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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Big Education Ape: 3-14-12 AM Why Are Teachers So Upset? EDition #SOSCHAT

Big Education Ape: PARENTS CAN!:
Big Education Ape: PARENTS CAN!

Published by Coopmike48 – 7 news spotters today

'Occupy Education' Debates the Gates Foundation (and Wins)

commondreams.org - “Gates Foundation you will fail / Education is not for sale!” The chants of some 150 teachers, students, parents and Occupy Seattle activists reverberated off the windows of the global headquarters...
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coopmike48 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: LAUSD BOARD APPROVES DEEP PROGRAM CUTS, BUT HOPES THEY WON’T BE NEEDED bit.ly/xpmlZ52 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 Read Damn Good Education Daily ▸ today's top stories via @jfenster@mikeklonsky @fklonsky ▸paper.li/coopmike48/bir… #SOSMARCH#EDCHAT· reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 Charles Lindbergh Sr. and 86% of Great Depression economists on monetary reform | Dailycensored.combit.ly/x4VGe57 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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A good IEA endorsement. Will Guzzardi. « Fred Klonsky

preaprez.wordpress.com - Jim Reed of the Illinois Education Association, which endorsed Guzzardi in late February, said he has long enjoyed a pleasant working relationship with Rep. Berrios, but said that being tied up wit...
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Cuomo Cuts Ad For Teacher Evals

nydailynews.com - Gov. Cuomo this morning took to the air in a new ad urging New Yorkers to pressure their local school districts and unions to reach deals on new teacher evaluation systems. The ad comes at a time w...
leonie haimson

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Big Education Ape: Why is Dick a nickname for Richard

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Why is Dick a nickname for Richard Why is Dick a nickname for Richard: In: Name Origins, Names and Name Meanings [Edit categories] a man named Richard may be nicknamed Dick because that is the trad...
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Supporters Gather to Celebrate Colette « MomsRising Blog

momsrising.org - by Rachel Lincoln Saroff Executive Director & CEO Healthy Child Healthy World www.healthychild.org Thanks to everyone who helped us “Celebrate Colette” this week, where we kicked off our Spanish Tr...
Coopmike48

Remarks by the First Lady at Mini-Olympic Games Event

whitehouse.gov - MRS. OBAMA: Okay, you guys can have a seat. You've done well. You've done well. Have you guys had fun today? MRS. OBAMA: Was this not -- very cool. This was very cool, wasn't it? MRS. OBAMA: I mean...
Coopmike48

When Coming To Work Is Play… « Cooperative Catalyst

coopcatalyst.wordpress.com - One thing I love about teaching Kindergarten is that the kids are looking to play all the time. I went to school each day in a joyful frame of mind because the kids were so happy and fun to talk wi...
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NYC Educator: No Fair Hearing for You!

NYC Educator: No Fair Hearing for You!:


No Fair Hearing for You!

by NYC Educator
Leo Casey has a new column criticizing the NY Principals who oppose the upcoming evaluation system. He makes some good points.

1. Unfettered power of principals can be a disaster, particularly with Bloomberg-indoctrinated Leadership Academy grads. Anyone who doubts that can follow the saga of Peter Lamphere, who appears to have received U ratings for the crime of leading his chapter. Peter had to go to court to have one rating overturned, and I believe he still has one outstanding.

2. The current appeal process is a total sham, rubber-stamping absolutely anything any principal says. What percentage of principals are crazy? I don't know, but the very first principal I ever worked for was a lunatic, and much of the staff bailed out around the very short time I was there. No one like that can really judge anyone fairly. 

