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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Big Education Ape: 6-29-11 PM Mike K sez check out Darling-Hammond's commencement speech at Columbia Teachers College

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now
Big Education Ape: Ed News Now
Published by Coopmike48 – 5 contributors today

School Tech Connect: New Standards Are Here

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - School Tech Connect: New Standards Are HereNew Standards Are Hereby effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)And nothing will change.First of all, Race to the Top was supposed to be, among other things, econ...

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coopmike48 Big Education Ape: Who is Jason Mancini and why isn't he registered as a Rhee lobbyist? - http://goo.gl/jrtsn52 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 What Are Good Places To Go For ESL/EFL Research? | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... -http://goo.gl/xSp2e51 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 Remainders: Principals absent from radio call-in about budgets | GothamSchools - http://goo.gl/imK7G51 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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EducationSee all

Support for endorsement waning? « Fred Klonsky's blog

preaprez.wordpress.com - The Twitter buzz is that floor fights over an early no strings Obama endorsement and the Policy Statement on accountability and teacher evaluation will be front and center at the NEA RA starting to...

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PoliticsSee all

Bachmann fact check: Wrong John Wayne

cbsnews.com - (AP) WASHINGTON - Michele Bachmann's claim that she has "never gotten a penny" from a family farm that's been subsidized by the government is at odds with her financial disclosure statements. They...

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LivingSee all

6 young illegal immigrants arrested in Ga. protest

boston.com - ATLANTA—Six young illegal immigrants were arrested Tuesday after they sat down and blocked traffic near the Georgia state Capitol to publicly declare their status and to protest state policies targ...

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Art & EntertainmentSee all

Biden. Yes, that’s the ticket. « Fred Klonsky's blog

preaprez.wordpress.com - I’m having my coffee at Peets this morning. “So. I hear you’re the chairman of all the teachers in town,” says Laura, the store manager. “Huh?” I look up from the New York Times I’m reading on my i...

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Ownership Society News

schoolingintheownershipsociety.blogspot.com - The death of the Dodgers by corporate greedMcCourt & commissioner, Bud SeligDave Zirin, writing in The Nation asks, "What does the L.A. Dodgers bankruptcy say about America?" The Dodgers are argu...

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What Does the LA Dodgers Bankruptcy Say About America?

thenation.com - What Does the LA Dodgers Bankruptcy Say About America? June 29, 2011 Share | || Recommended by 0|Much has been written about the Los Angeles Dodgers declaration of bankruptcy. Much has been said a...

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StoriesSee all

VIDEO: NYC greets Walker with rat

teamsternation.blogspot.com - Can Koch whore Scott Walker go anywhere without running into a protest? He went to New York City yesterday to suck up some corporate cash. He was greeted by protesters and our buddy, the giant infl...

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Happy Pride, Secretary Clinton, STFU.

my.firedoglake.com - Hillary Clinton thinks sexual orientation and the flamboyance of one’s partner have some bearing on the revelation of her precious secret cables that were ill-protected by the Defense Department. J...

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Will too much screen time really ruin my kid?

ednewsparent.org - Q. My son can’t get enough of computer games. Is it OK to let him spend hours every day playing online, as long as I’ve screened the games? After all, it’s too hot to go outside! A. Summer is here ...

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EnvironmentSee all

Perfect Storm: Climate Change Meets Nuclear Disaster

modeducation.blogspot.com - digg_url="http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2011/06/perfect-storm-climate-change-meets.html"; Image by fsgmWhile public concern over the multiple nuclear meltdowns at Fukushima Daichi, in Japan, ha...

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      Schools Matter: Oceans Dying As NYTimes Gives Front Page Environmental Coverage to Bad Cable Boxes

      Schools Matter: Oceans Dying As NYTimes Gives Front Page Environmental Coverage to Bad Cable Boxes

      Oceans Dying As NYTimes Gives Front Page Environmental Coverage to Bad Cable Boxes

      by Jim Horn
      The real story from Slate:
      The oceans are in a far worse state than previously thought, according to a prestigious group of scientists. Of course, doom-and-gloom environmental stories are so common they’re almost yawn-inducing. But this one is different, insists Time’s Bryan Walsh. The state of the oceans never gets the coverage it really deserves and a report issued by the International Program on the State of the Ocean reveals things are more dire for the marine world than previously thought.

      Sure, there’s overfishing, and global warming has created dead zones in the oceans. But the truth is far more frightening as we are “at high risk for entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history,” notes the report written by a global panel of experts. In what is the report’s most stark and shocking suggestion, scientists say that the unprecedented loss of
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      Report: School districts at funding cliff - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

      Report: School districts at funding cliff - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

      Report: School districts at funding cliff

      by Valerie Strauss

      --

      This was written by Jack Jennings, president and chief executive officer of the Center on Education Policy, a nonpartisan, nonprofit education research group in Washington, D.C. From 1967 to 1994, he served as subcommittee staff director and then as general counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and Labor.

      Read full article >>
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      NYC Public School Parents: Two important education laws requiring more transparency from DOE passed today!

