Latest News and Comment from Education

Show All

Friday, September 30, 2011

Big Education Ape: 9-30-11 PM DOE Announces Corporate Welfare for $25 Million to Charter School Management Organizations

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now: Next update in about 7 hours

Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky's blog

preaprez.wordpress.com - Education Action Group’s Ben Velderman strikes again. Thanks goodness for Saturday coffee. This has been a lousy week. Wednesday’s murder of an innocent man, Troy Davis, by the state of Georgia cre...

mikeklonsky

A New Approach to Teacher Education Reform and Improvement

educationsector.org - Over the next five years, more than a million new teachers will enter public school classrooms. But the system in place to prepare these teachers—supported by an ever-expanding set of federal finan...

arneduncan

Live Twitter stream on

@coopmike48/big-edu-ape-news-11

coopmike48 profile

coopmike48 Remarks by the President at DNC Event--Private Residence, Washington, DC | The White House -http://t.co/yYuP98K32 hours ago · reply · retweet · favorite

DianeRavitch profile

DianeRavitch @mikeklonsky No Child or Adult Left Untested. This is madness.2 hours ago · reply · retweet · favorite

coopmike48 profile

coopmike48 If you’re disgusted with the big banks, this is the best email you will read in a long time | Dailycensored.com -http://t.co/XgSPtMOX2 hours ago · reply · retweet · favorite

EducationSee all

Assessments of Schools Are Flawed, Report Says

nytimes.com - In 20 years of near-constant reform efforts, Chicago’s elementary school students have made few gains, high school students have advanced, and the achievement gap between poor and rich areas has wi...

DianeRavitch

SocietySee all

PoliticsSee all

Comments

wbez.org - We used to be afraid that President George W. Bush, pushed by his nefarious warmongering VP and a Department of Justice that justified medieval tortures, was going to expand executive branch powers...

fklonsky

October to be turning point for progressives | Raw Replay

rawstory.com - Civil rights activist and attorney Van Jones said Thursday night on MSNBC that he planned to build a “progressive counterbalance” to the tea party movement. “I think everybody should hold on to you...

fklonsky

BusinessSee all

Art & EntertainmentSee all

Home - Inside Higher Ed

insidehighered.com - February 24, 2011 The return of ROTC to some campuses -- seemingly assured by the end of the military's policy against gay service members -- may be hitting a few bumps.More February 24, 2011 City ...

coopmike48

AdultSee all

What’s a Teacher Worth?

movies.nytimes.com - “American Teacher” doesn’t come close to doing what it sets out to do, but it does end up as a heartfelt, bittersweet portrait of several teachers as they make the difficult decision of whether to ...

leoniehaimson

#eduRead this paperSee all

#teacherprepSee all

Media2

  • leoniehaimsonleoniehaimson
  • coopmike48coopmike48

Photos0
    Posted by at

    Deasy warns L.A. school board to stay neutral on bidding over campuses - latimes.com

    Deasy warns L.A. school board to stay neutral on bidding over campuses - latimes.com:

    Deasy warns L.A. school board to stay neutral on bidding over campuses

    L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy has cautioned school board members to avoid taking sides over who should control 15 new and 22 low-performing campuses next year.

    Deasy was responding to complaints that school board member Bennett Kayser is openly backing plans being developed by three groups of district teachers for academies at South Region High School #8, a campus set to open next year in Maywood.

    The school board is expected to choose the winning bidders early next year. Under a board policy, new and low-performing schools can be taken over by groups inside the district or those from outside, including charter operators.

    “This causes me great concern,” Deasy wrote in a Sept. 30 memo to the seven-member board. “Highly visible board member involvement during the planning and submission process could have a

    Posted by at

    Remarks by First Lady Michelle Obama - 2012 Lunch Reception in Cape Elizabeth, Maine | The White House

    Remarks by First Lady Michelle Obama - 2012 Lunch Reception in Cape Elizabeth, Maine | The White House:

    Remarks by First Lady Michelle Obama - 2012 Lunch Reception in Cape Elizabeth, Maine

    Private Residence
    Cape Elizabeth, Maine

    1:33 P.M. EDT

    MRS. OBAMA: Yay to me! Yay! (Applause.) Oh, my goodness. Well, you all rest yourselves because you’ve raised a lot of money and you must be tired. (Laughter.) Thank you so much. It is a pleasure and honor, a thrill to be with all of you here in Maine. Look, this must be the weather in Maine, because the last time we were here we had beautiful weather, and today. So I’m assuming this is the typical weather in Maine, correct? You’ll tell me anything. (Laughter.)

    No, it is beautiful. I want to start by thanking Bonnie and Karen for that beautiful introduction, for all the work that they’re doing, as well as their better halves, Bobby, Rob. I know you guys did a little, too, I’m sure. But Bobby and Bonnie, thank you for hosting us in this magnificent home. I would love to take you up on the offer of coming back and being normal, whenever that happens. (Laughter.)

    But thank you for this time as well. So let’s give them a round of applause for all their hard work. (Applause.)

    And I also want to recognize a couple of other people who are here and will be hanging out with me today. Representatives Michaud, who’s here, and Pingree, who’s here. Yay, they’re here. (Applause.) As well as former Governor Baldacci, who is working with us every step of the way doing a great job over at DOD. And of course my dear friend and our DNC finance chair, Jane Stetson, who is here with her beautiful daughter. (Applause.) Thanks for hanging out.

    And finally, I want to thank all of you for taking the time on this beautiful day. You probably would rather be walking around in the park or doing something. But you’re here with me at this event. (Laughter.) Yeah, you would. The lobster is good, I can see.

    But I am thrilled to see so many new faces, but I’m also thrilled to see so many old friends as well, folks who have been with us since the very beginning, through all the ups and downs along the way. And I know that there is a reason other than the great weather and lobster that you’re here today. You’re here because you know that we stand at a fundamental crossroads in our country. You’re here because you know that in 13 months we’re going to make a choice that will impact our lives for decades to come. And you’re here because you love this country. You love your fellow citizens. You’re here because you care about your kids and grandkids and you care about the world that we’re going to be leaving for them.

    And that’s why I’m here. That’s why I am going to be working so hard over this next year, for that very reason. You see, as First Lady, I have the privilege of traveling all across the country, meeting folks from all different backgrounds, and hearing what’s going on in their lives every day. Every day I hear about the businesses that folks are trying to keep afloat. I hear about the doctor’s bills that they cannot pay, or the mortgage that they can no longer afford. I hear about how they’re taking on that extra shift, or working that extra job, how they’re saving and sacrificing, never spending a dime on themselves because they desperately want something better for their kids.

    And make no mistake about it, if we think about it, these struggles aren’t new. For decades now, middle-class folks have been squeezed from all sides. The cost of things like gas and groceries and tuition have been rising continuously, but people’s paychecks just haven’t kept up. And when this economic crisis hit, for so many families, the bottom just fell out.

    So the question today is, what are we as a country going to do about all this? Where do we go from here? And I know that in the midst of all the chatter and the debates, it can be hard to see clearly what’s at stake. Because these issues are complicated, and folks are busy. We’re raising our families, working full-time jobs, many of us helping out in our communities.

    So many of us, we just don’t have the time to follow the news and sort through all the back and forth and figure out how all of this connects to our daily lives. But the fact is that in a little over a year from now, we are going to make a decision between two very different visions for this country.

    And I’m here today because when it comes to just about every single issue we face -- from our health, to our economic security, to the quality of our schools -- the stakes for our families, and for our country, have never been higher.

    Let’s start with the American Jobs Act that my husband just sent to Congress. (Applause.)

    When we talk about how this bill will give tax cuts to 6 million small businesses, we’re talking about folks who run the restaurants and the stores and the startups that create two-thirds of all new jobs each year. Two-thirds. We’re talking about people who work themselves to the bone during the day every day, then head home and pore over the books late into the night, determined to make those numbers add up.

    We’re talking about a tax cut that could mean the difference between providing for their families or not, the difference between hiring new employees or handing out pink slips, between keeping their doors open, or closing up shop for good.

    That’s what’s at stake in this election.

    When we talk about how this bill would extend unemployment insurance for 6 million Americans, we’re talking about folks who are just weeks away from losing their only source of income.

    Now, this literally means that millions of families and children will be affected in terms of how much food they can put on the table, whether they have a roof over their heads. It’s about whether folks will have more money in their pockets, which means more money in our economy, which means more jobs.

    But more importantly, it’s about whether we as a country will honor that fundamental promise that we made generations ago, that when times are hard, we don’t abandon our fellow citizens. We don’t let everything fall apart for struggling families.

    Instead, we say, “There but for the grace of God goes my family.” Instead, we remember that we’re all in this together, and we extend a helping hand.

    That is the choice in this election.

    And how about the very first bill my husband signed into law, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to help women get equal pay for equal work? (Applause.)

    He did this because, as he put it, we believe that here in America there are no second-class citizens in our workplace. And he did it because he understands that when nearly two-thirds of women are breadwinners or co-breadwinners, women’s success in this economy is the key to families’ success in this economy, and closing that pay gap can mean the difference between women losing 50, 100, 500 dollars from each paycheck, or having that money to put gas in their car, buy groceries, school clothes for their kids.

    That is the choice that we’re making in this election.

