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Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Big Education Ape: 2-1-12 PM Obama wants schools to speed digital transition EDition #NYTIMES #edreform

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

Published by Coopmike48 – 6 news spotters today

Shanker Blog » A Matter Of Time

shankerblog.org - Extended school time is an education reform option that seems to be gaining in popularity. President Obama gave his endorsement earlier this year, while districts such as DCPS have extended time le...

DianeRavitch

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coopmike48 Big Education Ape: Big Education Ape: 10-31-11 AM Why I did TFA, and why you shouldn’t EDition#OWS #CNN - goo.gl/VHDVM10 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 Report Captures Closing Schools' Final Year – SchoolBook -goo.gl/sz2ej4 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 Big Education Ape: Gates, the Bizarro Foundation « Jay P. Greene's Blog - goo.gl/1gCqr10 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 RheeFirst! » Diane Ravitch debates StudentsFirst lobbyist: RheeFirst! » Diane Ravitch debates StudentsFirst...bit.ly/wyHifH #edu9 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

EducationSee all

Opt Out Chronicles: Fighting Sabotage

huffingtonpost.com - Quick Reality Check! What will happen to all public schools in 2014 under the current NCLB regulations (100% proficiency in math and reading)? Answer: They will be declared failing and will be take...

DianeRavitch

First in, first out? | Minnesota Public Radio News

minnesota.publicradio.org - US President Barack Obama, left, and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, right, smile as the 2011 National Teacher of the Year award recipient, Michelle Shearer, speaks during a ceremony in the Ros...

DianeRavitch

SocietySee all

McGill: Consequences to raising teacher pay - times

times-journal.com - State Sen. Shadrack McGill defended a pay raise his predecessors in the Legislature passed, but said doubling teacher pay could lead to less-qualified educators. At a prayer breakfast in Fort Payne...

DianeRavitch

The Maddow Blog - Theocracy on the move in Indiana

maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com - Indiana's Republican-controlled Senate yesterday passed a bill that would allow for the teaching of creationism in schools. The bill's sponsor, Republican State Senator Dennis Kruse, tells the Indi...

K12NN

Did Mitt Romney’s Dog Seek Asylum In Canada?

politickerny.com - Mitt Romney and his grandson petting a dog (not Seamus) during a campaign stop in 2008. (Photo: Getty) Mitt Romney may not have told the whole truth about the scandalous tale of his Irish Setter, S...

leoniehaimson

PoliticsSee all

Romney Team Silent On Key Outstanding Tax Avoidance Question

tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com - Brian Beutler February 1, 2012, 5:37 AM Just over a week ago, Mitt Romney’s top campaign and financial aides held an on-the-record press call to walk reporters through the former governor’s 2010 ta...

fklonsky

EnvironmentSee all

Republicans Want to Throw Kids Under the Bus. Literally.

motherjones.com - On Tuesday, House Republicans released a major transportation package that environmental groups have labeled as a massive giveaways to oil and gas interests. It's got everything that oil companies ...

fklonsky

Group suing to block Christo's "Over the River"

denverpost.com - There are many opponents and supporters of artist Christo's proposed Over The River project. A sign that passersby said was put up on August 18th, 2010 shows some anti-Christo sentiment. (Helen H. ...

coopmike48

Art & EntertainmentSee all

Matt Damon visits school in Englewood

wbez.org - (WBEZ/Natalie Moore) Matt Damon with TEAM Englewood students A group of students sat in a circle sharing their poetry, perspectives and personal takes on U.S. history. It was a kind of prep for the...

fklonsky

CMA donates $1.4M to help students learn music

boston.com - NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The Country Music Association is helping thousands of students learn music in school to the tune of $1.4 million.The organization donated proceeds from the 2011 CMA Music Festival ...

coopmike48

'Soul Train' creator Don Cornelius dead in apparent suicide

latimesblogs.latimes.com - "Soul Train" creator Don Cornelius was found dead at his Sherman Oaks on home Wednesday morning. Law enforcement sources said police arrived at Cornelius' home around 4 a.m. He apparently died of a...

coopmike48

LeisureSee all

How to Host a Green Super Bowl Party « MomsRising Blog

momsrising.org - Super Bowl Sunday is around the corner! Keep toxic chemicals out of your Super Bowl bash by making a few simple tweaks to your game day plan. Don’t worry: You don’t have to lose any of those tradit...

coopmike48

#eduRead this paperSee all

#nytimesRead this paperSee all

In Washington, Large Rewards in Teacher Pay

nytimes.com - WASHINGTON — During her first six years of teaching in this city’s struggling schools, Tiffany Johnson got a series of small raises that brought her annual salary to $63,000, from about $50,000. Th...

leoniehaimson

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These Educators Deserve a Movie Deal - Lily's Blackboard – Lily's Blackboard

These Educators Deserve a Movie Deal - Lily's Blackboard – Lily's Blackboard:

These Educators Deserve a Movie Deal

by Lily
Lily's Blackboard Rotating Header Image



These Educators Deserve a Movie Deal

Feb 1st, 2012
by Lily.
There are two stories to tell in Chester Upland School District in Pennsylvania. One is a heroic story worthy of a book or movie deal. There are plenty of movies about the lone teacher crusader who against all odds and against the establishment brings students out of the darkness of ignorance and into the light of the power of their own futures.
I’m a sucker for those movies. But I have a love-hate relationship with them because inevitably, in order to lionize the hero, they have to make all the other teachers in the school less than heroes. They have to make the principal a bully. Movies need a good guy to cheer for and bad guys to boo over. Así es la vida. That’s the way it goes.
Chester Upland, a poor and predominantly minority district, is a long way from Hollywood, but it does have a star in Sara Ferguson.
She’s a teacher of literacy and Math. She’s a good teacher who loves her
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Sacramento Press / Everyday Law: New Bullying Laws in California

Sacramento Press / Everyday Law: New Bullying Laws in California:

Everyday Law: New Bullying Laws in California

by Robyn Moltzen

Bullying has been in the news a lot lately, particularly when something tragic happens to the child being tormented. Students, parents, and educators are wondering what laws are available to help prevent bullying and what can be done to stop it. A bully is defined as “a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people”.

California already has several laws in place to protect children from being bullied, including the California Safe Place to Learn Act located in the California Education Code §234(b) which ensures “local educational agencies continue to work to reduce discrimination, harassment, violence, intimidation, and bullying”. The current laws will be strengthened by two new laws aimed to further prevent bullying in schools.

Previously, the California Education Code §§ 32261, 32265, 32270, and 48900 defined bullying of pupils to

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RheeFirst! » Diane Ravitch debates StudentsFirst lobbyist

RheeFirst! » Diane Ravitch debates StudentsFirst lobbyist:

Diane Ravitch debates StudentsFirst lobbyist

by admin

Watch Diane Ravitch dismantle Rhee’s proxy, Tim Melton, on issues of teacher tenure, seniority, testing, and teacher evaluation.

From Minnesota Public Radio. Read the original article here.

Tim Melton left the Michigan House of Representatives to become Rhee’s lobbyist after helping her push her agenda through the Michigan legislature. His status status is that of a revolving door lobbyist—called “perhaps the most pernicious lobbying strategy” by ThinkProgress. Convicted and imprisoned former lobbyist Jack Abramoff gave this explanation of how corrupting the revolving door can be: “You know, when you’re done working on the Hill, we’d very much like you to consider coming to work for us.’ Now the moment I said that to them or


False Choices: the economic argument against market-driven education reform

by admin

Written by Michael Diedrich for Minnesota 2020. Read the entire paper here.
“The income-based achievement gap that stands in the way of realizing this goal is significant and lamentable. It is not, however, the result of a school system that has somehow stopped functioning; rather, it is the result of a school system built for one purpose (attendance) that is now being changed to meet a new purpose (achievement).

As a result, policymakers who view education reform solely through the lenses of efficiency and competition will miss key factors of the school system and its structure that confound attempts to simulate a free market. In other words, the mindset that schools are not meeting their new goals because they are an innovation-challenged public monopoly that only needs increased competition to trigger improvement lacks an adequate basis in economic theory.”

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Schools Matter: Texas Commissioner Robert Scott Takes on Testing-Industrial Complex--Gets Standing O

Schools Matter: Texas Commissioner Robert Scott Takes on Testing-Industrial Complex--Gets Standing O:

Texas Commissioner Robert Scott Takes on Testing-Industrial Complex--Gets Standing O

by Jim Horn

By TASA's Jenny LaCoste-Caputo:

Commissioner Scott delivers no-holds-barred speech at Midwinter

Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott delivered a surprising speech to the thousands in attendance at TASA’s 2012 Midwinter Conference Tuesday afternoon, invoking a pull-no-punches tone and sharing his frank opinions on the state’s accountability program, his frustration with bureaucratic meddling – both the feds’ and the state’s - and even the names of a few folks who make him mad enough to want to stay in an incredibly difficult job that makes him lose sleep and miss meals.

Usually, Scott delivers a Power Point presentation full of AP participation rates, NAEP scores and graduation
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All Education Matters: BREAKING: Director of Gasland Documentary, Josh Fox Arrested by Congress

All Education Matters: BREAKING: Director of Gasland Documentary, Josh Fox Arrested by Congress:

BREAKING: Director of Gasland Documentary, Josh Fox Arrested by Congress

by Cryn Johannsen
Josh Fox was arrested today when trying to film a public hearing! Here's to FREEDOM, right?!?

Here's a snippet from Huff Po (see the entire article here):

In a stunning break with First Amendment policy, House Republicans directed Capitol Hill police to detain a highly regarded documentary crew that was attempting to film a Wednesday hearing on a controversial natural gas procurement practice. Republicans also denied the entrance of a credentialed ABC News news team that was attempting to film the event.

Josh Fox, director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary "Gasland" was taken into
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solidaridad: Mónica García y Nury Martinez de LAUSD ¡No a las recortes a nuestra escuelas adultos!

solidaridad: Mónica García y Nury Martinez de LAUSD ¡No a las recortes a nuestra escuelas adultos!:

Mónica García y Nury Martinez de LAUSD ¡No a las recortes a nuestra escuelas adultos!

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene
Popout
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The Teacher Evaluation Juggernaut - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

The Teacher Evaluation Juggernaut - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

The Teacher Evaluation Juggernaut

by Nancy Flanagan

Teacher evaluation--with all its multiple facets, blind alleys, disputed data models, technocratic hype and roll-out problems-- is on every principal's mind these days. It would be great to think that principals in states with new evaluation plans are eager to begin this work, now having permission to sink more deeply into their roles as instructional guides, to have productive two-way professional conversations with their teachers, thinking together about improving instruction to reach specific goals.

But no. They're worried about another time suck and avalanche of paperwork on top of an already-ridiculous workload. And--you can't blame them. Being a good principal, like being a good teacher, is impossible. There is

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