Big Education Ape

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Big Education Ape: 4-27-11 AM Everything is OK Rhee Blesses New CPS SUP Edition

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Hundreds Protest Hiring of Katonah Superintendent

nytimes.com - Drawing protests from teachers and parents, a Westchester County school district has offered its top job to a superintendent from the Milwaukee suburbs who endorsed the Wisconsin governor’s efforts...

leoniehaimson

Timothy D. Slekar: NCLB amended? WHAT?!

huffingtonpost.com - "Last month, Mr. Duncan predicted that by the end of this year, 82 percent of schools will miss their goal. At this rate, it is highly likely that in a few years, every single public school in the ...

DianeRavitch

Los Angeles Unified School District: School board hires five top executives

latimes.com - New Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy has assembled an executive team that he says will assert a laserlike focus on instruction, but some have assailed the cost as well as ties to outside groups...

DianeRavitch

Rural lawmakers should oppose school voucher bill

nashuatelegraph.com - Wednesday, April 20, 2011 As this was written, lawmakers in Harrisburg late last week continued to wring their hands over the passage of Senate Bill 1, which if approved, would establish a school v...

DianeRavitch

Snyder's education plan for Michigan has cash awards, online classes | Detroit Free Press

freep.com - Gov. Rick Snyder will propose Wednesday financial rewards to individual schools that show exceptional academic progress.The money could be divided among the teachers or used in other ways they choo...

DianeRavitch

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#edu Read this paper 48 MORE ARTICLES

5 Things To Remember For Teachers Prepping Their Students for The Big Exam | The Jose Vilson

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - 5 Things To Remember For Teachers Prepping Their Students for The Big Exam | The Jose Vilson5 Things To Remember For Teachers Prepping Their Students for The Big Examby JoseI have exactly 5 days to...

coopmike48

Vermont Moves Toward Single-Payer Healthcare - E.D. Kain - American Times - Forbes

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Vermont Moves Toward Single-Payer Healthcare - E.D. Kain - American Times - ForbesVermont Moves Toward Single-Payer HealthcareApr. 26 2011 - 7:01 pm | 0 views | 0 recommendations | 0 commentsOne mo...

coopmike48

How school reform damages poor children — Kohn - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - How school reform damages poor children — Kohn - The Answer Sheet - The Washington PostHow school reform damages poor children — Kohn *This was written by Alfie Kohn, the author of 12 books about e...

coopmike48

Media19

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Education 157 MORE ARTICLES

New LAUSD superintendent adds six-figure positions to management team

dailybreeze.com - Less than two weeks after taking the helm of Los Angeles Unified, Superintendent John Deasy is adding six-figure positions to his reorganized management team - a move he says will help the district...

leoniehaimson

Del Valle for Mayor | For All Chicago For Every Neighborhood: May 14th, Standing with Whittier Mothers

delvalleformayor.com - Dear friends, There is a buzz in Chicago among people striving for a city that works together. Inspired by Wisconsin and our immigrant youth, Chicagoans are reaching new levels of organizing to mak...

DelValle4Mayor

Most Viewed Local News Stories

baltimoresun.com - Barbara Gaskins says she took her 15-year-old son to his bus stop every morning at 7:30, well in time for his 9 a.m. homeroom bell at Patterson Park High School. She obtained as many medical excuse...

leoniehaimson

Politics 20 MORE ARTICLES

Obama directs $25M aid to support Libyan rebels

cbsnews.com - (AP) WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama has ordered the expenditure of up to $25 million in surplus government goods to support Libyan opposition groups and protect civilians threatened by Libyan...

mikeklonsky

Pressure Mounts for US to Intervene in Attacks on SF Website

baycitizen.org - As cyber attacks continue to pummel the San Francisco website Change.org, pressure is mounting for the U.S. government to intervene in the virtual hostilities, which the company contends originated...

coopmike48

And Jefferson Davis would have loved Ayn Rand!

firedoglake.com - pic via shawnzrossi at flickr.comChalk up another irony when Republicans wave the Stars and Stripes and wish it contained a couple bars: In North Carolina GOP voters are almost evenly divided on th...

coopmike48

Living 14 MORE ARTICLES

Deportation Halted for Some Students as Lawmakers Seek New Policy

nytimes.com - Olga Zanella, a Mexican-born college student in Texas, should have started months ago trying to figure out how she could make a life in Mexico, since American immigration authorities were working r...

mikeklonsky

Deportation Halted for Some Students as Lawmakers Seek New Policy

coopmike48

President called for personal sacrifice

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Yes, and we must prepare, all of us prepare, to make the sacrifices that the emergency -- almost as serious as war itself -- demands. Whatever stands in the way of speed and efficiency in defense, ...

