preaprez.wordpress.com - Man, that was a sleazy bunch that surrounded the governor as he signed Senate Bill 7 yesterday. Gery Chico? Rahm Emanuel? And standing in the shadows were the corporate bandits from Stand for Child...
robertreich.org - The battle has resumed in Wisconsin. The state supreme court has allowed Governor Scott Walker to strip bargaining rights from state workers. Meanwhile, governors and legislators in New Hampshire a...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Schools Matter: New Report Offers Withering Critique of MA Plan to Evaluate Teachers Based on MCAS ScoresNew Report Offers Withering Critique of MA Plan to Evaluate Teachers Based on MCAS Scoresby ...
nepc.colorado.edu - With high unction, priests of educational reform often proclaim their notions are grounded on a strong scientific base. Embarrassingly, the President and his secretary of education, Arne Duncan, ha...
suntimes.com - BY SOPHIA TAREEN June 13, 2011 6:46PM Gov. Pat Quinn passes a pen to State Sen. Kimberly Lightford of Maywood as he signs the bill. Quinn and leaders from across the state joined to sign historic e...
scholasticadministrator.typepad.com - June 14, 2011 | Posted At: 05:09 PM | Author: john thompson | Category: Foundation Follies The Broad Center proclaims that "the superintendent is responsible for the education of every student in t...
ednotesonline.blogspot.com - I put up notice of yesterday's press conference at Tweed (New York City Parents and Community Stakeholders To Convene Press Conference Supporting NAACP Lawsuit) and taped the entire event. It's a l...
cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com - The high school graduation rate in New York City improved slightly last year, but the vast majority of those graduates were not prepared for college, state officials announced on Tuesday. Sixty-one...
frederickhess.org - by Frederick M. Hess • Jun 14, 2011 at 9:04 amCross-posted from Education Weekhttp://www.frederickhess.org/2011/06/waivers-are-fineback-door-legislating-via-stringsThere seems to be some confusio...
huffingtonpost.com - The Department of Education's Office of Inspector General served a warrant on Stockton, California resident Kenneth Wright at six in the morning on Tuesday. Though the initial story gave the impres...
post-gazette.com - By Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Because you were preoccupied with Rep. Anthony Weiner's private parts last week, you probably missed the story about the Stockton, Calif., man who claimed he...
washingtonexaminer.com - Add the U.S. Department of Education to the list of federal agencies that can invade your home at gunpoint and hold you and your family in custody for hours. Kenneth Wright learned this the hard wa...
seattletimes.nwsource.com - LOS ANGELES — By the time summer school starts in early July, Caleb will probably walk into class with a golden retriever at his side.Caleb Ciriacks is a 7-year-old severely autistic boy who for th...
hispanicallyspeakingnews.com - Published at 1:45 am, June 15, 2011 Photo Credits: Farm Workers A large number of immigrants are fleeing Georgia as anti-immigrant legislation is set to be enacted. Gov. Nathan Deal has issued a st...
preaprez.wordpress.com - I turn 63 today. Someone Facebooked a birthday greeting to me this morning warning me to watch out. The earth seems to spin faster each year we grow older, he said. This does not worry me. When I w...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Jersey Jazzman: Let's Make a Deal, Senator SweeneyLet's Make a Deal, Senator Sweeneyby DukeSteve Sweeney wants me to pay more - a LOT more - into my pension. He tells me it's the only way to keep m...
sacramentopress.com - Families were able to enjoy the company of neighbors, family and friends as they gathered to celebrate the 5th annual “Celebrate Oak Park” event. McClatchy Park, located at 35th Street and 5th Aven...
computerworld.com - News By Patrick ThibodeauJune 14, 2011 04:47 PM ET Computerworld - WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is making a push to train 10,000 new American engineers a year, primarily with the help of th...
news.firedoglake.com - Having proven unable to sway Congress into delaying the rule that will reform debt card swipe fees and end monopolistic practices, the banking industry will do what it normally does as an alternati...
