Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Mid Day Posts 2-10 #ows #edreform #edchat

Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Show - NYTimes.com

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 1 minute ago

Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Show - NYTimes.com:Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies SayBy SABRINA TAVERNISEPublished: February 9, 2012RECOMMENDTWITTERLINKEDINE-MAILPRINTSINGLE PAGEREPRINTSSHAREWASHINGTON — Education was historically considered a great equalizer in American society, capable of lifting less advantaged children and improving their chances for success as adults. But a body of recently published scholarship suggests that the achievement gap between rich and poor children is widening, a development that threatens to dilute education’s ... more »

What This Teacher Means By Whole Child Education | The Jose Vilson

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 1 minute ago

What This Teacher Means By Whole Child Education | The Jose Vilson:What This Teacher Means By Whole Child Educationby JoseOn Monday, I finally handed in my second quarter grades, still dizzy from the desultory amounts of sleep I got the night before. Gasses in a baby don’t have an appointment, so I spend nights either patting my baby’s back or listening to my fiancee do this. As I start looking at my online gradebook, I put in my grades on ...more »

NYC Public School Parents: Thursday night massacre

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 1 minute ago

NYC Public School Parents: Thursday night massacre:Thursday night massacrePanel for Education Policy votes to close all 23 schools despite thousands of protesters.photo: Ben Chapman, Daily News

School Tech Connect: The Time Is Now For Crane

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 1 minute ago

School Tech Connect: The Time Is Now For Crane:The Time Is Now For Cranenoreply@blogger.com (Tim) Feb 9, 2012 7:40 PM - Show original item...to hit the phones.1-713-553-1500Ask for Jean Claude Brizard. Tell him to read the hearing officer's report, and keep Crane open. And get over to the feeder schools as well, because Crane belongs to them, too.Don't forget Ayodeji Griffin's words at the community hearing:A couple of years ago, I questioned an elementary counselor who attended our articulation breakfast ... more »

Daily Kos: Applying the Success of NCLB to the Improvement of Interscholastic Football

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 1 minute ago

Daily Kos: Applying the Success of NCLB to the Improvement of Interscholastic Football:Applying the Success of NCLB to the Improvement of Interscholastic Footballby rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)NCLB: The Football Version1. All teams must make the state playoffs and all MUST win the championship. If a team does not win the championship, they will be on probation until they are the champions, and coaches will be held accountable. If after two years they have not won the championship, their footballs and equipment will ... more »

Asthma and Indoor Air Quality in Schools - Letters (CA Dept of Education)

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 1 minute ago

Asthma and Indoor Air Quality in Schools - Letters (CA Dept of Education):Asthma and Indoor Air Quality in SchoolsJoint letter from the California Department of Education and the California Department of Public Health regarding asthma and indoor air quality in California schools.CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONTOM TORLAKSON, State Superintendent of Public Instruction1430 N Street, Sacramento, CA, 95814-5901916-319-0800CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTHRON CHAPMAN, MD, MPH, Director1615 Capitol Avenue, Sacramento, CA, 95814916-558-1700February 9, 2012Dear County and District Su... more »

Modern School: Tech Giants Take On Publishers for Control of Education

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 1 minute ago

Modern School: Tech Giants Take On Publishers for Control of Education:Tech Giants Take On Publishers for Control of Educationby Michael DunnCollage by Modern School (with Images from Flickr, sucello and mikebaird)In a rare moment of lucidity and honesty, the Los Angeles Times published a piece last week criticizing tech giants’ play for billions of federal and state K-12 public education tax dollars. Reporting for the Times, Michael Hiltzik attended a Digital Learning Day Town Hall meeting sponsored by Google, Comcast, ... more »

Arne Duncan Supports Using Student Portfolios To Evaluate Teachers? | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 1 minute ago

Arne Duncan Supports Using Student Portfolios To Evaluate Teachers? | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…:Arne Duncan Supports Using Student Portfolios To Evaluate Teachers?February 9, 2012 by Larry Ferlazzo | 0 comments2I support using alternative methods to student performance on standardized tests to evaluate teachers. In fact, I have a long list of “tried and true” alternatives at The Best Articles Describing Alternatives To High-Stakes Testing.One of those alternative measures worth considering, I believe, are student portfolios.Well, this week, Arne ... more »

Missouri Education Watchdog: Pioneer Institute Asks "Is the US Department of Education Violating Federal Law by Directing Standards, Tests, and Curricula?"

