Latest News and Comment from Education

Monday, September 1, 2014

9-1-14 Hemlock on the Rocks

Hemlock on the Rocks:







An Audit and Grand Jury are Next , Right?
http://www.citywatchla.com/8br-hidden/7451-lausd-super-finally-exposed-an-audit-and-grand-jury-should-be-next LAUSD Super Finally Exposed … An Audit and Grand Jury Should be Next Ellen LubicEDUCATION POLITICS-Finally the lack of transparency of the mismanaged leadership of LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy is seeing the light of day.  The excellent investigative journalism by the LA Times education


iFail: Why John Deasy's Risky iPad Gambit Crashed and Burned at LAUSD | The Informer | Los Angeles | Los Angeles News and Events | LA Weekly
http://www.laweekly.com/informer/2014/08/26/ifail-why-john-deasys-risky-ipad-gambit-crashed-and-burned-at-lausd iFail: Why John Deasy's Risky iPad Gambit Crashed and Burned at LAUSDIn a surprising reversal, L.A. Unified Superintendent John Deasy has abruptly halted the district's billion-dollar technology program, which aimed to put an iPad into the hands of every student and teacher by the end o
Law firm supporting New York Parents Union quits, parents blame bullying by Campbell Brown’s education reform group | Eclectablog
http://www.eclectablog.com/2014/08/law-firm-supporting-new-york-parents-union-quits-parents-blame-bullying-by-campbell-browns-education-reform-group.html Law firm supporting New York Parents Union quits, parents blame bullying by Campbell Brown's education reform group Campbell Brown In early June, a decision in the California court case Vergara v. California deemed the state's teacher tenure law
Open Letter to President Obama — The One Book You Should Read on Public Education: Reign of Error, By Diane Ravitch
http://thewire.k12newsnetwork.com/2013/09/20/open-letter-to-president-obama-the-one-book-you-should-read-on-public-education-_reign-of-error_by-diane-ravitchs/ Open Letter to President Obama — The One Book You Should Read on Public Education: Reign of Error, By Diane Ravitchby Cynthia Liu Dear President Obama, You must read Professor Diane Ravitch's latest book, Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Pr

DEASY 'S Ethics Meets UTLA Ambition at Drago's for Dinner...Provoking a Series of Pointed Questions from an Outraged Teacher
Dear Rene,I am a concerned UTLA member writing about what is happening between UTLA and LAUSD. I hope you will consider publishing this, for the sake of the survival of public education. I want my union to be successful, yet I'm also concerned by some of the behavior I've seen from UTLA.During the recent UTLA election, it came to light that a secret backroom meeting was held between then elected U


Los Angeles Parents Need To Ask These Questions If They Have A Child In Public School
1)  How many teachers/staff left the year before and why?Schools all over L.A. are in chaos.  Intentional chaos.  The purge of veteran teachers and cuts to arts have been the cause of destruction and pain.  Get the information from teachers and staff at your child's school about how many teachers left and what's going on that so many are getting out or being out outl  Ask about the school climate,


Carmen Farina Vows To Drain ATR Pool By Having Principals Target ATR's
Sunday, August 31, 2014 Carmen Farina Vows To Drain ATR Pool By Having Principals Target ATR's Buried at the bottom of this Daily News story on Chancellor Farina's goals for the new school year is this: Fariña pledged to announce in the next two weeks a big reduction in the number of teachers getting paid despite not having steady classroom jobs. Earlier this month 114 of the roughly 1,10
Back to School with a New Position -Ambassador Teacher on Rotation - Educator Fights Back
Back to School with a New Position -Ambassador Teacher on Rotation   SEPTEMBER 1, 2014 Back to School… I can't wait! No Sarcasm. I'm seriously eager to start teaching again. I took some time off from blogging and attempted to spend more quality time with family this summer. Aside from a short trip to Jamaica, for my sister's wedding, and a road trip to Maine, the backyard was our summer hot-sp

