Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Urban Farming Produces So Much More Than Vegetables | Poverty in America | Change.org

About a month ago, Michigan House Bill 6458 was introduced to specifically exclude urban farmers from the Right to Farm Act. An action in support of urban farmerscreated by my colleague Brittany Shoot struck a chord with me. As I signed the petition, I realized I needed to share with the rest of you why it's so important.

I'm the co-founder of Long Island Food Not Bombs, an organization that shares food and other necessities weekly with thousands of people in the NYC/Long Island metro area.

I know when many people think of Long Island they think of rich towns and yacht clubs but what really exists underneath it all is extreme poverty, tent cities, persistent racism and discrimination. Many people don't know about the routine hate crimes, the "beaner jumping" and the lynching of Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero.

On top of all the social divisions where I'm from, poverty doesn't help. So that's why I do what I do. Part of Long Island Food Not Bombs is about sharing the basic necessities people need, like a week's worth of groceries, clothing, a hot meal or school supplies. The other part of Long Island Food Not Bombs is about bringing people together, creating solidarity and confronting social ills like racism.

That's where urban farming and the petition to support it fit

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: "Superman" scene was a set-up

"Superman" scene was a set-up

by Mike Klonsky

“It’s two different worlds,” the mother, Maria, tells the filmmaker in an interview interspersed with scenes of the tour, comparing it with her son’s Bronx public school. “I don’t care if we have to wake up at 5 o’clock in the morning in order to get there at 7:45,
then that’s what we will do.”

The only problem is, this heart-wrenching scene of hope and anticipation from Davis Guggenheim's film,Waiting for Superman, never really happened. Guggenheim set it up.

NYT City Room critic Sharon Otterman, "In 'Waiting for Superman,' a Scene Isn’t What It Seems", asks other documentary filmmakers what they think the scene.

t r u t h o u t | Bill Moyers: "Welcome to the Plutocracy!"

Bill Moyers: "Welcome to the Plutocracy!"

Wednesday 03 November 2010

by: Bill Moyers, t r u t h o u t | Speech

Bill Moyers. (Photo: Wikimedia)

Bill Moyers speech at Boston University on October 29, 2010, as a part of the Howard Zinn Lecture Series.

I was honored when you asked me to join in celebrating Howard Zinn’s life and legacy. I was also surprised. I am a journalist, not a historian. The difference between a journalist and an historian is that the historian knows the difference. George Bernard Shaw once complained that journalists are seemingly unable to discriminate between a bicycle accident and the collapse of civilization. In fact, some epic history can start out as a minor incident. A young man named Paris ran off with a beautiful woman who was married to someone else, and the civilization of Troy began to unwind. A middle-aged black seamstress, riding in a Montgomery bus, had tired feet, and an ugly social order

Echoes of 1994 - Rick Hess Straight Up - Education Week

Echoes of 1994

By Andrew Kelly on November 3, 2010 8:36 AM | No comments |

Note: Andrew Kelly, a research fellow in education policy at the American Enterprise Institute, is guest-posting this week. He can be reached at andrew.kelly@aei.org.

In the wake of yesterday's remarkable Republican surge, it's hard to resist making the analogy to 1994. The Democrats' situation is not nearly as dire today as it was in 1994, as they will maintain a small majority in the Senate. But there are important parallels: an energized group of challengers swept into office by an enthusiastic and dissatisfied Republican electorate, a new Republican majority with small government on its mind and social programs in its crosshairs, and a significant rightward shift in the states.

In the weeks after Election Day 1994--so heady for Republicans and so foreboding for Democrats--the big questions for ed policy observers were notwhether the Gingrich Republicans would cut education funding or try to abolish the DOE, but how severe those cuts would be and whether the onslaught against ED could garner enough votes.

Should yesterday's results raise similar questions? Like 1994, the electorate has signaled its dissatisfaction with the Democratic agenda in no uncertain terms

What’s the Deal on the Youth Vote? � Student Activism

What’s the Deal on the Youth Vote?

by Angus Johnston

So what happened with the youth vote in 2010?

