Matt Damon is a fan of Diane Ravitch - Names - The Boston Globe

Matt Damon is a fan of Diane Ravitch - Names - The Boston Globe:

Matt Damon is a fan of Diane Ravitch

By Mark Shanahan and Meredith Goldstein

 |  GLOBE STAFF   

  OCTOBER 05, 2013

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Matt Damon introduced education historian and activist Diane Ravitch as part of the Education on the Edge Lecture Series at California State University Northridge on Wednesday.

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Cambridge-bred actor Matt Damon took time out of his busy schedule — the Hollywood homeboy is currently filming a sci-fi flick, “Interstellar,” with director Christopher Nolan — to help education historian and activistDiane Ravitch promote her much-discussed new book, “Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools.” Damon, whose mom, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, taught a few generations of teachers while a professor at Lesley University, introduced Ravitch to a crowd of students and teachers at California State University Northridge. . . . Closer to home, Luxe Boutique owner Cecil Elrod hosted a fashion show at the Taj Hotel featuring leather, cashmere, and, yes, fur coats. Boldfacers on the runway included Bill Belichick’s significant 

Short Notes: Started From The Border, Now We're Here - The Jose Vilson | The Jose Vilson

Short Notes: Started From The Border, Now We're Here - The Jose Vilson | The Jose Vilson:

Short Notes: Started From The Border, Now We’re Here

by JOSE VILSON on OCTOBER 6, 2013

in SHORT NOTES

Five Things We Wouldn’t Mind The Government Shutting Down

A few notes:

• Please note: Because of my new book coming out in Spring of 2014, I’ve reduced my posting to three times a week: Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
• On Friday, my newsletter sends you my postings, especially for those of you where my blog is banned. Please do subscribe, even if it’s not the case.
• Audrey Watters premiers on The Atlantic with an article about

- See more at: http://thejosevilson.com/short-notes-started-border-now/#sthash.iPaXj4ta.dpuf

Some Advice for My Critics | Diane Ravitch

Some Advice for My Critics | Diane Ravitch:

Some Advice for My Critics

I have been more than thrilled by the response to my new book. Today it is #10 on theNew York Times best seller list, next week it will be #15. My guess is that as more educators and parents read it, they will recommend it to others. I hope they will form study groups to discuss the issues it raises. My hope was to provide indisputable facts about where we are, and research-based evidence about what we need to do to improve our schools and our society-not one first, then the other, but both.

As you might expect, the book is controversial because it disputes the popular narrative that our schools are failing and broken, that we must do all sorts of things that have never been done before, must test more often, more than any other nation in the world, must fire teachers and principals, lay off guidance counselors, social workers and librarians, eliminate the arts to make more time for testing, and close schools. And if we do all these things, 

NYC Educator: On Observation

NYC Educator: On Observation:

On Observation

Reformy John King decreed that NYC teachers must be observed 4 to 6 times annually. Neither the DOE nor the UFT wanted that many observations, but Reformy John taught one year in public school, so he therefore knows better than anyone what is needed. In our school, APs have up to 40 teachers in a department, which means they could easily have to do 200 observations a year.

Of course, they don't need to actually write reports for these observations, unless the teacher has chosen the formal observation method. They could simply pass the teacher in the hall, and say, "Good job," or, "You suck," and that will satisfy the requirement Reformy John set forth. Or they could, if that were too much trouble, email or phone you with those messages. In fact, they could do none of those things, and simply claim to have done so, as far as I can tell. That's good enough for Reformy John. However, they will need to fill out some form for each observation. Because whether or not they bother to give teachers worthwhile feedback, it's important they complete the required paperwork.

It's all about values.

For teachers, a lot depends on whether or not your supervisor is insane. If you have an insane supervisor, making ridiculous demands and interpreting Danielson the way Mayor Bloomberg envisions, it might be time to reexamine your career choice. If you have in place a self-important know it all who hates you and everything you stand for, 

A teacher’s troubling account of giving a 106-question standardized test to 11 year olds:

A teacher’s troubling account of giving a 106-question standardized test to 11 year olds

By Valerie Strauss, Published: October 6 at 1:30 pmE-mail the writer

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Here’s a detailed account from a teacher about the troubling experience she had giving her middle-school class of 11-year-old students a standardized reading diagnostic test, with both oral and written questions.

