Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Mid Day Posts 3-7 #edreform #soschat

Directory Scholarships, Internships, Programs for Latino Students - Hispanically Speaking News

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 10 minutes ago

Directory Scholarships, Internships, Programs for Latino Students - Hispanically Speaking News:Check Out: Directory of Scholarships, Internships and Programs for Latino StudentsMarch 6, 2012 | by HS News StaffPhoto Credits: CHCI Scholarships ResourceCheck Out “Directory of Scholarships, Internships and Programs for Latino Students”. This directory was prepared by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute with the support of State Farm. There is a lot of useful information and resources for Latino students here.Click here to access.

DCPS budget: RHEEFORM IMPACT’s impact - D.C. Schools Insider - The Washington Post

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 10 minutes ago

DCPS budget: IMPACT’s impact - D.C. Schools Insider - The Washington Post:DCPS budget: IMPACT’s impactby Bill TurqueThere’s plenty for DCPS stakeholders to dislike in the newly released school-based budget allocations proposed for 2012-13. While they reflect a two-percent increase in the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula, they will still mean larger class sizes--as in, fewer teachers--at the middle and high school levels, along with cuts in positions such as special education coordinator.Read full article

Estimados padres de las escuelas públicas de NYC….. | United Opt Out National

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Estimados padres de las escuelas públicas de NYC….. | United Opt Out National:Estimados padres de las escuelas públicas de NYC…..by adminEstimados padres de las escuelas públicas de NYC:Somos los padres de dos niños que asisten a dos escuelas elementales en Manhattan. Hasta el presente, hemos estado muy satisfechos con la educación que nuestros hijos han recibido en las escuelas públicas de NY. Sus directores y maestros, sin excepción, han demostrado ser profesionales inteligentes con un conocimiento amplio sobre la formación ... more »

School Tech Connect: Arne Duncan's Genie, Part 2

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School Tech Connect: Arne Duncan's Genie, Part 2:Arne Duncan's Genie, Part 2by noreply@blogger.com (Tim)I'm sure this all sounds very appealing to people who don't understand test scores.Check out the article title:

Focusing On Neighborhood Assets — One Of My Favorite Lessons! | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

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Focusing On Neighborhood Assets — One Of My Favorite Lessons! | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…:Focusing On Neighborhood Assets — One Of My Favorite Lessons!by Larry FerlazzoWe’re in the middle of one of my favorite units — where we focus on our neighborhood’s assets instead of its deficits.I explain it more in detail at A Lesson Highlighting Community Assets — Not Deficits, and have a complete lesson plan, including hand-outs, in my book on Helping Students Motivate Themselves. In ... more »

California Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program - School Nutrition (CA Dept of Education)

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California Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program - School Nutrition (CA Dept of Education):California Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, administered by the California Dept of Education, provides schools with funding to offer students a free fresh fruit or vegetable snack during the school day.Program DescriptionThe United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) at the federal level. At the state level, the FFVP is administered by the California Department ... more »

Federal Suspension and Expulsion Report - Year 2012 (CA Dept of Education)

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Federal Suspension and Expulsion Report - Year 2012 (CA Dept of Education):State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Responds to FederalReport on Student Suspension and Expulsion RatesSACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today applauded efforts by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to shed light on the problem of excessive use of suspension and expulsion of students as a disciplinary tool in the nation's schools."Collecting this data helps us start crucial conversations at the local school level ... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Early Evening Posts 3-6 #SOSchat #p2 #edreform

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Motion to Cancel Teach for America, Inc. Contract in Seattle | Seattle EducationBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-1 hour agoMotion to Cancel Teach for America, Inc. Contract in Seattle | Seattle Education:Motion to Cancel Teach for America, Inc. in Seattleby seattleducation2011On February 16th, there was a motion to cancel the Teach for America, Inc. contract by one of the school board members in the Board Curriculum and Instruction Committee meeting. Five board members were in attendance. A majority of ...more »

Career Technical Education (CTE)Assembly Bill 1330 - Letters (CA Dept of Education)

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Implementation of Assembly Bill 1330 - Letters (CA Dept of Education):Dear County and District Superintendents, Charter School Administrators, and High School Principals:IMPLEMENTATION OF ASSEMBLY BILL 1330The purpose of this letter is to provide guidance on the implementation of Assembly Bill 1330 (Chapter 621, Statutes of 2011) in districts and schools offering instruction in any of grades nine through twelve, inclusive.Existing state law requires all graduating high school students to complete one course in visual or performing arts or foreign language. ... more »

