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Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 10/13/15



CORPORATE ED REFORM






Sacramento Bee says: Judge mayor on his record, A Short Walk Down Memory Lane in Pix
Judge mayor on his record, good and bad | The Sacramento Bee: Judge mayor on his record, good and badBY THE EDITORIAL BOARDWhen you’re a celebrity mayor, you can’t be too shocked when the occasional sordid accusation gets thrown your way.So it is with Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, who is being shadowed by a new focus on old allegations first made in 1996 that he molested a teenage girl while pla
The Hillary/Bernie Political Kabuki Theater Has Been Scripted Just As High Stakes Testing Has | Reclaim Reform
The Hillary/Bernie Political Kabuki Theater Has Been Scripted Just As High Stakes Testing Has | Reclaim Reform: The Hillary/Bernie Political Kabuki Theater Has Been Scripted Just As High Stakes Testing HasWhy must the Democratic Presidential Primary Debate be scripted like the teacher preparation of children for the mandated high stakes tests? The arguments and limits are pre-framed for a targeted
Sacramento Democratic Party leader: Mayor Kevin Johnson should ‘step aside’ | The Sacramento Bee
Sacramento Democratic Party leader: Mayor Kevin Johnson should ‘step aside’ | The Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Democratic Party leader: Mayor Kevin Johnson should ‘step aside’The head of Sacramento’s Democratic Party called for Mayor Kevin Johnson to “step aside” on Tuesday after a 1996 video of a teenage girl accusing the mayor of sexual abuse surfaced and ESPN delayed the national release of a doc
Ex-CPS chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett pleads guilty, tearfully apologizes to students - Chicago Tribune
Ex-CPS chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett pleads guilty, tearfully apologizes to students - Chicago Tribune: Ex-CPS chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett pleads guilty, tearfully apologizes to studentsPDF: Barbara Byrd-Bennett plea agreementFormer Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett faces up to about 7 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to steering multimillion-dollar no-bid contracts to a
Why Educators Should Get Serious About Free Universal Education - Education Week
Why Educators Should Get Serious About Free Universal Education - Education Week: Why Educators Should Get Serious About Free Universal EducationBy Susan Hopgood, Lily Eskelsen-García, & Randi WeingartenAs educators, we're optimists by nature, and we believe the global goals adopted by the United Nations late last month will be achieved by the 2030 target date, including free quality education
BAT Fall Fundraising Drive – Please Support Our Mission and Message
BATS: BAT Fall Fundraising Drive – Please Support Our Mission and MessageBe a BAT Supporter—Donate today as we kick off our fall fundraising drive.  Based on the last 2 days of events (Duncan Resignation & NEA Recommendation of Hillary), we hope to do a fall campaign that will see us buying either newspaper ads, billboards, or radio ads to get our message out about the attempt by billionaires
Budget Disputes in Pennsylvania’s Legislature Could Force Public Schools to Shut Down - The Atlantic
Budget Disputes in Pennsylvania’s Legislature Could Force Public Schools to Shut Down - The Atlantic: The Tenuous Fate of Pennsylvania’s Public SchoolsThe legislature’s budget disagreements could mean that many of the Keystone State’s schools are about to shut downPennsylvania public schools are now at Defcon 1—borrowing millions of dollars to keep the lights on, starting to ask teachers to work w
Shadow of Paul Vallas hangs over Chicago’s Corporate Education Reform Industry scandal - Wait What?