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 1 minute ago

Missouri Education Watchdog: Pioneer Institute Asks "Is the US Department of Education Violating Federal Law by Directing Standards, Tests, and Curricula?":Pioneer Institute Asks "Is the US Department of Education Violating Federal Law by Directing Standards, Tests, and Curricula?"by stlgretchenIs the Federal Government breaking the law with Race to the Top? Various organizations have come to the conclusion that it indeed is acting unconstitutionally. Reprinted with permission from The Pioneer Institute:Contact Jamie Gass, 617-723-2277, ext. 210 or jgass@pioneerinstitute.orgIS THE U... more »

I want everyone to read this message regarding #rhee and #studentsfirst, the nerve, right @rheefirst? « At the Chalk Face

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 4 hours ago

I want everyone to read this message regarding #rhee and #studentsfirst, the nerve, right @rheefirst? « At the Chalk Face:I want everyone to read this message regarding #rhee and #studentsfirst, the nerve, right @rheefirst?February 9, 2012I got this little note in an email about Rhee’s crony organization, filling parents’ heads with drivel, getting everyone all ginned up, and shuffling them to some room to email elected officials. Check it:Our school board president, who is out of office in April, has ... more »

More Anti-Charter School Resolutions in Washington State | Seattle Education

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 4 hours ago

More Anti-Charter School Resolutions in Washington State | Seattle Education:More Anti-Charter School Resolutions in Washington Stateby seattleducation2011From the Metropolitan Democratic Club of Seattle:Resolution for Continued Prohibition of Charter Schools in Washington StateWhereas the platforms of the King County Democrats and the Washington State Democrats specifically oppose publicly funded charter schools and vouchers; andWhereas the voters of Washington State have defeated charter measures three times1; andWhereas peer-reviewed research shows that 83% of charter schools per... more »

NYC Public School Parents: Mayor's poor showing in Quinnipiac poll, and vote in our poll now!

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 4 hours ago

NYC Public School Parents: Mayor's poor showing in Quinnipiac poll, and vote in our poll now!:Mayor's poor showing in Quinnipiac poll, and vote in our poll now!by Leonie Haimson1. A new Quinnipiac poll came out yesterday, showing that only 26% of New Yorkers approve of the way Bloomberg is handling our schools; 61% disapprove. 57 57% think he has failed to improve our schools, and only 13% think the next mayor should retain mayoral control. The mayor blamed his poor ... more »

RheeFirst! » Rhee dismissed the cheating scandal as driven by the “enemies of school reform”

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 4 hours ago

RheeFirst! » Rhee dismissed the cheating scandal as driven by the “enemies of school reform”:Rhee dismissed the cheating scandal as driven by the “enemies of school reform”by adminWritten by Guy Brandenburg for his blog. Read the entire post here.“And, of course, all of that supposed credit for dubious gains at certain schools also went to Michelle Rhee and Kaya Henderson. Remember Rhee’s initial reaction to the USA Today article on cheating on her watch? ‘It isn’t surprising,’ Rhee said in ... more »

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Who will reform the reformers?

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 4 hours ago

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Who will reform the reformers?:Who will reform the reformers?by Mike KlonskyRahm's urban removal projectHere's more on Chicago's top-down, corporate-style school reform -- the "miracle" that propelled Arne Duncaninto the Sec. of Education job.The latest study by the University of Chicago’s Consortium on Chicago School Research finds that after 20 years of reform efforts, reading scores in the city's weakest elementary schools didn't budge. An editorial in

On Kids in the College Classroom, and Academic Etiquette More Generally « Student Activism

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 4 hours ago

On Kids in the College Classroom, and Academic Etiquette More Generally « Student Activism:On Kids in the College Classroom, and Academic Etiquette More Generallyby Angus JohnstonThe “I hate my students” essay has long been a Chronicle of Higher Education staple, and for obvious reasons. The classroom can be a frustrating place, and sometimes a prof just needs to vent.The problem with venting in the Chronicle, though, is that you open yourself up to rebuttal.Meet Ann Hassenpflug.Hassenpflug is a professor of ... more »

Throughout February: Engaging Learning Strategies « The Whole Child Blog « Whole Child Education

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 4 hours ago

Throughout February: Engaging Learning Strategies « The Whole Child Blog « Whole Child Education:Throughout February: Engaging Learning StrategiesFebruary 9th, 2012 by Klea ScharbergLearning is active, engaging, and social. Students need to be engaged and motivated in their learning before they can apply higher order, creative thinking skills. They are most engaged when they themselves are part of constructing meaning, not when teachers do it for them. By encouraging students to meet challenges creatively, collaborate, and apply critical thinking skills to ... more »