Police Anonymity Demands Thwart Release of UC Davis Pepper Spray Report « Student Activism

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Police Anonymity Demands Thwart Release of UC Davis Pepper Spray Report « Student Activism:Police Anonymity Demands Thwart Release of UC Davis Pepper Spray Reportby Angus JohnstonAs I noted last month, only one of the dozens of police officers involved in the notorious November 18 UC Davis pepper-spray incident has yet been publicly identified. Now a police demand for continued anonymity has delayed today’s intended release of the university’s report on the incident.Attorneys for the officers claim that because the report ... more »

School official outs 8th-grader as pregnant - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

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School official outs 8th-grader as pregnant - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:School official outs 8th-grader as pregnantby Valerie Strauss“We learn by example and by direct experience,” wrote Malcolm Gladwell in “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking,” “because there are real limits to the adequacy of verbal instruction.”And herein lies a fundamental obstacle to increasing efforts across the country to counter bullying by young people: adult bullies.Read full article

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Education Reform: Socks Worn Inside-Out

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Seattle Schools Community Forum: Education Reform: Socks Worn Inside-Out:Education Reform: Socks Worn Inside-Outby Charlie MasI have touched on this idea a couple of times before, but with the Board poised to vote on the contract with Teach for America I think it is time to bring it back.I am not an advocate for the status-quo. I'm surprised that I even have to write that. Holy cow, if I haven't established myself as a critic of the education establishment, then I ... more »

Florida Parent Groups Frustrated by Lack of Access « Parents Across America

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Florida Parent Groups Frustrated by Lack of Access « Parents Across America:Florida Parent Groups Frustrated by Lack of Accessby leoniehaimsonCheck your pockets when a Corporate Education reformer claims to care about parent empowerment; nearly always, as in this case, they are working for their own private ends.For immediate release.Tallahassee, FloridaOn Saturday, March 3, 2012, for the third time in a matter of weeks, a real Florida parent was cut off mid-sentence during testimony opposing SB 1718/”Parent Empowerment” and told by ... more »

Fresh Evidence: Pascale Mauclair’s Report Should be Declared Invalid | Edwize

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Fresh Evidence: Pascale Mauclair’s Report Should be Declared Invalid | Edwize:Fresh Evidence: Pascale Mauclair’s Report Should be Declared Invalidby Jackie BennettLast week, Leo Casey gave Edwize readers the real story of Pascal Mauclair, whom the NY Post declared was the “at the bottom of the heap” when the DOE released the Teacher Data Reports to the press. The DOE gave Ms. Mauclair a “0” on her report, but the results seemed, to put it mildly, arbitrary. As Casey pointed out, ... more »

Answering Questions of Fundamental Fairness | ED.gov Blog

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Answering Questions of Fundamental Fairness | ED.gov Blog:Answering Questions of Fundamental FairnessPosted on March 6, 2012 by Cameron BrenchleyEarlier today, Secretary Duncan released new data from the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights that reveal unfortunate truths about our nation’s schools. The Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) is a first-of-its kind national data tool that highlights schools that are making real progress in closing opportunity gaps, as well as educational inequities around teacher experience, discipline and high school rigor.Key ... more »

Dozens Arrested in California and New York Capitol Protests « Student Activism

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Dozens Arrested in California and New York Capitol Protests « Student Activism:Dozens Arrested in California and New York Capitol Protestsby Angus JohnstonRunning around today, but wanted to at least quickly follow up on the student protests in Sacramento and Albany yesterday.The New York Times has a good overview of the Albany action. Excerpt:About 300 students, most of them from public universities in New York, rattled the Capitol on Monday with an outburst of loud protests, in the gallery of the ... more »

Chicago Public School Students Face Racial Discipline Gap: Education Department

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Chicago Public School Students Face Racial Discipline Gap: Education Department:Chicago Public School Students Face Racial Discipline Gap: Education Departmentby Joy ResmovitsIn Chicago public schools, black students receive harsher punishments for in-school infractions than white students, a fact that mirrors a nationwide trend, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Education Tuesday. The report paints a startling picture of racial disparities in how students are disciplined in schools across the country.Nationally, black students are more than three-and-a-half times... more »

Parent trigger: A farce in Florida - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

