The Campaign for Truth in DPS and The Denver Post | DeFENSE

The Campaign for Truth in DPS and The Denver Post | DeFENSE

The Campaign for Truth in DPS and The Denver Post

by admin

by Edward Augden, retired teacher and community activist

Reading Alicia Caldwell’s commentary on Sunday, Feb. 6, 2011, one could easily believe her assertion that the campaign to oust Denver Board of Education chair Dr. Nate Easley was just about his voting record as a board member and that the effort is a “big money campaign” spearheaded by “education anti-reformers.” Many voters and taxpayers might be shocked and/or offended by such an effort if they only read the Post. Unfortunately, her column, as with a previous one by Ms. Caldwell on the topic, included mostly half-truths and omissions. As a former journalism teacher, and after reading this and other editorials on public education, I’ve concluded that The Denver Post editorial staff
has become a purveyor of propaganda for Denver Public Schools (DPS) rather than a seeker of truth.

For example, Sunday was, probably, the first time that Post columnists have even mentioned that Easley might have a conflict of interest. For the record, Mr. Easley, as board president, supervises Tom Boasberg, DPS

Race to the Top: Illinois lost federal contest, but state still trying to spur reforms - chicagotribune.com

Race to the Top: Illinois lost federal contest, but state still trying to spur reforms - chicagotribune.com

State officials pursue private support for public school reform initiatives

Elgin kindergarten teacher Kristin Meredith works with students on a math unit, using rhythm and stomping to get her point across. An early learning readiness measure proposed by state education officials might require kindergarten teachers to evaluate a child’s ability to focus or play nicely with classmates. (Stacey Wescott, Tribune photo / January 27, 2011)

For months, Illinois education officials have courted private support for public education reforms that would test every kindergartner and revamp how teenagers study science and technology.

In scale and ambition, the pitch to philanthropic foundations and businesses is without precedent.

It is also without many alternatives: Illinois narrowly lost in its bid for the federal Race to the Top competition last fall, missing a shot at $400 million intended to improve public schools at a time when the state's financial woes render an infusion of new cash unlikely.

So, the state's top educator, Illinois School Superintendent Christopher Koch, hopes to raise about $80 million in private support and grants in the next four years to support reforms that include student performance in teacher evaluations and prepare principals to work in schools plagued by poverty, state records show.

Don't believe all the hype about charter schools and vouchers | PennLive.com

Don't believe all the hype about charter schools and vouchers | PennLive.com

Don't believe all the hype about charter schools and vouchers

by Gerald Kohn

Public education has been the cornerstone of democracy in America for more than a century. It has been the pathway to the American dream of financial success and social freedom. It has been a place where children learn to get along with one another despite different backgrounds, and a place where hard work leads to success.

Today, public education is facing its most serious threat: privatization. The much-discussed film, “Waiting for Superman,” has tapped into a growing belief that the only way to save American education is to fire teachers, principals and administrators and entrust the future of our children to private education companies and charter schools.

The film distorts reality and misrepresents charter school performance. The simplistic model of firing teachers, closing under-performing schools and replacing them with charter schools has been a failure in nearly every city where it has been implemented. For example, a recently released University of Chicago study conducted during the last 20 years reported that neither site-based school management nor the implementation of charter schools improved academic achievement in Chicago.

Respected education leaders have spoken about the dangers of believing the film’s claims. Diane Ravitch, who served as the Deputy Secretary of Education under Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush and was once a

Teaching Screenagers — Whole Child Education

Home — Whole Child Education

• 

  Bob Sullo on Motivating Students

  February 11, 2011 by Klea Scharberg

  ASCD author Bob Sullo says educators could be more successful with their teaching if they invited their students to be collaborators in their own learning.

  Read more »

• 

  Teaching Screenagers

  February 11, 2011 by Klea Scharberg

  Young people currently have access to technology on a level that is almost mind-boggling to older generations. Today's students spend their time texting; tweeting; and using technology as a form of communication, information, and entertainment. So how can educators use this to their advantage?

  Read more »

• 

  Two-Faced Technology: Hardening and Healing a Child's Heart

  February 10, 2011 by ASCD Whole Child Bloggers

  Are we ready for technology to surprise us? Guest blogger Alice Ray shares the unexpected outcomes she experienced in using technology to address children's social-emotional needs.

  Read more »

'Building a Society That Can Actually Do Things' - voiceofsandiego.org: Q & As

'Building a Society That Can Actually Do Things' - voiceofsandiego.org: Q & As

'Building a Society That Can Actually Do Things'

Photo by Sam HodgsonChris Lawrence

Posted: Friday, February 11, 2011 2:11 pm |Updated: 3:55 pm, Fri Feb 11, 2011.