This appeared on Jessie B. Ramey‘s Yinzercation blog. She teaches women’s studies and history at the University of Pittsburgh.  The test that is being described in this post is Pearson Education’s The GRADE™, or Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation. The Pearson website describes it as

 a diagnostic reading test that determines what developmental skills students Pre-K through 12th grade have mastered and where they need instruction or intervention. And GRADE helps educators with the recommended instruction through correlated follow-up materials. GRADE is group-administered, norm-referenced, and based on scientific research. GRADE provides the components educators need to accurately and efficiently assess reading competencies.

Because the test is a reading diagnostic exam, it does not necessarily carry “high stakes” with it as many other standardized tests do. But, as these teacher describes, there are problems that come with giving kids a slew of standardized tests, whatever the kind.

Here’s the post.

By Jessie B. Ramey

We’re just a month into school and already the testing madness has begun. Many Pittsburgh Public School students have just taken their first round of standardized tests, and it’s time to ask some serious questions about their purpose, the ever-increasing 

State school board may not meet Nov. school grading deadine : Elections

State school board may not meet Nov. school grading deadine : Elections:

State school board may not meet Nov. school grading deadine

12 hours ago  •  By Dan Carden dan.carden@nwi.com, (317) 637-9078

Related Documents

Grew/Sheldrake report on Tony Bennett school grades scandal

Related Links

• Accountability System Review Panel meeting minutes and reports

INDIANAPOLIS | Personality and political conflicts on the State Board of Education make it increasingly likely the panel will fail to set new, effective criteria for rating school performance using A-F grades by Nov. 15, as required by law.

The Republican-appointed board clashed again last week with Glenda Ritz, the elected Democratic state superintendent of public instruction, when she refused -- under her authority as the board's chairwoman -- to rearrange the monthly meeting agenda so new board staff, independent of the Ritz-led Department of Education, could give a report.

Board members Tony Walker, of Gary, and Daniel Elsener, of Indianapolis, spent more than 30 minutes repeatedly demanding the board's rules be suspended so their staff could address the board earlier than scheduled.

Ritz stood her ground. She said the board owes it to Hoosiers attending meetings or watching online to stick to the agenda so the public knows what will be discussed, and when.

Tempers flared again during discussion of the current A-F system for rating Indiana schools that the board created in 2011-12 under Republican former Superintendent Tony Bennett.

Bennett altered the grading scheme without board permission last year and boosted the grades of 165 schools when he discovered a favored kindergarten-ninth grade charter school was set to 

Miss Me Yet?

NBC’s “Education Nation” to include Jesse Hagopian on MAP test boycott–Live on Sun, Oct. 6, 12:00-2:00 PM ET - I AM AN EDUCATOR

I AM AN EDUCATOR | Jesse Hagopian's Lesson Plan for Liberation:

NBC’s “Education Nation” to include Jesse Hagopian on MAP test boycott–Live on Sun, Oct. 6, 12:00-2:00 PM ET

By I AM AN EDUCATOR on October 4, 2013 | 1 Comment

Garfield High School teacher Jesse Hagopian will speak about the MAP test boycott on the live national broadcast of MSNBC’s Education Nation “Teacher Town Hall,” at 12:00 – 2:00 PM ET/9:00—11:00 AM PT.

NBC’s annual “Education Nation” summit is a three day extravaganza exploring “What It Takes” for the nation “to ensure students are successfully prepared for college, career and beyond” as they put it.  This should be an important opportunity to raise the big questions about the direction of public education.  NBC, however, has come under increasing fire for marginalizing the voices of educators who are critical of the corporate education reform agenda. 

While not allowing many important voices of those who oppose these corporate reforms on the panel discussions at Education Nation, NBC has agreed to highlight the story of the MAP test boycott in Seattle and will call on me to speak about it at the “Teacher Town Hall” event.  It is clear that the power of the testing boycott could not be denied, as it has become a source of inspiration for a growing national movement to reclaim public education from those who seek to reduce the intellectual process of teaching and learning to single number–and then use that score to close schools, fire teachers, or stop students from graduating.

Spread the word and tune in to watch my challenge to the high-stakes testing!