NYC: Stop the Vote to Close Schools - Occupy the PEP | OccupyWallSt.org #ows

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 4 hours ago

NYC: Stop the Vote to Close Schools - Occupy the PEP | OccupyWallSt.org:NYC: Stop the Vote to Close Schools - Occupy the PEPby OccupyWallStFollowing a mass walk-out by high school students earlier this month in protest of Mayor Bloomberg's plan to close their schools. Even as the demonstration was harassed by Bloomberg's NYPD, students and allies denounced Bloomberg as "Mayor 1%" and demanded fair and accessible education for all. Today at 5:30pm until 8:30pm at Brooklyn Technical High School (29 ... more »

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Who will turnaround the turnarounds?

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 4 hours ago

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Who will turnaround the turnarounds?:Who will turnaround the turnarounds?by Mike KlonskyLast summer, we learned that L.A.'s mayor-run and privately-operatedturnaround/charter schools were a miserable failure even when compared to struggling regular district-operated public schools. Similar results are now being reported in other urban districts where contract-hungry corporate reformers are imposing top-down turnaround solutions to complex problems.Now the University of Chicago’s Consortium on Chicago School Research reports that, after four years, “tur... more »

Union's Advice to District: Don't Play Budget Game - voiceofsandiego.org: Education

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 4 hours ago

Union's Advice to District: Don't Play Budget Game - voiceofsandiego.org: Education:Union's Advice to District: Don't Play Budget GameStoryComments (5)ImageShareSharePrintCreate a hardcopy of this pageFont Size:Default font sizeLarger font sizeFile Photo by Sam HodgsonBill FreemanRELATED STORIESThe Teachers Union Gets Tough, and IsolatedCity Schools: Please Respond ASAP to Our Nonexistent ProposalTeachers Union: We’ve Heard Budget Woes Before'The Worst of Times in California Public Education'From the ReporterChanging a Broken SystemThe teachers union says the school district should s...more »

Brent McKim | The many problems of charter schools | The Courier-Journal | courier-journal.com

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 19 hours ago

Brent McKim | The many problems of charter schools | The Courier-Journal | courier-journal.com:Brent McKim | The many problems of charter schoolsProponents' ads ignore failingsWritten byBrent McKimSpecial to The Courier-JournalFILED UNDEROpinionOpedJefferson County Public SchoolsJcpsRecently, proponents of charter schools have been spending remarkable sums of money on advertisements designed to make our public schools look worse and charter schools look better than they really are. Before jumping on the charter school bandwagon, Kentuckians should consider these points:Charters woul... more »

RheeFirst! » New count could cut high school graduation rates 20 percent: another Rhee “miracle” claim busted

RheeFirst! » New count could cut high school graduation rates 20 percent: another Rhee “miracle” claim busted:

New count could cut high school graduation rates 20 percent: another Rhee “miracle” claim busted

by admin

Michelle Rhee’s promoters list the rise in graduation rates as one of her key accomplishments. This article refutes that.

Written by Bill Turque for the Washington Post. Read the entire article here.
“High school graduation rates in the District, long thought to be inflated by generous counting methods, will be adjusted downward by about 20 percent under a new, more accurate formula, officials at the Office of the State

“At The Chalk Face” This Sunday with Guest Diane Ravitch | United Opt Out National

“At The Chalk Face” This Sunday with Guest Diane Ravitch | United Opt Out National:

“AT THE CHALK FACE” THIS SUNDAY WITH GUEST DIANE RAVITCH

____will not be taking the CSAP/TCAP - Coalition for Better Education

Coalition for Better Education:

Welcome to the Coalition for Better Education

"Coercion has no place in a democratic society, least of all in school where it flies in the face of everything that quality education should stand for!"
Conny Jensen

The Coalition for Better Education was started by a group of aspiring educators from the University of Northern Colorado, and has expanded to include teachers, parents and students across the state. Our goal is to expand awareness of the costs and limitations of the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP/TCAP) and "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB), and to empower parents and teachers.

Here's a letter from a parent to the school board. We offer it here as a model.

To whom it may concern:

This is written notification that ____will not be taking the CSAP/TCAP this year (or any other

Creepy push polls. « Fred Klonsky

Creepy push polls. « Fred Klonsky:

Creepy push polls.

by Fred Klonsky

Nobody calls anymore except people asking for money for something and polls.