3. The notion of rating an entire school on value-added is a poor one. It would pretty much give the mayor even 
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Assembly passes ALEC’s special education voucher plan that would divert millions to private schools | Defend Wisconsin

Assembly passes ALEC’s special education voucher plan that would divert millions to private schools | Defend Wisconsin:


Assembly passes ALEC’s special education voucher plan that would divert millions to private schools

by Itay
Private school vouchers would be made available to special education students under a bill that has passed the state Assembly on a 55-39 vote Tuesday. It must also pass the Senate this week or it will die for the year.
Assembly bill 110 would create a statewide Special Needs Scholarship Program, which would allow a participating special-education student to transfer to another public, private or charter school, with the receiving school accepting aid for that student and the school the student transfers from losing aid. The state subsidy would be worth $13,500 per pupil under the legislation.
The bill is part of the American Legislative Exchange Council‘s agenda for school reform that Republican state legislators are pushing to implement. Specifically, the bill for special needs children is modeled on the ALEC Special Needs Scholarship Program Act.
Disability rights advocates and state Department of Public Instruction officials say the measure would divert up to 
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Women are mad as hell in Wisconsin. The war on women is here. |

Women are mad as hell in Wisconsin. The war on women is here. |:


Women are mad as hell in Wisconsin. The war on women is here.

by bluecheddar
I don’t know if you’ve noticed something different with women in America lately. They seem to be more alarmed and more angry. Part of it is the much-publicized backlash against Rush Limbaugh for his attack against Sara Fluke. *  Part of it is a growing alarm over a series of invasive laws against women that are hopscotching across our state legislatures. Now Wisconsin’s Tea Party-dominated Assembly is set to jam 3 pieces of anti-woman legislation through by the end of tonight’s meeting of the legislative body or by, at the latest, March 15th when the legislature’s session is set to end. You can jump to the end of this piece to see more detailed explanations, but briefly, AB 337/SB 237 opens the door to abstinence-only sex education in public schools, AB 154/SB 92 makes private insurance coverage of abortion illegal, and AB 371/SB 306 restricts abortion by telemedicine 
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Why Are Many of Our Children’s Teachers Still Students Themselves? | California Progress Report

Why Are Many of Our Children’s Teachers Still Students Themselves? | California Progress Report:


Why Are Many of Our Children’s Teachers Still Students Themselves?

by megan
By Maribel Heredia
Plaintiff in Lawsuit Against the Department of Education
Four years ago, my son Joey — who was in first grade at the time — came home from school and said, “Mommy, my teacher wasn’t there today. She went to college.”
I figured he had to be mistaken; surely, his teacher had completed college and her professional training. I started asking questions. But instead of putting my mind at ease, the truth shocked me.
It turned out that the person responsible for teaching my son vital skills — how to read, spell, add and subtract — was still learning how to teach.
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Why Walmart Loves Welfare

by megan
By Bobbi Murray
The Frying Pan
You may have already heard that uber-retailer Walmart plans to open a 33,000 square-foot store in L.A.’s Chinatown.
Last week opponents of Walmart’s Chinatown store gathered at Sixth and Park View in MacArthur Park to listen to Walmart “associates”—the retailer’s preferred term for its employees—talk about their need for public assistance to make ends meet.
If you know L.A., you know MacArthur Park is nowhere near Chinatown. But it is across the street from a California Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) building—a place you’d go to apply for social services such as welfare and health care— for support you might need if you were employed at a poverty-wage job.
Support you might need if you work at Walmart.
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Green Jobs Remain the Bright Spot in the Economy

by megan
By Beth Gunston
California League of Conservation Voters
Green jobs have proven to be more than just a buzz term. As the grip of the recession continues to hold, a new report just put out by visionary group Next 10 provides stats that this budding sector of the economy is holding firm.
As pointed out in a L.A. Times article:
“The report suggests that amid volatile prices and tight markets, green entrepreneurs and their products and services will become increasingly competitive. California’s strong foundation of environmentally focused innovation and research, as well as its early-adopter culture, will also help.”
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The Oakland school district might be finished downsizing - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools

The Oakland school district might be finished downsizing - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools:


