40th Anniversary of Lau v. Nichols Decision: A National Conference on the Rights of Linguistic Minorities:

40th Anniversary of Lau v. Nichols Decision: A National Conference on the Rights of Linguistic Minorities

AUGUST 18, 2014 BY ROBERT D. SKEELS * RDSATHENE LEAVE A COMMENT

40th Anniversary of Lau v. Nichols Decision: A National Conference on the Rights of Linguistic Minorities

40th Anniversary of Lau v. Nichols Decision

8-18-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy

Wait What?:

  Wait What?

 Pelto/Murphy 2014 

Stefan Pryor Not Serving a 2nd Term as State Ed Chief

From the Hartford Courant; Stefan Pryor, the controversial state education commissioner, will leave his post and is “actively seeking new professional opportunities,” according to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s office. Pryor informed the governor Monday that he will not serve a second term. “Having served for nearly three fulfilling years as commissioner, I have decided to conclude […] The post Stefan Pr

by jonpelto / 3min 

8-17-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy

Wait What?:   Wait What? Pelto/Murphy 2014 You call this a Democracy?During the next week or so, Connecticut’s Secretary of State will determine whether the Jonathan Pelto/Ebony Murphy ticket will appear on the 2014 ballot for governor. Over the last eight weeks, hundreds of volunteers sent countless hours collecting more than the 7,500 signatures necessary to ensure that voters have an option oth

by mike simpson / 14h 

8-18-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):

Teachers union blasts Deasy again for new computer system

Teachers union blasts Deasy again for new computer system The LA teachers union today intensified its attack against LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy and the administration over the management of the district’s new student data computer system. For the second time in less than a week, the union put out a press release critical of Deasy and what UTLA says are his attempts to gloss-over the bung

by Vanessa Romo / 4min 

LAUSD announcing new strategies for student discipline

LAUSD announcing new strategies for student discipline A major shift is underway across LA Unified in how schools and administrators approach student disciplinary issues. LAUSD officials and LA School Police Chief Steve Zipperman are planning to announce new district-wide protocols tomorrow that will define and limit the role of police on campus, incorporating new student protections and providing

by Yana Gracile / 32min 

In a shift, Teach for America is hiring more non-whites

In a shift, Teach for America is hiring more non-whites The growing diversity gap between teachers and students of color has been problematic for years, and school districts have struggled to find ways to attract a workforce that more closely resembles changing student demographics. Now, one organization is tackling the issue head on: Half of this year’s Teach for America (TFA) recruits are people

by Vanessa Romo / 22min 

Commentary: Teaching and business do not mix

Commentary: Teaching and business do not mix Via NY Times | by David Kirp Today’s education reformers believe that schools are broken and that business can supply the remedy. Some place their faith in the idea of competition. Others embrace disruptive innovation, mainly through online learning. Both camps share the belief that the solution resides in the impersonal, whether it’s the invisible hand

8min hide  //  save

Morning Read: CA Schools depart from memorization in science

Morning Read: CA Schools depart from memorization in science Common Core: CA schools shift science teaching away from memorization California is at a critical stage in carrying out a wholesale change of how it teaches science and other core topics. It’s a process that takes time when you’re working with nearly six million students. KPCC Of aching backs and digital textbooks It won’t be long befor

2 21min 

8-16-14 This Week in LA - School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):Galatzan calling for probe into computer system snafusGalatzan calling for probe into computer system snafus Concerned by a slew of problems with the district’s new student management computer system, board member Tamar Galatzan said today she is planning to ask the district’s Inspector General to conduct

by mike simpson / 49min 

8-18-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

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

“The Best Advice On Engaging Parents At The Beginning Of The School Year”

© 2006 Sally Mahoney, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio I’ve just published The Best Advice On Engaging Parents At The Beginning Of The School Year over at my other blog, Engaging Parents In School. You might, or might not, find it useful.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 53min hide  //  save

This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Valuable Posts & Articles On Ed Policy

