Joy Resmovits: George Miller Marks Digital Learning Day With New EdTech Bill

Joy Resmovits: George Miller Marks Digital Learning Day With New EdTech Bill:

George Miller Marks Digital Learning Day With New EdTech Bill

by Joy Resmovits

When it comes to education, the role and effects of technology has been a tough nut to crack. As tomorrow'sDigital Learning Day approaches, education groups and officials are offering up their recommendations.

Congress is marking the event with a bill. On Tuesday afternoon, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the senior Democrat of the House education committee, introduced legislation that aims to make schools' transition to integrating technology into their lessons and operations a little bit smoother. According to a memo from Miller's office, the Transforming Education through Technology Act aims to "help speed adoption of innovative digital tools to improve student outcomes, close achievement gaps, boost educator skills and improve efficiency and productivity." Under the law, states and school districts would have to "develop plans and policies that put the best technology" to use in classrooms.

"Technology provides us an opportunity to tackle chronic education challenges in new ways thanks to increasing use and access, constant innovation, and falling costs.  Technology can be a tool to drive equity and to help 

Big Education Ape - SPECIAL Mid Day Banana Break 2-5-13 #soschat #edreform

Big Education Ape - Mid Day Banana Break

PSAT for 2-5-13: Fight the tests – and school closings

by admin

The enemy has us fighting on at least two fronts: school closings and testing.
Most of the time, the two things are completely connected. Low test scores – which are most closely related to economic status -  provide corporate reformers with the excuse to close schools. This year CPS has changed it up a bit by crying poor and “underutilized” using a bunch of data (100,000 “lost” city children, 50% empty schools) that is just as fishy as the test scores.
They have seemingly unlimited resources to fight on several fronts (see, for example, WalMart funding CPS’s bogus school closing hearings and the Gates Foundation funding Common Core tests).
But, as the recent huge turnouts for the CPS school closing “hearings” has shown, we have the people power and the truth.
Tomorrow’s anti-testing petition drive, sponsored by the new More Than a Score group, of which PURE is a 

Rhee on Stewart: A Breakdown, Part I

by Duke

The very shy Michelle Rhee swallowed her fears of public speaking and did The Daily Show last night - you know, for the kids...

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

As is usual for Jon Stewart, the best part of the interview was not aired:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

And:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Let's break this down:

- I know that some of you were looking for a show where Rhee is finally confronted directly for her mendacity and 

Chicago parents in solidarity with Seattle teachers

by pureparents

Press Alert February 4, 2013 Chicago Public School parents to pass petitions to limit CPS testing  Joining National Day of Action to Support Seattle MAP Test Boycott Who: Parents from at least 34 CPS schools will be passing petitions opposing the misuse and overuse of tests in CPS.   What: The petitions ask CPS and the Chicago Board of Education to limit standardized testing and provide more transparency about the cost, amount and stakes of the 22 tests now being … →

Better tests- a Chicago forum with FairTest’s Monty Neill

by pureparents

If not tests, then what? That question was soundly answered On January 24, 2013, at the forum, “Assessments that Make Sense” in the south side Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. A room crowded with parents, teachers, students and community members from all over the city heard FairTest’s Monty Neill  (pictured right) present two successful alternatives to standardized testing accountability: the Performance Assessment student project-based model used in New York in place of state Regents’ exams, and the Learning Record, a teacher- …→

L.A.’s FIRST HEBREW-LANGUAGE CHARTER SCHOOL RAISES QUESTIONS

by smf

Lashon Academy is to teach modern Hebrew, have no religious component and aim for a diverse student body. But some worry that dual-language charters blur the line between public and private schools. By Stephen Ceasar, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/WN8b1M February 4, 2013  ::  When Lashon Academy opens its doors this fall, its students will be taught to read and write in both English and

For the Record: Walton Foundation funds community engagement

Sarah Karp

District officials have said they don’t want to link the volatile issue of school closings with the equally volatile issue of charter school openings. But a major pro-charter foundation is providing financial backing for the current crop of school closing meetings taking place around the city this month.

