Friday, November 23, 2012

SAT ‘Problem of the Day’ gives wrong answer

SAT ‘Problem of the Day’ gives wrong answer:

SAT ‘Problem of the Day’ gives wrong answer

Posted by Valerie Strauss on November 23, 2012 at 5:55 pm

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The College Board’s SAT “Problem of the Day” is supposed to be helpful – but that’s hard when it cites the wrong answer. Over at the Rational Mathematics Education Web site, math assessment reform activist Michael Paul Goldenberg explains the problem with the problem, provided by the Educational Testing Service, which creates the SAT for the College Board.

Here’s the actual SAT Problem of the Day:

Read the following SAT test question and then click on a button to select your answer.

, what is the value of 4 times n

Goldenberg wrote that he calculated the problem and came up with B — but the Web site told him his answer was incorrect. “This came as quite a shock to me, even at 4:30 a.m.” he wrote. “…As someone who prides himself on being able to do reasonably accessible mental arithmetic, I saw this problem as relatively accessible without pencil and paper. Cross-

Daily Kos: It should be personal to all of us - Please help the reservation Propane Project

Daily Kos: It should be personal to all of us - Please help the reservation Propane Project:

It should be personal to all of us - Please help the reservation Propane Project

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

I have never REALLY known cold. I am a middle class white American of Jewish background.The house in which I grew up had an old oil burner, for which fuel had to be delivered. It heated hot water which was sent upas steam to old-fashioned radiators. So long as we had fuel, we had heat.
We had a gas stove until we remodeled the kitchen, and a gas hot water heater. Why we did not have gas furnace was beyond me.
We lived through power outages of several days. We once went through two days when the snow was high enough to prevent the fuel from getting through, just as our oil ran out. But we did not face freezing, as it was still in the 20s and house was well-insulated.
That was in a suburban area, where the oil truck only had to travel over several miles of suburban, well-maintained roads.
I have lived my entire life within major cities (New York, PhiladelphIa) or their close-in suburbs. The longest I have ever been without power was 5 days, and our house has gas hot water and a gas stove, so we had some access to heat in wintry conditions, although that power outage was during the heat of the DC summer after the derecho, and the house became quite warm, reaching 90 degrees at one point.
Not all Americans are as fortunate.
For too many of our First Peoples, they live in remote locations on what we still call "reservations" - areas often of concentrated poverty, in rural setting without the kinds of utility services that most Americans take for granted until they lose them, as many did in the aftermath of the derecho, and more recently even in parts of our largest city and its immediate surroundings in the aftermath of Sandy.
For those of us on the East Coast, these were extraordinary events.
For those on our rural reservations, getting through the winter is a struggle, every winter.
Which is why this community, often so generous to its members, has for the past few years, taken on the task

Dedicated to the Children of Gaza | Seattle Education

Dedicated to the Children of Gaza | Seattle Education:

Dedicated to the Children of Gaza

by seattleducation2011

Chris Hedges

America: The Silence of a Nation

The author spoke at the Revolution Books Town Hall Meeting at Ethical Culture Society on January 13, 2009 condemning Israel and the United States’ complicity in Israel’s murderous destruction and genocide of innocent men, women and children of Gaza and the West Bank.

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A Conference Perspective - The Educator's PLN

A Conference Perspective - The Educator's PLN:

A Conference Perspective

by Thomas Whitby

When I accepted an invitation to attend the World Innovation Summit on Education, WISE2012, in Doha, Qatar, I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into. In my own arrogance I thought I was a seasoned education conference attendee. I have been to maybe a hundred education conferences both good and bad. I planned or helped plan at least a dozen local or statewide conferences. I even considered myself an experienced critic having done several well-received posts on various professional education conferences. There was very little in all of that which prepared me for what I was to experience in Doha.
The idea that I had about an international conference relied heavily on my ISTE experience. After all, The "I" in ISTE stands for international. It never occurred to me that I would need an electronic translator to understand what was being presented or being asked about by presenters and audience members. Translators were given out to everyone before every session. I was not prepared for the number of security checks. I never realized how people needed to adhere to cultural protocols. After all was said and done, I realized that the life, of an American educator, is in worldly terms, a sheltered life indeed.

