Thursday, November 18, 2010

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: After 15 years of mayoral control in Chicago

After 15 years of mayoral control in Chicago

by Mike Klonsky

Catalyst reports, "not much progress"

Mayor Daley had wielded control of Chicago schools for seven years when the U.S. Department of Education in 2002 began to administer the National Assessment of Educational Progress in selected urban districts. At every level except 8th-grade reading, Chicago’s first scores were, on average, 9 points below other big cities—and seven years later, scores have risen but are still an average of 8.3 points below other urban

Dream Act Gains Momentum in Congress – Lily's Blackboard

Dream Act Gains Momentum in Congress

Nov 18th, 2010

by LilysBlackboard.

Hello everyone! The DREAM Act has been a hot topic in Washington today, after news that in the coming weeks the Senate will take up the bipartisan legislation to help 50,000 students.

The DREAM Act would allow immigrant students with good character to obtain conditional permanent resident status after high school graduation, and then apply for citizenship if they successfully graduate from two years of college or serve two years in the armed forces.

Lily is in the midst of speaking events and unable to post a new blog entry, but as you know she has been an outspoken support of the DREAM Act.

I am the daughter of an immigrant. I am living my mother’s American Dream. I went to college on scholarships and students loans and as a starving folk singer. This great country made an investment in my dream to become a teacher, and I like to think it was a good investment.
Imagine us making that investment in these children’s dreams. Giving these good, hard-working, visionary children the same opportunity to walk across a stage and graduate and to walk towards something better. To walk out

The Coopmike48 Daily, Education

The Coopmike48 Daily

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Education

13 people arrested in demonstration outside UC regents meeting in San Francisco

latimes.com - A police officer uses a baton to fend off protesters attempting to enter a University of California regents meeting in San Francisco.(Noah Berger / Associated Press / November 17, 2010) By Larry Go...

LATeducation

WTF?! Fee Hikes Again?? RALLY Nov. 18 @ UCI

wsauci.blogspot.com - Day of Action against: UC BUDGET CUTS!-TUITION HIKES! (AGAIN?!?) -Proposal to change fees to TUITION (falling into line with the historical trajectory of privatization of the UC)...... -Additional ...

coopmike48

Why Did Joel Klein Run?

huffingtonpost.com - In social studies classes, a major recurring theme is "push and pull." Immigrants came to the United States pulled by the promise of freedom and work. They were pushed from their homes of origin by...

Larryferlazzo

House of Commons Hansard Debates for 17 Nov 2010 (pt 0003)

publications.parliament.uk - We will see how much the scope for fiddling is removed when money is moved from the NHS budget to local authorities for social care.My hon. Friends the Members for West Lancashire (Rosie Cooper), f...

GiftedPhoenix

Nixon stressing importance of higher education | News-Leader.com | Springfield News

news-leader.com - Jefferson City -- In a time when higher education is more important than ever for jobs but the state is financially strapped to support its universities and colleges, Gov. Jay Nixon is calling for ...

schoolteaching

The Answer Sheet - What Ravitch told KIPP and Teach for America

voices.washingtonpost.com - Education historian Diane Ravitch gave a speech at Rice University about school reform in which she directly challenged officials from Teach for America and the Knowledge Is Power Program who were ...

The Answer Sheet - A School Survival Guide for Parents (And Everyone Else)

Education leaders don't have all the answers, apparently

By Valerie Strauss

Here’s what happened when I asked the governor of Maryland today whether he would want one of his children to be in a classroom with a teacher who had five weeks of training, as the Teach for Americaprogram gives before sending young people into America’s toughest schools:

Gov. Martin O'Malley didn’t directly answer the question.

This occurred when the newly reelected governor visited Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring along with Education Secretary Arne Duncan and National Education Association President Dennis Van

The Frustrated Teacher: What Do Teachers Need From Administrators?

What Do Teachers Need From Administrators?

[I originally posted this at Dangerously Irrelevant]

What do I need from administrators? It seems to be a huge question, and I am not sure why. Administration, in my experience in elementary schools in California's Bay Area, seems to be a tool of policy makers, not defenders of good, wholesome educational practices--they are the purveyors of fads. Or maybe they are simply trying to stay employed.

I have had principals who never taught in an elementary classroom. I've had principals who have been out of a classroom for 20 years, yet still think they are current. My district has gone through 3 superintendents in 10 years, each with his/her own "bee in the bonnet" about something that has more to do with money than educating kids. It's a sorry state of affairs.

Administration/principals in a school, IMHO, should be made up of current teachers. Actually, administrator should be a non-education based job--administrators should not be principals. At big hospitals there a managers who manage the business side, leaving medical personnel to do medicine. Sure there is a chief medical person, but that person is chiefly medical and only meets with the MBAs when money versus best practices is at issue, not to decide on

IMHO: What Exactly are We Fighting About? - The Local – Fort-Greene Blog - NYTimes.com

IMHO: What Exactly are We Fighting About?

