2-19-14 Wait What?

Wait What?:

Is the Education Committee’s Common Core Informational Forum a joke?

The Democratic controlled Education Committee has scheduled an Informational Forum on the Common Core on Friday, February 28, 2014 at 10:00 A.M. in Room 2C of the Legislative Office Building.  As presently designed, only invited guests will be allowed to speak. A number of sources have confirmed that at this point the speakers will be Governor […]The post Is the Education Committee’s Common Core I

by jonpelto / 2min 

Wait, What? 2014 Gubernatorial Election Readers Survey

Wait, What? readers; It is time once again to conduct a Wait, What? 2014 Gubernatorial Election Readers Survey. Although the results are unscientific, since it does not survey a random sample of Connecticut voters, the results always prove interesting. You can take the survey via the following link: Wait, What? 2014 Gubernatorial Election Readers Survey The […]The post Wait, What? 2014 Gubernatori

5 by jonpelto / 24min 

No real financial support for public schools, but plenty more for charter schools (especially Bridgeport)

When Dan Malloy was running for governor he pledged to make adequate funding for Connecticut’s public schools a priority. Instead Malloy introduced the most anti-teacher, anti-union, anti-public education corporate education reform industry initiative of any Democratic governor in the country. Rather than use state education funds to support local schools and take some of the […]The post No real f

by jonpelto / 1h 

2-19-14 Wait What?

Wait What?: Connecticut Education Committee members hear from a CT educatorA number of Connecticut legislators have told constituents that Governor Malloy and Commissioner Stefan Pryor are implementing education policies that are very different from what they were told during the 2012 debate that lead up to the passage of Malloy’s “education reform” legislation. Here is a letter that James D. Trif

by mike simpson / 8h 

2-20-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet:

What if Google ran the college application process?

If you have ever been through the college admissions process, or your child has, or, if anybody you have ever known has been remotely connected to it, then you know how crazy it is. In this post, Jon Boeckenstedt, associate vice president for enrollment management and marketing at DePaul University in Chicago writes about the […]    

2 by Valerie Strauss / 23min 

#ResistTFA popular on Twitter

A student-led campaign against Teach For America took to Twitter this week and has been proving to be popular, at one point more so than tweets with the Olympic hashtag. The Twitter effort is being led by Students United for Public Education, a grassroots, student-led organization founded by Stephanie Rivera, a Rutgers University Graduate School of […]    

6 by Valerie Strauss / 5h   

2-19-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet: How children learn to readHow do children really learn to read? Answering that question is  Joanne Yatvin, a past president of the National Council of Teachers of English who now supervises student teachers for Portland State University. She also writes books for teachers. By Joanne Yatvin A few months before my fifth birthday my parents enrolled me in kindergarten.  […]    9 by

by mike simpson / 8h 

2-20-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

No unnecessary testing

Sent to the Wall Street Journal, Feb 21To the editor:"The pleasures of teaching to the test," (Feb. 13) argues that test prep can be a good thing, and the letters published on Feb 20 argue that tests are necessary, and in life, we must pass lots of tests. All assume that those of us critical of the common core are anti-testing. Not true. All educators understand the necessity of responsi

by skrashen / 1min 

NO Vote on Common Core: Bradley County Commission Backs School Board

From Tennessee Parents:. . . . This Resolution comes from the elected County Commission of Bradley County, who wanted to support their School Board, but also send a Resolution "with more teeth" to Nashville. Rumor has it that the Bills to repeal Common Core (HB2332/SB2405) are being blocked by the chairs of the House & Senate Education committees (Rep. Harry Brooks & Sen. Delores

2 by Jim Horn / 36min 

Meaningful work or coercion?

