Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Special Late Nite Cap UPDATE 1-8-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2

Nite Cap UPDATE

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CORPORATE ED REFORM

#140: A Dwarf Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Wikipedia argues that academics are often charged with over-complicating problems and expressing them in obscure language. So which academics have come down from the proverbial “ivory tower” and taken on involvement in the public space in a relevant and meaningful way? The 2014 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence ranking system released by Edweek today seeks to understand […]

19 by Julian Vasquez He... / 2h

Charles M. Blow: As The Political World Turns

In his Thursday Thursday New York Times column Blow takes on Chris Christie. He begins by writing Well, that didn’t take long. After wall-to-wall Obamacare disaster ruminations, the terrain of the political landscape is shifting, as it always does, and refocusing attention on some familiar themes. The larger-than-life, straight-from-the-hip, quick-with-the-tongue paladin of the Palisades, Chris C

1 by rss@dailykos.com ... / 1h

inBloom and Data Mining: A Common Core Cousin

This week I posted this piece about a January 9, 2014, webinar promoting data mining– a webinar with Gates money all over it. (Here is a briefer follow-up to the post.) The initial post had a record number of comments, some of which were made by an inBloom representative. The comments prompted me to further investigate some of the nuances of inBloom, including key funding for and individuals assoc

16 1h

Breaking!! Still No Physical Education At Ps 154 In The Bronx!!

Back on November 30, 2013 these pages informed the world that the students at PS 154 in the Bronx are being deprived of having a physical education program.To remind all, the physical education teacher had retired and no foresight had been taken to find a qualified replacement. Sadly, the students of PS 154 were left with nothing.It is well documented that the children of the inner city are more p

by noreply@blogger.c... / 1h

Today: EWA Webinar on Student Data and Privacy

As more school districts share data with parents and teachers, privacy advocates warn that they run the risk of violating students’ privacy. How big of a concern is it? Should parental rights trump educators’ efforts to track students? What should the federal role be? Today's webinar, at 3:30 p.m. Eastern time, will look at these issues, with a particular focus on how the rollout of assessments l

by Emily Richmond / 1h

Radio Disney's pro-fracking elementary school tour sparks outrage | Al Jazeera America

Radio Disney's pro-fracking elementary school tour sparks outrage | Al Jazeera America: Radio Disney's pro-fracking elementary school tour sparks outrageby Peter Moskowitz @PeterMoskowitz January 8, 2014 9:15PM ETRadio Disney made 26 stops across Ohio with a pro-fracking group to promote oil and gas to elementary school studentsTopics: Fracking Oil OhioJoe Raedle/Getty ImagesAn educational program

by mike simpson / 2h

Rethinking ZERO TOLERANCE at last (and after a lot of damage has been done) | Bill Ayers

Rethinking ZERO TOLERANCE at last (and after a lot of damage has been done) | Bill Ayers: Rethinking ZERO TOLERANCE at last (and after a lot of damage has been done)The New York Times finally wrote this week about the wreckage left in the wake of zero tolerance school policy. If they’d been paying attention, someone on the editorial board might have benefited from reading the book below (published

by mike simpson / 2h

An Urban Teacher's Education: I Don't Have Enough Time to Be a Good Teacher

An Urban Teacher's Education: I Don't Have Enough Time to Be a Good Teacher: I Don't Have Enough Time to Be a Good TeacherWhen I got into teaching, I was bewildered by all of the things supposedly good teachers did in their classrooms.From professors and mentor teachers and administrators, I learned at least three new things that good teachers did every day for a long time.A few examples:- Good te

by mike simpson / 2h

Deadly Paulus-Vallasitis bacteria continues spreading across states | Reclaim Reform

Deadly Paulus-Vallasitis bacteria continues spreading across states | Reclaim Reform: Deadly Paulus-Vallasitis bacteria continues spreading across statesPosted on January 8, 2014by Ken PrevitiThe deadly bacterial disease that cripples and kills school districts as it drains their education funds is spreading again.Today is even stranger than yesterday. The Paulus-Vallasitis bacteria which has gone

by mike simpson / 3h

Why I’m Learning Spanish and Not Math | Gatsby In L.A.