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Parent trigger: A farce in Florida - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:Parent trigger: A farce in FloridaBy Valerie StraussThere’s one important thing missing from the effort in Florida to pass a bill that would institute a “parent trigger” allowing parents to force specific changes at low-performing public schools: support from Florida parents.The legislature has been considering whether to join a movementstarted in California that gives parents with children at low-performing (based on standardized test scores) to ask the ... more »

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Look who's taken by surprise

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Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Look who's taken by surprise:Look who's taken by surpriseby Mike KlonskyChicago Public Schools chief Jean-Claude Brizard, second from left, takes part in a panel discussion Monday with moderator Tim Knowles, left, director of the University of Chicago’s Urban Education Institute, Michael Milkie, CEO of the Noble Network of Charter Schools, and Sister Mary Paul McCaughey, superintendent of the Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic Schools. (Antonio Perez / March 5, 2012)Taken aback yesterday was corporate reformer Tim Knowles, ... more »

Motion to Cancel Teach for America, Inc. Contract in Seattle | Seattle Education

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Motion to Cancel Teach for America, Inc. Contract in Seattle | Seattle Education:Motion to Cancel Teach for America, Inc. in Seattleby seattleducation2011On February 16th, there was a motion to cancel the Teach for America, Inc. contract by one of the school board members in the Board Curriculum and Instruction Committee meeting. Five board members were in attendance. A majority of them supported a motion to terminate the district’s contract with Teach for America, Inc. The motion will appear as an ... more »

Are College Students a Privileged Elite? « Student Activism

Are College Students a Privileged Elite? « Student Activism:

Are College Students a Privileged Elite?

by Angus Johnston

A little while ago I linked to a piece by Malcolm Harris on what he calls the “generational war” being waged against American youth. Harris’s argument has been criticized from the left by a blogger named Freddie DeBoer who writes that he’s “using the language of revolution to justify what is, at its essence, a dispute among the ruling class,” making “a case that is simply antithetical to the left-wing project: the notion that recent college graduates are the dispossessed.”

College is, DeBoer writes, the province of the elite:

Less than a third of Americans has a bachelor’s degree. The racial college achievement gap is large, and it’s not shrinking; it’s growing. Social class is extremely determinative of access to college education. From 1970 to 2006, those from the highest income quartile had a better than 70 percent change of holding a college degree. Those in the lowest quartile? 10 percent.

This is an important argument, and so it’s important to point out that DeBoer gets it wrong.

Yes, the white and the wealthy are more likely to attend college than the black (and Latino) and the poor. That’s

AERA Erasing Line Between Scholarship and Partisanship :: Frederick M. Hess

AERA Erasing Line Between Scholarship and Partisanship :: Frederick M. Hess:

AERA Erasing Line Between Scholarship and Partisanship

by Frederick M. Hess • Mar 7, 2012 at 10:03 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

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The American Educational Research Association (of which I am a member) modestly labels itself "the nation's leading scientific and scholarly association...devoted to advancing knowledge about education." Readers may assume that AERA does its best to avoid gratuitous partisan political fights.

Ha!! Hah-hah! Silly readers. Indeed, it often seems that ed research is an excuse for AERA's leaders to dress up partisan political leanings in something more impressive than fevered ideology. That said, I don't mind the partisanship and ideology so much as I mind the hypocrisy, misuse of research, and attempt to hijack scholarly institutions.

What's up? I recently opened the most recent "AERA News Highlights" to see tedious updates on NCES, AERA's new logo, and the federal budget--all topped by enthusiastic announcements that AERA had

Teachers, Parents, and the Economy….Important Results from the Metlife Survey of the American Teacher | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

Teachers, Parents, and the Economy….Important Results from the Metlife Survey of the American Teacher | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights:

Teachers, Parents, and the Economy….Important Results from the Metlife Survey of the American Teacher

by Cheryl S. Williams

In this year’s Metlife Survey of the American Teacher there’s good news and there’s bad news.

In the good news column, parent engagement has increased in the past 25 years, though it still remains a challenge for many schools. The bad news exposed that teachers are less satisfied with their careers and that in the past two years there has been a significant decline in teachers’ satisfaction with their profession. In one of the most dramatic findings of the report, teacher satisfaction has decreased by 15 points since the survey measured job satisfaction two years ago. It has now reached the lowest level of job satisfaction seen in the survey series in more than two decades.