Online Education is Not the Disruption

by Aaron Eden

Originally posted on the Edunautics blog
I recently returned from the first ever Online Education Symposium for Independent Schools (OESES) conference in Southern California. Overall a pretty good conference, and on a topic that all schools need to be looking at seriously as they plan for the future. While I am interested in the topic of online education, and I think that it is important to stay abreast of the latest developments in all learning spaces and trends, what I was struck most with was my aversion to thinking about online education as the disruption that education needs to move to bring it to the next level of efficiency and efficacy.
I’ve actually been meaning to write this blog post ever since reading Disrupting Class by Clayton 

California wants to ramp up its technical education and career training programs in schools

by Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

Students learn car mechanics at a school in England. California officials want to increase technical training for students to train them in careers that don't require college. Credit: Matt Cardy/Getty Images
California education officials want to expand and promote career and technical education classes offered by public schools.
While we've all heard the rhetoric by some administratos and educators for all high school graduates to be college ready, many students want and will end up in technical careers for whih they w

Read Black

by cmaadmin

Carter Godwin Woodson once said racial prejudice “is merely the logical result of tradition, the inevitable outcome of thorough instruction to the effect that the Negro has never contributed anything to the progress of mankind.”
February is, of course, Black History Month. It has its roots in the establishment of Negro History Week in 1926 by Woodson, (Dec. 19, 1875 – April 3, 1950).
Woodson, an historian, journalist and educator, had lived for a time in the city where I went to college, Huntington, W.Va. He served there as principal of Douglass High School, a segregated school for blacks.
Some years after college, I had the opportunity to do research on him, and I interviewed some people who had known him personally in West Virginia and in Washington, D.C., where he worked later, and who spoke of him in 

Chalk Talk Video Blog: #stewart #rhee

by Timothy D. Slekar

Here it is.  The first Face to Face Chalk Talk.  In this talk I explain why I criticized  Jon Stewart (in a blog post) for interviewing Michelle Rhee.
Popout
I don’t know.  What do you think?
Follow Timothy D. Slekar on Twitter: www.twitter.com/slekar

Pending Amendment to Indiana SB 193 Requires Public Input on Common Core | Truth in American Education

Pending Amendment to Indiana SB 193 Requires Public Input on Common Core | Truth in American Education:

Pending Amendment to Indiana SB 193 Requires Public Input on Common Core

by Shane Vander Hart

Joy Pullman writing for the Heartland Institute’s School Reform News reported that Senate Bill 193 in Indiana has “morphed” into a bipartisan bid to have Indiana reconsider the Common Core allowing more public input.

When 46 states signed the initiative in 2010, few held public hearings. Kentucky even agreed to adopt the requirements for what K-12 kids should know in English and math before they were published. Even now, nearly three years later, legislators, teachers, parents, and the general public routinely report in interviews and opinion polls they’ve never heard of the Core.

Lack of public input is a central concern of state Sen. Scott Schneider (R-Indianapolis), Senate Bill 193’s original author….

…A Senate Education Committee vote on SB 193 was scheduled for Jan. 23, but has been moved back several times and now is slated for Feb. 13. The delays reflect a pending amendment to the 

A graduated income tax: Giving with one hand. Taking away with the other. « Fred Klonsky

A graduated income tax: Giving with one hand. Taking away with the other. « Fred Klonsky:

A graduated income tax: Giving with one hand. Taking away with the other.

by Fred Klonsky

Senate President John Cullerton. “More sacrifice from the pensioners.”
I admit that I am a suspicious guy. Especially of politicians.
So I was curious about how quickly Senator Dan Biss responded to my question last night: Why aren’t you a co-sponsor of Representatives Linda Chapa-LaVia and Naomi Jacobsen bill to change the state constitution and create a progressive graduated income tax.
“I’ll co-sponsor it,” he said.
It’s on video tape.
And then State Representative 

Mother Crusader: Reformy Cage Match; CER Takes Down CREDO, NACSA, NJDOE And Cerf!

Mother Crusader: Reformy Cage Match; CER Takes Down CREDO, NACSA, NJDOE And Cerf!:

Reformy Cage Match; CER Takes Down CREDO, NACSA, NJDOE And Cerf!

by darciecima

Oh dear!

In a press release titled "National Charter Research Misfires On Charter Schools", Jeannie Allen of the Center for Education Reform (CER) puts the smack-down on Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO).