Why I’m Learning Spanish and Not Math | Gatsby In L.A.: Why I’m Learning Spanish and Not Math Remember how excited I was about the Khan Academy math program? Even though I’d always hated math, their practice tests full of hints made it fun for me to learn. Yes, fun! I said that about math!Brimming with enthusiasm, I vowed right in these here pages to keep doing math until I hit a wall.Can I be

by mike simpson / 4h

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: To be attacked by Eric Cantor is a good thing

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: To be attacked by Eric Cantor is a good thing: To be attacked by Eric Cantor is a good thingEric Cantor's ratings in the dumper.Cantor's attack shows that Mayor de Blasio is on the right track. The wing-nut House Majority Leader is simply going to bat for his hedge-fund school reformer friends in N.Y. who have been riding high and raking in public dough under Mayor B

by mike simpson / 4h

Digital Leadership with Eric Sheninger | Connected Principals

Digital Leadership with Eric Sheninger | Connected Principals: Digital Leadership with Eric Sheningerby jjohnson • January 9, 2014 • 0 CommentsEric Sheninger is releasing a new book this month:Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times. The Principalcast Podcast will be interviewing Eric on Sunday, January 12, 2014 at 8:30 PM CST on teachercast.tv.The reason we chose to interview Er

by mike simpson / 4h

1-8-14 With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs

With A Brooklyn Accent: First Draft of New York Teachers Petition Refusing Merit PayFirst Draft of Teachers Petition Refusing Merit PayAs public school teachers in the State of New York we categorically reject Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to give merit pay for teachers rated “Highly Effective” on the State’s flawed teacher evaluation system. We oppose this not only because merit pay creates a

by mike simpson / 4h

Nite Cap 1-8-14 #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 CAPSchooling in the Ownership Society: More on digedu...Schooling in the Ownership Society: More on digedu...: More on digedu...Guest post by Donald Davidson, a Chicago school parent.Digedu is in at least six CPS public schools already (Lane Tech AC

by mike simpson / 6h hide // save

Radio Disney's pro-fracking elementary school tour sparks outrage | Al Jazeera America

Radio Disney's pro-fracking elementary school tour sparks outrage | Al Jazeera America:

Radio Disney's pro-fracking elementary school tour sparks outrage

by Peter Moskowitz @PeterMoskowitz January 8, 2014 9:15PM ET

Radio Disney made 26 stops across Ohio with a pro-fracking group to promote oil and gas to elementary school students

Topics:: Fracking; Oil; Ohio

An educational program funded by Ohio’s oil and gas industry and sponsored by Radio Disney has environmental activists – and some parents – up in arms over what they say is a hijacking of public education by hydraulic fracturing (fracking) interests, in a state sitting on billions of dollars’ worth of gas-rich shale.

The program, called Rocking in Ohio, went on a 26-stop tour of elementary schools and science centers across the state last month. It involves interactive demonstrations of how oil and gas pipelines work, and is led by three staffers from Radio Disney’s Cleveland branch. It is entirely funded by the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP), which gets its money from oil and gas companies.

Radio Disney, a nationwide network of radio stations aimed at kids, has said it will take the tour to other states if it deems the program successful. The company could not be reached for comment in

Rethinking ZERO TOLERANCE at last (and after a lot of damage has been done) | Bill Ayers

Rethinking ZERO TOLERANCE at last (and after a lot of damage has been done) | Bill Ayers:

Rethinking ZERO TOLERANCE at last (and after a lot of damage has been done)

The New York Times finally wrote this week about the wreckage left in the wake of zero tolerance school policy. If they’d been paying attention, someone on the editorial board might have benefited from reading the book below (published in 2001).

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/06/opinion/zero-tolerance-reconsidered.html?action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&region=Footer&module=Recommendation&src=recg&pgtype=article

ZERO TOLERANCE: Resisting the Drive for Punishment (2001) edited by William Ayers, Rick Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn

A handbook for parents, students, educators, and citizens: a clear-eyed collection that takes aim at the replacement of teaching with punishment in America’s schools. “Zero tolerance” began as a prohibition against guns, but it has quickly expanded into a frenzy of punishment and tougher disciplinary measures in American schools. Ironically, as this timely collection makes clear, recent research indicates that as schools adopt more zero tolerance policies they in fact become less safe, in part because the first casualties of these

An Urban Teacher's Education: I Don't Have Enough Time to Be a Good Teacher

An Urban Teacher's Education: I Don't Have Enough Time to Be a Good Teacher:

I Don't Have Enough Time to Be a Good Teacher

When I got into teaching, I was bewildered by all of the things supposedly good teachers did in their classrooms.

