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Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Special Late Nite Cap UPDATE 9-3-13 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2


Nite Cap UPDATE

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CORPORATE ED REFORM


Google Hangout: School Climate and Social Inclusion
About the Student Voice Google Hangouts Student Voice is launching an On Air Google Hangout series that will bring together students and other stakeholders in the education field for a face to face conversation. The hangouts will allow students to connect with their peers from across the globe and present action-oriented conversation to the Student Voice community that expands upon the 140 charact


Xavier Rebounds After Devastation of Katrina
NEW ORLEANS — Eight years ago, Xavier University took a heavy blow from Hurricane Katrina and its floodwaters. But while the public University of New Orleans and Southern University at New Orleans have struggled to rebound, this private, Catholic institution has made a dramatic turnaround, increasing its enrollment and expanding its campus since the storm. Founded in 1825 by the Sisters of the Ble
North Dakota Tribal Colleges Racing to Keep Up With State’s Job Boom
BISMARCK, N.D. — Four North Dakota tribal colleges will use state grants to develop and enhance programs that meet the state’s employment needs in high-demand areas. The Legislature set aside $5 million earlier this year to be distributed to tribal colleges to train students in areas such as oilfield operations, commercial driving and construction. “We’re really training for North Dakota occupatio
As We Begin Year 51, Civil Rights 2.0 is All About Diversity
After the March on Washington, and after President Obama’s attempt to top the speech, there’s one thing that stood out to me about his speech that elevated it above all the others. He mentioned us all. Obama was as inclusive in his speech as the modern fight for equality and justice is in our 21st-century America. More than any soaring rhetoric, that’s all I needed to feel good about his vision as
Diverse Conversations: Is Standardized Testing for Colleges a Necessary Evil?
Dr. Matthew Lynch asks, “How can one test take into account so many variables in higher education across the globe.”Standardized testing in K-12 education is a perennial hot button issue. Proponents feel that measuring knowledge in these rigid ways helps lift the entire educational system. Critics say the measurements do nothing but encourage “teach to the test” methods and narrow the scope of wha
Special Courts for Veterans Expanding Across USA
Judge Patrick Dugan is an Army Reserve captain who served in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has been at the helm of the court from the start.PHILADELPHIA — Former National Guardsman Paul Piscitelli is in Philadelphia Municipal Court to answer to drug and theft charges. Elijah Peters, who served in the Army in Afghanistan and Iraq, was arrested twice for assault. Like all the defendants appearing before


Students on the Frontline of Alzheimer’s Battle


Extra Week of Summer Break? Time to Panic
When Rosh Hashana comes early and the school year starts a week late as a result, New York parents have been known to panic and quickly make plans to fill the gap.    
National Briefing | South: North Carolina: College Student’s Candidacy Allowed
The State Board of Elections ruled that a college student living in a dormitory can run for office in that city.    
Another Day, Another Reformy Hypocrite: Camden Edition | Jersey Jazzman
Leave it to Laura Waters to summarize the reformy defense of Camden’s new, very young, very inexperienced state superintendent of schools, Paymon Rouhanifard: While Rouhanifard has many admirers in the world of public education, he has attracted critics who charge that he’s inexperienced and too closely associated with charter schools and other elements of education ...read moreThe post Another Da
After Crisis, Philadelphia Students Head Back to School | EdWeek
By The Associated Press Philadelphia Before they start the school year together, the staff at the Kensington High School for Creative and Performing Arts will grieve: They’ll hold a wake of sorts for laid-off colleagues, reviewing a DVD of their photos and recounting their accomplishments, and then they’ll head across the street to eat. Such is ...read moreThe post After Crisis, Philadelphia Stude
Obama’s newest bad education idea | The Answer Sheet
By Valerie Strauss, Published: September 3 at 2:46 pmE-mail the writer President Obama announcing his plan to reduce college costs. (Carlos Osorio/AP) President Obama’s newest education reform idea, aimed at making college more affordable, is a plan that on its face seems helpful to families but isn’t. Obama said late last month that his administration ...read moreThe post Obama’s newest bad educa
Mr. Van Roekel: Common Core Standards Mean Standardization, Not an End to One-Size-Fits-All | Anthony Cody – Living in Dialogue
By Anthony Cody on September 3, 2013 5:35 PM The critical thinking that the Common Core is supposed to promote cannot come soon enough. It is sorely lacking in the defense of the Common Core standards offered today by NEA president Dennis Van Roekel. Mr. Van Roekel continues the union’s attempt to separate the standards ...read moreThe post Mr. Van Roekel: Common Core Standards Mean Standardizatio

Infographic: “What’s a Toilet Worth?”
I’m adding this infographic to The Best Resources For Learning About World Toilet Day & The Issue Of Public Sanitation In The Third World: by worldbank.Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.


Soot resolves paradox in climate science, scientists say
The Industrial Revolution could be to blame for an Alpine glacial retreat that is inconsistent with the Little Ice Age conditions during which it took place, according to a new paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A team of researchers has now pinned the...

