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Monday, May 14, 2012

Big Education Ape: 5-14-12 AM One View of the Reformers’ End Game EDition #soschat #NOAHWYLE

Big Education Ape: PARENTS CAN!:
Big Education Ape: PARENTS CAN!

Published by Coopmike48 – 6 news spotters today

Educators Approve Strike By 97 Percent At UESF Meeting

huffingtonpost.com - San Francisco teachers voted to approve a strike by 97 percent at a United Educators of San Francisco (UESF) General Membership meeting on Thursday night. The strike approval is the first in San Fr...
fklonsky

What Do NAEP Scores Mean? « Diane Ravitch's blog

dianeravitch.net - Every once in a while, a new set of test scores is released by the National Assessment Governing Board, the federal agency that supervises the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Ju...
DianeRavitch

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PARENTS CAN!

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coopmike48 Barnidge: Students of Excellence show public education still can work - Inside Bay Area bit.ly/KWeK8P5 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 'Part Time' Cleaner Survives by Constant Work | Womens eNewsbit.ly/KWeN4q4 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 Read Damn Good Education Daily on paper.li/coopmike48/bir…#SOSCHAT2 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 More than 650 Sacramento County teachers will receive a final pink slip by Tuesday bit.ly/KWdliC22 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 Schools Matter: Freedom of Information Request for Pearson Tests: Schools Matter: Freedom of Information Re... bit.ly/L1GEWB #edu22 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 Waivers for Waivers? What California Wants | California Progress Report: Waivers for Waivers? What Californ... bit.ly/L1GGh2 #edu22 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 Jersey Jazzman: Gulen Criticism Goes Mainstream: Jersey Jazzman: Gulen Criticism Goes Mainstream: Gulen Cri... bit.ly/L1GFcZ#edu22 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 Failure to Launch Learning « InterACT: Failure to Launch Learning « InterACT: Failure to Launch Learningb...bit.ly/L1GG0G #EDU 221 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 A Science Teacher's View: The Backward-Engineered Common Core Science Standards - Living in Dialogue - Ed... bit.ly/JyXQhZ #EDU 221 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 Schools Matter: Freedom of Information Request for Pearson Tests: Schools Matter: Freedom of Information ... bit.ly/L1GEWB #EDU 221 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 Waivers for Waivers? What California Wants | California Progress Report: Waivers for Waivers? What Califo... bit.ly/L1GGh2 #EDU 221 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 Jersey Jazzman: Gulen Criticism Goes Mainstream: Jersey Jazzman: Gulen Criticism Goes Mainstream: Gulen C... bit.ly/L1GFcZ#EDU 221 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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mikeklonsky But both Green Dot and the L.A. schools lost about 30% of students between 9th & 10th grade. Then another "big drop." lat.ms/JNI29K21 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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The Reformers’ End Game? « Diane Ravitch's blog

dianeravitch.net - Does anyone know what the reformers’ end game is? What do they think will happen to students and schools and the quality of education if they achieve their goals? How will education get better if t...
DianeRavitch

Camden schools chief could get buyout

articles.philly.com - Young, in addition, has filed for reimbursements for five years' worth of travel and other expenses, the sources said. They spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the confidential negotiations.It ...
mikeklonsky

SocietySee all

Daily Kos: Progress versus Regress

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Daily Kos: Progress versus Regress: Progress versus Regressby rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)I know.  That's an awkward titling of this post. Let me explain if I can. As I approach yet another birthd...
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Jersey Jazzman: Calling Stupidity Stupid

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Jersey Jazzman: Calling Stupidity Stupid: Calling Stupidity Stupidby DukeEarlier, I blogged about the one absurd test item (that we know) that came out of the last round of the NJASK. This follows ...
coopmike48

Was Sidney Lumet's movie 'Network' the model for Fox News

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Glenn Beck/Howard Beale: I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel'...
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PoliticsSee all

