9-4-14 Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"

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

Interesting Idea: “Digital Parent Volunteers”

Here’s an interesting idea from George Couros: You might also be interested in The Best Sources Of Parent Engagement Advice For Teachers.

5 by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h hide  //  save

“A Checklist for Back to School Night”

A Checklist for Back to School Night is a useful post for every teacher. It’s by Heather Wolpert-Gawron and appeared in Edutopia.

3 by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h 

“Parents’ ability to track student grades, attendance by smartphone has growing app-eal”

Parents’ ability to track student grades, attendance by smartphone has growing app-eal is a new article in the Sacramento Bee about the growing popularity of mobile apps by schools for parents and students. You might also be interested in A Beginning List Of The Best Resources On Using Technology To Help Engage Parents.

4 by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h 

“NY City schools will push for more ‘family connections,’ parent involvement, Chancellor Carmen Fariña says”

City schools will push for more ‘family connections,’ parent involvement, Chancellor Carmen Fariña says is the headline of a New York Daily News article. Here’s are some excerpts: Family engagement at schools will be getting an overhaul, the city schools boss tells the Daily News. Changes include longer one-on-one parent-teacher conferences, workshops for parents and support for GED and English as

2 by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h 

9-4-14 Wait What? - For whom the bell tolls…

Wait What?:

For whom the bell tolls…

With Election Day less than nine weeks away, Connecticut teachers, parents and public school advocates continue to wait for an indication as to whether any of the candidates for governor will truly stand up against the tide of the corporate education reform industry, including their absurd, unfair and expensive Common Core testing scheme. Tens of […] The post For whom the bell tolls… appeared firs

14 by jonpelto / 1h 

9-3-14 Wait What? - Foley and Malloy are just plain wrong on taxes

Wait What?: Foley and Malloy are just plain wrong on taxes[A special note of thanks to all of you who have posted comments and sent emails of support urging me to continue writing posts Wait, What?  While I will continue to mull over the various issues and opportunities, the following is an attempt to gingerly re-enter the fray by using this blog to raise what […] The post Foley and Malloy are jus

by mike simpson / 8min 

9-4-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet:

Strauss: Principal cancels dance to stop students from twerking and blames Miley Cyrus

The principal and dean of students at a high school in Vermont cancelled the fall homecoming dance in an effort to stop students from “twerking” and blamed Miley Cyrus for starting the dance trend with her provocative appearance at the 2103 MTV Video Music Awards. Read full article >>

1 by Valerie Strauss / 17min 

Strauss: Will Common Core double the high school dropout rate?

The nonprofit Carnegie Corporation of New York, which has supported the Common Core State Standards, published a report in 2013 with some startling information that was little noticed in the education world until recently: that the high school dropout rate could double as a result of the Core initiative. Read full article >>

1 by Valerie Strauss / 30min 

No, helicopter parents aren’t ruining kids after all

There is no end to the articles and blog posts about overprotective helicopter parents who won’t let their children do anything for themselves and are raising children who can’t operate independently. There probably are some of these parents — but does the helicopter hysteria match the reality. No, says Alfie Kohn, in the following post. […]

24 by Valerie Strauss / 5h 

9-3-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet: A pledge school reformers should takeEducation historian Larry Cuban notes that no matter what part of the political spectrum school reform originates, reformers keep making the same mistakes, decade in and decade out. What mistakes? Cuban explains in this post. Cuban was a high school social studies teacher for 14 years, a district superintendent (seven years in Arlington, VA), and

by mike simpson / 47min 

9-4-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

Seattle School Board Comments from Last Night's Meeting

I only watched the Board comments and a bit more of the meeting.  (They moved at lightening speed and I think may have adjourned by 6:30 pm.)  This is NOT coverage of all their comments but just the issue-specific ones that they made.I wish I had heard one Board member say that he or she was committed to following thru on every stated commitment and accountability measure that staff has said.  No

by Melissa Westbrook / 12min 

Reminder: Pre-K Forum Tonight

I meant to get this up as a reminder this morning but the League of Women Voters of Seattle-King County is having a forum on Early Childhood Education tonight.  (They will not be specifically discussing the two propositions that will be on the ballot in November but it may come up during Q&A). Thursday, September 4 at 7:00 PMSeattle First Baptist Church, 1111 Harvard Ave, SeattleFree and open

by Melissa Westbrook / 40min hide  //  save

Out of Touch at the Seattle Times

Well, I just finished listening to the Mayor's press conference for the announcement of the new Education and Early Learning department.Is Murray "thinking" about a governance takeover OR has he "considered" it in an abstract way? The press conference video indicates he is aware of what other cities do (he compared the East Coast to the West Coast ) and said that "power is

by Melissa Westbrook / 55min 

Times Urges Mayor Murray to Take Control of the School Board

In one of the most shameful and disrespectfully written editorials I've ever read in the Times, they urge the Mayor and the City Council to make taking over the majority of the Seattle School Board positions a top legislative priority.It's a funny thing because I JUST today wrote the Board about a couple of other issues but warned them of this.  Now we all know there is no love between me and the

1 by Melissa Westbrook / 9h 

9-3-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Title IX UpdateAs you may know, Seattle Public Schools wasn't quite up to snuff on Title IX compliance. The person responsible for Title IX compliance didn't know his responsibilities and, consequently, failed to perform his required duties. When this dreadful situation came to light (with tragic consequences), the District... well, the District didn't do anything

by mike simpson / 1h 

9-4-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

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

Three New — & Good — Guides To Twitter

© 2009 marek.sotak, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Here are three new excellent guides to Twitter that I’m adding to The Best Resources For Beginning To Learn What Twitter Is All About: Twitter education chats: An astonishing source of professional development is from Scholastic. Twitter Demystified: How To RT, MT, #FF And Fave Like A Pro is from ReadWrite. Go Ahead-Take Control is from EdChatma.