STOP LAUSD From Throwing Good Money After Bad: Investigate/Audit Bad Ed Tech Deals
Dear Friends, Thank you for signing the petition "Reappoint Architect Stuart Magruder to the LAUSD Bond Oversight Committee" a while back. Together we restored a watchdog with integrity to his rightful role as member of the BOC. Now your powerful voice is needed again in LAUSD to help kids. Who throws good money after bad? Call for an independent external investigation and audit of LAUSD
Fwd: Sales of Chromebooks Rising Rapidly, Fueled by Education Sector - Marketplace K-12 - Education Week
Sales of Chromebooks Rising Rapidly, Fueled by Education Sector By Sean Cavanagh on August 12, 2014 1:53 PM | No comments The worldwide market for Chromebooks, while relatively small, is surging, a growth fueled primarily by sales of the devices in the U.S. education market, according to newly published market research. Sales of the devices—defined as mobile devices that run on Google
Tenure Appeal By Tom Torlakson
Friends, Earlier today I issued a statement regarding my decision to seek appellate review of the Vergara case, which has drawn considerable public attention in recent weeks. Here is the complete text of my public statement: "The people who dedicate their lives to the teaching profession deserve our admiration and support. Instead, this ruling lays the failings of our education sy
From a Soap Box : About This Case - Vergara
http://www.vergaratrial.com/who About This Case Vergara v. California is the latest in a long line of attempts to rob teachers of the flexibility and support they need to be creative and innovative in the classroom and to advocate for their students. Having lost at the ballot box and in the Statehouse, Students Matter, a nonprofit created by wealthy Silicon Valley investors, has now brought its c
Teaching Machines
http://teachingmachin.es/ Teaching Machines "Jujitsu? I'm going to learn Jujitsu?" Neo asks incredulously, as he's plugged in to a machine for the first time since his rescue by Morpheus and the members of the ship Nebuchadnezzar. The operator Tank loads a virtual training program, and Neo clamps his eyes shut, his body jolting in response as the data floods his visual cortex. Seconds
PPRIVATIZATION PUNKS THE PUBLIC BY Commandeering Assets on Top of Taxes
Schooling should be a "free" public service that does not treat one individual or group differently because of their (family) financial resources. Privatization inherently leads to discrimination on that basis for reasons that should be obvious to any high school student. Any use of taxpayer funds should not be sidetracked in any way that can even potentially benefit private parties or b

YESTERDAY

Embrace The Common Core – IQ2 Debates WEIGH IN ! TONIGHT 80% are Saying Hell No to theCommon Core
http://intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/upcoming-debates/item/1154-embrace-the-common-core&tab=2The reasons CCSS should not be implemented are numerous. Academic freedom is lost when teaching to tests and relying on scripted lessons. No higher intellectual processes are cultuvated. No creativity and despite lies to the contrary, no critical thinking either.Who likes canned dialogue that refra
Are Supt. John Deasy's days numbered? They should be after cozy iPad deal - LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-rall-ipads-lausd-20140827-story.html Opinion It sounded like a great idea at the time: L.A. would give students a boost into the 21st century by putting tech directly into their hands. The Los Angeles Unified School District would buy an Apple iPad for every student,  more than 600,000,  each loaded with educational software supplied by Pe
L.A. Unified exemplifies the forces that stifle public school reform - LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-0830-banks-lausd-ipads-20140830-column.html By now, Los Angeles Unified was supposed to be the technological model for big-city school systems.All of its pupils would have iPads, teachers could access student data with the click of a mouse, and parents could check their children's attendance and grades daily online.But the student data and tracking syste
r public school teacher.As such, I realize I am Public Enemy Number One to the fiscally-well-backed, non-teaching finger-pointers who call themselves “education reformers.”If only I could be fired without recourse, American educat
8-31-14 Hemlock on the Rocks
Hemlock on the Rocks: Do criticisms of U.S. schools rely on. False information, bad Data and distortionshttp://www.ajc.com/weblogs/get-schooled/2014/aug/30/education-mythbusters/ LIKE......DUH! University of Georgia professor and frequent AJC Get Schooled contributor Peter Smagorinsky discusses an interesting new book exposing the misperceptions and distortions about America's schools. By Peter Sm