Why Condoleezza Rice could change everything for Romney

foxnews.com - Washington’s favorite gossip game — speculating about the vice presidential pick — now gets serious.Following last week’s five-state primary sweep, Mitt Romney has forced even the last hold-out, fo...
mikeklonsky

Arizona Ron Paul supporters boo Romney's son off stage

azcentral.com - by Rebekah L. Sanders - May. 12, 2012 03:23 PMThe Republic | azcentral.com Supporters of Ron Paul booed presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's son off the stage Saturday at the Arizona Republican Party...
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Will the Democrats drink the austerity cool aid?

sacramentopa.blogspot.com - For those who viewed the excellent video last night of The Heist.  You may recall the role of the Peterson "think tank".  Here is what they are doing this week. Will Democrats Embrace "Austerity ...
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Noah Wyle arrested at Medicaid protest in D.C.

latimes.com - Noah Wyle is arrested at a protest in Washington, D.C. (ADAPT / Associated Press / April 23, 2012) By Matt Donnelly April 23, 2012, 2:52 p.m. Actor Noah Wyle followed in George Clooney's footsteps ...
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Owed to mom: A day to celebrate our mothers' nature

denverpost.com - feet in heart (Allison Saathoff, Photos.com)He may be only 11 years old, but John Painter has a pretty good grasp of the whole mom job description:"She manages our finances, makes good food and dri...
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#eduRead this paperSee all

Jersey Jazzman: Calling Stupidity Stupid

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Jersey Jazzman: Calling Stupidity Stupid: Calling Stupidity Stupidby DukeEarlier, I blogged about the one absurd test item (that we know) that came out of the last round of the NJASK. This follows ...
coopmike48

#noahwyleSee all

Noah Wyle arrested at Medicaid protest in D.C.

latimes.com - Noah Wyle is arrested at a protest in Washington, D.C. (ADAPT / Associated Press / April 23, 2012) By Matt Donnelly April 23, 2012, 2:52 p.m. Actor Noah Wyle followed in George Clooney's footsteps ...
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Layoffs by seniority contested | Thoughts on Public Education

Layoffs by seniority contested | Thoughts on Public Education:


Layoffs by seniority contested - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess
Administrative law judges have ruled that San Francisco Unified and Sacramento City Unified exceeded their authority to protect teachers at high priority, low-performing schools from districtwide layoffs this year.
Both districts have targeted extra resources for teacher training and strategies in hopes of stanching the turnover of teachers and reversing the dismal test scores at some of their most troubled schools. Both districts said they needed three years to build new models – “incubators of innovation,” as Sac City called them ­ – so that they could then pass on what works to other schools.
But state law permits few exceptions to layoffs based on seniority, and the administrative law judges ruled that San Francisco Unified had failed to make a persuasive case for bypassing seniority, and that Sacramento City had partially done so, for only a majority of 
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Daily Kos: Injustices of Stop and Frisk

Daily Kos: Injustices of Stop and Frisk:


Injustices of Stop and Frisk

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)


is the title of this lead editorial in today's New York Times.  Perhaps some statistics are relevant:
according the the ACLU the number of stree stops have risen from about 97,000 in 2002, the year Mayor Bloomberg took office, to  685,724 in 2011, and with pace this year of even more.
We already know that there more stops made of black men than there are black men in the city.
The city has repeatedly argued that the program helps to keep guns off the street. But the N.Y.C.L.U.’s analysis found that the proportion of gun seizures to stops has fallen sharply — only 780 guns were confiscated last year, not much more than the 604 guns seized in 2003, when officers made 160,851 stops. Young black and Hispanic men continued to be stopped in disproportionate numbers. They are only 4.7 percent of the city’s population, yet these males, between the ages of 14 and 24, accounted for 41.6 percent of stops last year. More than half of all stops were conducted because the individual displayed “furtive movements” — which is so vague as to be meaningless.
IF you are Black or Hispanic, force is far more likely to be used, meaning you
are more likely to be slammed against walls or spread-eagled while officers go through their 
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Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:


