspondent
To weather deep cuts in public school funding, many California school districts shifted much needed dollars away from repairing and maintaining their buildings to keep teachers in the classroom and save instructional programs from being ... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit the Edsource Today website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
What inBloom’s Shutdown Means for the Industry | EdSurge News
In less than two years, inBloom went from being a sort of Holy Grail for student data services to a sacrificial lamb that has brought data and privacy discussions to the forefront. On Monday, April 21, inBloom CEO Iwan Streichenberger announced on the nonprofit’s homepage his “decision to wind down the organization over the coming ...read more
Breaking News: Tennessee Legislature Rolls Back Test-Based Teacher Evaluation Law
In a stunning reversal,the Tennessee Legislature overwhelmingly repealed a law to evaluate teachers by test scores, and the law was swiftly signed by Governor Haslam. On a day when Arne Duncan withdrew Washington State’s failure to enact test-based teacher valuation system, this is a remarkable turn of events. Joey Garrison of The Tennessean reports: “Gov. Bill Haslam has signed into law a bill

Expert Opinion on the Common Core
Re:  Common Core demonized as Obamacare: Our View (April 23, 2014)USA Today does not mention the real opposition to the common core, criticisms from professional educators and scholars. The common core does not deal with the real reason for unspectacular performance by American students. The US has the second highest level of child poverty among all 34 economically advanced countries (now over 23%


Where is Education Secretary Duncan’s Head?
Where is Education Secretary Duncan’s Head? Found it!Today Secretary Duncan canceled Washington State’s No Child Left Behind Waiver. Why? Because Washington State’s ELECTED officials were not able to conform to Duncan demands to DO IT HIS WAY (you know, the corporate way to privatizing Public Education). I can’t decide if he is just Arne the Corporate Autocrat or he doesn’t care. Either way there
Nite Cap 4-24-14 #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 CAPMarie Corfield: Tom Moran crosses the line in latest editorialMarie Corfield: Tom Moran crosses the line in latest editorial: Tom Moran crosses the line in latest editorial(Note: as I was drafting this post this week, Bob Braun wrote several exce