5-11-14 LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH Diane Ravitch's blog #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

OECD Sponsors School Level Tests to Foster Test Mania and Its Own Control

The OECD has created tests that schools can administer to their students in order to compare them to the nations of the world. Some schools have gleefully administered the tests, happy to discover how their students compare to children of the same age in the rest of the world. Finnish educator Pasi Sahlberg, a visiting professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education this year, warned that it w

3 by dianeravitch / 51min 

What Would Happen if You Let Joy Enter the Classroom?

From Bellevue, Nebraska, watch a video of classes where joy, caring, and compassion have crowded out rigor and grit. Nothing said about being a global competitor. Nothing about college and career readiness. Just the joy of learning and sharing and caring.

by dianeravitch / 8min

Who or What is the “American Federation for Children”?

This is news you need to know. The American Federation of Children is a rightwing organization that spends heavily to promote vouchers and to support candidates in state and local races who support vouchers. When Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin was under siege for attacking public sector workers, he was honored (along with Michelle Rhee) by the AFS. The AFS is funded by the DeVos family, whose

1 by dianeravitch / 4min 

Why Empathy for Children Matters

A reader posted this comment:   It is obvious that the designers and supporters of CCSS do not have empathy for children. Narcissism is on a spectrum and intensifies with chronic stress. This is evident in how the Common Core Environment has created systemic Narcissism from the top down:   The antithesis of narcissism is empathy. If you have unconditional love for children and can be an empathic,

7 by dianeravitch / 59min hide  //  save

Innovation Ohio: State Shortchanges Public Schools, Favors Charters

A new report from Innovation Ohio shows that the state regularly Shortchanges public schools to favor charters. Charter operators give generous campaign contributions to the governor and legislators. “Proponents have long claimed that community or ‘charter’ schools are the cure for much of what ails Ohio’s education system. If only parents had more “choice” over where their children attend school

3 by dianeravitch / 1h 

Why Congress Can’t or Won’t Abandon the Failed NCLB

Thanks to Mercedes Schneider for bringing this article to my attention.   If you have ever wondered why Congress refuses to abandon or revise or do anything to the failed No Child Left Behind, this article explains why.   NCLB declared that all schools would have 100% proficiency by 2014. Even in 2002, after the law was signed, it was already obvious that many members of Congress did not believe t

6 by dianeravitch / 2h 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitch's blog 5-10-14 #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2

Diane Ravitch's blogLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONGDIANE RAVITCH'S BLOGIs TFA Recruiting in the Bathrooms at the University of Michigan?A blogger named Democracy Tree reports that TFA is putting up recruitment posters in the toilets at the University of Michigan. Probably it is to recruit teachers for the financially strapped Educational Achievement Authority, where 27% of the teachers are T

by mike simpson / 8h

5-11-14 Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement":

“District of Columbia Expands Family-Engagement Program”

District of Columbia Expands Family-Engagement Program is the title of an Education Week post. Here’s an excerpt: Twenty-one schools will participate in the parent partnership program during the 2014-15 school year. Each participating school receives a grant for up to $25,000, Melissa Salmanowitz, spokeswoman for the District’s school system, wrote in an email. According to the release, the Family

2 by Larry Ferlazzo / 5h 

 

5-10-14 Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement": Guest Post: Report From The National Family Engagement ConferenceI’ve previously published short reports on last month’s National Family Engagement Conference. Today, Carrie Rose, Executive Director of the Parent-Teacher Home Visit Project, has written this guest post about it: Parent-Teacher Home Visits Fit DOE’s Vision Re

1 by mike simpson / 7h

5-11-14 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.:

Celia Oyler. It’s thrilling to see teachers standing up.

Barbara Madeloni and Dave Madeloni at Hynes Convention Center, Boston. - Celia Oyler is a Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University Barbara Madeloni has a clear analysis of the relationship between democracy and public schooling. I always feel invigorated while listening to her that we can win this war against predatory school deform. It’s thrilling to see teachers standing up for not on

3 by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

Chicago neighborhood schools picnic.

