Teachers at Harlem's Sisulu-Walker Charter School get unionized with UFT

Teachers at Harlem's Sisulu-Walker Charter School get unionized with UFT

BY RACHEL MONAHAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Saturday, October 23rd 2010, 4:00 AM

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Teachers at the city's oldest charter school have unionized.

The United Federation of Teachers announced Friday that Harlem's Sisulu-Walker Charter School staff had formally signed up.

The union officially alerted the school's board yesterday.

"We took this step to ensure that classroom teachers will have a real, professional voice in the decisions that

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/10/23/2010-10-23_teachers_at_oldest_charter_join_uft.html?r=ny_local/education#ixzz13C7dBJPa

The Answer Sheet - Building teacher accountability from the ground up

The Answer Sheet - Building teacher accountability from the ground up

Building teacher accountability from the ground up

This was written by educator Anthony Cody. After 18 years as a science teacher in inner-city Oakland, he now works with a team of experienced science teacher-coaches who support the many novice teachers in his school district. He is a National Board-certified teacher and an active member of the Teacher Leaders Network. This appeared on his Teachers Magazine blog, Living in Dialogue. By Anthony Cody I am in my 24th year working in a medium-sized urban school district, and I have experienced school reform first-hand. Most often it takes the form of top-down programs that attempt to involve everyone in the District in a process that the superintendent (or state-appointed administrator) has decided will transform us from chronically under-performing to excellent in the coming year. Sadly, sweeping programs like these rarely make much difference, and leave teachers feeling as if they are not respected as professionals. This is not to

Schools Matter: Bloomberg's Criminal Hypocrisy

Schools Matter: Bloomberg's Criminal Hypocrisy

Bloomberg's Criminal Hypocrisy

by Jim Horn

As Diane Ravitch documents in her book, the Bloomberg Machine used manipulated cut scores that they knew were phony to promote a fraudulent reform agenda based on control through testing and replacing public schools with corporate charters. From 2006 through 2009, Bloomberg and Klein crowed about each year's conversion of the low scorers at Level 1 to the Levels 2 and 3, when they knew that the picture they were presenting to the public was the grossest of charades. From Ravitch:

Why did the number of students at level 1 [the lowest scorers] plummet? Becase the state lowered the bar and made it easier for students to reach level 2. On the sixth-grade reading test in 2006,students needed to earn 41 percent of the points to attain level 2; by 2009 students in that

High Performing Teachers with Low-Tech Classrooms � Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

High Performing Teachers with Low-Tech Classrooms � Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

High Performing Teachers with Low-Tech Classrooms

by larrycuban

The title is not a joke or a poke in the eyes of techno-enthusiasts, believe me. Writer Amanda Ripley visited classrooms around the world and found that the best ones–her opinion–are low-tech. Specifically, she cites South Korea and Finland, countries that outscore the U.S. in international tests, as having low-tech classrooms. In South Korea, she cites one student who described her room having a few old computers, an overhead projector, and well, that’s the extent of the “new” technologies.

She then quotes an expert on European schools about the lack of technological innovations in schools around the world:

“ ‘In most of the highest-performing systems, technology is remarkably absent from classrooms,’ says Andreas

Considering 21st Century Skills � InterACT

Considering 21st Century Skills � InterACT

Considering 21st Century Skills

by David B. Cohen

When teachers are “off for the summer” we find all sorts of wonderful ways to work on our own learning and practices. This past summer I had the chance to read the book 21st Century Skills, and even a chance to talk with one of the authors, Bernie Trilling (who co-authored the book with Charles Fadel). The results of my reading and our conversation were put into an article in the Education Week Teacher Professional Development Sourcebook: “Adapting Teaching to a New Era.” However, within the constraints of that article, I couldn’t quite incorporate all of thought-provoking ideas and valuable information that Trilling shared

Pa. prof's anti-Israel remarks concern lawmakers - Boston.com

Pa. prof's anti-Israel remarks concern lawmakers - Boston.com

Pa. prof's anti-Israel remarks concern lawmakers

October 22, 2010

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OXFORD, Pa.—Two Pennsylvania lawmakers are questioning officials at a state-supported university after a professor publicly called for the destruction of Israel.

