4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: ALL CHILDREN MUST “WIN THE FUTURE”

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: ALL CHILDREN MUST “WIN THE FUTURE”

ALL CHILDREN MUST “WIN THE FUTURE”

THEMES IN THE NEWS FOR THE WEEK OF JAN. 24-28, 2011 BY UCLA IDEA | HTTP://BIT.LY/FNE43D

1-28-2011 In his State of the Union address (full text), President Obama spoke at some length about education. It was one of the few elements of the speech that received enthusiastic support from both Republicans and Democrats (Education Week, Educated Guess, Education Week).

The speech portrayed a foreboding educational crisis that the administration is addressing with productive education policies. Inevitably, there are points of tension and contradiction in such a portrayal: a crisis that is serious enough to mobilize interest and force action accompanied by solutions that provide comfort and hope in the face of education failure.

For example, the president represented open-ended and critical questions as strengths of American education. He said, “. . . our students don’t just memorize equations, but answer questions like ‘What do you think of that idea? What would you change about the world? What do you want to be when you grow up?’” In fact, many

Seattle Public Schools community blog: Good Things Happening In Seattle Public Schools

Seattle Public Schools community blog: Good Things Happening In Seattle Public Schools

This Week's Meetings As I reported before, tomorrow is the day when the district has their "Construction Management Exit Conference" with the State Auditor's office. This is an audit of the capital building program known as BEX (Building Excellence). I believe it covers ...

Good Things Happening In Seattle Public Schools A round-up from all over (thanks to Maureen for this story from the My Ballard blog): Ballard High School students are learning how to handle oil spills. On Thursday, students in the school’s Maritime Academy conducted an “oil spill drill” as part of ...

Journal of Educational Controversy Blog: Grassroots “Save Our Schools” March on Washington & National Call to Action on July 28-31

Journal of Educational Controversy Blog: Grassroots “Save Our Schools” March on Washington & National Call to Action on July 28-31

Grassroots “Save Our Schools” March on Washington & National Call to Action on July 28-31

This blog has tried to follow some of the grassroots movements in this country as a balance to the official messages coming from Secretary Duncan and the U.S. Department of Education that are often reflected in the mainstream media. We have learned about a march on Washington that will take place July 30th.

This grassroots movement of parents, teachers, students, community activists, and “everyday working people” has been endorsed by educational voices like Diane Ravitch, Deborah Meier, Alfie Kohn, Joel Spring, Rethinking Schools' editors, David Berliner, among many others. Diane Ravitch will be one of the speakers at the DC rally. Prior to the march and rally in the park, participants will be able to participate in a number of seminars, workshops and advocacy meetings hosted by American University.


Here is their call to action:

DEMAND JUSTICE FOR OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM

Save our Schools schedules rally! | Dailycensored.com

Save our Schools schedules rally! | Dailycensored.com

Grassroots “Save Our Schools” March on Washington & National Call to Action on July 28-31

This grassroots movement of teachers, parents, students, community activists, and “everyday working people” has been endorsed by educational voices like Diane Ravitch, Deborah Meier, Alfie Kohn, Joel Spring, Rethinking Schools’ editors, David Berliner, among many others. Diane Ravitch will be one of the speakers at the DC rally. Prior to the march and rally in the park, participants will be able to participate in a number of seminars, workshops and advocacy meetings hosted by American University.

Finding the current educational policies destructive and their own efforts to speak out largely marginalized, the organizers explain the motivation behind the movement:

“Getting to this point has been a long journey. For the last few years, thousands of teachers and parents have been calling for action against No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and, more recently, questioning Race to the Top (RTTT).

Teachers, students, and parents from across the country have staged protests, started blogs, written op-eds, and called and written the White House and the U.S. Department of Education to try to halt the destruction of their local schools.

Numerous efforts have been made to get U.S. Secretary of

It’s the System! | Lefty Parent

It’s the System! | Lefty Parent

It’s the System!

by Cooper Zale

I got feedback from Blanche, my partner Sally’s mom, that the term “patriarchy” does not really resonate with her in terms of describing that model of society and its institutions that I keep referring to in many of my blog pieces. It was interesting that Blanche focused in on that term and made the point to share her thoughts with me. I have been wrestling with the term myself versus various other descriptive words for the same concept (like “hierarchy”, “us and them”, “pecking order” or “pyramid of control”). These to contrast this organizational model with the more egalitarian “circle of equals” (a good descriptive term that I’m more happy with using), which I believe to be the model our human society is evolving into.