Anthony D. Weiner And The Housekeeper
I assume it was a joke, but with Anthony Weiner one can never be sure. At the highly dramatic New York mayoral debate tonight came this line that raised eyebrows even as people laughed. Answering a question about whether he employed a housekeeper, Mr. Weiner responded: “Once a week, and I clean up after her […]
New York Mayor’s Race Getting Gritty, de Blasio Likens Opponents As Sclerotic
There is no way not to love the back-and-forth politicking that is taking place in New York as the candidates mark their place as the primary voting approaches. A couple months ago I would have said without a doubt that Christine Quinn would win, and be the first female mayor of The Big Apple.  But […]
For Labor Day - Thank a Teacher
by Lois WeinerTeacher unions offer our best shot at revitalizing the labor movement.Who would have thought that teachers, who often don’t consider themselves workers, would provide the most widespread, most sustained global resistance to capitalism’s anti-labor assault? From Chicago to Mexico to the UK, teachers unions are engaging in militant, head-to-head battles with ruling elites who are r


New Study: Sleep Boosts Production Of Myelin
A new study has come out suggesting that sleep boost the production of myelin, and that lack of sleep reduced it. “So, what?” you might ask…. I wrote about myelin in a previous post titled Deliberate Practice, Myelin & The Brain. Here’s an excerpt from that earlier post: Myelin is white matter in the brain that forms layers that make nerve impulses faster and stronger (see the image at the top
U.S. Constitution Day Resources
Federal legislation requires schools in the United States to offer lessons related to the U.S. Constitution on U.S. Constitution Day — September 17th of each year. You might be interested in The Best Sites For Learning About The Constitution Of The United States.

Protecting kids with advanced non-lethal weapons – because not... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com

Protecting kids with advanced non-lethal weapons – because not... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com:

Protecting kids with advanced non-lethal weapons – because not every school has Antoinette Tuff. 

082113 dekalb school shooting BG2
BEN GRAY / AJC
REUNITED AFTER SCHOOL SHOOTING INCIDENT--August 20, 2013, DeKalb County: LaTrease Akins rushes off hugging her 5-year-old son Mark Wheeler on Tuesday afternoon August 20, 2013 after being reunited following the shooting incident at McNair Discovery Learning Academy. Akins was next headed to get her first-grader, who was on a different bus from the school. BEN GRAY / BGRAY@AJC.COM
Anthony Lemieux is associate professor of communication and a lead researcher in transcultural conflict and violence at Georgia State University, where he researches and teaches about terrorist motivations and other matters of security and public health.
In the wake of the McNair school drama, he wrote a fascinating piece about ways to prevent such incidents.
By Anthony Lemieux
That the heroic actions of Antoinette Tuff resulted in the saving of many lives is undeniable.
When Michael Hill walked into the Ronald E. McNair Discovery Academy in DeKalb County three weeks ago, he was armed with an AK-47 and an estimated 500 rounds of ammunition. Tuff talked him out of going on a shooting spree. Of course, this fortunate outcome should be celebrated.
However, it is not acceptable for school security and the fate of our kids to hinge on luck. Not every school has someone like Antoinette Tuff, with the courage, wisdom, skill, humility and 

Daily Kos: Leaves on the Current - looks to be terrific news

Daily Kos: Leaves on the Current - looks to be terrific news:



She visited with her oncologist today.  If I may quote the text she sent me (merely masking the doctor's name):
Great news: no cancer showed up on my bone marrow biopsy!!!  Dr.X. says my recovery has been "amazing"!!!
She will continue to receive one of her medications for maintenance, but even that is on hold.  One approach that is sometimes done at this point is to extract and save her own bone marrow, do a massive dose of the medication to zap any remaining cancer, then restore her bone marrow.  Her oncologist is not yet sure whether this is the direction to go, so my wife will see the transplant specialist in the practice to see if this is warranted, or given how well she has been doing, whether to simply go on the maintenance dosage.
She would not continue with her other medication (it was a combination), and since the steroids accompanied taking that other medication, she should not need them, which should mean no more testing for diabetes - since coming off the treatment more than a month ago he

County wants to boost school budgets by raising attendance | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

County wants to boost school budgets by raising attendance | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:

County wants to boost school budgets by raising attendance

Mercer 21108

John Slater

Los Angeles County Office of Education focuses attention on truancy.
Frequent absences from school undermines student education  - and hurts school district coffers. County officials are drew attention to the problem Tuesday by lauding school districts that are turning around high truancy rates.
Baldwin Park Unified, in the San Gabriel Valley, is one success story. In the last few years the district has raised attendance about 10 percent through robo-calls to alert parents when their child has missed school and by assigning police officers to all schools to meet with parents whose kids weren’t showing up.
The district's attendance rate was an impressive 96 percent last year. The goal this year is 97 percent this year.
"If we raised our percentage up to 97.5 percent,  the district would get about additional $1 million from the state of California to support programs and teachers," said Assistant Superintendent Christine Dennis.

