SPECIAL NITE CAP
CORPORATE ED REFORM
Community members demand the Minneapolis Public Schools cancel Reading Horizons contract | Bright Light Small City
Community members demand the Minneapolis Public Schools cancel Reading Horizons contract | Bright Light Small City: Community members demand the Minneapolis Public Schools cancel Reading Horizons contractBackground: In early August, several Minneapolis teachers contacted me about an early literacy training session they had been to. What happened there shocked and offended many of them. I am happy
Hunger Strikers to hold candlelight vigil tonight
Hunger Strikers to hold candlelight vigil tonight: Hunger Strikers to hold candlelight vigil tonightOn the 16th day of the Dyett High School hunger strike, protestors and supporters will join the strikers for a candlelight vigil.The 12 hunger strikers and the Coalition to Revitalize Dyett will gather outside of the Tribune Tower, 435 N. Michigan Ave., by the DuSable bust at 7:30 p.m. tonight, join
Scott Walker blames Milwaukee Public Schools for Wisconsin’s incarceration rate of African American men | Educate All Students: Larry Miller's Blog
Scott Walker blames Milwaukee Public Schools for Wisconsin’s incarceration rate of African American men | Educate All Students: Larry Miller's Blog: Scott Walker blames Milwaukee Public Schools for Wisconsin’s incarceration rate of African American menSunday August 30: Chuck Todd, the host of Meet the Press, questioned Walker about Wisconsin having a higher incarceration rate of African-American m
The decline of play in preschoolers — and the rise in sensory issues - The Washington Post
The decline of play in preschoolers — and the rise in sensory issues - The Washington Post: The decline of play in preschoolers — and the rise in sensory issuesHere is a new post from pediatric occupational therapist Angela Hanscom, author of a number of popular posts on this blog, including “Why so many kids can’t sit still in school today,” as well as “The right — and surprisingly wrong — ways t
8 Interesting Facts about the Aftermath of Sac City’s School Closures | Hmong Innovating Politics
8 Interesting Facts about the Aftermath of Sac City’s School Closures | Hmong Innovating Politics: 8 Interesting Facts about the Aftermath of Sac City’s School Closures1. 4 out of the 7 closed schools have re-openedIn January 2013, Sacramento City Unified School District and former Superintendent Jonathan Raymond proposed the closure of twelve (12) neighborhood elementary schools. Of those twelve
Common Core SBAC testing – Big Cost, No Value - Wait What?
Common Core SBAC testing – Big Cost, No Value - Wait What?: Common Core SBAC testing – Big Cost, No ValueOver the past two years Connecticut taxpayers have dropped $32 million on the Common Core SBAC tests and another $12.4 million for implementation of the Common Core. The Connecticut state budget allocates another $43.1 million for the Common Core and Common Core SBAC tests for this year and ne
Standardized testing cripples educational goals - The Daily Athenaeum: Opinion
Standardized testing cripples educational goals - The Daily Athenaeum: Opinion: Standardized testing cripples educational goals At the end of every year in high school, a week was dedicated to the longest, most mind-numbing standardized test imaginable. We were taken to the gymnasium, spaced three feet apart and tested on our skills in reading, mathematics, history and science.Since my younger sis
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm's budget hearing not exactly what he had in mind
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm's budget hearing not exactly what he had in mind: Rahm's budget hearing not exactly what he had in mindhttp://imgur.com/IDzwas5Rahm finally meets with Dyett hunger strikers. But makes no commitments. Strike continues into Day 16. The Sun-Times reporter Stefano Esposito keeps referring to last night's public response at Rahm's budget hearing, as a "gripe se
WV MetroNews – Reconnecting McDowell turns attention to absenteeism & reading proficiency
WV MetroNews – Reconnecting McDowell turns attention to absenteeism & reading proficiency: Reconnecting McDowell turns attention to absenteeism & reading proficiencyWELCH, W.Va. — The partners involved in Reconnecting McDowell will next focus their efforts on addressing school absenteeism and ensuring all students reach reading proficiency by the 3rd grade as part of a larger education and
A Manifesto for a Revolution in Public Education · Change.org
Petition · Citizens who care about public, Teachers, students, parents, and teacher educators: A Manifesto for a Revolution in Public Education · Change.org: A Manifesto for a Revolution in Public EducationreClaiming the Conversation on EducationTeachers, students, parents, and teacher educators!For decades politicians, corporate titans, businesspeople, and some compliant educators have bombarded
Can Digital Games Improve Our Schools? - Living in Dialogue