Shadow of Paul Vallas hangs over Chicago’s Corporate Education Reform Industry scandal - Wait What?: Shadow of Paul Vallas hangs over Chicago’s Corporate Education Reform Industry scandalBarbara Byrd-Bennett, the former CEO of the Chicago Public Schools and one of the Corporate Education Reform Industry’s most prominent leaders, we be in federal court today – Tuesday, October 13, 2015 – to face ch
Russ on Reading: Teacher Autonomy, Accountability and Baseball
Russ on Reading: Teacher Autonomy, Accountability and Baseball: Teacher Autonomy, Accountability and BaseballI don’t think that the primary problem in American education is the lack of teacher quality, or that part of the solution would be to find the best and the brightest to become teachers. The quality of an education system can exceed the quality of its teachers if teaching is seen as a team s
Top 10 Education Questions for the 2015 Las Vegas #DemDebate @CNN @DonLemon | Cloaking Inequity
Top 10 Education Questions for the 2015 Las Vegas #DemDebate @CNN @DonLemon | Cloaking Inequity: Top 10 Education Questions for the 2015 Las Vegas #DemDebate @CNN @DonLemonCNN has invited questions for today’s #DemDebate in Las Vegas. They write,What would you want to ask the candidates? Let us know on Twitter and Facebook using #DemDebate. Watch the debate on CNN at 8:30 p.m. EST.Here are my Top
How ridiculous would it be if we did this to our schools? (Oh wait, we did.) - The Washington Post
How ridiculous would it be if we did this to our schools? (Oh wait, we did.) - The Washington Post: How ridiculous would it be if we did this to our schools? (Oh wait, we did.)Here’s a thought experiment about charter schools from Mitchell Robinson, an associate professor and chair of music education at Michigan State University. Before moving to Michigan State, Robinson taught music for 10 years
Perdido Street School: Does Eva Moskowitz Use Suspensions To Boost Test Scores?
Perdido Street School: Does Eva Moskowitz Use Suspensions To Boost Test Scores?: Does Eva Moskowitz Use Suspensions To Boost Test Scores?From John Merrow's News Hour report on Success Acadmies last night:JOHN MERROW: Success Academies are obviously doing something right. Last year, 93 percent of Success Academy students passed the state’s math test, compared to just 35 percent in the city’s tradit
CURMUDGUCATION: Dancing Straw Men Reformster Video Festival
CURMUDGUCATION: Dancing Straw Men Reformster Video Festival: Dancing Straw Men Reformster Video FestivalNow and then, amidst the noise and mess of the education debates, you will see a moment where people from several sides are able to find a means of engaging in dialogue based on nuanced looks into the issues and an honest attempt to understand the ideas and positions that motiva-- OH MY DEAR GOD
Black women teachers need better working conditions to improve education in the cities - The Hechinger Report
Black women teachers need better working conditions to improve education in the cities - The Hechinger Report: Black women teachers need better working conditions to improve education in the citiesReductions in the number of black women who teach can never lead to the academic success of black children.The ability to hold on to black women in the teaching profession is an essential indicator of qu
Educator: We Must Protect Our Students from School Violence - NEA Today
Educator: We Must Protect Our Students from School Violence - NEA Today: Educator: We Must Protect Our Students from School ViolenceImagine 27 ten-year-olds huddled together in a corner on the floor oftheir classroom in almost complete darkness. Everyone’s ears areworking overtime straining to hear any hint of an intruder presence onthe other side of the door. Movement is restricted to darting eye
Ex-head of Chicago public schools to plead guilty in bribery case
Ex-head of Chicago public schools to plead guilty in bribery case: Ex-head of Chicago public schools to plead guilty in bribery caseThe former chief of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is expected to plead guilty Tuesday to charges of bribery. Prosecutors said Barbara Byrd-Bennett steered more than $23 million in no-bid contracts to education firms for $2.3 million in bribes and perks.Byrd-Bennett’s a
In Final PBS Broadcast, John Merrow Interviews New York City’s Controversial Eva Moskowitz | janresseger
In Final PBS Broadcast, John Merrow Interviews New York City’s Controversial Eva Moskowitz | janresseger: In Final PBS Broadcast, John Merrow Interviews New York City’s Controversial Eva MoskowitzLast evening, the PBS NewsHour (October 12) aired John Merrow’s final broadcast before retiring from the NewsHour, a fascinating interview with New York City’s Eva Moskowitz, the politically polarizing CE
Education takes center stage in Philadelphia mayoral debate | Philadelphia Public School Notebook
Education takes center stage in Philadelphia mayoral debate | Philadelphia Public School Notebook: Education takes center stage in Philadelphia mayoral debateDemocrat Jim Kenney and Republican Melissa Murray Bailey face off for the second mayoral debate of the general election.More than 200 people packed a Center City auditorium Monday night for a tame, wide-ranging mayoral debate between Democrat
Glamour: How One Woman Went From Lunch Lady to President of the Largest Teachers' Organization - Lily's Blackboard
Glamour: How One Woman Went From Lunch Lady to President of the Largest Teachers' Organization - Lily's Blackboard: Glamour: How One Woman Went From Lunch Lady to President of the Largest Teachers’ OrganizationAn editorial in Glamour:Lily Eskelsen García, 60, never imagined she’d go to college. After all, her parents’ biggest goal for her and her five siblings was that they make it through high sc
Bill Gates, with a net worth of about $78 billion, according to Forbes, Can Buy ANYTHING
Here's the difference between averages and medians - Yahoo Finance: Here's the difference between averages and mediansThere are a couple different ways to mathematically think about the average or typical member of a group, and they have advantages and disadvantages in different situations.As you likely recall from math class, the mean or average of a set of numbers is calculated by adding up all
Supreme Court justices at work, bashing unions | TheHill
Supreme Court justices at work, bashing unions | TheHill: Supreme Court justices at work, bashing unionsSupreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is pursuing a vendetta against organized labor. As the point man for all things anti-union in the court's jurisprudence, Alito next will target teachers' unions in California. If he can persuade Justice Antonin Scalia to join the cabal along with Chief Justice
Kevin Johnson sexual assault allegations: Sacramento mayor faces questions.
