Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Evening Posts #edreform #ows

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Evening  Posts #edreform

Keep Wall Street Occupied No stats yet, check back later.

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 seconds ago

A fast, easy, free, and non-violent way to drive the big banks out of their greedy little minds is sitting in your mailbox right now. You just don't know it yet.

Eric Smith’s Airy Dismissive Evasion of Testing Critics | Scathing Purple Musings

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 seconds ago

Eric Smith’s Airy Dismissive Evasion of Testing Critics | Scathing Purple Musings:Eric Smith’s Airy Dismissive Evasion of Testing Criticsby Bob SikesJeffrey Solocheck finally tracked down former Florida ed commissioner Eric Smith. Solochek does a good job of probing Smith and this exchange caught my eye:Does it create the need for too many tests? Because I’ve heard districts talk about having testing almost every day of the school year for one grade level or another.You know, I started as a teacher ... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank AM Posts #ows

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 seconds ago

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank AM PostsUrgent: Winter Donation Needs | OccupyWallSt.org #owsBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-7 minutes agoUrgent: Winter Donation Needs | OccupyWallSt.org:Urgent: Winter Donation Needsby OccupyWallStIt's been dumping snow here in NYC all day, high winds and 3 inches of slush on the ground. With the NYPD and FDNY confiscating six generators on Friday and this unprecedented October snow, those occupying Liberty Plaza in downtown NYC are in need of emergency supplies crucial for cold ... more »

Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 seconds ago

Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky's blog:Sunday links.by Fred KlonskySnow falls on Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan, home of Occupy Wall Street.The ACLU sues the City of Chicago. Latino communities are underserved by the police with Rahm as mayor.Who attends the secret meetings of the cabal that really runs the Republican Party. You guessed it. The Koch brothers and Karl Rove behind closed doors.Egyptians march in Tahrir Square in support of democratic

Grumpy Educators: Charter Schools: Parent Caution Advisory

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 seconds ago

Grumpy Educators: Charter Schools: Parent Caution Advisory:Charter Schools: Parent Caution AdvisoryWhile charter school expansion continues in Florida, so do the challenges to local decision-making. KIPP is a nationally recognized charter operator; however, KIPP Jacksonville operates a middle school with an "F" performance. The charter's application to open two new charters was questioned by the Duval School Board, which asked KIPP to explain why they should approve an application for more schools when they are operating one with an "F". Duval ... more »

Leading by Action - Arlington, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 seconds ago

Leading by Action - Arlington, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post:Looking AheadLeading by ActionThis past Thursday morning I caught MassCUE President Leo Brehm posting a picture of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick from the MassCUE conference at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough with the caption, “Thank you Governor Patrick for your support of MassCUE.” I quickly replied to Leo, “Ya got the gov doin the remarks?!” Without missing a beat, Leo replied, “We did.” Impressed, I replied, “I am so proud ... more »

School vouchers: For some, it's a concern about safety | PennLive.com

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 seconds ago

School vouchers: For some, it's a concern about safety | PennLive.com:School vouchers: For some, it's a concern about safetyBY DAWN CHAVOUSPennsylvania’s public education system needs help. Every day that passes without enacting meaningful school choice legislation that empowers parents and gives them access to more educational options, countless students slip through the cracks from a future full of hope to a future full of despair. For some students, it’s a matter of safety. At some schools, assaults on students and ... more »

Does Your School Have Integrity? « Whole Child Education

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The Whole Child Blog « Whole Child Education:Does Your School Have Integrity?October 28th, 2011 by ASCD Whole Child BloggersPost submitted by Paula Mirk, M.Ed. Mirk has worked at whole child partner the Institute for Global Ethics (IGE) since 1996 and currently oversees the IGE education department’s many initiatives, including the Ethical Literacy expanding community of schools. She collaborates with national and international organizations and with school districts from large to small to integrate ethical literacy into classroom practice, school culture, ... more »

Urgent: Winter Donation Needs | OccupyWallSt.org #ows

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 8 hours ago

Urgent: Winter Donation Needs | OccupyWallSt.org:Urgent: Winter Donation Needsby OccupyWallStIt's been dumping snow here in NYC all day, high winds and 3 inches of slush on the ground. With the NYPD and FDNY confiscating six generators on Friday and this unprecedented October snow, those occupying Liberty Plaza in downtown NYC are in need of emergency supplies crucial for cold weather survival (and occupation).We've made a lot of headway on getting winter gear here in the last 48 hrs but definitely ... more »