Well, you can expect to see a lot of this in the coming days:

The youth vote was a bust for the Democratic Party this year. Young voters plummeted as a share of the electorate and support for the Democrats declined. Where young voters went for Obama by a two-to-one margin, barely more than half supported his party yesterday. Young voters made up just 11% of those casting ballots. Obamamania was a fad, and it’s over.

On the other hand…

Young voters were the only age cohort to support the Democratic party yesterday, and though their support for the Dems did decline, it declined less than any other age group’s. Between 2006 and 2010 over-65 voters’ support for the Dems dropped by nine points, 45-64 year olds’ dropped by seven, and 30-44 year olds’ dropped by six. But the proportion of young voters supporting the party dropped by just four points — from 60% to 56% — and their support for the GOP rose by just two points.

Young voters were the only age cohort to support the Democrats this cycle — as noted above, 56% of them cast

Wash. state voters reject green schools measure - Boston.com

Wash. state voters reject green schools measure

By Phuong Le

Associated Press / November 3, 2010

Text size – +

SEATTLE—A statewide referendum authorizing bonds for school energy retrofits has been defeated in Washington.

Nearly 57 percent of voters rejected Referendum 52 with 1.37 million votes counted Tuesday. About 2.4 million votes are expected statewide.

The green schools measure had support in King and Jefferson counties but was losing in most other Washington counties.

"It's disappointing to have lost," said Cynara Lilly, spokeswoman for the Healthy Schools for Washington campaign. "This was conceived with the best of intentions. It was an opportunity to create jobs while making our schools a

Exclusive: Alleged CAO 11 Email Demands Firings - District 299: Chicago Public Schools Blog

Exclusive: Alleged CAO 11 Email Demands Firings

by Alexander Russo

This is an excerpt of an email sent to me anonymously via snail mail that is allegedly from CAO 11 Janie Ortega, whose tenure has been the topic of much discussion by commenters on this site (see here). In a long list of items (see full document here), the email includes a demand for principals to provide negative evaluations of at least two teachers in their schools:

There’s got to be a morning after. � Fred Klonsky's blog

There’s got to be a morning after.

by Fred Klonsky

A friend writes:

Nothing on the blog regarding the election? I was hoping for some sort of positive Klonskyish spin from you on all this to bring me out of my depression.

Now, I hadn’t even had my second cup of coffee yet. Some people just need their blog fix.

Hey. There’s no need to go over what all the pundits are already saying. Obama and the Dems got pummeled. And a lot of people are going to be hurt by that.

However, I’m quite ready to play the blame game. I kind of like Paul Krugman this morning.

Change Of Guard Likely For Troubled Detroit Schools : NPR

Change Of Guard Likely For Troubled Detroit Schools

The Republican party has made a clean sweep of Michigan seats in the midterm elections. With soaring unemployment and financial crises, what do these results mean for the troubled city of Detroit? Host Michel Martin talks with Robert Bobb, the emergency financial manager of Detroit Public Schools, about his controversial tenure and prospects for public education in Detroit.

Bullying and the Brain - Tips for Parents

ASCD Inservice: Editorial: Stop Pseudoscience of Gender Differences in Learning

Editorial: Stop Pseudoscience of Gender Differences in Learning

I was honored to contribute a piece on gender gaps in education to the November issue ofEducational Leadership, titled "The Myth of Pink & Blue Brains." However, I am concerned that educators will be confused about seemingly contradictory statements between my article and the subsequent piece by King, Gurian, and Stevens ("Gender-friendly Schools") in the same issue.

