7-5-14 the becoming radical EMPATHYEDUCATES! | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

THE BECOMING RADICAL

EMPATHYEDUCATES!

the becoming radical 

 A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness 

by 

What You Need To Know About Charter Schools

Parents, pundits and politicians, did you get what you expected? If you thought you would get the biggest bang for the buck by pouring taxpayer dollars into charter schools and devoting yourself to public school disinvestment might it be time for a reassessment? After years of being […]

by empathy / 2d 

JUL 01

Black and Hispanic Kindergartners Are Disproportionately in High-Poverty Schools

By Elaine Weiss and Emma García | Originally Published at Economic Policy Institute. June 25, 2014 Growing up black or Hispanic in the United States today means high odds of living in concentrated poverty: in neighborhoods in which at least 40 percent of the residents are poor. […]

by empathy / 3d 

JUN 30

Study: How Much Education Does It Take to Get a Job? Depends on Your Race

Photograph; Members of the University of California, Merced, Class of 2009 listen as first lady Michelle Obama delivers the commencement speech on May 16, 2009. | David Paul Morris/Getty Images By Erin C.J. Robertson | Originally Published at The Root. June 26, 2014 12:01 PM Six years […]

by empathy / 4d 

Attack on “Balanced Literacy” Is Attack on Professional Teachers, Research

The allusion in Robert Pondiscio’s Why Johnny won’t learn to read accomplishes something different than intended. Pondiscio’s uninformed swipe at balanced literacy actually reveals that, once again, ideology trumps teacher professionalism and literacy research. The reading wars are about almost everything except reading, but the most important lesson from this newest version of the same old thing

40 by plthomasedd / 1d 

JUL 02

Schneider’s Ten Reform Claims: A Reader

Jack Schneider’s Ten Reform Claims That Teachers Should Know How to Challenge provides a powerful framework for educators to mobilize our much needed roles as teachers for the wider public. I want here to use his ten claims as a basis for providing support for anticipating and then challenging the flawed claims and policies coming from the reform movement, primarily driven by political leadership

61 by plthomasedd / 3d 

JUL 01

Welcome to the Oligarchy: The U.S. Needs a New Mythology

An oligarchy exists when power rests with a very few. The U.S. was founded as a rejection of the sort of oligarchy in which royalty (the accident of birth) determined power—although that movement was driven mostly by a potential privileged class that sought ways in which they could become the elite with power. In 2014, the U.S. is but another sort of oligarchy, the logical and inevitable developme

33 by plthomasedd / 3d 

JUN 27

Loss: A Dog’s Life

I was listening to sports talk radio, an interview with Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, who characterized an athlete’s career as “a dog’s life,” meaning that career is short. And this spoke to me in the wake of having just lost our first family dog, Hershey, a chocolate lab we had for about 14 years. On the Sunday night just after the U.S. World Cup match with Portugal, Hershey began to bar

92 by plthomasedd / 7d 

Who Are We? We Are the Resistance

Diane Ravitch’s post about the debate over the Gates moratorium includes a comment from John Thompson that deserves close attention: In a note to me, John Thompson pointed ou

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 7-5-14

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

4LAKIDS - SOME OF THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT

  

From the tempestuous teapot: GALATZAN RAISES NEW CONCERNS ABOUT LAUSD UNIFIED BOND COMMITTEE + smf’s 0¢

by Vanessa Romo, LA School Report | http://bit.ly/1lXDyDT Posted on July 3, 2014 10:55 am  ::   For the second time in recent weeks, Tamar Galatzan has turned a critical eye toward LA Unified’s Bond Oversight Committee and the role it plays in monitoring district spending on bond-funded projects. At the board meeting on Tuesday, she objected to the BOC’s wholesale approval of a library

2 by smf / 1d 

CLASS SIZE: Myth vs. Fact

from the Class Size Counts/Yes on Initiative i-1351 Campaign (WA) | http://classsizecountswa.com/   Myth: Class-size reduction is an unproven reform FACT: Studies from Tennessee, Wisconsin and other states demonstrate that students assigned to smaller classes in K-3 do better in every measurable way. The Institute of Education Sciences, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education,

3 by smf / 1d 

Putting Class Size On The Ballot In Washington State

from the Politico Morning Education Read for 3July2104  | http://politi.co/1xm12WO PUTTING CLASS SIZE ON THE BALLOT: Educators in Washington state plan to submit more than 340,000 signatures today to qualify a class-size reduction initiative for the fall ballot. The measure would cut class sizes across all grades over the next several years. By 2019, early elementary classes would have no