Milwaukee: Hundreds of ‘Occupy’ protesters march on north side « Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students! #ows

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 8 hours ago

Milwaukee: Hundreds of ‘Occupy’ protesters march on north side « Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!:Milwaukee: Hundreds of ‘Occupy’ protesters march on north sideby millerlfGary PorterMarchers representing Occupy Milwaukee and Occupy the Hood march on W. Capitol Drive from Lincoln Park to the closed A.O. Smith factory complex, in protest of urban unemployment and the growing gap in income and political power.By Thomas Content of the Journal Sentinel Oct. 29, 2011Chanting, “We are the 99%,” and “Jobs now,” hundreds gathered ... more »

Speak Out to Raise $2.8 Billion for Baltimore City Public Schools | Re:education in Baltimore

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 8 hours ago

Speak Out to Raise $2.8 Billion for Baltimore City Public Schools | Re:education in Baltimore:Speak Out to Raise $2.8 Billion for Baltimore City Public Schoolsby Edit BarrySpeak Out to Raise $2.8 Billion for Baltimore City Public SchoolsScene from a Baltimore City Public School via Transform Baltimore's Flickr GalleryThe Transform Baltimore campaign is organizing a Speak Out, where teams representing any Baltimore City Public School can tell the powers that be about the state of their school buildings. The purpose is ... more »

Anti-Police Demo in Oakland « occupy california #ows

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Anti-Police Demo in Oakland « occupy california:Anti-Police Demo in Oaklandby *OAKLAND, California – Several hundred demonstrators began marching at around 8:15pm through Oakland, wearing all black, to mourn for Oscar Grant, and all victims of police brutality. Police are wearing gas masks, even from the beginning of the march.UPDATE8:50pm – Police blocking demonstrators from getting to OPD headquarters.8:55pm – Around 500-1000 demonstrators amassed in front of a few thin lines of

Enacting the Impossible (On Consensus Decision Making) | OccupyWallSt.org #ows

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 8 hours ago

Enacting the Impossible (On Consensus Decision Making) | OccupyWallSt.org:Enacting the Impossible (On Consensus Decision Making)by David-GraeberTO THE VILLAGE: With a large college and high school student contingent, occupiers from all over the city have repeatedly marched to Washington Square where at least two general assemblies have convened. PHOTO: Stephen O’ByrneOn August 2, 2011 at the very first meeting of what was to become Occupy Wall Street, about a dozen people sat in a circle in Bowling Green. The self-appointed “process ... more »

“What’s Love Got to do with It?” Ask Your Students! « Diary of a Public School Teacher!

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“What’s Love Got to do with It?” Ask Your Students! « Diary of a Public School Teacher!:“What’s Love Got to do with It?” Ask Your Students!by Oldschoolteach Once upon a time there was a little 2nd grade boy. He was new to a school, and he brought with him, all his problems and issues. Sent to live with dad after mom “couldn’t take it any more”, a pre-primer reading level, an evil stepmother, and siblings who did not like him, ... more »

A MOVIE WARNS US | Dailycensored.com #ows

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A MOVIE WARNS US | Dailycensored.com:A MOVIE WARNS USWritten by slandauDaily Journal (Opinion), PoliticsOct 29, 20110diggShareBy Saul LandauOccupy Wall Street activists everywhere agree: the system has become dysfunctional. The angst – or anger — among citizens reaches beyond economic collapse and the government’s inability to improve the situation. Frustration and puzzlement persist: why do Presidents keep initiating wars in remote places? Why does Congress back them? Its Members, like robots, then pledge support for our troops – about whom few ... more »

If Only the Billionaire Reformers Cared about THIS Data - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 8 hours ago

If Only the Billionaire Reformers Cared about THIS Data - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:If Only the Billionaire Reformers Cared about THIS Databy Anthony CodyBillionaire Bill Gates was in the news again this week, bemoaning the sorry state of America's schools, insisting that business leaders like him have a lot to teach us about measuring performance.Mr. Gates, in years past, has worried about the fact that we rank poorly on international educational comparisons, suggesting this will cause us ... more »