Sign up to follow Jesse Hagopian’s blog at http://www.IAmAnEducator.com

Follow Jesse Hagopian on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/JessedHagopian

10-6-13 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

Sister Corita Kent and authentic education reform

"Nothing is a mistake. There's no win and no fail. There's only make." — Sister Corita Kent My dear friend Cheryl Ortega, UTLA's Director of Bilingual Education, sent me the following link this morning: How a Screenprinting Nun Changed the Course of Modern Art. Along with it she wrote "I was privileged to have studied with Corita at Immaculate Heart College." Reading and refl

2 by Robert D. Skeels ... / 14min mark as read  //  save

Mitch Daniels Back Home Again With the Racist and Poor-Bashing Filthy Rich

By Doug Martin Before heading out with our Tea Party governor Mike Pence to appear on a panel entitled "Disrupting Higher Ed" at NBC's corporate school commercial Education Nation, Mitch Daniels, former Hoosier governor and current president of Purdue University, will be in Minneapolis tomorrow hanging out and keynoting a big gala event at the Center of the American Experiment on slashin

27 by Doug Martin / 42min 

Colorado Parents See Wizard Behind the Curtain

"It's time to unite our community""Teachers can be silenced, but you can't fire a parent""Teacher morale will improve overnight when we get our four candidates elected""Parents, teachers students rallying together to win schools back"Listen to this radio broadcast from Douglas County, CO @thechalkface radio to get a nuanced look into the brilliant way ALEC a

by Judy Rabin / 58min 

Overcoming Rhetoric

I've somewhat wondered where the "society" publication is for American Eugenicists.  They must have a club or association of some kind.  It seems all professionals do--birds of a feather and such.This country in particular has striven to plan its future on a very grand scale.  What better way than through forced education (for the good of the citizen) to manage a population--to funnel pe

1 by Douglas Storm / 16min 

10-5-13 -13 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter:  Schools Matter All WeekThe Great Phonics Debate Again! This time in AustraliaPhonics debate in The Australianhttp://tinyurl.com/prp2ucvContents: Our letter, then two responses, then our responseThe (limited) impact of heavy phonics instructionPublished in The Australian, Oct 1, 2013 as "Foster Love of Reading"In "Bad teaching kills reading skills," (Sept. 30) J

1 by mike simpson / 1h 

Paying Economists by Hair Color? Thoughts on Masters Degrees & Teacher Compensation | School Finance 101

Paying Economists by Hair Color? Thoughts on Masters Degrees & Teacher Compensation | School Finance 101:

Paying Economists by Hair Color? Thoughts on Masters Degrees & Teacher Compensation

Posted on October 6, 2013

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In previous posts, I’ve conveyed my distaste for the oft obsessively narrow thinking of the traditional labor economist when engaged in education policy research. I’ve picked on the assumption that greed and personal interest are necessarily the sole driving force of all human rational decision making. And I’ve picked on the obsession with narrow and circular validity tests.Yet still, sometimes, I see quotes from researchers I otherwise generally respect, that completely blow my mind.

I gotta say, this quote from Tom Kane of Harvard regarding compensation for teachers holding masters degrees is right up there with the worst of them – most notably because it conveys such an obscenely narrow perspective of compensation policies (public or private sector) and broader complexities of labor market dynamics.

The quote comes to us from the Wall Street Journal the other day:

“Paying teachers on the basis of master’s degrees is equivalent to paying them based on hair color,” said Thomas J. Kane, an economist at the Harvard Graduate 

Let stockholdersfirst manage your children's education! - STOCKHOLDERSFIRST

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Education: too precious to be managed by teachers!
Let stockholdersfirst manage your children's education!
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Your love of education can get you a seat as you wait for the closing bell!

Friend us on Reddit! 

Our three Rs are Rally, Revenue, and Rate of Return. There's no Risk because it's public money!

Like us on Facebook!

We know all the capital markets.

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The school day ends at 3 pm, but at stockholdersfirst we put in a full business day.

And do whatever it is done over at tumblr. We haven't figured it out yet.