    And let’s talk a minute about health care. Last year, we made history together by finally passing health reform. (Applause.) But now, there are folks out there talking about repealing this reform. And today, we need to ask ourselves, will we let them succeed? Will we let insurance companies deny us coverage because we have preexisting conditions like breast cancer or diabetes? Or will we stand up and say that in this country, we will not allow folks to go bankrupt because they get sick? Who are we?

    Will we let insurance companies refuse to cover basic preventative care -- things like cancer screenings and prenatal care that saves money and saves lives? Or will we stand up not just for our lives but for the lives of the people we love?

    That is what’s at stake here. That is the choice in this election.

    And think for a moment about what we’ve done on education. Think about the investments we’ve made to raise standards and reform public schools. It’s about improving the circumstances for millions of children in this country -- kids sitting in crumbling classrooms who have so much promise. You’ve seen these kids. Kids who could be anything they wanted if we just gave them a chance.

    Think about how we’ve tripled investments for job training at community colleges just this year. That’s about millions of hardworking folks who are determined to get the skills they need for a better job and for better wages -- folks willing to do
    Posted by at

    CTA President meets with the U.S. Secretary of Education - California Teachers Association

    CTA President meets with the U.S. Secretary of Education - California Teachers Association:

    CTA President meets with the U.S. Secretary of Education

    CTA President Dean E. Vogel shares about his recent meeting with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
    Posted by at

    Nobody Told Me #edreform


    Three, four

    Everybody's talking and no one says a word
    Everybody's making love and no one really cares
    There's Nazis in the bathroom just below the stairs

    Always something happening and nothing going on
    There's always something cooking and nothing in the pot
    They're starving back in China, so finish what you got

    Nobody told me there'd be days like these
    Nobody told me there'd be days like these
    Nobody told me there'd be days like these
    Strange days indeed, strange days indeed

    Everybody's runnin' and no one makes a move
    Well, everyone's a winner and nothing left to lose
    There's a little yellow idol to the north of Kathmandu

    Everybody's flying and no one leaves the ground
    Well, everybody's crying and no one makes a sound
    There's a place for us in the movies you just gotta lay around

    Nobody told me there'd be days like these
    Nobody told me there'd be days like these
    Nobody told me there'd be days like these
    Strange days indeed, most peculiar, mama

    Everybody's smoking and no one's getting high
    Everybody's flying and never touch the sky
    There's a UFO over New York and I ain't too surprised

    Nobody told me there'd be days like these
    Nobody told me there'd be days like these
    Nobody told me there'd be days like these
    Strange days indeed, most peculiar mama, whoa
    Posted by at

    Conversations Between TFA's Wendy Kopp and NEA's Dennis Van Roekel - Teacher Beat - Education Week

    Conversations Between TFA's Wendy Kopp and NEA's Dennis Van Roekel - Teacher Beat - Education Week:

    Conversations Between TFA's Wendy Kopp and NEA's Dennis Van Roekel

    By Stephen Sawchuk on September 30, 2011 7:33 PM | No comments | No recommendations

    Teach For America founder and CEO Wendy Kopp and NEA President Dennis Van Roekel had a substantive discussion about the teaching profession today, showing that while some of their strategies for improving it may differ, they're on the same page on many issues.

    Though set up as a press conference on the Department of Education's teacher-training reform initiatives, the Q & A opportunity morphed into a conversation between Kopp and Van Roekel—with such interesting comments on both sides that we reporters eventually just sat and listened to it unfold.

    Kopp and Van Roekel probably agreed on about 90 percent of the things they discussed, parting ways in only a few instances. For example, both made a point of saying they really want to get beyond negative stereotyping of the teaching profession. Kopp lamented: "For the last 20 years, we've been blaming kids and

    Posted by at

    Wall Street Protest Marches to Police Headquarters | NBC New York

    Wall Street Protest Marches to Police Headquarters | NBC New York:

    Wall Street Protest Marches to Police Headquarters

    By Chris Glorioso
    | Friday, Sep 30, 2011 | Updated 6:50 PM EDT
    View Comments (7)
    |
    Email
    |
    Print
    Wall Street Protest Marches to Police HQ

    Getty Images

    Wall Street protesters marched to police headquarters Friday, a silent walk that ended with chants of "End the War! Tax the Rich!" and calls to indict a police officer who tussled with demonstrators last weekend.

    The march kicked off at about 5:30 p.m., proceeding from the downtown park where protesters have been gathered for days, to police headquarters about a half-mile away.

    Hundreds of protesters sat down outside headquarters. There were no immediate reports of arrests.