Radical Scholarship: CALL for submissions: Becoming and Being a Teacher (Peter Lang USA)

Radical Scholarship: CALL for submissions: Becoming and Being a Teacher (Peter Lang USA):

CALL for submissions: Becoming and Being a Teacher (Peter Lang USA)

by P. L. Thomas

Under Contract:

Becoming and Being a Teacher:

Confronting Traditional Norms to Create New Democratic Realities

Editor, P. L. Thomas

Education

Furman University

3300 Poinsett Hwy

Greenville SC 29369

864-294-3368 (o)

864-590-5458 (c)

paul.thomas@furman.edu

Critical Studies in Democracy and Political Literacy series (Peter Lang USA)

Paul Carr, Editor

Focus:

This volume will seek to examine the tensions among economic, political, and educational goals and dynamics, specifically related to U.S. universal public education broadly and becoming and being a teacher narrowly, in the context of critical and postformal paradigms (Freire, Giroux, Kincheloe), confronting the assumptions driving capitalism, Western norms, partisan politics, consumerism/materialism, and corporatism in order to establish a more robust, critical and meaningful form of democracy that honors human dignity and agency.

Essays should present a wide variety of genres, including personal narrative, critical analysis, commentary, scholarship, and research. Essay lengths may vary from about 3000-4000 to 6000-8000, depending on the focus of the author(s). Please frame each proposal within the current climate attacking both teaching as a profession and teacher preparation—highlighting political literacy, teaching, and the state of the empire.

Please submit essay proposals that address the following, or suggest a focus you believe will enhance the project:

• Explore founding principles and justifications for public education in the U.S. (Jefferson), progressive tradition (Dewey), and critical alternative (Freire) as silenced and marginalized possibilities within a corporate paradigm for education, teaching, and teacher preparation. Unpack the contradictions and masking inherent in claims of normative democratic ideals as they flourish in public and political discourse. The question will not be how does universal public education contribute to a thriving democracy, but why do we maintain the traditional (normative democratic) workings of public education (Kohn) if education is primarily designed to perpetuate critical democracy for human agency?

• Examine and confront traditional norms of schooling and teacher preparation that maintain a stated allegiance to normative democracy (masking a deeper commitment to neoliberalism) as an avenue to recognizing and advocating for a commitment to critical democracy that honors student and teacher agency as essential for universal public education fulfilling its promise as central to a free people.

• Challenge the value of both traditional/authoritarian paradigms and normative democratic values as suitable for the justification or goals of universal public education. Argue that individual empowerment and agency are more suitable justifications and goals than neoliberalism masked by traditional normative democracy. Critical democracy may be discussed in the context of the problems posed by expertise within the simplistic claim that everyone deserves an equal voice (for example, does it benefit a culture or a field if the voice of laypeople has the same weight in the evolution debate as biologists and evolutionary scientists?) and the pedagogical norm that teachers must be unbiased, objective, and non-political.

• Establish the failures public education as enculturation and consider critical reforms for schooling and becoming/being a teacher, confronting the preparation and careers of teachers by examining the corrosive impact of certification and accreditation on teachers as well as students with a particular focus on NCATE and NCQT/ U.S. News and World Report. In short, certification and accreditation processes reinforce neoliberal norms by centralizing authority in bureaucratic organizations and by reducing learning to mere compliance and teaching to mere transmission (for example, in traditional schooling, U.S. history and history teachers are characterized as factual and objective even though U.S. history courses perpetuate a skewed advocacy for U.S. mythologies, policies, and norms).

• Present either personal narratives of experiences in teacher certification (as certifier or as teacher educator) and being a teacher—and placing those experiences in any or all of the contexts discussed above.

• Frame becoming and being a teacher in the intersections of gender, race, class, and sexuality as they all remain marginalized and normalized within corporate and neoliberal norms masked by narratives endorsing democracy and personal freedom.

• Explore and present specific alternatives to traditional and “new reformer” (Bill Gates, Michelle Rhee, Arne Duncan) calls for education reform and teacher preparation.