From professors and mentor teachers and administrators, I learned at least three new things that good teachers did every day for a long time.

A few examples:

- Good teachers keep records of phone calls home
- Good teachers greet students at the door and know at least one personal fact about each of their students
- Good teachers base their instruction on assessment
- Good teachers collaborate
- Good teachers stay after school to work with struggling students
- Good teachers differentiate their classes heterogeneously and homogeneously depending on the lesson
- Good teachers have excellent transitions
- Good teachers engage all of their students

The list of things good teachers supposedly do is endless. When I started teaching (the type A personality that I am), I was eager to work toward doing all of the things on that list. For years, I

Deadly Paulus-Vallasitis bacteria continues spreading across states | Reclaim Reform

Deadly Paulus-Vallasitis bacteria continues spreading across states | Reclaim Reform:

Deadly Paulus-Vallasitis bacteria continues spreading across states

Posted on January 8, 2014by Ken Previti

The deadly bacterial disease that cripples and kills school districts as it drains their education funds is spreading again.

Today is even stranger than yesterday. The Paulus-Vallasitis bacteria which has gone from Chicago to Philadelphia to Louisiana to Haiti, to Bridgeport, Connecticut now threatens the fifth most populated state in America, Illinois.

Paul Vallas is the carrier of this avaricious disease that demands yet more money and expensive benefits – even from one of the poorest cities in all of Connecticut, Bridgeport. Ironically, this is the city that hired Vallas to help reduce the financial burdens of education funding.

Today, Vallas’ demands have escalated as reported by indefatigable Connecticut blogger Jonathan Pelto.
“Add that to the extra $13,000 Vallas is demanding and taxpayers are being told they

Why I’m Learning Spanish and Not Math | Gatsby In L.A.

Why I’m Learning Spanish and Not Math | Gatsby In L.A.:

Why I’m Learning Spanish and Not Math

Remember how excited I was about the Khan Academy math program? Even though I’d always hated math, their practice tests full of hints made it fun for me to learn. Yes, fun! I said that about math!

Brimming with enthusiasm, I vowed right in these here pages to keep doing math until I hit a wall.

Can I be honest? After that optimistic proclamation, I only did one more hour or so of math practice tests. And then I stopped.

Here’s what’s interesting: I wasn’t bored of the practice tests. They were kind of fun. But we live in a world in which fun is very easy to come by. If all I wanted was to have fun, I’d spend the rest of my life binge-watching Girls or learn how to play Call of Duty or do real-life fun stuff like snorkel or surf or bungee jump.

The thing is, for me, but also I suspect for many people, fun is not enough. I say this because a lot of educational programs sell themselves on the premise that they’re fun and accessible and that therefore, kids will use them. For me, that wasn’t enough to get me

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: To be attacked by Eric Cantor is a good thing

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: To be attacked by Eric Cantor is a good thing:

To be attacked by Eric Cantor is a good thing

Eric Cantor's ratings in the dumper.

Cantor's attack shows that Mayor de Blasio is on the right track. The wing-nut House Majority Leader is simply going to bat for his hedge-fund school reformer friends in N.Y. who have been riding high and raking in public dough under Mayor Bloomberg.

Cantor fancies himself a r-r-revolutionary storming the anti-government barricades in the name of privatization of all public space. He obviously wishes he was old enough to have experienced the '60s.

“America is in the midst of an education revolution," he tells the Brookings Institute, referring to the unfettered growth of privately-run charter schools and school vouchers going to private and church-run schools.The real irony has this self-proclaimed anti-Washington, anti-gummint, local-control advocate trying to bully a city mayor and a local school district.

He's really upset about BdB's promise to make charter operators pay rent for use of public school space. "This move could devastate the growth of education opportunity in such a