democurmudgeon.blogspot.com - Isn’t it amazing to learn the party that promised tax relief is actually raising taxes now, and in the future, without a whimper in the media or by conservative think tanks? Are they afraid to crit...
articles.philly.com - But in both appeals, the Third Circuit judges said school officials may not penalize students for writing or speech that is created and circulated out of school and causes no disruption of school a...
chicagotribune.com - A controversial Northwestern University journalism professor who started a landmark program to investigate wrongful convictions will retire at the end of August, the school announced today.David Pr...
chicagotribune.com - A controversial Northwestern University journalism professor who started a landmark program to investigate wrongful convictions will retire at the end of August. David Protess, one of the universit...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Vouchers and charters not the only school reform solution | The Washington IndependentVouchers and charters not the only school reform solutionBy Mikhail Zinshteyn | 06.14.11 | 2:33 pm0 CommentsSha...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - solidaridad: Resist the hostile Green Dot takeover of Henry Clay Middle School!Resist the hostile takeover of Henry Clay Middle School!by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene"The lowest-performing, based o...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Protesters March Against Corporate Summit - Chicago News CooperativeProtesters March Against Corporate SummitJose MoreHundreds of teachers marched crossing the Michigan Avenue bridge to meet up wit...
happyteacherla.com - #2sirchat: New education chat on Twitter Posted by 1635school on June 14, 2011 · Leave a Comment #2sitchat is a new chat on Twitter about teaching in economically oppressed communities. The name wa...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - #2sirchat: New education chat on Twitter « Happy Teacher LA#2SIRCHAT: NEW EDUCATION CHAT ON TWITTERPosted by 1635school on June 14, 2011 · Leave a Comment #2sitchat is a new chat on Twitter about t...
DeSmogBlog: Koch Money Fuels AFP Misinformation Campaign On Gas Prices*-By Farron Cousins* *June 14, 2011-* The Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is taking their misinformation machine on the road in an attempt to convince American consumers that President Obama is causing the spike in gasoline prices. AFP is ...
Robert Reich: The Truth About the Economy
Cenk Uygur: Wisconsin Supreme Court Says Anti-Union Law Can Go Into Effect
Truthout: Ralph Nader: Koch Brothers Led Fight to Defend Formaldehyde Despite Carcinogenic Evidence*-by: Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez and Ralph Nader, Democracy Now! | Interview * *June 14, 2011-* The government has added formaldehyde to a list of known carcinogens, despite years of lobbying by the chemical industry. Formaldehyde is found in ...
Huffington Post: Koch Brothers, Grover Norquist Split On Ethanol Subsidies*-By Ryan Grim* *June 13, 2011-* Opponents of ethanol subsidies got a boost Monday from Koch Industries as the company announced its opposition to the giveaways on the eve of a major vote in the Senate. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) is pushing a vote on ...
Huffington Post: Koch Brothers, Grover Norquist Split On Ethanol Subsidies*-By Ryan Grim* *June 13, 2011-* Opponents of ethanol subsidies got a boost Monday from Koch Industries as the company announced its opposition to the giveaways on the eve of a major vote in the Senate. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) is pushing a vote on ...
Two New Games From BBC SchoolsBBC Schools has just announced two new games on their website: R U Revising lets you answer your choice of English, Math, or Science questions. It has separate links to versions for each subject, so the link here is to the main game page. It’s ...
“Exchange 2.0 – Technology-enabled International Interaction”Exchange 2.0 – Technology-enabled International Interaction is the title of a new guide from a group called “Connect All Schools,” initiated by the U.S. Department of Education. I’ve posted about the group earlier in The Best Ways To Find Other ...
“Hot Spot” Interview — Report From GreeceI recently began a new regular interview series. There are always lots of “hot spots” around the world — places where there are natural disasters, political upheavals, etc. And English teachers can be found in most of those places. If you are an ...
eBook Version of “Helping Students Motivate Themselves” Now AvailableI’ve just learned that an eBook Version (PDF) of my new book, “Helping Students Motivate Themselves” is now available. The Eye on Education site for the book lists three versions: the print book, the eBook, and the print and eBook bundle option. In ...