Can Digital Games Improve Our Schools? - Living in Dialogue: Can Digital Games Improve Our Schools?By John Thompson.With The Game Believes in You, Greg Toppo joins the ranks of great authors like Anya Kamenetz and James Paul Gee, who articulate a new, dynamic, creative, and holistic path to 21st– century schools. Like Kamenetz, Toppo shows how assessments embedded in computer games could inform au
Thompson: Fact Checking the New Orleans Reformers' Spin This Week In Education:
This Week In Education: Thompson: Fact Checking the New Orleans Reformers' Spin: Thompson: Fact Checking the New Orleans Reformers' SpinWhen I first read the Education Research Alliance (ERA) report on the effectiveness of the competition-driven New Orleans model of reform, it was clear that true believers in "relinquishment" and market-driven reform would be disappointed by its findings
CURMUDGUCATION: Minneapolis Terrible Reading Choices
CURMUDGUCATION: Minneapolis Terrible Reading Choices: Minneapolis Terrible Reading ChoicesImagine that you are a Native American teacher, working with six year old students, and you come back to start the school year, only to discover that the district would like you to teach your students that Christopher Columbus "discovered" America, as if your own ancestors had never even existed. Or
With eye on local control, Newark officials push to speed up state evaluation process | NJ.com
With eye on local control, Newark officials push to speed up state evaluation process | NJ.com: With eye on local control, Newark officials push to speed up state evaluation processNEWARK — City school officials are throwing their support behind a measure aims to speed up a evaluation process that could prove critical in determining just how soon Newark's schools could emerge from two decades of s
The Fight Over Dyett High School | #FightForDyett | WTTW
The Fight Over Dyett High School | Chicago Tonight | WTTW: The Fight Over Dyett High SchoolThough Chicago Public Schools decided to phase out a low-performing, under-enrolled school in the city's Bronzeville neighborhood, it has agreed to reopen the school in the 2016-2017 school year.The district has opened a request for proposals for the school to be reinvented, but a coalition of activists have
Teaching English at Mission High School (Kristina Rizga) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
Teaching English at Mission High School (Kristina Rizga) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Teaching English at Mission High School (Kristina Rizga)This is the second post (see here) drawn from journalist Kristina Rizga’s account of teaching and learning at San Francisco Unified School District’s Mission High School. Rizga is a journalist who spent four years observing and inte
Dyett hunger strikers begin third week without food - #FightForDyett
Dyett hunger strikers begin third week without food - Chicago Tribune: Dyett hunger strikers begin third week without food Dyett hunger strikers begin third week without food, call on Mayor Emanuel to move meeting to an earlier date. Aug. 31, 2015. (WGN-TV)Dyett hunger strikers begin third week without food - Chicago Tribune:
Louisiana Educator: The Great Predatory Charter School Ripoff
Louisiana Educator: The Great Predatory Charter School Ripoff: The Great Predatory Charter School RipoffLafayette group Exposes Charter Enrollment ViolationThis story in the Lafayette advertiser helps to demonstrate for us what a predatory charter school does. But the Advertiser story only describes the tip of the iceberg of charter school profiteering.Thank you to the public school advocates of t
CURMUDGUCATION: 4 Bad Business Practices for Education
CURMUDGUCATION: 4 Bad Business Practices for Education: 4 Bad Business Practices for Education"Schools should run like a business" is one of the modern reformster mantras, and schools are so obviously NOT businesses that we can end up overlooking the other problem with this idea-- that reformsters often mean to incorporate practices that aren't even good business practices.If you have fr
Children Don’t Have Constitutional Right to Switch Schools, Appeals Court Rules - WSJ
Children Don’t Have Constitutional Right to Switch Schools, Appeals Court Rules - WSJ: Children Don’t Have Constitutional Right to Switch Schools, Appeals Court RulesParents aren’t guaranteed public-school choice in Arkansas caseAspen School District students head to their buses after the first day of class in Aspen, Colo., last Wednesday. PHOTO: JEREMY WALLACE/ASSOCIATED PRESSPublic-school parent
I’m a Teacher. What’s your Superpower?! - Lily's Blackboard
I’m a Teacher. What’s your Superpower?! - Lily's Blackboard: I’m a Teacher. What’s your Superpower?!I love seeing bumper stickers in praise of teachers.• Teachers Rule.• Those who can, TEACH. Those who cannot, pass laws about teaching.• Teachers have class.• Teachers make all other occupations possible.• You can’t scare me, I’m a teacher.• And one of my favorites, a quote from Frederick Douglass,
CURMUDGUCATION: If You Want To Help Chester Uplands...