Two People Who Need a Talking To This Monday | WeArePCAPS

Two People Who Need a Talking To This Monday | WeArePCAPS:

Two People Who Need a Talking To This Monday

Posted on October 6, 2013

Who is driving this Train Wreck?

by wearepcaps

Last Thursday we unwelcomed Tom Corbett when he rode into Drexel to dedicate a new school of business. His office put out a media advisory that he’s coming to join Urban Outfitters this Monday to unveil a new project at the Navy Yard. But after we decided to greet him in our customary fashion, they switched up and now are sayning the Lt. Governor will pinch hit. Maybe Tom got cold feet. No matter. We will be on hand to make the point that Philadelphians hold his administration responsible for the crisis in our schools. We call on people to join us in fighting back against the class warfare policies that Corbett and his allies are imposing on people across our state.

We will gather at 8:30 a.m., 12th and Market Sts.

Also Tomorrow, Superintendent William Hite will be speaking on a panel at NBC’s Education Nation. The panel’s title is “What It Takes: Keeping Up With the Competition.” It’ll be about K-12 education and international competition.

Let’s bombard the Education Nation with tweets about Hite, about the state of Philly schools, about standing with teachers and students.  Kate Graham of AFT will be live tweeting on the scene so feel free to retweet.

Things to remember
- Date/Time: Monday, October 7 at 8:35a – 9:00a
- Hashtags: #EducationNation and #phillyeducation
- Theme: What It Takes
- Hite’s handle: @SDPHite

Stand for Children Stands for the Rich and the Powerful… | Seattle Education

Stand for Children Stands for the Rich and the Powerful… | Seattle Education:

Stand for Children Stands for the Rich and the Powerful…

…who want to break the backs of the teachers’ unions.

Many of us have said that before, now you can see and hear it for yourselves.

This video was taken at the Aspen Ideas Festival which is heavily funded by Bill Gates. Stand For Children’s Co-Founder Jonah Edelman explains how he, with the support of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Arne Duncan’s  senior advisor Jo Anderson, out foxed the Chicago teachers’ union.

This is where the money that Stand for Children raises actually goes to, to gain power for the billionaire boyz club,  DFER and all of those hedge fund millionaires who want to take over and privatize our pubic schools.

SFC received $4.5M last year from Bill Gates and $3M from wealthy donors for 

Stand ON Children First: New AstroTurf from Teacher in the Box

Just Like Michelle Rhee's Students first only BETTER

Astroturf lobbying refers to political organizations or campaigns that appear to be made up of grassroots activists but are actually organized and run by corporate interests seeking to further their own agendas. Such groups are often typified by innocent-sounding names that have been chosen specifically to disguise the group's true backers

Just Like Michelle Rhee's Students first Astroturf lobbying (only Better) 

10-6-13 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:

Note to Illinois retirees about information posted here about the Medicare Advantage option.

I have received a number of comments that make claims about the new Medicare Advantage option replacing what was available to retirees under TRIP. I simply am not posting those comments until more information comes out from IEA and other official sources. I am aware that there are problems using only those sources. I, like many readers, cannot yet wrap my head around all the changes and I don’t wa

by Fred Klonsky / 0min 

Deform school.

1 by Fred Klonsky / 4min 

Matt Taibbi RS pension story follow-up. “Democrats in bed with Wall Street in pension theft.”

  Rhode Island State Treasurer Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, has declared war on public pensions. AP Photo: Steven Senne Several weeks ago Rolling Stone magazine ran a story by Matt Taibbi which blew the cover off the current massive public pension theft. In a follow-up piece just out, Taibbi discusses the Democratic Party’s role in the pension theft and the goal of turning defined benefit pension

4 by Fred Klonsky / 34min 

Sunday reads.

Bill Moyers talks about the Chicago Workers Cooperative – organizing workers to bring down the barriers. Latest polls. Because of the government shutdown, the Republicans would lose the House if the election were held today. I saw The Trials of Muhammad Ali last night. See it when it comes to your town. The WaPo’s Valerie Strauss and Diane Ravitch have a talk. Brunch in New York. MORE please. The

1 by Fred Klonsky / 14min 

10-5-13 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:Fred Klonsky's Daily postsResponding to protests, CMS/HMS push back cleansing deadline to December 6th.As a result of protest from across the state, including to and from this blog, the Illinois Central Management System – which manages the Teachers Retirement Insurance Program (TRIP) – has pushed back

1 by mike simpson / 1h