10-21-13 Wait What?

Wait What?:

Major court victory in the fight against racial profiling in Connecticut

As we’ve seen over the past few years, Connecticut’s record is an ugly one when it comes to the existence of racial profiling. As noted in a Wait, What? column this past summer entitled “America’s Most Un-American Tradition: Racial Profiling,” Connecticut’s political leaders get failing grades for stepping up to confront the very real presence […]The post Major court victory in the fight against r

2 by jonpelto / 0min 

Kenneth H. Moales… You are wanted by the Connecticut State Police

As Kenneth H. Moales knows, there is an outstanding warrant for his arrest. Some people can’t seem to grasp the concept that in a nation of laws, the law applies to everyone. Kenneth Moales Jr. may be Mayor Bill Finch’s campaign treasurer.  He may be Chairman of the Bridgeport Board of Education (for a few […]The post Kenneth H. Moales… You are wanted by the Connecticut State Police (Literally) ap

3 by jonpelto / 1h 

Can you give Wait,What? a helping hand?

Wait,What? Needs Your Help - And a number of readers have already stepped forward. The generous financial support of readers, along with limited advertising revenue, is the only financial support that Wait, What? receives. Please consider making a donation today by going to https://fundly.com/wait-what-needs-your-help-october-2013   With your continued help Wait, What? will continue its work […]Th

1 by jonpelto / 4min 

10-19-13 Wait What?

Wait What?:Wait,What? Needs Your HelpWait,What? Needs Your Help To Donate please go to:  https://fundly.com/wait-what-needs-your-help-october-2013 Dear Friends, Wait, What? needs your help. The generous financial support of readers, along with limited advertising revenue, is the only financial support that Wait, What? receives. Previous donations came in from across the state and throughout the na

1 by mike simpson / 8h 

10-20-13 Wait What?

Wait What?: The Blogger EduShyster’s Article: “Steve Perry Talks to White People”If you’ve read  yesterday’s post, “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” (aka the Steve Perry story) and reviewed the other Wait, What? blog posts on Hartford, Connecticut’s Capital Prep Principal, Steve Perry, you have a pretty good sense of how this self-righteous, holier than thou, bully handles himself.

by mike simpson / 8h 

Technology Will Not Replace Teachers | toteachornototeach

Technology Will Not Replace Teachers | toteachornototeach:

Technology Will Not Replace Teachers 

by Jeff Dunn and Katie Dunn

There is an onslaught of technology on the modern classroom. Teachers, administrators, parents, and students alike are being told that technology is the whetstone with which we can all sharpen our education system. Technology can open doors, expand minds, and change the world.

That may be true, but it’s not the panacea that it’s been made out to be. As much innovation as the iPad may bring to the classroom, it’s not going to replace a teacher anytime soon. In fact, the influx of technology like iPads means there is a greater need for teachers. We need teachers who are part early adopter, part integrator, and part mad scientist. The modern teacher must be willing to take chances and able to figure out how not just how technology works, but how it works for each student, and where its use is most appropriate.

Personalized tech-infused learning is the future of education. We started Edudemic to share the best education technology resources. Now it’s no longer good enough to just 

10-21-13 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

The Ultimate Washington Kopp-Out: "Highly-Qualified" Teacher = Corporate Missionary with 15 Hours Experience

Wendy Kopp and her gang of creepy recruiters for TFA have established themselves as the main missionary source for expanding control of segregated urban schools to benefit the international corporate socialist movement of Capitalists Without Borders.  With the blessing of the Obama Administration, Tom Harkin was able to slip a provision through last week that entirely nullifies the concept of &quo

2 by Jim Horn / 5min 

The Facts about Diane Ravitch's So-called "Rain of Errors"

I rode the Reign of Error review horse as far as I intended. But, Mike Petrilli issued his “Rain of Error,” lambasting Diane Ravitch in the National Review Online. He may be the first reformer to challenge Ravitch’s evidence and logic, as opposed to complaining about her use of the words “privatize” and “corporate reform.” Petrilli supplemented the standard, conservative soundbites with some links

2 by John Thompson / 18min

The cost of the CC$$

Sent to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 20Poorer districts will be hit the hardest, but every district in the country will suffer financially from the common core standards. Not mentioned in "Poorer schools districts feel at a loss over new common core standards," (October 20) is the fact that the common core will require an astonishing amount of testing and the testing must be done

by skrashen / 5h 

10-20-13 Schools Matter

Schools Matter: Comrpehensible instruction AND peer-interactionRe: "An English-plan outcry," October 20: Sent to the LA Times, Oct 20Both sides are right in the LAUSD debate over English development: Decades of research tells us that we acquire language when we understand what we hear and read. Our goal is thus to provide both comprehensible instruction and peer interaction.A solution is

by mike simpson / 3h

10-21-13 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL:

MY LATEST BOOK

"Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching" is an edited compilation from my Ed Week teacher advice column, along with new materials.

Student Interactive On The Importance Of Learning From Mistakes

My latest New York Times post for English Language Learners is on pronouns, learning from mistakes, and J.K. Rowling. It includes a student interactive and teaching ideas…. I’m adding it to The Best Posts, Articles & Videos About Learning From Mistakes & Failures.

