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
Cheers and Checked Again | Continuing Change
Cheers and Checked Again | Continuing Change: Cheers and Checked Again You know you are a nerd when you are watching a local school board meeting, with your cell phone taping, as you cheer at the screen.Imagine the excitement to hear your own school board members agree, unanimously, to find a way to opt your entire county out of high stakes testing.That was me last night.Except, I wasn’t cheeri
Choosing Democracy: Another Opportunity Missed - Civic Education Policy in California
Choosing Democracy: Another Opportunity Missed - Civic Education Policy in California: Another Opportunity Missed - Civic Education Policy in CaliforniaCalifornia education policy makers have once again written and published a nice looking report on school curriculum – this one on the need for improved civic education. As is the norm for these tasks, a group of “well respected” civic leaders have
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Lazy-Ass Reporters (LARs) on top of Karen's vast real estate empire
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Lazy-Ass Reporters (LARs) on top of Karen's vast real estate empire: Lazy-Ass Reporters (LARs) on top of Karen's vast real estate empireKaren Lewis leads Rahm by 12 points in the polls. Desperation time.After reading the "expose" in today's Sun-Times, one couldn't be blamed for thinking that poor Rahm's re-election campaign is really in trouble. Not only is
HISD trustees and Grier spar over school reform - K-12 Zone
HISD trustees and Grier spar over school reform - K-12 Zone: HISD trustees and Grier spar over school reformPosted on August 13, 2014 | By Ericka MellonPRINT0HISD Superintendent Terry Grier launched the Apollo reform program at nine of the district’s lowest-performing middle and high schools in 2010 and expanded it to nine elementary schools the following year. (Photo by Eric Kayne)The ghost of Ap
8-13-14 Schools Matter
Schools Matter: Pre-K = Childhood's End?
Comment posted following “As the first day of school approaches, the city trains thousands of universal pre-K teachers,” on ChalkbeatPosted on August 12.I wonder how many of those interested in teaching Pre-K in New York have read the "New York State Prekindergarten Foundation for the Common Core." The document is 62 pages long, filled with an ast
8-13-14 The Whole Child Blog — Bringing Health and Wellness Back to School
The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education: Bringing Health and Wellness Back to SchoolThis week many schools across the Midwest will flow back into their daily classroom routines and students will start adjusting from the freedom of summer to the structure of study. That means plenty of grab-and-go school breakfasts, packed lunches, coveted afterschool snacks with outdoor recess, and brain brea
empathyeducates – Feds Investigating Claim Of Civil Rights Violations In Schools On Chicago’s South Side
empathyeducates – Feds Investigating Claim Of Civil Rights Violations In Schools On Chicago’s South Side: Feds Investigating Claim Of Civil Rights Violations In Schools On Chicago’s South SideIrene Robinson wraps her arm around her grandchild, who attended Anthony Overton Elementary School in Chicago [2013]. The school is one of 48 now shuttered because of a budget deficit. Many parents have voice
What Will a Liberal Arts Education Look Like in 50 Years? - The Atlantic
What Will a Liberal Arts Education Look Like in 50 Years? - The Atlantic: What Will a Liberal Arts Education Look Like in 50 Years?Aug 13, 2014 | 5-part seriesKasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg, Sam Price-Waldman, Nadine AjakaAt this year's Aspen Ideas Festival, we asked a group of academics within some of America's top universities to weigh in on the fate of higher education. "We won't have libe
Cami’s Newark school bus plan: Volunteers needed to keep kids safe. | Bob Braun's Ledger
Cami’s Newark school bus plan: Volunteers needed to keep kids safe. | Bob Braun's Ledger: Cami’s Newark school bus plan: Volunteers needed to keep kids safe.Anderson wants Newark kids protected by “volunteers”–Is she nuts or what?Cami Anderson, the state-imposed administrator of Newark schools, has developed a shuttle bus operation to move children around the city to meet the demands of her “One
8-13-14 @ The Chalk Face
@ THE CHALK FACE: About the radio showJoin Drs. Shaun Johnson and Tim Slekar LIVE Sundays at 6PM EST and Wednesdays at 7PM EST on Blog Talk Radio for progressive, pro-public education talk radio. Call in to speak live with Tim and Shaun during the show, (805) 727-7111. You can also listen to our Monday "Sunday-Replay" at 7PM EST, and re-broadcasts of the archives every Tuesday and Thursd