• By Emily Alpert

The first time I met Chris Lawrence, I had just wrapped up moderating a panel on the dropout rate. Lawrence complained the panel was full of "vacuous nonsense," as he later put it. His frankness impressed me. So I do what I do when I meet someone interesting: I asked him to get coffee with me.

Lawrence, who teaches physics at Mira Mesa High School, is a good person to get coffee with. He's a big thinker who once flew planes for the Navy and decided to go into education after the release of the landmark report A Nation at Risk.

In San Diego Unified, he started a new program that trains students in renewable energy and once fought an overhaul of its physics programs. But he's worried we're still at risk. And he has ideas for a

An Oakland high school’s last AP class is cut, but teachers teach it anyway The Education Report

The Education Report

An Oakland high school’s last AP class is cut, but teachers teach it anyway

By Katy Murphy
Friday, February 11th, 2011 at 12:59 pm in Uncategorized
3 Comments »

Their school is broke, their teaching staff is smaller than ever, and the last advanced placement course has been slashed from the master schedule.

But the two-member English department at Castlemont’s East Oakland School of the Arts decided to teach AP English anyway, before school and during an arts period.

Read the rest of this entry »

A doomsday scenario, for sure — but how likely?

By Katy Murphy
Thursday, February 10th, 2011 at 2:47 pm in budget
15 Comments »

At last night’s school board meeting, Oakland Superintendent Tony Smith said public schools in California could face a per-student cut of $900 next year. The mind-boggling assertion was promptly tweeted by the district’s communications team and posted on Facebook:

The state is now telling California school districts to prepare for cuts of $900 PER STUDENT for the coming school year. For a school of 400 students, that’s $360,000. We need to get the word to Sacramento that cuts are unacceptable!

But where, exactly, did that figure come from?

Read the rest of this entry »

“Top 10 Famous Protest Plazas” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

“Top 10 Famous Protest Plazas” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

“Top 10 Famous Protest Plazas” Top 10 Famous Protest Plazas is a great slideshow from TIME Magazine. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About Protests In History.

More Egypt Resources Here are the newest additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Protests In Egypt: Egyptian Joy as Mubarak Resigns is from Breaking News English. Now See The 11 Countries At Risk Of Becoming The Next Egypt is from Business Insider. Egypt: ...

Even More Resources On Valentine’s Day Here are some new additions to The Best Sites To Learn About Valentine’s Day : Do Valentine’s day the green way – interactive is from the Guardian. Valentine’s Day Spending is another infographic. Jason Renshaw has created some nice downloadable ...

The Best “World Press Photo” Winners World Press Photo is a respected international foundation that is well known for their “World Press Photos of the Year.” They have just named the winners of the awards for this year. You can see all of their winners from previous years at their ...

“My Favourite Animal Families” My Favourite Animal Families is the title of a very cute collection of images from The Telegraph. I’m adding the link to The Best Sites For Learning About Animals.

“Photo Essay: Amazing Libraries Around the World” Photo Essay: Amazing Libraries Around the World is a great slideshow. I’m adding the link to The Best Sites To Teach ELL’s About Libraries.

The Best Multimedia Celebrating Mubarak’s Downfall I’ve previously posted a very popular “The Best…” list titled The Best Sites For Learning About The Protests In Egypt. Because today’s resignation of President Mubarak is such an important event, and potentially an important event in world history, I ...

LAUSD likely to send out 7,000 layoff warnings - LA Daily News

LAUSD likely to send out 7,000 layoff warnings - LA Daily News

LAUSD likely to send out 7,000 layoff warnings

By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer

Posted: 02/11/2011 08:36:07 PM PST

Updated: 02/11/2011 08:38:07 PM PST

Faced with a massive budget deficit and potential takeover by the county, the LAUSD board will be asked Tuesday to send layoff notices to 7,000 educators and support staff.

The notices don't necessarily mean all those employees will lose their jobs in the 2011-12 school year, but the district by law must notify workers whose positions are in jeopardy.

"We must plan for the worst because it just might happen," Deputy Superintendent John Deasy wrote in a memo to the board and Superintendent Ramon Cortines.

The layoff warnings will be sent to 4,000 educators, and 1,000 cafeteria workers and janitors, officials said, to

A teacher’s open letter to Nate Easley | DeFENSE

A teacher’s open letter to Nate Easley | DeFENSE

A teacher’s open letter to Nate Easley

by admin

My cat just died, so I’m having a pretty lousy evening. I’ve been watching her die for the last three days. I didn’t have enough money to take her to the vet.

