Mother Crusader: Is the suburban charter school battle Christie's Waterloo?

Mother Crusader: Is the suburban charter school battle Christie's Waterloo?:

Is the suburban charter school battle Christie's Waterloo?

by darciecima

With all of the holiday hubbub this segment almost escaped me.


ON 12/22 WNYC's new Managing Editor for New Jersey Nancy Solomon and New Jersey native and WNYC investigative journalist Bob Hennelly participated in a discussion on the Brian Lehrer show called New Jersey Confirmation Battle. It was an intelligent discussion of the issues regarding Senator Rice's block of Acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf's appointment. At no time was Senator Rice called a conspiracy theorist. Instead, Nancy Solomon detailed Cerf's long history of involvement with for-profit companies that contract with public school districts.


Bob Hennelly pointed out that what Senator Rice is looking for is more transparency in the Newark schools.

The Ghost of Ed Reform Past -- and the Hope of Ed Reform Future | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

The Ghost of Ed Reform Past -- and the Hope of Ed Reform Future | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights:

The Ghost of Ed Reform Past -- and the Hope of Ed Reform Future

by obriena

Editor's note: This post was originally written for Edutopia.

As 2011 winds to a close, we are about to turn the page on a year that saw new evidence suggesting that the education reform policies du jour aren't really working. Most charter schools perform no better than traditional public schools (at least in Chicago); value-added modeling does not produce consistent, reliable measures of teacher effectiveness; and the school curriculum is narrowing, in part because of the pressures of state tests (according to teachers).

Student performance on standardized assessments has remainedstubbornly flat during the past few years (though much more progress has been made in math than reading). And despite all our efforts over the past

What are you doing with your “rocks?” | Connected Principals

What are you doing with your “rocks?” | Connected Principals:

What are you doing with your “rocks?”

by Justin Tarte

A few weeks ago my school district was visited by a team of educators from the Hallsville R-IV School District. Since my district is in year two of implementing Professional Learning Communities, we are interested in hearing from other districts on how they got started and their advice as we move forward.

Though there was a lot of great information and advice shared, there was one particular conversation that really stuck out in my mind. As we talked about moving forward with PLCs, the topic of resistant and unresponsive staff came up. As with any new initiative or process, success or failure

Stewardship vs Adultism in the Real World | Lefty Parent

Stewardship vs Adultism in the Real World | Lefty Parent:

Stewardship vs Adultism in the Real World

by Cooper Zale

Following up on several of my previous pieces (most recently“Adultism vs Legitimate Adult Stewardship of Youth”), I think it is important to call out some real-world examples of what I consider the exercise of legitimate adult stewardship of young people. That versus what I would consider inappropriate “adultism”. I believe sorting out this dichotomy is critical to adult interaction with young people in our society going forward, whether parents with their kids or teachers with their students.

My working definition of “adultism” is…

The disrespect and discrimination against young people (simply because they are not adults) that

Schools Matter: Bilingual education, yes. But high levels of English requires access to books.

Schools Matter: Bilingual education, yes. But high levels of English requires access to books.:

Bilingual education, yes. But high levels of English requires access to books.

by skrashen

Helping Language Minority Students Develop a Reading Habit
Sent to the Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA), Dec 26
Re: Non-English speakers' failures hit schools (Dec 24):

Bilingual education works. Children in bilingual programs consistently do better than children in all-English programs on tests of English reading. Also, studies have shown that the dismantling of bilingual programs in California after Prop. 227 did not lead to better English language development.

Bilingual education is not enough, however. As noted in the Breeze, language minority children are very often

Wrapping Up 2011: Best Guest Posts on InterACT « InterACT

Wrapping Up 2011: Best Guest Posts on InterACT « InterACT:

Wrapping Up 2011: Best Guest Posts on InterACT

by David B. Cohen

As 2011 winds down, I’ll be revisiting some of the best of InterACT in the past year. Today, I focus on some of the most important guest posts we were able to run this year, thanks to our wonderful contributing members of the Accomplished California Teachers (ACT) network. I certainly appreciate all of our guest posts and the teachers who authored them. Looking back over the year, these posts stand out for me.