Sent to the Oregonian, Feb. 19Joanne Yatvin's description of how "Meaningful work keeps students in school," (Feb. 18) includes small class sizes, sports teams that allowed all comers to join and play, teacher collaboration with time to meet during the school day, plays and musical events that included all interested students, emphasis on building classroom community, and school wide pro

2 by skrashen / 7h  

2-19-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter: Common Core Voted Down Unanimously in Bradley County, TNBradley County Schools was the first school district to formally stand against linking teacher license renewal to Tennessee’s value-added assessment system, an outlandish idea that passed on October 17, 2013.  Pressure across the state built, and late last month the State Board of Education announced plans to shelve those plan

by mike simpson / 5h 

2-20-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida ALL Week

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

Broward Has to Finance Mavericks’ Charter Schools $1.5 Million in State Fines

Just over two weeks ago, Mavericks Charter School president Frank Biden was talking smack to charter school opponents that “we are going to take you down.” While the rogue brother of the vice president was proposing to “look his enemies in the eyes” through another billionaire-funded 501(C)(4), he didn’t mention that three of his schools were scamming taxpayers and failing kids. Writes Sun-Sentine

by Bob Sikes / 3h 

2-19-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida ALL Week

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education: Florida BOE Faces the Music; Passes Common Core AnywayFlorida’s unelected Board of Education, long serving as reliable cronies to rubber stamp Jeb Bush’s education agenda, finally had to face critics in yesterday’s public hearing on Common Core. Not that there ever any d

by mike simpson / 8h 

2-20-14 With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs All Week

With A Brooklyn Accent:

A History Lesson from the Civil Rights Movement for Anti-Testing Activists

The non violent Civil Rights movement of the 1950's and 1960's did not hold most of their meetings in public. If they did, those meetings would have been broken up and those organizing and attending them would have faced severe retaliation. Organizers persuaded frightened people to get up the courage to register to vote or protest a segregated facility at tens of thousands of small meeting in home

by Mark Naison / 4h  

2-18-14 With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs All Week

With A Brooklyn Accent: Why I Will Never Raise My Voice Against Funding Prisoner EducationIf any of you wonder why I will never raise my voice against funding Prisoner Education, even if the politician supporting it is someone I despise, here's one good reason:I teach on the Bronx campus of Fordham University. In side the campus, there are as many people selling and using drugs as there are outsid

by mike simpson / 8h 

2-20-14 empathyeducates

empathyeducates:

The 4 Most Profound Ways Privatization Perverts Education

By Paul Buchheit | Originally Published at AlterNet. February 16, 2014 Profit-seeking in the banking and health care industries has victimized Americans. Now it’s beginning to happen in education, with our children as the products.
There are good reasons – powerful reasons – to stop the privatization […]

by empathy / 16min 

Teachers Union Head Calls For Core ‘Course Correction’

By Lyndsey Layton

81 by empathy / 4h 

NEA President: We Need a Course Correction on Common Core

In response to many calls from students, parents, and teachers, opinions have changed. Courses too. Now, the President of the National Education Association says it is time for a correction. In respect to the Common Core State Standards or the assessments used to fulfill this agenda, he […]

by empathy / 4h hide  //  save

House Democrats to Duncan: States are Backsliding on Help for Low Achievers

Photograph; J. Scott Applewhite/AP – Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. The word “Democrat” or “Republican” can be a flashpoint. The term “Tea Party” too ignites a flame and yet, at times, any of the three can […]

by empathy / 4h 

empathyeducates – Teachers Could Spank Harder Under Pending Legislation

empathyeducates – Teachers Could Spank Harder Under Pending Legislation: Teachers Could Spank Harder Under Pending LegislationThere are scars of all sorts. Each leaves a mark, but some are seen more readily. There are the less visible scars stress leaves behind. Fear of a test or failure hurts. But neither is said to cause, or indeed, to teach further aggression. Nonetheless, the “spare the rod, s

by mike simpson / 1h 

2-20-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Pro-Education Reform Andrew Cuomo Doesn't Get To Distance Himself From His Education Reforms

Governor Andrew Cuomo, ever the political realist, has weighed the merits (and political donations received) for remaining an unabashed Common Core State Standards supporter and education reform proponent as students, parents and teachers around the state rise in rebellion against the CCSS/state education reform agenda and has decided the downside outweighs the benefits.Thus he said the following

by reality-based edu... / 12min 

Pro-Common Core Andy Cuomo Throws In With Parent Critics Of Common Core

Don't take a sip of water while reading the following or you'll be performing a Danny Thomas spit take:Gov. Andrew Cuomo in Rochester on Thursday compared himself to a parent protesting the implementation of the Common Core standards and sought to distance himself from the highly criticized roll out. Cuomo was asked by a reporter in a Q-and-A about parents and children outside of his regional budg

