Big Education Ape

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

An evening with Diane Ravitch, champion of public schools | DeFENSE

An evening with Diane Ravitch, champion of public schools

by admin

Plan to attend An Evening With Diane Ravitch, moderated By Eli Stokols of Fox31 News. You will not want to miss the chance to hear the author of “The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education.”

In her latest book, distinguished education scholar and former proponent of the federal No Child Left Behind Act Diane Ravitch raises concerns over testing mania and school choice. In the process, she is reframing the national debate over the best ways to improve our nation’s public schools.

From 1991 to 1993, she was Assistant Secretary of Education and Counselor to Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander in the administration of President George

Dear Nate: do you know about the problems at Rachel B. Noel?

by admin

No, probably not. But here is an inside report for your information. It came in from one of our parent organizers.

I feel that people gathering recall signatures need to know that:
Nate Easley or any other board members did not visit Rachel B. Noel last fall, even when our Open House was posted on the DPS website, and when it was well known that we had just begun implementing a federal turnaround grant. Wouldn’t the president of the school board want to know what’s going on at a school before he or she voted for sweeping changes?
DPS’s solution for co-locating three schools in this building is to divide the RBN library, a focal point of the building, into classrooms! Has Nate Easely or any of the board members he leads seen the plans? Do they agree with the plan to completely phase out the library?

Migual del Valle Votes in Logan Square, Emanuel in West Chicago - Hispanically Speaking News

Migual del Valle Votes in Logan Square, Emanuel in West Chicago

0 Comments

January 31, 2011 | by News Blogs Chicago | Humboldt Park

The first day of early voting saw two of the Mayoral candidates cast vote for themselves in their respective communities.

Rahm Emanuel voted at the West Chicago Library in Austin and encourages others to do the same. His campaign has set the goal of getting 7,500 early voters out throughout the city or

This Week In Education: Sattler: Revamping Teacher Evaluation Through SIG

Sattler: Revamping Teacher Evaluation Through SIG

by Cheryl Sattler

1 person liked this

Who is Brad Jupp and what does the upcoming Denver management labor summit have to do with the Title I conference going on this week in Tampa? Well, revising teacher evaluation systems is also a requirement of the Title I School Improvement Grants, which are flowing to all 50 states. And USDE staffer Jupp, a former middle-school

Seattle Public Schools community blog: Reflections on the Construction Management Audit

Reflections on the Construction Management Audit Charlie posted the district's news release on the audit. I always enjoy the minimizing that goes on in these things. One of the most clearly called out issues of the audit was lack of Board oversight of BEX spending to the point where the Board was not ...

Reflecting on the Audit It wasn't quite the barnburner I thought it would be, this Construction Management audit. However, it was, for me, quietly defeating. It confirms my belief that the Superintendent would like to consolidate more power to staff and that many staff see ...

District Press Release on BEX Audit The District sent out a press release on the State Auditor's report of the BEX audit that was full of happy talk. The District has already posted the audit findings and response to the audit response web page.

Nominal DFT President Keith Johnson tries to cheat his way back into office, | Dailycensored.com

Nominal DFT President Keith Johnson tries to cheat his way back into office,

Written by Danny WeilEducationJan 31, 2011

0digg

For Immediate Release:

Johnson collaborates with DPS EFM Rob Bobb in dismantling public education in Detroit

Contact: Steve Conn. 313-645-9340

Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) nominal president Keith Johnson has brought internal union charges against union activists Steve Conn, Heather Miller and Tracy Arneau in a desperate attempt to bureaucratically eliminate opposition to his illegal efforts to reinstall himself as president of the union through a fraudulent ballot count, and to protect his continuing policies of collaboration with DPS EFM Robert Bobb.

In the recent run-off elections for DFT President, Johnson claims to have received 40 more votes than challenger Steve Conn. However, 718 of the

The Story of Steve Ostrin And The Violation Of His Due Process Rights By The NYC Department of Education- ParentAdvocates.org

Parent Advocates - ParentAdvocates.org

The Story of Steve Ostrin And The Violation Of His Due Process Rights By The NYC Department of Education
From Betsy Combier: I have known Steve for more than four years, as an investigative reporter looking into the false claims and defamation by Joel Klein and Michael Bloomberg of tenured teachers thrown into the "rubber room". Steve's rubber room for almost six years was 25 Chapel Street in Brooklyn New York, 10th Floor. He is an innocent man painted with the wrong colors by the New York Post.

Steve Ostrin holding the Nadelstern/Cheryl Smith memo

Anyone who is not sure what is going on in NYC education should start, I think, with Michael Cardozo's letter sent to the Justice Department in 2003 that argued for a removal of the right to vote for a school board in New York

No easy way to cut CalSTRS benefits | Thoughts on Public Education

No easy way to cut CalSTRS benefits - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

Call it pension envy, matched by frustration over higher pension contributions that taxpayers will eventually be asked to fork over. The clamor for cutting public employees’ pension benefits has grown louder. And that includes calls to change CalSTRS, the pension system serving 856,000 teachers and administrators in California. The Legislature approved bonus benefits in the [...]

Schools Matter: Dept of Education's Solution: More Tests

Dept of Education's Solution: More Tests

by skrashen

The Department of Education's Solution: More Tests

Sent to the NY Times, Jan 31, 2010

One article in the Times described the profound problems children are facing in school because of the economy ("Teacher, My Dad Lost his Job. Do We Have to Move?" 1/31). Another described the conflict over whether beginning teachers will be fired when New York cuts the education budget ("Bloomberg Presses Cuomo on Teacher Seniority Rule," 1/31). Articles also appear regularly about cutbacks in public and school libraries.

NYC Educator: Young Whippersnappers

Young Whippersnappers

by Miss Eyre

I suppose it isn't giving much away to say that I work in a small high school, staffed primarily with younger teachers in the first few years of their careers. I've mentioned a few times already how happy I am with my no-longer-exactly-new position: how much I respect and trust the administration, how much I like and admire my colleagues. We are a hardworking bunch and, dare I say, the work pays off. We have good results in more ways than one. It is a demanding but not unpleasant place to work.

Yet my school also puts lie to the idea that younger teachers, full of our storied vim and vigor and passion for raising student achievement, are necessarily also anti-union. Our chapter meetings are well-attended and our COPE drive was very productive. We have an active consultation committee. Our CL reminded us to grieve any scheduling issues in a timely manner. And during

Governor calls for “thoughtful pause” on new charter schools « JD2718

Governor calls for “thoughtful pause” on new charter schools

by jd2718

No, not Cuomo. Rhode Island Independent Governor Lincoln Chafee.

Rhode Island promised big moves on charter schools under its Race to the Top application. That was the previous governor’s doing, before the elections.

Now Chafee looks at the thing, and isn’t so sure:

“The main point here is let’s look before we leap,” said Chafee spokesman Mike Trainor. “Governo

Monday, January 31, 2011

Sacramento Press / Woo didn't break law, state says

Image by: Chris Shannon

From left to right: Woo is the first person pictured on the left. Singh is pictured third from the left.

Allegations accusing school board member Darrel Woo of violating the Political Reform Act were dismissed by the Fair Political Practices Commission last week.

Shane Singh, who ran against Woo for board member of the Sacramento

Latest News and Comment from Education