      NYC Public School Parents: Two important education laws requiring more transparency from DOE passed today!

      Two important education laws requiring more transparency from DOE passed today!

      by Leonie Haimson

      Today, along with the budget, the City Council approved two new important bills requiring more transparent reporting from the DOE.
      According to the first bill, 354-A, the DOE will now be required to report each year by June 30 on the number of students discharged by individual schools and systemwide, as well as by discharge code, so we will know better what is happening to the thousands of students that continue to leave NYC high schools each year before graduation but are not counted as dropouts.
      Some students move out of state or transfer to parochial and private schools, but many transfer to GED programs or alternative schools where they do not have a chance to graduate with a real diploma, and currently we have no idea how many are in each category. Moreover, the percent of 9th graders who are discharged from high school has doubled under this administration, without any explanation.
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      Daily Kos: PA Senate trying to push through voucher bill today, before end of session

      Daily Kos: PA Senate trying to push through voucher bill today, before end of session

      PA Senate trying to push through voucher bill today, before end of session

      by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

      Note - what I am posting is at the request of Rachel Tabachnick, who has been all over this issue. The rest of the words are hers.

      If they can pull this off in Pennsylvania, public education in this country could be finished!

      It is frustrating to watch some otherwise progressive Catholic and Jewish leaders advance these "school choice" programs. They want the voucher money for their students at their schools and are apparently willing to help collapse the public education system to get it. They don't talk about the fact that much of this money will go to Protestant fundamentalist schools that demonize pretty much everyone else, are particularly hostile to Catholicism, and teach that Israel's role as a nation is to bring about the end times.

      If you have any contacts in Pennsylvania or other states considering vouchers and corporate tax credit programs,

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      Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Darling-Hammond's commencement speech at Columbia Teachers College

      Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Darling-Hammond's commencement speech at Columbia Teachers College

      Darling-Hammond's commencement speech at Columbia Teachers College

      by Mike Klonsky
      I'm reprinting this speech by Linda Darling-Hammond in full because -- well read it and you will know why. -- M.K.



      The Service of Democratic Education

      Linda Darling-Hammond | May 21, 2011

      At the commencement ceremony for Columbia University's Teachers College on May 18, Stanford education professor Linda Darling-Hammond—a nationally renowned leader in education reform and former education adviser to Barack Obama's presidential campaign—was awarded the Teachers College medal for distinguished service. Professor Darling-Hammond marked the occasion by delivering the following address:

      I could not be more honored than to be awarded this recognition from Teachers College, one of the places of all
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      The muddy process of discovery in DPS « Failing Schools

      The muddy process of discovery in DPS « Failing Schools

      The muddy process of discovery in DPS

      JUNE 29, 2011
      by mariasallee

      Today I finally looked closely at my district’s teacher appreciation gift to us, one which, by the way, arrived well after the end of Teacher Appreciation Week. We were given a plastic tumbler equipped with lid and straw which has a Mark Van Doren quote affixed to it, declaring: “The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.” Those are nice words, and ones worth applying in my own teaching practice, yet they have an ironic ring to them considering the source sharing them. My distaste for the contradictory use of this quote stems from DPS’ ongoing, increased lack of transparency. Imprinting the quote on the tumblers may suggest that the discovery process is important to DPS leadership, but recent actions tend to muddy the water, provoking additional questions, rather than answering the ones at hand. For example:

      • Top-down “grassroots” effort in the Far Northeast claimed to seek community input on
      Save Our Schools March & National Call to Action, July 30, 2011
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      Schooling in the Ownership Society: Ownership Society News

      Schooling in the Ownership Society: Ownership Society News

      Ownership Society News

      by Mike Klonsky
      The death of the Dodgers by corporate greed

      McCourt & commissioner, Bud Selig
      Dave Zirin, writing in The Nation asks, "What does the L.A. Dodgers bankruptcy say about America?"

      The Dodgers are arguably the most culturally significant franchise in the history of American Sports. It’s the team of Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax, Fernando Valenzuela, and Hideo Nomo. That’s more than just a tradition. That’s a Ken Burns epic From their days in Brooklyn, the Dodgers were the franchise of the immigrants, the strivers, the ones who thought the American Dream was there for those willing to scratch and bleed for it....

      ...As Harold Meyerson wrote in the Washington Post, the Dodgers now represent “a particularly vicious form of capitalism that America has come to know too well the past few decades: a new owner takes over a venerable firm and extracts what he can for himself, decimating the company and damaging the community in the process”...

      ...As Meyerson wrote, “I’ve long believed that kids who grew up listening to Scully got at least a 30-point bump
      Posted by at

      miracleschools - home

      miracleschools - home
      Welcome to miracleschools.wikispaces.com, a place to gather research about schools that are touted in the media to demonstrate how well the current reform movement is going.

      Who maintains this site?
      This site was started by Gary Rubinstein and Noel Hammatt, two educators. They were introduced to each other by Diane Ravitch, after each had sent her independent investigations of miracle schools. After Diane Ravitch wrote a New York Times Op-Ed citing the work, Newsweek published a top 10 "miracle schools" list, which made us realize that two people might not be enough to counter the current so-called reform movement. This site is an opportunity to get other people involved.

