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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Schools Matter: Public Charter School Dollars and Turkish Political Conversions

Schools Matter: Public Charter School Dollars and Turkish Political Conversions

Public Charter School Dollars and Turkish Political Conversions

by Jim Horn
Did you think KIPP was the largest charter chain in the U.S. with its 82 schools? Think again. It seems that charter schools are not just for corporate indoctrination and happiness training of poor children, anymore.

Sharon Higgins has been doing some digging on a confederation of charters in a bunch of states that are making test score headlines while doing political conversion work among tens of thousands of schoolchildren. Read Sharon's piece. Any reporters out there at the EWA interested in something other than press releases from Arne Duncan? A clip:
. . . .From an article in The Irish Times (January 2010) about Gülen schools in Ethiopia which quotes Hakan Yavuz, a Turkish professor who co-edited a book on the Gulen phenomenon and describes the movement as the "most powerful force in Turkey." He says its main goal has been the "Islamisation" of Turkish society:

Yavuz argues that there is a wider agenda as manifested by its increasingly global
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This Week In Education Campaign 2010: Unemployed Teachers & The Democrats

This Week In Education

Campaign 2010: Unemployed Teachers & The Democrats

by Alexander Russo
image from community.naa.orgPolitico's list of stories that could affect the November elections doesn't specifically mention unemployed teachers, but near-double digit unemployment figures are on the list and let's be honest it wouldn't be a good thing for Obama et al if there were lots of teachers unemployed next fall, especially considering their inability / unwillingness to point the finger back at the previous administration for much of the mess we're in. I continue to hold that such a thing as massive teacher layoffs is not particularly likely, and certainly won't be out of proportion to unemployment in other sectors. The question is whether teachers can accept even relatively small layoff numbers without freaking out all over the Democrats in November. Over the years some of them seem to have gotten the notion that they are somehow protected from things like enrollment fluctuations and

AM News: Hoping Against Hope (For RTTT Money)

by Alexander Russo
ScreenHunter_10 May. 28 21.45Thirty-Five States, D.C. Vie for Education Funding WSJ Stephanie Banchero: Federal officials expect to name finalists on or around July 26, with winners to be announced by the end of September. They said 10-15 states could win grants...California applies again for federal school-reform grant LA Times: California joined 34 other states Tuesday in competing a second time for federal Race to the Top school-reform grants, but union opposition could doom the effort... Experts: Texas textbooks are unlikely to spread AP: Technology has made it easier and more affordable for publishers to tailor textbooks to different standards. That's especially true in the 20 other states like Texas where education boards approve textbooks for statewide use... Can 120 new teachers lift six failing Louisville schools? When the new year begins this fall at Valley Traditional High School, there will be five new English teachers, three new math teachers and two new science teachers, as well as new special education, choral and art instructors. Via EWA...More below.
Gender Gap for the Gifted in City Schools NYT: New York City educators debate why there is a gender disparity in gifted programs. Around the city, the current crop of gifted kindergartners, for example, is 56 percent girls, and in the 2008-9 year, 55 percent were girls. Via EWA... States requiring PE, but amount varies AP Mary Clare Jalonick: More states are requiring physical education for elementary, middle and high school students, though few require kids to exercise for a specific amount of time... Who Needs Google? Students Still Use Phone Hotline NPR: Forty years ago, University of Kansas officials set up a phone-based information hotline to quell rumors after the student union was firebombed and two teens were shot and killed... High School Homebuilders Get More Than Education NPR: Students at Forest Grove High School near Portland, Ore., build a house each year, and then the school sells it to raise money. For many of the young builders, it's much more than a class...
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AllGov - News - California Senate Opposes Texas History Textbook Changes

AllGov - News - California Senate Opposes Texas History Textbook Changes
California Senate Opposes Texas History Textbook Changes
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
California Senate Opposes Texas History Textbook Changes

California’s state Senate wants no part of Texas’ new standards for history textbooks. Responding to changes adopted by Texas State Board of Education, the California Senate adopted legislation intended to prevent conservative revisions to American history from becoming part of the Golden State’s public-school curriculum.