© 2012 Shutter Stutter, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Here are some relatively recent important posts and articles on educational policy issues: What’s the real purpose of educational benchmarking? is by Andy Hargreaves and appeared in The Washington Post. Why The Atlanta Testing Scandal Matters is from NPR. I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles About The Atlanta Testing Scandal. Professiona

by Larry Ferlazzo / 53min 

“The History Project” Is A Great Resource For Teachers Everywhere

The History Project is led by educators in Pakistan and India who have developed a website and textbook that show each country’s interpretation of their histories — side by side! You can see an image above (reduced in size) from their site. Not only is a phenomenal resources for students in those two countries, it’s an extraordinary one for teachers everywhere. You can read more about it at NPR:

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11min hide  //  save

All My Ed Week Posts From The Past Three Years On Teacher & Administrator Leadership

I’ve just published a compilation of all my Ed Week posts on teacher and administrator leadership. Here’s an except: I’m adding it to The Best Posts, Articles & Videos On “Teacher Leadership.”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11min 

“Thinking Like A Scientist Can Help Overcome Allure Of Appearances”

© 2012 Bart Everson, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio As regular readers of this blog and my books know, I’m a big believer in inductive learning (see More Info On Why Inductive Learning Is So Effective and Is This The Most Important Research Study Of The Year? Maybe). One effective way to use inductive learning is through the use of data sets. You can see examples of these in my ASCD article, Get Organ

by Larry Ferlazzo / 14min 

8-17-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Carlos Slim, “The World’s Richest Man,” Spends Some Of His $ For New Online Spanish-Language Ed Resources© 2014 itupictures, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Carlos Slim, the Mexican billionaire, has just unveiled Acceso Latino, an online tool designed to be a “one-stop” site for Spanish-language “employment, education, health ca

by mike simpson / 20h 

2015 United States Senate Youth Program Letter - Letters (CA Dept of Education)

2015 United States Senate Youth Program Letter - Letters (CA Dept of Education):

August 12, 2014

Dear High School Principals, Counselors, and Scholarship Coordinators:

2015 UNITED STATES SENATE YOUTH PROGRAM

I am pleased to announce the fifty-second annual United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP). Sponsored by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, the California Department of Education (CDE) coordinates this competition for outstanding seniors or juniors who are interested in pursuing careers in public service. All public and private high schools in the state are invited to nominate up to two seniors or juniors to participate in this worthwhile opportunity.

Four finalists, consisting of two delegates and a first alternate and second alternate, will be selected by the CDE from the statewide applicants to be California’s USSYP representatives. The delegates will participate in a week of intensive study of the federal government as guests of the United States Senate from March 7–14, 2015, in Washington, D.C. The Hearst Foundation will pay all expenses for the delegates, including transportation, hotel, and meals. In addition, each of the delegates will receive a $5,000 college scholarship from the Foundation. Alternates attend the events in Washington only if the delegates are unable to participate.

Students must be nominated by their high school principal to be considered for the USSYP. Principals may nominate up to two students from their high school. Nominated students must be high school seniors or juniors currently serving in an elected or appointed capacity in a student government, civic, or educational organization. In addition, nominated students must be a permanent resident of the United States and currently enrolled in a California public or private secondary school.

Information on the 2015 USSYP may be found on the CDE USSYP Web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/eo/in/us/. A hard copy is available upon request. The completed application packet containing an original and one copy of the California Student Application, California Qualifying Examination, and an unofficial student transcript must be mailed to the CDE. The mailing envelope must be postmarked by Wednesday, October 1, 2014.

Recently, I announced the release of a report, Revitalizing K–12 Civic Learning in California: A Blueprint for Action which offers recommendations to revitalize civic education in California schools. I joined California Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye to establish the California Task Force on K–12 Civic Learning who prepared the report following a year of deliberations and conversations around the state. The report highlights the importance of our students gaining civic skills and ensuring that they become informed voters and community members who can make a difference. It is available on the CDE Civic Education Initiatives Web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/eo/in/civicedinitiative.asp.

