Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Beyond Superman: Leading Responsible School Reform | eSchoolNews.com

Beyond Superman: Leading Responsible School Reform

The challenges facing public education today require multifaceted solutions that involve all stakeholders working together—not shallow responses or agenda-driven reformers with superhero aspirations. At eSchool News Online, we’ve created this platform to help school and community leaders explore real, effective strategies for moving education forward in the 21st century.

Students, ed-tech company form extraordinary partnership »

The educational search-engine firm netTrekker Inc. is part of a new initiative at one Ohio high school not only to spur community support for education, but also to help kids...

November 12 2010 / No comment / Read More »

News

More public schools trying single-sex education »

Single-sex education appears to be making a comeback, but with a new twist: A small but growing number of traditional public schools are experimenting with separate instruction for boys and girls to help meet each...

November 19 2010 / Read More »

New effort aims to turn teacher education ‘upside down’ »

Eight states are beginning a national pilot program to transform teacher education and preparation to emphasize far more in-field, intensive training—as is common practice in medical schools....

November 19 2010 / Read More »

With divided Congress, school reform faces a tough road ahead »

The Obama administration has pushed an ambitious education agenda in the last two years, sending $100 billion to states thorough the stimulus package and spurring reform in many locations through the Race to the Top...

November 17 2010 / Read More »

Opinion

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Opinion: This ‘Superman‘ doesn’t fly »

As a strong supporter of American public education, I don’t know what’s more depressing: that the film Waiting for ‘Superman’ is so bad, or that so many critics have heaped such high praise upon it....

November 8 2010 / Read More »

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Viewpoint: Is Superman the conversation we need? »

It’s hard to look away from the small, vulnerable faces of the children whose educational odysseys are highlighted in the movie Waiting for Superman. It’s hard not to sympathize with the fiercely protective, yet politically...

November 4 2010 / Read More »

Putting our ideas of assessment to the test »

Here’s a pop quiz: What are the skills that today’s students will need to be successful in tomorrow’s workplace? The answer to this question has enormous implications for the future of education, including what we...

September 27 2010 / Read More »

Outgoing NYC Schools Chief Klein: School Reform Momentum Will Continue | PBS NewsHour | Nov. 23, 2010 | PBS

Outgoing NYC Schools Chief Klein: School Reform Momentum Will Continue

SUMMARY

Jeffrey Brown speaks with Joel Klein, outgoing chancellor of New York City Schools, about his sometimes-controversial eight-year tenure and what will become of the national school reform movement with several high-profile departures.

Transcript

JIM LEHRER: Now: the man who has led the New York City schools and the national debate over education reform. Jeffrey Brown has our interview.

JEFFREY BROWN: Joel Klein took over as chancellor of the nation's large

One of every five Texas charter schools has religious ties - JSOnline

One of every five Texas charter schools has religious ties

By Amy Hetzner of the Journal Sentinel

Nov. 23, 2010 |(4) COMMENTS

The same day that the West Bend School Board voted against entering contract negotiations with a Baptist pastor to run a publicly funded charter school, The Dallas Morning News ran a story focusing on the large number of charter schools in Texas that used to be parochial schools or had other religious ties.

In addition to noting that more than 20% of Texas charter schools have some kind of religious ties, the story says that such church-charter partnerships are popping up around the country and blurring the lines between church and state.

"You have to wonder what the impetus is," Dan Quinn, a spokesman for Texas Freedom Network, is quoted as saying in the story. "What is the catalyst for becoming a charter because at that point they've abandoned the mission of being a religious institution?"

The Answer Sheet - The mismatch between Duncan's words, actions

The mismatch between Duncan's words, actions

This was written by educator Anthony Cody, who taught science for 18 years in inner-city Oakland and who now works with a team of science teacher-coaches that supports novice teachers. He is a National Board-certified teacher and an active member of the Teacher Leaders Network. This post, which appears on his Teachers Magazine blog, Living in Dialogue, refers to Monday's Day of National Blogging for Real Education Reform, in which scores of educators from around the country shared their perspectives. Education Secretary Arne Duncan blogged too, and here is how Cody responded to Duncan: Secretary Duncan, You may recall we spoke on the phone last May when I was part of a group called Teachers' Letters to Obama that organized ourselves to share our concerns and ideas with your administration. Unfortunately we never heard back from you (as I describe here).