      Why are you doing this? Do you like insulting hard-working kids and teachers?
      The current reform movement in education is based on principles that have not been proved. The only 'proof' that the current reformers have of the effectiveness of their policies is a handful of 'miracle' schools. They claim that the only difference between these miracle schools and the failing schools down the street is the hard-working staff. The implication is that if teachers were made to work harder through the threat of being fired -- or actually fired, then eventually all schools could replicate such success.
      Since this is the only 'proof' the reformers have, it is important that these miracles be scrutinized. If it turns out that they are not truly miracles, but just pseudo-miracles, it is important for the public to know. And we do not see this as insulting the kids or teachers from the miracle schools we debunk. Just because they are not miracle schools, does not mean that they are not good schools. The point is that there are other schools that are just as good that are getting shut down since they are failing to be miracles. It is important to reveal that the miracle schools aren't that miraculous either.

      What is the definition of a miracle school?
      It hasn't been officially defined, but we think that a true miracle school would have the following characteristics:
      1) A low attrition rate
      Posted by at

      Why I ain’t ain’t marching anymore. (with apologies to Phil Ochs)

      Why I ain’t ain’t marching anymore. (with apologies to Phil Ochs)

      Why I ain’t ain’t marching anymore. (with apologies to Phil Ochs)

      by DavidGreene

      The last and only time I marched on Washington D.C. was the Moratorium to end the Vietnam War in November 1969. Hundreds of thousands marched through the cold streets of Washington D.C. while FBI agents took pictures of us as we shouted “Peace Now” and waved our flags and signs. My friend and I had constructed a giant (we thought it novel) Peace Flag that was eventually used up on the speaker’s platform. We were so proud. We slept on the gym floor of a local parish church. When it was time to leave, at first we couldn’t find our bus to go back to NY, but eventually we did. Frankly, it is all a blur but a well worthwhile one.

      I was not a joiner, a marcher or a protester. I was not much of an activist either. I had friends who were deeply involved in the movement but I was happy to get involved in conversations and do my little part to convince people, one at a time, that the War was wrong. However, when friends were deployed I felt it important to do

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      Modern School: Reagan Blames Segregation For Failing Schools

      Modern School: Reagan Blames Segregation For Failing Schools
      Reagan Blames Segregation For Failing Schools On this day in 1983, President Reagan said that one cause of the decline in public education was the effort to comply with court-ordered desegregation. ------------------------------ Modern School
      Today In Labor History—June 29 Michael Schwab *June 29, 1898* – Michael Schwab, who was convicted for the Haymarket bombing, died from tuberculosis, having been pardoned and released from prison just a few months prior. *June 29, 1919* – Striking meat-workers in Townsville, ...
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      Hechinger Report | Q&A with Marc Tucker: Why we need a new reform agenda to compete internationally

      Hechinger Report | Q&A with Marc Tucker: Why we need a new reform agenda to compete internationally

      Q&A with Marc Tucker: Why we need a new reform agenda to compete internationally

      by Liz Willen

      Marc Tucker

      Why is the performance of students in other countries surpassing that of U.S. students? It’s a question thatMarc S. Tucker, president and CEO of the National Center on Education and the Economy in Washington, D.C., sought to answer at a symposium last month focused on education reforms in other countries, including Canada, China, Finland, Japan and Singapore. The report, “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: An American Agenda for Education Reform,” provides some scathing criticism of the U.S. for allowing other nations to catch up and then surpass America in K-12 education.

      After the symposium, I spoke with Tucker about what we can learn from his group’s findings. Below are excerpts of our conversation.

      The report indicates that countries outperforming the U.S. have developed strategies we have not. What are the key lessons about high performance we can take away from what is being done elsewhere?

      In one phrase, the key lesson is there are no shortcuts. If you look at the essence of what these other countries have done, they have made their funding systems equitable in that they have put more money behind the kids

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      Who is Jason Mancini and why isn't he registered as a Rhee lobbyist?

      Who is Jason Mancini and why isn't he registered as a Rhee lobbyist?

      Who is Jason Mancini and why isn't he registered as a Rhee lobbyist?

      by admin

      Jason Mancini is an MI House staffer who is acting as the defacto lobbyist for Rhee’s front group. Yet nowhere is he registered as her lobbyist.

      StudentsFirst’s only registered lobbyist in Michigan, according to the leaked internal document, is Sarah Lynn Hubbard, of the lobbying firm Acuitas. Hubbard’s husband, David Murley is on the advisory board of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State, Michigan State’s public policy school. Jason Mancini just happens to be receiving a scholarship from the very same policy school.

      MI ethics police, take note—this sounds like how Rhee operated as DCPS chancellor.

      You might remember Mancini from an article in last week’s DailyKos, where it was noted that a certain Republican house aide was helping Michelle Rhee’s front group pass union-busting legislation in Michigan:

      “Additionally, the document ends by thanking a Republican House aide:

      Also, if given the chance, you should thank Jason Mancini who literally ran every amendment by me before

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