That’s because the state pays schools per student, per day of instruction. Unless a child is sick or the absence is otherwise excused, the state won’t pay for missed school 

Slash and Burn: The War Against California Pensions | MyFDL

Slash and Burn: The War Against California Pensions | MyFDL:

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Slash and Burn: The War Against California Pensions

By: Gary Cohn Tuesday September 3, 2013 1:33 pm
Benjamin Gamboa doesn’t know John Arnold, but they are linked by a shared concern over the fate of public-employee pensions in California.
“I’m proud to have a pension,” the 30-year-old Gamboa says. “I believe every American should have a pension.”
The two men live in very different worlds. Gamboa is a research analyst at Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa, California. Arnold is a hedge-fund billionaire from Houston, Texas.
There’s another difference between them: Arnold recently had a representative present at a secret “pension summit” held at a Sacramento hotel, where strategies to limit public employee retirement benefits were discussed; Gamboa, a union member, did not – representatives of labor were specifically not invited.
“Pension reform” has become the latest battle cry in a seemingly endless war that has ostensibly been declared against tax-dollar waste, but whose single-minded purpose has been to slash the job protections and benefits enjoyed by California’s working middle class. Pension-cutting advocates have filled airwaves, websites and op-ed pages with stories about employees retiring in early middle age on six-figure pensions. The reality is that the average state and municipal worker retires on about $26,000 a year.
The Sacramento summit took place May 22 at the Citizen Hotel, a luxury boutique inn two blocks from the state capitol. It was hosted by the Reason Foundation, a Los Angeles-based conservative and libertarian public policy group that embraces privatizing government functions and cutting public employee pensions. The foundation’s most prominent trustee is billionaire businessman David Koch, a longtime advocate of reducing public sector retirement benefits.
The meeting’s agenda – a copy of which was obtained by Frying Pan News — was written in the terse, opaque prose of event planners, but still offers a glimpse into the group’s plans. Among other items, it  lists an hour-long session on “Overcoming Opposition: Anticipating and Addressing Government and 

Gates Money and Common Core: Part II | deutsch29

Gates Money and Common Core: Part II | deutsch29:

Gates Money and Common Core: Part II

September 3, 2013


On August 27, 2013, I wrote a post about Bill Gates’ financial involvement in advancing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Though CCSS promotes itself as “state led,” in my previous post, I showed that all four major organizations responsible for CCSS from inception for its principal development– the National Governors Association (NGA), the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), Achieve, and Student Achievement Partners– have received in total $147.9 million from Bill Gates for a variety of purposes, $32.8 million of which is expressly earmarked to advance CCSS.
One man is purchasing his view of what American education should be.
This is not democratic. It is horrific.
I showed also that other key education organizations have taken millions from Gates in order to promote CCSS, not the least of which are both national teachers’ unions, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) ($5.4 million) and the National Education Association (NEA) ($4 million).
Gates has spent much more on CCSS than I have indicated in that previous post. Thus, I have decided to write a series on the groups that have decided to sell America’s right to a “free and public” education to this man. The sheer number of 

Civil rights groups dispute memo to State Board on new funding formula | EdSource Today

Civil rights groups dispute memo to State Board on new funding formula | EdSource Today:

Money-photoIn a sign of a skirmish to come, leaders of 30 civil rights and non-profit groups representing disadvantaged children are disputing a memo to the State Board of Education characterizing the purpose of the Local Control Funding Formula.
In a letter written Friday to State Board President Michael Kirst and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, the organizations issued essentially a shot over the bow in what is expected to be a contentious, closely watched debate over how new money that the formula allocates for low-income children, foster youth and English learners should be used. The organizations are worried that districts will be given too much latitude to spend new money as they choose. Instead, the letter said, the “fundamental civil rights and equity principles at the heart of the Local Control Funding Formula” should “remain front and center.”
The law creating the funding formula says districts should spend the extra money “proportionally,” based on the numbers of high-needs students enrolled, to increase programs and services for 

What Is a 'Failing' School? | Diane Ravitch

What Is a 'Failing' School? | Diane Ravitch:

What Is a 'Failing' School?

Posted: 09/03/2013 9:00 am
What Is a 'Failing' School?
A Great Marketing Strategy for Corporate Education Reformers!


Two years ago, Kevin Kosar, a former graduate student of mine, conducted an Internet search for the term "failing school." What he discovered was fascinating. Until the 1990s, the term was virtually unknown. About the mid-1990s, the term began appearing with greater frequency. With the passage of No Child Left Behind, the use of the expression exploded and became a commonplace.
Kosar did not speculate on the reasons. But I venture to say that the rise of the accountability movement created the idea of "failing schools."
"Accountability" was taken to mean that if students have low test scores, someone must be blamed. Since Bush's NCLB, it became conventional to blame the school. With President Obama's Race to the Top, blame shifted to teachers. The solution to "failing schools," according to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, is to fire the staff and close the school.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently took this idea to an extreme by saying that he wanted a "death penalty" for "failing schools." He believes that when schools have persistently low test scores, they should lose democratic control.
They should be taken over by the state, given to private charter corporations, or put under mayoral control. In fact, none of these ideas has been successful.
Low-performing school districts in New Jersey have been under state control for more than 20 years without turning them into high-performing districts. Mayoral control in Cleveland and Chicago has been a flop. And private charters typically do no better than public schools,