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

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

Has Ravitch hurt 'Superman’s' Oscar ambitions?

Millions of words have been written about Davis Guggenheim’s “Waiting for Superman” and the education policies it promotes, but now we have a new line of analysis about its impact: What are the chances that the education documentary could win an Academy Award?

In a piece on Movie Line’s Web site, editor S.T. VanAirsdale asked whether education historian Diane Ravitch’s scathing review of Superman in The New York Review of Books will effectively serve to derail the movie’s chances of nabbing an Oscar. The movie is beingheavily promoted, with the help of a $2 million grant that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave to market it worldwide.

In the tough review, which you can find here, Ravitch dissects the film

Sacramento mayor wants to talk about merging city, county - Sacramento City News - sacbee.com

Sacramento mayor wants to talk about merging city, county - Sacramento City News - sacbee.com

Sacramento mayor wants to talk about merging city, county

Share

By Ryan Lillis
rlillis@sacbee.com

Published: Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010 - 12:04 pm

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson said today he'd like to spark a conversation about whether the city and county of Sacramento should consolidate.

After expressing relief that a ballot measure to create a city in the Arden Arcade failed, Johnson said there were "a lot of reasons (Arden Arcade) being part of the city of Sacramento would be a good thing." He did not provide specifics, but said he would elaborate next week.

He went on to say he'd like to talk about whether all unincorporated neighborhoods in the county should consolidate with the city.

Asked whether he had looked into the issue of

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/11/04/3159979/sacramento-mayor-wants-to-talk.html#ixzz14LMSWNYT

The Answer Sheet - Margaret Spellings: The last NCLB defender?

The Answer Sheet - Margaret Spellings: The last NCLB defender?

Margaret Spellings: The last NCLB defender?

These days it’s hard to find a strong supporter of No Child Left Behind.

Rep. John Kline, the Republican in line to take over the education committee in the House, thinks the law that ushered in a destructive era of high-stakes testing and phony accountability is a mess. He wants to rewrite it.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who has been a big supporter, has nevertheless labeled as "utopian" the 2014 deadline for all students to be proficient on science, math and reading tests.

Diane Ravitch, an education historian who initially supported NCLB, wrote a scathing critique of it in her bestselling book The Death and Life of the Great American School System.

Enter Margaret Spellings, former secretary of education and a key architect of No Child Left Behind. She now runs Margaret Spellings and Company, a public policy and strategic consulting firm.

In an interview with my colleague Jay Mathews, Spellings said that NCLB is “a good strong law” with “good strong deadlines.” It should stay on the

So Much Hype, So Little Mindfulness: The Practical Importance of Knowing the Logic of a Reform-Driven Policy � Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

So Much Hype, So Little Mindfulness: The Practical Importance of Knowing the Logic of a Reform-Driven Policy � Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

So Much Hype, So Little Mindfulness: The Practical Importance of Knowing the Logic of a Reform-Driven Policy

by larrycuban

Image via Wikipedia

Getting behind the brand names of school reform is hard work. Few of us try. KIPP, Green Dot, Teach for America, and One Laptop Per Child are all reform brands. Some are untarnished, well known and admired. Others, well, have become shabby. Of course, buying brand-names is what consumers do daily as a mental short-cut, a way of short-circuiting homework on less well known products. The thinking is: Brand-name product=quality

Reform brand-names, however, go in and out of style swiftly–how many remember the “open classroom” or “Malcolm Baldrige Awards for Excellence in Performance?” There is even a more serious problem with reform labels like “small high schools,” “charter schools,” and “pay-4-performance.” The reform label often masks what the designers assumed when they came up with the idea. Few policymakers, parents, practitioners, for

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Black & Brown Politics in Chicago in the Post Harold Washing Era

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Black & Brown Politics in Chicago in the Post Harold Washing Era

Black & Brown Politics in Chicago in the Post Harold Washing Era

by Mike Klonsky

TODAY

Event Details
Date:	Thursday, November 4, 2010
Time:	5:00pm – 8:00pm
Cost:	Museum Members $5, Non-Members $10
Schedule:	5:00-6:00pm Reception 6:00-8:00pm Panel Discussion

This dynamic panel of Chicago’s political voices of yesterday and today will embark upon the hotbed of political issues affecting our city. Chicago has garnered national attention with its bevy of political excitement. Moderated by WVON talk show host, Salim Muwakkil (who authored, “HAROLD: Photographs from the Harold Washington

Schools Matter: Duncan and RTTT in England; NSVF Copy, Too?

Schools Matter: Duncan and RTTT in England; NSVF Copy, Too?

Duncan and RTTT in England; NSVF Copy, Too?

by Kenneth Libby

Duncan spent yesterday in England touring a school and visiting with his British counterpart, Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove. The Guardian interviewed the US Ed head last week. Here's a snippet from the summary:

Duncan will meet the education secretary Michael Gove and tour a London school on Wednesday. The coalition's controversial free schools are inspired by the US charter schools movement, which often demand longer hours from teachers and impose strict discipline on children.

He said: "I just have tremendous respect for the educational work and the leadership that I've seen coming from the UK and we're all working on the same issues and have the same challenges."

NYC Public School Parents: Nov. 10 NYC Education Reform Retrospective agenda

NYC Public School Parents: Nov. 10 NYC Education Reform Retrospective agenda

Nov. 10 NYC Education Reform Retrospective agenda

by Leonie Haimson

I got forwarded two different items from two different third parties, including an invitation and the agenda for the Gates-funded NYC Ed Reform retrospectiveconference next week (see below for the agenda).