I believe participation in the USSYP would foster students’ interest in government and civics and encourage you to forward this information to your high school government and history teachers.

If you have any questions regarding the USSYP, please contact David Carriker, Office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, by phone at 916-319-0173 or by e-mail at dcarriker@cde.ca.gov.

Sincerely,

Tom Torlakson

TT: df

8-18-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet:

Strauss: Teacher: ‘Don’t tell me that I don’t want accountability’

I published a post last week titled “Seven things teachers are sick of hearing from school reformers” that was very popular with readers. There has been a lively debate in the comments section of that post, with some people critical of the teacher who wrote the piece and others supportive. I am publishing a response from a reader identified as “teechur” because it sums up the way a great many tea

by Valerie Strauss / 8min 

What’s the real purpose of educational benchmarking?

“Benchmarking” is a word that is now everywhere in the world of education. There’s even a Center on International Education Benchmarking, a program of the National Center on Education and the Economy, which over 20 years has benchmarked the education systems of more than 20 countries in what is said to be an effort to […]

by Valerie Strauss / 1min 

8-17-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet: Overheard at the Lincoln Memorial on a Saturday nightEven if you aren’t trying to eavesdrop, it is impossible not to overhear other people talking at the Lincoln Memorial when it is late on a Saturday night and the site is packed with people — mostly tourists — who are visiting the magnificent marble monument for the first time and are visibly astounded by its […]by Valerie Strauss /

by mike simpson / 45min 

8-18-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: What A Difference A Year Makes: The Evolution of BATS

With A Brooklyn Accent:

Why Michael Brown's Death has Sparked Protests Around the Nation

The protests in Ferguson not only reflect rage at the killing of an unarmed man, they reflect longstanding discontent of a Black community living in a small city where the reigns of power still lie in the hands of white leaders and major institutions are still white dominated. Ferguson is 67 percent Black but only 3 out of 33 police officers are Black and the school board is entirely white. Relati

by Mark Naison / 46min 

What A Difference A Year Makes: The Evolution of BATS

BATs is not the same group as it was a year ago. It is far more urban and multiracial and has changed its focus. It is now as concerned with school closings and school privatization as it is with testing and common core and with fending off attacks on teacher tenure and due process. It is also much more explicitly concerned with issues of poverty, racism and social inequality than it was when the

by Mark Naison / 2min

8-17-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Racial Bullying in Small Town Ohio~Guest Post By Kelly Shoemaker Cooper

With A Brooklyn Accent: Racial Bullying in Small Town Ohio~Guest Post By Kelly Shoemaker CooperI feel that I must share my son's story from small town USA. Last school year my son was in 4th grade. He was being bullied and called racial slurs (nigger and porch monkey) by a 6th grader and a group of other boys. My husband reached out to the principal of his school to discuss what was happening to o

by mike simpson / 19h 

Tenure – Speaking Up for Students | Live Long and Prosper

Tenure – Speaking Up for Students | Live Long and Prosper:

Tenure – Speaking Up for Students

There’s more to being a teacher than just getting kids to pass “the test.”

Tenure=DueProcess

Due process rights are important because they allow us to stand up for our students, through giving voice in supporting and protecting them. With due process, teachers can stand up for the student who we think may be unfairly suspended, especially when a parent is not available to defend the child. We can fight against rescinding support services of a special needs child because those services are too costly. Many times, parents may not be able attend their child’s CSE/IEP meeting. The only one in the room advocating for that child may well be the teacher.

PERMANENT STATUS

My 8th year of teaching was the 1983-84 school year. I taught “Reading Readiness.” For those who don’t remember it, “Reading Readiness” was a class for students who finished kindergarten but were not ready for first grade. It was, in essence, a second year of kindergarten. Let me be clear…I don’t believe that grade retention, in any form, has been shown to be an effective remediation technique. Studies have shown that retention, even in the earliest elementary grades, usually doesn’t work and often harmful. However, in 1983 I didn’t know what I know now.

In any case, I taught a modified first grade curriculum, and tried to fill in the gaps of learning the students missed the previous year.

