CORPORATE ED REFORM
Court of appeal finally to hear case charging underfunding of schools | EdSource
Court of appeal finally to hear case charging underfunding of schools | EdSource: Court of appeal finally to hear case charging underfunding of schoolsCREDIT: CALIFORNIA SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATIONPlaintiffs in the Robles-Wong v. State of California lawsuit announce the case at a press conference in Sacramento on May 20, 2010. This month, a state court of appeal will hear arguments in two long-delay
Plaudits and protests for new School Board member | Catalyst Chicago
Plaudits and protests for new School Board member | Catalyst Chicago: Plaudits and protests for new School Board memberJaime Guzman (second from left) has been appointed to the CPS Board of Education to replace Jesse Ruiz. He's pictured here at the December meeting of the Illinois State Charter School Commission, from which he has since resigned.By Melissa SanchezIn appointing a Latino educator wh
Opt Out Parent to US Dept of Education – “We Will Not Comply.” | Creative by Nature
Opt Out Parent to US Dept of Education – “We Will Not Comply.” | Creative by Nature: Opt Out Parent to US Dept of Education – “We Will Not Comply.”“The fact that students with the highest needs are being placed in the crossfire of threats from the Federal Government is discriminatory and bullying at best. Picking on our most vulnerable children is a sign of a system in a complete state of dysfunct
NYC Public School Parents: Come to the NPE Conference in Raleigh NC April 16-17; sign up now to get the Early Bird rate !
NYC Public School Parents: Come to the NPE Conference in Raleigh NC April 16-17; sign up now to get the Early Bird rate !: Come to the NPE Conference in Raleigh NC April 16-17; sign up now to get the Early Bird rate !If you’ve attended one before, you know how great the NPE conferences are for seeing old friends, meeting new ones, and girding up for the battle to save public education! If you’ve n
Outsourcing school tests to non-public entity would cost more | CJOnline
Outsourcing school tests to non-public entity would cost more, state official says | CJOnline.com: Outsourcing school tests to non-public entity would cost more, state official saysDraft legislative report takes aim at annual contract with KUFILE PHOTO/THE CAPITAL-JOURNALA report said that outsourcing school tests would be more costly.Scrapping Kansas’ state tests, which are produced by The Univer
The Camden Enrollment System has a Thumb on the Scale | Blue Jersey
The Camden Enrollment System has a Thumb on the Scale | Blue Jersey: The Camden Enrollment System has a Thumb on the ScaleThis post is cross-posted from the Local Knowledge Blog. Promoted by Rosi.I’ve been playing a lot of basketball over break. As a former D1 basketball player, that comes with some reflection about my own competitive nature. But it’s also come with some curiosity about how this “
Why Philanthropy Hurts Rather Than Helps Some of the World's Worst Problems | The Progressive
Why Philanthropy Hurts Rather Than Helps Some of the World's Worst Problems | The Progressive: Why Philanthropy Hurts Rather Than Helps Some of the World's Worst Problems In America today, big time philanthropists are often lauded for helping to even the playing field for those less fortunate. Every week, millionaires flock from TED conferences to "idea festivals" sharing viral new pres
CURMUDGUCATION: Superintendents: Federal Failure
CURMUDGUCATION: Superintendents: Federal Failure: Superintendents: Federal FailureGallup does an occasional survey of school superintendents, and the results from the November 2015 survey are interesting. They used a list of 11,750 superintendents, and weighted the responses from the 1,255 who actually got back to them to correct for for region and setting of schools. You can read the whole report
More Playtime! How Kids Succeed with Recess Four Times a Day at School | MindShift | KQED News
More Playtime! How Kids Succeed with Recess Four Times a Day at School | MindShift | KQED News: More Playtime! How Kids Succeed with Recess Four Times a Day at SchoolRecess at Eagle Mountain Elementary School in Fort Worth, Texas, looks much like recess anyplace else. Some kids run and squeal, others swing, while a half-dozen of their peers are bunched up on the slide.Journey Orebaugh, a 6-year-ol
A worthwhile opportunity for public high schools - The Washington Post
A worthwhile opportunity for public high schools - The Washington Post: A worthwhile opportunity for public high schoolsA project called Schools of Opportunity was launched by two veteran educators last year as a pilot effort last year to honor high schools that work hard to offer all students a chance to succeed. Unlike other rating and ranking efforts that use of student standardized test scores
Ed Law Prof Blog: Charter School Study Offers New Findings on Student Achievement, Student Enrollment, and Teachers
Education Law Prof Blog: Charter School Study Offers New Findings on Student Achievement, Student Enrollment, and Teachers | National Education Policy Center: Education Law Prof Blog: Charter School Study Offers New Findings on Student Achievement, Student Enrollment, and TeachersA new study by researchers at the University of California, Differing Effects from Diverse Charter Schools: Uneven Stud
