Rise like Lions – #OWS and the Seeds of Revolution | OWSnews.org

Rise like Lions – OWS and the Seeds of Revolution | OWSnews.org:

Rise like Lions – OWS and the Seeds of Revolution

December 3, 2011 in Uncategorized

Powerful New Documentary Film

This is a non-profit film and has been released free online. Watch Online

Schools Matter: Rsponding to the Economist

Schools Matter: Rsponding to the Economist:

Rsponding to the Economist

by skrashen

The importance of quality libraries: What the research says
Sent to The Economist, Dec 2

“Checked out” (Dec 3) asks us not to “underestimate the symbolic role libraries play as a visible public good.” Libraries play much more than a symbolic role.
Study after study has shown that reading achievement is higher when children have access to better school and public libraries, that is, libraries with better holdings and with qualified staff. This has been shown for individual states in the US, for the US as a whole, and internationally. The reason is simple: More access to reading material results in more reading, and more reading results in more literacy development.
Quality libraries are especially important for children of poverty, because they have very little access to books at

Mike Butz, The Prude Deadhead, Hates Blowjobs

Mike Butz, The Prude Deadhead, Hates Blowjobs:

Mike Butz, The Prude Deadhead, Hates Blowjobs

Mike Butz is a Michelle Rhee fan and has even written for StudentsFirst. He says he's a Democrat, and I am sure he is. But he is very conservative, and now, apparently, he is showing he is also a prude.

He is not an educator; never was. He claims to understand science via osmosis. He rants and raves about how teachers, unions and districts don't know what they are doing, though he doesn't really know what they do. He constantly reminds us that he realizes poverty is a huge issue, he just doesn't think it's a huge issue in education. What? Yeah. That's his confused understanding of the root cause of our academic disparity.

He is also the kind of numbskull StudentsFirst loves; he's a registered Democrat, like the other

Dear Colleague Letter from Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Russlynn Ali.

Dear Colleague Letter from Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Russlynn Ali.:

Dear Colleague Letter

OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY

U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division

U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights

		MORE RESOURCES Dear Colleague Letter PDF (136K) Guidance ESE PDF (290K) Guidance PSE PDF (124K)

December 2, 2011

Dear Colleague:

Today, the United States Department of Education (ED) and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) are jointly issuing guidance that explains how educational institutions can lawfully pursue voluntary policies to achieve diversity or avoid racial isolation within the framework of Titles IV and VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and current case law. The guidance is presented in two documents, one for elementary and secondary schools and the other for postsecondary institutions. This guidance replaces August 2008 letters titled “The Use of Race in Assigning Students to Elementary and Secondary Schools” and “The Use of Race in Postsecondary Student Admissions” issued by ED’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Concurrent with the issuance of this guidance, the August 2008 letters are withdrawn.

The new guidance documents review three key Supreme Court rulings on the use of race by educational institutions, and provide examples of options that schools and postsecondary institutions may wish to consider in structuring programs that lawfully further diversity or reduce racial isolation. Both guidance documents provide examples of different educational contexts within which institutions may permissibly consider race to pursue their compelling objectives. For example, the elementary and secondary guidance discusses school districts’ options in areas such as student assignment, student transfers, school siting, feeder patterns, and school zoning. Similarly, the postsecondary guidance provides examples of how colleges and universities can further diversity in contexts including admissions, pipeline programs, recruitment and outreach, and mentoring, tutoring, retention, and support programs.

OCR and DOJ are available to provide technical assistance, and welcome questions about the application of this guidance to educational institutions. To submit questions or receive technical assistance, please contact the OCR regional office for your state or territory athttp://wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/CFAPPS/OCR/contactus.cfm. To contact DOJ for assistance, please contact the Educational Opportunities Section at (202) 514-4092, (877) 292-3804, or education@usdoj.gov.

Sincerely, /S/		/S/
Russlynn Ali Assistant Secretary Office for Civil Rights U.S. Department of Education		Thomas E. Perez Assistant Attorney General Civil Rights Division U.S. Department of Justice

Attachments

Occupy SF Protesters to Open People's Reserve Credit Union - San Francisco News - The Snitch #ows #coop

Occupy SF Protesters to Open People's Reserve Credit Union - San Francisco News - The Snitch:

Occupy SF Protesters to Open People's Reserve Credit Union

By Erin Sherbert Fri., Dec. 2 2011 at 1:10 PM

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Categories: Occupy

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Occupy is doing something besides squatting

​A few weeks ago, we got a real kick out of the fact that Occupy Oakland deposited a $20,000 donation it received into Wells Fargo -- one of the many big banks the movement has been actively protesting since September. Say what you want about Occupy SF camp (it's dirty and filled with homeless people) -- at least protesters there are practicing what they preach.

Members of Occupy SF announced their ambitious plans to turn protesters into bankers by creating the People's Reserve Credit Union. According to Occupy SF's Facebook page:

The goal of this project is to encourage San Francisco residents, businesses, as well as nonprofit and city agencies to keep their money out of the big banks and to redistribute that money locally. Initial services will include micro-loans for the working poor and homeless, and subsidized student loans at low interest rates.

The credit union is being created with the help of San Francisco's Glide Community

Repairing a Culture of Blame « InterACT #EDreform

Repairing a Culture of Blame « InterACT:

Repairing a Culture of Blame

by David B. Cohen

Maybe we can all agree on a basic starting point: no one is perfect, and every individual and organization should strive for growth and improvement.

To go a step further, perhaps we can all agree that it is our shared responsibility to monitor public institutions – including schools, school districts, state and federal governments – and hold them to high standards.

What happens when we fall short? Or when “they” fall short? How do we respond? What do we want to see happen? Too often in this culture, I think we assign blame. Someone must be held accountable – and if it wasn’t my job, then I certainly can’t be blamed for the results. By shaming or punishing those responsible, we feel like we’ve done our job as monitors or guardians of whatever values we uphold and whatever institutions have let us down. It feels good, doesn’t it – seeing the scandal hit home, the lies revealed, the hypocrites exposed, the inept upbraided and the corrupt brought low?

But I think we’re conditioned to look for someone to blame. For some, casting blame is an addiction, and the

Da DEAL: L.A. teachers union drops legal challenge to evaluation system - latimes.com

L.A. teachers union drops legal challenge to evaluation system - latimes.com:

L.A. teachers union drops legal challenge to evaluation system

December 2, 2011 | 4:18 pm

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The union for Los Angeles teachers has suspended its legal challenge to a pilot evaluation program that includes using standardized test scores as part of a teacher’s performance review. The union also reserved the right to reactivate the case should talks with the district sour.

A joint statement released by L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy and United Teachers Los Angeles President Warren Fletcher said the two sides agree that current teacher evaluation procedures need improvement.

“There are areas within the evaluation arena that are not strongly disputed and may form the beginnings of an overall agreement: for example, the use of multiple measures of performance, the use of appropriate input from parents and students, the need for teachers to contribute to the effective operations of the overall schools as well as their own classrooms, the need for improved methods of classroom performance observation and assistance, the need for greatly improved