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Thursday, December 1, 2011

Big Education Ape: 12-1-11 AM Villaraigosa says he raided Occupy LA to protect kids. 13,000 homeless children in LA. EDition #OWS #edreform

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now:

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Miracle Schools: Where Are They Now?

garyrubinstein.teachforus.org - The current education reform battle is a bit like a boxing match. The corporate reformers had a lot of momentum until April 2010, when Diane Ravitch came out with ‘The Death And Life Of The Great A...

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Fred Smith on David Abrams' resignation: No Mas!

nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com - Fred Smith is a former senior analyst for the NYC Board of Education and an expert on testing. Here he comments on the sudden resignation of David Abrams, who led the NY State Education Dept. testi...

DianeRavitch

Bloomberg Says He Has 'Own Army' in NYPD, Slams Teachers

dnainfo.com - Mayor Bloomberg Delivers Keynote Address at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Collaborative Initiative Conference. (Mayor's Office/Edward Reed) MANHATTAN — Now he can add another title to...

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Britons Strike as Government Extends Austerity Measures

nytimes.com - LONDON — Hundreds of thousands of public employees walked off their jobs in schools, hospitals, airports, courtrooms, libraries, museums and government offices on Wednesday, as British workers beca...

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American lives, undocumented | Being Latino Online Magazine

beinglatino.wordpress.com - by Hector Luis Alamo, Jr. A deep recession has struck a nation, and in the rubble, one entire section of society is subjugated, dis-empowered and dehumanized. Right-wing nationalists establish a re...

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Hillary's AIDS Plan Missed a Key Idea: Women

womensenews.org - It's an odd question to ask Hillary Clinton, the Obama administration's champion for global women's reproductive rights. But where were the women in her "AIDS-free generation" speech two weeks ago?...

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Today's Teamsters News 12.01.11

teamsternation.blogspot.com - Unions survive anti-labor push in New Hampshire Los Angeles Times ...Legislators in New Hampshire voted to sustain Gov. John Lynch's veto of a right-to-work bill in New Hampshire that would have...

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Cuomo Considering Tax-Code Changes - NYTimes.com

cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com - Faced with a worsening financial climate, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Wednesday that he was contemplating whether to propose changes to the state tax code, and he did not rule out the possibility tha...

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A Banker Speaks, With Regret

nytimes.com - If you want to understand why the Occupy movement has found such traction, it helps to listen to a former banker like James Theckston. He fully acknowledges that he and other bankers are mostly res...

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Judy Lewis, Secret Daughter of Hollywood, Dies at 76

nytimes.com - Her mother was Loretta Young. Her father was Clark Gable. Yet Judy Lewis spent her first 19 months in hideaways and orphanages, and the rest of her early life untangling a web of lies s...

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Mayor Bloomberg Has a Posse - Politics

theatlanticwire.com - Mayor Bloomberg, who always fends off the suggestion that he'll make a run at the White House, had to spell out why he's just as powerful where he's sitting in Manhattan: "I have my own army," for ...

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School choice bill robs from the poor and gives to the rich - phillyBurbs.com : Guest Opinions: guest opinion, school choice, senate bill 1, vouchers,

School choice bill robs from the poor and gives to the rich - phillyBurbs.com : Guest Opinions: guest opinion, school choice, senate bill 1, vouchers,:

School choice bill robs from the poor and gives to the rich

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Posted: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 6:00 am | Updated: 8:05 pm, Tue Nov 29, 2011.

By GARY PAPAZIAN, JR. | 7 comments

As a teacher in the Council Rock School District, I have seen the effects first hand from the $860 million in state budget cuts. Speaking with my colleagues in Pennsylvania, I continuously hear how these cuts have forced school districts to increase class sizes, cut courses, and eliminate tutoring programs that help our students learn. I am certainly not against parochial or non-sacred private schools, as they provide options for families that want a specialized education. I have family members who sent their children to elite private schools and are very successful. Of course, they paid for the choice and option to send their children to private schools. A recent public opinion poll shows that 65 percent of Pennsylvanians oppose tuition voucher initiatives and that 69 percent oppose the public school funding cuts.

Instead of passing unaccountable, unproven initiatives that drain even more funding from our public schools — like tuition vouchers — please encourage our legislators and governor to support programs that provide more individualized instruction, reduce class sizes, and offer pre-kindergarten and full-day kindergarten. Pennsylvania’s public schools are among the best in the nation. Our students’ performance on the National Assessment of

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Low-income schools shortchanged in funding | Thoughts on Public Education

Low-income schools shortchanged in funding | Thoughts on Public Education:

Low-income schools shortchanged in funding - by Kathryn Baron

by Kathryn Baron
Being proven right is usually a cause for some self-satisfaction, but U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan was troubled Wednesday when he announced results of a new Department of Education study on Title I and other high-poverty schools. “Today, we’re releasing key findings that confirm an unfortunate reality in our nation’s education system,” said Duncan during a [...]
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Has teacher quality declined over time? - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Has teacher quality declined over time? - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:

Has teacher quality declined over time?

by Valerie Strauss

This was written by Matthew Di Carlo, senior fellow at the non-profit Albert Shanker Institute, located in Washington, D.C. This post originally appeared on the institute’s blog.

By Matthew Di Carlo

One of the common assumptions lurking in the background of our education debates is that “quality” of the teaching workforce has declined a great deal over the past few decades (see here, here, here and here [slide 16]). There is a very plausible storyline supporting this assertion: Prior to the dramatic rise in female labor force participation since the 1960s, professional women were concentrated in a handful of female-dominated occupations, chief among them teaching. Since then, women’s options have changed, and many have moved into professions such as law and medicine instead of the classroom.

