12-18-13 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

David Coleman's Common Core Shows How Less Can Be More, Boring

Somehow I missed this in October from Perdido Street, but it is priceless:NYSED ELA Lesson Module - 17 Days On One Short StoryAs I posted earlier this week, the teachers who have had the misfortune to have to use the Common Core lesson modules provided by NYSED at a website they call Engage NY have found that the material is so full of mind-numbing, soul-sucking drudgery that they had lost the int

2 by Jim Horn / 21min 

Times Editorial Board: Let's Be More Like Finland Except for Everything

We know what to expect when the NYTimes moneymen call on their token minority, Brent Staples, to craft an Editorial of the Absurd on CorpEd's antiquated reforms that have effectively blown up public education along with the teaching profession.  Staples' most recent effort does not disappoint, as he uses the most recent PISA release to apply his pretzel logic and funhouse lenses to make sense of t

2 by Jim Horn / 2min 

The Fight Against School Reform Is a Fight for Children

Why did commenters say that Diane Ravitch's, "What Happens to Kids Who Don't Graduate?" is her best post ever? Ravitch reviews the dramatic drop in Kentucky and New York pass rates after instituting Common Core assessments: In New York, the “passing” rate on the Common Core tests was 30% statewide. Only 3% of English learners passed, and only 5% of students with disabilities. The pass ra

4 by John Thompson / 1h

Pittsburgh School Board Reconsiders TFA Deal As Real Teachers File for Unemployment

From the Post-Gazette:The board of Pittsburgh Public Schools heard from a dozen people Monday -- most of them teachers -- who oppose the district's plan to bring in Teach for America teachers to take hard-to-fill jobs at its most challenging schools.The outgoing school board voted 6-3 in November to approve a contract with Teach for America, despite a petition that asked them to defer the decision

by Jim Horn / 26min 

Accountability without Autonomy Is Tyranny

At The Answer Sheet, Valerie Strauss confronts What’s wrong with this headline?:What’s wrong with this headline speaks to what’s wrong with a lot of the debate about school reform today. The problem is the indiscriminate and inaccurate use of the word “accountability.”While politicians and the media continue to pound at one nail—teacher quality—almost no one confronts the nearly universal lack of

2 by P. L. Thomas / 13min 

12-17-13 Schools Matter

Schools Matter: MIT Researchers: Higher Test Scores Do Not Translate into Higher Levels of ThinkingMIT Researchers: Higher Test Scores Do Not Translate into Higher Levels of Thinking http://t.co/edCbAClW1g— Diane Ravitch (@DianeRavitch) December 17, 2013 MIT Researchers: Higher Test Scores Do Not Translate into Higher Levels of Thinking via Professor Diane Ravitchby Robert D. Skeels  12-16-13 Scho

by mike simpson / 8h 

12-18-13 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education:

Controversial Maverick’s Charter School Earns an F for 2012

From Palm Beach Post writer Jason Schultz: In all, about 60 percent of all public high schools including traditional, charter and alternative programs got A or B grades. The grades are based in large part on Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test results as well as things such as graduation, participation in advanced placement classes and scores on other tests such as the ACT. One traditional distr

3 by Bob Sikes / 27min 

Common Core’s Not the Problem; It’s the “Other Stuff”

New York is a step ahead of Florida. They have implemented Common Core and  administered the state-wide tests that go with them. The roll-out proved to be a disaster. Politicians develop education policy after listening  to lobbyists and folks who are paid by the testing industry. Lynne Erdle, the superintendent of schools in Canandaigua, New York does a good job explaining where educators are com

21 by Bob Sikes / 3h 

12-17-13 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education: To Plug Common Core, Michelle Rhee’s Florida Rep Says Florida Schools Are “Failing Our Kids”Following the lead of her boss to use the recent release of PISA scores to promote Common Core, Michelle Rhee’s Florida representative Nikki Lowrey wrote an opinion piece for the

by mike simpson / 8h 

12-18-13 Open Congress : Major Bill Actions Education This Week - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress

Education - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress:

Bill Introduced: H.R. 3604: Protecting Education Privacy Act

To clarify the requirements of authorized representatives under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, and for other purposes.