5 by Larry Ferlazzo / 7min 

All The Interviews I’ve Done With Authors Over The Past 3 Years — In One Place!

My latest Ed Week Teacher post brings together all the interviews I’ve done with authors over the past three years. Here’s an excerpt from one:

3 by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h 

9-3-14 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: Iceland VolcanoI’m adding this video to The Best Sites For Learning About Volcanoes:7 by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h hide  //  saveAll My Ed Week Posts On “Relationships” From The Past 3 Years — In One Place!My latest Ed Week Teacher column brings together all my posts there from the past three years on the topic of “relati

by mike simpson / 38min 

9-4-14 Jersey Jazzman - A Reply To A Reply from @tomamoran

Jersey Jazzman:

A Reply To A Reply from @tomamoran

Tom,Contrary to your beliefs, no one called you a racist. You know this: you put our other criticisms of you in quotes, but not the one where you allege we call you racist.What we said was that you support One Newark, a racist school reorganization policy. Which it is.You say:Maybe you folks should take a pill, and engage people who disagree with you in a civil manner. You might find that I'm not

41 by Duke / 9h 

9-3-14 Jersey Jazzman - Is "One Newark" Racist?

Jersey Jazzman: Is "One Newark" Racist?Is One Newark, the school reorganization plan for New Jersey largest city, racist? Well...- Under One Newark, "Schools assigned the consequential classifications have substantively and statistically significantly greater shares of low income and black students." That's racist.- Under One Newark, "NPS’s black teachers are far more like

by mike simpson / 27min 

9-4-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness

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

Grade Retention Research

Grade Retention Research Alexander, K.L., Entwisle, D.R., & Dauber, S.L. (1994). On the success of failure: A reassessment of the effects of retention in the primary grades. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Allensworth, E. M. (2004). Ending Social Promotion: Dropout Rates in Chicago After Implementation of the Eighth-Grade Promotion Gate. Chicago, IL: Consortium for Chicago School Re

3 by plthomasedd / 2min 

9-3-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): The Conversation UK: Keeping children back a year doesn’t help them read betterKeeping children back a year doesn’t help them read better2 by plthomasedd / 14h 9-2-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindnessthe becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy o

by mike simpson / 1h 

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

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

State Of California Awards Common Core Test Contract

Tests to cost $9.55 per student per year (with a limit of 1 million students) - plus $17.75 per student (with no limit) to score the tests.  There are 3.6 million students in CA – though not all will take the test every year. By John Fensterwald, EdSource Today | http://bit.ly/1pt3lR7   Source: Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. California and eight other dark green states

by smf / 4h 

Deasy on his critics: CONSTANT ATTACKS ARE ‘POLITICALLY MOTIVATED’

by Michael Janofsky in LA School Report | http://bit.ly/1psUsqS Posted on September 3, 2014 2:53 pm  ::  Under withering criticism over the iPad program, a new student-tracking computer system and discordant relations with the teachers union, LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy said today that the attacks feel politically motivated at the expense of his agenda to improve the lives of district

4 by smf / 22min hide  //  save

Letters Pro+Con As Utla Asks Deasy To Put Himself In “Teacher Jail”

Union calls for Deasy to report to 'teacher jail' during iPad inquiry By Stephen Ceasar , LA Times | http://lat.ms/1uBXq0P Sept. 4, 2014  ::  Los Angeles teachers union president Alex Caputo-Pearl on Wednesday called on L.A. Schools chief John Deasy to report to “teacher jail” — district offices that house instructors who are facing allegations of misconduct

by smf / 34min

LA Times: the story retold — SUPT. DEASY’S EARLY AND AVID SUPPORT OF iPADS UNDER INTENSE SCRUTINY

Critics question Deasy video – and much more –  promoting iPads before bidding began By Howard Blume and James Rainey | http://lat.ms/1vS847t Supt. John Deasy appeared in a 2011 video for Apple promoting the iPad, saying it would "change the landscape of education." (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) Sept 4, 2014, 5:04 AM  ::  The pitch came from a smiling man in a jacket and tie,

1 by smf / 2min hide  //  save

ALL THE SUPERINTENDENT’S MEN by Martin Eden

Found scattered at the LA School report | http://bit.ly/YdmgdD smf: “Martin Eden” is the name of a commenter on the LA School Report who has introduced a parallel John Deasy and crew in a parallel LAUSD that malfunctions in a parallel literary universe. Martin’s posts appear uninvited but welcome among the other posts, hardboiled and noir. But first: A joke, found on my daughter’s Facebook

by smf / 6h 

YESTERDAY

NEW ED ®EFORM GROUP DEBUTS: The revolving door revolves …and hits ex-Mayor Tony in the butt!

Education Post aims to take the sting out of national conversations about school reform Peter Cunningham, the former communications guru for U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, is leading the organization. Bruce Reed, president of the Broad Foundation, said the idea for Education Post originated with his organization. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa  is leading the

1 by smf / 9h 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 9-3-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: DEASY: “Dear LAUSD Family, I would like to speak to you personally…” but instead here are two links to the same memo I sent to the Board of Ed yesterdayan email blast sent to all LAUSD employees From: Superintendent John Deasy [superintendent_john@LAUSD.NET]Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2014 2:39 PMTo: LAUSD_EMPLOYEES@LIST.LAUSD.NETSubject: Ed-Blast: C

by mike simpson / 1min