    While the main focus of "Occupy Wall Street" is centered on the financial world, those camping out in the park have championed causes covering the political and social spectrum, from supporters of Ro
    Posted by at

    Retribalized by My Life’s Soundtrack: “Downtown” | Lefty Parent

    Retribalized by My Life’s Soundtrack: “Downtown” | Lefty Parent:

    Retribalized by My Life’s Soundtrack: “Downtown”

    by Cooper Zale

    As I have said before, my life has been lived to a soundtrack. Growing up in an age of ubiquitous car radios, restaurant juke boxes, record players and later stereos, it seems like the popular songs of the day were always playing in the background, over and over. Marshall McLuhan talks about the “retribalization” that is the “water we swim in” in an age of ubiquitous electronic media. Said McLuhan in his 1969 Playboy magazine interview…

    The electronically induced technological extensions of our central nervous systems… are immersing us in a world-pool of information movement and are thus enabling man to incorporate

    Posted by at

    NYC Public School Parents: Time to change the stakes with testing? Join us for an evening with Yong Zhao!

    NYC Public School Parents: Time to change the stakes with testing? Join us for an evening with Yong Zhao!:

    Time to change the stakes with testing? Join us for an evening with Yong Zhao!

    by Leonie Haimson


    American education is at a crossroads. Two paths lie in front of us: one in which we destroy our strengths in order to catch up with others on test scores and one in which we build on our strengths so we can keep the lead in innovation and creativity.

    The current push for more standardization, centralization, high-stakes testing, and test-based accountability is rushing us down the first path, while what will truly keep America strong and Americans prosperous should be the latter, the one that
    Posted by at

    Why Teachers in High-Minority Schools Are Paid Less - Education - GOOD

    Why Teachers in High-Minority Schools Are Paid Less - Education - GOOD:

    Why Teachers in High-Minority Schools Are Paid Less

    by Liz Dwyer

    dollar.roll
    Plenty of headlines popped up this week about a new analysis of the U.S. Department of Education's 2009-2010Civil Rights Data Collection, which revealed that the average teacher working in a school serving Latino and black populations is being paid nearly $2,500 less per year than the average teacher working at a school in a whiter neighborhood. That’s a disturbing piece of data, but are these teachers deliberately being paid a lower salary?

    In most places, teacher-district contracts include agreed-upon salary schedules that are binding regardless of where in a district an educator works. For example, a first-year math teacher working in Watts, a predominantly black and Latino section of Los Angeles, earns the same salary as a teacher working in the less diverse west

    Posted by at

    Daily Kos: doing something that matters

    Daily Kos: doing something that matters:

    doing something that matters

    by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

    has always been important to me.

    That is why I drove 6 hours to where I am, Grundy Virginia, for another round of volunteering in dental triage at a free dental and medical fair.

    Other than teaching this is the most important thing I do.

    It reminds me how little awareness many of us have of the reality of the lives of the one in five Americans who live in rural areas. We may be aware of the urban poor, but rural poverty is in many ways worse.

    It will be in part heartbreaking to be here - I will see people in the 30s getting all remaining teeth pulled.

    It will be spiritually uplifting as well - I will be doing something that matters, I will be deepening my connection with the rest of humanity.
    Posted by at

    Rick Hess is from Venus. Teachers are from Earth. « Fred Klonsky's blog

    Rick Hess is from Venus. Teachers are from Earth. « Fred Klonsky's blog:

    Rick Hess is from Venus. Teachers are from Earth.

    by Fred Klonsky

    Why Achievement Gap Mania Undermines Reform.

    Rick Hess’ home is the right-wing think tank of the American Enterprise Institute.

    Ed Week has provided Hess with a second home.

    Why?

    Couldn’t tell you.

    His column this week attacks what he calls The Achievement Gap Mania.

    What is that? The Gap is the persistent failure of public policies aimed at narrowing the differences in educational opportunities and results between the white and the wealthy on the one hand, and the poor and children of color on the other hand.

    For Hess, The Mania is the concern over the widening gap expressed by those who care about social justice and

    Posted by at

    Former Obama Spokesman Bill Burton Whacks GOP Field For Toeing Tea Party Anti-Education Line | Mediaite

    Former Obama Spokesman Bill Burton Whacks GOP Field For Toeing Tea Party Anti-Education Line | Mediaite:

    Former Obama Spokesman Bill Burton Whacks GOP Field For Toeing Tea Party Anti-Education Line

    by Tommy Christopher | 1:34 pm, September 30th, 2011
    » 1 comment

    In a memo to reporters, former Obama Spokesman and current Senior Strategist for Priorities USA Action Bill Burton is calling out the current Republican presidential field for veering sharply from support for federal education programs, in an attempt to appeal to a Tea Party that’s out of step with mainstream public opinion. Citing polls that show overwhelming public support for education funding, Burton blamed the Tea Party for “push(ing) the candidates far beyond the bounds of mainstream America.”

    Burton notes that “During the 2000 Presidential election, Governor George Bush’s campaign launched a television ad that attacked the Clinton/Gore Administration for an ‘education recession.’ The spot claimed that, ‘Bush raised standards and test scores soared’ and was a part of Bush’s

    Posted by at
    Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)