Big Education Ape

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Explaining it to the little man. It’s called bargaining. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Explaining it to the little man. It’s called bargaining.

by Fred Klonsky

Capitol Fax’s Rich Miller makes a couple of good points today.

First of all, the Sun-Times story on little man’s threats against the CTU puts the lede at the end of the story. Way down at the bottom, CTU Prez Karen Lewis says she agrees with the little man about a longer school day.

It’s seems like the little man won’t take yes for an answer.

They also both agree that any additional minutes to the school day need to be paid for.

That leaves the question of how many minutes and what should they be used for? Bureaucrats think the answer

Robert Reich (Paul Ryan's Plan, the Coming Shutdown, and What's Really at Stake)

Paul Ryan's Plan, the Coming Shutdown, and What's Really at Stake

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I was there in 1995 when the government closed because of a budget stalemate. I had to tell most of the Labor Department’s 15,600 employees to go home and not return the next day. I also had to tell them I didn’t know when they’d next get a paycheck.

There were two shutdowns, actually, rolling across the government in close succession, like thunder storms.

It’s not the way to do the public’s business.

Newt Gingrich got blamed largely because his ego was (and is) so big he couldn’t stop blabbing that Clinton should be blamed. (Gingrich’s complaint of a bad seat on Air Force One didn’t help.)

But the larger loss was to the dignity and credibility of the United States government. When average Americans saw the Speaker of the House and the President of the United States behaving like nursery school children unable to get along, it only added to the prevailing cynicism.

Cynicism about government works to the Republicans’ continued advantage.

Case in point. House Budget Chair Paul Ryan unveiled a plan today that should make every American cringe. It

Jersey Jazzman: Pension Confusion

Pension Confusion

by Duke

Let me start by restating the Joe DeVincenzo is a huge hypocrite and deserves all of the opprobrium hurdled his way. To run around with Christie bad-mouthing pensions while he himself is drawing from one is shameless.

But the reporting about his "double-dipping" is foggy at best. Take the Wall St. Journal:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie urged lawmakers Monday to abolish the practice that allows politicians to get a pension and salary for the same job, but he didn't get rough with a political ally who is doing just that.
Mr. Christie, a Republican, said he had spoken privately with Essex County Executive Joe

School Tech Connect: The Big Lie

The Big Lie

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

This is a terrific, succinct summary of one of the greatest frauds ever swallowed whole by Congress, the Texas Miracle, which never really happened. As Ravitch says, even Laura Bush knows it was crap.

Arne Duncan recently made the papers again for his testimony that soon the number of schools "failing" under NCLB "could double to over 80 percent." A lot of people took this number and ran with it as yet another

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: I like this riff on Foucault

I like this riff on Foucault

by Mike Klonsky

Michel Foucault
Twenty-five years ago you couldn't cocoa your cappuccino without someone accusing you of floating a signifier, much less close down the, ahem, discourse with a simple "I prefer my coffee that way". Who is this mythic "I", the theorists wanted to know, and how could he presume to know what he prefers? Has he forgotten he's as fictional as Oliver Twist or Mrs Dalloway? Doesn't he know that his likes and dislikes are

Kock Break News | www.kochwatch.org

News | www.kochwatch.org

GreaterWisComm: Stand Up To Scott Walker! WISCONSIN RESIDENTS: MAKE SURE TO GET OUT AND VOTE TODAY! WATCH ON YOUTUBE:

Sam Seder: Republicans in Maine Want to Loosen Child Labor Laws WATCH ON YOUTUBE:

Politicus USA: The Original Tea Party was not Anti-Government but Anti-Corporation *April 2, 2011-* Progressive political commentator Thom Hartmann has something to say about the real history of the Boston Tea Party. Using a first-hand account written by one of the participants, he shows that it was not against government ...

Ravitch: Ignoring lessons of phony ‘Texas miracle’ - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

A parent responds to counselor’s rant Shortly after I posted a rant from a college admissions counselor about some students and their parents who are irrational about their expectations and choices for colleges, I received this e-mail from a parent, Michael Martin, who asked not to be ...

Ravitch: Ignoring lessons of phony ‘Texas miracle’ --

A college counselor’s rant about irrationality This was written by Elizabeth F. Zucker, a college admissions consultant in Cambridge, Mass., to fellow college counselors. She posted it on the listserv of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling with this subject line: *Warning: ...

Hechinger Report | Trying new approaches to teacher training

Trying new approaches to teacher training

by Justin Snider

Joyce Randall, an AUSL graduate, now teaches high-school history in Chicago. (Photo by Justin Snider)

CHICAGO—Joyce Randall, who’s in her third year of teaching history to 10th-graders in her hometown of Chicago, is blunt about the effort needed to succeed at her work. “This is a difficult job for anyone to do for a long period of time, especially for the money we’re paid,” she says. The 26-year-old spent 12 months at the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL), a hands-on residency program for future educators, where she gained both practical experience and a master’s degree. “You need more than just a passion for the job,” she notes wryly.

