“It’s Only a Movie” � The Core Knowledge Blog

“It’s Only a Movie” � The Core Knowledge Blog

“It’s Only a Movie”

by Robert Pondiscio
September 29th, 2010

Tags: Dan Willingham, Education Nation, education reform, Waiting for Superman
Posted in No category | No Comments »

Like Alexander Russo, I’m quickly reaching the saturation point with commentary aboutWaiting For Superman and NBC’s Education Nation. The last, best word on WFS may belong to Dan Willingham. “It’s only a movie,” he reminds us. And in its quest for simplicity and narrrative drive, it “caricatures complex institutions and policies.”

The trope is familiar: spirited band of virtuous reformers battle unfeeling, selfish and powerful foe. Do teacher’s unions deserve to get beat up on? Sure. So do big city bureaucracies, which take a few licks in the movie. But so too do lazy parents, mountebanks hawking educational drivel, inattentive, idle, or corrupt state legislators, greedy and unprincipled textbook companies, out-of-touch professors at schools of education, and incompetent or cowardly boards of education.

You and I have been a party to this as well, Dan writes, “for letting it all happen.” Once the hoopla dies down, he concludes, ”the post-movie conversation ought to start by saying

Stop Me Before I Teach Again!

by Robert Pondiscio

Miss Eyre willfully engaged in a subversive act at her New York City school–something “so controversial, indeed so dangerous, that it might have cost me my rating.” Her crime? She taught the-skill-that-must-not-be-named: writing mechanics. I photocopied handouts with rules. I circled mistakes on students’ papers. I made them write down proper usages of punctuation marks. I did [...]

Governor vetoes bill to reject Texas curriculum - Business - MercedSun-Star.com

Governor vetoes bill to reject Texas curriculum - Business - MercedSun-Star.com

Governor vetoes bill to reject Texas curriculum

By ROBIN HINDERY - Associated Press Writer

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday vetoed a bill seeking to prevent a revised social studies curriculum approved in Texas from being taught in the nation's largest public school system.

The state Board of Education already has an adequate curriculum review process, and a further layer of scrutiny would be "duplicative and unnecessary," Schwarzenegger said in his veto message.

The bill, SB1451, would have required the board to look out for any of the Texas content as part of its standard practice of reviewing public school textbooks, and then submit its findings to the Legislature.

The Texas school board adopted standards in May asserting that the country's Founding Fathers were guided by Christian principles. The changes also minimize Thomas Jefferson's role in world and U.S. history because he advocated the separation of church and state, and require that students learn about "the unintended consequences" of affirmative action and Title IX, the federal law that bans gender discrimination in education programs and activities.

Critics say the modifications are historically inaccurate and dismiss the contributions of

Read more: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2010/09/28/1588444/governor-vetoes-bill-to-reject.html#ixzz10vcEKZHp

Does School Choice "Work"? :: Frederick M. Hess

Does School Choice "Work"? :: Frederick M. Hess

Does School Choice "Work"?

by Frederick M. Hess • Sep 29, 2010 at 9:16 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

Print

Send

RSS

ShareThis

I generally support proposals to expand school vouchers, tuition tax credits, and charter schools. I do so not because I think they are sure to improve test scores or quickly "fix" schooling, but because they're essential for creating unobstructed opportunities for problem-solvers. That said, for reasons I discussed last week in terms of merit pay, I'm skeptical that research can "settle" arguments regarding complex organizational reforms like school choice. I do think research can help inform claims about the wondrous powers or pernicious effects of choice--and help us pursue smarter, more serious market-based reforms.

