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Wednesday, November 16, 2011

One Step Closer to Schools' Budget Doomsday - voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled: The Education Blog

One Step Closer to Schools' Budget Doomsday - voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled: The Education Blog:

One Step Closer to Schools' Budget Doomsday

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  • The San Diego Unified School Board

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Posted: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 1:28 pm |Updated: 2:05 pm, Wed Nov 16, 2011.

The financial fate of local schools rests on whether California will slash school funding in the middle of the year. A crucial new analysis released today puts the state a step closer to doing just that. School officials say it would send San Diego Unified hurtling toward a financial meltdown.

The school district built its budget on the hopes that California would not make these cuts, rehiring teachers this summer to keep classes small for its youngest students. Now that money could be in jeopardy. Here is a step-by-step guide to what happened today

Schools Can Reverse the Sedentary Trend « Whole Child Education

The Whole Child Blog « Whole Child Education:

Schools Can Reverse the Sedentary Trend

Monica Lounsbery

Post submitted by Monica A.F. Lounsbery, PhD, professor and director of the Physical Activity Policy Research Program, Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences, at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

When we were growing up, when someone said physical activity they usually meant exercise or, exercise and physical activity were one in the same. That was also a time when we walked or rode our bikes everywhere, at school we had daily physical education and recess three times per day, and playing outside with neighborhood friends was the best social opportunity a kid could have. We didn’t have computers or cell phones, our families had only one car, and while we had television, we only had a handful of channels. Television programs were geared mostly to adult viewers and signed off in the late evening. We had cartoons, but they were only on Saturday morning until 10 a.m.

A lot has changed since then. Today, most households have more than one car, kids rarely walk or ride their

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


Shanker Blog » Explaining The Consistently Inconsistent Results of Charter Schools, Part One

Shanker Blog » Explaining The Consistently Inconsistent Results of Charter Schools, Part One:Explaining The Consistently Inconsistent Results of Charter Schools, Part Oneby Matthew Di CarloAs discussed in a previous post, there is a fairly well-developed body of evidence showing that charter and regular public schools vary widely in their impacts on achievement growth. This research finds that, on the whole, there is usually not much of a difference between them, and when there are differences, they tend to be very ... more »

NYC Educator: Heckuva Job, Barackie

NYC Educator: Heckuva Job, Barackie:Heckuva Job, Barackieby NYC EducatorFor about 20 years I've lived very close to the water. Sometimes it comes to visit us, so we've got two sump pumps in our crawl space to discourage it. That usually seems to work. In case it doesn't, I've been paying FEMA for flood insurance for, oh, 20 years. I'm a pretty good customer.So when Hurricane Irene came calling, I wasn't too worried. After all, I was insured. My little family ... more »

Lawsuit Against New Orleans Charters: Does New Orleans Welcome Disabled Students? « Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!

Lawsuit Against New Orleans Charters: Does New Orleans Welcome Disabled Students? « Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!:Lawsuit Against New Orleans Charters: Does New Orleans Welcome Disabled Students?by millerlfNational Public Radio by Larry Abramson November 15, 2011To listen to the to the Story go to: All Things Considered /go to search in top right corner and type in special education in New Orleans)New Orleans has become the center of an education revolution, where more than 70 percent of students attend ... more »

Jersey Jazzman: Tenure and Vouchers and Charters

Jersey Jazzman: Tenure and Vouchers and Charters:Tenure and Vouchers and Chartersby DukeJohn Mooney - one of the best reporters in NJ - says it comes down to the bug three:Gov. Chris Christie yesterday put out his now-familiar call for the Democratic-controlled legislature to act on what he said are the state's priorities, starting with his package of proposals on teacher tenure, charter schools, and school vouchers.The Democratic leadership, for its part, put out its schedule for the next two months, ... more »

Online Learning – Another Misguided Mandate | Connected Principals

Online Learning – Another Misguided Mandate | Connected Principals:Online Learning – Another Misguided Mandateby Patrick LarkinIdaho recently became the fourth state to add an online learning requirement for students to graduate from high school. As is typical with these types of bureaucratic decisions, this initiative makes for great headlines but its impact on student learning remains questionable.There’s a big rush to add online learning opportunities for students without really defining what quality online learning looks like. This really comes as ... more »