2 by Fred Klonsky / 52min 

Pawel Dzienkowski. Madeloni articulated the pure outrage that many of us in the trenches feel.

Fred, Perhaps more than anything else, Madeloni articulated the pure outrage that many of us in the trenches feel over the destruction and intentional starvation of the public education model being perpetrated by Government and Corporate America to facilitate the handover of our kid’s and democracy’s futures to for-profit entities who answer only to share holders. The game is rigged by politician

1 by Fred Klonsky / 2h 

Pablophil. A Madeloni earthquake hits Massachusetts.

- Pablophil is a retired Massachusetts teacher and MTA union member. I attended the Annual Meeting, perhaps my 31st or 32nd. The current President has termed out, and there was widespread feeling – obviously- that the leadership has been more in a retreat (in terms of teacher empowerment and teacher benefits) than a leadership that is improving the lot of teachers. The leaving President overtly s

by Fred Klonsky / 2min

Mother’s Day.

Mom could not be ambivalent about anything. Her two favorite colors were black and white. Mom had little patience for shades of gray. She hated the things she hated. She loved the things she loved. She loved my father for reasons I still don’t entirely understand. She loved her women friends who loved her in return. Especially when her cancer arrived. She hated the cancer. They shared their love

15 by Fred Klonsky / 9h

5-10-14 Fred All Week 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.: Fred All Week Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacherKeeping retirement weird. Appreciation.To wrap up this year’s Teacher Appreciation Week I went up to Park Ridge to have lunch with some of my best teacher pals. The Friday lunch group that I was a member of for years has been deci

by mike simpson / 8h 

5-11-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

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

Using Instagram, Bloom’s Taxonomy & Student Interest As A Fun Part Of A Semester Final

I’ve previously posted about some elements in my upcoming finals (see My Best Posts On Writing Instruction and scroll down near the bottom). Another element I’m trying out this year is having students in all my classes create Instagrams (see other ways I’ve used Instagram and Vine in my classes at The Best Resources For Learning To Use The Video Apps “Vine” & Instagram). They’ll all be somewh

by Larry Ferlazzo / 18min 

Four Good Links On Classroom Instruction

Here are a number of relatively recent links on classroom instruction: Five Teaching Tips for Helping Students Become ‘Wild Readers’ is by Donalyn Miller, and appeared in Ed Week. What if we approached testing this way? appeared in The Washington Post. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Formative Assessment. 12 Ways to Learn Vocabulary With The New York Times is a nice collect

by Larry Ferlazzo / 23min 

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Week… 5-10-14 …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EF

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFLLARRY FERLAZZO’S WEBSITES OF THE DAYMemorial Day ResourcesMemorial Day occurs later this month. Reader might be interested in The Best Websites For Learning About Memorial Day.by Larry Ferlazzo / 22min YESTERDAYThe Best Resources On The Kidnapped School Girls In Nigeria – Help Me Find MoreThe tragedy in Nigeria is heartbreaki

by mike simpson / 8h 

Don’t Blame the Internet: We Can Still Think and Read Critically, We Just Don’t Want to (Daniel Willingham) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Don’t Blame the Internet: We Can Still Think and Read Critically, We Just Don’t Want to (Daniel Willingham) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Don’t Blame the Internet: We Can Still Think and Read Critically, We Just Don’t Want to (Daniel Willingham)

Daniel Willingham is a columnist for RealClearEducation and professor of psychology at the University of Virginia. He also writes the Daniel Willingham science and education blog. This post appeared April 16, 2014        

A recent article in the Washington Post sounds a warning klaxon for our ability to read deeply. You’ve probably heard this argument elsewhere, made most forcefully by Nick Carr in the The Shallows: frequent users of the Web (i.e., most of us) are so in the habit of skittering from page to page, scanning for juicy bits of information but not really reading, that they have lost the ability to sit down and read prose from start to finish. I think the suggestion is probably wrong.