This troubling news should be a wakeup call for all of us, especially since in addition to the low morale problem, the number of teachers who indicated they will be leaving their jobs for both retirement and other fields has markedly

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Modern School: Teen Harassed by School for Comparing Schools to Slavery

Modern School: Teen Harassed by School for Comparing Schools to Slavery:

Teen Harassed by School for Comparing Schools to Slavery

by Michael Dunn

In a scathing indictment of public education, Jada Williams, a 13-year old eighth grader at School #3 in Rochester, New York, asserted that today's education system, like slavery, keeps children of color from meaningful learning. According to Good Education, Williams essayreferred to a quote by Frederick Douglass, who said that his slave master, Mr. Auld, told his wife, "If you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there will be no keeping him. It will forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master."

Williams said real learning is precluded by overcrowded and poorly managed classrooms, yielding the same results as Mr. Auld's ban. She went on to point out that her teachers—the majority of whom are white in this white minority district—have the power to determine what

PPB: Value-added, value subtracted. Children are not strawberries.

PPB: Value-added, value subtracted. Children are not strawberries.:

Value-added, value subtracted. Children are not strawberries.

by Anne Geiger

Part 1--

Before I finish another post I'm struggling with, I wanted to share this article by Bill Turque of the Washington Post- 'Creative and motivating".....and fired! It's a personal story of a teacher, Sarah Wysocki, who had been positively reviewed by her principal but later fired under D.C.'s new teacher evaluation system.

Wysocki, 31, was let go because the reading and math scores of her students didn’t grow as predicted. Her undoing was “value-added,” a complex statistical tool used to measure a teacher’s direct contribution to test results. The District and at least 25 states, under prodding from the Obama administration, have adopted or are developing value-added systems to assess teachers.

When her students fell short, the low value-added trumped her positives in the classroom. Under the D.C. teacher evaluation system, called IMPACT , the measurement counted for 50 percent of

Is Occupy Wall Street a Youth Movement? « Student Activism

Is Occupy Wall Street a Youth Movement? « Student Activism:

Is Occupy Wall Street a Youth Movement?

by Angus Johnston

Over at The New Inquiry, Malcolm Harris is taking a look at the dismal circumstances today’s young people find themselves in. Youth unemployment is at record levels. Youth arrest rates are skyrocketing even as youth crime plummets. College tuition is going through the roof, as is youth debt, and household incomes of youth-headed families are lagging far behind those of other age cohorts.

It’s ugly.

And that ugliness is the cause, Harris says, of Occupy Wall Street:

It isn’t a stretch to call the recent wave of American occupations a youth movement. Originating from student struggles against high tuition — in California, New York, and most militantly, Puerto Rico — the occupations channeled young Americans’ fear and insecurity into often inchoate action. … President

Teachers living in the 39th IL State Rep district: Vote Will Guzzardi. « Fred Klonsky

Teachers living in the 39th IL State Rep district: Vote Will Guzzardi. « Fred Klonsky:

Teachers living in the 39th IL State Rep district: Vote Will Guzzardi.

by Fred Klonsky

The 39th State Representative district stretches from Logan Square up through the north west side of Chicago.

It is the home of many Chicago and suburban teachers.

Over the past two weeks my little green mailbox has been filled with expensive four color negative ads for Machine Boss Joe Berrios’ daughter, Toni Berrios.

“Guzzardi in the pocket of big corporations.”

What a joke.

But here’s the good news.

The incumbent Berrios, who suddenly claims to be anti-corporate, could not win the endorsement of the two

Hechinger Report | Magnet-school resurgence? A Q&A with Richard Kahlenberg

Hechinger Report | Magnet-school resurgence? A Q&A with Richard Kahlenberg:

Magnet-school resurgence? A Q&A with Richard Kahlenberg

by Sarah Carr

Richard Kahlenberg

Charter schools have become the fastest growing and most politically popular school-choice option over the last two decades. But a group of researchers hope to draw political attention back to what they have described as “the forgotten choice”: magnet schools.

A report last month by UCLA’s Civil Rights Project highlights various strengths of magnet schools, particularly when it comes to their historic purpose of desegregation. Magnets typically enroll students from across a city or region and focus on a particular theme.

The researchers found that, like charter schools, the magnets they surveyed enroll larger percentages of minority students than traditional U.S. public schools. But the students in charters were significantly more likely to attend