Schools Matter: Walmart "Associates" and Charter School "Scholars"

Schools Matter: Walmart "Associates" and Charter School "Scholars":

Walmart "Associates" and Charter School "Scholars"

by Jim Horn

The Gates Team out in Washington are trying to scare up some media attention on a "study" bought by the charter reform school industry that purportedly shows that charters, long known to exclude special ed kids, are, indeed, enrolling larger numbers of them. Even if you were to believe the findings, we still have the more serious and widespread law-breaking that takes place when no special ed teachers are to found in the charter reform schools that have special ed kids with IEPs.

I recently visited a charter reform school in Memphis that provided a clear example of special needs children receiving the same chain gang teaching as the rest of the unfortunate "scholars" who happen to be enrolled there. No special ed teacher, no school nurse, no librarian (or library), and no counselor.

When will parents realize that the "choice" they are being offered systematically robs their children of their dignity, while offering them a sub-standard education aimed at low level learning and high level behavior control?

When will special ed parents take these scammers to court?

By the way, calling children "scholars" in these lockdown hellholes is the equivalent of calling the exploited minimum wage workers at Walmart "associates." Give me a break.

Here is a piece from Timothy Noah at the New Republic blog that exposes another of the

Mi Pueblo DBQ available for download! « Classroom Struggle

Mi Pueblo DBQ available for download! « Classroom Struggle:

Mi Pueblo DBQ available for download!

See below for a great resource from two OUSD teachers for teaching about the 1-9 audit at Mi Pueblo.

—-

Please share with other educators! Check-out the lesson materials here!

Dear teacher colleagues in OUSD and other Bay Area schools,

Many of you have probably heard about the impending 1-9 audit of Mi Pueblo stores (more info below) that poses a serious threat to the economic livelihood and stability of many of students’ families throughout the Bay Area. Both of us work at Oakland schools and have several students whose family members are employed by Mi Pueblo and many more students who know someone who works there. In the broader climate of both attacks on immigrant communities and economic hardship for OUSD families in Oakland, we felt compelled to do what we can as teachers to support our school communities. We are writing to share what we hope is a useful lesson plan and set of resources for teaching your students about the situation at Mi Pueblo and opening up dialogue in your classroom about immigrant and worker rights issues.

Click here to view the Mi Pueblo Document Based Question Lesson Plan and resources page. From there you can easily download the lesson materials including a detailed lesson plan, student readings and worksheets, powerpoints and primary documents. The lesson is designed to support students to write an evidence-supported paragraph in response to the question: To what extent should Mi Pueblo or the Federal Government be held responsible if immigrant workers lose their jobs because of the I-9 immigration audit? There is an optional action-based extension suggested as well.

Taught in its entirety, the lesson will take several class periods, however it could easily be shortened into a 1 or 2 day lesson. It could be adapted for a middle or high school classroom. It is great practice in preparation for the OUSD fall DBQ history assessment or for learning document sourcing and analysis and argumentative writing skills in general. This would fit in perfectly to a unit about immigration, industrialization, labor, civil rights or federal juridiction. The materials are all editable so you can adapt to the student needs and current foci of your classroom.

Please consider carving out time this December or January to teach about this struggle. Please also pass along to any other teachers you might know who might be interested. And if you do implement part of the lesson in your class, let us know! We would love to see what your students come up with and let Mi Pueblo workers know young people are investigating the situation.

Be in touch if you have any questions about the materials. And please note,this is a work in progress! If you add any lesson materials in ways you think would be helpful for others or create any new materials, please share with us so we can upload to share it with others.

Thank you for engaging your students in critically analyzing the world around them,

Perry Bellow-Handelman, perrybh@gmail.com

Alexander Mejia, alexmejia@gmail.com

Summary and Update about the Mi Pueblo 1-9 Audit

In early fall, the Mi Pueblo grocery store chain, which employs over 3,000 mainly immigrant workers in the Bay Area, began implementing Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s E-verify system under which the social security numbers of all new job applicants are checked. A short while later Mi Pueblo announced that they had voluntarily joined E-verify because they are undergoing I-9 immigration audit through which all undocumented workers at their stores are expected to lose their jobs. Layoffs are expected to start on January 1, 2013. Whether Mi Pueblo was forced to undergo the 1-9 audit by ICE or volunteered to do so is unknown. However Mi Pueblo has been putting out a consistent message to their primary Latino immigrant cliental that their commitment to immigrant rights is unwavering and that they are doing everything they can to support immigrant workers at the store.

