4-22-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida

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

Epic Pearson Failure in Florida During State-Wide Testing, Blames Someone Else

From the Associated Press: TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Testing was suspended Tuesday in several districts across Florida after students were unable to take the state’s standardized assessment because of a computer glitch. In a letter to the testing contractor, Education Commissioner Pam Stewart said the glitch had created “significant problems” for students taking the Florida Comprehensive Assessment T

by Bob Sikes / 4h 

CAIR Arrives on the Scene to Debate Florida Education Policy

In 2007, federal prosecutors named the Council on Islamic American Relations (CAIR) an unindicted co-conspirator in an alleged criminal conspiracy to support a Palestinian Arab terrorist group, Hamas. Undeterred and unfiltered largely due to western cultures political correctness, CAIR has become the go-to mouthpiece ready to cry “Islamaphobia” at the drop of a hat. My, how far they have come. Now

13 by Bob Sikes / 3h 

4-21-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education: The Seperartion of Republican Governors From Jeb Bush on Commom Core: A Conservative AwakeningFrom the New York Times: Its most outspoken Republican defender, former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, is also the most talked-about potential presidential candidate among mainstream

by mike simpson / 9h 

4-22-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

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

It’s “National Park Week” – Here Are Some Resources

This week is National Park Week here in the United States. You might want to check-out The Best Sites For Learning About Yosemite & Other U.S. National Parks. Explore more visuals like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 21min hide  //  save

Three Final Earth Day Links

Here are new additions to The Best Earth Day Sites: Your Earth Day Guide to Saving the World is from The Atlantic. Earth Day 2014 is a photo gallery from The Boston Globe. Let’s Celebrate Earth Day with Some Gorgeous Photos from NASA is from The Atlantic.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 21min 

NY Times Creates New Data Journalism Site — “Upshot”

I’ve previously written a review of two new “data-journalism” sites — see “FiveThirtyEight” & “Vox.com” Are Two New Free Online News Sites — Here’s What I Think Of Them. Today, a similar new online publication jumped into the fray — Upshot, created by The New York Times. It’s their successor to the “Five Thirty-Eight” blog that Nate Silver took with him when he left The Times last year. One d

by Larry Ferlazzo / 3h 

Another Shocker – NOT! Students Respond Better To Support Than Threats

Yet another study has found that threats of punishment is not a very effective motivating tactic. You can read a summary of this new study at Science Daily, Teachers’ scare tactics may lead to lower exam scores. And if you want to read about a zillion other studies that show the same thing, you can start at: Surprise, Surprise — Study Finds Shouting At Children “creates further discipline problem

by Larry Ferlazzo / 8h 

4-21-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Video: “Here’s How To Greet People Around The World”I’m adding this video from Business Insider to The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Different Cultures:by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h 4-20-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFLLarry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL

by mike simpson / 9h 

4-22-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

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

Ten minute drawing. Top chef.

by Fred Klonsky / 25min 

The Sun-Times’ call to “fix the error” misses the point.

The Sun-Times is without shame. This morning they ran an editorial that calls on the legislators to “fix the error” in Senate Bill 1. Back in November SB1 was the bill they demanded. The state’s top legislative leaders reached a deal Wednesday to cut pension costs for teachers, state and university workers and legislators. State lawmakers should ratify that agreement when they return to Springfiel

2 by Fred Klonsky / 42min 

John Dillon. Poor Representative Mike Bost.

. - John Dillon blogs at Pension Vocabulary. Let’s not forget just a year ago, Madigan was the chief architect of an unconstitutional pension bill that was later given after initial failure to a group of ten willing to forgo their oaths of office to patch and paste together an avoidance of responsibility to find real answers and another way to punish the workers. Poor Rep. Bost must have actually

by Fred Klonsky / 12min hide  //  save

Illinois General Assembly eats shoots and leaves. More about the pension typo.

State Senator Iris Martinez. Because Senator Dan Biss misplaced a decimal point, the line to retire at the University of Illinois is long. Jim Broadway of the Illinois School News Service has lifted his copyright for the day, so I’ll post his comments on Senate Bill 1 in full. Haste makes costly pension glitch: The hastily drafted (and seriously unconstitutional) pension “reform” bill that the le

by Fred Klonsky / 41min 

4-21-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: These members of the $20 million a year club paid the same Illinois state income tax rate as you did.Because Illinois is a regressive flat tax state we all pay the same tax rate no matter how much we got paid. Today Crain’s published their list of twenty CEO’s who made $20 million this year. They paid

by mike simpson / 9h 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 4-22-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:

Updated coverage: DISTRICT ATTORNEY SAYS NO CHARGES WARRANTED OVER L.A. SCHOOL’S iPAD CONTRACT + smfs’s 2¢ …x2!