My communications are by text or email. And I keep up with the kids and grand kids by Facebook.

When the phone does ring, like most folks these days, I check the caller ID.

But this time I wasn’t thinking and picked it up.

“Anne Klonsky?”

Who is calling?

“Fred Klonsky?”

Who is calling?

“This is blah blah research. Do you have a minute to answer

FACT SHEET: Women’s Preventive Services and Religious Institutions | The White House

FACT SHEET: Women’s Preventive Services and Religious Institutions | The White House:

FACT SHEET: Women’s Preventive Services and Religious Institutions

by The White House

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, most health insurance plans will cover women’s preventive services, including contraception, without charging a co-pay or deductible beginning in August, 2012. This new law will save money for millions of Americans and ensure Americans nationwide get the high-quality care they need to stay healthy.

Today, President Obama will announce that his Administration will implement a policy that accommodates religious liberty while protecting the health of women. Today, nearly 99 percent of all women have used contraception at some point in their lives, but more than half of all women between the ages of 18-34 struggle to afford it.

Under the new policy to be announced today, women will have free preventive care that includes contraceptive services no matter where she works. The policy also ensures that if a woman works for religious employers with objections to providing contraceptive services as part of its health plan, the religious employer will not be required to provide contraception coverage, but her insurance company will be required to offer contraceptive care free of charge.

The new policy ensures women can get contraception without paying a co-pay and addresses important concerns raised by religious groups by ensuring that objecting religious employers will not have to provide contraceptive coverage or refer women to organizations that provide contraception. Background on this policy is included below:

• Section 2713 of the Affordable Care Act, the Administration adopted new guidelines that will require most private health plans to cover preventive services for women without charging a co-pay starting on August 1, 2012. These preventive services include well women visits, domestic violence screening, and contraception, and all were recommended to the Secretary of Health and Human Services by the independent Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science.

• Today, the Obama Administration will publish final rules in the Federal Register that:

o Exempts churches, other houses of worship, and similar organizations from covering contraception on the basis of their religious objections.

o Establishes a one year transition period for religious organizations while this policy is being implemented.

• The President will also announce that his Administration will propose and finalize a new regulation during this transition year to address the religious objections of the non-exempted religious organizations. The new regulation will require insurance companies to cover contraception if the non-exempted religious organization chooses not to. Under the policy:

o Religious organizations will not have to provide contraceptive coverage or refer their employees to organizations that provide contraception.

o Religious organizations will not be required to subsidize the cost of contraception.

o Contraception coverage will be offered to women by their employers’ insurance companies directly, with no role for religious employers who oppose contraception.

o Insurance companies will be required to provide contraception coverage to these women free of charge.

Covering contraception saves money for insurance companies by keeping women healthy and preventing spending on other health services. For example, there was no increase in premiums when contraception was added to the Federal Employees Health Benefit System and required of non-religious employers in Hawaii. One study found that covering contraception lowered premiums by 10 percent or more.

A Simple Innovation: Spend The Money Wisely | Taking Note

A Simple Innovation: Spend The Money Wisely | Taking Note:

A Simple Innovation: Spend The Money Wisely

by John Merrow

With all the talk of innovation in education, wouldn't it be best to simply the discussion down to a few key points? John Merrow makes that attempt.

The New York Times has made official what most of us have known for years: the children of the privileged do better in school than the children of the underprivileged. This matters because the rich-poor gap is growing wider, and so (therefore) is the educational outcomes gap, what everyone calls ‘the achievement gap.’

Is educational innovation the way to close the achievement gap? A lot of smart people are hoping it will solve the problem. In the past few months I’ve been around a lot of innovations. I have watched theKhan Academy (and Sal Khan himself) in action, dug into ‘blended learning,’ Rocketship and KIPP, and looked at some Early College High School programs. I’ve been reading about new iPad applications and

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Budget Development and WSS

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Budget Development and WSS:

Budget Development and WSS

by Charlie Mas

As our school district begins the annual process of developing a budget for the year we will hear all of the same messages that we hear every year at this time. People will go on about how the legislature has cut funding, they will claim that they want to protect the classrooms from budget cuts, and they will describe programs and initiatives that are too critical to cut.