coopmike48

Business 5 MORE ARTICLES

Tables: America’s Best School Districts For Your Housing Buck - Daniel Fisher - Full Disclosure

blogs.forbes.com - Wall StreetApr. 26 2011 - 1:52 pm | 1 views | 0 recommendations |By BRUCE UPBIN Manhattan Beach, Calif. Image via WikipediaWhere will your housing dollar go the furthest in getting your kids a grea...

mikeklonsky

Questions for Bernanke Should Focus on Fed Efforts During Financial Crisis

news.firedoglake.com - Tomorrow, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will give an unprecedented press conference after the Federal Open Market Committee releases a statement from their April meeting. Whether Bernanke i...

coopmike48

Deficit Hawk Drums Drown Out Cries Of Jobless

my.firedoglake.com - hawk by kfwk_lobo, on Flick After seeing yesterday’s opinion piece at CNN from David Frum (See this blog post), I wasn’t quite as surprised to see another opinion piece today on the lack of jobs. O...

coopmike48

Environment 5 MORE ARTICLES

Tepco Workers Accept Pay Cuts in Response to Fukushima Disaster

bloomberg.com - A handout photograph shows disaster relief workers holding a meeting at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture, Japan, on April 1, 2011. Source: T...

mikeklonsky

Chernobyl Survivor Flags Women's Radiation Risk

womensenews.org - On the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in northern Ukraine, a former liquidator offers sobering warnings about radiation exposure, with particular cautions for women ...

coopmike48

Water Supplies In Western U.S. Threatened By Climate Change: Interior Department Report

huffingtonpost.com - WASHINGTON -- Climate change is likely to diminish already scarce water supplies in the Western United States, exacerbating problems for millions of water users in the West, according to a new gove...

coopmike48

Stories 4 MORE ARTICLES

A Funny Thing Happened At Work Today | Mr. Teachbad's Blog of Teacher Disgruntlement

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - A Funny Thing Happened At Work Today | Mr. Teachbad's Blog of Teacher DisgruntlementA Funny Thing Happened At Work Todayby mrteachbadI liked my job.This was highly unlikely because it was the first...

coopmike48

Our Corporate Democracy: You have 48 brands of cereal, but only 2 parties.

bluecheddar.wordpress.com - by bluecheddar (Credit to Blogging Blue for posting this) Have you voted for the Blue Man Group? The Wu Tang Clan? …No? Those aren’t included in any subset of our grand total of two viable politica...

coopmike48

Only second hand clothing for Foster kids? All part of Republican vision of America.

democurmudgeon.blogspot.com - Dickensian is too kind a word to use for the current crop of authoritarian Republican sociopaths, especially those empowered in the state of Michigan. The following is so unimaginable, especially ...

coopmike48

#edpolicy 1 MORE ARTICLES

Karen Lewis--Issues of Race, Gender, Class

schooltechconnect.com - Karen Lewis tells it like it is--- there are the reasons for the way teachers are compensated, and all of the little faddish fixes that are trumpeted by the corporate reform crowd aren't going to ...

tbfurman

Advice to the New Superintendent

schooltechconnect.com - Pauline Lipman, professor of educational policy at UIC, offers some advice to the incoming superintendent of Chicago Public Schools, and it sounds like Rahm is doubling down on his choice. Lipman m...

tbfurman

Rev. Calvin Morris--- A Good Teacher

schooltechconnect.com - "We have scapegoating, scapegoating, and scapegoating." There was a long discussion about what makes a good teacher, and of course the TFA guy had a very data-driven answer-- TFA invented formative...

tbfurman

Rahm Emanuel: Not Yet Mayor and Already Got Chicago Schools in a Fine Mess

BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News » Rahm Emanuel: Not Yet Mayor and Already Got Chicago Schools in a Fine Mess

Rahm Emanuel: Not Yet Mayor and Already Got Chicago Schools in a Fine Mess
by Michael Klonsky‚ Apr. 25‚ 2011
0digg Review it on NewsTrust

Chicago Schools CEO Choice Shows Problem With Mayoral Control

"I wanted an entire new board, an entire new corporate suite because what's happening today both on the finances and the educational scores -- needs to be shaken up. And what I know in my heart [is that] the people of the city do not think we're doing what we need to do for our children." -- Rahm Emanuel

Rahm Emanuel isn't even officially mayor yet and he's already got the city and its schools in a fine mess. His appointment of the embattled J.C. Brizard as schools CEO (that's what we call school superintendents here in Chicago) rivals only

Catalyst Notebook :: In the News: Rhee strongly endorses Brizard; some courses rigorous sounding in name only

In the News: Rhee strongly endorses Brizard; some courses rigorous sounding in name onlyPosted By Cassandra West On Wednesday, April 27, 2011
In In the News

Former Washington, D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee was in Chicago on Tuesday, and she offered a strong endorsement of new Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard, who was disliked by most teachers in his previous district of Rochester. Rhee spoke at a private luncheon sponsored by the Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday. The Merc has donated millions to charter schools. (Fox Chicago News)

Former Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy defends Jean-Claude Brizard in Chicago media. (Democrat and Chronicle)

Drug explosion on the rise at Jones College Prep, where parents held a forum

Oakland parents appeal to state lawmakers | The Education Report

Oakland parents appeal to state lawmakers

By Katy Murphy
Tuesday, April 26th, 2011 at 4:40 pm in budget.