This all came on the backdrop of a several year long effort by UFCW to unionize workers at the non-union stores and a hunger strike held by workers at one of the stores in 2011 in protest of working conditions, low wages and firings of pro-union workers. Several community groups see the audit has an attempt by management to squash union organizing efforts and other worker dissent. They have joined together under the name of “Dignity and Resistance Coalition” and are organizing to demand Mi Pueblo not collaborate with ICE and not move forward with the 1-9 audit firings.

On October 20th and November 21^st (the day before Thanksgiving-often a busy day for grocery stores) there were very energetic pickets held outside of the Mi Pueblo on High St. in Oakland. At each of these protests there were over a hundred people in attendance who marched, chanted, gave out information and watched various showings of a community theatre performance based on the struggle of Mi Pueblo workers. The Dignity and Resistance Coalition has continued to organize around the situation of the workers and build community support. In other areas of the bay, the UFCW is continuing to have meetings with workers in order to unionize.

While the I-9 audit is still taking place but no (or very few) workers have been fired yet. Some say that the slow pace of how the audit is being implemented is due to the negative press and community resistance that Mi Pueblo is receiving. Others say that Mi Pueblo is waiting until after the holidays (their busiest time of year) to fire these workers so as not to diminish their revenue at this important time for them financially.

The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), a union that is in the middle of an organizing drive with the Mi Pueblo workers is putting together two upcoming actions in San Jose: the first one will be a community forum about workers rights and organizing on December 9^th and a protest in against sexual harassment at Mi Pueblo on December 18^th. There will be other upcoming actions around the Christmas holiday that are organized by the Dignity and Resistance Coalition. For more information about their current organizing, you can contact bertaofelia@hotmail.com.

In Mississippi, solutions follow funding setbacks for early childhood education | Hechinger Report

In Mississippi, solutions follow funding setbacks for early childhood education | Hechinger Report:

In Mississippi, solutions follow funding setbacks for early childhood

by Sarah Carr

McComb, Miss. — With Mississippi officials steadfastly refusing to fund public pre-kindergarten at a statewide level, local leaders across the state have taken matters into their own hands.

Kindergarten students at Kennedy Early Childhood Center. (Photo courtesy McComb School District)

From the Gulf Coast to the Delta, school district leaders are cobbling together resources, partnering with community organizations and devising creative solutions to ensure their youngest students get off to a solid start. Biloxi and Pascagoula have embraced Excel by 5, a privately funded effort that helps communities boost educational opportunities for the littlest learners. Gulfport business leaders have come together in recent years to sponsor two pre-k classrooms. And in the McComb district, officials have brought several different early childhood programs under one roof to improve collaboration.
The proposed education budget released last week by Gov. Phil Bryant included no money for new public pre-k programs, meaning Mississippi will likely continue next year as the only state in the South without state-funded

Expert on teacher evaluation has concerns about Louisiana's new system | NOLA.com

Expert on teacher evaluation has concerns about Louisiana's new system | NOLA.com:

Expert on teacher evaluation has concerns about Louisiana's new system

The new teacher evaluation systemLouisiana launched this fall may be too simplistic, according to the architect of one of the most widely used evaluation systems in the country -- and the one on which Louisiana's new system is based.

Charlotte Danielson is the creator of a method of observing and rating teachers based on their performance in the classroom known as theFramework for Teaching. Louisiana has adopted part, but not all, of her framework for use in classroom observations, which will factor into a teacher's annual score and which will ultimately determine whether educators can keep their jobs.

Although Danielson helped the state create a shortened version of her system at its request, she's worried her truncated observation checklist could create problems for teachers and evaluators.

"I think it decreases accuracy. I think that's an almost certain consequence," she said.

Louisiana adopted the new system to comply with Act 54, a law passed in 2010 aimed at improving teacher quality in the state with more intensive, annual

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Friday Open Thread

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Friday Open Thread:

Friday Open Thread

by Melissa Westbrook

A few updates:

One - with less than 8,000 votes to count statewide, I-1240 appears to have passed. (I'm sure it's true but I'm not the Secretary of State and in a position to officially call it.) The margin appears to be 1.36% of the vote which is just under 41,000 votes. A win for sure but certainly no mandate.

Two - Thanks to SPS Leaks for some very illuminating reading. To whit:

Lynne Varner gets it wrong in an Times editorial and SPS gently points this out to her. I note that Varner says "sources" told her certain things about the departure of Superintendent Enfield. So, as you see, journalists have sources and they don't reveal them (and sometimes not even by the order of a court) and that's how it goes. (I, of course, still contend that I am not a journalist but I have sources. I do get my hand slapped occasionally by readers demanding to know my source. Not revealing them is how you keep your sources.)