STOP GRITTING YOUR TEETH WHEN YOU HEAR “GRIT” | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing
STOP GRITTING YOUR TEETH WHEN YOU HEAR “GRIT” | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing: STOP GRITTING YOUR TEETH WHEN YOU HEAR “GRIT” There is nothing wrong with GRIT.Why do we have such a knee jerk reaction to a word when the wrong people usurp it?Isn’t true grit is a characteristic we need to fight back against these interlopers? We need to take back that word just as we need to take back other word
8-13-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy
Wait What?: Wait What? Pelto/Murphy 2014 State Deficit? What State Deficit…In a recent interview with the CT Mirror, Governor Dannel “Dan” Malloy said, “We really don’t have a deficit.” However, if the truth be told, according to the non-partisan Office of Fiscal Analysis, the State of Connecticut continues to face a monumental fiscal crisis. In fact, here are the projections from the experts fo
8-13-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: “My Best Posts On ‘Conditional Cash Transfers’”© 2012 Philip Taylor, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio I’ve just published My Best Posts On “Conditional Cash Transfers” over at my other blog, Engaging Parents In School. Conditional Cash Transfers are payments made to families to encourage them to do things like go to doctor appoin
8-13-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Us VS Them- A Guest Post on the Larger Implications of Ferguson by Dr Lori Martin
With A Brooklyn Accent: Us VS Them- A Guest Post on the Larger Implications of Ferguson by Dr Lori MartinThe systematic killing of people of color provides the best evidence that many Americans have been wrong about racism all along. For far too long racism has been understood as an illness, a sickness, or a disease, that older and uneducated individuals come down with because they are ignorant,
8-13-14 Curmudgucation
CURMUDGUCATION: Dear Campbell Brown:Today you made an appearance in Valerie Strauss's blog to respond to your many critics. I want to take a moment to respond to some of your questions.First, let me applaud you for taking the dialogue directly to your critics, rather than simply trashing or dismissing them elsewhere. Direct dialogue between the various sides of the ed debates (there are more than
The Age-Old Question. Teaching: Art or Science? - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher
The Age-Old Question. Teaching: Art or Science? - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:The Age-Old Question. Teaching: Art or Science?By Nancy Flanagan on August 13, 2014 10:36 AMFor several years, I read and evaluated applications from teachers interested in becoming the Michigan Teacher of Year. The application consists of various lengthy essays on important questions around the pr
8-13-14 Jersey Jazzman
Jersey Jazzman: Book Review: This Is Not a Test, by José Luis VilsonLet me start with the easiest part of this review:Buy and read José Luis Vilson's This Is Not a Test.@TheJVL is one of the better known teacher-bloggers around, and a prodigious tweeter. He asks hard questions and gives little quarter when it comes to issues of race and education (although I've noticed he also has greater patience
The Hidden Half: School Employees Who Don't Teach | The Thomas B. Fordham Institute
The Hidden Half: School Employees Who Don't Teach | The Thomas B. Fordham Institute: Download PDFThe Hidden Half: School Employees Who Don't TeachMatt RichmondAugust 12, 2014The number of non-teaching staff in the United States (those employed by school systems but not serving as classroom teachers) has grown by 130 percent since 1970. Non-teachers—more than three million strong—now comprise half
Breaking News: @MichelleRhee (Johnson) Continues to Spread Fertilizer | Cloaking Inequity
Breaking News: @MichelleRhee (Johnson) Continues to Spread Fertilizer | Cloaking Inequity: Breaking News: @MichelleRhee (Johnson) Continues to Spread FertilizerThe Huffington Posts reports that Michelle Rhee Prepares To Leave CEO Job At StudentsFirst, Group She Founded. Is there a more polarizing figure for critics or uniting for supporters of education “reformers”?In today’s Breaking News comic a
One Houston Teacher and Future Teachers Reportedly Not to Be |
One Houston Teacher and Future Teachers Reportedly Not to Be |: One Houston Teacher and Future Teachers Reportedly Not to Be Following up on a previous post about “Houston Teachers Suing over their District’s EVAAS Use,” an opinion piece released this summer via The Houston Chronicle about the realities of another teacher in Houston working for 15 years in the district, highlights some of the same
Morning Wink 8-13-14 AM Posts #edchat #edreform
BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK AM POSTSLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 8-13-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for allDiane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Michigan State Board Calls for Sweeping Changes in Charter LawThe Michigan State Board of Education passed a resolution calling for reform of the state’s charter law. The vote was along party li
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 8-13-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Michigan State Board Calls for Sweeping Changes in Charter LawThe Michigan State Board of Education passed a resolution calling for reform of the state’s charter law. The vote was along party lines; the state board is dominated by Democrats but the legislature is not. The resolution was passed following a series in the Detroit Free
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 8-13-14
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: IT’S McKENNA BY 7% …with an 8¼% turnout – and 2:1 vote-by-mail by smf / 8min 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 8-12-144LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: ACCUSE, TWEET, DELETE: Johnson campaign accuses McKenna of buying Jesse Jackson’s endorsementmuck from the Twitterverse Thomas Himes @LADailyThomas @JohnsonC
8-13-14 Ed Notes Online Week
Ed Notes Online: The Case for Tenure: South Bronx School Tells His StoryThere are so many personal stories out there about teachers under assault, while principals get off scot free no matter what they do. Peter Zucker tells his story.http://www.southbronxschool.com/2014/08/my-own-story-why-teachers-so.html One of the Campbell Brown parents has a kid at PS 106 in Rockaway where the principal, Marc
8-13-14 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.: TMD. Quinn runs against public employees.by Fred Klonsky / 1h hide // saveJames Keating and Betty Deitz. Debts and regrets.- This article by retired teacher James Keating and Betty Deitz also appears in the West Lake Shore Illinois Retired Teachers Association August newsletter. The state is in debt
8-13-14 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): Breaking News: McKenna wins election to LAUSD boardBreaking News: McKenna wins election to LAUSD board George McKenna George McKenna, a lifelong educator as a teacher, principal, superintendent and administrator, won the runoff election tonight, defeating Alex Johnson to claim the District 1 seat on the L
Can StudentsFirst survive without Michelle Rhee at the helm? | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com
Can StudentsFirst survive without Michelle Rhee at the helm? | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com: Can StudentsFirst survive without Michelle Rhee at the helm? COMMENT(1) 0 0 0 1View Larger Jason Getz jgetz@ajc.comHELP FOR GEORGIA SCHOOLS?--Former DC chancellor and education reformer Michelle Rhee talks with a legislator after she spoke to the House Education Committee in the Appropriations Committee Ro
8-13-14 Answer Sheet
Answer Sheet: Campbell Brown responds to critics (including me)I have recently published several posts about a new effort led by former CNN journalist Campbell Brown to eliminate or restrict teacher and other job protections for teachers. (You can see them here, here, here and here.) Brown has appeared on numerous television shows recently arguing that legal job protections for teachers have a neg
8-13-14 Hemlock on the Rocks
Hemlock on the Rocks: Eli Broad on Education, DTLA, and Gun Controlby Rene Diedrich / 1h STANDARDIZED : Lies, Money, & Civil Rights: How Testing Is Ruining Public EducationFor decades, standardized testing has been a part of public education. Within the last ten years, however, education reform has promoted even more testing. Test scores, mistakenly viewed as effective assessments of student a
8-13-14 Perdido Street School
CURMUDGUCATION: Duncan Funnels Millions to College BoardThis is how it works in our current form of government.Suppose you make left-handed widgets. You are a major player in the market, but you do have competitors. You would like to both cement your role in the market while growing your share of the revenue. What do you do? Well, you could work on marketing, product development, basically making
Swarthmore Profs Say Philly Schools Lack Needed Money: PA Funding Process Flawed | janresseger
Swarthmore Profs Say Philly Schools Lack Needed Money: PA Funding Process Flawed | janresseger: Swarthmore Profs Say Philly Schools Lack Needed Money: PA Funding Process FlawedPosted on August 13, 2014 by janresseger“Each year, as predictably as classes end in June, the School District of Philadelphia faces a budget crisis for the coming school year,” write John Caskey and Mark Kuperberg, economis
Louisiana Educator: Why Are We Being Forced to Teach This C_ _ _?