Important Dates:

(1) Final manuscript due to Lang June 1, 2012.

(2) Essay proposals due to P. L. Thomas (paul.thomas@furman.edu) December 9, 2011 (earlier encouraged).

(3) Full draft of accepted essays due to P. L. Thomas (paul.thomas@furman.edu)—attached as Word file—April 15, 2012.

(4) Editing/revision process: April 15-May 31, 2012.

The big banks and I are getting a divorce and there will be real community property. « Fred Klonsky's blog

The big banks and I are getting a divorce and there will be real community property. « Fred Klonsky's blog:

The big banks and I are getting a divorce and there will be real community property.

by Fred Klonsky

When I first got a job teaching three decades ago the teacher union rep to our township credit union told me I should sign up for payroll savings deduction.

“Just $25 bucks a paycheck. That’s about $50 a month. Start now and you won’t even notice it’s gone from your check.”

I followed her advice.

And every year as my pay increased, I would increase the amount of the deduction. Over the years it paid for trips to Europe, repairs on the house or car. Sometimes I had to borrow from the credit union. But it was amazingly easy. Usually it was just a signature secured loan since I was a working teacher and member of the credit union.

New data Bill Gates, other ed reformers should care about - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

New data Bill Gates, other ed reformers should care about - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:

New data Bill Gates, other ed reformers should care about

by Valerie Strauss

This was written by educator Anthony Cody, who worked for 24 years in the Oakland schools, 18 years teaching science at a high-needs school and six years as a mentor and coach of teachers. He is a National Board-certified teacher. A version of this appeared on his Education Week Teacher blog, Living in Dialogue .

Read full article >>

School Tech Connect: Taxpayer-Guaranteed Gambling

School Tech Connect: Taxpayer-Guaranteed Gambling:

Taxpayer-Guaranteed Gambling

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim)

Taibibi has a very crisply written explanation of why you should leave Bank of America at once. You may not have heard, but recently Skank of America recently transferred trillions of its Merril Lynch gambling debts over to its FDIC-covered banking arm.

So the primary regulator of the banking industry is encouraging a functionally insolvent megabank to respond to a credit downgrade by pushing its most explosively risky holdings onto the laps of the taxpayer.

I so wish I could move all my shitty investments onto someone else's risk plate. Meanwhile, you're shopping at

solidaridad: LA Weakly proudly pushes propaganda for Broad/Gates astroturfers

solidaridad: LA Weakly proudly pushes propaganda for Broad/Gates astroturfers:

LA Weakly proudly pushes propaganda for Broad/Gates astroturfers

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene

No question: the Business Roundtable and its bedfellows insist that schools become data-driven depots, or, as Frederick W. Smith, CEO of Federal Express puts it on the Business Coalition for Education Reform website: "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it." One would point out to Smith and his allies that kids aren't packages to be delivered from one teachers to the next."Kathy Emery and Susan Ohanian


The repulsive libertarian rag the LA Weakly has inked mendacious material supporting the corporate education reform for years, and their latest assault on the public commons keeps that tradition alive. The trashy masseuse and porn ad pennysaver's Simon Wilson puts together an article so full of lies and deceit, that only Parent Revolution's Gabe

Panel following screening of "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman"

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene

Popout

Panel following screening of "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" from Robert D. Skeels onVimeo.

Dr. Stephen Krashen and activist Robert D. Skeels spoke following a screening of "The Inconvenient Truth

Undercover Oakland Cops Caught on Camera « occupy california #ows

Undercover Oakland Cops Caught on Camera « occupy california:

Undercover Oakland Cops Caught on Camera

By *

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Are you in? The White House wants to hear from you « MomsRising Blog

Are you in? The White House wants to hear from you « MomsRising Blog:

Are you in? The White House wants to hear from you

by Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner

MomsRising has been invited to the White House this coming Tuesday to share your experiences and questions about jobs and the economy. The President wants to hear from you!

Are you in?

*Click here to submit your questions–and share your experiences–about jobs and the economy for us to give to President Barack Obama:

http://action.momsrising.org/survey/1-11-White-House1/

What you have to say is powerful! Sharing your real life experiences, and questions, about jobs and the economy can have a big impact by getting leaders more focused on important public policies. And, sharing your experiences can also help counter corporate Wall Street lobbyist efforts to concentrate attention solely on Wall Street, and not on Main Street.

