Friday, November 19, 2010

Damn Good Education Daily

Why we need to hold our school board representatives to higher ethical standards « EducationCEO's Blog

educationceo.wordpress.com - I have never minced words about the current attack on the public education system’s stakeholders, e.g., teachers, students, parents. Nor have I gone easy on educational ‘leaders.’ You know, the one...

EDUCATIONCEO

When minorities are the majority

sfgate.com - Michael Macor / The Chronicle Students march for public education in March. For the first time, Latino students are a majority of the state's student population. Numbering more than 3.2 million, th...

mikeklonsky

Day of National Blogging for Real Education Reform « Cooperative Catalyst

coopcatalyst.wordpress.com - November 22, 2010 has been declared a Day of National Blogging for Real Education Reform, promoted by AASA and ASCD. ASCD has gathered 10 articles, in advance of Monday’s Day of National Blogging, ...

mikeklonsky

3 very weak arguments for using weak indicators « School Finance 101

schoolfinance101.wordpress.com - This post is partly in response to the Brookings Institution report released this week which urged that value-added measures be considered in teacher evaluation: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Fi...

SchlFinance101

Large high school district adopts A-G

toped.svefoundation.org - By The second-largest high school district in Northern California has adopted A-G, the courses required for admission to a four-year state university, as its default curriculum. East Side Union, wh...

WA citizens surveyed on education reform

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Gov. Chris Gregoire is asking Washington citizens and educators to go online by Thanksgiving to fill out a survey on education reform.

The survey will help state officials prioritize reform efforts.

The offices of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the State Board of Education and the Professional Educator Standards Board partnered to create a draft plan for reform.

The governor says she needs help figuring out how to focus the state's limited funds while it moves forward on education reform.

----

Online:

Education Survey: http://ospi.a03ddf506d29.sgizmo.com/s3/.

Accused Schools Official Sought Job With District Contractor - The Bay Citizen

Accused Schools Official Sought Job With District Contractor

Months before she was accused of funneling San Francisco Unified School District funds to herself and her colleagues, a former associate superintendant sought a consulting job with a corporation for which she personally approved nearly $2.7 million in contracts, according to district officials and records. Before retiring in June, Trish Bascom, who headed the Student Support Services Department, informed the district that she planned to work for Education, Training and Research Associates, Inc. Records show that Bascom approved ETR contracts to administer a range of student health programs. A District administrator advised Bascom that the position with ETR represented a potential conflict of interest and would need to be explored further. According to documents obtained by The

Remainders: Bloomberg worries about losing Klein’s team | GothamSchools

Remainders: Bloomberg worries about losing Klein’s team

by Anna Phillips

Commissioner David Steiner named the panel of experts that will screen Cathie Black. (GS, NYT)
Unlike Black, all of the panelists have experience in education. (State of Politics)
Bloomberg said he chose Black to stem “brain drain” within the Dept. of Ed. (Daily Politics)
A second Millenium High School could open in Park Slope next year. (InsideSchools)
Chancellor Klein’s lowest grades (two B’s) came from NYU’s School of Education. (NYT)
The prize for the winner of last night’s “The Apprentice,” was a meeting with Cathie Black. (NYT)
Rick Hess says he hasn’t been convinced that Black is right for the job. (EdWeek)
Students and teachers at John Dewey High School are fighting threats of closure. (NYT)
A former NYC teacher recounts some of the trauma his students endured. (GothamSchools)
Should teachers be trained like doctors? The question is put to Twitter. (GOOD)
A Queens bus driver (of a non-DOE bus) is accused of sexually abusing school children. (NYT)
And NY Mag suggests a Harry Potter spin-off in which Hogwarts endures layoffs. (NY Mag)

TEDx Sacramento 2010 Promo

Schools Matter: Bloomberg Launches Desperation Campaign to Save His Chatty Cathy

Bloomberg Launches Desperation Campaign to Save His Chatty Cathy

by Jim Horn

The New York Times reports all Bloomberg markers are being called in an attempt to save the irresponsible, arrogant, and disrespectful appointment of party chum and personnel disposal expert, Cathy Black, as head of NY City Schools:

She reached former Mayor Edward I. Koch at home, and pressed for his advice on how to navigate the rough-and-tumble world of New York politics. (“Never walk away from a reporter,” he admonished her.)