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

Several Ways To Tell The Difference Between Good amp; Bad Education Research - Classroom Qamp;A With Larry Ferlazzo - Education Week TeacherBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-3 hours agoSeveral Ways To Tell The Difference Between Good Bad Education Research - Classroom QA With Larry Ferlazzo - Education Week Teacher:Several Ways To Tell The Difference Between Good Bad Education ResearchBy Larry Ferlazzo on November 15, 2011 2:37 PM | No Comments | No RecommendationsLast week, I asked a question that ... more »

The Educated Reporter: Evaluating Teachers: EWA Seminar Sparks Debate

The Educated Reporter: Evaluating Teachers: EWA Seminar Sparks Debate:Evaluating Teachers: EWA Seminar Sparks Debateby Emily RichmondWe had nearly 50 education journalists in Chicago for a one-day EWA seminar on "Evaluating Teachers: Beyond the Rhetoric." I encourage you to read some of the terrific work being done this week by the seminar participants, including the Kalamazoo Gazette's Julie Mack and Dave Murray of the Grand Rapids Press. (I'll post additional stories as they are published.) Mack cleverly organized some of the ... more »

Engaging Parents In School… - Important Report On Parent Engagement Released Today Larry Ferlazzo.

Engaging Parents In School… - Important Report On Parent Engagement Released Today:Important Report On Parent Engagement Released Todayby Larry FerlazzoFamily-School-Community Partnerships 2.0: Collaborative Strategies to Advance Student Learning is the lengthy name of an excellent report released today by the National Education Association.It highlights sixteen family-school-community partnerships, including the Parent Teacher Home Visit Project.Here are important links:You can access the entire report here.I Like “Themeefy”Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... ... more »

Rep. Miller chastises California | Thoughts on Public Education

Rep. Miller chastises California | Thoughts on Public Education:Rep. Miller chastises California - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guessby John Fensterwald - Educated GuessEleven states made the submission deadline Monday for seeking a waiver from the No Child Left Behind law. That gave U.S. Rep. George Miller of California, the ranking Democrat on the House committee rewriting the law, a chance to take a swat at his home state for ignoring the opportunity. “These 11 states are ready [...]Zero hour ... more »

LAUSD's DEEPEST FEAR - Perdaily.com

LAUSD's DEEPEST FEAR - Perdaily.com:LAUSD's DEEPEST FEARby Leonard Isenberg(Mensaje se repite en Español)(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post)As one clueless superintendent after another is anointed by the forces of public education privatization and the corporate controlled mass media to implement "revolutionary public education reform," that never seems to come about in our public schools, nobody in a position of power questions or seems willing to hold accountable this non-system of public ... more »

School Tech Connect: Strange Bedfellows

School Tech Connect: Strange Bedfellows:Strange BedfellowsGulp.Kind of horrifying, actually. Every time someone sniffs around a little bit, another right-wing billionaire has joined forces with Arne Duncan. The man's legacy will be this: he crafted federal education policy to those suit the needs of people determined to do away with public service, the public space, the line between church and state, and erase every remnant of the New Deal and the Great Society.For me, as a historian, the scary part is ... more »

Future of Teaching: Teachers Coming For Dinner, Not Dessert | The Jose Vilson

Future of Teaching: Teachers Coming For Dinner, Not Dessert | The Jose Vilson:Future of Teaching: Teachers Coming For Dinner, Not Dessertby JoseExcerpt:Back when we set a course to deliver a message for education, about education, and by educators, we had a hopeful and realistic vision of what we believed 2030 could look like if the right minds got into the huddle with us. The difference between our study and so many others is that we didn’t come from a strictly ... more »

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

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan Admits Cities Coordinated Crackdown on Occupy Movement | MyFDL #OWSBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-16 minutes agoOakland Mayor Jean Quan Admits Cities Coordinated Crackdown on Occupy Movement | MyFDL:Oakland Mayor Jean Quan Admits Cities Coordinated Crackdown on Occupy MovementBy: Gregg Levine Tuesday November 15, 2011 6:45 am Tweet3 Oakland Mayor Jean Quan (photo: Ella Baker Center)Embattled Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, speaking in an interview with the BBC (excerpted on The Takeaway radio program–audio of Quan ... more »