  The district attorney's office acts after reviewing an internal L.A. school district report on the iPad contract that is said to raise issues on the handling of the bidding process. By Howard Blume, L.A. Times | http://lat.ms/1recIrz 10:00 PM PDT, April 21, 2014  ::  The Los Angeles County district attorney's office has reviewed an internal L.A. school district report on its iPad contract

by smf / 3min hide  //  save

YESTERDAY

AcaDeca: GRANADA HILLS, EL CAMINO REAL HIGH SCHOOLS PREPARE FOR NATIONAL DECATHLON IN HAWAI’I

By Brenda Gazzar, Los Angeles Daily News | http://bit.ly/1tvPLSG El Camino Real High School student Brandon Slater studies at school Thursday for the national Academic Decathlon championship in Hawaii that will take place April 24-26. Michael Owen Baker — Staff photographer Granada Hills Charter student Mayson Lee prepares for the United States Academic Decathalon Championships April

by smf / 7h 

inBloom: SCHOOL ®EFORM’S NSA ‘BIG-DATA’ DATA MINER, BUBBLES UNDER

  THE DANGER REMAINS: “London- and New York City-based Pearson, for example, offers the PowerSchool student information system, which currently stores information on roughly 13 million U.S. schoolchildren.” inBloom to Shut Down Amid Growing Data-Privacy Concerns By Benjamin Herold, - Education Week Digital Education  |  http://bit.ly/1i4P5PS

by smf / 8h 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 4-21-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: 

4-22-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE:

The Week That Was – Oklahoma School Reform Comes Crashing Down

Six days into the week that may mark the end of test-driven school “reform” in Oklahoma, our state may foreshadow the way that corporate reform collapses nationally. As the parent/volunteer leader of Central Parent Legislative Action Committee, Meredith Exline  says, “the trend in Oklahoma is not isolated. ‘I really feel like any story I read […]

13 by John Thompson / 1h 

REVIEW: Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems, James Baldwin

REVIEW: Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems, James Baldwin. via REVIEW: Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems, James Baldwin.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical

1 by plthomasedd / 42min hide  //  save

YESTERDAY

Vergara v. California Part One: Thoughts on Hannah Arendt, a New Totalitarianism and Completing The Circle of Domination

Originally posted on Raginghorseblog:The Vergara Nine surrounded by handlers. It is a peculiar, dark and unhinged world in which we dwell and it seems to grow more so all the time. Consider the extraordinary case of Vergara v. California, now winding down and awaiting a judgment. Here we have nine students, bankrolled by Silicon…

2 by Michael Paul Gold... / 9h  

4-21-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: Legalizing Marijuana Offers Lesson for Changing Course in Education ReformLegalizing Marijuana Offers Lesson for Changing Course in Education Reform. via Legalizing Marijuana Offers Lesson for Changing Course in Education Reform.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical1 by plthomasedd / 30min hide  //  saveYESTERDAYCommon Core Prescription Will Not Heal EducationDuring my prese

by mike simpson / 9h 

4-22-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University)

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University):

No Country for Young Children of Color

While I have argued that we basically do not like children in the U.S., there is considerable evidence that being born a child of color puts those children at a disadvantage relative to white children. Based on the Kids Count report, Race for Results, Smriti Sinha has declared: Black families pondering a move to the Midwest might want to read this, especially if they have young children. According

8 by plthomasedd / 53min

Is There an Alternative to Accountability-Based, Corporate Education Reform? | Alternet

Is There an Alternative to Accountability-Based, Corporate Education Reform? | Alternet

1 by plthomasedd / 21min hide  //  save

REVIEW: Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems, James Baldwin

For many, James Baldwin is associated with novels, fiction. But my greatest affinity for Baldwin lies with his nonfiction and his role as a public intellectual. In the volume I co-edited, James Baldwin: Challenging Authors, chapter authors examine Baldwin as a powerful voice across genre and form. Concurrent with that volume is the publication of Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems. Baldwin is rarely ex

4 by plthomasedd / 40min 

4-21-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University)

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): Legalizing Marijuana Offers Lesson for Changing Course in Education ReformThe role of causality in educational research needs to be questioned on the basis that education is not the same as medicine. As Biesta says: “Being a student is not an illness, just as teaching is

by mike simpson / 9h