WEEKEND QUOTABLES

by Mike Klonsky
Rupert Murdoch (left) with his boy, Joel Klein.
Joel Klein's email dump
For me, the other interesting point is that they are so afraid of any criticism. They are especially afraid of Deborah Meier, me and Jonathan Kozol. They refer to columns by Deborah Meier and myself–she an educator with decades of experience, I a historian with a long view–as “moronic” and “idiotic.” They refer to Jonathan Kozol and me as “deranged crackpots.” How can anyone take these mean-spirited, ignorant, arrogant people seriously? -- Diane Ravitch, "Something scary happened last night."
More Klein dump
“Who’s the heavy breather on the call?” wrote a participant, whose name was redacted. “Normally, 
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The Innovative Educator: Separate and Unequal

The Innovative Educator: Separate and Unequal:


Separate and Unequal

by noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen)
Guest post by Nikhil Goyal, A 16 Year Old Out to Put a Dent In the Universe | Cross posted at Nikhil Goyal
This Sunday’s New York Times features a hard hitting piece entitled ‘Why Don’t We Have Any White Kids?’ as part of the series “A System Divided.” It delves into the racial schisms of Explore Charter School, a K-8 school in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Of the school’s 502 students from kindergarten through eighth grade this school year, 92.7 percent are black, 5.7 percent are Hispanic, and a scattering are of mixed race. None are white or Asian.  
As more charter schools take over “failed” public schools, the resegregation of New York’s public school system has transpired. As a country, we are still attempting to justify the concept of separate but equal 
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Why we’re getting the homework question wrong - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Why we’re getting the homework question wrong - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:


Why we’re getting the homework question wrong

by Valerie Strauss
This was written by Vicki Abeles, a mother, activist, and filmmaker. She directed the documentary “Race to Nowhere.”

By Vicki Abeles


Hayley Eaton was always an academic achiever. Like many American teens, college was uppermost in her mind, as well as that of her parents and guidance counselors. She signed up for all the available AP and honors courses at her high school and performed well. She didn’t flinch when homework meant getting five or six hours of sleep a night before “waking up and repeating the cycle all over again.” Haley used to joke, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” One afternoon while driving home from high school, Haley nodded asleep and crashed into a tree, totaling her car. She escaped with minor cuts and bruises but the experience caused her to rethink her concept of success. “I’m grateful,” she says. In reprioritizing she found her life goal. Today she’s pursuing a master’s in education so she can help create school reform — away from “endless homework and inadequate high stakes testing” and toward “healthy priorities for young people’s physical and mental health.”
Read full article >>

How to really appreciate teachers: Stop the stupid jokes — and more

by Valerie Strauss
This was written by David B. Cohen, who has been a teacher since 1993 and is in his 13th year of teaching in California public high schools. He is National Board Certified, and is associate director of the Accomplished California Teachers group. A version of this posts appeared on the groups InterACT blog.
Read full article >>
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Jersey Jazzman: Gulen Criticism Goes Mainstream

Jersey Jazzman: Gulen Criticism Goes Mainstream:


Gulen Criticism Goes Mainstream

by Duke
Last night, 60 Minutes moved the concern about Gulen schools away from tin-foil hat country and into the mainstream:



Interesting; unfortunately, once again, CBS News misses the point when it comes to "high-performing" charter schools.