NYC Public School Parents: Conflict of Interest? That's for the Little People

Conflict of Interest? That's for the Little People

by Paola de Kock

All pretense aside, Cathie Black's qualifications for the Chancellor's job boil down to the fact that she's a friend of Mike. He wants her real bad. No one else will do. So it's perplexing to say the least that Commissioner Steiner should stack his advisory panel with people whose professional and/or personal connections with Mike or his twin Joel render suspect their ability to voice an independent opinion on Ms. Black. But if there was a plan, it backfired--no waiver from that panel, at least not now. The bad publicity ("the fix is in" was pretty much the consensus) may well have stiffened some members' resolve to at least avoid embarrassment (I'd like to see a serious academic defend the notion that tireless selling of Cosmopolitan,Seventeen, House Beautiful, vel sim. is the "substantial equivalent" of a superintendent's license and a master's degree!). Still, I'm dumbfounded that Commissioner Steiner would pick the panel members without regard to well-established conflict-of-interest rules.

As a member of the Citywide Council of High Schools (CCHS), I can attest from my own experience--both in applying for the position and in seeking candidates for a more recent vacancy--that candidates for CECs and

Schools Matter: November's Education Hero: Superintendent Bill Mathews

November's Education Hero: Superintendent Bill Mathews

by Jim Horn

Here is something to go with your pumpkin pie. If you know of education heroes whose actions defy the corporatization of American schools, send me a link: ontogenyx@gmail.com:

This is from WaPo:

By Valerie Strauss
A number of school districts in states that won money in the Education Department's $4 billionRace to the Top competition have decided they don’t actually want the money because, in most cases, officials think it is more trouble to accept it.

In Ohio, which won $400 million in the Race sweepstakes, more than two dozen districts and

NJ Spotlight | Unique Bilingual Education Program Spreading Across New Jersey

Unique Bilingual Education Program Spreading Across New Jersey
Dual-language system benefits both Spanish- and English-speaking students

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By Sarah Garland, November 24 in Education |Post a Comment

In Amanda Castaño’s classroom in a Long Branch public preschool, the four-year-olds get ready for reading circle with a song: "A leer, a leer, todos calladitos!" The native English speakers in the group join in as enthusiastically as the Spanish speakers, and when Castaño begins reading the story – in Spanish – the entire class is rapt.

Next door, the four-year-olds in Sean Kelly’s class raise their hands as he asks questions in English, including several students who started preschool as monolingual Spanish speakers. After a week, the two classes will switch places: Kelly’s students will go to Castaño’s room for a week of learning in Spanish, and Castaño’s students will join Kelly for a week in English.

Bilingual Experiment

The four-year-olds in both classes are part of an experiment in bilingual education in Long Branch preschools. This is the experiment’s second year, and school officials are pleasantly surprised at

News Corp. Buys Wireless Generation - NYTimes.com

News Corp., After Hiring Klein, Buys Technology Partner in a City Schools Project

By FERNANDA SANTOS

Published: November 23, 2010

REPRINTS

Greg Gunn and Larry Berger met as Rhodes scholars at Oxford University and, after stints teaching computer skills and mathematics to children in Harlem and Stamford, Conn., they came upon an idea: create a business that would put technology in the hands of teachers and into classrooms.

Enlarge This Image

Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times

Chancellor Joel I. Klein is also going to News Corporation.

Education Chief Raises Doubts on Pick by Bloomberg (November 24, 2010)
City Room: Black Was Principal, for a Day (November 23, 2010)

Mr. Gunn, 40, and Mr. Berger, 42, founded Wireless Generation 10 years ago, and the company has since grown from a start-up with a bare-bones budget and staff to a national leader in a new wave of education reform, where data is a crucial tool to transform failing schools.

On Monday, News Corporation announced that it had signed an agreement to buy 90 percent of Wireless Generation for $360 million in cash, its first foray into the for-profit world of education since its book publishing arm, Harper Collins, got out of the textbook business in the mid-1990s. The deal thrusts one of the world’s largest media

Seattle Public Schools community blog: Education Reform Survey

Education Reform Survey

by Charlie Mas

Thanks to an alert reader, we bring you this story from the Seattle P-I which will lead you to a survey from the OSPI on Education Reform.