As a neuroscientist, I am careful to base my claims on strict experimental evidence. I spent eight years researching and writing a recent book, Pink Brain, Blue Brain, upon which my article is largely based. Unfortunately, King et al. do not hold the same standards of evidence, and their claims about neurologic differences in the box, "How Boys and Girls Learn Differently (p. 41)" are frankly, bogus. Not one of their assertions about boys' and girls' brains is backed up by credible, well-accepted science, and certainly not by the studies they cite. What's more, two of the four sources they cite are from popular, highly speculative works that have been widely derided by practicing scientists.

In fact, the very notion that "boys and girls learn differently"—now sadly an article of faith among many educators—is

Whining Seattle Public Schools community blog

Seattle Public Schools community blog

Whining

Seattle Parent wrote:

Frankly, all the incessant whining and bash-the-billionaires, knee jerk "advocacy", reform hand-wringing etc. really motivated me to vote for the levy. All the complaints about the "oh so horrid" audit which turned up a few thousand here and there. Why does everybody think they should get a say? I'll take MGJ and her levy over the commenters here any day. If you want to run for office, do so.

At the end of the day, no organization is perfect. They all have waste, and accountability issues. That doesn't mean you shouldn't fund them.

There's a lot here to consider, and I think that we should consider it.

Let's start with whining. I can't stand whining. I think that if my generation had a motto it would be "No Whining". Whining is identifying a problem and expecting someone else to solve it. It

The Best Articles/Blog Posts On What The Election Results Mean For Schools — Contribute More | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

The Best Articles/Blog Posts On What The Election Results Mean For Schools — Contribute More

by Larry Ferlazzo

I thought I’d begin a list of articles and blog posts describing what yesterday’s election results might mean for schools. It’s just a very short beginning list, and I look forward to readers contributing additional ones in the comments section.

Here are my choices The Best Articles/Blog Posts On What The Election Results Mean For Schools — Contribute More:

Education policy: What will happen now comes from The Washington Post’s Valerie Strauss

A good night for schools, all in all is a quick analysis of California election results and what it might mean for

This Week In Education: Charters: Top Ten Districts For Charter Share & Enrollment

Charters: Top Ten Districts For Charter Share & Enrollment

by Alexander Russo

New Orleans is the top district for charter share (61 percent) and LA for student enrollment (68,000), according to this recent press release. "The "Top 10" highest percentages of public charter school students are in these 12 districts: New Orleans Public School System (61 percent), District of Columbia Public Schools, (38 percent), Detroit Public Schools (36 percent), Kansas City, Mo. (32 percent), Dayton Public Schools, Ohio (29 percent), Flint Community Schools, Mich. (29 percent), Gary Community School Corporation, Ind. (28 percent), DeSoto Independent School District, Texas (27 percent), St. Louis Public Schools, Mo. (27 percent), Central Dauphin School District, Pa. (26 percent), Albany City School

Secretary Duncan on Bullying and ED’s Role in PreK-12 Reform – ED.gov Blog

Secretary Duncan on Bullying and ED’s Role in PreK-12 Reform

On October 29, 2010, Secretary Arne Duncan answered questions about the U.S. Department of Education’s efforts to…

support innovations and improvements in preK-12 school reform

help stop bullying in schools.

Click here for an accessible version of the video.
See all the topics or all videos in the playlist.

More F’s and fewer A’s mark new high school progress reports | GothamSchools

More F’s and fewer A’s mark new high school progress reports

by Anna Phillips

For the second year in a row, the city has awarded fewer top progress report grades to high schools.

Nearly 70 percent of high schools received A’s or B’s on this year’s reports, which are being released today, down from about 75 percent last year and 83 percent in 2008.

And more schools will have to endure a year of having the letter “F” branded on their report cards. Last year, the city gave only one F, but this year nine schools got that grade, and another 23 received D’s. Schools that receive a grade of F or D, or get two C’s in a row, are at risk for closure. The city has indicated that it might try to close more schools this year than in past years.

This year’s high school grades were more stable than those for elementary and middle schools, which were released last month. Elementary and middle school reports are based almost entire on state reading and math scores, and lower scores statewide caused grades to fall this year at about 70 percent of schools. The

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