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In a letter Wednesday to the president of Lincoln University, state Sens. Daily Leach and Anthony Williams ask if the professor is expressing anti-Semitic views on campus.

Video of a Sept. 3 rally in Washington, D.C., shows tenured literature professor Kaukab Siddique saying Israel must be destroyed, "if possible by peaceful means."

Siddique tells The Philadelphia Inquirer that "I am against Israel

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Alice Waters on Healthy Lunches and Her Favorite Places to Eat in Berkeley - The Bay Citizen

Alice Waters on Healthy Lunches and Her Favorite Places to Eat in Berkeley - The Bay Citizen

Alice Waters on Healthy Lunches and Her Favorite Places to Eat in Berkeley

Research from UCB’s Center for Weight and Health lends academic credence to edible experiment in schools

By SARAH HENRY, BERKELEYSIDE on October 22, 2010 - 6:18 p.m. PDT

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Alice Waters at the King Middle School Edible Schoolyard

Do Berkeleyside readers even need an introduction to the mother of the American fresh, local, sustainable, organic food movement?

Alice Waters is a living legend. For four decades, the California cuisine innovator, Chez Panissechef, Edible Schoolyard founder, school food reformer, and Slow Food advocate, has influenced how people in this country buy, cook, eat, talk, and think about food.

As with any icon, Waters has her fans and foes. Some see her as a visionary on the food front, a friend to farmers and children, who helped lead a revolution in restaurant dining.

In the Bay Area many chefs and food artisans

In Santa Clara County, the Big Issue is Labor

The tug-of-war for influence between organized labor and businesses is emerging as a broad theme in the run-up to the November elections in the South Bay. The battle is being played out in a tight race for a City Council seat in East San Jose and is illustrated in several ballot initiatives that aim to dial down pension benefits and curb unions’ influence in labor disputes. Leading the charge is San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed who is challenging labor by promoting a platform of “fiscal responsibility.” Mayor Reed’s camp is at a slight disadvantage on the San Jose City Council, where labor still holds more sway. But labor’s advantage could evaporate depending on the outcome of the race for the District 5 City Council seat, said Larry Gerston, a political science professor at

NY’s Klein on release of rankings: Rank liar. � Fred Klonsky's blog

NY’s Klein on release of rankings: Rank liar. � Fred Klonsky's blog

NY’s Klein on release of rankings: Rank liar.

by preaprez

NY Chancellor and rank liar, Joel Klein.

Juan Gonzalez of the NY Daily News points out the NY schools Chancellor Joel Klein is a lying SOB. Well, Gonzalez doesn’t say that.

I do.

Threatening to release to the press the so-called VAM rankings of 12,000 NY school teachers, Klein pretends that he’s being forced to because of a Freedom of Information Act suit.

Bullshit.

“Don’t buy it,” says

A friendly pitch to elite "reformers" - Ed Thoughts

A friendly pitch to elite "reformers" - Ed Thoughts

A friendly pitch to elite "reformers" - Ed Thoughts

by Sabrina

This is actually a comment I wrote, in response to a comment Van Schoales (of DFER-financed Education Reform Now) left on this blog post-let at EdNews Colorado.

(For the record, none of the groups he lists are "defending the current system"; the NEA and the NEPC are trying to defend teachers and public education itself, clarify fact from fiction in the school reform discussion, and allow the real reformers to create real, sustainable solutions to educational problems. It's hard to do that when you quite rightly fear for your job, and are surrounded by a mass-media disinformation campaign!)

---

I haven't finished reading Miner's piece, but let me point something out to you, regarding what she says about the prospects of rich people "saving" the poor. I'm trying really hard to swallow my offense at your comments and take a "critical friends" stance on this, so please meet me halfway by actually thinking about what I'm about to say, instead of getting defensive.

It is not necessary to have a conspiracy in order to maintain the systems of oppression that keep the poor poor

Zinn Education Project - The Most Dangerous Man in America Teaching Guide

Zinn Education Project - The Most Dangerous Man in America Teaching Guide

The Most Dangerous Man in America Teaching Guide

Teaching Activities. Zinn Education Project. 2010. 94 pages.
Eight lessons for use with the documentary film about Daniel Ellsberg, the Pentagon Papers, the Vietnam War, and whistleblowing.