She exchanged little more than polite pleasantries with the Manhattan borough president, Scott M. Stringer, during what he called a “record-setting conversation — it was timed at less than a minute.”

When she could not reach City Councilman Robert Jackson, she left a message, but no number

The Teaching Experience

“The idea that experience doesn’t matter after five or so years incorrectly implies that test scores are the only relevant outcome.”

Good, well-thought-out article which presents a balanced look at the controversy that seems to be dominating education news - what is the value of experience in the classroom? As it turns out, there can be a lot of value.

What Diane Ravitch Told KIPP and Teach For America

What Diane Ravitch Told KIPP and Teach For America: This article from The Washington Post says much...

The University and the Ruins of the Present « occupy california

The University and the Ruins of the Present

by *

from WeAreTheCrisis:

Our $800 fee hike is the direct result of an unstable global financial system.

As of the Regent’s meeting vote on November 18th, UC tuition has gone up over $800. A year at UCLA, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Davis and Irvine now costs over $11,000 when in 2000 it cost $3,429. That means if you make $10 an hour, you’ll have to work 80 more hours next year, or if you’re a Freshman, take out $2,400 more in debt before you graduate. The tremors of the economic crisis continues to spread, and our chances of getting a job we want with our degrees becomes more and more slim. This is our future…

How can we understand this tuition hike in the context of broader social conditions? We find ourselves in the midst of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. 2008 was a shock to the economy as a whole and will no doubt render the world we lived in before unrecognizable. Overproduction of and speculation on real estate, the creation of unsustainable financial tools to be invested in, rising mortgage, credit card and student loan debt — all of these created a crisis in which banks couldn’t lend, people couldn’t pay their bills and abandoned their homes, and states and governments ran out of money to spend. In order to cope with the massive problems caused by the financial crisis, governments around the world have responded in two major

Community or Constituency?

by *

from bicyclebarricade:

Events in UCD’s Mrak Hall Thursday evening unfolded according to a familiar pattern: ~~fees~~ tuition goes up, so students get angry and march on the admin building. A sit-in is staged, demands are made, administrators pretend to dialogue while mobilizing police. Speakers speak, drums drum, and catharsis is reached. Or not. In the end we either stay or we go.

What is the purpose of a sit-in? Is it to force the administration to negotiate? If so, it’s a poor tactic, in itself, because it rarely works. Last November, after the Mrak arrests, the administration was reluctant to send in police during the second building occupation because, well, arresting another 50 students would have made them look even worse. So they “negotiated.” We all remember Janet Gong’s list of empty promises. Negotiation with the administration is futile because it allows them to retain the appearance of reasonableness and because students have no way to force them to keep their word.

When a sit-in refuses to disband itself, the dynamic changes. A minor nuisance becomes a threat to authority and productivity. The riot cops must be called, with them come the media, and the UC receives another black eye. It no longer seems quite so reasonable to raise students’ tuition and then arrest, club, pepper spray and, quite possibly, shoot them into submission. Administrators are nothing if not aware of status and public

Shaky Math in Charter School Studies - WSJ.com

Studies That Grade Charter Schools Rely on Imperfect Math

Charter schools are getting very confusing report cards.

Researchers have assessed the thousands of charter schools that have opened around the U.S. in the last two decades. The results from those studies are starting to flood in. But policy makers hoping to learn whether these scholastic experiments have been successful will be disappointed: Some studies say charter schools are outperforming their traditional counterparts. Other studies put charter and conventional schools on par, or even show charters trailing their peers.