By MICHAEL RANDAZZO, Community Contributor

Word about a public school protest was roiling around the Internet early Monday morning. It was first mentioned by Lucy Koteen on Fort Greene Kids Yahoo! Group, in a post reading, “Come to Brooklyn Tech on Tuesday, November 16th before the Panel for Educational Policy meeting to protest Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s appointment of Cathleen Black as the next Public Schools Chancellor.” Then came more — a petition, asking State Education Commissioner David M. Steiner to deny Ms. Black a waiver which would allow her to serve as school chancellor — despite her lack of experience in public education. I thought, “What the hell. I totally disagree with the mayor on this.” So, like hundreds of others, I signed.

I was able to slip out of work and arrive an hour late to the 4:30 p.m. protest. Lots of folks were gathered outside. I had to wonder — did I miss all the action? An answer from someone in the teeming crowd, “No, this is just a press conference. Meeting’s inside.”

As I entered Brooklyn Technical High School, for the first time in my eight years of being a Fort Greene resident, a policeman asked if I was there to speak or to listen. I said to listen and he countered, “Well you have a right to speak if you want.” I thought about this and decided “sure, I can do this” —

This Week In Education: Thompson: Performance Varies Widely From Year To Year

Thompson: Performance Varies Widely From Year To Year

by john thompson

The latest Brookings report seems to assume that the purpose of teaching is to provide economists with neat statistics. They discovered a nice pattern where output data across professions varies at similar rates, around 35% per year. That would provide important information if, as they assert without

Ousted CSBA director collects pension of $17,000 monthly - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Ousted CSBA director collects pension of $17,000 monthly

By Melody Gutierrez
mgutierrez@sacbee.com

Published: Thursday, Nov. 18, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 3A

Last Modified: Thursday, Nov. 18, 2010 - 8:12 am

After being ousted as the executive director at a statewide nonprofit school board association, Scott Plotkin is drawing $205,000 annually from his public pension.

Plotkin, 57, retired Sept. 1 from the California School Boards Association with a $43,000 severance payment. He is receiving $17,089 monthly from the California Public Employees' Retirement System.

The CSBA came under fire in July when the pay of top executives were revealed. Until Wednesday, the pension information was not publicly known.

Plotkin was paid $516,517 in 2008 and $403,955 in 2009 after receiving sizable bonuses and other

Teach for America, Inc. is in Seattle | Seattle Education 2010

Teach for Ameirca, Inc. is in Seattle

by seattleducation2010

Our Broad-trained superintendent has spoken. There will be TFA, Inc. recruits in Seattle.

But the battle for Seattle is not over.

Why was it so important to bring TFA, Inc. to our state? Because there are well paid lobbyists and Broad/Gates backed organizations along with DFER, who just set up shop in our state, who are already lobbying for charter schools. Charter schools are populated with TFA, Inc. recruits. These TFA, Inc folks, fresh out of college can be trained to feed the students pre-packaged curriculum that can be regurgitated back out on a standardized test. Low pay, long hours, no union to bother with and no questions asked. If you don’t know anything about the art of teaching, then you will have no idea that there is another way to educate a child and therefore you will not question the process.

The Seattle school board last night rubber-stamped the supe’s recommendation zombie style, 6-1. The irony of this is that the Board Director who voted against it was representing the schools who would receive the majority of TFA, Inc. recruits.

Parents, students and teachers spoke up quite eloquently and in unison against having TFA, Inc. recruits in their

New Poll: Californians Oppose Fee Hikes, Support Increased Public Funding for Higher Ed « Student Activism

New Poll: Californians Oppose Fee Hikes, Support Increased Public Funding for Higher Ed

by Angus Johnston

California residents oppose fee hikes at the state’s public colleges and universities by a two-to-one margin, according to a new poll, and 57% believe that state spending on public higher education should be given a boost.

The poll, released yesterday, found that 62% of Californians oppose raising tuition in the UC and Cal State systems and the state’s community colleges, with just 35% supporting such increases.

Nearly half (49%) of all respondents said they would be willing to pay more in taxes to support higher education

Concerns Rise Over Funding of Public Colleges, Universities | California Progress Report

Concerns Rise Over Funding of Public Colleges, Universities

Posted on 17 November 2010

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By the Public Policy Institute of California

A strong majority of Californians say state funding for higher education is inadequate and most would favor more spending on public colleges and universities even if it means less money for other state programs. These are the findings of a statewide survey released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) with support from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

A poor economy and persistent state budget deficit have taken a notable toll on Californians’ views about state funding for public higher education in the PPIC survey—taken before the state legislative analyst projected a $25.4 billion budget shortfall over the next 18 months. Today, 74 percent of residents say the state does not provide enough money for colleges and universities, up 17 points from October 2007 (57%). Most Californians (68%) believe that spending for public higher education should be given a high or very high priority—a 14-point increase from November 2008 (54%)—

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