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Friday, July 1, 2011

Big Education Ape: 7-1-11 AM Shame on you!” —-> US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan Edition

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now
Big Education Ape: Ed News Now
Published by Coopmike48 – 7 contributors today

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nypost.com - Mayor Bloomberg has helped land a job for a state senator who lost his re-election bid last year after coming out in support of charter schools -- a post at Bloomberg LP. Craig Johnson told friends...

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Diane Ravitch on the Teaching Profession

educationnation.com - Diane Ravitch is an education historian, a Brookings fellow, and a member of the faculty of New York University. She’s also a former drag car racer and something of an education rock star (how many...

DianeRavitch

Shame on you!” —-> US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Shame on you!” —-> US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan labeled Detroit “ground zero” in education reform by video conference.” great article by Detroit attorney Tom Stephens « Continuing ChangeSh...

coopmike48

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coopmike48 Turning and turning — Joanne Jacobs - http://goo.gl/cuNm67 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 Some CPS parents want teachers’ kids to get a leg up getting into magnet schools - Chicago Sun-Times -http://goo.gl/NLMxG8 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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Commuting to the NEA RA. « Fred Klonsky's blog

preaprez.wordpress.com - It’s a Windy City RA. Although there will not be much wind tomorrow as the temperature threatens to hit triple digits. Outside McCormick Place. Inside it might get hotter. Merit pay, teacher perfor...

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Shared Sacrifice: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont)

sanders.senate.gov - Dear Mr. President, This is a pivotal moment in the history of our country. Decisions are being made about the national budget that will impact the lives of virtually every American for decades to ...

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This is a stick-up. Your pension or your job.

michaelklonsky.blogspot.com - Mugging in MilwaukeeSupt. Thornton just fired 519 city teachers. Now he is threatening massive lay-offs unless the 5,600 members of the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association would agree to pay ...

mikeklonsky

This is a stick-up. Your pension or your job.

michaelklonsky.blogspot.com - Mugging in MilwaukeeSupt. Thornton just fired 519 city teachers. Now he is threatening massive lay-offs unless the 5,600 members of the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association would agree to pay ...

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'No On SB 5': How we got 1.3 million signatures

my.firedoglake.com - One at a time, that’s how. I know that’s a flippant way to put it, but all the big picture stuff risks losing sight of the most important thing of all: This happened because passionately committed ...

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ART ON THE BORDER Do You Know English? Ron English?

hispanicallyspeakingnews.com - Published at 3:06 pm, June 30, 2011 Photo Credits: Ron English's Border Art Ron English says he “liberates” the surfaces he does art on. Has the U.S.-Mexico border been liberated, then?Ron English ...

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California Supreme Court rules in overtime case

latimesblogs.latimes.com - The California Supreme Court decided unanimously Thursday that out-of-state residents who work for California-based companies are protected by the state's overtime laws during business trips here. ...

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Commuting to the NEA RA. « Fred Klonsky's blog

preaprez.wordpress.com - It’s a Windy City RA. Although there will not be much wind tomorrow as the temperature threatens to hit triple digits. Outside McCormick Place. Inside it might get hotter. Merit pay, teacher perfor...

fklonsky

This is a stick-up. Your pension or your job.

michaelklonsky.blogspot.com - Mugging in MilwaukeeSupt. Thornton just fired 519 city teachers. Now he is threatening massive lay-offs unless the 5,600 members of the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association would agree to pay ...

fklonsky

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      Finding Our True Center | ED.gov Blog

      Finding Our True Center | ED.gov Blog

      Finding Our True Center

      Posted on July 1, 2011 by Arne Duncan

      Ed. note: Secretary Duncan penned the following letter for a Virtual Conference that will take place during July. During the conference, participants will discuss the question, “What is the center of the classroom?”

      The center of a classroom is not a test, a textbook, or the posters on the wall. It’s not a state or district policy, and it most certainly is not a federal law.

      The heart of the classroom is found in the unique relationships between students and teachers. In the same way that a family turns a house into a home, a physical and emotional transformation takes place when teachers and students work together in community to reach common goals. We see it in the trust, the expectations, the experiences and the knowledge of every person in the class.

      Founder of Communities in Schools, Bill Milliken often says, “Programs don’t change people, relationships do.” That is why it is so important that our classrooms be filled with great teachers who have high expectations, content knowledge, sound pedagogy and the ability to connect with and motivate students. A teacher full of fervor, who is able to inspire and connect with her students and build a community of learners, forms this center.

      Government cannot create these relationships, but what federal, state, district, and school leaders can do is create conditions that nurture and grow the talents of our teachers. Teachers need leaders who will provide them with authentic evaluations based on multiple measures, including reliable student achievement data. They need to be supported by meaningful professional learning opportunities that help them to grow and engage collaboratively to address their unique challenges. Teachers need avenues to connect with families and community partners. And they need us to respect them as professionals, pay them fairly for a job well done, and offer leadership paths that do not always force them to leave the classroom.

      We must treat our teachers well. They are the force that forges the meaningful connections that are at the heart of every great classroom. Without teachers, the center cannot hold.

      Arne Duncan is the U.S. Secretary of Education

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      Facilitator News for July 2011 - Arlington, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post

      Facilitator News for July 2011 - Arlington, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post

      Looking Ahead

      Facilitator News for July 2011

      Good first Friday morning in July!


      It is now officially my one year anniversary of working as your Director of Constituent Services for ASCD. From when I first came on the job, much discussion and work has gone on internally about transforming our organization as a reflection of the changes in how the world learns, works and communicates. Over the months I have been sharing with you ideas, examples and resources that illustrate the challenges and opportunities this transformative work affords us.


      One initiative I have been referencing to you is the affiliate transformation process, which rolled out last August and is now in full implementation mode. Affiliates are being challenged to rethink how they align with ASCD, how they serve their membership, and how they define their successes. Key challenges affiliates have in common with professional interest communities are declining memberships, changing educator expectations and the push to

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      Brown vetoes teacher database | Thoughts on Public Education

      Brown vetoes teacher database | Thoughts on Public Education

      Brown vetoes teacher database - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

      by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess
      In a compromise with the Legislature, Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed money for one of two education databases he wanted to eliminate. Cutting about $2.5 million in federal funds for CALTIDES, a statewide data system that would have compiled information on teacher training, placement, and effectiveness, was among $24 million in cuts that the governor made [...]

      Brown signs trailer bill over objections - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

      by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess
      Gov. Jerry Brown last night signed an education trailer bill that critics say will limit school districts’ ability to accomplish what Brown said they should do: “take all reasonable steps to balance their budgets and maintain a positive cash flow.” Brown signed AB 114, a 100-page trailer bill, despite a call by the California School Boards [...]
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      Analysis challenges Jeb Bush’s ‘Florida Formula’ for ed reform - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

      Analysis challenges Jeb Bush’s ‘Florida Formula’ for ed reform - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

      Analysis challenges Jeb Bush’s ‘Florida Formula’ for ed reform

      by Valerie Strauss

      The series of school reforms that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is promoting — and being applauded — in states around the country as a formula for raising student achievement around the country was not actually successful, according to a new analysis.

      The review was conducted by William Mathis, managing director of the nonprofit National Education Policy Institute at the University of Colorado at Boulder School of Education, and looks at a presentation Bush made to Michigan legislators on June 15.

      Though Bush hasn’t been governor of Florida since 2007, what he says about school reform today matters. He has become a guru to a number of governors across the country who see the program he launched in 1999 — and kept promoting through his two foundations after he left the governorship — as the right path to school reform. The mission of his Foundation for Excellence in Education is to support reform in other states “primarily based on the success of the Florida Formula on Student Achievement.”

      Read full article >>

      What accounts for PG’s unusual test scores?

      by Valerie Strauss

      The release this week of 2011 Maryland State Assessments revealed this detail:

      The pass rate in math for seventh-grade students jumped six points to 60 percent. But for eighth-graders, the pass rate increased by three points to 44 percent, which remains far below the state average.

      What happened?

      Read full article >>
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      Many Opinions Voiced on NEA's Evaluation Proposal - Teacher Beat - #NEARA11

      Many Opinions Voiced on NEA's Evaluation Proposal - Teacher Beat - Education Week

      Many Opinions Voiced on NEA's Evaluation Proposal

      by Stephen Sawchuk

      Delegates offered a variety of opinions on the National Education Association's teacher-evaluation policy statement at an informal "open hearing" this afternoon in Chicago, with many, though certainly not all, praising it as an important move for the union.

      "This is a great step forward in defining what it means to be a great educator, a standard we can start to work toward," said Frank Laurinec, a Michigan delegate: "We have a chance in these times to act, or be acted upon."

      The generally favorable reaction can probably be partly explained by a small but significant addition that the union's board of directors made to the proposal. It notes that all tests must be scientifically validated for judging both students and teachers if they're to be included in teacher evaluations.

      In reviewing the proposal at the hearing, NEA Secretary-Treasurer Becky Pringle made it exceedingly clear that the union feels that few if any tests currently in operation meet those requirements.

      "There are not many of you who know much about high-quality standardized tests," she said, earning chuckles

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      NYC Educator: Canards Ahoy

      NYC Educator: Canards Ahoy

      Canards Ahoy

      by NYC Educator
      Matthew Yglesias wonders whether we're all home run hitters. Some say those who hit more home runs are more valuable, and should get more money, simple as that. Only it's not home runs he's focusing on--it's test scores.

      For years I've listened to people making such comparisons. They'd fire you in the NFL if you didn't score touchdowns, or whatever guys in the NFL do, so why shouldn't they fire teachers? Oddly, though, the NFL never had to recruit via subway ads, or pay people to take courses, or run various 6-week courses showing you how to be a football player. For most of my career, in fact, the low-paying Board of Education was unable to find enough people to actually do the job. And it wasn't, despite popular sentiment, because the job was too easy.

      Now, of course, things are different. The economy is in the crapper and our job looks so attractive that virtually every day hedge fund managers, horrified there is still a middle class,
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      Obama & Schooling: Two Fact Patterns :: Frederick M. Hess

      Obama & Schooling: Two Fact Patterns :: Frederick M. Hess

      Obama & Schooling: Two Fact Patterns

      by Frederick M. Hess • Jul 1, 2011 at 7:38 am
      Cross-posted from Education Week

      In recent weeks, some observers have repeatedly indicated surprise at big developments in edu-politics that should not have been surprising. Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott withdrew from CCSSO. Sec. Duncan's chest-thumping talk on conditional NCLB waivers provoked backlash in the commentariat and a smackdown by House Education Chair John Kline. Idaho told ED it's going to ignore elements of NCLB, basically asking, "What are you going to do about it, huh?" Despite Duncan's gambits and threats, even the most reality-resistant now acknowledge that NCLB/ESEA reauth is going nowhere until 2013. GOP front-runner Mitt Romney, at a New Hampshire town hall, offered up a convoluted blast at the Obama administration for trying to direct school curricula from Washington. Tea Party groups and Grover Norquist have expressed concerns about the Common Core.

      All of these developments should've been largely predictable, but each has been accompanied by head-

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      Shanker Blog » Remembering Elena Bonner; Honoring Andrei Sakharov

      Shanker Blog » Remembering Elena Bonner; Honoring Andrei Sakharov

      Remembering Elena Bonner; Honoring Andrei Sakharov

      by Arch Puddington

      Our guest author today is Arch Puddington, director of research at Freedom House.

      Two years ago, Elena Bonner, frail in body but not in mind or spirit, had this to say about conditions in Russia:

      The West isn’t very interested in Russia….There are no real elections there, no independent courts, and no freedom of the press. Russia is a country where journalists, human rights activists and migrants are killed regularly, almost daily. And extreme corruption flourishes of a kind and extent that never existed earlier in Russia or anywhere else. So what do the Western mass media discuss mainly? Gas and oil — of which Russia has a lot. Energy is its only political trump card, and Russia uses it as an instrument of pressure and blackmail. And there’s another topic that never disappears from the newspapers — who rules Russia? Putin or Medvedev? But what difference does it make, if Russia has completely lost the impulse for democratic development that we thought we saw in the early 1990s.

      Here, in a few sentences of remarkable insight, Bonner, who died recently, neatly summarized much of Russian reality today.

      The bogus elections, rigged judicial processes, pervasive graft, use of the energy weapon, the interminable,

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      Schools Matter: Please sir, more tests! Feds now want to test pre-K children

      Schools Matter: Please sir, more tests! Feds now want to test pre-K children

      Please sir, more tests! Feds now want to test pre-K children

      by skrashen

      The US Department of Education is planning the most massive and expensive testing program ever seen on the planet, far exceeding the already unacceptable level of testing demanded by NCLB. The feds are adding interim tests, possible pretests (to measure improvement), are encouraging testing in all subjects, and now

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      School Tech Connect: Whittier Parents Standing Strong

      School Tech Connect: Whittier Parents Standing Strong

      Whittier Parents Standing Strong

      by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)
      I dropped by Whittier Dual Language Community School today just to see what was going on. The Tribunerecently ran a hack job trying to make the Whittier parents look like shape-shifting simpletons, infiltrated by communists. It's the kind of article that makes me even more suspicious about what's happening down in Pilsen. When the Trib runs a piece that has someone from UNO gunning against a community school, you know there's a real estate deal somewhere in the works.

      In case you've been out of the mix, here's what's going on. Whittier School is a dual language community school that doesn't have an official library, like a lot of other Chicago schools. It does have a fieldhouse, and inside the fieldhouse, there's a makeshift library, supplied entirely by donations and supervised by volunteers. There's no library program per se. The fieldhouse is called La Casita, and it's also a space used by the community-- it's all part of the soon-to-be-extinct vision of a public school being the anchor of local communities. This is an
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      Daily Kos: Not that it matters, but

      Daily Kos: Not that it matters, but

      Not that it matters, but

      by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

      this is my 2001st diary at daily kos. The statistics will show it as 1999, but I deleted 2.

      It has been an interesting 7+ years. I posted my first diary in January of 2004.

      I first came to the site in November of 2003, when I was in NH to help advance an event for Howard Dean, and someone showed me the site. I did not register until mid-December. Then at one point someone suggested that I turn a comment I had posted into a diary. I was so dense I did not realize I could post diaries of my own. Go figure.

      Some of what I posted was a waste of time and pixels, but by and large I am satistified with the body of my work

      Eugene Robinson questions our use of drone strikes

      by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

      in a Washington Post column titled Assassination by robot: Are we justified?. It is a column well worth reading, and its first paragraph puts the case bluntly:

      The skies over at least six countries are patrolled by robotic aircraft, operated by the U.S. military or the CIA, that fire missiles to carry out targeted assassinations. I am convinced that this method of waging war is cost-effective but not that it is moral.

      Robinson quotes John Brennan, Obama's counterterrorism advisor, as describing the drone strikes as "surgical,"

      Posted by at

      Parent Pushback on Homework: But Not in Big Cities or from Tiger Moms | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

      Parent Pushback on Homework: But Not in Big Cities or from Tiger Moms | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

      Parent Pushback on Homework: But Not in Big Cities or from Tiger Moms

      by larrycuban
      Soap bubbles

      Image via Wikipedia

      Surely, media stories on Moms organizing to get school boards to reduce homework nightly and on weekends to give parents and children time to watch soap bubbles float by suggest a backlash to the exponential growth in tests and NCLB strictures. Two-thirds of elementary school children and 75 percent of secondary school students report doing homework daily. For the youngest children (ages 6-8), homework increased from 52 minutes weekly in 1981 to 128 minutes a week in 1997 (REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH-2006-Cooper, p. 2)

      Just don’t expect Tiger Moms–shorthand for immigrant and first-generation parents who see school and college credentials as must-have passports to the middle class–and big city parents to join any placard-bearing protests

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      Thursday, June 30, 2011

      Save Our Schools March @ the Capitol | The Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education

      Save Our Schools March @ the Capitol | The Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education

      Save Our Schools March @ the Capitol

      by admin
      Date:
      Saturday, July 30, 2011 - 11:00am - 3:00pm

      Save Our Schools March & National Call to ActionCA Rally & March
      Saturday, July 30, 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM

      Join other Californians on the Capitol steps to support public education. Sponsored by California supporters of the Save Our Schools March & National Call to Action and the Student CTA.

      California State Capitol Building
      1315 10th Street
      Sacramento, CA

      The Save Our Schools March is being held in response to recent destructive “reform” efforts which have undermined our public educational system, demoralized teachers, and reduced the education of too many of our children to nothing more than test preparation.

      Something must be done – and it must be done now!

      The Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action is calling on Americans everywhere to demand:

        * Equitable funding for all public school communities
        * An end to high stakes testing for student, teacher, and school evaluation
        * Curriculum developed for and by local school communities
        * Teacher and community leadership in forming public education policies


      Guiding Principles

      For the future of our children, we demand:

      Equitable funding for all public school communities
        * Equitable funding across all public schools and school systems
        * Full public funding of family and community support services
        * Full funding for 21st century school and neighborhood libraries
        * An end to economically and racially re-segregated schools

      An end to high stakes testing used for the purpose of student, teacher, and school evaluation
        * The use of multiple and varied assessments to evaluate students, teachers, and schools
        * An end to pay per test performance for teachers and administrators
        * An end to public school closures based upon test performance

      Teacher, family and community leadership in forming public education policies
        * Educator and civic community leadership in drafting new ESEA legislation
        * Federal support for local school programs free of punitive and competitive funding
        * An end to political and corporate control of curriculum, instruction and assessment decisions for teachers and administrators

      Curriculum developed for and by local school communities
        * Support for teacher and student access to a wide-range of instructional programs and technologies
        * Well-rounded education that develops every student’s intellectual, creative, and physical potential
        * Opportunities for multicultural/multilingual curriculum for all students
        * Small class sizes that foster caring, democratic learning communities

      More info: http://www.saveourschoolsmarch.org/
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      solidaridad: Alicia Brossy de Dios Reports Back from First Save Clay MS Community Meeting

      solidaridad: Alicia Brossy de Dios Reports Back from First Save Clay MS Community Meeting

      Alicia Brossy de Dios Reports Back from First Save Clay MS Community Meeting

      by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene
      "Any vote for Green Dot is a vote for deform... You are playing with the lives of children — not cars, not bicycles." — The Honorable Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte (LAUSD District 1)

      DO NOT DESTROY HENRY CLAY MIDDLE SCHOOL
      Hello, everyone!

      Yesterday I attended a great meeting regarding Clay Middle School and LAUSD's give away of Clay to Green Dot Charter. Congresswoman Maxine Waters was there to listen to concerns surrounding the give away. She said she agreed to this meeting because she had received so many phone calls from concerned parents and teachers who felt like their voices were not being heard by LAUSD.

      Parents and teachers talked about intimidation and harassment (some regarding Clay MS, some regarding other schools and Public School Choice). They talked about being disrespected and misinformed (or not informed at all) by LAUSD. Teachers at Clay were given flyers to hand out to their students regarding the change from public school to a Charter run by Green Dot. Parents never received
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