Proof Your Teacher Evaluation is Meaningless - Teacher Habits : Proof Your Teacher Evaluation is Meaningless It’s bad enough that part of teachers’ evaluations are based on student growth. This growth, usually based on just a few poorly designed assessments and for which students are not personally held accountable, can be affected by a number of factors completely outside the control of the teac
CURMUDGUCATION : Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION You'll Never Be a Writer by Peter Greene / 20min This is a line often included in one of those self-reported stories that people feel compelled to share when they discover they are talking to an English teacher. It's not quite as popular as those standards "I Always Hated English Class in High School" or "I Hate To Read" or the super-popular "I Guess
Jersey Jazzman: New Jersey's Totally Screwed Up Charter School System, Clifton Edition : New Jersey's Totally Screwed Up Charter School System, Clifton Edition Here we go again: CLIFTON — City school board members remain united in opposition to the state education department's mandate that the district allocate $2 million toward a controversial charter school group. The state Department of Educat
New trial for Sacramento man who hit Mayor Kevin Johnson in face with pie | The Sacramento Bee : Think retrying the ‘pie guy’ is a waste of taxpayer money? You’re wrong and here’s why The guy who rammed a pie in the face of former Mayor Kevin Johnson is headed back to the courtroom and rightly so . It’s just a shame that deportation to another city can’t be a potential punishment for Sean Thompso
In Historic Move, Charter School Educators’ Union Vote Overwhelmingly to Unify with Chicago Teachers Union - eNews Park Forest : In Historic Move, Charter School Educators’ Union Vote Overwhelmingly to Unify with Chicago Teachers Union CTU members to vote this fall on historic effort to bring together charter and public school teachers in formal coalition as part of broader struggle for fair educ
The White House | whitehouse.gov : AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT PRESIDENT OBAMA’S RECORD IN FIVE AREAS Yes, we did. Yes, we can. “You were the change. You answered people's hopes, and because of you, by almost every measure, America is a better, stronger place than it was when we started.” - President Barack Obama WATCH THE ADDRESS AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT PRESIDENT OBAMA’S RECORD IN FIVE AREAS HEALTH CARE CLI
When Philanthropists Rule: Part Two of a Review of "The Givers" - Living in Dialogue : When Philanthropists Rule: Part Two of a Review of "The Givers" By John Thompson. As explained in this previous post , I began David Callahan’s The Givers with a commitment to avoid confirmation biases. As he notes, plenty of teachers (like me) detest corporate school reform. But, even if Callahan had concluded
Standing Up For Our Public Schools : Standing Up For Our Public Schools Charters are publicly funded but privately managed and, like most privately run businesses, the schools prefer to avoid transparency in their operations. ” – Bobbi Murray / Capital and Main In the past five years, the LAUSD Board had denied nine charter renewals while renewing at least 162. The charter industry, therefore, co
Keeping retirement weird. June Gloom in L.A. and the Blues in Chicago. | Fred Klonsky : Keeping retirement weird. June Gloom in L.A. and the Blues in Chicago. It was a beautiful summer night at Millennium Park for the opening of Chicago’s Blues Fest. We arrived in time for a set by the Chicago hip hop star, Rhymefest. Funny thing about Rhymefest. A couple of years ago he ran for alderman of the 2
Betsy DeVos' Testimony And New York's Integration Plan : NPR Ed : NPR : This Week In Education: DeVos, Discrimination, Desegregation Hello, and welcome to another excitement-filled edition of our weekly news roundup! Questions about federal law and discrimination for DeVos On Tuesday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos appeared before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, and Democrats pounded her w
Success Academy Wins Round in Fight Over Preschool Oversight - The New York Times : Success Academy Wins Round in Fight Over Preschool Oversight Success Academy and other charter schools won a victory in a long-running dispute with New York City when a state appeals court ruled on Thursday that the city cannot regulate a charter school’s prekindergarten programs. It was the charters’ first win in
Why schools still can't put segregation behind them : Why schools still can’t put segregation behind them A federal district court judge has decided that Gardendale – a predominantly white city in the suburbs of Birmingham, Alabama – can move forward in its effort to secede from the school district that serves the larger county. The district Gardendale is leaving is 48 percent black and 44 percen
Stability and Change in a Four-Decade Career in Teaching (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice : Stability and Change in a Four-Decade Career in Teaching (Part 3) After leaving the superintendency, I spent the next twenty years as a professor at Stanford University. I taught four courses during the academic year and did research. Most of the courses I taught were about th
School Vouchers: Transubstantiate Your Cash For Fun and Profit | gadflyonthewallblog : School Vouchers: Transubstantiate Your Cash For Fun and Profit When is a tax dollar not a tax dollar? When it’s used to pay for a school voucher. That’s the slight of hand behind much of our education policy today . Lawmakers want to give away a huge bundle of your cash to religious schools, but they can’t beca
Badass Teachers Association: Rockland County New York Democrats: "No IDC" by Jake Jacobs : Rockland County New York Democrats: "No IDC" by Jake Jacobs An anti-IDC resolution was overwhelmingly approved Thursday evening at the annual convention of the Rockland County Democratic Committee of New York. Following candidate nominations and typical convention business, a motion was circulated calling f
Preschool Social Emotional Learning (SEL): Discipline in Disguise? : Preschool Social Emotional Learning (SEL): Discipline in Disguise? Social Emotional Learning is popular! But why do school reformers discuss SEL like it has been hiding under a rock someone just kicked over? Haven’t preschool teachers always worked with children on how to get along? While reading and thinking about preschool, I
Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 6/9/17 Featured Post Friday Lessons Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all From the WTF File: ‘Why do I need a note for my religion?’ Students are told to get permission