The Crucial Debate the Education Writers Association Refuses to Hold - Living in Dialogue
The Crucial Debate the Education Writers Association Refuses to Hold - Living in Dialogue: The Crucial Debate the Education Writers Association Refuses to Hold By Anthony Cody.Education professor Paul Thomas has raised a powerful challenge to the state of education journalism in two recent posts. The first post tackles an article by New York Times reporter Motoko Rich, focused on the latest suppos
Test prep: 'Feed the teacher, or he will eat the kids' - NonDoc
Test prep: 'Feed the teacher, or he will eat the kids' - NonDoc: Test prep: ‘Feed the teacher, or he will eat the kids’My first introduction to test prep was as a rookie teacher in 1992. Five educators with advanced degrees grew frustrated when analyzing a test question about what Alexander the Great founded on the Nile River. Did he build a library, a university or a museum? How in the world coul
Did a Challenging Class Doom this National Board Portfolio Entry? - Living in Dialogue
Did a Challenging Class Doom this National Board Portfolio Entry? - Living in Dialogue: Did a Challenging Class Doom this National Board Portfolio Entry?By John Thompson.As explained in the first post of this three part series, since my book, A Teacher’s Tale has been released, I’ve been rereading the manuscript’s first draft and some of its original sources. Mostly, I did so to revisit the stor
CURMUDGUCATION: The Core vs. Content
CURMUDGUCATION: The Core vs. Content: The Core vs. ContentSince the Core first popped its tiny head out of its crinkly shell, advocates have insisted that CCSS ELA standards, demand rich content. Meanwhile, I have become increasingly convinced that the demands for rich content and the assertions that rich content must be part of Core implementation rise up precisely because the Core actually has a
After 20 Years: The Disastrous Impact of Welfare Reform | janresseger
After 20 Years: The Disastrous Impact of Welfare Reform | janresseger: After 20 Years: The Disastrous Impact of Welfare ReformA couple of months ago, speaking to a large, diverse audience in Cleveland, Ohio, Jonathan Kozol joked that as a Jew, when he has the opportunity to address church audiences, he takes great pleasure in reminding Christians about the meaning of the words of Jesus. On a hot
Russ on Reading: The Homework Problem
Russ on Reading: The Homework Problem: The Homework Problem Homework! Oh homework! I hate you! You stink! I wish I could wash you away in the sink. (from Homework, Oh Homework, by Jack Prelutsky)Sunday’s New York Times carried an article by Vicki Abeles, producer director of the documentary
Kids And Screen Time: A Peek At Upcoming Guidance : NPR Ed : NPR
Kids And Screen Time: A Peek At Upcoming Guidance : NPR Ed : NPR: Kids And Screen Time: A Peek At Upcoming GuidanceHere's a stark fact: Most American children spend more time consuming electronic media than they do in school.Rose Jaffe for NPR According to Common Sense Media, tweens log 4 1/2 hours of screen time a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. For teens, it's even higher: nearly seven
Is it Research – or Propaganda? | Seattle Education
Is it Research – or Propaganda? | Seattle Education: Is it Research – or Propaganda?This article was published four years ago on this site but needs to see the light of day again.-Dora TaylorThere’s a lot of brand new education research coming out nowadays, and it’s telling our policymakers that privatization is good for education. Class sizes are going up? That’s okay, because research shows that
A serious rant about homework - The Washington Post
A serious rant about homework - The Washington Post: A serious rant about homeworkIt’s one of those perennial subjects that causes consternation in homes and schools across America, decade after decade: homework. In this post, a former teacher and mother offers her serious rant about homework her children are getting. Blaine is now a full-time practicing attorney in New Jersey, and she has written
Dear Journalists Covering Education, Let Me Explain | the becoming radical
Dear Journalists Covering Education, Let Me Explain | the becoming radical: Dear Journalists Covering Education, Let Me ExplainIn my Twitter timeline, I saw a post praising a recent New York Times article on graduation rates and the devalued high school diploma. Since I had written a blog criticizing the many (and typical) flaws in the piece, I nudged Stephanie Banchero and Nichole Dobo to reconsi
Federal sanctions on failing schools don’t die easy :: SI&A Cabinet Report
Federal sanctions on failing schools don’t die easy :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet: Federal sanctions on failing schools don’t die easy(Calif.) A key component of the nation’s new education law adopted last month did away with federal sanctions imposed on schools designated as “failing” as defined by the prior regime.But officials at the Ca
CT Charter Schools collect $100 million+ from taxpayers despite discriminating and abusing children - Wait What?
