Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Early Evening Posts #ows #edreform

Thanksgiving | Seattle Education #ows

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 minutes ago

Thanksgiving | Seattle Education:Thanksgivingby seattleducation2011This Thanksgiving, Occupy Wall Street celebrated unity and community with an open feast at Liberty Square. All members of the community broke bread together.Thanksgiving day for me is a time of reflection. I have much to be grateful for, my health and that of my daughter’s, the opportunities afforded to me to write and a very special and unexpected treasure that when I began creating this blog never occurred to me would happen, getting to know ... more »

The Harvest – The story of the children who feed America | Being Latino Online Magazine

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The Harvest – The story of the children who feed America | Being Latino Online Magazine:The Harvest – The story of the children who feed Americaby Eileen Rivera de la Hozby Eileen Rivera“Every time you eat a salad, every time you eat a vegetable, you have to realize that this might have been picked by a child.” – Eva Longoria“In some countries, children work fourteen hours a day, seven days a week. In some countries, children twelve and younger pick ... more »

Student Activists Deserve Our Thanks | California Progress Report

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Student Activists Deserve Our Thanks | California Progress Report:Student Activists Deserve Our Thanksby meganBy Randy Shaw These are not the best of times to be a college student in the United States. Spiraling tuition costs, huge post-graduation debt, and a shrinking job market could understandably demoralize an entire generation. But recent events demonstrate that college students are responding to the tough economic times not by giving up, but rather by redoubling efforts to create a more just society. In fact, ... more »

NYC Educator: Generosity: A Post for Thanksgiving

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NYC Educator: Generosity: A Post for Thanksgiving:Generosity: A Post for Thanksgivingby Miss EyreThe scene: Miss Eyre's tenth-grade English class. After reading nonfiction pieces about responses to tragedies, a small group is discussing the topic of generosity.STUDENT 1: I am generous. If any of y'all got kicked out of your house, I would let you sleep on my couch.STUDENT 2: Your couch? Why not your bed?STUDENT 1: Ewwww! You nasty.STUDENT 2: Then why don't

Movement for Justice in El Barrio | OccupyWallSt.org #ows

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 minutes ago

Movement for Justice in El Barrio | OccupyWallSt.org:Movement for Justice in El Barrioby OccupyWallStUNANIMOUSLY ENDORSED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF OCCUPY WALL ST., THE PEOPLE OF COLOR CAUCUS (POCCUPY), WOMEN OCCUPYING WALL ST., QUEERING OWS, IMMIGRANT/WORKERS WORKING GROUP, OUTREACH WORKING GROUP, SPANISH WORKING GROUP (OWS en Español), THE ANTI-RACISM ALLIES GROUP, ARTS CULTURE WORKING GROUP, EMPOWERMENT AND COMMUNITY WORKING GROUP.Movement for Justice in El Barrio“Liberty is like the morning. There are those who sleep and wait for it to arrive, ... more »

Save Seattle Schools Community Blog: Advanced Learning Task Force

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Save Seattle Schools Community Blog: Advanced Learning Task Force:Advanced Learning Task Forceby Charlie MasThe new Advanced Learning Task Force (or Steering Committee or Advisory Committee or whatever) has had its first meeting. It's kind of a mess.I'm on the committee. So is Melissa. So are Dr. Vaughan and Dr. Thompson. There are principals, central staff, teachers and community members. The committee is too big for any real discussion. It will be almost impossible for it to reach any authentic consensus. ... more »

Here comes the neighborhood - Bites - Opinions - November 24, 2011 - Sacramento News & Review

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Here comes the neighborhood - Bites - Opinions - November 24, 2011 - Sacramento News Review:Here comes the neighborhoodBy Cosmo Garvin cosmog@newsreview.comThis article was published on 11.24.11.This past spring, the Sacramento City Unified School District changed its logo. The familiar red apple will be replaced with a green apple—to remind everyone that the district is “going green.” At least, it will be as soon as the old stationary runs out. It’s a small gesture, but an important one.A bigger and ... more »