On that count, last spring, I agreed to tackle the question of "does school choice 'work'?" for National Affairs. My essay, published yesterday, offers my take on what we know and where advocates have gone off the rails in

Voices of the Dropout Nation: Steve Evangelista on Building Connections Between Schools and Students

Voices of the Dropout Nation: Steve Evangelista on Building Connections Between Schools and Students

September 27, 2010 Building A Culture of Genius, This is Dropout Nation, Voices of the Dropout Nation 1 Comment

PHOTO COURTESY OF HARLEM LINK CHARTER SCHOOL

When Dropout Nation met with Steve Evangelista earlier this year, the Teach-for-America alum-turned-charter school founder was struggling with the news that one of his former pupils during his teaching days had landed in Rykers Island, New York City’s notorious city jail. For the co-director of the Harlem Link Charter School, the news led him to ask some important questions about how teachers and schools could build long-term connections that can keep students on the track to graduation and to fulfilling their economic and social destinies. His efforts was profiled on the Dropout Nation Podcast on building long-lasting connections between students and teachers.

This week, Evangelista offers some more thoughts and observations on what schools and teachers must

Rural teacher shortage leads schools to grow own - Boston.com

Rural teacher shortage leads schools to grow own - Boston.com

LATEST EDUCATION NEWS WIRE UPDATES

• Rural teacher shortage leads schools to grow own (AP, 8:54 a.m.)
• Vt. small school principal objects to comments (AP, 8:38 a.m.)
• 6 hopefuls for new ND pension fund manager (AP, 8:34 a.m.)
• West Columbia meeting focuses on SC college costs(AP, 8:24 a.m.)
• Farm, teacher groups promote ND oil savings fund (AP, 8:24 a.m.)

LATEST K-12 EDUCATION NEWS

• LA teacher suicide sparks test-score pushback (AP, 9/28/10)
• Survey: Americans don't know much about religion (AP, 9/28/10)
• List of 2010 MacArthur Foundation grant recipients (AP, 9/28/10)
• Natick panel hits pause on high school iPod ban (Boston Globe, 9/28/10)
• Obama says school year should grow to keep US students competitive (Boston Globe, 9/27/10)

LATEST HIGHER EDUCATION NEWS

• Boston shooting kills 4, including toddler; 1 hurt (AP, 9/28/10)
• Suspect in fatal NJ college shooting due in court (AP, 9/28/10)
• Colleges boost security, consider limits following series of attacks (Boston Globe, 9/27/10)
• NJ police charge 2 in fatal college shooting (AP, 9/28/10)
• Obama returning U. of Wis. to court young voters (AP, 9/27/10)

Cal Berkeley's Health Plan Lets Down Student, State | California Progress Report

Cal Berkeley's Health Plan Lets Down Student, State | California Progress Report

Cal Berkeley's Health Plan Lets Down Student, State

by christine

By Brian Leubitz

Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal featured an article about student health plans.One of the cases studied was Paula Villescaz, a student at Berkeley and somebody that I have met through my participation in the California Young Democrats. She has been involved with CYD and the College Democrats for a while now, and has really been a rock star of involvement.

Unfortunately, as outlined in the article, when she got sick and actually needed health coverage, Berkeley's student health plan failed her.

Paula Villescaz, a senior at the University of California at Berkeley, says she never looked closely at the Anthem Blue Cross insurance policy she got through her college. The plan has a $400,000 ceiling, but also has some important limitations, as Ms. Villescaz found out recently.

read more

Latinos Boosting Democratic Voter Enthusiasm

by christine

By Randy Shaw

With polls showing Republican gains in November dependent on a depressed Democratic turnout, activists are focusing on mobilizing the Democratic base. Among the most dispirited Democratic constituencies has been Latinos, but the latest weekly tracking poll from Latino Decisions shows Latinos’ positive perceptions of Democrats sharply rising in the wake of the Party’s unsuccessful effort to enact the DREAM act last week. The percentage of Latino voters who felt Democrats were ignoring or blocking immigration reform fell from 61% to 53.8%, and those who felt Democrats were actively working on immigration reform increased from 25% to 30%. This shift reflects a broader “return to the base” Democratic trend caused by a combination of Tea Party successes and President Obama’s increasingly partisan rhetoric to galvanize the Party’s core constituencies. The question is whether this trend has emerged too late.

read more

Greenlining’s Guide to November Ballot Propositions: Corporations Trying to Buy Our Democracy -- Yet Again

by christine

By The Greenlining Institute

NO on Proposition 23 and Dirty Oil

It’s getting to be a depressingly familiar pattern: A ballot crowded with confusing propositions, one or more of which were placed there by corporate interests looking to pad their own pockets at the expense of taxpayers. Here we go again.

