9-2-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet:

A former university president gets schooled on sexual assault and drinking

Former George Washington University president Stephen Joel Trachtenberg was at the center of an international debate recently when he appeared on a radio show and made some comments about sexual assault and drinking on college campuses. My colleague Nick Anderson wrote this article about it: “Without making the victims . . . responsible for what happens, one […]

by Valerie Strauss / 1h hide  //  save

Back to school 2014-15 — by the numbers

Here is everything you didn’t know you didn’t know about the 2014-15 school year, getting under way in earnest around the country this week. This information comes directly from the U.S. Education Department’s Nation Center for Education Statistics: Question: What are the new Back to School statistics for 2014? Response: Elementary and Secondary Education Enrollment […]

10 by Valerie Strauss / 2h  

9-1-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet: Why one school system is dropping Teach For AmericaThe school board in Durham, N.C., has voted 6-1 to end its relationship with Teach For America after the 2015-16 school year, when all of the 12 TFA teachers hired in the past few years will have completed the two years of service they promise to make when joining the organization. What makes it interesting […]1 by Valerie Strauss / 

1 by mike simpson / 8h 

9-2-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

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

Big Surprise — NOT!: Study Says Students Are More Successful With “Active Learning” Than With Lectures

© 2011 Ian Barbour, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio I’ve written a lot about how active learning is more effective than lectures (see The Best Research Demonstrating That Lectures Are Not The Best Instructional Strategy). A big New York Times article headlined Active Role in Class Helps Black and First-Generation College Students, Study Says discusses yet another study that reinforces that view. Her

7 by Larry Ferlazzo / 28min 

New “Edu-Messaging” Firm Needs To Work On Their “Messaging” Skills

© 2009 Ben Sutherland, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Education Post is a new “edu-messaging” organization that is backed by the “Broad Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Walton Family Foundation and an anonymous donor” and led by the former spokesperson for U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. The Washington Post says it has: the aim of encouraging a more “respectful” and fact-based national

2 by Larry Ferlazzo / 0min

Hispanic Heritage Month Begins On Sept. 15th — Here Are Related Resources

© 2013 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe District, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month. You might be interested in The Best Resources For Hispanic Heritage Month.

7 by Larry Ferlazzo / 39min 

The New York Times Learning Network Begins Another Year!

The New York Times Learning Network, one of the best resources out there for teachers (I said that before I began writing for it, and I’ll continue to say it), just published a useful post describing its upcoming activities for the new school year. Last year, I wrote a short weekly post about teaching activities for English Language Learners that included a student interactive. The previous year,

5 by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h hide  //  save

Online Presentation-Creator Powtoon Giving Away 50,000 Classroom Accounts

I just learned through Richard Byrne’s must-read blog that Powtoon, a unique online tool for creating presentations that is on a number of “Best” lists (including The Best Ways To Create Online Slideshows), is giving away 50,000 classroom accounts to teachers. Each account provides 60 student accounts. You can read more about it the deal, and about how Powtoon works, at Richard’s post.

7 by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h

9-1-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Just Published! 42nd ELT Blog Carnival: Back To School!David Deubelbeiss has just published the 42nd edition of the ELT Blog Carnival (formerly known as the ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival) and it’s a great one on back-to-school activities. Teachers from all around the world have contributed their ideas! I’m adding it to The Best

1 by mike simpson / 7h 

9-2-14 Jersey Jazzman

Jersey Jazzman:

An Open Letter to Star-Ledger Editorial Board Director @tomamoran

Note: Shortly after I read Tom Moran's piece in the Star-Ledger this past Sunday, I got an email from fellow teacher-blogger Marie Corfield, who suggested we write a response together with our friend and colleague Ani McHugh. We're posting this at all three of our blogs simultaneously, and over at Blue Jersey.Moran has ignored us individually; he's going to have a much harder time ignoring us coll

100+ by Duke / 3h 

9-1-14 Jersey Jazzman

Jersey Jazzman: Sinatra, Carlin, Inequality, Education, and America: Happy Labor DayFrank Sinatra held his fair share of self-contradictions. For a guy who espoused such working-class sentiments, his endorsement of Ronald Reagan was more than a little incongruous. And JFK, the one politician Sinatra really went to bat for, was such a neo-lib that he would have felt right at home in the Obama White

1 by mike simpson / 3h 

9-2-14 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.:

Mark Anderson. Minimum wage gimmicks.