Duncan to State: No way on Race to the Top | Thoughts on Public Education

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Duncan to State: No way on Race to the Top | Thoughts on Public Education:Duncan to State: No way on Race to the Top - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guessby John Fensterwald - Educated Guess(TOP-Ed writer Kathy Baron co-wrote this post.) In another cockfight between California and Washington over education, the U.S. Department of Education has rejected California’s application – and only California’s application – in the third round of Race to the Top. The denial exasperated the seven ... more »

Moving At School: Making It Happen « Whole Child Education

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The Whole Child Blog « Whole Child Education:THE WHOLE CHILD BLOGMoving At School: Making It HappenNovember 23rd, 2011 by ASCD Whole Child BloggersPost submitted by Nora L. Howley, manager of Programs at the National Education Association Health Information Network (NEA HIN). She believes that a great public school is one where students and staff are healthy and safe, and she’s gratified that her job allows her to help make healthier, safer schools a reality. Howley is a former preschool teacher ... more »

Left Agents of the 1% | Dissident Voice

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Left Agents of the 1% | Dissident Voice:Left Agents of the 1%by Frank Scott / November 23rd, 2011As the Occupy Wall Street movement spread across the nation, mistakes and setbacks occurred which are minimal when compared to its success in calling attention to the private domination of America’s wealth by the upper 1% as major cause of our social problems. Agents of that minority are feverishly at work, whether directly on the payroll or simply acting according to anti-social programming ... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Late Evening Posts #ows #edreform

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 hours ago

UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi Moonlighted Abroad to End Campus Anti-Austerity Demonstrations -- in Greece | MyFDL #owsBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-37 minutes agoUC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi Moonlighted Abroad to End Campus Anti-Austerity Demonstrations -- in Greece | MyFDL:UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi Moonlighted Abroad to End Campus Anti-Austerity Demonstrations — in Greeceby Teddy PartridgePopoutUniversity of California Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi won’t resign her post because, she says, she needs toearn the students’ trust. Somehow, she proposes ... more »

UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi Moonlighted Abroad to End Campus Anti-Austerity Demonstrations -- in Greece | MyFDL #ows

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 18 hours ago

UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi Moonlighted Abroad to End Campus Anti-Austerity Demonstrations -- in Greece | MyFDL:UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi Moonlighted Abroad to End Campus Anti-Austerity Demonstrations — in Greeceby Teddy PartridgePopoutUniversity of California Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi won’t resign her post because, she says, she needs toearn the students’ trust. Somehow, she proposes the University heal with her remaining at its helm.“I really feel confident at this point the university needs me,” she told GMA …. “There are ... more »

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg Ordered to Release Cathleen Black Emails - ParentAdvocates.org

Parent Advocates - ParentAdvocates.org:

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg Ordered to Release Cathleen Black Emails

| Posted 11/24/2011 at 1:46 AM

When Bloomberg appointed Cathie Black as NYC Chancellor, most people in New York City believed that this was a total disaster. And, it turned out to be with her resignation a few months later. A judge on November 23, 2011 ordered New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office to release emails between mayoral officials and former schools chancellor Cathleen Black, who resigned last April after a controversial three months in office. Journalist Sergio Hernandez, who at the time was working for the Village Voice, requested the documents on Nov. 19, 2010, approximately 10 days after Bloomberg announced that Black would replace longtime chancellor Joel Klein, according to court documents.

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: UC General Strike #ows

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: UC General Strike:

UC General Strike

by Duane Campbell

OCCUPY UC DAVIS CALLS FOR CAMPUS-WIDE STRIKE
Board of Regents Declared Illegitimate by General Assembly

On Monday, November 21, 99.5% of the 1,729 participants attending the Occupy UC Davis General Assembly--the basic organizing unit of the Occupy Movement--voted for a nonviolent campus-wide general strike, to take place on Monday, November 28. The strike is to coincide with a statewide meeting of the Regents, which the Assembly maintained “has repeatedly shown itself unfit to represent the interests of the students, faculty, and workers who constitute the University of California.”

