Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top AM Posts

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top AM Posts

A Change Is Gonna Come #edrefom

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 2 hours ago

I was born by the river in a little tentOh and just like the river I've been running ever sinceIt's been a long, a long time comingBut I know a change gonna come, oh yes it willIt's been too hard living but I'm afraid to dieCause I don't know what's up there beyond the skyIt's been a long, a long time comingBut I know a change gonna come, oh yes it willI go to the movie and I go downtown ...more »

Blue Jersey:: The End Justifies the Means

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 2 hours ago

Blue Jersey:: The End Justifies the Means:The End Justifies the Meansby: deciminyanSat Oct 01, 2011 at 07:40:26 PM EDTAt least that was the position taken by one pro-voucher supporter at a debate today in Trenton sponsored by the Delaware Valley chapter of Americans United (AU) for Separation of Church and State.Keith Benson of "Save Our Children" argued that if state-funded Catholic schools perform better than public schools, the constitutional implications don't matter.Three advocates from the pro-voucher community were invited, although ... more »

Schools Matter: When Capricious Young says no experience required, she requires no experience

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 2 hours ago

Schools Matter: When Capricious Young says no experience required, she requires no experience:When Capricious Young says no experience required, she requires no experienceby Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene"We are told that this 'reform' alliance of everyone from Rupert Murdoch to the Walton family to leading hedge funders spends huge amounts of money pushing for radical changes to public schools because they suddenly decided that they care about destitute children, and now want to see all kids get a great education." ... more »

The United Federation of Teachers Supports #Occupy Wall Street | Seattle Education

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 2 hours ago

The United Federation of Teachers Supports #Occupy Wall Street | Seattle Education:The United Federation of Teachers Supports #Occupy Wall Streetby seattleducation2011Watching the live stream of young people getting arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge today protesting the crimes that have happened between Wall Street, the White House and the banks, all I can think is that those protestors are not the ones who should be arrested, it’s a whole lot of folks who represent “Wall Street” who should have been arrested ... more »

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Classroom Reflections on Week 4

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 2 hours ago

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Classroom Reflections on Week 4:Classroom Reflections on Week 4by alicemercerMy classroom is still a work in work in progress, but many of my practices have started to “gel” and routines are taking shape. I also have some tech stuff to share, but much of the progress will not be visible as it happened offline. This week saw the addition of a lab to science, art in social science, and more structured writing.Social Science ...more »

In Michigan the union mobilizes. In Illinois, they tell members to sit quietly. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 2 hours ago

In Michigan the union mobilizes. In Illinois, they tell members to sit quietly. « Fred Klonsky's blog:In Michigan the union mobilizes. In Illinois, they tell members to sit quietly.by Fred KlonskyIn Illinois, the IEA leadership tells its members not to mobilize against the pension killing bill.At the last state convention IEA delegates voted a huge amount of money tarted for a public relations campaign.

Peg with Pen: America's Got Talent? Not Under the Corporate Education Reform Model

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 2 hours ago

Peg with Pen: America's Got Talent? Not Under the Corporate Education Reform Model:America's Got Talent? Not Under the Corporate Education Reform Modelby PeggyThis past week I watched Education Nation. I continued to support action through our work at United Opt OutNational. I read articles about the supposed benefits of NCLB waivers. I received notices about legislation being written which dictates what public universities do and forces education schools to drink the corp. ed. Kool-Aid. In the midst of all of ... more »

Senators - VOTE NO on H.R. 2218 - Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools Act

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 2 hours ago

SignOn.org Beta:Sign this petition'Senators - VOTE NO on H.R. 2218 - Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools ActBy Susan DuFresne (Contact)To be delivered to: The United States SenateDear Senators: The recent passage of H.R. 2218, the Empowering Parents Through the Quality Charter Schools Act by the House of Representatives is equally troubling. The nation’s teachers are not alone in their condemnation of this potential federal mandate to implement Charter Schools in every state. The Association of School Administrators has also ... more »

Jersey Jazzman: All the Education Opinion That's Fit To Fail

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 2 hours ago

Jersey Jazzman: All the Education Opinion That's Fit To Fail:All the Education Opinion That's Fit To Failby DukeThe NY Times attempts education opining. Yeesh:To qualify for waivers, states will have to install new tests — and teacher evaluation systems that take those test results into account — by the 2014-15 school year. The 12 states that received federal grants in the Race to the Top program last year have a head start. They agreed to put in data-driven teacher evaluation ... more »

Does Lansing really want to improve public education, or do they have other motives? - theoaklandpress.com

GUEST OPINION: Does Lansing really want to improve public education, or do they have other motives? - theoaklandpress.com:

Does Lansing really want to improve public education, or do they have other motives?