- Mark Anderson writes for NBC’s Ward Room. As part of a national conversation about inequality and the potential for raising the minimum wage, it’s become something of a trend for politicians of all stripes to try living on poverty wages for a while. In February, a group of Minnesota lawmakers tried to live on a minimum wage budget for a week. In July, three Democratic politicians—Reps. Tim Ryan

4 by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

TMD. Chicago crime statistics.

1 by Fred Klonsky / 28min 

The power of oldness.

Anne sent me a video this morning produced by Australian Human Rights Commission to combat age discrimination. Their tagline is The Power of Oldness. I’m feeling that power this morning. And I will explain in a minute. Meanwhile I read my friend John Dillon’s blog. John’s a retired teacher and blogger. And has spent a good part of his time over the past years meeting with legislators, patiently e

1 by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

I’m always optimistic.

National Association President Lily Eskelsen Garcia and me at the NEA RA in Denver. The new school year has started. The third without me. How have they survived? For me, the start of a new school year was a moment for optimism. It is like the optimism I felt leaving this year’s Representative Assembly of the National Education Association in Denver last July. We had just passed a stinging rebuke

7 by Fred Klonsky / 1h hide  //  save

Troy LaRaviere. Drop CPS’ reform strategy. Neighborhood school growth outpaces charters. (Sun-Times)

Blaine Principal Troy LaRaviere. - Troy LaRaviere is principal at Blaine Elementary School, a parent at Kellogg Elementary School, a graduate of Chicago Public Schools and Chairperson of the Administrators Alliance for Proven Policy and Legislation in Education (AAPPLE). When mayor Rahm Emanuel recently heralded a small gain on the average Chicago Public Schools elementary “MAP” test results, I k

by Fred Klonsky / 2h 

9-1-14 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.: Labor Day.1 by Fred Klonsky / 37min Life in Rahm’s Chicago. The death of a nameless homeless man in Logan Square.  The Kennedy overpass at Belmont and Kedzie. DNAinfo: A man who police say was homeless was beaten to death in Logan Square Saturday evening. Around 10:50 p.m., the man, 59, was in an alle

1 by mike simpson / 8h

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 9-2-14

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

50 State Look At How The Common Core Is Playing Out In The U.S.

    | By The Associated Press from the Huffington Post |http://huff.to/Y9fVzD ●● smf: The HuffPost likes to make lists of things. This is one of them. 9/02/2014 9:37 am EDT   ::  A state-by-state look at the Common Core standards: ___ ALABAMA The state school board folded Common Core into the state's College and Career Ready Standards for public schools and has been defending the

by smf / 32min hide  //  save

A Tough Test For New Ged:

By Caitlin Emma, With help from Allie Grasgreen, Maggie Severns and Stephanie Simon | Politico Morning Ed | by email 2 Sept 2014  ::  High school dropouts seeking an equivalency degree have been struggling with the revised GED exam, launched Jan. 1 as a profit-making joint venture between publishing giant Pearson and nonprofit American Council on Education. The pass rate on the old GED hovered