Undergraduate student fees have tripled over the past ten years, resulting in an unprecedented explosion in student debt. At the same time, departmental budgets have shrunk, which has led to diminishing benefits, swelling workloads, and non-existent job security for academic and non-academic workers alike. Following two successive years of sharp tuition increases, accompanied by millions in department and resource cuts, layoffs, and furloughs, the board has now proposed a new 81% fee increase and drastic budget

Weinstein, Dockery to Sponsor Bill to Determine Adequate School Funding | Scathing Purple Musings

Weinstein, Dockery to Sponsor Bill to Determine Adequate School Funding | Scathing Purple Musings:

Weinstein, Dockery to Sponsor Bill to Determine Adequate School Funding

by Bob Sikes

With news yesterday that the 2009 failure to fund lawsuit would be going forward, Florida’s republican dominated legislature may be forced to consider determining just what adequate school funding is. Jacksonville Representative Mike Weinstein and Lakeland Senator Paul Dockery are trying to do just that. HB 001 (SB 242) proposes to allow

“the Office of Program Policy and Governmental Accountability (OPPAGA) to conduct a study to determine the minimum number of dollars needed to meet the constitutional requirement for adequate funding in Florida’s free public schools.”

Florida-Times Union reporter Matt Dixon sees the link as well:

The push to get an exact funding number comes at the tail end of nearly 2-year-old lawsuit filed by

Why Do Schools Still Teach an Oversimplified Thanksgiving Story? - News - GOOD

Why Do Schools Still Teach an Oversimplified Thanksgiving Story? - News - GOOD:

Why Do Schools Still Teach an Oversimplified Thanksgiving Story?

by Liz Dwyer

My acting debut came in an elementary school play that reenacted scenes from the first Thanksgiving. I was assigned to play a Native American, complete with a construction paper feather headband. The story we told on stage is the one that millions of Americans are celebrating today—the Wampanoag people and the Pilgrims sitting down together in unity, giving thanks for a bountiful harvest.

It wasn't until after college, when I picked up Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, that I learned that no one ate cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie on the first Thanksgiving, or that the holiday is steeped in brutality and betrayal. Such conversations could serve as a useful teaching moment and opportunity for discussion for millions of students every year, but the vast majority of schools persist in teaching a simplistic

Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action #ows #SOSMarch

Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action:

Meet Our New SOS Steering Committee and News from the NCTE

Amy Daroszeski Bob George Ceresta Smith Deb Meier

Don “Bart” Bartalo Emily Crum Jesse Turner Ken Bernstein

Mike Klonsky Nancy Flanagan Peggy Robertson Raynard Sanders

Sherick Hughes

Many thanks to all who have given hours of their time and made this election a success; there has been considerable effort to ensure that this process was fair and transparent — where all have an equal voice in determining the future of Save Our Schools. This is no easy task when our members are scattered across the country. Today is an exciting day for Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action. We are one step further in our mission to “Put the Public back in Public Schools!”

And another big thank you to all of the candidates who were willing to be nominated and willing to serve.

Wonderful news from the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English), which held a convention in Chicago these last few days. The NCTE passed a resolution calling on the Obama administration and the two groups involved in developing the Common Core State Standards to “end high stakes testing and the evaluation of teachers and schools based on students’ test scores” and to instead “support classroom-based assessment of students and to evaluate teachers based of measures such as observations, portfolios, parent response as well as student achievement as measured by ‘curriculum-based authentic assessments.’”

You will be proud to know that several members of SOS, who are also members of the NCTE, worked long and hard to write this resolution and to get it passed. Cheers and many thanks to both groups!

Here’s how you can help SOS follow the lead of the NCTE. If you are a member of a professional educational organization or association, you can be of great assistance in one of two ways. You can apply to be a presenter at your group’s next convention, and, if accepted, you speak about Save Our Schools and its initiatives. You can also work with SOS members — or other like-minded members — within your organization to pass resolutions which support our four guiding principles. Email us at saveourschoolsmarch@gmail.com and we will provide resources to help you.

ESEA/NCLB Hearings:

Act Now By Contacting Your Congressmen. Click HERE for more information.

Click HERE for access to a link with additional information. You can also watch a video of the proceedings and obtain the list of witnesses.