Take, for example, Bergen Arts and Sciences here in Jersey. Typically, as Lesley Stahl reports, they try to distance themselves from Gulen, but Bergen A & S is a Turkish school nonetheless. I wrote about the school this past December; is it really that "impressive"?
I went to the Common Core of Data at NCES to get the demographic data for all of the schools in the zip code of Bergen A & S. Using Bruce Baker's method, I made another another quick graph:


Many of the schools have a larger population of "free lunch" kids than Bergen, but not by a huge amount; some have a slightly smaller percentage. But look carefully at 
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Waivers for Waivers? What California Wants | California Progress Report

Waivers for Waivers? What California Wants | California Progress Report:


Waivers for Waivers? What California Wants

by jeffson
By Peter Schrag
You don’t have to look far to understand why California, like many other states, wants a waiver from key provisions of NCLB, the ten-year-old federal No Child Left Behind law. If we don’t get it, it may start to cost us.
But what California wants is unique. We want not only a waiver but also a waiver from the conditions U.S Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has imposed for getting a waiver. Is that reasonable, or is it chutzpah?
From the start, the federal law’s impossible requirement that all American schoolchildren make “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) toward academic perfection in 2014 – even children who began school speaking no English -- was an invitation to fraud, confusion and demoralization.
read more


Critics struggle to end 'pay to play' in school bonds

Boaz Yiftach/freedigitalphotos.net
Critics of the practice in which financial firms help pass school bonds that they profit from are continuing to push for reforms, but so far have faced resistance and failure.
In California, underwriting companies hired by school districts to sell bonds often make campaign contributions to help convince voters to pass the bond measures. A California Watch investigation found that leading underwriters gave $1.8 million over the last five years to successful bond measures, and in almost every case school districts gave underwriting contracts to those same firms.
Underwriters are essentially middlemen, buying bonds from districts and selling them to investors at a higher price. Underwriters say they generally only give campaign contributions after getting hired; school districts argue


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Schools Matter: Freedom of Information Request for Pearson Tests

Schools Matter: Freedom of Information Request for Pearson Tests:


Freedom of Information Request for Pearson Tests

by Judy Rabin
When the pink slime was discovered in the meat by large corporate processing plants and we realized what was actually in our food, there was outrage and it was banned, 1,2,3.  Well, it's time the public demands to know what is being fed to children in those standardized tests. But before we let anyone see the holy, secret documents,  we should demand that each and every politician  be required to take the high school exit exam in his or her state -- or perhaps the 8th grade test. The scores should be made public and those who fail should be labeled failures, in need of improvement and sent back to high school to finish until they pass. 


Sounds fair.


"If the broader community of parents, educators and researchers can’t see tests, then we have no way of judging the connection between them and curricula or how to help our children."
This is where the Common Core Standards Come in of course.

Make Pearson Tests Public

From the NYT:


I am the parent of an elementary school student in New York City, and even though my son is only in first grade and no

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A Science Teacher's View: The Backward-Engineered Common Core Science Standards - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

A Science Teacher's View: The Backward-Engineered Common Core Science Standards - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:


A Science Teacher's View: The Backward-Engineered Common Core Science Standards

by Anthony Cody
Guest post by Chemtchr.
Last Friday afternoon, Achieve's "Next Generation Science Standards", as they're calling their Common Core, finally became available. Their "public comment" interval ends June first.

I'm going to argue this Common Core was specifically designed to narrow the scope of education to skills that can be (relatively) easily tested. I described my personal experience with the science core in a comment onAnthony Cody's blog last month. He asked me to expand it into a column, but I couldn't do that until readers could examine the actual Common Core science product.
I was serving a term as a volunteer on my state's Math and Science Advisory Council three years ago. I'm o
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Failure to Launch Learning « InterACT

Failure to Launch Learning « InterACT:


Failure to Launch Learning

by David B. Cohen
Photos courtesy of Tom Collett.
rocket“Last week, our class launched a rocket.”  
Sounds fun, doesn’t it?  I wish my class launched a rocket.  When I was a kid, we did have some great experiential and project-based learning experiences – but no rockets.  Unfortunately, that sentence about rocket-launching isn’t quoted from an actual student or teacher, nor did it orginate from an actual classroom.   It’s simply a random, isolated sentence on a worksheet, used by third-graders to prepare for their standardized tests.
While walking to work the other day I was browsing through my Public Radio Player app on the iPhone, and 
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