In my paid work as a business systems analyst I understand the importance of the effective use of precise

The President And Education

The President And Education

The President And Education The President And Education: Mr. President, I voted for you in 2008. At this point I don’t...

What If We Treated Doctors The Way We Treat Teachers What If We Treated Doctors The Way We Treat Teachers: This article in the Huffington Post raises...

Report: Education Interrupted: The Growing Use of Suspensions i - ParentAdvocates.org

Parent Advocates - ParentAdvocates.org

Report: Education Interrupted: The Growing Use of Suspensions in

Report: Education Interrupted: The Growing Use of Suspensions in New York City’s Public Schools (2011)

Government Lies, Corruption and Mismanagement | Posted 1/28/2011 at 9:06 PM

A growing reliance on exclusionary punishments such as suspensions effectively denies many children their right to an education. This is true nationwide, and also in New York City, where zero tolerance discipline is the norm. The New York Civil Liberties Union analyzed 10 years of discipline data from New York City schools. Editor Betsy Combier adds: the kids being suspended are overwhelmingly minority and special needs children often treated as second-class citizens or neglected altogether.

Schools Matter: Duncan's Plans: NCLB on Steroids

Schools Matter: Duncan's Plans: NCLB on Steroids

Duncan's Plans: NCLB on Steroids

by skrashen

Sent to The Hill (thehill.com)

Education Secretary Duncan thinks that No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is "too punitive, too prescriptive, it’s led to a dumbing down of standards, and it’s led to a narrowing of curriculum." (Education secretary: 'No Child Left Behind' has led to a 'dumbing down', 1/28).

But his plan is far more punitive, prescriptive and narrowing, and will finish the job of turning schools into test prep factories.

NCLB requires reading and math tests at the end of the academic year, which most people agree is far too much

Bill Maher: Right Wing Hypocrites Hate Obama But Love NFL SocialismPoliticususa

Bill Maher: Right Wing Hypocrites Hate Obama But Love NFL SocialismPoliticususa

Bill Maher Calls Out Right Wing Hypocrites Who Hate Obama But Love NFL Socialism

Posted on January 29, 2011 by Jason Easley

97digg

758Share

During his New Rules segment of his HBO program Real Time, Bill Maher used the Super Bowl to call out right wing hypocrites who hate President Obama for socialism, but love the most socialistic enterprise in America, the National Football League, “So you kind of have to laugh that the same angry white males who hate Obama because he is redistributing wealth, just love football, a sport that succeeds because it does just that.”

Here is the video:

Schools Matter: Good Op-Ed on Christie's Charter Scam

Schools Matter: Good Op-Ed on Christie's Charter Scam

Good Op-Ed on Christie's Charter Scam

by Jim Horn

Asbury Park Press:

It is well known that many New Jersey schools are failing. They suffer high dropout rates and have many students who cannot read or do math at grade level.

Criticizing our schools this way is far too easy, however; it is like taking candy from the young children of New Jersey.

Yet this is essentially what Gov. Chris Christie did recently when he announced 23 new charter schools for the state.

To support his decision, he cited a New Jersey Department of Higher Education study comparing charter schools to all schools in the same district.

The study, "Living Up to Expectations," showed that out of 40 charter schools, about 24 did better than average and about 16 did worse than average.

This is not a large difference, especially given several red flags in the report — charter schools with

NYC Public School Parents: What Finland and Asia really tell us about education reform

NYC Public School Parents: What Finland and Asia really tell us about education reform

What Finland and Asia really tell us about education reform

by Leonie Haimson

There has been much publicity in recent years about how for more than a decade, Finnish students have excelled in the international comparisons called the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), exams given each three years in reading, math, and science to samples of 15-year-olds globally. In the current issue of the New Republic, Samuel E. Abrams, a visiting scholar at Teachers College, explains what Finland did to turn around its education system, starting in the 1970's:

Finland’s schools weren’t always so successful. In the 1960s, they were middling at best. In 1971, a government commission concluded that, poor as the nation was in natural resources, it had to modernize its economy and could only do so by first improving its schools. To that end, the government agreed to reduce class size, boost teacher pay, and require that, by 1979, all teachers complete a rigorous master’s program.

They also banned all standardized testing, as they figured out this takes too much time and too much money

APS may drop high school P.E. mandate | EdNewsColorado

APS may drop high school P.E. mandate | EdNewsColorado

APS may drop high school P.E. mandate

Written by Rebecca Jones on Jan 30th, 2011. | Copyright © EdNewsColorado.org

Physical education students at Aurora Central High School do push-ups in class.

Aurora Public Schools – a district that has pioneered a number of initiatives to fight obesity and promote wellness – could also become the only school district in Colorado to eliminate physical education from its graduation requirements.

On Tuesday night, the board will consider a proposal to better align its core academic requirements withColorado’s Higher Education Admission Requirements, the entry requirements for students hoping to attend any of the state’s four-year institutions. If approved, the change would increase the requirements for math, science, social studies and languages, and scrap the requirements for physical education, health, practical and fine arts, and computer skills.

Learn more

• See comparison of current, proposed APS graduation requirements.
• See the Aurora school board’s presentation on proposed changes.

The reason: Under existing requirements

American Thinker Blog: Former NYC schools Chancellor slams teacher's union

American Thinker Blog: Former NYC schools Chancellor slams teacher's union

Former NYC schools Chancellor slams teacher's union

Phil Boehmke

When British Education Secretary Michael Gove invited Joel Klein to speak at a conference on the decline of the public school system he gave Klein an opportunity to offer some candid insights into the sad state of public education in America. Mr. Klein stepped down as Chancellor in November and has been beating the drum for reform ever since. The New York Post reports that during an interview on Saturday, Klein pulled no punches about the number of incompetent teachers and their union defenders.

“Five to 10 percent are not remotely capable,” Klein said about educators in a sit-down with the Sunday Times of London. “It’s easier to prosecute a capitol punishment case in the U.S. than terminate an incompetent teacher.”

During his eight years at the helm on the NYC public school system, Klein said he had helped to

Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Sunday links.

by Fred Klonsky

Anthony Shadid in the NY Times writing from Cairo. “Liberation Square was liberated Saturday. Shadowed by the landmarks of a government that turned promises of secular nationalism into a withering authoritarianism, thousands of young people did what the state of President Hosni Mubarak never allowed in 29 years. They seized control of their lives.”

Can an 80 year-0ld left-wing widowed academic kick Glenn Beck’s ass? No problem.

Attorney Flint Taylor is no stranger to unpopular causes. He is a Chicago treasure. The Sun-Times reports on the crusade that brought down John Burge.

If you’re not watching Al Jazeera, you don’t know what is going on in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Jordan, Syria

Del Valle for Mayor | For All Chicago For Every Neighborhood: Mayoral musings--Chicago Tribune

Del Valle for Mayor | For All Chicago For Every Neighborhood: Mayoral musings--Chicago Tribune

Mayoral musings--Chicago Tribune

by Joanna2011

From the Chicago Tribune, 1.28.2011

First off, congratulations to all four mayoral candidates. I applaud your desire to lead Chicago. You know, before watching the WGN mayoral debate last night, I was leaning toward Rahm Emanuel. He's sort of a bully and a player -- Hollywoodish, if you will -- so there is a distaste because of all that, but that's balanced by the fact that he would push people to get things done. I also had liked Gery Chico -- he seems sincere and wants to do well by Chicagoans -- but, ah, he's just a little too polished. Carol Moseley Braun, good job. Articulate, specific, but, unfortunately, too many questions about your finances. But Miguel Del Valle, hey, you won my vote! You are the underdog, the one who represents Chicago neighborhoods, the little guy which, especially nowadays, is most of us. You are the people's mayor. Where do I sign up?

-- Carla Beecher, Chicago

"We Are Redefining Viability"

by Joanna2011

The Answer Sheet - Democracy in schools: Preached but not practiced

The Answer Sheet - Democracy in schools: Preached but not practiced

Democracy in schools: Preached but not practiced

This post was written by Mark Phillips, professor emeritus of secondary education at San Francisco State University and author of a monthly column on education for the Marin Independent Journal. By Mark Phillips Federal Hocking High School is a small school in northern Appalachia. The principal, George Wood, is a frequent contributor to The Answer Sheet. One of the many things that distinguishes this school is that students are heavily involved in the decision-making process, including teacher hiring, curriculum decisions, and the creation and enforcement of school rules. This school is notable because it is doing something that all schools should be doing but aren’t. Schools are supposed to teach democracy, develop engaged and responsible citizens, and create an intelligent and street-smart electorate. They don’t.