The Oakland school district might be finished downsizing


photo by Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group
I meant to post this story sooner: OUSD’s school closure process — which was supposed to last for two to three years and shrink the district by 20-30 schools — will likely stop after the first round, when the district is a dozen schools smaller than it was last fall.
District officials say the target changed because they are projecting a balanced budget for 2012-13, one without a structural deficit for the first time in more than a decade. You can find the story through the above link and read up on the district’s latest budget report here. The financial report will be presented at tomorrow night’s 5 p.m.board meeting.
P.S. Some have asked whether, in light of this development, OUSD will once again use adult education funding for adult education. California school districts are now — at least, for the time being — allowed to use the once-
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Public Education Can’t Take More Cuts, Pink Slips - California Teachers Association

Public Education Can’t Take More Cuts, Pink Slips - California Teachers Association:


Public Education Can’t Take More Cuts, Pink Slips

Contact: Mike Myslinski, CTA; 408-921-5769 (cell); mmyslinski@cta.org
UNION CITY – Bay Area public schools are at a darkening crossroads after years of devastating cuts and pink slips and can’t survive without adequate funding, while the governor’s proposed budget could make matters worse, local Education Coalition members warned today at a news conference in one decimated school district in Alameda County.
California schools and community colleges have been hit by more than $20 billion in funding cuts and deferrals the past four years. Facing an estimated budget shortfall of $10.7 million next fiscal year, the New Haven Unified School District issued precautionary layoff notices to more than 100 teachers, classified employees and administrators earlier this month and is facing closing libraries and cutting art and music classes. Since 2008, the district has already reduced its classified staff by 13 percent, the teaching staff by 14 percent and the administrative staff by 23 percent. Dozens of Bay Area districts have issued hundreds and hundreds of teacher pink slips as the annual March 15 deadline looms, and thousands more are going out across the state.
“We must find significant new revenues to return our economy and school system to the top rankings they once enjoyed,” said New Haven Unified Superintendent Kari McVeigh. “New Haven has already made $15 million in cuts over the past four years. Making nearly $11 million more in reductions will be devastating for our students and community.”
Finding new revenues is critical. The state ranks 47th in per-pupil funding, and at the bottom in the ratios of students per principal (46th), per teacher (47th), per counselor (49th), and per school librarian (50th). Class sizes are soaring.
Laying off thousands of teachers in the Bay Area and statewide will hurt a generation of students, said Terri Jackson, a member of the California Teachers Association’s Board of Directors and a teacher in West Contra Costa Unified, which issued more than 53 pink slips for educators. “Every teacher we lay off breaks a bond with students and parents. We have the ninth-largest economy in the world. We must protect what staff and resources we have left and invest more in our neighborhood schools, or we jeopardize the future of our state.”
Districts are laying off thousands of classified support staff at their own peril, since these maintenance, security, clerical and other workers are critical to the operation of every district, said Allan Clark, 
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Weighted formula’s heavy load | Thoughts on Public Education

Weighted formula’s heavy load | Thoughts on Public Education:


A win for Transitional Kindergarten - by Kathryn Baron

by Kathryn Baron
Gov. Brown’s latest proposal to eliminate Transitional Kindergarten hit a wall yesterday in the state Assembly. By a 3-to-1 vote along party lines, the budget subcommittee on education finance rejected the governor’s plan. “Eliminating the TK mandate would be a huge step backward for the state and early education,” said subcommittee chair Susan Bonilla, a Contra [...]

Weighted formula’s heavy load - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess
Some of the “losers” under Gov. Jerry Brown’s school finance proposal said their piece in testimony Tuesday before a subcommittee of the Assembly Budget Committee. A half-dozen superintendents from suburban and rural districts detailed how Brown’s weighted student formula, favoring districts with large numbers of English learners and low-income children, would harm them. Their plight made [...]
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Public Good — Or Commodity? | Taking Note

Public Good — Or Commodity? | Taking Note:


Public Good — Or Commodity?

by John Merrow
A quote from Claude Steele -- the new Dean of Education at Stanford -- combine with other discussions John Merrow had in the past week to form an integral question about American education.