The invitation claimed (once again) that “The list of invitees includes researchers, practitioners, state policy makers and other stakeholders, both inside and outside NYC.”

The only NYC public school parents who are allowed to attend this invitation-only event are the five borough appointees on the Panel for Education Policy, originally with the excuse that there was no room for any others. For more on this, see our blog here.

Yet they have now extended the RSVP date several times, and also the invitations to a wider group as too few on the original list of invitees apparently signed up. They are also apparently inviting some reporters but

Hechinger Report | Minnesota’s Kline and the future of federal education policy

Hechinger Report | Minnesota’s Kline and the future of federal education policy

Minnesota’s Kline and the future of federal education policy

by MinnPost

John Kline (MinnPost photo by Bill Kelley)

WASHINGTON — One day after taking what he called a “shellacking” at the hands of voters, President Barack Obama stood in the East Room of the White House looking for examples of issues where he’ll find common ground over the next two years.

Republicans will hold the House gavel in the 112^th session, beginning in January 2011, and came within a few seats of capturing the Senate as well. On balance, these new Republican arrivals are far more conservative than the Republicans they replaced or the Democrats they unseated.

“I think that there are some areas where it’s going to be very difficult for us to agree on,” President Obama said. These are, after all, lawmakers who campaigned hard against much of the health care reform, stimulus and

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE 3.0: REFORM OR GIVEAWAY? – The Players, The Scorecard The imminent arrival of 'Superman'

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE 3.0: REFORM OR GIVEAWAY? – The Players, The Scorecard The imminent arrival of 'Superman'

PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE 3.0: REFORM OR GIVEAWAY? – The Players, The Scorecard + The imminent arrival of 'Superman'

THE HEADLINES:

• San Pedro secondary school will NOT be part of school choice program

• School district puts Wilson High up for grabs

• More LAUSD schools up for reform: District says 43 campuses are eligible, including nine from Valley.

Irish Students Occupy Dept. of Finance, Police Brutality Ensues � occupy california

Irish Students Occupy Dept. of Finance, Police Brutality Ensues � occupy california

Irish Students Occupy Dept. of Finance, Police Brutality Ensues

By *

DUBLIN, Ireland – Yesterday, reportedly around 40,000 student protesters took to the streets in Dublin for a demonstration the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) sponsored.

from dublin indymedia:

News is coming in that upwards of thirty students have occupied the Department of Finance in the centre of Dublin with several hundred supporting them in the streets outside. Tens of thousands of students are demonstrating as part of the USI protests against plans to introduce fees, these students carrying

Grijalva Vows To Defend Public Education From White House-GOP Alliance

Grijalva Vows To Defend Public Education From White House-GOP Alliance

First Posted: 11- 4-10 10:32 AM | Updated: 11- 4-10 11:43 AM

WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?

Important
Funny
Typical
Scary
Outrageous
Amazing
Innovative
Finally

Read More: Grijalva Education, Grijalva GOP, Grijalva Obama, Raul Grijalva, Politics News

16

54views

87

Get Politics Alerts

• Email
• Comments 87

WASHINGTON -- A key element of President Obama's post-midterm agenda is already coming under fire from House progressives worried that the president will attempt to rehabilitate himself with a triangulation strategy modeled after President Clinton's gutting of welfare in 1996.

On Thursday morning, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, was asked on the radio program Democracy Now! whether it was his sense that Obama hopes to make education his welfare reform.

"That's my sense and also my concern, to be quite honest," said Grijalva, who narrowly won reelection in his Tucson-based district. "We had an opportunity to reauthorize elementary and secondary education. We didn't do that. Now we go back to a session in which the Republicans are going to control the Education and Labor Committee, of which I'm a member."

Grijalva said that large parts of Education Secretary Arne Duncan's education efforts had already been rejected by Democrats. "Arne Duncan's four prescriptions for fixing public schools, which were essentially to privatize, close them... we rejected them as a caucus on that committee," Grijalva said.

Grijalva's opposition, however, could galvanize Obama if he decides that voters were telling him to

I’m playing the blame game. No beer summit for me. � Fred Klonsky's blog

I’m playing the blame game. No beer summit for me. � Fred Klonsky's blog

I’m playing the blame game. No beer summit for me.

by Fred Klonsky

Alexi Giannoulias and Mark Kirk sat down to share a beer at Billy Goat’s yesterday. How nice. Looks like Kirk was drinking a Bud Light.

All those attack ads the last two months. Just campaigning. No hard feelings.

Easy for Alexi. The rest of us have to deal with his inability to win a Senate race in a Blue state that is two to one Democratic. Good work, Alexi.

Let’s talk about the

The Answer Sheet - Some good news for California teachers

The Answer Sheet - Some good news for California teachers

Some good news for California teachers

Public schools teachers in California got some good news from the midterm elections: Their candidate won in the race for state Superintendent of Public Instruction. The superintendent is California’s top educator, charged with providing policy and direction to local school districts and serving on the governing boards of the state’s higher education systems. In the primary election, the highest-profile candidate, state Sen. Gloria Romero, was backed by the charter school industry but she was knocked out of the running. She ungraciously posted the following on her Web site: