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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Big Education Ape: 1-24-12 AM ‘Reformers’ playbook on failing schools fails a fact check EDition

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now:
Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Published by Coopmike48 – 6 news spotters today

Florida Poverty Outstrips U.S. « CBS Miami

miami.cbslocal.com - (Source: U.S. Census Bureau )TALLAHASSEE (CBS4)- The recession of the last couple years put more Florida residents into poverty and resulted in a decrease of median family income in much of the sta...

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coopmike48 Is the immigration boogeyman going away? | Being Latino Online Magazine - goo.gl/LUvtIabout 1 minute ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 Read Damn Good Education Daily ▸ today's top stories via@teacherken ▸ paper.li/coopmike48/bir…#SOSMARCH #EDCHAT14 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 Michelle Rhee brings 'listening tour' to Sacramento - Sacramento Beesacbee.com/2012/01/24/420…5 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

EducationSee all

Analysis: City Hall Fails the School Test

nbcnewyork.com - advertisement For 10 years Mayor Bloomberg and his aides have been playing a numbers game with the people of New York. When he took over the school system, things were to be magically transformed. ...

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SocietySee all

Foxconn Resolves a Dispute With Some Workers in China

nytimes.com - SHANGHAI — Foxconn Technology, a major supplier to several electronics giants, said on Thursday that it had resolved a pay dispute with scores of workers at one of its factories in central China af...

DianeRavitch

PoliticsSee all

Newt needs a lesson about Saul Alinsky

suntimes.com - LYNN SWEET blogs.suntimes.com/sweet January 22, 2012 10:04PM Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich reacts to a question at the start of the Republican presidential ca...

mikeklonsky

Making waves. Backing good guys. « Fred Klonsky

preaprez.wordpress.com - Will Guzzardi in the 39th House District in Chicago. The Chicago Democratic Machine has been famous for promoting the theory of, “Don’t make no waves. Don’t back no losers.” What is surprising is h...

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Line of Scrimmage Forms Over Union Bill

nytimes.com - INDIANAPOLIS — This city is in full preen for its moment in the spotlight, its first Super Bowl. Everywhere, workers sprouted from cherry pickers over the weekend, hanging football banners from sig...

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BusinessSee all

How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work

nytimes.com - When Barack Obama joined Silicon Valley’s top luminaries for dinner in California last February, each guest was asked to come with a question for the president. But as Steven P. Jobs of...

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More Lockouts as Companies Battle Unions

nytimes.com - America’s unionized workers, buffeted by layoffs and stagnating wages, face another phenomenon that is increasingly throwing them on the defensive: lockouts. From the Cooper Tire factor...

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How U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work

nytimes.com - When Barack Obama joined Silicon Valley’s top luminaries for dinner in California last February, each guest was asked to come with a question for the president. But as Steven P. Jobs of...

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EnvironmentSee all

Bright idea: Schools unite to investigate solar

bakersfieldcalifornian.com - But outside, the future looks bright, with hope the sun will recoup some losses. Eighteen districts have joined with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools office to discuss how solar power coul...

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Looking through the IEA proposed budget. « Fred Klonsky

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Looking through the IEA proposed budget. « Fred Klonsky:Looking through the IEA proposed budget.by Fred KlonskyThe state union convention, the IEA RA, is in March.Delegates will be attending budget...

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Students disrupt UC regents in Riverside to protest cuts

latimesblogs.latimes.com - January 19, 2012 | 11:12 am Students protesting budget cuts temporarily disrupted the UC Board of Regents meeting Thursday in Riverside, at one point forcing officials to move to another room. Abou...

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All-women team of Seabees makes history in Afghanistan

latimesblogs.latimes.com - It was an unusual job even for the Seabees, the U.S. Navy’s construction forces trained to hold a hammer in one hand and a Beretta M9 in the other. First, the team selected to build barracks high i...

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School Tech Connect: iDon't Need an iPhone That Badly

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - School Tech Connect: iDon't Need an iPhone That Badly:iDon't Need an iPhone That Badlyby noreply@blogger.com (Tim)I'm so over Apple products. I was once their biggest fan, too. I guess if I though...

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Jersey Jazzman: How To Get a Charter School Approved

Jersey Jazzman: How To Get a Charter School Approved:

How To Get a Charter School Approved

by Duke
Are you interested in getting your own charter school? Do you want to increase your chances of getting an approval from the NJ Department of Education? There's one surefire to dramatically increase your chances of success:

Join the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey. From January, 2011:
Rev. Reginald Jackson said he was celebrating after all five charter schools proposed by the Black Ministers Council were approved. They include an East Orange school with single-gender classrooms and a high school offering online
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Seattle Schools Community Forum: Guest Column: Creative Approach Schools

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Guest Column: Creative Approach Schools:

Guest Column: Creative Approach Schools

by Melissa Westbrook
Michelle Buetow has written a thoughtful piece about the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the district and SEA for schools to apply to be Creative Approach Schools. This action will be introduced at Wednesday's Board meeting. Here's the MOU and the Creative Approach Schools criteria page. Good for our district and our labor partners for making this effort to allow more innovation/flexibility/autonomy to schools.

Here's Michelle's article:
Washington state legislature last week held hearings on the fourth attempt to bring charter schools to our state. As expected, the proposed legislation is proving sharply divisive within the K12 education community.

I am wary of any proposal that further fractures a state population of legislators and voters who have yet to join
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UFT’s new TV ad buy takes aim at Bloomberg’s schools record | GothamSchools

UFT’s new TV ad buy takes aim at Bloomberg’s schools record | GothamSchools:

UFT’s new TV ad buy takes aim at Bloomberg’s schools record

by Philissa Cramer

Popout

The United Federation of Teachers is turning up the heat on Mayor Bloomberg with a new television ad marking mayoral control’s double-digit birthday.

The 30-second ad, which comes as the union is locked in stalemate with the city over teacher evaluations, targets Bloomberg’s education track record months before mayoral control’s 10th anniversary. From the ad:

Ten years as Mayor, and Mike Bloomberg still doesn’t get it.

Cathie Black. Fudged education test scores. Closing schools. Parents shut out of the process.

And just last month, Bloomberg said in a perfect world he’d cut the number of teachers in half,


Rise & Shine: City now planning to close A- and B-rated schools

by Philissa Cramer
  • Seven of the 33 schools the city now wants to close got A’s or B’s on their city report cards. (Post)
  • One, Maxwell High School, got an A last year, up from much lower scores in previous years. (Daily News)
  • City, state, and union officials testified in Albany on Gov. Cuomo’s education budget. (Daily News, NY1)
  • The hearing revealed dissent at the state level about competitive school grants. (GothamSchools, Times)
  • Bill Hammond: The hearing was “a lesson in pussyfooting” around teacher evaluations. (Daily News)
  • An audit of the city’s ARIS data warehouse found waste. (GothamSchools, SchoolBook, Daily News)
  • Revelations about a misspelled street sign has some pointing fingers at the school it’s outside. (Post)
  • A student was arrested with a pellet gun at his Manhattan high school’s metal detectors. (Daily News)
  • New Orleans announced plans to turn more high schools over to charter operators. (Times-Picayune)
  • More on the Long Island student named a national science fair semifinalist while homeless. (Times)
  • Some Chicago parents say they were paid to support the school closure plans at hearings. (Sun-Times)
  • D.C.’s schools chief supports a plan to pay teachers more in high-need schools. (Washington Times)

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Engaging Parents In School… - This Week’s “Parent Teacher Chat” On Twitter

Engaging Parents In School… - This Week’s “Parent Teacher Chat” On Twitter:

This Week’s “Parent Teacher Chat” On Twitter

by Larry Ferlazzo

Last month, Joe Mazza wrote a guest post about Parent Teacher Chat on Twitter. Joe has accepted my invitation to write a short post on this blog regularly to announce future topics for these chats:

Special guest Karren Dunkley joins #ptchat this Wednesday, 1/25 at 9PM EST. Ms. Dunkley, Deputy Chief of the School District of Philadelphia, will be discussing parent leadership opportunities, “Demand Parents” and a “Parent University” her organization has set up for families.

Hailing from Jamaica, Ms. Dunkley is helping to increase and improve the participation of families and community in the academic success and personal development of their

Music Shake

by Larry Ferlazzo

Music Shake lets you create….musical tracks quite easily, which you can then embed or post a link to it. You can do those things for free. However, you have to pay if you want to download your music for use in a video or other presentation. In fact, they just created an education arm where schools could purchase licenses for all their students to do just that.

I think it’s fine to just have students, especially English Language Learners, use it to quickly create music and then describe it and have students comment their classmate’s creations.

I’m adding it to The Best Online Sites For Creating Music.

You can learn about Music Shake at TechCrunch.

The Best Critiques Of Ruby Payne

by Larry Ferlazzo

Ruby Payne is a popular consultant to school districts around the United States and, perhaps, the world. I have major concerns about her “deficit” view of low-income students and their families — it smacks of a “blaming the victim” mentality.

I’ve written extensively about the concept of “blame,” and you might be interested in The Best Resources For Helping Students (& The Rest Of Us) Learn The Concept Of Not Blaming Others.

I thought it might also be important, though, to create a “The Best…” list specifically related to Ms. Payne. Her

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Two say they got paid to protest, back closing Chicago schools - Chicago Sun-Times

Two say they got paid to protest, back closing Chicago schools - Chicago Sun-Times:

Two say they got paid to protest, back closing Chicago schools

BY ROSALIND ROSSI Education Reporter rrossi@suntimes.com January 24, 2012 12:06AM

Story Image

Thaddeus Scott poses for a photograph outside the HOPE organization, 6921 S. Halsted, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, in Chicago. | John J. Kim~Sun-Times

Updated: January 24, 2012 5:25AM



Always contentious hearings on whether to close failing Chicago schools have taken a bizarre twist this year with charges that cash-strapped residents were hired as “rent-a-protesters” and given pre-made signs and pre-crafted scripts to support school shakeups.