by reality-based edu... / 39min 

Cuomo's Pre-K Plan Won't Work The Way Cuomo Says It Will

Jessica Bakeman at Capital NY:ALBANY—Andrew Cuomo has all but won the battle with Mayor Bill de Blasio over how to pay for pre-kindergarten in New York, but experts say the governor's plan won't provide enough money to serve every child in the state. Researchers estimate it will run anywhere from $10,000 to $13,000 per student to provide quality full-day pre-K in New York, accounting for the cost

by reality-based edu... / 1h 

2-19-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Obama Should Apologize To ALL TeachersIn case you didn't hear, Obama slammed art history last week:WASHINGTON — President Obama issued an artful apology Tuesday, taking back a “glib” remark encouraging students to ditch art history for more lucrative pursuits. Playing to the lunchpail crowd at a General Electric plant in Wisconsin late last month, Obama took a swipe at art-h

by mike simpson / 8h 

The Washington Teacher: Uncertain Future for DC's Mamie D. Lee and Sharpe Health School due to Delays

The Washington Teacher: Uncertain Future for DC's Mamie D. Lee and Sharpe Health School due to Delays:

Uncertain Future for DC's Mamie D. Lee and Sharpe Health School due to Delays

River Terrace Elementary School 

By Candi Peterson

DC Public Schools plans to renovate River Terrace Elementary School have been delayed due to an unusual find of native American Indian artifacts discovered during an excavation. Officials from the Office of Specialized Instruction along with Cluster XI Instructional Superintendent, Terry DeCarbo announced at an impromptu meeting Tuesday that plans to merge disabled students from Mamie D. Lee and Sharpe Health schools won't happen until august 2015 while construction crews continue to excavate the site.

Both schools educate severely disabled students. Last school year in 2013, the consolidation of these schools was announced and expected to be completed by August 2014. An outcry from parents was the backdrop at school meetings held to discuss the impact of school closures and consolidations in different wards throughout the city. Among the most vocal were Sharpe Health School parents who expressed concerns that River Terrace was not accessible to disabled students, placed students at great risk due to polluted soil and water at a nearby power plant, and is located at one of the most dangerous metro stations (Minnesota Avenue metro). Lost to students from both schools would be long time established partnerships, a therapeutic pool and experienced veteran teachers and staff who have helped students achieve despite incredible physical and mental challenges.

Teachers and school staff of both schools were notified of an impromptu meeting called by DC Central office officials with only 24 hours advance notice. The meeting at Mamie D. Lee was held at 2:30 pm since staff 

Shanker Blog » In China, Democracy Must Begin On The Factory Floor

Shanker Blog » In China, Democracy Must Begin On The Factory Floor:

In China, Democracy Must Begin On The Factory Floor

Posted by Han Dongfang on February 20, 2014

Our guest author today is Han Dongfang, director of China Labor Bulletin. You can follow him on Weibo in Chinese and on Twitter in English and Chinese. This article originally appeared on The World Post, and has been reprinted with permission of the author.

After 35 years of economic reform and development, China’s Communist leaders once again find themselves on the edge of a cliff. With social inequality and official corruption at an all-time high, China’s new leaders urgently need to find some way of putting on the brakes and changing direction.

The last time they were here was in 1978 when, after the disaster of the Cultural Revolution, the then leadership under Deng Xiaoping had no option but to sacrifice Maoist ideology and relax economic control in order to kickstart the economy again.

Unfortunately, the party relaxed economic control so much that it ceded just about all power in the workplace to the bosses. Workers at China’s state-owned enterprises used to have an exalted social status; they had an “iron rice bowl” that guaranteed a job and welfare benefits for life. Some three decades later, that “iron rice bowl” has been completely smashed and the majority of workers are struggling to survive while the bosses and corrupt government officials are getting richer and richer.

The country has gone so far to the other extreme that, if it is to maintain its legitimacy as the ruler of China, the Communist Party will once again have to make sacrifices and concessions. This time, it needs to sacrifice social control rather than economic control. Of course, the party will not permit broad political freedom in China, but it 

American Dream Features the Individual; Justice Is the Community’s Solution | janresseger

American Dream Features the Individual; Justice Is the Community’s Solution | janresseger:

American Dream Features the Individual; Justice Is the Community’s Solution

Posted on February 20, 2014 by janresseger

In a fascinating academic study, The American Dream and the Power of Wealth, sociologist Heather Beth Johnson and a group of researchers conduct interviews to try to discover how we “acknowledge structured inequality as we teach our children that individual achievement determines life chances.”

