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Sunday, November 8, 2015

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 11/8/15



CORPORATE ED REFORM




Time to end standardized testing mania by Joseph A. Ricciotti - Wait What?
Time to end standardized testing mania by Joseph A. Ricciotti - Wait What?: Time to end standardized testing mania by Joseph A. RicciottiJoseph A. Ricciotti is a retired education and fellow public education advocate and commentator.  His latest article, Time to end standardized testing mania first appeared in the CT Post.Joseph Ricciotti writes;It took the power of parents in the nation as part o
The Investment (A Message To New Jersey Teachers) | The Jose Vilson
The Investment (A Message To New Jersey Teachers) | The Jose Vilson: The Investment (A Message To New Jersey Teachers)Last week, I got to address the New Jersey Education Association about a number of different issues, but I need to leave this one note here for posterity. Here’s a remixed, written-out version of the remarks I made at the NJEA Convention. The intent of the message, and many of its
NYC Public School Parents: Fred Smith on the Common Core: Show me the evidence!
NYC Public School Parents: Fred Smith on the Common Core: Show me the evidence!:  Fred Smith on the Common Core: Show me the evidence!Fred Smith is an expert on testing and a critical voice on the flaws in the Common Core standards and the state exams.  His testimony to the Governor's Common Core task force is below. The presentation given by Lisa Rudley to the Common Core task force, co-founder o
Micah Ali, President of the Compton Unified School, Compton students, teachers file suit for 'complex trauma' - Melissa Harris-Perry on MSNBC
Melissa Harris-Perry on MSNBC: Compton students, teachers file suit for 'complex trauma'Compton students, teachers file suit for 'complex trauma'A provocative lawsuit playing out in Compton could have nationwide implications on if complex trauma could be classified as a disability under federal law. Kathryn Eidmann, Staff Attorney at Public Counsel, Pedro Noguera from UCLA and Dr. Robert Ross...Du
5 Famous Billionaires Dismantling Black Public Schools
5 Famous Billionaires Dismantling Black Public Schools: How These 5 Famous Billionaires Are Dismantling Black Public SchoolsThe biggest racists in the US aren’t running around with white hoods and burning crosses. They’re running Fortune 500 companies and burning public school systems across the country in favor of privately-run, publicly-funded charter schools.While none of the famous billionaire
Peg with Pen: Competency = Sheeple: My comment on EdSurge
Peg with Pen: Competency = Sheeple: My comment on EdSurge: Competency = Sheeple: My comment on EdSurgeLearn anything anywhere, you say? Not so much. The learning you describe is clearly confined to the "efficiency" that comes with the pared-down learning found via online modules that must gather data ever so efficiently in order to meet the demands of the market - NOT the demands of lear
NYC Public School Parents: Class Size Matters Testimony on the need to fundamentally revamp the Common Core and aligned exams
NYC Public School Parents: Class Size Matters Testimony on the need to fundamentally revamp the Common Core and aligned exams: Class Size Matters Testimony on the need to fundamentally revamp the Common Core and aligned examsBelow is the testimony that my assistant, Miho, gave  on behalf of Class Size Matters at the Cuomo Common Core Task Force listening tour in Queens on Friday.  I will be postin
Wait, what?! Here’s just a few issues that COULD be solved with Superintendent Nyland’s $13,000 Raise. | Seattle Education
Wait, what?! Here’s just a few issues that COULD be solved with Superintendent Nyland’s $13,000 Raise. | Seattle Education: Wait, what?! Here’s just a few issues that COULD be solved with Superintendent Nyland’s $13,000 Raise.“My raise is not going to solve any of the issues we have on the table. I’ve done better than anyone else and I will take the smallest raise in the district as far as I know,
CURMUDGUCATION: TN: A Broadie Amateur Takes Over ASD
CURMUDGUCATION: TN: A Broadie Amateur Takes Over ASD: TN: A Broadie Amateur Takes Over ASDImagine a hospital where the very toughest cases, the most inoperable cancers, the most stubborn infections, the most complicated reconstructive surgeries, and the most challenging diagnoses-- those are all handed over to someone who works in the personnel office and who has no medical training at all.Now ima
In Deep South, students are still paddled | SunHerald
In Deep South, students are still paddled | SunHerald: In Deep South, students are still paddledPHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY RALPH LAUER/FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM Although a majority of states have banned the spanking or paddling of students over the past few decades, public schools in some Southern states still depend on the practice - creating one more stress point for students already more likely to co
CURMUDGUCATION: Social Impact Bonds for Dummies
CURMUDGUCATION: Social Impact Bonds for Dummies: Social Impact Bonds for DummiesWe've been hearing about Social Impact Bonds, or "Pay for Success" programs for a few years now, but only recently have they entered the world of public education. Chicago, for example, launched one $17 million program last year for Pre-K, and last month Utah's United Way was happy to announce that Goldman-Sa