Over the past several decades, a debate has simmered over how to bring fresh talent into the nation’s school

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Common Core Curriculum Coalition

Common Core Curriculum Coalition

by Mike Klonsky

Who's on board?

What brings liberal policy wonks together with corporate reformers and right-wing think tankers -- Linda Darling-Hammond, to Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., to Randi Weingarten, to Chester Finn, to Kati Haycock, in common cause? Why it's common core curriculum of course. This broad coalition is now represented as a list of signers on a statement drawn up by the Shanker Institute, the AFT's think tank. Missing as one might expect are Deb Meier along with many of the sharpest standardized testing critics. Diane Ravitch's name is also conspicuous in its absence. On the other side, where's the charter school and voucher organizations? I guess, since they're excluded from all such requirements, they probably couldn't care less.

I haven't seen anything like this since the bipartisan coalition behind NCLB during the early days of the

Watch Live: N.Y. Teach-In to Focus on Workers' Struggles | AFL-CIO NOW BLOG

Watch Live: N.Y. Teach-In One of More than 200 to Focus on Workers’ Struggles

by Mike Hall, Apr 5, 2011


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On more than 200 college campuses across the country today, workers and student activists are taking part in a national teach-in as part of this week’s We Are Oneactions in solidarity with those whose rights and middle-class jobs are under attack in Wisconsin, Ohio and elsewhere by Republican governors and legislators.

The Fight Back USA teach-in will be webcast live from Judson Memorial Church in New York City and has been organized by two longtime pro-labor advocates, sociologist Frances Fox Piven and philosopher Cornel West. Click here for the link to the webcast and clickhere for a list of campuses hosting a teach-in.

The national teach-in will be streamed starting at 2 p.m. ET today to participating campuses where local activists can add their own speakers to focus on issues in their communities following the webcast.

Joining Piven and West at the New York City site will be AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, economist Jeffrey Sachs (Columbia University) and public policy analyst Heather McGhee. AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler will be taking part in the teach-in at the University of California’s Berkeley campus.

The New York event’s organizers say the teach-in seeks to help young people across America understand how the recent actions undertaken by the brave citizens of Wisconsin are key to turning the tide away from increasing inequality and misery and toward the development of a sustainable and healthy American society in the 21st century. The teach-in seeks to infuse the fight back in the states with the energy and commitment of American youth whose future hangs in the balance.

Piven is a leading scholar of social protest movements and author of Poor People’s Movements and Challenging Authority. She has been a victim of Glenn Beck’s diatribes. Cornel West is a professor at Princeton University, where he teaches in the Center for African American Studies and in the Department of Religion. West is known for his combination of political and moral insight and criticism and his contribution to the post-1960s civil rights movement.

Tell the President: What’s good for their schools is good for public schools! :: Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action

Tell the President: What’s good for their schools is good for public schools!

by TeacherSabrina

Last week, President Obama reminded us all why his election gave many of us so much hope. In plain language, he spoke of how he wanted his daughters, Sasha and Malia, to have their learning assessed. He described a low-stakes, low pressure environment, with the results used not to punish them, their teachers or their school, but simply to find out what their strengths are, and where they might need extra support. He spoke of the need to avoid teaching to the test, and the value of engaging projects that would make students excited about learning. President Obama has made sure his daughters can learn this way. If only

Dallas ISD a no-show on Broad Prize finalist list — misses goal (again) | Dallas ISD Blog | dallasnews.com

Dallas ISD a no-show on Broad Prize finalist list — misses goal (again)

by Tawnell Hobbs/Reporter

The Broad Foundation today announced finalist school districts for the Broad Prize, which is given to urban districts that make big improvements. This year's four finalists are Broward County Public Schools (Fla.), Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (N.C.), Miami-Dade County Public Schools (Fla.) and Ysleta ISD (El Paso). All four school districts are previous finalists. Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa had set a goal to win the prize by 2010. But last year, following an announcement that the district hadn't made the list, Hinojosa surprised many people, even a few trustees, by saying he actually meant DISD would win the prize in 2011 -- contrary to all the literature, speeches, 2010 gadgets, DISD website, etc., proclaiming 2010 as the goal year. DISD has made academic improvements. Passage rates on the TAKS test have improved and the district's magnet schools continue to make national news. But winning the

This Week In Education: Thompson: KIPP's Advantages -- And Drawbacks

Thompson: KIPP's Advantages -- And Drawbacks

by john thompson

Now that Gary Miron and other researchers at Western Michigan University have documented that KIPP schools can receive an average of $5,760 in private money per student there seems to be little to prevent people of good will from reaching a consensus on that small network of worthy schools. As Bruce Fuller explains, the “eye-opening” study showed that "a well-endowed, inspirationally run charter school can lift poor children. The question raised by this study is whether the model could be replicated if wealthy donors