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Bill Introduced: S. 1796: STEM Gateways Act

A bill to increase the participation of women, girls, and underrepresented minorities in STEM fields, to encourage and support students from all economic backgrounds to pursue STEM career opportunities, and for other purposes.

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Bill Introduced: H.R. 3690: STEM Gateways Act

To increase the participation of women, girls, and underrepresented minorities in STEM fields, to encourage and support students from all economic backgrounds to pursue STEM career opportunities, and for other purposes.

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12-14-13 Open Congress : Major Bill Actions Education This Week - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress

Education - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress: mark as readBill Introduced: S. 1777: Innovate America ActA bill to support innovation, and for other purposes.7h Bill Introduced: H.R. 3545: Collegiate Student Athlete Protection ActTo protect the academic futures of collegiate student athletes.7d Bill Introduced: H.R. 3532: Protecting Student Athletes From Concussions Act of 2013To promote State requirem

1 by mike simpson / 7h 

12-18-13 Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog:

Bullet revolution

     Nearly a decade ago, many people believed that led bullets were extreamly harmful to the eviornment. Today, lead bullets are bieng heavily regulated and even banned. Experts state that in a few years, lead bullets will be replace with green, enviornment friendly bullets.     Opposers of the idea argut that the changes will cost more and have a lil effect. However, switching from lead will pro

by Loni Pooi / 9min 

The Obama Administration Permits Eagle Deaths

         Wind Turbines, standing nearly 30 stories tall, spin up to 170 miles per hour. Creating a tornado like vortex they are the cause of approximately 600,000 avian and bat fatalities each year, 83,000 being raptors such as the federally protected bald eagle. Under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act eagles are under the protection of the federal government “prohibiting the take, possessi

1 by Ray LeBeau / 48min 

Handguns and 3D printers

http://www.longisland.com/news/12-17-13/for-the-first-time-a-fully-operational-plastic-handgun-was-legally-made-using-a-3d-printer.htmlJust published today this article  reports the opinions of  politicians on the the manufacturing of plastic weaponry via the use of home 3D printers and the  bill to make them illegal. For those that do not  know a 3D printers are able to print objects out of molde

by Carlos Cruz / 8h hide  //  save

Harvard student receives big punishment for bombing the university.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/harvard-student-made-bomb-threats-to-get-out-of-exam-cops-say/20 year old, Eldo Kim, was fined $250,000 and placed in confinement for 5 years for making bomb threats just to avoid taking an exam. Kim sent emails, anonymously, saying that the're bombs planted under Harvard. Even though Kim had a sneaky plan, investigators were still able to catch him. Click link for more

by Vincent Chan / 8h 

Dog Saves Man's Life.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/blind-man-guide-dog-hit-by-subway-train-in-nyc/Orlando, a black Labrador, saved 61 year old blind man, Cecil Williams, by helping the man get up when he was struck by a train. The man loves the dog for saving his life and must give him up because the dog is too old and Williams' insurance only covers working dogs. Without the help of his insurance, Williams can not keep

by Vincent Chan / 9h  

12-17-13 Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog: Syrian Refugees Flee to BulgariaSyrian refugees have fled to Bulgaria, Europe's poorest country. Thousands of refugees have come into these camps, meant for only 400. The camps do not have electricity or hot water. The camp commandant, Pepy Dzurenov claimed, "The camp was full to capacity, but when a family with five to ten children arrive at midnight, they don't h

by mike simpson / 8h 

12-18-13 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.:

Ten minute drawing. Bruce Almighty.

2 by Fred Klonsky / 39min 

Nicole Walker and pension thief Ron Sandack.

Gee Ron, What a disappointment this smoke screen was of asking our opinions. You didn’t have time to read the volume of responses before you voted to back this bill. You intended to support it all along, so why lie to the people? The Naperville Sun quoted you as saying “Sandack said he voted in favor of the pension reform bill because he thought something needed to be done.” Did you rea

by Fred Klonsky / 25min 

Me and Nekritz on Al Jazeera America.