Is California Really "Bleeding Jobs"?

CPR Special Series: 21 Machetes

The Answer Sheet - The new risk of plagiarizing college essays

The Answer Sheet - The new risk of plagiarizing college essays

The new risk of plagiarizing college essays

We are at the start of a new college admissions cycle, and high school seniors are busy trying to maintain their grades, stay out of trouble, and fill out their college applications. So here’s something anybody writing a college essay should know: There is a technology called Turnitin for Admissions, introduced late last year by iParadigms LLC, that can detect plagiarism in essays from numerous sites on the Internet. It is a version of Turnitin, which is used in thousands of academic institutions around the world to detect plagiarism in academic work.

The Daily Churn: Wednesday | EdNewsColorado

The Daily Churn: Wednesday | EdNewsColorado

The Daily Churn: Wednesday

by EdNews staff

What’s churning:

It’s decision day in Las Vegas. By the end of the evening we will know, presumably, whether Colorado will need a new education commissioner. The Clark County, Nev. school board meets beginning at 6:30 p.m. Mountain time to decide who will become the next superintendent of the fast-growing Las Vegas school system. Colorado Education Commissioner Dwight Jones is vying for the job against Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa. Check back here frequently this evening for updates, and follow us on Twitterfor minute-by-minute developments.

Far northeast Denver has some of the lowest-performing schools in the city, or for that matter, in the state. Last night, after six months of work, a community committee heard recommendations from the district on how to

City schools, teachers union to end practice of linking pay to years of employment - baltimoresun.com

City schools, teachers union to end practice of linking pay to years of employment - baltimoresun.com

City schools, teachers union to end linking pay to years of employment

Landmark deal could put Baltimore at forefront of education reforms

By Liz Bowie and Erica L. Green, The Baltimore Sun

10:05 p.m. EDT, September 28, 2010

• E-mail
• Print
• Share
• Text Size

The Baltimore school district and its teachers union have struck a landmark agreement that would end the longtime practice of linking pay to years of employment and place the city at the forefront of a national reform effort, according to sources familiar with the pact.

The two sides have discussed a pay system that would reward skills and effectiveness and are expected to announce the details of the agreement Wednesday.

Experts in teacher compensation said Baltimore was poised to become one of only a handful of places in the country, including

San Francisco may order ‘sad meals’ — Joanne Jacobs

San Francisco may order ‘sad meals’ — Joanne Jacobs

San Francisco may order ‘sad meals’

by Joanne

San Francisco may ban "happy meals" that come with a toy, unless the meal includes a serving of fruit and vegetables or meets the city's nutritional requirements, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco's"sad meals" should include "creepy, insulting and/or humiliating promotional toys with any meal that fails to meet the city’s exacting nutritional guidelines," writes Zombie on Pajamas Media.

* Circular metallic stickers featuring a frowny-face and the words “I’m a fatso!” or “Lard-butt.” Parents will be required to affix the stickers to their children’s foreheads during meals eaten in public. * Wind-up toys which speak any of ten different phrases, including “You’re morbidly

Erica Jacobs: When educational alarm bells ring off-key | Washington Examiner

Erica Jacobs: When educational alarm bells ring off-key | Washington Examiner

Erica Jacobs: When educational alarm bells ring off-key

By: ERICA JACOBS
Examiner Columnist
September 28, 2010

This is the week of “Education Nation” in Rockefeller Center and on NBC News. This national summit on what needs to be done to improve schools in the United States is drawing attention from political leaders (including President Obama) and educational pundits from prekindergarten through university.