A video about impending school budget cuts, from the perspective of families and staff members at Learning Without Limits, an elementary school on the Jefferson campus in East Oakland. It was posted on You Tube in conjunction with an Oakland Community Organizations event Monday at the school.

Warning: Viewers of the following piece are at risk of having a tinny instrumental rendition of “The Greatest Love of All” indefinitely stuck in their heads. (As a recovering Whitney Houston fan, I’m OK with that — well, for now.)

How school reform damages poor children — Kohn - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

How school reform damages poor children — Kohn *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 newly published“Feel-Bad Education . . . And Other Contrarian Essays on Children & ...

What newly tapped Montgomery County schools chief said — and didn’t say I just read a speech given by Joshua P. Starr, the man who has been chosen to succeed the retiring Jerry Weast as superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, long one of the country’s best school districts. I liked what he said ...

May 3rd Is National Teacher Day In The U.S. | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

May 3rd Is National Teacher Day In The U.S. I’ve just updated The Best Resources To Learn About World Teachers Day. It’s celebrated in the United States on Tuesday in the first full week of May, while it’s recognized on October 5th by UNESCO.

Meetin.gs Has Potential Meetin.gs is a new site that lets you organize virtual meetings that also let you share documents and media. It’s looks pretty simple and easy to use. It’s not open to the public yet, but I received an invitation very quickly after I requested it. ...

Holocaust Remembrance Day Is May 1st The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum describes Holocaust Remembrance Day this way: *The United States Congress established the Days of Remembrance as our nation’s annual commemoration of the Holocaust and created the United States Holocaust ...

The Best Resources For Google Earth Beginners Like Me I’ve played around a little with Google Earth over the years, but haven’t really looked at it seriously. Since I may be teaching Geography to English Language Learners next year for the first time in awhile, though, I thought it was time for me to ...

The Power Of Choice I’ve previously posted on the idea of giving students choices (see The Art of Choosing) and I’ve also written about it in my new book, Helping Students Motivate Themselves. A new study re-emphasizes the importance of choice in the classroom for most ...

Calif. community colleges on nonprofit's 'Top 120' list | California Watch

Calif. community colleges on nonprofit's 'Top 120' list

by Erica Perez

1 person liked this

Erica Perez

Harrison Keely/Flickr

Five California institutions are among the top 120 community colleges in the United States, according to a new ranking from the nonprofit Aspen Institute.

The colleges on the list – selected from 1,200 institutions nationwide – are now eligible to compete for the first-ever Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The top college and two or three runners-up will be selected in December and will split a $1 million award.

Witnesses to testify at Senate seismic hearing today

by Corey G. Johnson

Corey G. Johnson

“Teachers’ visits to students’ homes can make big difference” Engaging Parents In School...

Engaging Parents In School...

North Carolina Parents Organize Against 52 (Yes, 52) New Standardized Tests Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Schools has just instituted 52 new standardized tests, and parents are up in arms about it. You can read about it in The Washington Post at School district field-tests 52 (yes, 52) new tests on kids. You can also visit ...

“Teachers’ visits to students’ homes can make big difference” The Sacramento Bee has a great article today titled Teachers’ visits to students’ homes can make big difference. It’s about the Parent Teacher Home Visit Project, which I have written about many times in this blog. There’s also a chapter in my parent ...

State Board Of Education Meets To Discuss Parent Trigger Could teachers veto charter option? Dispute over wording of Parent Trigger regulations is an update by John Fensterwald on yesterday’s meeting on the Parent Trigger Law at the California State Board of Education. The saga continues…

“Districts Use Web Polls to Survey Parents on Hot Topics” Districts Use Web Polls to Survey Parents on Hot Topics is an article in Education Week about schools using online polling tools. There are obviously a lot of concerns with doing something like this, not least of which being many families can’t ...

“School’s a Community Effort in Indiana District” School’s a Community Effort in Indiana District is another excellent article by Mary Ann Zehr at Education Week. I’ve written a number of posts about these kind of community schools — ones that connect many community services with students and their ...