1 by smf / 1h 

The revolving door revolves: NEW ED ®EFORM GROUP DEBUTS

from the Politico Morning Ed Report | by email Sept 2, 2014  ::  Peter Cunningham, a former assistant secretary for communication in Arne Duncan's Education Department, launched a new ed reform group this weekend with backing from the Broad Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies. The group backs charter schools, Common Core and teacher evaluations based in part

by smf / 9min 

Analysis Finds California Students Attend School More Than U.S. Peers

By Teresa Watanabe, LA Times | http://lat.ms/1qXEW7D First-grade teacher Gail Lemmen, left, welcomes each student to the first day of the school on Monday, Aug. 11, 2014 at Los Robles Elementary School in Porterville, Calif. (Chieko Hara / AP) A study finds California fourth- and eighth-graders had better attendance than peers in about 40 other states Nearly 1 in 5 California

1 by smf / 7min hide  //  save

Why not L.A.?: FREE FLU VACCINES FOR 60,000 OAKLAND KIDS

By Doug Oakley, Oakland Tribune | http://bit.ly/1x65uMz 9/02/2014 12:00:00 AM PDT  -  OAKLAND  ::  The largest ever seasonal flu vaccine program for Oakland youngsters will roll out Oct. 1, with the Alameda County health department targeting 60,000 elementary school students with free vaccines at 130 schools. And one of the better parts of the Shoo the Flu program, besides keeping kids and by

1 by smf / 31min 

Free+Reduced School Meals: POPULAR CHILD-POVERTY MEASURE GETS ANOTHER LOOK

By Sarah D. Sparks, Education Week | http://bit.ly/W6r3eX Published Online: August 19, 2014 Published in Print: August 20, 2014, as Analysts Rethinking Popular Indicator of Child Poverty Washington   ::  When it comes to free school meals, it's increasingly clear that students aren't always what they eat. The federal free- and reduced-price meals program, launched decades ago by the U.S.

1 by smf / 4min 

LEGISLATIVE ANALYST’S OFFICE PROPOSES PARADIGM SHIFT IN MANAGING STATE EDUCATION: Beyond compliance to true collaborative oversight – not “permissible” …but “effective”

By Jane Meredith Adams | EdSource Today  |  http://bit.ly/1lFtm52 The California Department of Education building in Sacramento. August 29, 2014 |  Proposing a fundamental change in the way the California Department of Education operates, a report from the Legislative Analyst’s Office Thursday suggested the department move beyond its current focus on federal compliance, an emphasis

1 by smf / 8h 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 9-1-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Investor Update: APPLE INC. ON WATCH OVER LAUSD ISSUESby Ed Palmer| Financial Wired | http://bit.ly/1nQ647K August 26, 2014  ::  by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is on watch after Los Angeles schools Superintendent John Deasy says he is suspending a $1 billion iPad initiative with AAPL amid scrutiny over Deasy’s close ties with AAPL and Pearson Plc (PSO) and

by mike simpson / 9min 

9-2-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Why The Obama Administration Won't Back Off Its Disastrous Education Policies

With A Brooklyn Accent:

Why The Obama Administration Won't Back Off Its Disastrous Education Policies

   As I was sitting watching the US Open after a day of preparing for classes, I started thinking of why state after state, with the encouragement of the US Department of Education, keeps subjecting teachers to evaluation systems which are humiliating, time consuming and inaccurate, despite evidence that shows that their main effect is to drive good teachers out and turn teaching into a revolving

2 by Mark Naison / 28min

In the US " Improving Teacher Quality" really means Humiliating and Firing Veteran Teachers

All over the nation, the imperative to "improve teacher quality" has morphed into a campaign to marginalize, humiliate and force out veteran teachers. Not only has this caused tremendous distress to the individuals thus targeted, it has deprived our public schools of a priceless source of knowledge and cultural capital and has contributed to huge turnover among new teachers who are depri

2 by Mark Naison / 29min 

8-30-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Love Letters to the BATS

With A Brooklyn Accent:Defend Gus Morales!If you were going to "build a teacher" in a largely working class town where the majority of those enrolled in the public schools are students of color, one of the models you would work from would be Augustin Morales. Born in Holyoke Mass., part of that town's large Puerto Rican community, Gus spent several years in the military before returning

by mike simpson / 8h