Stop Racing, Start Listening – Sandy Dean, associate director of ACT, started us off this year with her reactions to President Obama’s remarks about teachers and respect for the profession. This guest post set a tone for the year, questioning the divide between rhetoric and policies. Another ACT member, Anthony Cody, suggested in his own blog that perhaps this year marked an “awakening” – turning point in exposing the failures of currently favored “reform” strategies.

Teacher-Driven Education Reform That Works – Lynne Formigli wrote about the good work happening in schools that benefit from the Quality Education Investment Act. For those married to the myth that teachers unions are

Schools Matter: Plenty of Left-Over Fruitcake for 2012: Abstinence Only Surges On

Schools Matter: Plenty of Left-Over Fruitcake for 2012: Abstinence Only Surges On:

Plenty of Left-Over Fruitcake for 2012: Abstinence Only Surges On

by Jim Horn

From AlterNet:

Reproductive-health experts breathed a sigh of relief in 2009 when President Barack Obama did away with over a decade of funding for abstinence-only funding under previous administrations (which had added up to more than $1.5 billion over ten years). But now, abstinence-only looks to be back on the conservative agenda.

Under Bush, ab-only had become the norm in most U.S. schools, even though study after study [PDF] had revealed its ineffectiveness in reducing the number of teen pregnancies and reducing the spread of disease. According to the Journal of Adolescent Health, virginity pledges–a staple of abstinence-only programming–not only failed to decrease teen STD rates, but actually resulted in pledge-takers avoiding medical attention once infected, leading to increased chances of transmission. So it appeared science had prevailed when President Obama’s

Jersey Jazzman: Dare To Compare

Jersey Jazzman: Dare To Compare:

Dare To Compare

by Duke

A big part of the reformy agenda is predicated on the notion that even affluent American kids suck at learning; this must mean our schools stink and we need to ___ (fill in your particular reformy "solution" here).

Thus, we have pieces by Amanda Ripley bemoaning our awful, awful schools:

The most respected international tests of teenagers around the world (PISA) has consistently shown that our most-affluent kids do not perform as well as the most-affluent kids in the highest-performing countries around the world (even though our rich kids are richer than their rich kids). PISA measures students’ economic, social and cultural status to

Blue Jersey:: Winning charter school strategy: protect wealthy towns?

Blue Jersey:: Winning charter school strategy: protect wealthy towns?:

Winning charter school strategy: protect wealthy towns?

by the_promised_land

Here is a curious turn of events in the ongoing debate over whether local school districts can be forced to spend taxpayer money on charter schools at the expense of public schools and without any local vote.

It concerns the Hua Mei charter school proposal, a Mandarin-immersion school. Earlier this year, the proposal would have included - and thus drawn funds from - Christie hometown Livingston, tony Millburn, and middle-class South Orange, Maplewood, West Orange, and Union. That proposal got rejected by the Christie Administration. And they gave feedback as to why.

Now, taking that feedback into account, there is a revised proposal - that takes out Livingston and Millburn. And

The Touchy-Feely Future Of Technology : NPR

The Touchy-Feely Future Of Technology : NPR:

The Touchy-Feely Future Of Technology

by NPR STAFF

In 1975, when then-composer and performer Bill Buxton started designing his own digital musical instruments, he had no way of knowing he was helping to spark the next technological revolution. But nine years — and a master's in computer science — later, that all changed.

"I wasn't trying to make a computer interface, I was just trying to make a drum," Buxton tells NPR's Robert Siegel. "Did I envision what was going to happen today, that it would be in everybody's pocket — in their smartphone? Absolutely not. Did we realize that things were going to be different, that you could do things that we never imagined? ... Absolutely."

Today, Buxton is known as a pioneer in human-computer interaction, a field of computer science that has seen a spike in consumer demand thanks to a new, seemingly ubiquitous technology

A December of Deceptions, Misleads and Misteps by Florida Republicans on Education Policy | Scathing Purple Musings

A December of Deceptions, Misleads and Misteps by Florida Republicans on Education Policy | Scathing Purple Musings:

A December of Deceptions, Misleads and Misteps by Florida Republicans on Education Policy

by Bob Sikes

Education commissioner Gerard Robinson had a nice little spin on this month’s release of state graduation numbers.

“I want to commend Florida’s teachers, students, parents and school leaders for their dedication to helping their students learn and earn their high school diplomas,” Florida Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson stated in a release. “As educators, we each play a significant role in helping our students achieve academic success, and graduation is one critical step toward the path to college and career.”

