Latest News and Comment from Education

Show All

Sunday, April 7, 2019

SCTA Leaders' Statement About Student Attendance During Strike on Thursday, April 11 - Sacramento City Teachers Association

SCTA Leaders' Statement About Student Attendance During Strike on Thursday, April 11 - Sacramento City Teachers Association

SCTA LEADERS’ STATEMENT ABOUT STUDENT ATTENDANCE DURING STRIKE ON THURSDAY, APRIL 11


David Fisher, President and Nikki Milevsky, Vice-President of SCTA
As parents of students in the District we will be keeping our students home on Thursday, April 11th, in support of striking teachers and because of our own very real concerns that on Thursday, April 11, no real learning will be taking place.
One valuable life lessons students should learn is that when you make promises you keep them.  And that lesson will best be learned with teachers on the picket line. That’s where we will be with our own and that’s where will be with our own children on Thursday, April 11.
We hope to see you and invite you to attend our rally at noon at the Serna Center on Thursday, April 11.








Posted by at

Editorial: La Opinión apoya a Jackie Goldberg | La Opinión

Editorial: La Opinión apoya a Jackie Goldberg | La Opinión

Editorial: La Opinión apoya a Jackie Goldberg


Se necesita una persona con experiencia, valores y conocimientos para representar al distrito 5 en la Junta Educativa del Distrito Escolar Unificado de Los Ángeles. Jackie Goldberg es quien puede proveer ese liderazgo.
Esta elección presenta a los votantes dos alternativas muy distintas entre Heather Reppenning y Goldberg. Dos personas con deseos sinceros de mejorar el aprendizaje de los estudiantes de esta amplia área de mayoría latina, con escuelas muy buenas y otras no tanto dentro del mismo distrito
La primera presenta el punto de vista de una madre con experiencia en el gobierno local. El interés de los padres es muy importante. La segunda trae una larga experiencia en temas escolares ganada a través de gestiones pasadas tanto en el LAUSD como en el Capitolio en Sacramento. Los desafíos que enfrenta la Junta Escolar requieren en este momento de una mano experimentada.
Goldberg conoce mejor las cuestiones que impactan al alumno. Desde su respaldo a la educación bilingüe con doble inmersión al importante proceso de reclasificación para los estudiantes aprendices de inglés. Ella tiene un mejor plan acercamiento hacia los padres inmigrantes.
La prioridad de la exasambleísta es reducir la cantidad de estudiantes por aula para que los alumnos puedan tener la atención necesaria que da un buen aprendizaje. Para eso se requiere recuperar el dinero perdido durante años por recortes y convertir la enseñanza en una prioridad estatal.
La experiencia de Goldberg en Sacramento le será muy importante para presionar por cambios impositivos que traigan más fondos para contratar maestros y el personal que permita reducir el tamaño de las clases.
Su defensa de la educación pública es inclaudicable. No obstante, ve la posibilidad de trabajar juntos con las SIGUE LEYENDO: 

Posted by at

Lightfoot 'impressed' with CPS' Jackson; at CPD, Johnson 'encouraged' after chat | Chicago Sun-Times

Lightfoot 'impressed' with CPS' Jackson; at CPD, Johnson 'encouraged' after chat | Chicago Sun-Times

Lightfoot ‘impressed’ with CPS’ Jackson; at CPD, Johnson ‘encouraged’ after chat

Lori Lightfoot, interviewed by Fran Spielman
Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot being interviewed by Chicago Sun-Times reporter Fran Spielman on Friday. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times

Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot said Friday she “came away very impressed” after her meeting with Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson and hinted strongly that Jackson would keep her $260,000-a-year job.
Lightfoot’s wide-ranging interview with the Chicago Sun-Times also touched on the Chicago Police Department and the planned Obama Presidential Center, among other issues.
Jackson’s contract with CPS has a golden parachute: she’s entitled to six months of pay or $130,000 if she’s terminated without cause, plus six months of health insurance for herself and her family.
But that’s not why Lightfoot is inclined to keep her.
In part, it’s because Lightfoot believes stability is desperately needed at Chicago Public Schools after a revolving door of leadership under Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Lightfoot has no desire to keep it spinning.
“It’s been even more dire at CPS” than at CPD, she said, noting that CPS has had “five CEOs over the last seven years. One led off to jail in handcuffs. Another who leaves under a cloud of suspicionbecause he interfered with an internal investigation.”
The Fran Spielman Show: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot
Volume 90%
 