Recording Now Available Of “Helping Students Motivate Themselves” InterviewSteve Hargadon has just posted the audio recording of the interview he did with me on my book, “Helping Students Motivate Themselves.” You can also see/hear the entire Elluminate session here. Steve and other participants asked some great questions, ...
ELL’s & Google’s New Voice Search For ComputersGoogle introduced several new features today, including a voice search for computers. I’ve embedded a short video about it below. If we’re working in the computer lab, and students have microphones on already, I could see it as an easy opportunity ...
Buddy Meeting For Online Conference RoomsBuddy Meeting lets you easily create an online conference room for up to twenty-five people where you can also share your desktop. It seems pretty simple and it’s free. I’m adding it to The Best Online Tools For Real-Time Collaboration.
Lawmakers should keep handcuffs off districts and extend local control - by Stephen BlumOnce upon a time, school districts were mainly controlled by locally elected school boards and district management. The landmark court decisions of Serrano v. Priest (1971 & 1976) and the famous initiative, Proposition 13 (1978), unintentionally ...
Claude Steele returning to the Farm - by Kathryn BaronWorld renowned scholar and social psychologist Claude Steele is returning to Stanford University to head the School of Education. An announcement by the University said Steele will take over as dean on September 1, succeeding Deborah Stipek, who’s ...
Center on teaching joins WestEd - by John Fensterwald - Educated GuessThe Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning, best known for its often-cited annual reports on the status of teaching in California, will have a new location, director, and affiliation. Otherwise, not much will change. The decision by the founder ...
Common among writers is the occasional (or often) distrust of the value of words against the possibility of action. William Shakespeare embedded in his works this angst, powerfully and with humor in A Midsummers Night's Dream. Recently, I wrote a poem about this fear and drew on two works of literature—Shakespeare's Hamlet and William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying.
In Hamlet, Polonius is taunted by the troubled Prince when Polonius asks, "What do you read, my lord?" Hamlet responds with "Words, words, words."
For Faulkner's Addie in As I Lay Dying, the message is much darker and direct: "That was when I learned that words are no good; that words dont ever fit even what they are trying to say at."
These literary truths bode poorly for politicians, pundits, and scholars/academics because they all share one quality—the proclivity to function in the world of ideas as expressed through the medium of words, spoken and
Over the past decade, Californians have learned a lot about the academic performance of our students, thanks in large part to data collected from school districts. We now know, for example, the following:
The achievement gap between African-American eighth graders and their white peers has increased statewide over the past seven years in English Language Arts; that Asian students, in general, are high-performing, but that certain subgroups of Asian students, including Laotian and Samoan students, are silently struggling; and that in certain school districts, Latino and African-American students have equitable access to college-ready coursework, while in other school districts they are disproportionately being denied access to the courses that public universities require.
Republican presidential candidates held an Obama-bashing session in New Hampshire last night, but their rhetoric cannot conceal an obvious fact: the Republican Party is content with trying to take back the Senate in 2012 and does not see the presidential race as its top priority. Consider the field. Republican Presidents over the past fifty years have been from large electoral states, yet none of the 2012 candidates meets this requirement. Mitt Romney? He couldn’t beat McCain in 2008 and has no support among the grassroots. Tim Pawlenty? He also comes from the GOP’s non-activist wing. Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachmann? Neither has a chance to become President.
By Shannon Price Minter, Esq. National Center for Lesbian Rights Legal Director
Only one day after hearing a controversial motion to vacate former U.S. District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker’s August 2010 ruling invalidating Proposition 8, Chief Judge James Ware of the federal district court in San Francisco issued a historic decision that likely will hasten the day when more openly gay (and lesbian, bisexual, and transgender) judges serve on the federal bench. Judge Ware ruled that Judge Walker had no obligation to recuse himself from presiding over the Prop 8 trial simply because he is in a committed relationship with a man.
