Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, August 9, 2014

8-9-14 Ed Notes Online Week

Ed Notes Online


Ed Notes Online




Gypsy Pics - One Last Time
Farmhands - only pic on this page I didn't takeI am a hoarder - never throw anything away - so I have these pics on my hard drive and want to delete them to make room. So, I just use Ed Notes as a dumping ground. What other purpose does it have?I set up the camera and let it roll when I went backstage The orchestra pitChowsie played by NickBaby JuneLouise - growing upChinese restaurant sceneBaby J

Vergara Update: Chetty, Chetty Gets Banged, Banged in Teachers College Refute
Over the last decade, teacher evaluation based on value-added models (VAMs) has become central to the public debate over education policy. In this commentary, we critique and deconstruct the arguments proposed by the authors of a highly publicized study that linked teacher value-added models to students’ long-run outcomes, Chetty et al. (2014, forthcoming), in their response to the American Statis

YESTERDAY

George Schmidt on HISTORY AND HISTORY'S DISTORTIONS
Chicago's George Schmidt is one of the founders of CORE, involved in the CTU for decades and an activist against high stakes testing long before that issue came on anyone's radar -- he was fired as a teacher for publishing the horrible CASE tests - which were discontinued after his expose. His newspaper, Substance, has been a force in Chicago schools for almost 4 decades. I learned about the exist

AUG 07

Re Mulgrew #AFT14 Tape: What I Told NY Daily News Reporter Steven Rex Brown
Oh, those Martians, who made stops in Seattle and Los Angeles to pick up Gates and Broad before heading for Washington DC to pick up their pal Randi. Conspiracy theories? Who me when there are so few grounds? I told Brown flat out that I full well knew that the Daily News has an agenda in its interest in the video - to paint Mulgrew and the union as thugs as part of its anti-union bias. He didn't
#AFT14 Convention Video - Common Core Debate - Mulgrew is Going to Punch Someone in the Face
Has anyone speaking against the common core said they don't WANT standards? .... Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater? The baby is in the bath water... Pia Payne-Shannon, Minneapolis Teacher opposing common core in rousing speech at AFT conventionI extracted a 12 minute sliver from over an hour debate including the Mike Mulgrew "punch you in the face" line. Followed by Leroy Barr

AUG 06

More Gypsy Pics and Vids
They just keep popping up on facebook and I can't resist posting. I may be pessimistic long-term, but optimistic short-term.Here is a unique view of NYC teachers Steve Ryan and Kim Simek, video by Frank Verderame from the wings. They are both powerhouses, even though they often hang out with Mike Schirtzer.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr30IbliDqE&feature=youtu.beI never got to take my pic w
Common Core Math: Suicide Bombers + Ebola = HOLY CRAP!
The situation in the Middle East is a bit like World War I. Iraq is breaking apart, and its border with Syria exists only on maps. A Kurdistan is in formation. Jordan and Lebanon are endangered. The Israeli-Palestinian situation is threatening to produce real violence. Three Israeli youths have been kidnapped from the West Bank; another has been killed near the Syrian border. Egypt has returned to

AUG 04

Gypsy Finale - Joy and Sadness
The Sunday matinee was our last performance - 9 out of 10 were sold out. The cast party afterwards was also a howl as the little kids did their version of the grown-ups acting. An 8-year old doing the strippers had us in stitches.Sadly, today we struck the set and started building the set for Godspell. When a show ends it is like a school year ending - relief with sadness over the breaking up of t

AUG 03

Charter School Unions: Will Teamsters Out-Organize the AFT and NEA?
Eighty teachers and guidance counselors at the Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School in Marlboro recently made history when they joined a union — but not the one you might think. They did not join the Massachusetts Teachers Association, which represents 110,000 public school educators across the commonwealth. Nor did they join the Massachusetts Federation of Teachers, which has 25,000 m

AUG 02

Norm in The Wave: Memo From the RTC: Gypsy Update – Why Do They Do It?
Gypsy high school gals having fun before going onTonight is the next to last performance as the show closes with the Sunday matinee. All sold out. Monday we strike the set and start putting up Godspell. Published Friday, August 1, 2014 www.rockawave.comMemo From the RTC: Gypsy Update – Why Do They Do It?By Norm ScottAfter a 2nd sold-out weekend, Gypsy heads into the final stretch this weekend at t