The Texas education board wants textbooks, among other things, to emphasize the significance of Christianity in the nation’s founding, minimize Thomas Jefferson’s philosophy of separating church and state, play up the rise of conservatism in the 1980s and 1990s, and down play Latino history.
The Senate measure (S.B. 1451), adopted on a bipartisan 25-5 vote, requires California’s Board of Education to assess discrepancies between the new Texas standards and California’s existing ones.
“At that point,” the bill’s sponsor, Democratic Senator Leland Yee, told The Raw Story, “we will make it very, very clear that we
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Governor Christie, teacher's union spar over seniority | WHYY News and Information | WHYY

Governor Christie, teacher's union spar over seniority | WHYY News and Information | WHYY

Governor Christie, teacher's union spar over seniority

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010


By: Phil Gregory
philgregorynews@gmail.com

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The Christie administration's application for as much as much as $400 million in federal funds for education reform does not include a provision the teachers union agreed on last week.

The New Jersey Education Association as well as the State Education Commissioner Bret Schundler had agreed that seniority would continue to be used to decide on teacher layoffs.

But Governor Christie says he rejected that in submitting the state's application for federal money in the "Race to the Top" program.

“I believe merit pay has to go to individual teachers,” says Christie. “I believe that if there are going to be layoffs that those layoffs should be done based upon merit, not based upon seniority.”

Christie says he believes his changes will not hurt the state's chances of

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D.C. Schools Insider- Welcome to the test factory - Bill Turque chronicles Chancellor Michelle Rhee's effort to transform District public schools.

D.C. Schools Insider - Bill Turque chronicles Chancellor Michelle Rhee's effort to transform District public schools.

Welcome to the test factory


Crystal Sylvia, a social worker at Bruce-Monroe Elementary School at Park View and the parent of two DCPS children, writes:
While many people spent the Friday before Memorial Day weekend thinking about the cookouts and barbecues that they would attend, teachers at my school were working feverishly to finish administering two reading assessments to all our students: DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) and TRC (Text and Reading Comprehension). Teachers must use these tests to monitor student progress every two weeks. That's in addition to benchmark tests three times a year.

We're ending a school year in which our students have been inundated with standardized tests like never before.

Here is a brief overview. In addition to the three DIBELS and TRC benchmarks -- which are very time-intensive for teachers because students have to be evaluated individually -- there have been four DC BAS sessions, basically test preps for the DC CAS. Each lasts two days.
Everyone knows that the DC CAS takes up two weeks at the end of April. This year it was followed immediately by two weeks of ACCESS(Accessing Comprehension and Communication in English for English
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Education - Everything you need to know about the world of education.

Education - Everything you need to know about the world of education.

Maryland and the District join Race to the Top


Virginia won't participate in $3.4B education reform competition.
MORE ON EDUCATION




VALERIE STRAUSS
The Answer Sheet
A School Survival Guide for Parents (And Everyone Else)

Posted at 7:00 AM ET, 06/ 2/2010



The most common mispellings, er, misspellings

The National Spelling Bee is being held this week in Washington D.C. to promote perfect spelling. But what about those words that constantly trip us up?
Posted by Valerie Strauss | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Posted at 10:00 PM ET, 05/30/2010

Tense time for AP students: grade weighting flunks a test

Like all human beings, educators accept rules and procedures that make sense to them, even when academic types wave data in their faces proving they are wrong. That appears to be the case with one of the most powerful and widespread practices in Washington area high schools---the extra grade point for college-level courses.
President Obama. (AP)
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EducationNews.org Chicago to move to an 8 hour school day

EducationNews.org

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REMEDIAL MATH Carrey may be cool and calculating as a man on the verge, but The Number 23 doesn't add up

More Remedial Math?