A national research study across 23 states and DC assessing charter school performance over time makes erroneous conclusions about the impact of charter schools on students, while ignoring critical distinctions among state proficiency standards and the components of each state’s widely differentiating charter school laws.

“It is hard to believe that year-after-year, smart, well-intentioned researchers believe they can make national conclusions about charter school performance using uneven data, flawed definitions of poverty and 

NYC Educator: Another Day

NYC Educator: Another Day:

Another Day

by NYC Educator

A language teacher and I have a very special relationship. Basically, every time she sees me, she screams at me. I'm no slouch, so I scream back. In fact, we've altogether stopped listening to one another, and when we see each other, we just begin. Frankly, I have no idea what she's screaming about, and since she's not listening to me either, I'm fairly certain she doesn't know what I'm saying either.

We make a colorful pair, walking around yelling at one another. Sometimes people think we're married. Why else would we be so angry? No one really knows, least of all us.

Today I had to go to a meeting. The meeting was so ridiculous I called the school to ask whether I could leave and come back. I must have been pretty 

Petition | PPS and Portland Student Unions: We support your Opt-Out Campaign, keep up the good work! | Change.org

Petition | PPS and Portland Student Unions: We support your Opt-Out Campaign, keep up the good work! | Change.org:

Petitioning PPS and Portland Student Unions 

PPS and Portland Student Unions: We support your Opt-Out Campaign, keep up the good work!

Petition | PPS and Portland Student Unions: We support your Opt-Out Campaign, keep up the good work! | Change.org:

1.  
   2. Petition by
      PPS and Portland Student Unions
 
2.  

This is important to the future of public education, to the fight for community control, for putting a stop to standardized testing, curriculum, and graduation requirements, and for the protection of unfairly labeled students, teachers, and schools. We stand in solidarity with the PPS and Portland Student Unions in their decision to lead an "Opt-Out" Campaign.

To:
PPS and Portland Student Unions 

We support your Opt-Out Campaign, keep up the good work!

Sincerely,
[Your name]

Petition | PPS and Portland Student Unions: We support your Opt-Out Campaign, keep up the good work! | Change.org:

Diane in the Evening 2-5-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Who Abandoned Detroit?

by dianerav

Marcie Lippsett writes about the bipartisan failure to save Detroit. The public schools of Detroit, like those of Muskegon Heights and Highland Park, have been put under the unilateral rule of an Emergency Manager appointed by the governor. In the latter two districts, the public schools were abolished, and the children were given to a for-profit charter chain. In Detroit, public education is being privatized and snuffed out with all deliberate speed. All of these districts are majority black, which perhaps made it easier to eliminate self-rule. Among those in power, no one cared, and no one heard those who did care.
Marcie writes:
“Detroit Public Schools like all of Detroit, died in the Riots of 1967. I am 53 years old and have watched (not in silence) this Apocalypse and loss of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Detroit is a complete bipartisan 

To Gates: What Matters Most about Data Is Who Decides What to Measure

by dianerav

Bill Gates wrote an editorial in the Wall Street Journal last week about how to solve all the world’s biggest problems.
The answer he said was: Measurement.
This writer, Cathy O’Neill, disagrees. It is not that measurement is unimportant but that measurement is not 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 2-5-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Mercedes Schneider on NCTQ and Wendy Kopp: Part 7 by dianerav Mercedes Scneider continues her dissection of the nonpartisan National Council on Teacher Quality. This post examines the qualifications of Wendy Kopp. Let Them Eat Cake! by dianerav EduShyster has generously written a guest post for readers of this blog. She has timed this post with the release of Michelle Rhee’s memoir, which makes its debut today. (No one knows who wrote Rhee’s book, but some Washingtonians think they know.) In honor of th... more »

Daily Kos: Warnings From The Trenches

Daily Kos: Warnings From The Trenches:

Warnings From The Trenches

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

A high school teacher tells college educators what they can expect in the wake of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.
Reprinted with permission from the January-February issue of Academe, the magazine of the American Association of University Professors where you can read it online here
You are a college professor.
I have just retired as a high school teacher.
I have some bad news for you. In case you do not already see what is happening, I want to warn you of what to expect from the students who will be arriving in your classroom, even if you teach in a highly selective institution.
No Child Left Behind went into effect for the 2002–03 academic year, which means that America’s public schools have been operating under the pressures and constrictions imposed by that law for a decade. Since the testing requirements were imposed beginning in third grade, the students arriving in your institution have been subject to the full extent of the law’s requirements. While it is true that the US Department of Education is now issuing waivers on some of the provisions of the law to certain states, those states must agree to other provisions that will have as deleterious an effect on real student learning as did No Child Left Behind—we have already seen that in public schools, most notably in high schools.
please continue below the cheese-doodle

Right-Wing Kicks-off Wisconsin Voucher Campaign Following School Choice Week « Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!