I would like to think my media reach is constantly expanding. I have my blog, of course. It just got its 1.5 millionth site visit the other day. And my appearances on Chicago public access cable’s Ken Davis. His audience isn’t huge. But it’s always fun. Katy Hogan and Mike Jame have had me on their Saturday morning Live from the Heartland show. Again, not a huge audience. But I like to think it is

5 by Fred Klonsky / 42min 

“We’re all in this together,” says pension thief Senator Dan Kotowski.

Illinois state representatives and senators have been furiously sending letters home to their constituents justifying their #pension theft. I’ll be posting all or parts of them. This from Park Ridge Senator Dan Kotowski: My job as a public servant is to do what is right and necessary, but not necessarily what is popular. I know that you are frustrated and upset and you have every right to

by Fred Klonsky / 3h 

12-17-13 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.: Running for governor in Bizarro World.For several years I have been writing about Illinois party politics as Bizarro World. As a kid Bizarro World was one of my favorite comic books. It portrayed a world in which all assumptions were turned inside out and upside down. It has prepared me for life as an

by mike simpson / 7h 

12-18-13 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:

More on de Blasio Chicago-based Consulting

A follow-up to our piece yesterday: DeBlasio Shadow Transition Includes Advice from Rahm EmanuelRBE at Perdido: De Blasio Uses Ed Deformer-Tied Consulting Group For Transition Team That story that Dana Rubenstein broke at Capital NY about Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio using a Bloomberg-funded consultant group suggested by Rahm Emanuel to run his transition team in secret just gets worse and worse:Re

by ed notes online / 37min 

 

12-17-13 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: Back to the Bataan Death MarchWell, it's time to get back to the fray. I take a week off and head to Delray Florida for some serious tanning and eating and fraternizing and shit happened while I was gone. Well, I hope you've all been reading the fabulous bloggers on my blog roll to keep up. I am way behind. (I find it real hard to do much blogging while at the beach.) And it was o

by mike simpson / 8h

12-18-13 teacherken at Daily Kos Obama to Putin on Sochi - look at our delegation

teacherken at Daily Kos:

. and now it is ten years

If you go to my Daily Kos user page you will discover .. my user ID is 4334   (slinkerwink came immediately after me) .. I joined on Dec. 19, 2003 .. with this diary I have now posted 3233 diaries (I did delete two) .. I have, with the automatic tip jar posted 53334 comments I first glanced at Daily Kos on Saturday, November 29.  I had gone to New Hampshire to volunteer for Howard Dean, and in the

2 by rss@dailykos.com ... / 8min 

Breaking story - Va Gov McDonnell & wife facing criminal charges

In a just out Washington Post story, we learn In probe of Va. Gov. McDonnell, prosecutors agreed to delay decision on charges. First two paragraphs: Federal prosecutors told Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell last week that he and his wife would be charged in connection with a gift scandal, but senior Justice Department officials delayed the decision after the McDonnells’ attorneys made a face-to-f

6 by rss@dailykos.com ... / 30min 

Obama to Putin on Sochi - look at our delegation

No, the President did not exactly say "in your face" on the anti-gay law. But consider 1.  for the first time ever US delegations for opening and closing ceremonies will not include the President, First Lady, or Vice-President 2.  The head of the US delegation, Janet Napolitano, has never married and is widely considered in political circles in DC to be gay, although here I must note car

1 by rss@dailykos.com ... / 2h 

12-17-13 teacherken at Daily Kos It’s simple: Either we demand our privacy — loudly — or we kiss it goodbye.

Daily Kos: It’s simple: Either we demand our privacy — loudly — or we kiss it goodbye.: It’s simple: Either we demand our privacy — loudly — or we kiss it goodbye.That is the concluding line of Demand your privacy, Eugene Robinson's Tuesday Washington Post column, written in response to the ruling yesterday by Judge Richard J. Leon that the NSA's gathering of metadata data on our phone calls is li

by mike simpson / 8h