The first thing to make clear is that anyone who comments on this issue (including me) is guessing. There are simply not any data that address it directly. We might predict, for example, that scores on standardized reading tests would have dropped in the last 15 years or so (they haven’t) but such data are hardly definitive, as reading comprehension test scores are a product of many factors.

The Post article cites studies comparing reading on paper versus reading on screens, but that won’t address the issue, which concerns the long-term consequences of a particular type of reading. The Post also incorrectly says that paper is superior. Most studies indicate no difference between screens and paper for pleasure reading. For textbook reading, students take longer to read on screens, although comprehension is about the same. (Daniel & Willingham, Don’t Blame the Internet: We Can Still Think and Read Critically, We Just Don’t Want to (Daniel Willingham) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

5-11-14 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:

New Budget Leaves Florida 50th of 50 States in Per Pupil Funding

Looks like all that back-slapping by republican legislators and happy talk about public schools being a “big winner” was poppycock. St. Augustine Record reporter Marcia Lane explains: When Superintendent Joe Joyner saw a headline saying schools emerged as the “big winner” during the session, he called Beth Sweeny, the district’s coordinator of governmental relations, since that didn’t jibe with hi

by Bob Sikes / 1h 

5-10-14 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:Scathing Purple Musings  Color me purple in Florida ALL WeekCommon Core a Jeb Bush Federal Power Grab? Of Course It IsThe Northwest Florida Daily News which serves a three-county republican stronghold takes a sober look at Common Core Standards and the role that former Fl

by mike simpson / 8h 

5-11-14 With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs

With A Brooklyn Accent:

On the "Civil Rights" Defense of Common Core

It is a grave error to portray the Common Core Standards as a Civil Rights measure opposed largely by right wing fanatics seeking to undermine pubic education. Not only does this offend people on the right whose views on education and social policy it caricatures, it offends liberals and people on the left who have view the CCSS as the product of the same undemocratic policies which have been und

by Mark Naison / 2h 

 

5-10-14 With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs All Week

With A Brooklyn Accent:With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs All WeekAn Open Letter to the Southern Poverty Law Center on Common Core and Threats to Public EducationWith public schools being closed all over the nation and charter schools being created in their place; with tens of thousands of veteran union teachers, many of them teachers of color, being pushed out of their jobs; with charter schools in i

by mike simpson / 8h 

5-11-13 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION:

Smart People Problems

"He doesn't understand how anyone can not understand."My daughter and I were discussing why somebody would make a lousy teacher, and this was her observation. I realized that I have seen student teachers with this problem-- they do not understand how anybody can NOT understand the concept at hand, and so they have no idea how to teach it.This is a smart person's problem. Some smart peopl

3 by Peter Greene / 50min 

Mixing With Politics

There's a great line, usually attributed to Rev Gene Carlson of Wichita, about religious getting involved in politics:When you mix religion and politics, you get politics.His point was that while you may think that political power gives you leverage you need to engineer the social changes you want (in Carlson's case, conservative Christian changes), politics always ends up in the driver's seat.The

7 by Peter Greene / 1h 

5-10-13 Curmudgucation Week

CURMUDGUCATION:Computerized Grit & Snake OilAt last! Students can learn grit on their computers!!EduGuide (Motto: One more company that figured out how to work "edu" into its name!) is proud to announce "The nonprofit, evidence-based online training program that strengthens core learning skills." So, with trembling, excited fingers, I am going to scroll down this very long

by mike simpson / 8h 

5-11-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Take A Tour Of Sandra Lee's House With Jenna Bush

Tried embedding the code, for some reason, doesn't want to embed right, but here's a must watch video with Jenna Bush taking us on a Christmas tour of the house Sandra Lee and Governor Andrew Cuomo share together.Do not watch on a full stomach - it's that nauseating.Just gives you some context for the "Sheriff Andy and Sandra Lee didn't get building permits so they could stiff the tax man&quo

by reality-based edu... / 1h 

What Good Is "College And Career Ready" When There Are No Jobs For College Graduates?