2 by Larry Ferlazzo / 53min 

10-20-13 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: MY LATEST BOOK"Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching" is an edited compilation from my Ed Week teacher advice column, along with new materials.Great Video Clips For ELLs: “The 25 Most Suspenseful Movies Ever Made”Flavorwire has just posted The 25 Most Suspenseful Movies Ever Made – with vid

by mike simpson / 6h 

Best Practices and Bad Habits (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Best Practices and Bad Habits (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Best Practices and Bad Habits (Part 2)

Transfer of learning appears to be a simple concept. What you learn in the family or learn in school  can be applied in different situations outside of the family and the classroom. Learning Spanish, for example, helps later in learning Italian. Learning to get along with an older brother or sister helps in learning how to get along with others later in life. Learning math in middle school helps one in high school physics. It doesn’t always work that way, however.

In Part 1,  I described how I taught a two-week unit on specific critical thinking skills useful to understand history and use in daily life in the early 1960s. My theory was that teaching these thinking skills directly one after the other at the very beginning of the semester would lead to students applying them when I 

10-21-13 Jersey Jazzman

Jersey Jazzman:

Star-Ledger: Christie Stinks, But We Hate Teachers Unions More

When it comes to generating illogical, incoherent, self-contradictory claptrap, Editorial Page Editor Tom Moran and his merry crew at the Star-Ledger never fail to disappoint. But their idiotic and shameful endorsement of Chris Christie for governor - a man they admit has been an abject failure in Trenton - is a new low. An embarrassment of ignorance, Moran and the S-L's endorsement proves once ag

7 by Duke / 33min   

10-19-13 Jersey Jazzman

Jersey Jazzman:The Reformy Campaign Finance Machine Goes To GeorgiaLast spring, I happened - by sheer luck - to come across an unannounced, coordinated campaign finance machine, put together to support reformy candidates in school board and state-level races across the country. This machine distributed more than one-quarter million dollars to small, obscure races that had never seen this level of

1 by mike simpson / 8h 

10-21-13 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.:

Illinois retirees are just pawns in the political games of Cullerton and Madigan.

My friend and blogger John Dillon gets it right. As usual. In Illinois, nothing but uncertainty, anxiety and distrust.  For hundreds of thousands of people working and retired.   You say it’s not a crisis, Senator, and I quite honestly would agree.  It is a debt and revenue problem, one caused by the diversion of required contributions by the General Assembly for other perks and programs.  But t

1 by Fred Klonsky / 36min

Medicare Advantage in Illinois. Don’t try selling the Brooklyn Bridge to a retiree.

Since the letter from CMS regarding the Medicare Advantage details came out I have received lots of comments and emails. We are a suspicious bunch. Why on earth would that be? Experience! The wording from IRTA Executive Director Jim Bachman that was passed along today was that any doctor who takes Medicare must take Medicare Advantage. Right away I received messages from retirees who had called th

by Fred Klonsky / 2min

The in box. Skokie Review (Sun-Times) on S.O.R.E. action at Biss’ office.

The Skokie Review: SKOKIE — The retired teachers say they had a deal about their pensions and now state legislators like Sen. Daniel Biss, D-9, are trying to break it. “It’s like Obamacare and what the Tea Partiers tried to do,” said retired Park Ridge teacher Fred Klonsky, who is leading a new group called S.O.R.E. — Skokie Organization of Retired Teachers — to try to protect their pensions. “It

by Fred Klonsky / 3min 

“We will fight for our pensions if we have to see our shoes.”

Outgoing Illinois Retired Teachers Association President Gary Elmen. IRTA President Gary Elmen addressed over 300 delegates to the 35,000 member organization’s state meeting today in Springfield. We are meeting on the eve of the Fall veto session of the Illinois General Assembly. “We will fight if we have to sell our shoes,” Elmen told the crowd who gave him a standing ovation at the end of his s

by Fred Klonsky / 39min 

CMS letter on Illinois retiree Medicare supplemental.

Illinois state retirees have been holding their breath and many were fearing the worst these past weeks. Today Central Management Services released some of the information that retirees who are Medicare eligible and using the state health care system have been waiting for. For most the news will be good for a change. Although every individual has different needs, the news of the plan produced an a

by Fred Klonsky / 4min 

Cullerton comes clean. “It’s not a pension issue. It’s a revenue issue.”