I don't want to make folks' eyes glaze over with the tiny details of the budget, so I hope those who follow it much more closely than I do will forgive my describing it in very broad strokes. A lot of the budget isn't really available for re-allocation. There are all kinds of laws, agreements, grant restrictions and such that obligate the District to spend its money in certain ways. There is, however, some discretion. In the past, the board has sat passively and waited for the superintendent and the staff to bring them a budget proposal. That didn't work out so well, so now the Board takes a more active role in budget development and regards the budget as a governance tool. The Board has started their discussions, so now is the time for people to pay attention and speak up. Soon it will be

Why we fight. « Fred Klonsky

Why we fight. « Fred Klonsky:

Why we fight.

by Fred Klonsky

At the beginning of this school year I took a grievance to our local union leadership. I believed that are collectively bargained agreement with the school board had been violated by my principal. The president and grievance chair of our local agreed that the principal had not followed the rules when she placed a teacher in a job opening.

Our CBA provides for five steps in resolving a grievance. The first step is to have both sides engage in informal discussion. The last step has both sides taking the issue to outside arbitration.

In all my years of union activity most issues get settled by discussion. We rarely go to to the first of three formal steps prior to arbitration.

We have never gone to step three.

Never to arbitration.

It is a sign of the troubles these days that this grievance went to step three. The next step would have been

Riverside Elementary fathers group gets more male volunteers in the classroom | OregonLive.com

Riverside Elementary fathers group gets more male volunteers in the classroom | OregonLive.com:

Riverside Elementary fathers group gets more male volunteers in the classroom

Published: Friday, February 10, 2012, 7:00 AM

By Nicole Dungca, The Oregonian
Follow

ShareEmailPrint

View full sizeThomas Boyd/The OregonianKevin Mattias, a parent at Riverside Elementary School in Milwaukie, helps kindergartner Kyron Cushman while Tyler Creswick (center) and Mattias’ son, Keenan, work on their own projects. Kevin Mattias is participating in a national program called Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students), which encourages father figures to get into classrooms, where the volunteers typically are female.

MILWAUKIE -- Bill Kayser stayed at the back of the line as students filed out of a Riverside Elementary Schoolclassroom.

As they walked away, one student offered Kayser a high five, and another girl sidled up next to him to ask if he was coming back next week.

Kayser quietly smiled before helping to settle down the rest of the kids.

About WATCH D.O.G.S.

In Oregon: The national fatherhood group WATCH D.O.G.S. has nine participating schools in Oregon, according to national director Eric Snow. It recently partnered with Oregon PTA to work toward setting up a statewide day of dads and other male role models volunteering in schools.

At Riverside: To learn more about the WATCH D.O.G.S. program at Riverside Elementary School in Milwaukie, emailwatchdogs@riversidetigers.org

At most elementary schools, a volunteer dad like Kayser can be a rare sight. But a few Riverside fathers are hoping to change that through the WATCH D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) program, which is helping father figures get in on the classroom volunteering act.

After getting started in 1998 at an Arkansas school, the WATCH D.O.G.S. program has sprouted up in more than 2,000 buildings across the country. The national organization, which sells startup kits with instructions on h

Hechinger Report | Q&A with Henan Cheng: What happens to migrant children in Chinese public schools?

Hechinger Report | Q&A with Henan Cheng: What happens to migrant children in Chinese public schools?:

Can China successfully educate its future workforce?

by Sarah Butrymowicz

Migrant students play during a mid-day break at Dexin School in Kunming, China. (Photo by Sarah Butrymowicz)

KUNMING, China—With dirt streaking their faces and clothes, children shout and run around a concrete courtyard that doubles as a playground at the Dexin School. Minutes later, they squirm in their seats after being corralled into classrooms with bars on the windows. Their voices can be heard disrupting their English class as American volunteers try to get them to repeat phrases like “You are beautiful.”

This private school in a provincial capital of southern China educates some of the country’s most disadvantaged students. They are all so-called “migrant” students who have moved with their parents from the countryside to cities. At Dexin, volunteers and often-under qualified teachers work on a shoestring budget with impoverished

Q&A with Henan Cheng: What happens to migrant children in Chinese public schools?

by Sarah Butrymowicz

The flood of China’s rural residents into cities has resulted in millions of migrants living illegally in urban areas where they are often denied basic social services, like education. In 2006, the central government made it clear that compulsory education for migrant children is the responsibility of local governments, and that migrant children should be allowed into public schools instead of relegated to private ones. But that doesn’t always happen—and, even when it does, a lot of inequality remains.

Henan Cheng

Henan Cheng, an assistant professor in Loyola University Chicago’s School of Education, recently published research about Kunming, a provincial capital city in southern China, where about 50 percent of migrant children