6.2.10 - Jerome Dancis - Only one-third of Maryland high school graduates in 2008 completed the minimal math and science coursework that allows them to enroll in
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Chicago to move to an 8 hour school day

6.2.10 ROSALIND ROSSI - An eight-hour school day for kids? It could be headed to your local Chicago public elementary school. In an attempt to extend an unusually short instructional...
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Ethical debates surround U.S. colleges' use of international recruiters

6.2.10 - Two years ago, hiring overseas agencies — paid by the college in the form of per-student commissions — to recruit international students was taboo. Few colleges would publicly...
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National Spelling Bee 'competition is always wide open'

6.2.10 - This year's field of 273 spellers includes a record 266 from the USA, but the number of foreign contestants dropped this year, says Paige Kimble, the bee's
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Rise & Shine: New schools at greater risk of losing teachers | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: New schools at greater risk of losing teachers | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: New schools at greater risk of losing teachers

by Philissa Cramer
  • Mayor Bloomberg has proposed cutting nurses from schools with fewer than 300 students. (Times)
  • New schools are likely to suffer more from layoffs because they have more new teachers. (Times)
  • The contaminated water that sickened PS 20 students was sweet and pink. (Daily News, Post, NY1)
  • Thirteen states sat out Race to the Top’s second round entirely. (Wall Street Journal)
  • New York dropped its request for new office furniture from its second-round application. (Post)
  • The state’s bid seems more competitive this time because of recent legislative changes. (Daily News)
  • New Jersey’s application is sure to deepen the rift between the state and teachers union. (Star-Ledger)
  • Some private preschools skirt laws barring them from setting tuition together. (Wall Street Journal)
  • Chicago wants to use technology to extend 100 schools’ days to eight hours. (Chicago Sun-Times)
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Schools Matter: Books in the Courtyard

Schools Matter: Books in the Courtyard

Books in the Courtyard

by Jim Horn
Great story about the work of retired teacher, Shirley Russell--ht to Susan Ohanian.
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Blog U.: ABCs and PhD’s: Time for a recharge - Mama PhD - Inside Higher Ed

Blog U.: ABCs and PhD’s: Time for a recharge - Mama PhD - Inside Higher Ed


  • ABCs and PhD’s: Time for a recharge

    By Liz Stockwell June 2, 2010 6:30 am
    It’s damp. It’s dreary. As I write this, I look out my window and fog obscures the mid-morning light. After a teasing May taste of summer, the sun seems to have disappeared and with it my get-up-and-go. Why should I be in such a slump when I’m thankful for so much in my life? It’s after days like these that my brain thinks the middle of the night is the best time to stir the stew of worries in my head. No concern is too trivial—“The basil plants I paid $1.25 for are shrivelling up! What’s happened to my career? Those wrong notes I sang in choir last night were so embarrassing! I’m a bad parent—am I raising future axe murderers? ” This kind of thinking just makes everything worse, and of course I feel tired the next day.
    The current June-uary weather we’re having here in the Pacific Northwest certainly doesn’t help my mood. And the funny part is I just had a vacation to a warm sunny place! I should be fired up and ready to take on the world. Instead I’m dealing with a case of the blahs. My drained batteries are fortunately rechargeable under the right circumstances. Unless I’m in the right frame of mind, though, tried and true tricks to get me out of my funk don’t work. My rechargeable batteries (apologies for the obvious metaphor) only accept a charge if they’re configured in just the right way. It’s not enough just to find the recharger; I have to be ready to receive the charge. Or sometimes it takes a push to overcome the stiffness to mesh the connections.
    Reading for pleasure often works, but I learned I have to be careful about content. The other
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Six Nobel Peace Prize Elders condemn Gaza flotilla attack. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Six Nobel Peace Prize Elders condemn Gaza flotilla attack. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Six Nobel Peace Prize Elders condemn Gaza flotilla attack.

by preaprez

The Elders group of past and present world leaders, including former South African president Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, on Monday condemned as “completely inexcusable” the deadly Israeli attack on a flotilla carrying aid for Gaza.
“The Elders have condemned the reported killing by Israeli forces of more than a dozen people who were attempting to deliver relief supplies to the Gaza Strip by sea,” the 12—member group said in a statement issued in Johannesburg, where it met over the weekend.
The group, which was launched by Mr. Mandela on his birthday in 2007 to try to solve some of the world’s most intractable conflicts, called for a “full investigation” of the incident and urged the UN Security Council “to debate the situation with a view to mandating action to end the closure of the Gaza Strip.” “This tragic incident should
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