But Lightfoot also believes Emanuel may have gotten it right with his fifth try at appointing a schools CEO.
“I’ve met with her. I came away very impressed. And we’re gonna continue to have discussions to make sure we’re on the same page,” Lightfoot said.
“She gets tremendous praise from people all over. I was at an event and a principal came up to me … as if on cue, she started talking about Janice Jackson. How great she was. Janice was walking CONTINUE READING: Lightfoot 'impressed' with CPS' Jackson; at CPD, Johnson 'encouraged' after chat | Chicago Sun-Times

Posted by at

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Hello, April Edition (4/7)

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Hello, April Edition (4/7)

ICYMI: Hello, April Edition (4/7)


 It's practically like spring here in Northwest PA, but I still have some-- well, many-- choice items to share this week. Remember, these writers depend on you to boost their work, so if something here speaks to you, help push it out into the world!

I Asked USED Three Questions

Jeff Bryant just had three questions for the Betsy DeVos Department of Education, but they "created havoc" for the staff.

Fact-Checking DeVos's $5 Billion Tweet    

DeVos tweeted that her new voucher plan will not take any money from public education. Valerie Strauss fact checks that assertion.

A Truckload of Fraud-hopping

The indispensable Mercedes Schneider tries to run down all the problems facing the New Beginnings School Foundation.

21 States Vs. DeVos 

21 states are trying to crack down on student loan companies; the Department of Education has quietly started to stand in their way.

NC School Supply Sham   

NC wants to give $400 to each teacher for classroom supplies. Well, no. Not really.

Every Incident of a Mishandled Gun in School

Gabby Giffords' website has compiled this sobering list of in-school gun mishaps, from accidental firings to guns stripped from teachers by students who were being disciplined.

State Tosses Out MCAS Question on Underground Railroad

Massachusetts enters the annals of bone-headed test questions with this bit of racist idiocy.

They Had It Coming   

You probably didn't miss this, but just in case, here's the article about the college admissions scandal that you need to read. Loaded with sharp insights and instantly quotable, this is a great piece of work by Caitlin Flanagan.

The Real Motive Behind Gov. Bill Lee's Voucher Plan

Bill Smith in Tennessee peels back the layers of anti-public ed nonsense behind Lee's voucher plan.

2 Students Accused of Crashing School Wi-Fi To Avoid Tests 

Example #43,276 of why running your whole school over a computer network might not be a great idea. On the other hand, if you're looking for signs of ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit among students, well, here ya go.

What To Do With Cafeteria Waste

Here's a good idea you probably ought to be doing in your school. Read about a school that packages its leftovers and sends them home to families in need.

Gunfire  

Short. Not sweet.

The Unfair Way These Democrats Will Lose on Schools in 2020   

A look at how the charter school landscape has shifted under the feet of some prominent Democrats.

Defining "Educator" During a Teacher Shortage and the Privatization of Public Education 

Nancy Bailey takes a look at how redefining the term has become a useful tool of corporate reform.

The Cure for Boring Curriculum

Nancy Flanagan looks at a recent study of boredom in school. Direct from the "you could have saved a bunch of money and just asked teachers" file.

Teaching Intolerance

Jose Luis Vilson, on seeing one of NYC's infamous out and about.

LA Times VAM Reporters-- Where Are They Now    

Remember those reporters who just had to compute and publish teachers' VAM scores? Audrey Amrein-Beardsley not only remembers them, but she knows what they're up to these days.

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Hello, April Edition (4/7)



Don't Be Fooled By This Proposal To End Testing
by Peter Greene / 21h
Tom Vander Ark has a long and checkered past in the ed reform biz , and he is ready to cash in on the next big thing (he's been ready for a while), which is why we find him at Forbes proposing an end to standardized testing . Just to be clear from the jump-- that's not a good thing. The article comes in two parts-- a pretty good take-down of the Big Standardized Test, and a pretty weak argument fo

APR 05

MO: Bipartisan Fight Against Charter Expansion
by Peter Greene / 1d
Rep. Rebecca Roeber (R) of Lee's Summit, Missouri has proposed a bill to expand charter reach ; the state has basically confined charter schools to the Kansas City and St. Louis districts. But response to the bill has not been exactly a slam dunk. The bill would allow charters to open in communities of greater than 30,000 people or an accredited-without-provisions school district. The feelings abo