Right-Wing Kicks-off Wisconsin Voucher Campaign Following School Choice Week « Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!:

Right-Wing Kicks-off Wisconsin Voucher Campaign Following School Choice Week

by millerlf

Following is a news release from the Koch brothers funded organization, Americans for Prosperity.

Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin: AFP Foundation launches School Choice Academy Series, website 2/4/2013Juan Williams to headline Green Bay event MADISON – Today, Americans for Prosperity Foundation – Wisconsin announced the start of their educational series on School Choice, AFP Foundation Academy. The Academy Series is an effort to educate the public on the importance of education reform and parental choice. In addition to announcing the town hall series, AFPF announced the launch of a new website, http://www.DontSayNoWI.com. The website will feature news from around the state as well as a petition for Wisconsin residents to show their support for reform.“Our kids deserve the best possible education, regardless of zip code or family income,” said Luke Hilgemann, State Director of AFP Foundation – Wisconsin. “To compete on the world stage we need to embrace choice,

School Tech Connect: Congratulations Are In Order

School Tech Connect: Congratulations Are In Order:

Congratulations Are In Order

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman)

I'd like to take this moment to congratulate all teachers who have made it into their fourth year of teaching. Already you have spent more time practicing the profession than Michelle Rhee did. I have admitted before on this blog that I myself was just as misinformed and arrogant as Ms. Rhee is after my third year of teaching.

I'd like also to congratulate all teachers who have made it to their seventh year.Your experience is longer than Michelle Rhee's teaching experience combined with her superintendency, from which she was fired.

Furthermore, I'd like to congratulate all school superintendents hired by elected school boards. Your efforts are steeped in democratic legitimacy. Those of you with longtime teaching experience, followed by successful terms 

Does the Battle in Seattle Foreshadow Trouble for the Common Core? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Does the Battle in Seattle Foreshadow Trouble for the Common Core? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Does the Battle in Seattle Foreshadow Trouble for the Common Core?

by Anthony Cody

Tomorrow is National Solidarity day with the teachers at Garfield High and elsewhere in Seattle, who have stood together in refusing to administer the district-mandated MAP tests. This is hugely important, not only because of the courageous stand of these teachers, but for what it tells us about the highly touted "next generation" of assessments that will accompany the Common Core.
Here are four big reasons this battle is so significant.
First, this is the first time teachers have agreed as a group to refuse to administer a set of tests. Individuals have done this in the past, and faced individual consequences. However, their solidarity creates a problem for the system, because it not only gums up the machinery, it also challenges the authority of the school district. It asserts professional responsibility on the part of the teachers. Their stand is based on what they believe is best 

A Digital worksheet is still a worksheet. « My Island View

A Digital worksheet is still a worksheet. « My Island View:

A Digital worksheet is still a worksheet.

by tomwhitby

I have read what seems like several, but in reality is probably a few blog posts recently that have claimed to have examined technology in schools and found that it has made little difference in learning. Of course many of these speak in generalities lacking specifics other than there is technology and there is a classroom and they observed stuff. When it comes to technology too many believe that by dropping it into a classroom magic happens. Even the most ardent supporter of tech will tell you that does not, and never will happen.
I recently talked to an educator in higher education who told me that they had just put a pilot plan in place to explore the use of a tablet in the classroom. On the surface this sounds great. The possibility of a class full of tablets and students exploring, collaborating, creating, and publishing through a relatively intuitive and somewhat inexpensive means of technology was inspiring. I asked exactly how the “Pilot Project” was structured. (Here it comes, be prepared.) Two teachers were given tablets, one an iPad and the other another type. They were secured by some grant. The professors were told to explore the possibilities. That was the pilot. It began and