So please take a moment to share what’s going on in your life.

Are you, a friend, or family member having trouble finding or keeping a job? How is the economy impacting your family? And, do you have a question for the President about how he’s planning to grow jobs and turn the economy around?

*Click here to submit your questions–and your experiences–about jobs and the economy now for us to share with the President:

http://action.momsrising.org/survey/1-11-White-House1/

Going to the White House on Tuesday is a critical opportunity for us to take your thoughts about the job market, about the economy, about the American Jobs Act [1], and about family economic security directly to the top.

Our nation is facing grave challenges and we all need to roll up our sleeves together to find a positive path forward. One in four kids in our nation are experiencing food scarcity due to family economic limitations.[2] And, there are currently 25 million Americans who want to work, but who can’t find full-time jobs.[3] Now is a critical time for leaders to hear from real families across the nation.

Sharing your questions and your experiences about jobs and the economy here now can have a big impact by helping leaders find solutions that work for all of us, not only for wealthy Wall Street lobbyists.

There’s no more powerful voice to “tell it like it really is” than those of us (you!) who are living, and raising families, in cities and states across our nation.

*Here’s that link again in case you want to copy and paste it on your Facebook page, or forward it to a friend via email, so others can share their experiences too:

http://action.momsrising.org/survey/1-11-White-House1/

Our voices–your voice!–are important for leadership at all levels (even the President!) to hear!

P.S. In addition to going to the White House and hand-delivering your experiences and questions, we hope you’ll join us on Tuesday for a live Tweetchat from the White House. Just follow @MomsRising on Twitter starting at 10:00am PST/ 1:00pm EST on Tuesday, November 1st.

P.P.S. For information about the American Jobs Act, go to: http://www.whitehouse.gov/economy/jobsact

[1] American Jobs Act: http://www.whitehouse.gov/economy/jobsact

[2] Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/16/AR2009111601598.html

[3] Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

NYC Public School Parents: Free film Screening and Success Academy charter school meeting

NYC Public School Parents: Free film Screening and Success Academy charter school meeting:

Free film Screening and Success Academy charter school meeting

by Leonie Haimson

Eva Moskowitz wants to bring her Success Charter Schools to District 15. What does that mean for our neighborhood public schools?

What happens when charter schools are given space in
public school buildings? Why is the DOE supporting charter schools and cutting the budgets for public schools?

Learn more by joining us for a screening of “The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman”, produced by The Grassroots Education Movement. Followed by a panel discussion featuring:

• Becky Alford, NEST program teacher & parent, PS 32;

• Ina Pannell-St. Surin, MS 447 PTA Co-Vice President;

• Khem Irby, 1st Vice President, District 13 CEC & co-founder of The MANY;

• Leonie Haimson, parent & director of Class Size Matters;

• Brian Jones, teacher at PS 261 & member of GEM

WHEN: Wednesday, Nov 9, 2011, 6:00 PM

WHERE: PS 261 Auditorium, 314 Pacific Street (between Smith & Hoyt), Brooklyn, NY

Here is a flyer you can post in your school. Sponsored by PS 261 Unite; contact 261Unite@gmail.com for more information

All Things Education: A Lesson on Failing #SOSMarch

All Things Education: A Lesson on Failing:

A Lesson on Failing

by Rachel Levy

This summer at the SOS March & National Call to Action, I was pleased to see there some young and enthusiastic, but independent-minded and healthily skeptical teachers. Among them was DCPS elementary school teacher, Olivia Chapman (on twitter: @sedcteacher). Olivia dual-majored in special and general education at The College of Saint Rose in her native upstate New York and then worked for a year as a substitute teacher in Albany, New York, before accepting her current position. I was so impressed with Olivia (plus I'm always looking to feature the voices of teachers and

Blue Jersey:: Governor Christie: No Compassion For Kids After 3 #ows

Blue Jersey:: Governor Christie: No Compassion For Kids After 3:

Governor Christie: No Compassion For Kids After 3 by: Bill Orr Sun Oct 30, 2011 at 01:31:15 PM EDT