Daily Kos: NCLB: No Chance for Latinos and Blacks

Daily Kos: NCLB: No Chance for Latinos and Blacks:NCLB: No Chance for Latinos and BlacksbyteacherkenFollowShareNew PERMALINK2 COMMENTSThat is the title of this powerful post by fellow educational blogger David Ginsburg. I want you to go read it, and pass it on.To give you a sense, allow me to offer this selection, what David notes about the impact of NCLB for students of color in many American schools (and I apologize that my formatting is not exactly identical):- cutting back writing ... more »

Robert Reich (Occupiers Occupied: The Hijacking of the First Amendment) #ows

Robert Reich (Occupiers Occupied: The Hijacking of the First Amendment):Occupiers Occupied: The Hijacking of the First AmendmentA funny thing happened to the First Amendment on its way to the public forum. According to the Supreme Court, money is now speech and corporations are now people. But when real people without money assemble to express their dissatisfaction with the political consequences of this, they’re treated as public nuisances and evicted. First things first. The Supreme Court’s rulings that money is speech ... more »

#N17 Global Day Of Action! | OccupyWallSt.org #OWS

#N17 Global Day Of Action! | OccupyWallSt.org:

#N17 Global Day Of Action!

Sixty days into the struggle #OccupyWallStreet was violently evicted by the NYPD, who leveled our homes at Liberty Square to the ground. Our movement, however, is stronger than it has ever been. In these sixty days we have brought about a massive awakening, perhaps the largest one in the country since the Civil Rights Movement fifty years ago, and certainly the first global one in modern history. People around the world, from Spain to Australia, from Chile to the U.S. have opened their eyes together to the decadence and injustice of the common system that exploits us. This is what we mean when we say with the deepest significance: you cannot stop an idea whose time has come.

The occupation that began on the 17th of September in Zuccotti Park has proven that we still have a chance, as human beings, to unite and reform these corrupt structures, to cleanse our Government and restore our dignity. We will allow no rest and tranquility in our world until we finally achieve what we are dreaming of in our hearts. We will not stop until justice is restored, until democracy is recovered from behind the veil of political discourse, until the 99% are once again made rightful sovereign of their future, until the shadow of Wall Street is stripped of its darkness and its power. We will not stop moving forward until bankers and governments are held accountable for their crimes, until they respect every basic human right they trample on.

We will no longer tolerate the oppression of the 1% who do not want to see a creative movement, based on inclusiveness and tolerance, triumph over a system deeply rooted in social inequality. This is why we're fighting back tomorrow during #N17. We will shut down Wall Street and we will #occupy all of New York City with our bodies, voices and ideas.

And on this same day the message will resonate around the world! For International Student Day, our brothers and sisters in Spain will embark on a strike in education as a reaction to the capitalist logic that denies free education, and there will be rallies and occupations in Germany, Belgium, Italy, Egypt, Indonesia, Poland, Nigeria and Bulgaria. This is a call to participate in our movement as one: join your local protest, organize one in solidarity with #OccupyWallStreet and all evicted squares. Don't stay home, play your part, act!

The jarring importance of this moment cannot be overlooked: as civil society collapses, destroying our livelihoods and our public services, as we are enslaved by debt and forced out of our homes, as our folklore is mined by market predators, as we stand by and watch our global environment disintegrate to the point of threatening the extinction of our species, we are compelled to act. Tomorrow, November 17th we will remind the 1% and their representative Michael Bloomberg that you cannot stop an idea whose time has come!

For everyone in New York meet us at 7:00 AM for breakfast in Liberty Sq., lunch will be #occupy the Subways at 3:00 PM and dinner will be served after taking Foley Square with our creative and peaceful spirit. Tomorrow we will trade ideas, not stocks!

Click here for the complete program.

#OWS holds Action Council and Spokes Council Tonight! | OccupyWallSt.org

#OWS holds Action Council and Spokes Council Tonight! | OccupyWallSt.org:

#OWS holds Action Council and Spokes Council Tonight!

There are two councils happening tonight:

  • The Spokes Council will be at 56 Walker Street at 7PM (2 blocks south of Canal between Broadway and Church St). We hope to do some assessment in our groups of were we are now and where we want to be going.

  • The Action Council focused specifically on actions for tomorrow (N17) will be at 8PM tonight on the 19th floor of the UFT Building at 52 Broadway. The meeting is for affinity groups planning for tomorrow. Groups new to the planning are asked to come to an earlier Non-Violent Direct Action training from 4-6 or 6-8 at the same location, prior to the Action Council.