Kevin Johnson sexual assault allegations: Sacramento mayor faces questions.: ESPN Delays Doc Involving Obama Ally Kevin Johnson Over 1995 Sexual Assault AllegationSacramento mayor Kevin Johnson and President Obama at the United States Conference of Mayors on May 19 in Sacramento.Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesESPN will delay the broadcast of a documentary about the Sacramento Kingsbecause of
Let’s take it to Michelle Rhee and Bill Gates: Here’s how Democrats should talk about education tonight - Salon.com
Let’s take it to Michelle Rhee and Bill Gates: Here’s how Democrats should talk about education tonight - Salon.com: Let’s take it to Michelle Rhee and Bill Gates: Here’s how Democrats should talk about education tonightCharter schools, Race to the Top, public education -- none of it came up in the '12 debates. Let's change that nowDuring the 2012 presidential campaign, the subject of K-12 educati

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Is kindergarten too young to suspend a student?
Is kindergarten too young to suspend a student?At the largest charter school network in New York City, strict academic and behavior standards set the stage for learning. That doesn't exclude children as young as 5 or 6 years old, who can be given out-of-school suspensions if they don't follow the rules. Special correspondent for education John Merrow explores what that policy means for both the ch
Louisiana Educator: Conversion Tables Reveals White Lowering the Bar. . . . Again!
Louisiana Educator: Conversion Tables Reveals White Lowering the Bar. . . . Again!: Conversion Tables Reveals White Lowering the Bar. . . . Again!Release of Secret Conversion Tables for PARCC Forced by Public Records Request. Louisiana citizens will be the first ones in the PARCC testing group to see the critical conversion tables, that are used for producing the scale scores.  It only happened be
Don Neilson, the Discovery Institute and Intelligent Design | Seattle Education
Don Neilson, the Discovery Institute and Intelligent Design | Seattle Education: Don Neilson, the Discovery Institute and Intelligent DesignDon NielsonDon Nielson recently had yet another op ed published by the Seattle Times, a newspaper which has provided many wealthy (white) men with a platform and microphone to share their opinions with the rest of us on public education. This time Mr. Nielson
Reading prepares students for living and learning outside the text | Johnathan Chase | LinkedIn
Reading prepares students for living and learning outside the text | Johnathan Chase | LinkedIn: Reading prepares students for living and learning outside the textCommon Core's emphasis on deep analysis of text and discrete literacy skills is misguided and will not improve the college and career readiness of students.These standards do not properly prepare our students for the real world literacy
School Reformers Who Blame Public Schools for Eliminating Special Education
School Reformers Who Blame Public Schools for Eliminating Special Education: School Reformers Who Blame Public Schools for Eliminating Special EducationI see Washington Post Columnist Jay Matthews as someone who usually cheerleads for privatization of public schools. I take issue with his Sunday Washington Postarticle “How can a special education student fail finals yet pass? Sadly, it’s easy.”Oh
Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 10/12/15
CORPORATE ED REFORMNew waivers from school readiness law raise concerns | ChalkbeatNew waivers from school readiness law raise concerns | Chalkbeat: New waivers from school readiness law raise concernsMore than 60 Colorado charter schools  — and one of the state’s largest school districts — have been granted exemptions from some requirements of the state’s school readiness law just as it is being