Published: Friday, September 30, 2011

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By David F. Larson
Birmingham Public Schools superintendent

Governor Snyder and our legislators are engaged in another round of reform measures for public education. While inspecting these set of bills closely, one would wonder if their interests are genuinely intent on improving public education or if there are other ulterior interests and motives involved. Let’s take a close look at some of this new legislation.

Lifting the cap on Charter Schools — While touting the need to have fewer school districts in Michigan to save on operational dollars, the Governor is promoting more charter schools. These additional “little school districts”, that do not need to comply with regulations and guidelines as K-12 public schools, will drain dollars from an already depleted School Aid Fund. I would encourage the Governor to read the performance research on charter schools (Charter Schools – Not a Silver Bullet of Education Reform). The research is clear that charter schools generally underperform their public school counterparts, have little transparency and accountability for expenditure of public tax dollars, are more racially segregated and regularly turn away special needs students.

Open Schools of Choice — The fundamental institution in our great American democracy is our

LAUSD strives to establish rules as new universe grows around it - LA Daily News

LAUSD strives to establish rules as new universe grows around it - LA Daily News:

LAUSD strives to establish rules as new universe grows around it

By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer

Posted: 10/02/2011 01:00:00 AM PDT

The Los Angeles Unified School District is looking into policies for using social media such as Facebook.

Polytechnic High Principal Gerardo Loera is a big fan of social media, posting everything from football scores to schoolwide test results on Facebook and Twitter for students, parents and the world to see.

He even includes a live feed of his tweets, usually typed from his cellphone, on the school's website.

"It's just such a useful and immediate way to disseminate information to my school community in a very quick way," Loera said.

"In a few minutes one of my messages can reach thousands of people and if something I post gets retweeted ... well then Poly can be read about all over the country."

But not all uses of social media by teachers and administrators are seen in such a positive light. School

Diary of a Social Art-tivist Mommy: Welcome to Perry's World.....

Diary of a Social Art-tivist Mommy: Welcome to Perry's World.....:

Welcome to Perry's World.....

by ART-tivist Mommy

This morning in the Washington Post: At Rick Perry's Texas hunting Spot, Camp's Racially Charged Name Lingered

The Washington Post article begins, "In the early years of his political career, Rick Perry began hosting fellow lawmakers, friends and supporters at his family’s secluded West Texas hunting camp, a place known by the name painted in block letters across a large, flat rock standing

“No” does not mean “NO”, and I am snarky… « Cooperative Catalyst

“No” does not mean “NO”, and I am snarky… « Cooperative Catalyst:

“No” does not mean “NO”, and I am snarky…

by Brent Snavely

I was recently advised that “no” does not mean “NO”, and that I am “snarky”.

I re-learned the meaning of “no” through The Bartleby Project . I support the effort to “Just Say No” to the test and so I added my head to that project’s count. I even added my two cents-worth of thought… Oops!

Saying “No” is very well and good so long as one does not refuse to do the thing that first gave rise to the urge to say “No”. Apparently, one can only say “No” while “doing” “Yes”. Lesson learned – “No” means “NO” except when it means “maybe”, “sort of”, or “YES”.

On a social networking service, I found a page about “opting out” of high-stakes testing and thought that

solidaridad: Schools Matter: When Capricious Young says no experience required, she requires no experience

solidaridad: Schools Matter: When Capricious Young says no experience required, she requires no experience:

Schools Matter: When Capricious Young says no experience required, she requires no experience

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene

"We are told that this 'reform' alliance of everyone from Rupert Murdoch to the Walton family to leading hedge funders spends huge amounts of money pushing for radical changes to public schools because they suddenly decided that they care about destitute children, and now want to see all kids get a great education." — David Sirota


In Los Angeles, nobody has been more adept at stuffing public money into their pockets via charter-voucher sector windfalls than Caprice Young. Her early career showed a trajectory of opportunism and greed that would place her in ever more lucrative positions as time progressed.

In my new Schools Matter article When Capricious Young says no

Schools Matter: Duncan's Friday Afternoon News Dump: Test Scores to Make or Break Teacher Preparation Programs

Schools Matter: Duncan's Friday Afternoon News Dump: Test Scores to Make or Break Teacher Preparation Programs:

Duncan's Friday Afternoon News Dump: Test Scores to Make or Break Teacher Preparation Programs

by Jim Horn

It's hard to remember and appreciate that just 10 years ago, the NCLB testing madness had not yet begun. In most states, teachers taught and children learned in low stress environments where care was common and child advocacy and professional standards set the education agenda. Teachers did not normally have anxiety attacks on the way to school, and children almost never puked on their exams.