Those of you coming to neither -- it would be great to keep up the spirit of solidarity in the park and in front of the jail.


Mass Day of Action on 2-Month Anniversary of Occupy Wall Street

Tomorrow, Thursday November 17th, marks two months since the start of Occupy Wall Street as well as International Students Day. To commemorate this two month anniversary, Occupy Wall Street will take to the streets in celebration and in solidarity with people around the world participating in a massive global day of action in hundreds of cities.

In the wake of Bloomberg’s predawn raid of Occupy Wall Street on Tuesday morning, thousands of people throughout the five boroughs and the greater region will join together to take nonviolent action tomorrow. We will gather to resist austerity, rebuild the economy, and reclaim our democracy. We will no longer tolerate a system that only serves the very rich and powerful. Right now Wall Street owns Washington. We are the 99% and we are here to reclaim our democracy.

Schedule for New York #N17 Actions below.

7:00am — Shut Down Wall Street
We will gather in Liberty Square at 7:00am, before the ring of the Trading Floor Bell, to prepare to confront Wall Street with the stories of people on the frontlines of economic injustice.

3:00pm — Occupy the Subway
We will gather at 3:00pm at 16 central subway hubs and take our own stories to the trains, using the "People's Mic". Details here.

5:00pm — Take the Square, Festival of Lights on Brooklyn Bridge
At 5:00pm thousands will gather at Foley Square in solidarity with laborers demanding jobs to rebuild this country's infrastructure and economy. They will encircle City Hall and march across the Brooklyn Bridge, carrying thousands of handheld lights, as a festival of lights to celebrate two months of a new movement to reclaim our democracy.

Resist austerity. Rebuild the economy. Reclaim our democracy.

Click here for more information.

Save Seattle Schools Community Blog: Good News in Seattle Schools

Save Seattle Schools Community Blog: Good News in Seattle Schools:

Good News in Seattle Schools

From the district website:

Ed Lee, a 1970 graduate of Franklin High School, won San Francisco's mayoral race Nov. 8, becoming the city’s first elected mayor of Chinese descent, as well as the first Asian-American elected to the office. Lee was born in 1952 in the Beacon Hill neighborhood and attended Beacon Hill Elementary and Asa Mercer Middle School.

Seattle Sounders FC presents America SCORES Seattle’s 9th Annual Poetry Slam! on Friday, November 18th. The Poetry Slam!, the culminating event of the SCORES Fall Season curriculum - The Power of Poetry, will

Send a Message to Sec. Of Education Arne Duncan! « EdVox

Send a Message to Sec. Of Education Arne Duncan! « EdVox:

Send a Message to Sec. Of Education Arne Duncan!

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EXPAND OPTIONS FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT!

Ed Advocates Demand U.S. Take Steps to Ensure that All Students are Prepared for College and Jobs, Launch Web Campaign as Part of Nationwide Push

New York parents and community leaders joined with other public education advocacy movements from around the country today to push for greater federal school improvement options in order to rescue American schools and students in crisis. The advocates rallied and launched a Web campaign, calling on U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to expand his School Improvement Grants (SIG) program by including an option that is both more rigorous and research-based than the current one-size-fits-all approach. They also demanded that parents and community leaders be included in the school improvement process.

The push – sponsored locally by the Alliance for Quality Education and New York Coalition for Educational Justice – is being coordinated by the national organization Communities for Excellent Public Schools (CEPS*). Today’s participants

CSU Trustees Disrupted « occupy california #OWS

CSU Trustees Disrupted « occupy california:

CSU Trustees Disrupted

LONG BEACH, California – While the University of California Regents decided not to meet this week, the Trustees of the California State University system are holding meetings, in part to discuss a tuition proposal that could raise tuition another $498. Protests against the Trustees successfully disrupted the meeting for a while, leading to confrontations between police and demonstrators. Police used pepper spray. A glass door was shattered, and police have reportedly suffered cuts. At least 3 demonstrators have been arrested. As of around noon, the Trustees have approved the $498 or 9% tuition increase.

Meanwhile, the California Faculty Association is organizing a faculty strike at CSU Dominguez Hills and CSU East Bay for tomorrow.