She is exploring our society’s cultural narrative of the American Dream, the idea that we live in a meritocracy where all can succeed if we work hard—where if we are strategic and patient, we can all win—where we rise or fall pretty much on our own.  The book is filled with transcripts of the interviews the researchers conduct.  Here is a typical sample:

• Interviewer: “Do you think there are some ethnicities, races, groups in this country that are more disadvantaged than others?
• Responder: “Yeah.”
• Interviewer: “So you think there are certain groups… as a whole that have a harder time making it today?”
• Responder: “Sure.  Definitely.”
• Interviewer: “Okay, now, what about the American Dream? The idea that with hard work and desire, individual potential is unconstrained… everyone gets an equal chance 

Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » China’s Determination to End School Choice and Testing: New Development

Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » China’s Determination to End School Choice and Testing: New Development:

China’s Determination to End School Choice and Testing: New Development

19 FEBRUARY 2014 772 3 COMMENTS

(from my new book: Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon: Why China Has the World’s Best and Worst Education to be published by Jossey-Bass)

For those who admire the Chinese education system, here is another cautionary tale.  The Chinese government has (re)issued another round of orders to end two practices that have delivered China’s great test scores: school choice and testing.

In January 2014, the Chinese Ministry of Education issued a stern policy demanding all middle schools (grades 6 to 8 ) admitting students solely based on residence in an attempt to end school choice and the use of any form of exams for students advancing from primary school to middle school[1].  “Exams cannot be used by local educational administration, government schools, or private schools to select students,” stated the policy document. “Government schools cannot use any certificates of contest prizes or qualifications as basis for determining students’ eligibility for admissions.” For schools with more applicants than space, a computerized lottery is to be used.

Ending School Choice and Exams

Like everything in a centralized hieratically organized society, schools in China are organized into different tiers determined by the government. First, all schools fall into either one of the two basic categories: ordinary schools and “key” schools or “exemplary” schools. The number of key schools is limited. They are considered the best schools worthy of more government investment and special policies in many as

Committee urges Sacramento city schools not to sell closed campus sites without further review - Our Region - The Sacramento Bee

Committee urges Sacramento city schools not to sell closed campus sites without further review - Our Region - The Sacramento Bee:

Committee urges Sacramento city schools not to sell closed campus sites without further review

By Loretta Kalb
lkalb@sacbee.com

Published: Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014 - 9:08 pm

A committee for the Sacramento City Unified School District has finalized recommendations for the future use of seven elementary campuses closed last year due to falling enrollment – urging that none be sold without further evaluation.

The nine members of the 7/11 Committee, a combination of educators, parents and community group members, said at their final meeting on Tuesday night that they will recommend to the district trustees at their March 6 meeting that all the campuses be used for district programs and by community groups, with priority given to ideas and requests from neighborhood residents.

The district last year closed the seven schools due to falling enrollment. Most are in low-income and predominantly minority neighborhoods: Clayton B. Wire and Maple, Washington, Collis P. Huntington, Fruit Ridge, Joseph Bonnheim and Mark Hopkins. About 2,300 students were relocated.

Committee members made their recommendations following 15 public meetings held since September. Members said they were reluctant to find any school sites “surplus” to the district.

“None of us feel comfortable with getting rid of properties that could have a use in the future,” Michael Minnick, committee vice chairman, said before the meeting started.

“At no point during this process has there been a lot of energy around the idea of selling,” he said. “That’s a very permanent solution to what may be a very temporary problem of under-enrollment.”

When asked the district’s perspective on sale of the campuses, district spokesman Gabe Ross said any answer would be premature.

“That is the purpose of the 7/11 committee,” Ross said. “The district will have that discussion when the committee presents its recommendations in March.”

Committee members also said they they chose not to prioritize re-use ideas because they could not vet specific proposals or properly investigate whether the agencies were prepared to implement their plans.

Among the larger proposals: a community or a parent resource center, sites for groups such as Legal Services of Northern California, a satellite office for a Sacramento County Office of

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/02/19/6173265/committee-urges-sacramento-city.html#mi_rss=Education#storylink=cpy