“Parents spell out detailed school reform blueprint” Parents spell out detailed school reform blueprint is the headline of a piece at Valerie Strauss’ blog in The Washington Post. Here’s how it begins: *A national grassroots organization called Parents Across America — a leading group in a young, ...

Putting School Suspensions on the Agenda - Chicago News Cooperative

Putting School Suspensions on the Agenda

by REBECCA VEVEA

A coalition of community organizations pushing for Chicago Public Schools to reduce suspension and expulsion rates could find an ally in incoming schools chief Jean-Claude Brizard, who dramatically cut suspensions during his time in Rochester, N.Y., though some criticized Brizard’s methods for doing so.

By switching all short-term suspensions from out-of-school punishments to in-school punishments, Brizard lowered the district’s suspension rate from 15 percent to 2 percent in his first full year running the Rochester school system. But because in-school suspensions are not counted in the suspension rate, critics of Brizard in Rochester say the numbers changed, but the policy did not fully address behavioral problems.

“The whole goal here was to solely to lower the numbers. Whether the kid shows up or not, it doesn’t matter,”

Kimble's Corner: Police Arrest Woman Who Assaulted Congressman Kimble

Police Arrest Woman Who Assaulted Congressman Kimble

by Representative Kimble

Following a tip from a member of her bridge group, Glendale Valley Police arrested Edna Mae Watkins 82 of Glendale Valley after setting up a sting at a local diner where Ms. Watkins was known to frequent in the early afternoon hours. Police arrested Ms. Watkins peacefully, though a taser was used for the officers' safety.

During a heated exchange over the Ryan budget at a recent town hall, Ms. Watkins struck Congressman Kimble in the nose with her cane. She was escorted from the town hall by Hell's Angels working

Modern School: Toddlers, Enemies of the People! The Decimation of Preschool in America

Toddlers, Enemies of the People! The Decimation of Preschool in America The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER: www.nieer.org) has just published its annual “State of Preschool” survey, which shows that overall funding for pre-kindergarten programs dramatically declined. *The Washington Times* reports ...

Your Tax Dollars at Work (For the Private Gain of District Administrators) Recent court documents reveal that the embezzlement scandal at San Francisco Unified was far deeper than the district had initially acknowledged, the *Bay Citizen* reported today. According to the documents, the SFUSD department in charge of ...

Lots of ‘ifs’ in adopting A-G | Thoughts on Public Education

Lots of ‘ifs’ in adopting A-G
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Districts must make a deep commitment to students

Posted on 4/27/11 • Categorized as A to G Curriculum

By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

Five large urban school districts*** have joined San Jose Unified in adopting the course requirements for admission to California’s four-year universities as their high school graduation requirements, and plan to impose them within the next five years. A report by public policy seniors at Stanford University concluded that other districts also should consider doing so – but “if and only if they have the means to implement the policy properly.”

With heavy budget cuts on the books and more looming, that will be increasingly difficult to do. Last month, the school board of one of the five districts, San Diego Unified, voted to push back the start of the new graduation requirement two years because of the expense involved in hiring more counselors, helping students struggling with higher standards, and adding

School Tech Connect: Karen Lewis--Issues of Race, Gender, Class

Karen Lewis--Issues of Race, Gender, Class

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

Karen Lewis tells it like it is--- there are the reasons for the way teachers are compensated, and all of the little faddish fixes that are trumpeted by the corporate reform crowd aren't going to amount to a hill of beans. Unless, you make that hill of beans very small, very segregated, and ultimately very meaningless.

The notion that people still talk about how race, gender, and class have an impact on basic fairness and equity in the workplace must sound like so much hippie freak nonsense to the new mayor because those concepts are totally not part of the Democratic establishment any more.

Pedagogy of Poverty

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

--Martin Haberman, 1991

This is what Pauline Lipman is referring to in this clip:

Schools Matter: Making Room for More Child Labor and Unregulated Voucher Schools

Making Room for More Child Labor and Unregulated Voucher Schools

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5 Things To Remember For Teachers Prepping Their Students for The Big Exam | The Jose Vilson

5 Things To Remember For Teachers Prepping Their Students for The Big Exam

by Jose

I have exactly 5 days to prepare my students for the New York State Mathematics Test. 40+ multiple-choice questions, 8 short-response, and 4 extended-response. ~~Cathie Black~~ Dennis Walcott and Co. implicitly put the burner under our butts when they released our Teacher Data Reports a couple of weeks ago for us to peruse and look at the smooth graphics. Fully aware that these reports mean nothing, I can either go into these next 5 days with a kill-and-drill mentality, one I didn’t espouse all year, or get them to remember the more important topics

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Wednesday, April 27, 2011