Three, I think most of you know that the Board cannot meet privately, with each other or others, with more than two of them in attendance. There are people up the food chain who know this and frequently invite one or two in to talk. This is fine except when you see of pattern of who gets invited. It would appear that Michael DeBell is quite chummy with those people.

I often wonder how much each Board member knows of the other Board members communications and meetings. Like this one. This is what Councilman Tim Burgess - who may be announcing for Mayor any day now according to Publicola - said to Enfield and DeBell. (Italics mine.)

Susan and Michael, I want to provide a little update on our idea to convene a small group of
individuals for a discussion about the downtown elementary school, Memorial Stadium and district headquarters.

What is the “Status Quo?” And What the Heck is a “Reformer?” | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

What is the “Status Quo?” And What the Heck is a “Reformer?” | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights:

What is the “Status Quo?” And What the Heck is a “Reformer?”

by Cheryl S. Williams

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am delighted with the election results from earlier this month. Well, I’m delighted with most of the election results. I’m sorely disappointed that my friend and colleague, Helen F. Morris, lost her position on the Alexandria City (VA) School Board, where she serves as Vice Chairman and has put countless hours into advocating for strong schools and effective teachers for ALL the students in Alexandria, especially children of color and those from disadvantaged homes. Helen ran for re-election in a field of six for one of three positions in her region. She was the only incumbent running and the only candidate with a child in the Alexandria City Public Schools. I have no idea how capable (or not) the other candidates are (I live in Maryland and didn’t study the other candidates’ positions or backgrounds). What I do know because I worked for years with her on issues around strong public education is that Helen’s position on the school board was a good thing for the children and citizens of Alexandria.
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Washington lawmakers scrambling for education cash | OregonLive.com

Washington lawmakers scrambling for education cash | OregonLive.com:

Washington lawmakers scrambling for education cash

Where is Bill Gates when you need him?

Lawmakers are making their holiday school funding wish list and it's a short one: please send cash.

They need the money to give every child free all-day kindergarten, to pay for bus service for about a million school children and to take the pressure off local tax levies that help pay for basic education.

A down payment on all of that will cost at least a billion dollars in the next biennium to answer the Supreme Court's orders to pay for the Legislature's own education reform plans by 2018.

The court's January decision in the so-called McCleary case — that the state is not fulfilling its constitutional obligation to amply pay for basic public education — will shape nearly every action of the Legislature this year and for years to come.

The school funding lawsuit brought by a coalition of school districts, education and community groups as well as parents sought to force the government to fulfill its obligations to the state's schools.

In the past decade, education spending has gone from close to 50 percent to just above 40 percent of the state budget, despite the fact that some education spending is protected by the constitution.

Facing a $900 million deficit

With the court decision hanging over them, lawmakers will face an even greater

Charter school corruption and Other CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS

Charter school corruption:

Charter school corruption

Posted by Valerie Strauss on November 23, 2012 at 1:27 pm

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Here’s how The Arizona Republic started a story detailing its investigation into charter school corruption in the state:

Board members and administrators from more than a dozen state-funded charter schools are profiting from their affiliations by doing business with schools they oversee.
The deals, worth more than $70 million over the last five years, are legal, but critics of the arrangements say they can lead to conflicts of interest. Charter executives, on the other hand, say they are able to help the schools get better deals on services and goods ranging from air-conditioners to textbooks and thus save taxpayers money.

Timothy Noah of the New Republic cited this and other charter school scandals in a piece entitled “How Charter Schools Fleece Taxpayers” that starts:

In government, if I help myself to taxpayer dollars, we call that embezzlement and I go to jail. In the private sector, if I help myself to taxpayer dollars, we call that innovation and I get hailed as a visionary exponent of public-private partnership.

Noah mentions other charter school scandals:

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS

A compilation of news articles about charter schools which have been charged with, or are highly suspected of, tampering with admissions, grades, attendance and testing; misuse of funds and embezzlement; engaging in nepotism and conflicts of interest; engaging in complicated and shady real estate deals; and/or have been engaging in other questionable, unethical, borderline-legal, or illegal activities. This is also a record of charter school instability and other unsavory tidbits.

Couldn't Find Your Own Special Charter School Scandal

Just Type the name of your city or charter school in the box below

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Friday, November 23, 2012