But that was before the testing madness started for real, first, with schools and children measured and punished with standardized tests, most of which were then and continue to be pure crap. And then it was to be the teachers who would be gauged, paid, and let go using those crap tests, soon to be purportedly improved with many more new crap tests required in more subjects and administered more often in more grades. And just last

SOUTH BRONX SCHOOL: Little Evan Stone The Puppet Master Of Jarell Lee

SOUTH BRONX SCHOOL: Little Evan Stone The Puppet Master Of Jarell Lee:

Little Evan Stone The Puppet Master Of Jarell Lee

by noreply@blogger.com (Bronx Teacher)

The summer I was 12 years old, back in 1976, I got incredibly into comic books at sleep away camp. When I returned from camp, my passion continued. The new comic books, which back then were only a quarter, came out every Saturday and Tuesday. I looked forward to these two days and the mile long walk I had to the local Big Top to pick up my comic books. In fact my passion for comic books exceeded, though temporarily, the one I had for New York Yankees. I vividly recall walking to Big Top during game 1 of the 1976 World Series vs the Reds. Look it up, game 1 was a Saturday. Unfortunately, when the comic books went up to 30 cents, my interest waned. No longer would I be able to buy 4 for a dollar.

I thought I would never again in my life will I anticipate any

Sport Stats and Teacher Stats | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Sport Stats and Teacher Stats | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Sport Stats and Teacher Stats

by larrycuban

“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that

counts can be counted.” Attributed to Albert Einstein

I just saw the film “Moneyball” which is about General Manager Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt) whose Oakland Athletics shocked the baseball world in 2002 by nearly beating the New York Yankees in the American League playoffs. Why “shocked?” Because Beane had a player payroll costing $41 million and the Yankees laid out $126 million yet both won 103 games that season.

According to the book of the same name published in 2003, Beane upended the conventional wisdom of evaluating players and fielded a team of under-rated athletes that won 20 straight games in the 2002 season (an American League record) before meeting the Yankees in the playoffs.

How did he do it? Among baseball insiders, the conventional wisdom was to evaluate players for their potential by making subjective judgments that included numbers. For pitchers their throwing speed, repertoire of pitches,

A Change Is Gonna Come #edrefom

I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh and just like the river I've been running ever since
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

It's been too hard living but I'm afraid to die
Cause I don't know what's up there beyond the sky
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

I go to the movie and I go downtown somebody keep telling me don't hang around
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

Then I go to my brother
And I say brother help me please
But he winds up knockin' me
Back down on my knees

Ohhhhhhhhh.....

There been times that I thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

Blue Jersey:: The End Justifies the Means

Blue Jersey:: The End Justifies the Means:

The End Justifies the Means by: deciminyan Sat Oct 01, 2011 at 07:40:26 PM EDT

At least that was the position taken by one pro-voucher supporter at a debate today in Trenton sponsored by the Delaware Valley chapter of Americans United (AU) for Separation of Church and State. Keith Benson of "Save Our Children" argued that if state-funded Catholic schools perform better than public schools, the constitutional implications don't matter. Three advocates from the pro-voucher community were invited, although one canceled at the last minute. Joining Mr. Benson was Carm Catanese, a retired business executive who now runs Citizens for Successful Schools in Princeton. On the side of public schools were John Bartram of AU, Ed Barocas of theACLU, and Dr. Walter Farrell, Jr. of UNC - Chapel Hill and the National Educational Policy Center I arrived at the debate predisposed against vouchers, and after I carefully listened to both sides, my position solidified.

deciminyan :: The End Justifies the Means

While the two sides had major differences, the debate was conducted

Schools Matter: When Capricious Young says no experience required, she requires no experience

Schools Matter: When Capricious Young says no experience required, she requires no experience:

When Capricious Young says no experience required, she requires no experience

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene

"We are told that this 'reform' alliance of everyone from Rupert Murdoch to the Walton family to leading hedge funders spends huge amounts of money pushing for radical changes to public schools because they suddenly decided that they care about destitute children, and now want to see all kids get a great education." — David Sirota

In Los Angeles, nobody has been more adept at stuffing public money into their pockets via charter-voucher sector windfalls than Caprice Young. Her early career showed a trajectory of opportunism and greed that would place her in ever more lucrative positions as time progressed.

As a young Coro Fellow she worked under Republican Mayor