2 by smf / 1d 

Finns Beat U.S. With Low Tech Take On School

By: Caitlin Emma – Politico | http://politi.co/1gz6zFe May 27, 2014 11:39 PM EDT  | HELSINKI  ::   At the start of morning assembly in the state-of-the-art Viikki School here, students’ smartphones disappear. In math class, the teacher shuts off the Smartboard and begins drafting perfect circles on a chalkboard. The students — some of the highest-achieving in the world — cut up graphing

3 by smf / 1d 

Common Core Test Anxiety

By: Stephanie Simon and Caitlin Emma | http://politi.co/VGtkxS July 2, 2014 08:59 PM EDT  :: A new front has opened in the Common Core wars — over testing contracts. The high-stakes battle is undermining one of the Obama administration’s most prized initiatives: its vision, backed by more than $370 million in federal funds, of testing students across the country on a common set of exams in

3 by smf / 1d 

JUN 30

A LETTER FROM A LOS ANGELES ENGLISH TEACHER TO HIS STUDENTS: “You have been failed.”

from Dr. Mark Naison’s blog “With a Brooklyn Accent" | http://bit.ly/1nZhNS3 March 11, 2014 A letter to my students of Los Angeles Unified: You have been failed. You have been failed not by the school or your teachers (or their boogeyman union), but by people far removed from the world you inhabit. These people in plush houses and all the creature comforts of life have tried to label the

3 by smf / 4d 

JUN 29

PARENT ENGEGEMENT MAY BE KEY TO ACHIEVEMENT + smf’s 1¢

by Carrie Marovich SI&A Cabinet Report ::  http://bit.ly/THJxRT June 24, 2014 (Md.)  ::  Books and Baseball Night. Fiesta-val of Math. Family Digital Summit. Fish Fry and Social Hour. For schools across the nation last year these family-oriented events – and dozens like them –  were more than just fun ways to promote learning. They were all part of locally-designed, research-based plans to

6 by smf / 5d 

CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT TO DECIDE IF GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS’ PRIVATE E-MAILS ARE PUBLIC + smf’s 2¢

By PAUL ELIAS, ASSOCIATED PRESS, from the santa rosa press democrat | http://bit.ly/1iQZSiT June 28, 2014, 10:57 AM  ::  SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court will decide if private emails and other electronic communications of government officials are public records open for inspection. The high court announced Friday that it would step in and settle a long-simmering debate over access

2 by smf / 5d 

JUN 27

Attention All LAUSD Teachers: FACING HISTORY AND OURSELVES & “THE CHILDREN OF WILLESDEN LANE”

from Councilmember Jose Huizar’s Downtown Community e-newsletter | http://bit.ly/Vugqmw 27 June 2014  ::  The Music Center is excited to partner with Mona Golabek and The Los Angeles Unified School District to present “The Children of Willesden Lane” project, a special series of performances for middle and high school students November 3-7, 2014.  The performances will take place at

by smf / 7d 

DUST OFF THOSE SHELVES: 200 LIBRARY AIDES HEAD BACK TO LA SCHOOLS + smf’s 2¢

  Annie Gilbertson | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC http://bit.ly/1lwBFOc Maya Sugarman/KPCC | Sada Mozer, the children's librarian for the Junipero Serra Branch, reads "Oh!" by Josse Goffin to Trinity Street Elementary School fifth graders. June 27th, 2014, 5:00amThe Los Angeles Unified school district is spending $6 million next school year to bring back 192 libraries aides, opening shuttered

by smf / 7d 

Poll Finds Common Core Opposition Rising In California

By John Fensterwald |EdSource  | http://bit.ly/1jrLsAC Credit: John C. Osborn/EdSource Today June 26, 2014  ::  Here are some key results of the poll of Californians’ views on education conducted by the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education and Policy Analysis for California Education. For more details of the survey, see below. An annual poll of Californians

2 by smf / 7d 

Including Teachers In The Student Mental-Health Continuum

Commentary By Thomas J. Cottle and Jennifer Greif Green | Education Week http://bit.ly/1qiI2HS Published Online: June 20, 2014  ::  The location changes, but the story is a familiar one: An angry young man*—sometimes a teenager—guns down others in a public place. Whether it's Troutdale, Ore.; Isla Vista, Calif.; or Newtown, Conn., questions soon arise about the mental health of the killer and

2 by smf / 8d