Louisiana Educator: Why Are We Being Forced to Teach This C_ _ _?: Why Are We Being Forced to Teach This C_ _ _?The highly acclaimed school standards called Common Core are becoming so unpopular that they may soon be politically untouchable. The critics are piling on from Glenn Beck to the Wall Street Journal, with senior academics and activist parents in between. The latest is a detailed criticis
NYC Educator: Support the Core "Hijacked" by Teachers and Parents
NYC Educator: Support the Core "Hijacked" by Teachers and Parents: Support the Core "Hijacked" by Teachers and ParentsYesterday was #SupportTheCore day on Twitter. A bunch of reformy folks got together and decided this was the day they would persuade all of social media that it was not, in fact, in their best interests either to oppose CCSS or to have Mulgrew punch them in the
Investing in Individuals First | Connected Principals
Investing in Individuals First | Connected Principals: Investing in Individuals Firstby George Couros • August 13, 2014 • 0 Comments“Every single employee is someone’s son or someone’s daughter. Parents work to offer their children a good life and a good education and to teach them the lessons that will help them grow up to be happy, confident and able to use all the talents they were blessed with
LAUSD Elections: McKenna elected to represent South LA on school board | 89.3 KPCC
LAUSD Elections: McKenna elected to represent South LA on school board | 89.3 KPCC: LAUSD Elections: McKenna elected to represent South LA on school boardRetired principal and administrator George McKenna was elected to the Los Angeles Unified school board in a runoff Tuesday, creating a majority coalition of board members backed by the teachers’ union. “I’ve had a track record of success everywhe
Schooling in the Ownership Society: Rhee finds her true calling at Scotts Miracle-Gro, killing many birds with one stone.
Schooling in the Ownership Society: Rhee finds her true calling at Scotts Miracle-Gro, killing many birds with one stone.: Rhee finds her true calling at Scotts Miracle-Gro, killing many birds with one stone.Michelle Rhee has decided to make a new start. After formally changing her last name to Johnson (she's married to Sacramento Mayor and former NBA star Kevin Johnson), Rhee has announced her de
YESTERDAY
Michelle Rhee-branded, But Still Promoting Crap | deutsch29
Michelle Rhee-branded, But Still Promoting Crap | deutsch29: Michelle Rhee-branded, But Still Promoting CrapAugust 12, 2014If I had to choose one individual for the title of Most Polarizing Educationist, that person would certainly be Michelle Rhee.(You know– educationist– the genuine article, like the Rolexx watch or Louis Wuitton handbag.)Though Rhee has received much press in venues including T
Robin Williams and Lessons to Be Learned About Kids with Mental Illness in Public Schools
Robin Williams and Lessons to Be Learned About Kids with Mental Illness in Public Schools: Robin Williams and Lessons to Be Learned About Kids with Mental Illness in Public SchoolsAUGUST 12, 2014 BY NANCY BAILEY LEAVE A COMMENTBy now there have been thousands of tributes to Robin Williams. We knew he was an amazingly sensitive actor, and his comedic genius, my guess, will never be duplicated. I be
Michelle Rhee Reportedly Prepares To Leave CEO Job At StudentsFirst, Group She Founded
Michelle Rhee Reportedly Prepares To Leave CEO Job At StudentsFirst, Group She Founded: Michelle Rhee Reportedly Prepares To Leave CEO Job At StudentsFirst, Group She FoundedPosted: 08/12/2014 8:52 pm EDT Updated: 23 minutes ago Former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee has told people close to her that she is preparing to step down as CEO of StudentsFirst, the advocacy organizatio
When Can We Talk About Race? (Michael + Trayvon + Renisha + ...) - The Jose Vilson
When Can We Talk About Race? (Michael + Trayvon + Renisha + ...) - The Jose Vilson: When Can We Talk About Race? (Michael + Trayvon + Renisha + …)This is often the way education conversations go:Higher-Up: Hey, so what do people want to talk about?Teacher 1: Can we talk about teacher evaluation?Higher-Up: Sure, what’s on your mind?Teacher 1: Well, here it goes. [long diatribe about how great / ter
Common Core Opponents Hijack Supporters' Twitter Blitz - US News
Common Core Opponents Hijack Supporters' Twitter Blitz - US News: Common Core Opponents Hijack Supporters' Twitter BlitzOpponents of the standards are fired up, and supporters need to up their intensity, one analyst says.Common Core supporters tried a new outreach approach, and opponents took advantage.By Allie BidwellAug. 12, 2014 | 6:18 p.m. EDT+ MoreOpponents of the Common Core State Standards
Nite Cap 8-12-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT
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 CAPempathyeducates – This Is Why We’re Mad About the Shooting of Mike Brownempathyeducates – This Is Why We’re Mad About the Shooting of Mike Brown: This Is Why We’re Mad About the Shooting of Mike BrownLesley McSpadden, left, is comforted by her hu