Sunday, November 21, 2010

The Big Education Ape Daily

The Big Education Ape Daily
The Big Education Ape Daily

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

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - We know how to teach black kids – and other disadvantaged students — but we don’t do it, writes John McWhorter in The Root.Starting in 1968, a huge federal study called Project Follow Through compa...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Money for a populist ''boot camp'' is far better spent on teachers.THERE is a crisis in public education and the policies of Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Premier John Brumby are making it worse...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - With the demise of tracking, teachers are supposed to “differentiate instruction,” tailoring instruction to advanced, average and struggling students in the same class. It’s not easy, writes Mike P...

coopmike48
parents4democraticschools.wordpress.com - Assistant Deputy Secretary to Keynote Connecticut Bullying Forum | U.S. Department of Education.Who : Kevin Jennings, assistant deputy secretary, Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, U.S. Departme...

coopmike48
gse.harvard.edu - Programs and Services The Change Leadership Group works to build school and district leaders' capacities to ensure success for all students. We provide brief professional development programs for...

EDUBEAT
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Busy, but certainly thankful... - Sabrina's Joy

Busy, but certainly thankful... - Sabrina's Joy

Busy, but certainly thankful... - Sabrina's Joy

by Sabrina
...and what better time to catch up with my daily gratitude blogging than the week of Thanksgiving?

Some things that have brightened my smile of late (despite some seriously unhappy events):

  • Denver. I cried the entire time my husband and I prepared to leave Philadelphia. Now, I'm totally in love with this place!!! (Sorry, Mom & Dad, but it's true...)denver greetings.jpg
  • Knitting, knitting, knitting! (In progress: Citron shawlette from Knitty, Winter '09. If you're on Ravelry, look
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NYC Public School Parents: Come deliver the petitions with us, opposing the waiver for Cathie Black

NYC Public School Parents: Come deliver the petitions with us, opposing the waiver for Cathie Black

Come deliver the petitions with us, opposing the waiver for Cathie Black

by Leonie Haimson

We will be delivering over 12,000 petition signatures and thousands of comments to Commissioner Steiner, from parents and other concerned New Yorkers, about why he should deny a waiver to Cathie Black as NYC Schools Chancellor. Join us!

When: Monday, November 22 at 3:45 PM

Where: In front of Commissioner Steiner’s apartment at 200 E 87th St (betw. 2nd and 3rd Ave.) (Map here.)

The waiver will be considered by an advisory panel headed up by

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Schools Matter: Gates, Duncan, Friedman: Connecting the Dopes

Schools Matter: Gates, Duncan, Friedman: Connecting the Dopes

Gates, Duncan, Friedman: Connecting the Dopes

by Jim Horn
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters (I would call it "Invisible Strings")
As the corporate education deform ship tacks following the grounding of the Oligarchs in DC, it is clear already that their new lay line is bound to take the Billionaire Boys Club into shallow waters once more. The new strategy is based on using the current economic Depression to leverage the continued crushing of the teaching profession by paying all-powerful school CEOs a bundle and by further cutting teacher pay, while basing the remainder on test scores. Gates has some experience with this kind of management, even before the Bankster Revolution. From 2005:
Microsoft's compensation moves have created a haves-vs.-have-nots culture. Newbies work for
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Detroit: DFT picket tomorrow | Dailycensored.com

Detroit: DFT picket tomorrow | Dailycensored.com

Detroit: DFT picket tomorrow

Written by Danny WeilEducationNov 21, 2010
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Picture of a Detroit School


DFT members: This week we finally end the long DFT retreat, and start to move forward in the fight to defend public education.

1. The DFT is calling its members and all supporters of public education to rally and picket State Rep Fred Durhal’s office, at 4 pm this Monday, November 22. The office is located at 8140 Grand River, about one-half mile north of West Grand Blvd.

Durhal is the state rep who introduced Bobb’s legislation Wednesday.

Bobb’s bills would allow all Michigan school districts operating with financial deficits to impose addendums to their union contracts that would: (a) eliminate seniority; (b) eliminate class size maximums and all other work rules (lesson prep time, etc) that district officials say is an impediment to “financial and academic reforms”; (c) allow for the unilateral implementation of merit pay, a longer school day and school year, and new attendance policies.

As I emphasized at Thursday’s membership meeting, the bill creates a permanent Second-Class Status for majority black and poor white districts of Michigan, where we are already seeing 40 - 50 or more students in classes, and the replacement of a stable teaching corps with a revolving door of teachers modeled after the charter schools.

The DFT membership voted to picket Durhal at last week’s monthly membership meeting. We also voted to call on supporters of public

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This Week In Education: Politics: Pro-Charter Dem PAC Expands To CA

This Week In Education: Politics: Pro-Charter Dem PAC Expands To CA

Politics: Pro-Charter Dem PAC Expands To CA

by Alexander Russo

ScreenHunter_04 Nov. 03 14.01Whtiney Tilson says that DFER has hired CA State Senator (D-East LA and Senate education committee chair) Gloria Romero to lead the expansion of DFER to California. "Launched in 2007, DFER has active chapters in New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Colorado, with others on the way. The organization pushes to make Democratic politicians more active participants in efforts to dramatically improve public schools for students." Add the states where Stand For Children has established outpots and you've got quite a handful of states with pro-charter PACs. How they did in 2010 and how they'll fare in 2012 I have no idea. Presser attached.