Two men told the Chicago Sun-Times they showed up to apply for financial help with their energy bills at the Englewood office of the HOPE Organization headed by Rev. Roosevelt Watkins III, only to be offered money to attend school-related “rallies” held Jan. 6. Watkins denies they were paid to protest, saying money paid was for training.

Both protesters said they didn’t realize until the last minute that they were supposed to support school closings. One said he was promised $50 to speak at a rally “for schools,” but was stiffed

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Missouri Education Watchdog: Thoughts on the Costs of the New Apple Education Revolution. Who Pays for it? Who Can Afford it?

Missouri Education Watchdog: Thoughts on the Costs of the New Apple Education Revolution. Who Pays for it? Who Can Afford it?:

Thoughts on the Costs of the New Apple Education Revolution. Who Pays for it? Who Can Afford it?

by stlgretchen
This is an article on Apple's wonderful new revolution in the delivery of education in terms of how much money this will cost individuals and/or taxpayers. It will be quite a bit. Where will the money come from? Tax increases? Have the taxpayers had any say in any such tax increase to cover new educational deliveries and technology which create substantial financial return for private companies?

Apple may have an innovative product that makes learning faster and easier for students. The question is can districts/taxpayers afford such costs in our present economy? How many trillions of dollars of debt is
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Brown wants quicker results, fewer tests | Thoughts on Public Education

Brown wants quicker results, fewer tests | Thoughts on Public Education:

Brown wants quicker results, fewer tests - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess
Gov. Jerry Brown picked up on a common complaint of teachers, superintendents, and parents in his State of the State address last week: Schools have closed for the summer by the time they get the scores of standardized tests that students took the previous spring. At that point, the results are a lot less useful. Brown’s [...]

America cannot afford the stiff price of a dropout nation - by Russell Rumberger

by Russell Rumberger
Kenny Buchanan is 44 years old and dropped out of high school 26 years ago. He’s been paying the price ever since. He’s held eight jobs in the last five years and has never earned more than $40,000 in a year. Kenny is one of 40 million Americans who never graduated from high [...]
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EMERGENCY RALLY IT IS TIME TO DEFEND PUBLIC EDUCATION - Perdaily.com

EMERGENCY RALLY IT IS TIME TO DEFEND PUBLIC EDUCATION - Perdaily.com:

EMERGENCY RALLY IT IS TIME TO DEFEND PUBLIC EDUCATION

by Leonard Isenberg
BRING YOUR FRIENDS AND PICKET AT EL CAMINO REAL HIGH SCHOOL
5440 Valley Circle Blvd.
Woodland Hills, Ca. 91367

Wed. Night JAN. 25, 2012
AT 6:30PM

LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT
Dr. John Deasy and Tamar Galatzan will be hosting a so called town hall meeting.


WE NEED YOU!!!!!!!


IT'S TIME TO STAND UP
SPEAK UP SAVE THE SCHOOLS TEACHERS STUDENTS
STOP THE WASTE, FRAUD AND ABUSE
TIME FOR ACCOUNTABILITY AT LAUSD


COME EARLY-
WE ARE WEARING BLACK-
TELL EVERYONE-
STOP THE WASTE, FRAUD AND ABUSE
STOP THE PARCEL TAX TOO!!!!!!!!
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Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Shame of a nation

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Shame of a nation:

Shame of a nation

by Mike Klonsky
After a decade of No Child Left Behind and three more years of Race To The Top, Black and Latino teenagers in U.S. schools are performing at academic levels equal to or lower than those of 30 years ago. According to a study by the Education Trust (one of the main supporters of NCLB), reasons for the low performance include:

  • Lowered expectations for students of color
  • Growing income inequality and lack of resources in low-income school districts
  • Unequal access to experienced teachers
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ALEC’s Education Summit Next Month in Amelia Island: How Many Florida Repubulicans Will Attend? | Scathing Purple Musings

ALEC’s Education Summit Next Month in Amelia Island: How Many Florida Repubulicans Will Attend? | Scathing Purple Musings:

ALEC’s Education Summit Next Month in Amelia Island: How Many Florida Repubulicans Will Attend?

by Bob Sikes

The Orlando Sentinel’s Scott Powers reported in July 2011 on the involvement of mysterious, Koch brothers - funded group ALEC in last year’s legislative session. Citing a report in the “high brow liberal magazine,” In These Times. Powers wrote of the run-up to the union-busting Paycheck Protection Act:

Dorworth introduced his bill, H.B. 1021, in February. In These Times reports it put out a records request to his office to see if it could trace the Florida bill to ALEC or to Charles and David Koch, the big-spending conservative campaign kingmakers from Kansas.

The magazine reported getting responses ranging from “There’s nothing here,” to “Really? how’d

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