Thursday, October 7, 2010

Ex-education chief Schundler openly blames Gov. Christie for Race to the Top loss | NJ.com

Ex-education chief Schundler openly blames Gov. Christie for Race to the Top loss

Published: Thursday, October 07, 2010, 9:16 PM Updated: Thursday, October 07, 2010, 10:13 PM

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Christie by Andrew Mills, Schundler by Amy NewmanFile photos of N.J. Gov. Chris Christie and his former education commissioner Bret Schundler.

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TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie and the education commissioner he fired in August were again at each other’s throats today in a public display that proved the controversy over the administration’s loss of $400 million in federal school aid will not disappear any time soon.

As Bret Schundler told a state Senate committee the governor placed fighting with the state teachers unions and his persona on talk radio above education reform, Christie told reporters Schundler was trading in "revisionist history" and interested only in seeking "the spotlight."

In different corners of the Statehouse, Schundler and Christie took their public shots at each other to new levels

Huffington ed blogger’s message is kool-aid. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Huffington ed blogger’s message is kool-aid.

by preaprez

Arianna Huffington

Huffington Post’s millionaire owner, Arianna Huffington, converted to liberalism a few years back and decided to engage in some web competition with Matt Drudge. Good for her.

Her education writers have spanned the agendas from center to left, and she included some real good education

NYC Public School Parents: More on the worst schools in NYC, and their principals

More on the worst schools in NYC, and their principals

by Leonie Haimson

Out of the 33 schools with the lowest Environment scores in 2009-2010, only four of them have new principals this year, according to the DOE website. At least five of their principals were Leadership Academy graduates, from simply checking the web.

Six schools had the absolute worst score: a “0”. One of them is Ross Global charter. An account

Charter Education Expanding In Chicago / Chicago News Cooperative

Charter Education Expanding In Chicago

by RACHEL CROMIDAS

From a windowless basement office on Chicago’s West Side, Greg White is trying to answer public education’s $2 million-dollar question: What is the top priority for a school in Chicago’s cash-strapped district?

The answer for Mr. White, chief executive of the LEARN Charter School Network — which received two $1 million grants from Oprah Winfrey’s Angel Network and the United States Department of Education last month — is to open a fifth charter school in the network next fall. It is one of 10 charter schools in Chicago that Mr. White said he wanted to open in as many years, which would allow him to hire dozens of out-of-work teachers.

A month ago, those ambitious plans were in jeopardy. Chicago Public Schools approved a budget that cut district financing to charter schools by 6 percent, which could remove more than $400,000 from the network’s

Will LA’s Union Challenge Lawsuit Settlement � The Quick and the Ed

Will LA’s Union Challenge Lawsuit Settlement

by Rob Manwaring

I have written extensively about the plight of Markham Middle school in Los Angeles Unified (here andhere). After years of half hearted reforms, Markham implemented a school turnaround strategy under the leadership of the Mayor’s new school partnership. Unfortunately, after hiring a new principal and largely new staff, the district faced with budget cuts, laid off over half of the new teachers at the school because of teacher seniority rules. This lead to a lawsuit by the ACLU to protect Markham and two other schools decimated in similar ways. Last week, the district, state and ACLU came to a settlement that makes a lot of sense. I recommended a similar type of compromise a while ago (here). Basically, these schools would be protected from disproportionate layoffs. So, if the district had to cut 5 percent of teachers in the district, it could only cut 5 percent of the teachers at one of these schools.

And, faced with ongoing state budget problems, the end of stimulus/edujobs funds, flat/declining enrollment and

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Jill Stewart - A.J. DUFFY's WHOPPER: UTLA Says It Wasn't Invited To ACLU Talks Leading To Stunning Blow To Teacher Seniority. He's Full Of It

Jill Stewart - A.J. DUFFY's WHOPPER: UTLA Says It Wasn't Invited To ACLU Talks Leading To Stunning Blow To Teacher Seniority. He's Full Of It

BY JILL STEWART | LA WEEKLY INFORMER BLOG | HTTP://BIT.LY/DFWJA9

Thu., Oct. 7 2010 @ 2:18PM -- A.J. Duffy is all but calling the ACLU, the Public Counsel Law Center and the Morrison Foerster law firm big, fat liars. Duffy, the anti-reformist head of the L.A. teachers union, is histrionically threatening to sue them, and LAUSD, to stop them from ending a "last hired, first fired" rule for teacher layoffs.

Turns out Duffy is the whopper-meister.

Duffy: Ordering up a Whopper? >>

The legal-rights groups and Morrison Foerster, working pro bono, made a legal settlement with LAUSD that's being cheered nationally: up to 45 of L.A.'s poor schools will no longer be thrown into chaos by layoffs of young teachers. Inner-city kids whipsawed by UTLA seniority rules were saved by the U. S. Constitution. A.J. Duffy is waay livid:

Duffy, who I recently -- to controversy -- called "a pipsqueak in body and mind" to make the point that his coterie has turned UTLA into a national laughingstock, did not join the settlement talks between the three pro bono groups and L.A. Unified.

Now Duffy is telling a whopper to the media: that he was never invited to the talks.