Nov 01, 2010 11:00 ET

Democrats for Education Reform Taps State Senator Gloria Romero to Lead 2011 California Expansion

SACRAMENTO, CA–(Marketwire – November 1, 2010) – California State Senator Gloria Romero (D — East Los Angeles), Chair of the Senate Education Committee, has been selected to lead the expansion of Democrats for Education Reform to California, the national organization announced today.

“With a bold vision and a fearless approach, Senator Romero has been leading the way on critical education

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Whatever happened to promoting student ownership & responsibility? « Failing Schools

Whatever happened to promoting student ownership & responsibility? « Failing Schools

Whatever happened to promoting student ownership & responsibility?

NOVEMBER 21, 2010
by Sabrina

This past Friday, I heard from two teachers who’d experienced some form of professional rebuke for their stances on student responsibility. The first teacher received a lower score on his evaluation, while the second almost faced serious disciplinary action for writing and sending a (brave and thoughtful, IMO) e-mail. Despite their distance from each other (the first teacher works in Washington, DC, while the other teaches here in Colorado), both experienced the negative impact of an educational culture that places a disproportionate amount of responsibility on the teacher,

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Schools Matter: Avoiding a Return to the Dark Ages of Democracy

Schools Matter: Avoiding a Return to the Dark Ages of Democracy

Avoiding a Return to the Dark Ages of Democracy

by Jim Horn
On Tuesday the limos will be lined up with their motors running outside some undisclosed Manhattan location while Bloomberg's hedge funders oversee voting by the hand-picked pawns and patsies chosen to sign off on the State waiver that is required for a non-educator with no credentials to become head of the largest ostensibly-public education system in America.

It is the new Gilded Age fully realized, and champagne corks are popping in every penthouse suite of Manhattan as another cold dark winter settles in for the surrounding millions of unemployed who will be trying to keep the lights on this holiday season, even as the purchased politicians try to pull the plug on unemployment and offer the wealthy another tax cut.

A hearing for Cathy Black? A public hearing? You've got to be kidding--no one wants to go back to the Dark Ages of democracy, especially when there are still plenty of public institutions to be disrupted and turned into
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4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: LAUSD TEACHERS, STAFF HAND OUT LEAFLETS PROTESTING LAYOOFS

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: LAUSD TEACHERS, STAFF HAND OUT LEAFLETS PROTESTING LAYOOFS
LAUSD CANCELS ANOTHER CONTRACT: Deal would have paid $90,000 for 66 days of work By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer | LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/awgYah 11/21/2010 - Amid increasing scrutiny over the use of subcontractors in Los Angeles Unified's $20billion building program, district officials have canceled a second contract in as ...
PROTESTS OVER CUTBACKS @ L.A. UNIFIED SCHOOLS LA Times/LA Now | http://lat.ms/aNKBX6 November 19, 2010 | 6:00 am -- School employees are handing out leaflets to parents Friday morning, decrying the latest round of layoffs, program cuts and pay reductions to befall the Los Angeles Unified School ...
LAUSD TEACHERS, STAFF HAND OUT LEAFLETS PROTESTING LAYOOFS By Melissa Pamer Staff Writer- Daily Breeze | http://bit.ly/9Lm9M9 Teachers and staff at San Pedro High School hand out information to parents Friday morning. (Robert Casillas / Staff Photographer) School nurse Anna Urie hands out fliers before ...
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The Answer Sheet - Teacher runs into power of Teach for America

The Answer Sheet - Teacher runs into power of Teach for America
Take this 1931 8th grade test (you will probably flunk) The following exam was given in 1931 by the West Virginia Department of Education to students seeking graduation from eighth grade. For many students, that was the last year of formal schooling. The exam was sent to me by John N. Beall of Wilmington, ...
Teacher runs into power of Teach for America Here is another of the many desperate emails and letters from teachers that education historian Diane Ravitch, author of the bestselling book The Death and Life of the Great American School System, receives every day. Ravitch has emerged as the ...
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"THE NEW NORMAL: DOING MORE WITH LESS" Remarks of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncanat the American Enterprise Institute panel,"Bang for the Buck in Schooling" November 17, 2010

"THE NEW NORMAL: DOING MORE WITH LESS" Remarks of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncanat the American Enterprise Institute panel,"Bang for the Buck in Schooling" November 17, 2010

"THE NEW NORMAL: DOING MORE WITH LESS" Remarks of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncanat the American Enterprise Institute panel,"Bang for the Buck in Schooling" November 17, 2010
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Duncan: Rewarding Teachers for Master's Degrees Is Waste of Money - The Ticker - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Duncan: Rewarding Teachers for Master's Degrees Is Waste of Money - The Ticker - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Duncan: Rewarding Teachers for Master’s Degrees Is Waste of Money

November 19, 2010, 2:11 pm

In a speech at an American Enterprise Institute forum on Wednesday, the secretary of education, Arne Duncan, said state and local governments should rethink their policies of giving pay raises to teachers who have master’s degrees because evidence suggests that the degree alone does not improve student achievement. The remark was part of a speech about ways lawmakers can use current budget shortfalls to make public schools more productive. Mr. Duncan has consistently advocated tying teacher pay to student performance, but he has rarely taken shots at credentialing programs.

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