What kids are reading

This weekly column looks at lists of books kids are reading in various categories. Information on the books below came from Amazon.com’s list of children’s best-sellers and are listed in order of popularity.

Caldecott Award and Honor Books

1. Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems (ages 4 to 8)
2. Sector 7 by David Wiesner (ages 4 to 8)
3. Officer Buckle & Gloria by Peggy Rathmann (ages 4 to 8)
4. Crow Boy by Tar Yashima (ages 4 to 8)
5. Owen by Kevin Henkes (baby to preschool)
6. Snow by Uri Shulevitz (baby to preschool)
7. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg (ages 4 to 8)
8. A Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams (ages 4 to 8)

Education Nation has elicited dire pronouncements including the following: Colin Powell says we have a “dropout crisis,” Obama would not send his daughters to a public school, and Brian Williams tells us we are receiving report cards that put us 20th in the world in mathematics, and show that nearly half all eighth-graders read below grade level. The doom and gloom news keeps coming via live streaming on the NBC Web

site.

All this contrasts sharply with my experience Friday

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/education/Erica-Jacobs-When-educational-alarm-bells-ring-off-key-103958449.html#ixzz10vCdBlFd

Teaching interns illegally rated as qualified- EducationNews.org

Web's #1 Source for K12 and Higher Education News and Commentary - EducationNews.org �������

Teaching interns illegally rated as qualified 9.29.10 - California has violated federal law by classifying thousands of inexperienced, noncredentialed teachers... Christie proposes changes in how teachers are paid, promoted 9.29.10 - Calling for a new system to "reward excellence in the classroom," Gov. Christie on Tuesday proposed changing how New Jersey public school teachers are paid, retained, and promoted. ... Signal on D.C. education reform from Gray's camp 9.29.10 - On Sunday, the All Opinions Are Local page of washingtonpost.com ran a commentary by former D.C. Council member Kevin P. Chavous. I am rerunning it because I think it has unusual importance as we look toward the future of D.C. schools under Vincent Gray. ... 4,100 Students Prove 'Small Is Better' Rule Wrong 9.29.0 - SAM DILLON - BROCKTON, Mass. - A decade ago, Brockton High School was a case study in failure. Teachers and administrators often voiced the unofficial school motto in hallway chitchat: students have a right to fail if they want. And many of them did - only a quarter of the students passed statewide exams. One in three dropped out. ...

Commentaries

An Interview with Jeff Gray: Don't Forget Frances 9.29.10 - Michael F. Shaughnessy - Yes, I have just finished my fifth book, Don't Forget Frances, and I'd say that it is probably one of my favorites. I had the privilege of consulting in a handful of schools last fall and as I observed students I recognized many that seemed alone, ignored and/or distraught. My new book is a simple reminder that all of the children entrusted to us are important. Book Review: Don't Forget Frances 9.29.10 - Michael F. Shaughnessy - In this age of No Child Left Behind, teachers sometimes forget the most important things. Jeff Gray has written a book entitled "Don't Forget Frances". I am not going to talk about Frances, because there are many girls named Frances and there are probably many boys named Francis. We should not forget either of these children. Reauthorization of the ESEA Demands Less Rhetoric, More Understanding of Research 9.29.10 - BOULDER, CO (September 29, 2010) - As Congress and the Obama administration prepare to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), high-quality research is not informing the process. In May, the U.S. Department of Education released six research summaries in support of its "Blueprint for Reform" - Mandatory Rape Lecture for Male Freshmen at Hamilton College 9.29.10 - Ashley Thorne - Male freshmen will be instructed tonight by "a national leader in social justice and sustainability education." Bravo Brockton! 9.29.10 - Chester E. Finn, Jr. - Brockton High School is one of the largest in America and is now producing very strong (not yet stellar) results. More remarkably, it used to produce dreadful results. It exemplifies a successful school turnaround, one of the toughest feats in U.S. education, it exemplifies success in an urban high school attended mainly by poor and minority kids-the other toughest challenge in U.S. education.