Here is your chance to answer: Great idea or Greatest idea?

Seattle Met: The Education Issue

by Melissa Westbrook

So in advance of the upcoming tours and open houses at both public and private high schools, Seattle Metropolitan Magazine latest issue has several articles about high school education with 78 public and 50 private schools graded. Among the articles:

The New School Plan - about the NSAP
One Size Fits Some - about the LA alignment
Talk Supe - about who else? (We'll have to discuss this one because she flatly denies saying something I heard her say out loud at a meeting.)
Geek Boot Camp - about STEM at Cleveland (I'll have to take them to task for this title; no, no, and no.)

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Panel rejects waiver for Black

Panel rejects waiver for Black

by Mike Klonsky

Big defeat for Bloomberg and mayoral control

An eight-member panel of education experts, including several with close ties to Mayor Bloomberg, has voted to deny publishing executiveCathleen Black a waiver to become the next schools chancellor. The mayor has argued that under the 2002 law that gave him control of the city schools, he should be able to appoint whomever he pleased.

The Washington Teacher: Parker's Last Acts Of Desperation - Happy Thanksgiving!

Parker's Last Acts Of Desperation - Happy Thanksgiving!

by The Wash. Teacher

6 Days To WTU Run-off Election- Didn't get a ballot call 1-800-273-0726 to get a duplicate.

Featuring Candi Peterson, blogger in residence and WTU Candidate for General Vice President/Saunders slate

In the first Washington Teachers Union (WTU) election, two out of three teachers voted against WTU "holdover" President George Parker whose constitutional term ended June 30, 2010. Since those results were tallied, the Liz Davis/Emily Washington slate and Chris and Ben

The Answer Sheet - Schools chief returns Race to the Top money -- for his teachers

Schools chief returns Race to the Top money -- for his teachers

A number of school districts in states that won money in the Education Department's $4 billion Race to the Top competition have decided they don’t actually want the money because, in most cases, officials think it is more trouble to accept it. In Ohio, which won $400 million in the Race sweepstakes, more than two dozen districts and public charter schools say they think it will cost them more than they will get from the federal government to implement the required reforms, according to Sean Cavanagh at www.edweek.com. And then there is the Jones County School District near Macon, Ga., headed by Superintendent Bill Mathews.

NYC Public School Parents: Our battle is not over! Sign our new petition to Steiner

Our battle is not over! Sign our new petition to Steiner

by Leonie Haimson

Send a new message to Commissioner Steiner to reject Cathie Black's nomination --even if there's an educator as number two.

In what has been called a stinging rebuke to the mayor, the members of an advisory panel appointed by Commissioner Steiner voted today against granting a waiver to magazine executive Cathie Black to become NYC Schools Chancellor. They listened to the voices of parents, educators, and the majority of New Yorkers, who believe that she has none of the qualifications needed to lead the nation's largest school

Schools Matter: Bloomberg's Toadies Vote No, Sort of

Bloomberg's Toadies Vote No, Sort of

by Jim Horn

The limos were idling for hours yesterday at an undisclosed Manhattan location as Bloomberg's toadies huddled in an attempt to not look like whores while giving Bloomberg's unqualified appointee for Chancellor a qualified pass. In the end, they agreed on a plan that would hopefully save face for the educationists on the panel, while giving Bloomberg time to come up with a plan that will in the end make him look like a reasonable negotiator who knows how to cut a deal and get his way in the end. At least that's my take. A somewhat different take below.

From New York Magazine:

A big, rare loss for Michael Bloomberg this afternoon: The state education commissioner has

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Eduwonk » Blog Archive » Growing Blacklash!

Growing Blacklash!

by arotherham

The advisory panel appointed to consider a waiver for Cathie Black to become Chancellor of the New York City schools voted against granting it. I assume all the people last seen decrying the appointees to the panel as shills for the mayor will now demand another vote to ensure integrity in the process…

Anyway, despite their media backgrounds you have to wonder if Mayor Bloomberg or Cathie Black could have handled this rollout any worse? My take on the larger issues the whole waiver process raises here.