Harold Meyerson - Baltimore teachers union is the hero, not a villain

Baltimore teachers union is the hero, not a villain

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By Harold Meyerson

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

For anyone who needed to gauge just how far the demonization of teachers unions has gone, the final episode last spring of TV's "Law and Order" -- the real one, not the new L.A. knock-off -- was instructive. Bracketed by the customary soundtrack "cha-chungs," the story concerned a loony former substitute teacher bent on blowing up the high school where he'd subbed. But the real heavy was a weaselly union lawyer who blocked the cops' access to the teacher's whereabouts, on the grounds of -- well, something like Marx's labor theory of value, or Walter Reuther's argument for co-determination at General Motors; it wasn't entirely clear which. Said weaselly lawyer crumbled, of course,

Charter schools holding back critical information, some say - New Orleans News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - FOX 8 Live WVUE-TV Channel 8

Charter schools holding back critical information, some say

Reported by: FOX8LIVE.COM STAFF
Email: fox8news@fox8tv.net
Last Update: 5:00 am

Print Story | ShareThis

(Kia Callia, FOX 8 News)

Ashana Bigard is a mother of two, with a third on the way. She's carrying a new baby along with new worries. Her children attend public school in New Orleans and she's concerned not just about their education, but the way schools chose to involve, or not to involve, parents and families, specifically at New Orleans charter schools.

Katrina's wake brought along a charter revolution. Of the city's 88 public schools, 51 are now chartered, and all receive close to $8,000, per child, in state funding.

Bigard, working for the group Research on Reform, set out to retrieve basic information from New Orleans charters, including a listing of board members, contact information, meeting

Opinion: I Can’t Believe Community Roots Charter School Got an F - The Local – Fort-Greene Blog - NYTimes.com

Opinion: I Can’t Believe Community Roots Charter School Got an F

By MICHAEL RANDAZZO, Community Contributor

Andy NewmanCommunity Roots Charter School, on 51 Edwards Street, received its first grade, an F, from the Department of Education this year.

When I first received word last week that the school my children attend,Community Roots Charter School, had received an F from the Department of Education on its yearly progress report, I was incredulous. Community Roots is a place where my daughter, now in second grade, and my son, now

Why we shouldn't wait for Superman - Education - Salon.com

Why we shouldn't wait for Superman

The focus on teacher quality in "Waiting for 'Superman'" obscures many other challenges facing poor children today

BY ANGELA GLOVER BLACKWELL

A still from "Waiting for Superman"

The new documentary "Waiting for Superman" has unleashed a long overdue national debate on the dire state of America’s public schools. Unfortunately, it’s too narrow of a debate.

The filmmakers and their school reform allies on Capitol Hill argue the vast majority of the blame for falling test scores can be laid at the feet of

How to fix our schools: A manifesto by Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee and other education leaders

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Joel Klein, chancellor, New York City Department of Education; Michelle Rhee, chancellor, District of Columbia Public Schools; Ron Huberman, chief executive, Chicago Public Schools; Carol R. Johnson, superintendent, Boston Public Schools; Andrés A. Alonso, chief executive, Baltimore City Public Schools; Tom Boasberg, superintendent, Denver Public Schools; Arlene C. Ackerman, superintendent of schools, the School District of Philadelphia;William R. Hite Jr., superintendent, Prince George's County Public Schools; Jean-Claude Brizard,

Remainders: A principal scrambles to explain her “F” | GothamSchools

Remainders: A principal scrambles to explain her “F”

by Elizabeth Green

The principal of an F school has held two meetings with parents in four days. (NYT Local)
Will the Bronx teacher who was a sex worker take $60,000 to pose nude? (Observer)
Are “education transformers” the new “education reformers”? (Ed is Watching)
Bloomberg called a mandated paid sick leave bill in Albany “disastrous.” (WSJ Metropolis)
Amid speculation about her next move, Michelle Rhee won’t comment “on the record.” (WashPost)
Jay Greene and his son are enjoying learning online at Khan Academy. (Jay Greene)
A New Jersey law might bar Christie and Booker from steering Zuckerberg’s grant. (Star Ledger)
The “Widget Effect” team has a new report with guidelines for how to evaluate teachers. (TNTP)
Finnish mathematicians aren’t sure the country’s top standing on the PISA test is good. (Flypaper)
An activist says the real problem with “Superman” is it doesn’t depict actual teaching. (HuffPost)
In Denver, the teacher-evaluation-building process gets overly bureaucratic. (Ed News Colorado)

University students protest budget cuts

Nanette Asimov,Jessica Kwong, Chronicle Staff Writers

Thursday, October 7, 2010

(10-07) 15:07 PDT BERKELEY -- Thousands of UC Berkeley students and staff swarmed Sproul Plaza today, the latest in a string of rallies initiated last year to protest fee hikes and cuts to education across the state.

The rally, followed by a march across the campus, was part of a state and nationwide call to action in support of higher education. Hundreds of students occupied the campus' Doe Library, vowing to stay until 5 p.m.

Police were preventing anyone from entering or exiting the library.

"Right now we're just evaluating the situation," said UC Berkeley spokeswoman Janet Gilmore as the students broke into a rendition of the 60's anthem "We shall Not Be Moved."

While midterms kept many students and professors in class, loudspeakers broadcast the discontent of students and UC workers who lambasted increasingly crowded classrooms and other cuts resulting in nearly 1,000 eliminated positions on the Berkeley campus alone.

Many speakers blamed the UC Regents for lowering the quality of a California university education in classrooms rather than cutting administrative costs.

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Thursday, October 7, 2010