I'm so sick of hearing Common Core proponents issue the boilerplate jive about how the CCSS are helping to make students college and career ready to compete in a global 21st century economy.The truth is, there are few jobs out there for college graduates and the prospects aren't getting better:While members of the class of 2014 have some cause to celebrate, they also know they are a few short mont

by reality-based edu... / 1h 

Why Is Cuomo Henchman Larry Schwartz Defending Sandra Lee Over Charges Of Building Permit-Fudging?

LoHud reported this morning that Andy Cuomo's partner, Sandra Lee, has had extensive work done to her house but failed to get the needed permits - and thus property value reassessments - needed for that work:Lee enjoys what might be considered a more unattainable lifestyle at the six-bedroom, $1.2 million house she shares with Cuomo at 4 Bittersweet Lane. She has done much in the past six years to

by reality-based edu... / 59min 

Will The UFT Leadership Publicly Debate The Contract Proposal?

NYC Educator posted the following this morning:On Friday I decided it would be a good idea to have a forum in which both sides of the contract proposal are examined. I asked my friend Julie Cavanagh if she would be interested in presenting the con side, and she agreed. I went to my principal and asked if we could use the school auditorium. He said if we got a permit and did so after school hours i

by reality-based edu... / 3min 

Daily News Goes After The Little Charter School Crooks But Leaves Big Ones Like Moskowitz And Kenny Alone

One of the lines you sometimes here from charter school proponents and supporters - charters must be free from the same regulations as public schools so they can do their magical "innovation" thing.Of course a lack of regulations also can lead to this: On a quiet Ditmas Park side street, taxpayers shell out $2.3 million a year to lease space from the Catholic Church for a charter school

by reality-based edu... / 42min

5-10-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School: Perdido Street School WeekHouse Majority Leader Eric Cantor Praises Andrew Cuomo For Championing Charter SchoolsWith progressives, public school parents and teachers looking to ditch him this election season and vote for a candidate who doesn't want to destroy public schools, this is probably not the kind of praise Governor Andrew Cuomo is happy about:Republican House majori

by mike simpson / 8h

NYC Educator: Me--Free and Fair Contract Discussion, UFT Leadership--Crickets

NYC Educator: Me--Free and Fair Contract Discussion, UFT Leadership--Crickets:

Me--Free and Fair Contract Discussion, UFT Leadership--Crickets

On Friday I decided it would be a good idea to have a forum in which both sides of the contract proposal are examined. I asked my friend Julie Cavanagh if she would be interested in presenting the con side, and she agreed. I went to my principal and asked if we could use the school auditorium. He said if we got a permit and did so after school hours it was fine.

I then happened to be speaking to Geoff Decker from Chalkbeat NY, and he offered to moderate if we could find a time to fit his schedule. We envisioned either that a panel of him, me and someone pro-contract to select questions from the audience. We wanted to do something balanced. I asked my district rep, who said this would have to go before a UFT officer. So I wrote the following email to Janella Hinds, UFT VP for Academic High Schools:

Hi Janella,

We are trying to organize a forum on the contract, and are thinking about doing it next Thursday afternoon at FLHS. My committee would get a permit, and anyone who wished to co-sponsor could help pay. We think it will be between 100-300, depending on how large a room we use, with auditorium at 300.

We envision a pro and con speaker, equal opening and closing statements, and questions from the crowd taken by a committee consisting of one pro, one con, and one non-partisan, perhaps Geoff Decker of Chalkbeat NY. We envision giving each speaker equal time NYC Educator: Me--Free and Fair Contract Discussion, UFT Leadership--Crickets: