My New Piece In Washington Post: “Why paying parents to attend school events is wrong” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

My New Piece In Washington Post: “Why paying parents to attend school events is wrong” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

My New Piece In Washington Post: “Why paying parents to attend school events is wrong” Valerie Strauss has just published my latest Washington Post guest column: “Why paying parents to attend school events is wrong” It’s a commentary on new programs being started by some Districts to pay parents to attend parent-teacher conferences.

Iraq War Resources Here are the newest additions to The Best Web Resources On The Iraq War: Timeline: Major Events in the Iraq War is from The New York Times. Drawing Down, Moving Ahead is a slideshow from The Times. Iraq’s Resting Places is another NY Times slideshow.

The Next ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival Is Coming-Up! The next ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival will be published on October 1st at Ms. Flecha’s My Life Untranslated Blog. You can read her announcement, and suggestions, here. The deadline for submissions is September 27th. This blog carnival welcomes any blog ...

Method to Grade Teachers Provokes Battles - NYTimes.com

Method to Grade Teachers Provokes Battles - NYTimes.com

Method to Grade Teachers Provokes Battles

Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times

Michelle A. Rhee, center, the Washington schools chancellor, fired about 25 teachers partly over poor value-added evaluations.

By SAM DILLON

Published: August 31, 2010

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How good is one teacher compared with another?

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Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times

Karen Caruso teaches in Los Angeles, where some teacher ratings are made public.

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A growing number of school districts have adopted a system called value-added modeling to answer that question, provoking battles from Washington to Los Angeles — with some saying it is an effective method for increasing teacher accountability, and others arguing that it can give an inaccurate picture of teachers’ work.

The system calculates the value teachers add to their students’ achievement, based on changes in test scores from year to year and how the students perform compared with

Protest at Oakland child care centers dropped

Protest at Oakland child care centers dropped Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, August 31, 2010 Print E-mail Share Comments (7) Font | Size: 6 1 MORE EDUCATION UC sees money in out-of-state students 09.01.10 2 Oakland schools extend school day to 9 hours 08.31.10 Oakland schools' longer school day a good step 08.31.10 A standoff between parents, community activists and the Oakland Unified School District over the closure of two low-income child care centers has ended with the children being diverted to other programs in the district. Members of the community group By Any Means Necessary had planned to occupy the two North Oakland centers all weekend and open them on Monday, but police evicted them late Friday. By then, parents and district officials and talked further, and though nobody was happy about the closures, most agreed to abide by the new arrangement, representatives of both sides said. The district had planned to shut seven of its 31 early childhood development centers

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/31/BA7J1F5SV0.DTL&type=education#ixzz0yHQsso5u

New law requires health officials to alert parents if bedbugs found on school premises

New law requires health officials to alert parents if bedbugs found on school premises

BY LUKAS I. ALPERT AND MEREDITH KOLODNER
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Wednesday, September 1st 2010, 4:00 AM

AP/AP

A new law requires health officials to alert parents of any bedbug outbreaks on school premises.

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Parents are going to get schooled about bedbugs.

A state law passed this week requires health officials to alert parents if bedbugs are found anywhere on school premises.

"We have an epidemic, and the best tool we have is education tokeep bedbugs from

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/09/01/2010-09-01_bedbugs_in_class_means_a_note_home_to_ma__pa.html?r=ny_local/education#ixzz0yHP7GTiw

Education | Washington schools show mixed results in switch to new standardized tests | Seattle Times Newspaper

Education | Washington schools show mixed results in switch to new standardized tests | Seattle Times Newspaper

Washington schools show mixed results in switch to new standardized tests

After administering the Washington Assessment of Student Learning for 12 years, state school districts always knew how students stacked up compared with the previous year's class — or even a class a decade ago.

By Katherine Long and Linda Shaw

Seattle Times staff reporters

After administering the Washington Assessment of Student Learning for 12 years, state school districts always knew how students stacked up compared with the previous year's class — or even a class a decade ago.

But now the test that served as the state's report card on K-12 education is gone, replaced by two new tests that are shorter and, in some subject areas, measure different standards. And state officials are unsure how to interpret the results — calling them a mixed bag, from grade to grade and subject to subject
.

Rise & Shine: Study says middle school not the best for city kids | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: Study says middle school not the best for city kids | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: Study says middle school not the best for city kids

by Philissa Cramer

• A new study finds that students fare better in K-8 schools than in traditional middle schools. (Post, WSJ)
• Value-added models to assess performance are already in use widely, including in NYC. (Times)
• A new state law mandates that schools tell parents if bedbugs appear in the building. (Daily News)
• A judge ruled that the city can cut school bus service to some middle-school students. (WSJ, NY1)
• Teachers union head Michael Mulgrew says city schools should drop test prep this year. (Daily News)
• The state has advised school districts not to ask enrollees about their immigration status. (Times)
• Parents at the private Horace Mann School are suing over their son’s 3-day suspension. (Times)
• Texas is encouraging schools to pool their resources to pay for bureaucratic help. (Reuters)

NorthJersey.com: Schundler 'heartbroken' over firing as state education commissioner

NorthJersey.com: Schundler 'heartbroken' over firing as state education commissioner

Schundler 'heartbroken' over firing as state education commissioner

Saturday, August 28, 2010
LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY AUGUST 28, 2010, 10:05 AM

BY LESLIE BRODY AND PATRICIA ALEX

THE RECORD

STAFF WRITERS

display story on 1 pagePage 1 2 >>

Hours after being fired as state education commissioner, Bret Schundler defended himself Friday against any perception that he had lied to Governor Christie about a bungled application for $400 million in federal funds.

CARMINE GALASSO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Bret Schundler in his Jersey City home on Friday, August 27, 2010, talking with reporters after being fired as education commissioner by Governor Christie.

"I didn't try to hide anything, I didn't try to mislead anybody," a shaken Schundler told reporters in his Jersey City home, describing himself as "heartbroken" that he'd lost his job only months after he got it — and just when he believed the state and nation were on the cusp of enacting major school reforms.

But Christie's office wasn't buying Schundler's version of events. The governor's spokesman immediately shot back, saying, "We regret Mr. Schundler continues to sully his own image by engaging in

School Tech Connect: Hashtag from Hell

School Tech Connect: Hashtag from Hell

Where To Start Class Struggle The fact that looking at quality this way--- picking out a best teacher in the city--- is a juvenile activity doesn't seem to register. It reminds me of the fight in the Florida legislature last summer, in which a very young Republican ...

Hashtag from Hell I know this person means well... but really, over here in North America, teachers are already seen as traitors to humanity. Any act of organization, any act that uplifts the profession and or questions the slavish devotion to meaningless test score ...

Thoughts on Public Education | Analysis, opinion and ruminations on California education policy

Thoughts on Public Education | Analysis, opinion and ruminations on California education policy

Welcome to EducatedGuess2.0: TOP-Ed

New voices will add perspectives on issues in education
John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

September 1, 2010

Don’t touch that dial. You got it right.
Welcome to the debut of Topics in Public Education or TOP-Ed, a forum on California education policy and the successor to Educated Guess. Besides a new banner and url – http://toped.svefoundation.org — followers of my blog will see that we’ve made room for more voices and new features. [...]

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School Tech Connect: Finland, Shmindland

School Tech Connect: Finland, Shmindland

Finland, Schmindland

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

You see, international comparisons don't really matter. You can be first in the world and your schools will still suck because they are government-run.

That's where all

Ackerman promises a new day at S. Philly HS | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Ackerman promises a new day at S. Philly HS | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Ackerman promises a new day at S. Philly HS

by Dale Mezzacappa on Aug 31 2010 Posted in Latest news

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Things will be different this year.

That's the promise that Superintendent Arlene Ackerman made to a group of South Philadelphia High School freshmen and their parents at orientation Tuesday morning.

There will be diversity training for staff, introduction of the option to study Chinese as a foreign language, zero tolerance for violence and strict enforcement of anti-bullying and anti-harassment rules, and an Asian arts program, for starters -- all those things aimed at preventing a repeat of the beatings of Asian students by a group of mostly African American peers that made