The chief explanation for the lack of consensus is that the prominent studies on charter schools rely on different methodologies—all of which have flaws.

Education researchers face a big challenge: how to separate the results of charter schools' educational techniques from the quality and motivation of the students themselves. So far, scholars have been only partially successful at making this distinction, other education experts say.

To study charters, researchers typically measure how well students score on standardized tests compared with their peers at nearby traditional public schools. And head-to-head comparisons give charters a big edge. In 2007, for instance, charter schools in Georgia had graduation rates

A mistake and a typo prompt good humor between two rivals | GothamSchools

A mistake and a typo prompt good humor between two rivals

from GothamSchools by Maura Walz

Though they are at times each others’ harshest critics, Chancellor Joel Klein and noted education historian Diane Ravitch proved last week that they can occasionally share a laugh.

Last week, Klein e-mailed Ravitch asking for the “latest draft op-ed.” The message was an accident — presumably Klein meant to send it to the Department of Education’s press secretary, whose name is quite similar. “That’s what they get for getting a PR person named R-a-v-i-t-z,” Ravitch said when she forwarded us the e-mail.

A humorous exchange followed. Read from the bottom up:

—–Original Message—–
From: Diane Ravitch
Sent: Friday, November 12, 2010 6:11 PM
To: Klein Joel I.
May God be with you
I was afraid for a second that I mistyped “luck”
Whew
Sent from my iPhone
On Nov 12, 2010, at 5:00 PM, “Klein Joel I.”
wrote:
> Thanks. While I’m sure it’s just a typo, I love the Freudian slip

Gates Urges School Budget Overhauls - NYTimes.com

Gates Urges School Budget Overhauls

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Bill Gates plans to tell school superintendents, “Rebuild the budget based on excellence.”

By SAM DILLON

Published: November 19, 2010

REPRINTS

Bill Gates, the founder and former chairman of Microsoft, has made education-related philanthropy a major focus since stepping down from his day-to-day role in the company in 2008.

His new area of interest: helping solve schools’ money problems. In a speech on Friday, Mr. Gates — who is gaining considerable clout in education circles — plans to urge the 50 state superintendents of education to take difficult steps to restructure the nation’s public education budgets, which have come under severe pressure in the economic downturn.

He suggests they end teacher pay increases based on seniority and on master’s degrees, which he says are unrelated to teachers’ ability to raise student achievement. He also urges an end to efforts to reduce class sizes. Instead, he suggests rewarding the most effective

A Rainy Day Protest at UC Berkeley - The Bay Citizen

A Rainy Day Protest at UC Berkeley

Turn out was low a day after the UC regents announced yearly student fees would rise 8 percent

By TESS TOWNSEND on November 19, 2010 - 2:24 p.m. PST

start the discussion

Recommend

Tess Townsend

UC students tagging at California Hall

About 80 students paraded through the rain at UC Berkeley Friday morning, chanting "No cuts, no fees, education should be free."

The protest was a response to the UC Regents' decision yesterday to increase student fees 8 percent next year. For 2011-12, the fees will not affect students whose families make less than $120,000 a year.

Commissioner names panel of experts to screen new chancellor | GothamSchools

Commissioner names panel of experts to screen new chancellor

by Anna Phillips

State Education Commissioner David Steiner has named the panel of education experts that will help him decide whether to allow magazine executive Cathie Black to become the next schools chancellor.

Without a background in education, Black needs a waiver from the state that will let her bypass the prerequisites: that she have a degree in education and several years of teaching behind her. Though the final decision rests with Steiner, the panel will play a role in reviewing the city’s case for why Black is qualified and making a recommendation.

Reviewing the list of panel members, New York University Professor Pedro Noguera said the commissioner had covered his bases.

“Steiner’s aware that this is very controversial,” Noguera said. “So if you think about it, instead of just him making the decision he can say, ‘Look, I got a group of very reputable people in education who agreed with me.’”