Robinson stays with the game plan of the state’s ed reform godfathers and avoids confrontation that challenges

What to expect in January from the corporate privatizers in the state of Washington | Seattle Education

What to expect in January from the corporate privatizers in the state of Washington | Seattle Education:

What to expect in January from the corporate privatizers in the state of Washington

by seattleducation2011

Remember: There is nothing “public” about charter schools except the funding of these franchises by our tax dollars.

This began as a memorandum to a group of political and education activists in the state of Washington but as I started writing this, I realized that everyone in the state of Washington needs to be aware of what is coming down the pipe in Olympia in terms of the effort to privatize our public schools.

Cashing in on ed reform

Many companies and individuals have jumped onto the band wagon of “ed reform” because of the dollars involved with everything from testing to “online learning”. See the right hand column of this page under the heading of

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: CHRISTMAS QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: CHRISTMAS QUOTABLES:

CHRISTMAS QUOTABLES

by Mike Klonsky

Community activist Martha Sanchez, right, shares an emotional moment with her children, Gonzalo Romero, 17, and Catherine Romero, 12, celebrating victory in an eight-year battle to shut down a metal-finishing plant across the street from 28th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles. (Luis Sinco, Los Angeles Times)

Danny Schechter

I did my Christmas penance back in a very cold and all too empty Zuccotti Park on Christmas day. There had been a 24 hour prayer event and vigil. I had only stopped in for a two hour stint—call it my Holiday witness—in time to hear the writer Jay Janson and others read from the still moving statement by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr on the need to get out of Vietnam and other countries Washington was then occupying/invading in the false name of freedom. -- The News

He dresses up history and his students like the fit - latimes.com

He dresses up history and his students like the fit - latimes.com:

He dresses up history and his students like the fit

Roosevelt High teacher Chuck Olynyk uses costumes and props to encourage his students to become engaged with distant times and connect their own lives to history. But beneath the period garb, says a school principal, is a good instructor who cares about his classes.

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Sophomores Ricardo Plascencia, left, and Guillermo Bazan, right, help Roosevelt High School world history teacher Chuck Olynyk into a suit of armor, part of his lesson about the Hundred Years' War. Olynyk uses props and period costumes to encourge his students to become engaged with distant times and connect their own lives to history. (Katie Falkenberg / For the Los Angeles Times /December 6, 2011) By Rick Rojas, Los Angeles Times December 26, 2011 The students in Chuck Olynyk's world history class will learn about the Hundred Years' War by helping him dress for it. It's not unusual for their teacher to bound around his room at Roosevelt High School — or the "O-zone," as it's known — wearing armor made of aluminum or a puffy tunic as he takes his students on a journey through history. But even for Olynyk, this day is a little different. For one, he tells his students not to bother taking notes. None of this lesson will show up on a test — it's "enrichment," he says. He wants to show them that the uniform of a knight isn't what they see in the movies: easy to maneuver or even remotely comfortable. It's hot, it's heavy, it's stinky, and it makes

Occupy the Dream #ows

Occupy the Dream:

Members of the African-American faith community have joined forces with Occupy Wall Street to launch a new campaign for economic justice inspired by the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. Faithful to its philosophical origin, the "Occupy the Dream" coalition has called for a National Day of Action on Martin Luther King Day – Monday, January 16, 2012 – to focus attention on the gross injustice visited upon the 99% by the financial elite.

Occupy the Federal Reserve Jan 19! Share your dream. Show your solidarity.

View the press kit. Learn more...

Quality Blogging & Commenting Audit Meme | Langwitches Blog

Quality Blogging & Commenting Audit Meme | Langwitches Blog:

Quality Blogging & Commenting Audit Meme

December 25, 2011 Assessment, Collaboration, Featured Carousel, MemeNo Comments

As a follow up to the series Stepping it Up: Learning About Blogs FOR your Students, I would like to crowdsource more samples of blog posts and comments for teachers to practice recognizing, evaluating and assessing various levels of quality work.

A meme might be a good way to get the ball rolling.

Wikipedia defines a Meme as:

A meme is “an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture.” A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate and respond to selective pressures.

Quality Blogging and Commenting Audit Meme

In order to gather more audit samples from a large variety of age groups and authors, I challenge you to publish a blog post with a post or comment audit.

1. Select a blog post or blog comment to