APR 04

College Board's AP Rate Hike Backlash
by Peter Greene / 3d
The College Board, the company behind the dreaded SAT and popular AP courses has made changes to the registration for the AP exams . AP courses and the exams that go with them are supposed to provide students with a leg up on college applications. Though the changes, which amount to an increase in cost, were announced over a month ago, they now add to the conversation the nation is suddenly havin

APR 02

MT: Meat Widgets And Personalized Learning
by Peter Greene / 4d
In Montana, the connection between Personalized [sic] Learning and vocational training has been made pretty explicit. There, some leaders are throwing support to PL not because it would be good for students or would solve educational problems, but because it would solve workforce development problem s. Solving workforce shortages one widget at a time. State Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, recently show

APR 01

Accountability Beyond the Bubble
by Peter Greene / 5d
Accountability has always been an educational buzzword, and the modern reformy era has put accountability on a high, if somewhat cockeyed pedestal. Testing? Not testing? Running test scores through models soaked in magic VAM sauce? Regular school visits, inspections and audits? Administrators and school boards that actually pay attention? A big fat stack of state and federal regulations and report

MAR 31

DeVos, Class Size, and the Reformistan Bubble
by Peter Greene / 6d
I almost feel sorry for Betsy DeVos. Her two big news breaks this week are not entirely her fault. First, there's the Special Olympics fiasco. It appears that the budget office made the hugely unpopular cut, and DeVos stood by it like a good soldier, right until Donald Trump threw her under the bus and canceled the cuts (that were never going to get past Congress). But now DeVos is the one who get
ICYMI: Snowy Relapse Edition (3/31)
by Peter Greene / 6d
The weather outside is, in fact, frightful. So here's a list of things to read inside today. Teen Boys Ranked Their Female Classmates Based On Looks, And The Girls Weren't Having It It's a great story, in part because it's about working the issue out, not just getting somebody in trouble. Small District Reaps Big Profits With Chart Fees There are a lot of things wrong with California's charter sys

MAR 30

Is CTE Good News Or Bad News
by Peter Greene / 8d
In the last two decades of education reform, a great deal of emphasis has been put on sending high school graduates to college. President Obama in his 2009 State of the Union address proclaimed that by 2020 America would " once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world" (though he hedged that a bit by later saying simply that everyone would need some kind of post high sc
Squeezing the Clock
by Peter Greene / 8d
Put this on my list of Things I've Noticed Since Retiring From The Classroom. In a teaching day, every single second counts. Teachers squeeze the clock till it screams. Five minutes left in the period? Just enough time to review the main concept from yesterday. Three minutes between classes? More than enough time to pee and swing by the office to pick up my mail. Twenty-five minute lunch period? I

MAR 29

What Did We Learn From DeVos Hearings This Week?
by Peter Greene / 8d
So during Betsy DeVos's terrible horrible no-good very bad week of hearings, what did we learn? Opposition Parties Matter This is the third budget in which DeVos tried to zero out Special Olympics. The third. So why so much fuss this time around? Perhaps because somebody made her go before Congress and explain herself (or not) in some exchanges that made for insta-viral hits. Just imagine what it

MAR 28

What To Look For In A Teacher School
by Peter Greene / 10d
Robert Pondiscio just reviewed a new NCTQ book for high school students about how to become a teacher. I haven't seen the book, so I'm in no position to comment on it, but it does remind me that we don't spend nearly enough time talking about teacher prep, not from a policy point of view, but the point of view of high school students who want to end up teaching some day. I am not the person to co

MAR 26

The Red Flags In Kamala Harris's Pay Raise Proposal
by Peter Greene / 11d
I was so determined not to get into the 2020 election this early, dammit. But the Kamala Harris teacher pay raise proposal hit my screen this morning, and there I was on twitter. I've addressed the larger concerns with the proposal here , but there are other concerns that are less interesting to the Forbes audience. When I read the Harris op-ed in the Washington Post, I thought, "Hmmm. Well...." W
Education Scholarship Tax Credits and Undercover Boss: Feeling Good While Fixing Nothing
by Peter Greene / 11d
You remember Undercover Boss. The mostly-reality show shows a high-level executive putting on a disguise and going out into the trenches of the company. There, they'll meet real employees--often employees with touching hard luck 

CURMUDGUCATION - http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/




Posted by at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)