If you are reading this during daylight hours in March, chances are that millions of our children are now engaged in what’s called ‘test prep.’ Just yesterday someone showed me the March calendar for a high-achieving public elementary school: two solid weeks of the month were blocked off for “TEST PREP,” probably in caps lest any classroom teacher forget and do some real teaching.
The banality of “TEST PREP” clashes violently with the ideas I was exposed to last week. Last Thursday and Friday, I spent quality time with syndicated columnist Mark Shields, GE Chairman and CEO Jeffery Immelt, Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), libertarian activist Giséle Huff, Stanford’s Claude Steele,Assistant Secretary of Education Carmel Martin, and Roberto Rodriguez (President Obama’s education advisor.)
These seven separate meetings (in Washington, DC and northern California) had only one thing in 
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Dilemmas in Researching Technology in Schools (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Dilemmas in Researching Technology in Schools (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:


Dilemmas in Researching Technology in Schools (Part 2)

by larrycuban
If you are a technology advocate, that is, someone who believes in his or her heart-of-hearts that new devices, new procedures, and new ways of using these devices will deliver better forms of teaching and learning, past and contemporary research findings are, to put it in a word–disappointing. How come?
For those champions of high-tech use in classrooms, two dilemmas have had technology researchers grumbling, fumbling, and stumbling.
Gap Between Self—Report and Actual Classroom Practice
Journalist accounts and many teacher, student, and parent surveys of 1:1 programs and online instruction in individual districts scattered across the U.S. report extraordinary enthusiasm. Teachers report daily use of 
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Jersey Jazzman: War On Women = War On Teachers, Part II

Jersey Jazzman: War On Women = War On Teachers, Part II:


War On Women = War On Teachers, Part II

by Duke
I seem to have struck a nerve with my last post on how the War On Women runs parallel with the War On Teachers. Let's go a little deeper.

My premise is straightforward: because conservatives feel comfortable in fighting against the empowerment of women, they will naturally gravitate toward "reforms" in education that disempower teachers. After all, three-fourths of the teacher workforce are female, so bashing teachers is, for all intents and purposes, the same as bashing women.

But let's break this down even further: are there specific "reforms" these people are proposing that target female 
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Florida’s Charter School Boondoggle “Not About Kids” | Scathing Purple Musings

Florida’s Charter School Boondoggle “Not About Kids” | Scathing Purple Musings:


Florida’s Charter School Boondoggle “Not About Kids”

by Bob Sikes
Georgis columnist Dick Yarborough says “there about money, politics and influence peddling.”
A sharp-eyed reader suggested I might want to see what’s happening in Florida with their charter schools, and I think I’ve broken the code. It’s not about the kids. It’s about money and politics and influence-peddling. Now, things are beginning to make sense.
The Miami Herald did an in-depth study on charter school operations in Florida in December. There, charter schools are a $400 million business that has turned into one of the region’s fastest-growing industries, “backed by real-estate developers and promoted by politicians” and “rife with insider deals and potential conflicts of interest.”
The Herald says Florida lawmakers  have chipped away at local school districts’ ability to monitor 
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The Educated Reporter: One Teacher Feels Impact of 'Value-Added' Evaluations

The Educated Reporter: One Teacher Feels Impact of 'Value-Added' Evaluations:


One Teacher Feels Impact of 'Value-Added' Evaluations

by Emily Richmond
Despite being described as “creative” and “motivating” by her supervisor, fifth-grade teacher Sarah Wysocki found herself out of a job when her students’ test scores didn’t improve as much as required by the District of Columbia Public Schools’ complex formula for evaluating her performance.

As the Washington Post’s Bill Turque reports, Wysocki had even been urged by her school's assistant principal to share her classroom techniques with other teachers. Just a few months later, when her students' test scores missed the mark, Wysocki was fired. Positive classroom evaluations weren’t enough to override the district’s “value-added” formula, which is supposed to quantify the effect Wysocki had on her students’ learning.

Such formulas are not fool-proof, as researchers themselves are quick to warn. Dale Ballou, a professor of education and public policy at Vanderbilt University, said he’s concerned that the current evaluation models are 
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