CT Charter Schools collect $100 million+ from taxpayers despite discriminating and abusing children - Wait What?: CT Charter Schools collect $100 million+ from taxpayers despite discriminating and abusing childrenHidden by the holidays, Governor Dannel Malloy and Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman trotted out their budget chief, Ben Barnes, last week to quietly announce another $93 million in state budget c
Girls Fight Back Against Gender Bias in School Dress Codes - NEA Today
Girls Fight Back Against Gender Bias in School Dress Codes - NEA Today: Girls Fight Back Against Gender Bias in School Dress CodesIn 2014, a group of middle school students in Inglewood, New Jersey, started the hashtag campaign, #IAmMoreThanADistraction, to call attention to their school’s dress code.Last year, Anna Loisa Cruz, a seventh-grader at Irvington School in Portland, Ore., was among four
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: David Brooks' shaky defense of liberalism
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: David Brooks' shaky defense of liberalism: David Brooks' shaky defense of liberalismDavid Brooks opens hisNYT Op-Ed piece this way: On New Year’s Eve some friends and family members had a drink at a bar in Tel Aviv...I suppose this literary device is meant to assure the Netanyahu regime that he won't step on their toes in this column. He then goes on to attack rising
All Things Education: Yes, please, to more recess
All Things Education: Yes, please, to more recess: Yes, please, to more recessWe are lucky that the elementary schools that my children attend still have a full half an hour of lunch and a full half an hour of recess each day. Other kids are not so lucky--recess is becoming a luxury. Though my middle schoolers don't get any recess. Do any middle schoolers get recess any more? So two things of note
Hair Raising New Study: Charter Schools May Be Economic 'Bubble' That Bursts in Urban Communities | Alternet
Hair Raising New Study: Charter Schools May Be Economic 'Bubble' That Bursts in Urban Communities | Alternet: Hair Raising New Study: Charter Schools May Be Economic 'Bubble' That Bursts in Urban CommunitiesAre charter schools the new sup-prime mortgages?Are charter schools the new subprime mortgages? That's what UConn scholar Preston Green argues in a provocative new paper. Green and his co-autho
Bowman: Don't let Richmond dictate charter schools - Roanoke Times: Commentary
Bowman: Don't let Richmond dictate charter schools - Roanoke Times: Commentary: Bowman: Don't let Richmond dictate charter schoolsLaura Bowman Bowman is the leader of the child and public school advocacy group, Parents Across America-Roanoke Valley, a chapter of the national Parents Across America organization. She's a stay-at-home mom and an active parent volunteer in Roanoke County Public School
Making Charter Schools Public Schools Requires Higher Standards of Accountability | Nonprofit Quarterly
Making Charter Schools Public Schools Requires Higher Standards of Accountability | Nonprofit Quarterly: Making Charter Schools Public Schools Requires Higher Standards of AccountabilityLast September, the Washington State Supreme Court held that “charter schools did not meet the definition of a common or public school and were not eligible for a share of state education funding.” While the ruling
Farewell to the testocracy tsar | SocialistWorker.org
Farewell to the testocracy tsar | SocialistWorker.org: Farewell to the testocracy tsar Jesse Hagopian, editor of More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing, bids adieu to the Secretary of Miseducation, in an article for The Progressive.ARNE DUNCAN, the former U.S. Secretary of Education who left office at the close of 2015, has ended his tenure as one of the most destructive f
Do We Have to Send Our Kid to a Bad Public School? - The New York Times
Do We Have to Send Our Kid to a Bad Public School? - The New York Times: Do We Have to Send Our Kid to a Bad Public School?My wife and I are an interracial couple living in Oakland, Calif. We are both first-generation college graduates for whom solid public-school educations made all the difference. We are struggling with choosing a public school for our son, who will enter kindergarten this year.
How Student Privacy and California’s SOPIPA May Affect You | Cooley GO
How Student Privacy and California’s SOPIPA May Affect You | Cooley GO: HOW STUDENT PRIVACY AND CALIFORNIA’S SOPIPA MAY AFFECT YOU California recently passed the Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (“SOPIPA” a.k.a. “so-peep’-ah”), which is the first state law to comprehensively address student privacy and will be effective January 1, 2016. SOPIPA applies fairly broadly to websites,
Vaccines, Fluoride and Breastfeeding: A Primer to the Parenting Fights of Portland - Willamette Week
Vaccines, Fluoride and Breastfeeding: A Primer to the Parenting Fights of Portland - Willamette Week: Vaccines, Fluoride and Breastfeeding: A Primer to the Parenting Fights of PortlandYour guide to the most divisive issues in Portland parenting.In a city already as sanctimonious as Portland, it probably comes as no surprise that the child-rearing scene is a minefield of enlightened folks ready to
A healthy child has a better chance to learn: Editorial | NOLA.com
A healthy child has a better chance to learn: Editorial | NOLA.com: A healthy child has a better chance to learn: EditorialAccording to the study, the average income needed by a single parent in New Orleans with one child is $51,264. That figure rises with more children in a home.The strain of poverty and poor health makes it more difficult for many youngsters in Louisiana to succeed in school. Ro
Anti-union SCOTUS Challenge Threatens Church-State Separation
Anti-union SCOTUS Challenge Threatens Church-State Separation: Anti-union SCOTUS Challenge Threatens Church-State SeparationThe Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association case not only puts public-sector unions in danger, it risks opening a new chapter in the war over religion in public schools. (Photo: Shutterstock)A version of this article was originally published in the December 2015 issue o
YESTERDAY
Public preschools attempt to accommodate diverse languages of students | EdSource
Public preschools attempt to accommodate diverse languages of students | EdSource: Public preschools attempt to accommodate diverse languages of studentsTeacher Lien Nguyen got up in front of a class of 3-year-olds and gave a lesson typical of a preschool: Where are your eyes, nose and hair?But Nguyen did something not heard in most classrooms: She repeated each body part in Vietnamese.Most of the
Cerf, the new “decider” in Newark, decides to break the unions | Bob Braun's Ledger
Cerf, the new “decider” in Newark, decides to break the unions | Bob Braun's Ledger: Cerf, the new “decider” in Newark, decides to break the unionsChristopher Cerf, the state-appointed superintendent of the Newark schools, has unilaterally taken actions that threaten the future of collective bargaining rights of the city’s school employee unions–and maybe even the future of the unions. Cerf annou
My Daughter is Not a Widget | gadflyonthewallblog
My Daughter is Not a Widget | gadflyonthewallblog: My Daughter is Not a Widget“I’m not sure public schools understand that we’re their customer—that we, the business community, are your customer. What they don’t understand is they are producing a product at the end of that high school graduation. Now is that product in a form that we, the customer, can use it? Or is it defective, and we’re not int
New education law puts more pressure on states to serve English learners | EdSource
New education law puts more pressure on states to serve English learners | EdSource: New education law puts more pressure on states to serve English learnersDelia PompaThe Every Student Succeeds Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law last month, includes important policies that recognize the needs and diversity of English learners in an effort to close the ongoing achievement gap betwee
ASL Teacher has ALS and loses both of her voices | Reclaim Reform
ASL Teacher has ALS and loses both of her voices | Reclaim Reform: ASL Teacher has ALS and loses both of her voicesKaren Dyer, an American Sign Language (ASL) teacher, has ALS which was once called Lou Gehrig’s Disease; this is a progressive neurodegenerative disease which has caused her to lose both her vocal abilities and her hand movements.Karen Dyer has lived her adult life with two voices—her
Receivership: Union battle & Common Core assessments | WBFO
Receivership: Union battle & Common Core assessments | WBFO: Receivership: Union battle & Common Core assessmentsAs receivership plans for 15-of Buffalo's most struggling public schools could mean changes to the school day, the teachers union is planning to fight the new rule. WBFO's Focus on Education Reporter Eileen Buckley says one city school teacher calls receivership 'union busting'.
Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 1/5/15
CORPORATE ED REFORM El Dorado CountyBoard hires Ed Manansala, a former superintendent of St. Hope schools | The Sacramento BeeEl Dorado County education board taps new schools chief | The Sacramento Bee: El Dorado County education board taps new schools chiefEd Manansala was named Tuesday as the new El Dorado County superintendent of schools, replacing a predecessor who resigned in November after