Steve Sweeney wants me to pay more - a LOT more - into my pension. He tells me it's the only way to keep my pension solvent. He tells me it's the only way I can hope to actually have a pension in years to come.
And he tells me that the state, the counties, the towns, and the school districts will now have a contractual obligation to pay their fair share - which they haven't done in nearly 20 years.
OK, Senator, I'll make you deal: I'll sign off on increasing my pension payments, if you tell me EXACTLY how you are going to get the money to make good on your end.
In other words: who are you going to tax, and how much? Or, where are you going to cut? Until you can tell me
It appears the much-touted "transformation model," much beloved by Arnie Duncan, Mayor Mike and President Hopey-Changey, hasfailed to turn around the troubled Central Falls High School. The first approach, you may recall, was to fire all the teachers. Education Secretary Duncan "applauded" that action. (Will someone remind me what the heck I was thinking when I voted for Barack Obama?)
Personally, I'm shocked that the 75% of Central Falls students receiving free lunch are not suddenly affluent. I was also certain that the 22% receiving ESL instruction would suddenly achieve native fluency. How could that have failed? There is, of course, the possibility that the reason kids are failing has something to do with the kids themselves, with poverty, with learning disabilities, or
I hate being mentioned in the same sentence as “education reform” unless it’s at the book-ends of the phrase “does not believe in.” I hate being mentioned much to begin with, but to be mentioned as someone who believes in some sort of ed-reform is almost insulting, because the ed-reform has become ed-deform and teachers have been relegated to the op-ed / response sections of major newspapers. Rather than responding, we ought to fight for the front of the line. My leadership style is usually not so forward, but I honestly believe we as educators (and I mean all types of educators) need to push for the new, the creative, the awesome, the passionate, and … the original.
We can’t be the responders anymore. We have to seek the new narrative. However we do it, we can’t always be
In, the wake of yesterday's protests, the seven-member Chicago school board, hand-picked by the mayor, will meet for the first time today and decide whether to rescind a 4 percent pay raise for teachers which was agreed on in the contract that expires next year. 18 different unions and groups including the Chicago Teachers Union, the SEIU, and a group called Stand Up Chicago helped organize the demonstration.
"The CFOs up in the building right now having a conference, collectively their companies made over $200 billion in profits last year," said demonstrator Casey Murphy. "Executive compensation
Hundreds of teachers marched crossing the Michigan Avenue bridge to meet up with other union employees and community organizations protesting of big business.
Chicago Teachers Union members and assorted labor activists closed down parts of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive Tuesday as they marched on a summit of corporate executives at the Hyatt Regency.
Protesters said corporations should “give back” to schools and communities that are facing huge budget deficits because of the economic downturn.
The Chicago Board of Education is set to vote Wednesday on whether to grant Chicago teachers a 4 percent contractual raise. Many protesters held signs demanding the board honor the union contract.
"I don't hear any of the corporate reformers expressing concern about the way standardized testing narrows the curriculum, the way it rewards convergent thinking and punishes divergent thinking, the way it stamps out creativity and originality. I don't hear any of them worried that a generation will grow up ignorant of history and the workings of government. I don't hear any of them putting up $100 million to make sure that every child has the chance to learn to play a musical instrument. All I hear from them is a demand for higher test scores and a demand to tie teachers' evaluations to those test scores. That is not going to improve education." — Dr. Diane Ravitch (celebrated education professor and author)
After decades of being ignored by the corporate mainstream media, public education activists are beginning to get heard, here and there. The dominant narrative, of course, are the corporate voices that are pushing through austerity measures and privatization with a vengeance. However, just as the recent Johnathan Alter and Arne Duncan vicious attack article on Dr. Ravitch shows, the plutocrats and privatizers are starting to feel the heat.
In Los Angeles we have a tough series of battles ahead, but we've seen some minor victories. A moral, if not significant, victory came when
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By Arun Ramanathan
By Randy Shaw
By Shannon Price Minter, Esq.