As I throw a few things into a bag and head down to Springfield for the state meeting of the Illinois Retired Teachers Association and the Fall veto session of the General Assembly, I’m checking out the Chicago Trib. Senate President John Cullerton admits that this is no pension problem. It’s a revenue problem. And where have we heard this before? It’s what we have been saying for years! Illinois

1 by Fred Klonsky / 46min 

10-20-13 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.: The in box. “So much for public input.”Fred, It seems at the stakkeholders meeting on Thursday, Oct. 17 (at least for representatives of retirees in the CIP program, though I’m sure there was a similar meeting for “stakeholders” for TRIP), that SUAA bought into the everything is going to be fine, now

by mike simpson / 7h 

10-21-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

NYSED Commissioner King Makes First Common Core Meeting By "Invitation-Only"

From WNYT: Town hall education forums, canceled due to disruptions, will be rescheduled. After the first in a series of public meetings scheduled to discuss the controversial common core curriculum became unruly in Poughkeepsie last week, Education Commissioner John King called off the remaining forums in the state. According to the state Education Department, new events will be scheduled around t

by reality-based edu... / 35min 

Quinnipiac Poll: 53% Say Do Not Add More Charter Schools

Buried in the crosstabs of the Quinnipiac poll on the mayoral race released tonight is this question:As you may know, charter schools are operated by private or non-profit organizations.The schools are paid for with public funds and do not charge tuition. Do you think the next Mayor should increase the number of charter schools, decrease the number of charter schools, or keep the number of charter

by reality-based edu... / 2min 

Bloomberg, Media Hypocrisy Over Charter Schools

Charter schools do not have to use the state's teacher evaluation system to evaluate teachers.Most charter schools in the city have chosen not to use it.Considering how badly designed and harmful it is, that's a good idea on their part.The UFT runs a charter school that opted not to use the evaluation system.Mayor Bloomberg and the Post hammered the UFT charter school for opting out of the evaluat

by reality-based edu... / 5min 

Siena Poll: Public Does Not Approve Of Cuomo's Handling Of Public Education

Latest Siena poll released this morning finds 29% of New Yorkers think Andrew Cuomo is doing an excellent or good job handling public education issues while 66% think he is doing a fair or poor job handing those issues.You can see the crosstabs from that poll here.Regionally the break down goes like this:NYC - 60% think he is doing a fair/poor job on education.Suburbs - 66% think he is doing a fai

by reality-based edu... / 42min mark as read  //  save

Parents Will NOT Be Fooled By John King's And Merryl Tisch's Common Core Propaganda Extravaganza

A commenter at the Journal News on the newly announced Common Core parent forums:A show of hands ... who expects these new, controlled and smaller venues to actually open more communication lines with parents?C'mon, Commissioner King ... not a soul is fooled. You want to control the dialogue ... something you tried a week or so ago ... with wretched results. Not a soul wants to see you squirm or s

by reality-based edu... / 3h 

10-20-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Why Won't NYSED Commissioner John King Hold A Common Core Meeting In NYC?.@jessicabakeman pl ask Tisch or King why no forums out of 16 to take place in NYC where 1/3 of all students reside— leonie haimson (@leoniehaimson) October 19, 2013Surely Bloomberg and Walcott can provide the same NYPD cops they have at the PEP rubber stamp meetings to make sure NYSED Commissioner John

by mike simpson / 9h 

Teach For America — America’s fastest growing political organization?:

Teach For America — America’s fastest growing political organization?

• BY VALERIE STRAUSS

• October 21 at 4:00 am

Money and more money.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

In recent years we’ve seen the rise of big money being poured into local school board races from well outside the district, or city or even state where the election is being held. Millions were spent, for example, in Los Angeles school board races earlier this year. In April Ipublished a piece by a teacher in New Jersey who blogs under the name “Jersey Jazzman” about the financing of a local school board campaign, and here is a new one, about another election and the same pattern of outside funding.  A version of this appeared on the Jersey Jazzman blog.

By Jersey Jazzman

Last spring, I came across an unannounced, coordinated campaign finance machine, put together to support reform candidates in school board and state-level races across the country. This machine distributed more than one-quarter million dollars to small, 

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Things I hear…

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Things I hear…:

Things I hear…

 When everything new seems like something old, sometimes it isn’t…

You should go in and observe teachers with seniority, not new teachers, because when I talk to them, they are very excited about being able to teach again and not just work from a textbook
-paraphrasing comments at October 17th Sacramento City Unified School District board meeting on the instructional changes happening with Common Core
This is just like when I was starting teaching, and we were doing thematic units, etc., but the thing was we really didn’t have lesson plans like we are being asked to write now, because we were all kind of 

The Educated Reporter: Guest Post: Obama's College Proposal - The Shape of Ratings to Come

The Educated Reporter: Guest Post: Obama's College Proposal - The Shape of Ratings to Come:

Guest Post: Obama's College Proposal - The Shape of Ratings to Come

(Photo by Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

EWA held its annual Higher Education Seminar recently at Boston's Northeastern University. We invited some of the education journalists in attendance to contribute posts from the sessions. Today's guest blogger is Mary Beth Marklein of USA Today. For more content from the seminar, including stories, podcasts, video, check out EdMedia Commons. 

The subtitle for the EWA session on Obama’s higher education proposal asked, “Will Performance Ratings Hurt Student Access?”

The short answer: Who knows?

Education Secretary Arne Duncan has said his department plans to begin public hearings for input on what factors the department should consider as it prepares to rate colleges on access, affordability and outcomes. So without details on what data and methodology would be used to produce the ratings, the discussion at EWA’s seminar held last month at Northeastern University focused less on whether colleges might try to game the system but on whether it’s possible to design a rating protocol that manages to avoid any number of unintended consequences and where such