Download Teaching Guide PDF.

(Note: If this is your first time using the Zinn Education Project site, you will be asked to register to download the teaching guide. Registration is free.)

This 94-page teaching guide, prepared by the Zinn Education Project for middle school, high school and college classrooms, enhances student understanding of the issues raised in the award winning film, The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers.

Not only does The Most Dangerous Man in America Teaching Guide offer a “people’s history” approach to learning about the U.S. war in Vietnam, it also engages students in thinking deeply about their own responsibility as truth-tellers and peacemakers. In the spirit of Howard Zinn, this teaching guide explodes historical myths and focuses on the efforts of people—like Daniel Ellsberg—who worked to end war.

You can watch the film for free at www.pbs.org/pov through Oct. 27.

The teaching guide offers an introduction and eight lessons for U.S. history, government, and language arts classrooms. The guide uses a variety of teaching strategies, including role play, critical reading, discussion, mock trial, small group imaginative writing, and personal narrative.

The guide was developed by the Zinn Education Project in collaboration with The Most Dangerous Man in America filmmakers Judith Ehrlich and

NYC Public School Parents: FOILed documents show how the DOE dissembled regarding their Teacher Data reports

NYC Public School Parents: FOILed documents show how the DOE dissembled regarding their Teacher Data reports

FOILed documents show how the DOE dissembled regarding their Teacher Data reports

by Leonie Haimson

The NYC Department of Education announced this week that it intended to release individual "teacher data reports" to the press, based on value-added methods, in response to FOILs from several newspapers.

The UFT went to court to block the release of these reports, and DOE has agreed to a delay until a judge can hear arguments next month.

A little history:

Several years ago, Chancellor Klein determined to use value-added methods to measure the achievement gains of teachers of English and math teachers in grades 4-8, by comparing the standardized test scores of their

Heavy reliance on test scores for teacher evaluation is misguided | A Statement on Education

Heavy reliance on test scores for teacher evaluation is misguided | A Statement on Education

October 21, 2010 | A Statement on Education

We invite you to add your name to the below statement, initiated by ten prominent education scholars, that urges policymakers to not pursue heavy reliance on test scores for evaluating, rewarding and removing teachers. Links to relevant research on this issue are listed below. Please sign up and tell your friends and colleagues to do so as well. Thank you for your interest.

Lawrence Mishel | President, Economic Policy Institute

Heavy reliance on test scores for teacher evaluation is misguided.

Too many policymakers have recently adopted the misguided belief that improvements in students' scores on standardized tests in mathematics and reading can be heavily relied upon to evaluate, reward, and remove the teachers of these tested students.

However, even the most sophisticated use of test scores, value added modeling (VAM), is a flawed and inaccurate way to judge whether teachers are effective or ineffective.

The heavy use of VAM in a teacher evaluation system will misidentify large numbers of both effective and ineffective teachers. Leading authorities (such as the Board on Testing and Assessment of the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Education, and researchers from RAND and the Educational Testing Service and a recent Economic Policy Institute paper by a group of prominent scholars, Problems With the Use of Student Test Scores to Evaluate Teachers) concur that VAM is too inaccurate to be used as the primary way to evaluate teachers. Most uses of test scores in teacher evaluation, in practice, actually fall far short of the

Education Officials Weigh In On Teacher Report Cards - NY1.com

Education Officials Weigh In On Teacher Report Cards - NY1.com

Education Officials Weigh In On Teacher Report Cards

By: Lindsey Christ

State and federal education officials weighed in today on whether the city should release report card grades – by name – for 12,000 teachers.

The union has filed suit to stop that from happening, and it's now up to a judge.

Educators, parents and teachers across the country are waiting to see whether the city will be allowed to release these reports. That's because school districts nationwide have begun grading teachers this way, but none of them have released them publically.

The secretary of education, Arne Duncan, says he supports the city's desire to give media organizations, including NY1, the information we asked for.

“I give New York credit for sharing this information with teachers so they can improve and get better,” said Duncan in a statement. “I also think that parents and community members have the right to