CURMUDGUCATION: If You Want To Help Chester Uplands...: If You Want To Help Chester Uplands...If you have not been following the story, know that Chester Uplands School District in Pennsylvania is currently so broke that its teachers and staff are working without pay. You can read up on it here,here and here.Thanks to a commenter on this blog, I can point you to three places where you can help.PSE
NY State ed commissioner clarifies position on standardized tests | WBFO
State ed commissioner clarifies position on standardized tests | WBFO: State ed commissioner clarifies position on standardized testsState Education Commissioner Mary Ellen Elia says she won’t prevent parents who want their children to skip the state’s standardized tests from doing so.ListenListening...3:07The commissioner detailed her views on the controversial Opt Out movement in an interview wi
How the Billionaire Kingpins of School Privatization Got Stopped in Their Own Back Yard | Alternet
How the Billionaire Kingpins of School Privatization Got Stopped in Their Own Back Yard | Alternet: How the Billionaire Kingpins of School Privatization Got Stopped in Their Own Back YardA unique coalition in Little Rock, Arkansas is pushing back hard on a Walton Family-funded attempt at a charter takeover.The debate over public schools in Arkansas has been, for decades, ongoing and often fraught.
YESTERDAY
Mr. “Rebrand,” Mike Huckabee, Now Common Core “Killer” | deutsch29
Mr. “Rebrand,” Mike Huckabee, Now Common Core “Killer” | deutsch29: Mr. “Rebrand,” Mike Huckabee, Now Common Core “Killer”On Monday, August 31, 2015, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee sent the following anti-Common Core appeal in an email to potential Republican supporters:Sign my petition if you agree we must KILL Common Core and ABOLISH the Department of Education. Education is a family fun
Ready to Strike for the Schools Seattle’s Students Deserves! | I AM AN EDUCATOR
Ready to Strike for the Schools Seattle’s Students Deserves! | I AM AN EDUCATOR: Ready to Strike for the Schools Seattle’s Students Deserves!Today, I went to the Strike Captain meeting of the Seattle Education Association (SEA, the union that represents Seattle’s teachers and educational support staff) and I can tell you that our educators are fired up and prepared to strike, if necessary, to win
#FightforDyett | Bill Ayers
#FightforDyett | Bill Ayers: #FightforDyett Hannah Arendt describes a freedom involving “participation in public affairs, or admission to the public realm” (Arendt, H. 1963. On Revolution, New York: Penguin, p. 32). The hunger strikers at Dyett HS—fighting for public education in Chicago—are creating the public space right now, tonight. She acknowledges that freedom involves the establishment of c
CURMUDGUCATION: Middle Way
CURMUDGUCATION: Middle Way: Middle WayIn the midst of the back and forth over her comments about New Orleans' Myth of School Makeovers, Andrea Gabor dropped this quote from Howard Fuller: “I do believe things are better for a large number of kids than before Katrina. But I don’t want to be put in the position of saying: pre-Katrina was all bad, post-Katrina is all good. When we set it up that way
Anthony Cody - Challenging the Gates Foundation - Living in Dialogue
Anthony Cody - Challenging the Gates Foundation - Living in Dialogue: Anthony Cody - Challenging the Gates FoundationAnthony Cody - Challenging the Gates Foundation - Living in Dialogue:
Report: Low-income, black, disabled students miss school more often | EdSource
Report: Low-income, black, disabled students miss school more often | EdSource: Report: Low-income, black, disabled students miss school more oftenCalifornia’s low-income, black and disabled students are more likely to miss school frequently, which can be linked to future achievement gaps and dropout rates, according to a report released Monday.The national report by Attendance Works found that ch
Teacher Shortage: Who Will Teach the Children?| Uppity Wisconsin
| Uppity Wisconsin: Teacher Shortage: Who Will Teach the Children?Senator Kathleen Vinehout"Actions have consequences"“Please sound the alarm,” Superintendent Mary Baier wrote to me. “We are not able to find people to fill positions in Wisconsin.” She needed a special education teacher and only one applicant had applied to her rural Plum City district.When the school bells ring across Wi
Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 8/30/15 #FightForDyett
SPECIAL NITE CAP CORPORATE ED REFORMLast-minute challenger emerges to take on DPS board chair in November | ChalkbeatLast-minute challenger emerges to take on DPS board chair in November | Chalkbeat: Last-minute challenger emerges to take on DPS board chair in NovemberSpeth For StudentsThe field for November’s Denver school board election is all set — and it includes a final-hour challenger for bo