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Report: How much high-poverty schools get cheated on funding

by Valerie Strauss

A new U.S. Education Department report shows that more than 40 percent of schools across the country that serve mostly students from low-income families are being shortchanged when it comes to state and local funding.

The findings won’t surprise anybody who follows equity issues in public education funding, as high-poverty schools have long had fewer resources than wealthier ones — even those schools that have received extra federal money through the Title 1 program that is aimed at helping needy students.

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The Educated Reporter: Duncan Calls For Radical Change and Another View Of Parent Trigger

The Educated Reporter: Duncan Calls For Radical Change and Another View Of Parent Trigger:

Duncan Calls For Radical Change and Another View Of Parent Trigger

by Emily Richmond
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told a town hall in Las Vegas, Nev. that it's going to take "radical change" to improve public schools, and the nation's economic health depends on that happening (Click here for the link to the Las Vegas Sun's story).
Had the Silver State appeared on the list of 23 potential grantees for the Ed Department's "I3" innovation grants, I might be more encouraged about Nevada's prospects for embracing the kind of community partnerships that Duncan is advocating.
**
The Washington Post has an interesting video interview with author Eric Ries, about how the nation is failing it's
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Jersey Jazzman: Your Moment of Sanity

Jersey Jazzman: Your Moment of Sanity:

Your Moment of Sanity

by Duke
Tonight, courtesy of Howard Wainer:
But focusing on the difference blinds us to what has been a remarkable success in education over the past 20 years. Although the direction and size of student improvements are considered across many subject areas and many age groups, I will describe just one -- 4th grade mathematics. In the figure, the dots represent the average scores for all states that are available for NAEP's 4th grade mathematics test (with New Jersey's dot labeled for emphasis). These are shown broken down by race (black and white students) as well as by year (1992 and 2011). We can see that there have been steep gains for both racial
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Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Michigan's union-busters caught sending secret emails to pols

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Michigan's union-busters caught sending secret emails to pols:

Michigan's union-busters caught sending secret emails to pols

by Mike Klonsky
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Michigan, calls itself a "nonpartisan research and educational institute dedicated to improving the quality of life." But recently this far-right, free-market think tank has been exposed for its shady, very partisan, and possibly illegal lobbying of state politicians, aimed at nothing less than breaking the back of the state's teachers union and outlawing collective-bargaining in the state of Michigan.

According to Dave Murray, writing in the Grand Rapids Free Press, the Mackinac Center's true purposes were revealed in secret email communications with state lawmakers, including one from Mackinac's Jack McHugh to state Rep. Thomas McMillin, R-Rochester Hills, the newly appointed
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Schooling in the Ownership Society: Michigan's 'nonpartisan' union busters caught in scandal

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Michigan's 'nonpartisan' union busters caught in scandal:

Michigan's 'nonpartisan' union busters caught in scandal

by Mike Klonsky
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Michigan, calls itself a "nonpartisan research and educational institute dedicated to improving the quality of life." But recently this far-right, free-market think tank has been exposed for its shady, very partisan, and possibly illegal lobbying of state politicians, aimed at nothing less than breaking the back of the state's teachers union and outlawing collective-bargaining in the state of Michigan.

According to Dave Murray, writing in the Grand Rapids Free Press, the Mackinac Center's true purposes were revealed in secret email communications
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Villaraigosa says he raided Occupy LA to protect kids. 13,000 homeless children in LA. « Fred Klonsky

Villaraigosa says he raided Occupy LA to protect kids. 13,000 homeless children in LA. « Fred Klonsky:

Villaraigosa says he raided Occupy LA to protect kids. 13,000 homeless children in LA.

by Fred Klonsky

Following the police raid on the City Hall Occupy LA encampment, LA’s Democratic Party Mayor Antonion Villaraigosa the LA Times reported:

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said he decided it was time to evict Occupy L.A. protesters from the City Hall lawn after learning that there were children staying there.

Given the smattering of assaults and other incidents reported at the camp, “the chaos out there

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Schools Matter: "Paddle Your Own Canoe"?: A Case for Education

Schools Matter: "Paddle Your Own Canoe"?: A Case for Education:

"Paddle Your Own Canoe"?: A Case for Education

by P. L. Thomas
"Paddle Your Own Canoe"?: A Case for Education

Wilbur Rockefeller-Swain and Eliza Mellow Swain, twins, are the central characters in Kurt Vonnegut's autobiographical novel Slapstick. Alienated by their appearances, ostracized by their parents, and misunderstood by nearly everyone, these siblings are assumed to be intellectually challenged, but are in fact brilliant—although their brilliance depends on their being together.

Dr. Cordelia Swain Cordiner, "a woman [with]...three doctor's degrees and [who] heads a testing corporation which bills three million dollars a year" (p. 100), is charged with examining Wilbur and Eliza, leading to her plan
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Democrat Legislator Requests for More McKay Scholarship Oversight | Scathing Purple Musings

Democrat Legislator Requests for More McKay Scholarship Oversight | Scathing Purple Musings:

Democrat Legislator Requests for More McKay Scholarship Oversight

by Bob Sikes

H/T to SayfieReview. Writes Angeline Taylor in the Bradenton Herald Today:

State Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg, asked Tuesday for more oversight in the McKay Scholarship Program.

Kriseman’s request was sent to the state’s chairwoman of the K-20 Innovation Subcommittee, Rep. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland.

In a letter dated Nov. 29, Kriseman said he believes accountability might be lacking in the voucher program, which is designed to give students with disabilities a scholarship to attend a private

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