You know what else is bugging me, Nate?

• We got a new student at my school this week – a thirteen-year-old girl from Honduras who just spent four months alone in a detention center in Texas. I’ll be “to blame” for her CSAP scores in two weeks.
• We got a new student at my school this week – an 8th grade boy who lives next to Bryant-Webster and attended there since 3rd grade. He just returned from living with his mom in New Mexico for the past 6

City Hall smackdown: Miguel del Valle--Red Eye

Del Valle for Mayor | For All Chicago For Every Neighborhood: City Hall smackdown: Miguel del Valle--Red Eye

City Hall smackdown: Miguel del Valle--Red Eye

by Joanna2011

From the Red Eye, 2.11.2011

AGE: 59

RESIDENCE: Belmont Cragin

He bills himself as a "true Chicagoan."

Miguel del Valle prides himself on his Chicago roots. The city clerk since 2006 now has his sights set on Chicago's top office.

Del Valle, who is married with four children, moved from Puerto Rico at age 4 and grew up in various neighborhoods, including Lincoln Park, West Town and Humboldt Park. He attended public schools and graduated from Northeastern Illinois University. He was involved in community organizations, such as the Barreto Boys and Girls Club, and served as executive director of Association House, a human services agency. He said he is proud of the work he did in 20 years serving in the state Senate beginning in 1986, particularly on education

Hechinger Report | Is the stimulus really “No Consultant Left Behind”?

Hechinger Report | Is the stimulus really “No Consultant Left Behind”?

Impact of education stimulus far from certain In the two years since Congress made the federal government’s largest one-time investment in public schools, change has rippled through classrooms from coast to coast. Tennessee and Delaware have revamped their laws to promote the growth of charter ...

How many jobs did the education stimulus save? The economic-stimulus package that Congress passed two years ago preserved hundreds of thousands of jobs in the nation’s public schools but, with the economy still sputtering, the future of many of those positions remains in jeopardy. In all, the ...

Is the stimulus really “No Consultant Left Behind”? The flood of federal stimulus money into the nation’s public schools has dramatically increased the demand for education consultants, leaving some stimulus recipients struggling* *to find seasoned advisors and others uneasy about the pitches they are ...

Investing stimulus money in innovation For the long-troubled public school system of New Orleans, the 2005 hurricane that broke the levees and displaced thousands of students also cleared the way for a nonprofit with the self-explanatory name New Schools for New Orleans. Now, that ...

Schools Matter: Massachusetts Charter School Study Not Mentioned in Boston Globe: That Can Only Mean One Thing

Schools Matter: Massachusetts Charter School Study Not Mentioned in Boston Globe: That Can Only Mean One Thing

Massachusetts Charter School Study Not Mentioned in Boston Globe: That Can Only Mean One Thing

by Jim Horn

Paid for with federal grant money set aside for advancing the charter school crusade against public education, the State of Massachusetts commissioned the McKinsey-trained researchers at Harvard’s CEPR to examine how statewide charter school MCAS scores compare with public school MCAS scores. The results were the subject of a minor soiree and panel discussion at Harvard earlier this week, and the fact that theBoston Globe did not report on it can only mean that the results did not bode well for charters.

Dr. Mitchell Chester, Commissioner of Schools for the Commonwealth, spins up the

Daily Kos: What does it mean to be educated?

Daily Kos: What does it mean to be educated?

What does it mean to be educated?

by teacherken

Yesterday, in my 3 classes of Advanced Placement Government students, I asked them that question. And so began one of the more interesting class periods they, or I, have experienced.

It is an open-ended question. It is one for which I am not about to give them an answer, but rather work with what they say. It is one for which their answers will vary as much as their experiences have varied, as much as their hopes are varied, as much as they differ from one another.

It is an example of a "big" question, one asked not for the purposes of preparing fo

Inclusion: Does One Size Fit All?

Inclusion: Does One Size Fit All?

Inclusion: Does One Size Fit All?

by admin

“Do you like being in RSP?”

A loaded question when coming from an RSP (Resource Specialist Program) teacher but one that my students overwhelmingly answer with a nod, a “yeah” or a “yes”. Who wouldn’t when they beat you over the head with a lot stuff you don’t understand in your regular general education class. You get to escape for a while. Take a walk under the sun or sludge through the rain. Work in a small group with your brethren, auties or learning disabled