"Life begins after school that's when bend all the rules" - 6 Teen Theme Song According to statistics from the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the peak time when juvenile violent crime happens on weekdays is 3 p.m., when kids are being let out of school. The non-profit agency known as After 3, which at one time kept as many as 15,000 mostly low-income children busy after school, announced it will close tomorrow. Governor Christie eliminated funding for the program in his budget effective July 1. The legislature in its revised budget added back the funding but Christie used his line item veto to totally defund the group. Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-37) in a press release has pointed to "the demonstrated success of the program in boosting student achievement levels and using state funds to leverage

More schools host church services as controversy lingers | OregonLive.com

More schools host church services as controversy lingers | OregonLive.com:

More schools host church services as controversy lingers

by Nicole Dungca, The Oregonian

Eight of Oregon's 10 biggest districts currently rent out buildings for religious services, a practice that is causing controversy across the country.

View full sizeRandy Rasmussen/The OregonianBrad Paice (from left) of Oregon City and Justin Thomas of Sherwood sing during a Southlake Two Church service at Alder Creek Middle School in Milwaukie. Some residents question whether public schools should be used for religious services, but the practice has become common in districts across Oregon.

MILWAUKIE – Pastor Jeff Jacob begins his weekly services on the Alder Creek Middle School's auditorium stage, sometimes next to a podium emblazoned with a picture of the school mascot. After a rock band encourages the audience to sway to worship songs, Jacob launches into his sermon, exploring "who Jesus really is."

Every Sunday, Alder Creek Middle School near Milwaukie essentially transforms into the Southlake Two Church, a scene that plays out weekly in dozens of schools across Oregon and many more across the country.

That bothers Gladstone resident Wilford Bearden, who received a flier last

Colorado Faces Nation's Only Statewide Tax Vote To Raise Taxes For Education:

Colorado Faces Nation's Only Statewide Tax Vote To Raise Taxes For Education

IVAN MORENO and KRISTEN WYATT 10/30/11 12:43 PM ET

DENVER — The nation's only statewide tax vote on the November ballot asks Colorado voters whether they want to temporarily raise taxes to generate $3 billion for classrooms and colleges – a proposal that has stirred fierce opposition because of the stagnant economy.

The vote could serve as a test of voters' mood on tax increases and their frustration after endless rounds of education cuts in Colorado.

"If it should pass, it think it will get a fair amount of attention because no one is expecting anything with the words `tax increase' to pass," said Norman Provizer, a political science professor at Metropolitan State College of Denver.

Opponents, including the entire Republican delegation in Colorado's Legislature, insist tax hikes

Save Seattle Schools Community Blog: Common Core State Standards

Save Seattle Schools Community Blog: Common Core State Standards:

Common Core State Standards

by Melissa Westbrook

I will confess; I am NOT fully up-to-speed on this issue. But I was reading over the minutes from the Board Work Session on CCSS that was held on October 19, 2011 and wanted to point out several issues around CCSS as well as what parents know or don't know.

To note, some of the confusion is that we have Washington State Standards, SPS graduation requirements and CCSS and while there is overlap, I believe they all have differences. What they are and what they mean to your child remains to be seen.

The following is straight from the minutes.

Guests from OSPI were Deputy Superintendent Alan Burke and Assistant Superintendent Jessica Vavrus.

He (Mr. Burke) also noted that most states are aligning with CCSS standards, acknowledging the need to have

Failing School No Longer (But Were We Ever?) « InterACT

Failing School No Longer (But Were We Ever?) « InterACT:

Failing School No Longer (But Were We Ever?)

by Martha Infante

The announcement came out of nowhere, via a phone call by the Principal, as a courtesy to members of the team of teachers who volunteered to write a school reform plan when the Los Angeles Unified School District placed our beloved school on the dreaded “failing schools” list. By being on this list, our school site became open to bidding by outside operators such as charter companies, and the clock began ticking as we were given 13 months to reform our school in such a spectacular way that the school board would vote to let us retain management of our own campus. “We are no longer part of PSC 3.0,” she announced somberly.

I was numb.

There was no cheering, there was no relief, there were only questions. What’s the catch, being the main one.

With the same exact lack of care as to just how deeply these announcements would change the lives of all