Suspensions discouraged. Yeah, so? | @ THE CHALKFACE
Suspensions discouraged. Yeah, so? | @ THE CHALKFACE: Suspensions discouraged. Yeah, so?There are nationwide efforts to reduce suspensions. They are applied inequitably and I definitely agree they are ineffective. Although, I will say that in some cases, everyone, teacher and student alike, need a “cooling off” period. Suspension may not be the ultimate answer, however.Our district shifted to a ne
Ann Marie Corgill Says Goodbye to Her Students | deutsch29
Ann Marie Corgill Says Goodbye to Her Students | deutsch29: Ann Marie Corgill Says Goodbye to Her StudentsAnn Marie CorgillOn October 29, 2015, 2014-15 Alabama Teacher of the Year Ann Marie Corgill resigned from teaching after being informed by the Alabama State Department of Education that she would need to complete further certification requirements to teach grades that she had been teaching for
Class Clown Or Gifted Student? It's A Matter Of Perspective : NPR Ed : NPR
Class Clown Or Gifted Student? It's A Matter Of Perspective : NPR Ed : NPR: Class Clown Or Gifted Student? It's A Matter Of PerspectiveWho doesn't love a class clown? That perfectly timed joke about the ancient Greek poet looking nothing like Homer Simpson is fun for everyone. Unless you're the teacher ... trying to teach a lesson about the Odyssey.As a teacher, the class clown is often your nemes
Randi Weingarten: Our school discipline mistake - NY Daily News
Randi Weingarten: Our school discipline mistake - NY Daily News: Our school discipline mistake: We should never have imposed zero-tolerance policies on kidsWe all want safe and welcoming school environments where students can learn and teachers can teach. But two recent disturbing examples of extreme reactions to student conduct have brought the negative effects of such responses into sharp relief
Schools Matter: Spellings Leader in NC Taliban War on Public Ed
Schools Matter: Spellings Leader in NC Taliban War on Public Ed: Spellings Leader in NC Taliban War on Public EdValerie Strauss has posted a report by James Hogan on the effects of tje Tea Party Taliban that seized control of North Carolina politics and its public education system in 2012. Besides draconian cuts to everything from teacher positions to drivers' ed, the Bircher wing of corporate edu
Hillary Clinton: Most charter schools ‘don’t take the hardest-to-teach kids, or, if they do, they don’t keep them’ - The Washington Post
Hillary Clinton: Most charter schools ‘don’t take the hardest-to-teach kids, or, if they do, they don’t keep them’ - The Washington Post: Hillary Clinton: Most charter schools ‘don’t take the hardest-to-teach kids, or, if they do, they don’t keep them’Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who is running for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, was  campaigning in South Carolina this w
What teachers just don’t get about homework - The Boston Globe
What teachers just don’t get about homework - The Boston Globe: What we don’t get about homeworkWhen students at Dover-Sherborn High School break for Thanksgiving later this month, there’s at least one thing they won’t have to worry about: homework.In a change from holidays past, the suburban Boston school district has declared Thanksgiving vacation a “homework-free weekend.” It’s the first of sev
Going soft on school discipline is another slap at poor kids who could excel | New York Post
Going soft on school discipline is another slap at poor kids who could excel | New York Post: Going soft on school discipline is another slap at poor kids who could excelLow-income strivers — impoverished families who follow the rules and work hard to climb the ladder to the middle class — may be the most underserved population in America today.For 20 years, national policies have focused largely
Ambrose: How do we save education? | The Columbian
Ambrose: How do we save education? | The Columbian: Ambrose: How do we save education?We must reward innovation while easing federal rulesGo back a bit and there was President Barack Obama promising us educational utopia. Then move forward some and what you have is a hugely expensive, bureaucratically dumbfounding mix of autocratic, divisive policies.Next up? Just this, fellow Americans: 2015 is t
What’s next for Michelle Rhee, once the national face of education activism? | The Sacramento Bee
What’s next for Michelle Rhee, once the national face of education activism? | The Sacramento Bee: What’s next for Michelle Rhee, once the national face of education activism?Michelle Rhee, the combative former D.C. public schools chancellor who founded the national advocacy group StudentsFirst, has retreated recently from public view.Rhee, who is married to Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, was now

YESTERDAY

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 11/7/15
CORPORATE ED REFORMWhy some LAUSD teachers are balking at a new approach to discipline problems - LA TimesWhy some LAUSD teachers are balking at a new approach to discipline problems - LA Times: Why some LAUSD teachers are balking at a new approach to discipline problems In a South Los Angeles classroom, a boy hassles a girl. The teacher moves him to the back of the room, where he scowls, makes a