With the recent national discussions over teacher tenure an incident that happened during this year came back to me.

When I began my career it took 5 years of positive evaluations before a teacher was granted “permanent status.” That meant that I had to be evaluated in each of my first 5 years. At any time during those years I could have been fired…for any reason. At the beginning of my 6th year I was given permanent status. This meant that, if an administrator wanted to fire me I was entitled to a hearing. It didn’t mean that I couldn’t be fired. It just meant (the same as it means today) that there had to be a legitimate reason for my firing…a reason supported by data presented by the administration. And I had the right to respond. That’s what tenure meant then. That’s what it means now for K-12 teachers.

BOBBY

One of my students during the 1983-84 school year was Bobby (not his real name). Bobby was a special education student. He had been identified in preschool as being a student with special needs and for the previous 2 or 3 years had been in the classroom designated for special needs preschoolers at our school system’s special education center.

At this time in our history, the school system did not have fully mainstreamed special education. We had two elementary special education classrooms for a system with 11 elementary schools. The “primary class” was for students in grades Kindergarten through 3, and the “intermediate class” was for students in grades 4 through 6. The year that Bobby entered my class the system had about a dozen identified elementary aged special education students. The youngest of those, aside from Bobby, was a fourth grader. My classroom was chosen as an alternative because I taught a flexible curriculum and the children in my class were Bobby’s age-peers. Alternatively he would have had to have been either alone in a classroom, returned to the preschool with much younger students, or in the designated special education classrooms with much older students. At least, that was my understanding at the time.

Our school system had too few special education teachers. We didn’t identify many special education students instead allowing them to sit in general Tenure – Speaking Up for Students | Live Long and Prosper:

Field Guide to Anti-Teacher Trolls | Peter Greene

Field Guide to Anti-Teacher Trolls | Peter Greene:

Field Guide to Anti-Teacher Trolls

The ongoing online debates about American public education have attracted all manner of commentator, from passionate defenders of traditional public education to dedicated reformsters. And, of course, teacher-bashing trolls.

Not that everyone who disagrees with teachers is some sort of troll. It's a big Internet, with plenty of room for many opinions. But from mainstreamish media like Slate, to the usual bloggy outposts, to The Huffington Post (motto "Providing the fertilizer from which a thousand trolls can grow"), teacher bashing trollery is in high gear.

There's a difference between debating and baiting. And taking a big trolly club to teachers seems to be particularly enticing. So as you stroll the education blogs, here's a field guide to the basic varieties of Internet teacher-haters you may encounter. (And remember -- don't feed them.)

Childless Troll

I don't have any kids, so why should I be paying any kinds of taxes to pay teachers' salaries? Cut their salary back to where I don't have to pay any taxes ever. Mind you, I still expect my doctor, neighbors, fellow voters, and every employed person I ever deal with to be an educated adult. I just don't want there to be any schools. I don't know how that's going to work. You're so smart, you figure it out.

Public Service Troll

People should work with children for free because it's such important work (also, musicians and artists should never want to be paid). When teachers complain about salary and benefits, it's unseemly. If they really cared about the children, teachers would happily live in a cardboard box just for the warm glow of satisfaction that comes from teaching. When teachers complain about no raise for eight years or trying to support their family, it just pisses me off -- don't they care about the children??

"Those Damn Unions" Troll

It's the damn teachers' union. Teachers all want to go sleep at their desks because the union will protect them. The union does nothing but protect bad teachers. In fact, the union actually goes out, recruits bad teachers, and then cleverly forces administrations to give these crappy teachers tenure. The union also elected Obama President, and they have the power to bend all elected officials to their will (except for Rand Paul). Union leaders have a giant pile of money that they like to swim in a la Scrooge McDuck; they use it to buy all the elections and all the power.

Teacher Hater Troll

Teachers are the single biggest obstacle to education today. They are only in it for the power and the glory. Well, no -- they also became teachers because they knew that would put them in the best position to interfere with the education of American Field Guide to Anti-Teacher Trolls | Peter Greene: