Latest News and Comment from Education

Show All

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Big Education Ape: 7-7-11 PM Reforming the School Reformers EDition

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

Reforming the School Reformers - NYTimes.com

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Reforming the School Reformers - NYTimes.comNo, Seriously: No ExcusesPhoto Illustration by Ruud Van Empel/Stux GalleryBy PAUL TOUGHPublished: July 7, 2011RECOMMENDTWITTERCOMMENTS (7)E-MAILPRINTSING...

coopmike48

Daily Kos: Taxes and Billionaires and the rest of us

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Daily Kos: Taxes and Billionaires and the rest of usTaxes and Billionaires and the rest of usby rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)The larger question is this: Do we try to balance budget deficits just b...

coopmike48

Another question for the blogger. « Fred Klonsky's blog

preaprez.wordpress.com - A teacher writes: Do you think that with so many NEA members complaining about the endorsement to the fact that some have threatened to “quit” the union it gives ammo to those that are currently do...

fklonsky

Archives

Live Twitter stream on

@coopmike48/big-edu-ape-news-11

coopmike48 profile

coopmike48 Tax plan backers feel confident | EdNewsColorado - http://goo.gl/wJVwr41 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

coopmike48 profile

coopmike48 Owners of a Totowa test-prep company are indicted for fraud - NorthJersey.com - http://goo.gl/Sw1gW40 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

coopmike48 profile

coopmike48 Remainders: The excuses the “no excuses” crowd makes | GothamSchools - http://goo.gl/RoSkr30 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

coopmike48 profile

coopmike48 Fewer People Migrating North as Mexico Sees All Around Improvement - Hispanically Speaking News -http://goo.gl/TxrF930 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

EducationSee all

No, Seriously: No Excuses

nytimes.com - In the early days of the education-reform movement, a decade or so ago, you’d often hear from reformers a powerful rallying cry: “No excuses.” For too long, they said, poverty had been used as an e...

DianeRavitch

PoliticsSee all

Murdoch's new fixer, Joel Klein

schoolingintheownershipsociety.blogspot.com - Reforming the "reformers"MurdochKleinJohnny-come-lately school reform profiteer Rupert Murdoch has to deal with yet another scandal. It seems his people have been doing some phone hacking, bribing...

mikeklonsky

Art & EntertainmentSee all

It can only get bigger...

melaniephillips.com - Published in: Melanie's blog The astonishing News of the World scandal now has the capacity to engulf not just News International but the Cameron government, the Metropolitan Police and the British...

DianeRavitch

The Acheivement Gap - Jonathan Kozol

brownvboard.info - Early Education/Frederick Douglass, SkelcherPlessy v. Ferguson, SkelcherCharles Houston as Social Engineer, McNeilThe Margold Report, McNeilThe Margold Report/Graduate School Cases, GreenbergLawyer...

leoniehaimson

LivingSee all

HealthSee all

How Votetocracy works | Votetocracy

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - How Votetocracy works | VotetocracyHow Votetocracy worksIntroductionMany Americans realize the impact bills in Congress have on your lives. So you make an attempt to get informed and get involved. ...

coopmike48

BusinessSee all

Taxes and Billionaires

nytimes.com - The House speaker, John Boehner, suggests that the Republican threat of letting the United States default on its debts is driven by concern for jobs for ordinary Americans. “We cannot m...

DianeRavitch

#eduRead this paperSee all

Intervening in the Education Wars - Dana Goldstein

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Intervening in the Education Wars - Dana GoldsteinIntervening in the Education Warsby Dana GoldsteinPaul Tough has written one of the most sensible pieces about education reform I've read in a long...

coopmike48

#neara11See all

Wrapping up NEA's 2011 Convention - Teacher Beat

blogs.edweek.org - Well, readers, it was a wild ride: This year's National Education Association convention was full of twists and turns. We're happy that you were able to follow along with our coverage here at Educa...

coopmike48

Media1

  • mikeklonskymikeklonsky

Photos0

    Posted by at

    'No Child Left Behind' Reforms May Get Left Behind - BusinessWeek

    'No Child Left Behind' Reforms May Get Left Behind - BusinessWeek

    'No Child Left Behind' Reforms May Get Left Behind

    Politics and budget cuts endanger President Obama’s education reforms

    By John Hechinger and Kate Andersen Brower

    Liberty County School District in Florida is running out of time. The district’s $9 million budget has been axed by more than a third since the 2007-08 school year, as federal stimulus money dried up and a tourism dip hurt tax revenue. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, all three schools in the 1,300-student district are labeled as failing and could lose federal funding unless every student passes standardized math and reading tests by 2014. Superintendent Sue Summers says she has no more slack. “If they cut $100,000 from my budget, I’ll have to cut something big,” she says. “I won’t be able to open schools. I won’t be able to provide transportation, or I won’t be able to provide lunches.”

    When Barack Obama ran for President in 2008, he pledged to “fix” NCLB, the federal education act signed into law by George W. Bush in 2002 that aims to hold schools accountable for students’ academic performance. Congressional gridlock has halted his plans, leaving school districts across the nation in a state of uncertainty. At the same time, state budget cuts threaten to undermine districts’ efforts to carry out the rest of Obama’s education reforms. “These are blue times, sad times,” says Jack Jennings, a

    Posted by at

    Reforming the School Reformers - NYTimes.com

    Reforming the School Reformers - NYTimes.com

    No, Seriously: No Excuses

    Photo Illustration by Ruud Van Empel/Stux Gallery
    By PAUL TOUGH
    Published: July 7, 2011

    In the early days of the education-reform movement, a decade or so ago, you’d often hear from reformers a powerful rallying cry: “No excuses.” For too long, they said, poverty had been used as an excuse by complacent educators and bureaucrats who refused to believe that poor students could achieve at high levels. Reform-minded school leaders took the opposite approach, insisting that students in the South Bronx should be held to the same standards as kids in Scarsdale. Amazingly enough, those high expectations often paid off, producing test results at some low-income urban schools that would impress parents in any affluent suburb.

    Readers' Comments

    Share your thoughts.

    Ten years later, you might think that reformers would be feeling triumphant. Spurred in part by the Obama administration’s Race to the Top initiative, many states have passed laws reformers have long advocated: allowing for more charter schools, weakening teachers’ tenure protections, compensating teachers in part based on their

    Posted by at

    NYC Public School Parents: letter from AM Glick to Chancellor Walcott re school overcrowding

    NYC Public School Parents: letter from AM Glick to Chancellor Walcott re school overcrowding

    letter from AM Glick to Chancellor Walcott re school overcrowding

    by Leonie Haimson
    Why couldn't she run the DOE? We can always dream....
    Dear Chancellor Walcott,
    The Department of Education has indicated in numerous meetings that a rezoning of District 2 will occur in the near future. Before any conversations on such a topic can begin, I would like to formally express my underlying concern that any type of rezoning will not be sufficient to alleviate the need for more school seats in District 2. Furthermore, I am concerned that the pedagogical leanings of the Department of Education, which de-emphasize the importance of teacher student ratios, will impact any proposed rezonings in a way that parents in my community find unacceptable. Inadequate capacity, more than anything else, is the issue facing schools in District 2. If a dinner party is held for twenty-nine people but there are only twenty available chairs, switching the seating arrangement does not solve the problem.
    My office has long been a proponent for smaller class sizes for New York City Public
    Posted by at

    Shocking details of Atlanta cheating scandal - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

    Shocking details of Atlanta cheating scandal - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

    Shocking details of Atlanta cheating scandal

    by Valerie Strauss

    It’s one thing to say there was widespread cheating on standardized tests in Atlanta public schools, as the newly released results of a state investigation showed. It’s another thing to actually read the volunimous report. The details are shocking.

    For those who haven’t been paying attention, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) on Tuesday released the results of a 10-month state investigation he had ordered into suspicions of cheating on state standardized Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (or CRCT) in the Atlanta School System.

    Read full article >>
    Posted by at

    Intervening in the Education Wars - Dana Goldstein

    Intervening in the Education Wars - Dana Goldstein

    Intervening in the Education Wars

    by Dana Goldstein

    Paul Tough has written one of the most sensible pieces about education reform I've read in a long while, an intervention into the debate between Diane Ravitch and her critics, like Jonathan Alter and David Brooks, who claim she misuses statistics.

    ...a more productive response would be to recommit to the principle that 15 (or 17) percent proficiency just isn’t good enough, no matter where you live. To acknowledge this fact is not to say that reform is doomed; it is not blaming students or insulting teachers. It is merely reminding ourselves that the 83 percent of 11th-grade students at Urban Prep who didn’t pass the state exam, and the 85 percent of 9th-grade students at Bruce Randolph who didn’t pass the state writing test, deserve better.

    So why are some reformers resorting to excuses­? Most likely for the same reason that urban educators from an earlier generation made excuses: successfully educating large numbers of low-income kids is very, very hard. But it is not impossible, as reformers have repeatedly demonstrated on a small scale. To achieve

    Posted by at

    Scott Walker’s Education Budget “Success” is Lie after Lie after Lie « Larry Miller's Blog

    Scott Walker’s Education Budget “Success” is Lie after Lie after Lie « Larry Miller's Blog

    Scott Walker’s Education Budget “Success” is Lie after Lie after Lie

    by millerlf

    Scott Walker’s bogus `mission accomplished’ moment – Greg Sargent, Washington Post

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/scott-walkers-bogus-mission-accomplished-moment/2011/03/03/gIQA3wit0H_blog.html

    “What’s more, the use of this one district to declare Walker’s policies a success is almost comical in its cherry-picking. There are 424 school districts in Wisconsin, and as the AP recently noted, Walker’s policies mean draconian budget cuts to 410 of them, with labor officials and school districts predicting increased class sizes and layoffs.”

    Kaukauna’s literally unbelievable budget miracle -

    http://jakehasablog.blogspot.com/2011/07/kaukaunas-literally-unbelievable-budget.html

    “And for all the talk about “Kaukauna class sizes going down,” even Kaukauna School Board President Todd Arnoldussen admits it’s projected class sizes being reduced, and those are reductions from huge INCREASES THAT

    Posted by at

    Stand for Children’s Jonah Edelman explains how they out foxed Illinois teacher union leadership. « Fred Klonsky's blog

    Stand for Children’s Jonah Edelman explains how they out foxed Illinois teacher union leadership. « Fred Klonsky's blog

    Stand for Children’s Jonah Edelman explains how they out foxed Illinois teacher union leadership.

    by Fred Klonsky

    This is an amazing video from the Aspen Ideas Festival in which Stand For Children’s Jonah Edelman explains how he, with the support of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Arne Duncan’s senior advisor Jo Anderson (former Executive Director of the IEA) out foxed the CTU, the IFT and the IEA’s Ken Swanson and Audrey Soglin into agreeing to Senate Bill 7.

    The video is an hour-long and the sound isn’t great. But it is worth the effort to listen to how teachers got screwed by their leadership’s incompetence and connivence.

    Posted by at

    New Teacher Evaluation Systems are not Trustworthy Without Better Assessments « Outside the Cave

    New Teacher Evaluation Systems are not Trustworthy Without Better Assessments « Outside the Cave

    New Teacher Evaluation Systems are not Trustworthy Without Better Assessments

    by Stephen Lazar

    It seems that the biggest issue these days in education “reform” is the attempt to change how teachers are evaluated. Locally in New York, the state legislature passed a new evaluation system last year and the Board of Regents more recently released their guidelines for the implementation of that law, though much of the details remain to be negotiated between local districts and unions. Nationally, the Gates-funded Measure of Effective Teaching Project is starting to share some conclusions from the first two years of their study, and a recent reportfrom the Center for Teaching Quality’s New Millenium Initiative by a group of Denver teachers has garnered some positive attention in the blogosphere from Renee Moore, Ariel Sachs, Dan Brown, and others.

    Like nearly all issues in education, this one is complex. I have gotten to see just how complex it is from two vantage points within the NYC discourse: I have been working for the past semester to support the social studies teachers in NYC’s transformation schools who were subject to the pilot of new assessments that are to be part of the new teacher evaluation system. I am also on the UFT negotiating committee for the new system. Unfortunately, I am under non-disclosure obligations for both sides, and can’t yet write

    Posted by at

    Guest Post: Rhee inflated graduation rates by lowering standards through her ''Credit Recovery'' program; thousands affected

    Guest Post: Rhee inflated graduation rates by lowering standards through her ''Credit Recovery'' program; thousands affected

    Guest Post: Rhee inflated graduation rates by lowering standards through her ''Credit Recovery'' program; thousands affected

    by admin

    “One of the ways Michelle Rhee attempted to boost graduation rates was by creating after-school courses called “Credit Recovery” in every high school and by massive expansion of summer school”, according to Erich Martel, a social studies teacher in the District of Columbia public schools. CR is a program of after school courses for high school students who have failed the same classes during the regular school day. It enables these pupils to receive credit towards graduation; but the “recovery” courses have distinctly lower standards than the standard kind. As a result, any increase in graduation numbers through these means many well yield a false impression of improved student learning.

    Martel notes, “ loopholes Rhee created by allowing thousands (yes, 1000’s) of DC public high school students to get easy graduation credits in little-or-no-work, show-up-sometimes after-school and summer school courses that mimicked day school courses.”

    See Erich’s entire post at EdExcellence.net, or by clicking the “more” tab in the right-hand corner of this post.

    Ed. Secretary Duncan ''stunned'' by cheating scandal

    by admin
    Duncan “stunned” . When asked about the pervasiveness of cheating in other cities, like Baltimore and Washington, he dodges the issue. Still not investigating Rhee’s ErasureGate. Read Duncan’s letter here.
    Posted by at

    How Votetocracy works | Votetocracy

    How Votetocracy works | Votetocracy

    How Votetocracy works

    Introduction

    Many Americans realize the impact bills in Congress have on your lives. So you make an attempt to get informed and get involved. Doing so has traditional meant sending a message to your representatives. Votetocracy is different. Different because we add an important layer - Measurement. Or goal is to quantify your efforts so everyone can see and benefit from the messages sent to Congress. We accomplish this by tallying the results of your efforts and efforts by fellow Americans so there is a public view of collective sentiment.

    Below the Infographic you'll find a textual description of the following:

    You and your Congressional Representatives
    Finding Bills or Issues that you care about
    Voting on Bills - but educate yourself first
    Sending your votes to Congress
    Comparing yourself to your representatives - Measuring Outcomes and Effectiveness
    Staying involved
    Is Votetocracy Neutral?
    Have ideas to improve Votetocracy?

    You and your Congressional Representatives

    Every American has representatives in Congress. The first thing we do is lookup your reps using your address. Once found, your experience on Votetocracy is tailored to you and your reps. For example - you will see how you compare to your reps on every bill.

    Finding Bills or Issues that you care about

    A session of Congress can have over ten thousand bills. We made it easy to find ones you care about. Bills are organized in categories and topics such as health and abortion. We also provide ways to view current or active bills by filtering on their status (ie: In the House or On the President's desk).

    Find bills by Category and topic - Such as Health/Abortion or War and Military/Gun Rights

    Find bills status - Introduced, In the House, In the Senate, To President, Became Law

    Find bills by Agreement - Find bills that Americans and Congress agree on or disagree on

    Posted by at

    Chicago parking meters funding charter school « Parents Across America

    Chicago parking meters funding charter school « Parents Across America

    I’ve hated those &#@% Chicago parking meters ever since Mayor Daley privatized them and I got a $50 ticket on Mothers’ Day 2010. It was right after the new system was installed across the street from my church (no signs up – and the hours for the meter were changed over the weekend).

    So, now I read that Chicago Parking Meters –the company that Mayor Daley sold us out to — recently gave a $10,000 gift to a charter high school.

    That’s not quite as bad as when the ComEd/Exelon CEOs built themselves a charter school which they named after themselves. The (John “Exelon”) Rowe- (Frank “ComEd”) Clark Math and Science Academy started off with a sweet $4.2 million donation from the

    Posted by at
    Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)