“That doesn’t mean he’s going to agree with whatever they recommend but he’s got a good group to back him

Bill Gates on School Budgets: Cut Wisely, Change Pay Schemes - State EdWatch - Education Week

Bill Gates on School Budgets: Cut Wisely, Change Pay Schemes

by Sean Cavanagh

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates says he knows that the nation's schools are struggling financially, and could be for years to come. But he argues that states and districts need to continue to press to create new merit pay models, and that they should consider allowing larger class sizes—if those classes are taught by effective teachers.

In a speech today, the business icon and philanthropist also urged school officials to avoid making cuts such as furloughs and reducing school days and school years, which he says amount to "one-time" fixes that hurt students academically.

Gates, speaking at the Council of Chief State School Officers' annual policy forum in Louisville, Ky., called for moving away from systems that pay teachers based on seniority or obtaining master's degrees, which he says haven't been show to raise student achievement.

"There's simply no profession in existence that I can think of where seniority is a primary determination" in

Queens Teacher: Boro Leaders Oppose Choice of DOE Head

Boro Leaders Oppose Choice of DOE Head

by Queens Teacher

Elected officials, civics chastize mayor for secrecy in selecting media exec who lacks ed credentials

By Anna Gustafson

Queens legislators and residents criticized Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s choice to replace outgoing city Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, saying Heart Magazines Chairwoman Cathleen Black does not have the right background in education and the process of selecting a leader for the country’s largest school system was not transparent.

“Mayor Bloomberg is putting the education of millions of New York City children into the hands of someone who has no background in education,” state Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Little Neck) said. “Parents and educators

The Answer Sheet - Kohn: What 'ready to learn' really means

Kohn: What 'ready to learn' really means

This was written by Alfie Kohn, the author of 12 books about education and human behavior, including "The Schools Our Children Deserve," "The Homework Myth," and the forthcoming "Feel-Bad Education . . . And Other Contrarian Essays on Children & Schooling." He lives (actually) in the Boston area and (virtually) at www.alfiekohn. This post appeared on Kohn's Huffington Post page. By Alfie Kohn The phrase “ready to learn,” frequently applied to young children, is rather odd when you stop to think about it, because the implication is that some kids aren’t. Have you ever met a child who wasn’t ready to learn -- or, for that matter, already learning like crazy? The term must mean something much more specific -- namely, that some children aren’t yet able (or willing) to learn certain things or learn them in a certain way. Specifically, it seems to be code for “prepared for traditional

University of California Regents Approve Fee Hike, Salary Boosts « Student Activism

University of California Regents Approve Fee Hike, Salary Boosts

by Angus Johnston

The regents of the University of California approved an eight percent hike in undergraduate student fees yesterday, as expected. The tally was 10-5, with student regent Jesse Cheng and California’s Lieutenant Governor among those voting in opposition.

Yesterday’s hike is the fourth in three years at the university, and it brings total fees to more than $12,000 — a 224% increase over the last decade. Just one regent voted in opposition to last year’s fee increase.

Also on the regents’ agenda yesterday were the approval of a number of new administrative hires. One of those,

The Answer Sheet - Was Harry Potter's Hogwarts education any good?

Was Harry Potter's Hogwarts education any good?

By Valerie Strauss

How well would Harry Potter do on the SAT? The question has been raised by a Harvard research fellow about just how fine an educationHarry Potter and his friends received at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Samuel Arbesman, research fellow in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School, wrote on his blog:

“When it comes to the world of Harry Potter, no doubt many children think the idea of learning witchcraft and wizardry at Hogwarts seems wonderful. Unfortunately, the magical world of education in J.K. Rowling’s books is terribly broken.....

“At Hogwarts, while they learn about spells and potions, they completely neglect the fundamentals. They are made to write essays on the history of magic but are never taught to write. They take Arithmancy, but never learn mathematics.”

I beg to differ.

The array of Hogwarts courses -- required and elective (below) -- has a creative breadth not seen in many a school here in the No Child Left

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