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Sunday, March 25, 2012

Big Education Ape: 3-25-12 AM What happens when charter schools close? EDition #ASKARNE

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

Published by Coopmike48 – 6 news spotters today

Smiley & West featuring Pasi Sahlberg

smileyandwest.com - West:               From PRI, Public Radio International in Princeton I’m Cornel West and this is Smiley & West. Duncan:  All of us have to move outside our comfort zone.  All of us have to change....
DianeRavitch

What happens when charter schools close?

nola.com - Nearly four years ago, teenagers Lynntrell Westbrook and Damonika Stokes took a chance on an ambitious new charter school that promised a rigorous high school curriculum combined with regular commu...
DianeRavitch

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coopmike48 Hunterdon middle school shuts off water fountains due to lead concerns | NJ.com bit.ly/GOYDIt2 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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EducationSee all

Help Save Flushing High School

urbanedmusic.blogspot.com - *I humbly ask in advance that if you would like to support Flushing HS, as well the other schools that face likely closure, please share this article with as many people as possible—politicians, la...
leoniehaimson

Washington Post writes about Texas resolution

tasanet.blogspot.com - Valerie Straus, writer of The Washington Post's phenomenally popular education blog The Answer Sheet, just posted a lengthy entry about the debate surrounding high-stakes, standardized testing here...
leoniehaimson

SocietySee all

Trayvon Martin Stand Your Ground ALEC NRA

tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com - Ryan J. Reilly March 22, 2012, 6:00 AM Trayvon Martin was just 10 years old when politicians in Florida passed legislation that, seven years later, is being blamed for letting his killer walk free....
mikeklonsky

History of Neglect Leads to Today’s Pension Woes

iearegion28.wordpress.com - Senate President John Cullerton has called on legislative leaders to make pension reform a major focus during the upcoming legislative session. The President has recently led the Senate in passing ...
fklonsky

PoliticsSee all

Meet the New Boss - Magazine

theatlantic.com - Image credit: Tim KleinI was walking around my sister’s Near North neighborhood in Chicago recently and came upon a small patch of green called Bauler Park. Paddy Bauler was the rollicking tavern o...
mikeklonsky

Special Session Updates

saveseattleschools.blogspot.com - Looking around it seems that there is some forward motion but our legislators still haven't gotten enough done. The gimmicks around waiting one day for a payment to K-12 districts to save some mone...
coopmike48

Robots Kill, but the Blood Is on Our Hands

dissidentvoice.org - In her spare time, between non-stop peace activism and leading international exchanges, Medea Benjamin has somehow managed to write the best book yet on the most inhuman form of war yet.  The book ...
coopmike48

LeisureSee all

‘Pink Slime’ Losing Place on School Lunch Menus

nytimes.com - BOSTON — Andy Gomez, a ninth grader at Brighton High School, was not sure why hamburgers and meatballs had disappeared from the cafeteria, but he was not happy about it. “Today I just ate peanut bu...
mikeklonsky

CrimeSee all

Man Shot Near Elementary School; Suspect Sought

rosemont.patch.com - A 20-year-old man is expected to live after being shot near Sequoia Elementary School on Rosemont Drive Saturday, authorities said. Sacramento County Sheriff's Department spokesman Dep. Jason Ramos...
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Ignoring a reform that works - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Ignoring a reform that works - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:


Ignoring a reform that works

by Valerie Strauss

This was written by Leonie Haimson, executive director of the nonprofitClass Size Matters, and founder of the NYC Public School Parent blog.
By Leonie Haimson
 
Two thirds of teachers are experiencing increased class sizes at their schools due to budget cuts, according to a recent national MET life survey . The problem is particularly evident for those who teach in urban areas with large numbers of at-risk students. In schools from New York to Arizona, Texas to California, class sizes in many schools have swelled to thirty or more, denying teachers a real opportunity to teach and children a real chance to learn.
The same survey showed that these worsening conditions have caused 

‘There is no joy in education these days’

by Valerie Strauss
This is an open letter written by Larry Lee after he sat through a meeting of the Alabama House Ways & Means Education Committee last week during a hearing on HB541, a bill known as the “Education Options Act of 2012.”
Read full article >>
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Achievement First Charter School Parents Speak Out : A must watch | Seattle Education

Achievement First Charter School Parents Speak Out : A must watch | Seattle Education:


Achievement First Charter School Parents Speak Out : A must watch

by seattleducation2011
I have read and heard stories about charter schools that are geared toward minority students, as most are, but this is the first time that I have watched in-depth interviews of parents who had their children in these charter school franchises.
“Behavior modification training” is a term that one parent described her son’s first experience in this charter school.
May Taliaferrow, Former parent at Achievement First, Brooklyn, NY starts out as an avid charter school supporter but finds parents are shut out and children are subjected to severe discipline and ends up telling her son how sorry she was for putting him the school.
Popout
“My child was made to sit on the floor until he


Ballard High School’s PTSA resolution on the budget and charter schools

by seattleducation2011
Dear legislators:
As the legislature works to produce a budget during this week’s special session, the Ballard High School PTSA urges lawmakers to be mindful of their paramount constitutional duty and focus first and foremost on amply funding our children’s education.
Furthermore, we believe that the legislature’s first priority after it passes the budget should be working to devise a permanent solution to the chronic underfunding of our public schools.  As the Supreme Court reminded us in the McCleary case, that is the legislature’s first order of constitutional business; until it is accomplished lawmakers should not spend time debating divisive issues such as charter schools that sidetrack time and attention and could ultimately impact your ability to fully fund public education. There is a gaping hole in our 
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Not Common. Not Core, Either. - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

Not Common. Not Core, Either. - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:


Not Common. Not Core, Either.

by Nancy Flanagan
My friend Claudia Swisher, an exceptional veteran teacher from Oklahoma, recently posted an update inGoodreads, a kind of virtual book club where we hang out together. We have challenged each other to read 150 books in 2012. While I have been ripping through mysteries and historical fiction, Claudia just notched a professional volume--Supporting Students in a Time of Core Standards. (Interesting title, immediately bringing to mind Love in the Time of Cholera--but never mind.)
Claudia wrote a thoughtful mini-essay in her review, sharing some concerns and questions about what impact, exactly, the Common Core will have on teaching high school English, a field in which she has thirty-something years of experience. She did like the book, seeing it as valuable tool, "as we, once again, gear up to change our classrooms in response to edicts from policy makers who have never been in the classroom. We can do this...again."
Claudia is not the only one wondering about the Common Core Standards (CCS). There seem to be lots of 
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Teacher turnover matters | Outside the Cave

Teacher turnover matters | Outside the Cave:


Teacher turnover matters

by Stephen Lazar
Last year, I wrote a series of posts calling teacher turnover the biggest problem we face in education, every word of which I still stand by, and would be willing to double down on (parts 1, 2, & 3). A new study backs that up, which Stephen Sawchuk wrote about recently for his Education Week blog:
When teachers leave schools, overall morale appears to suffer enough that student achievement declines—both for those taught by the departed teachers and by students whose teachers stayed put, concludes a study recently presented at a conference held by the Center for Longitudinal Data in Education Research...
Among their findings:
  • For each analysis, students taught by teachers in the same grade-level team in the same 
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SOUTH BRONX SCHOOL: Gideon Stein Looks Down His Nose From His Balcony

SOUTH BRONX SCHOOL: Gideon Stein Looks Down His Nose From His Balcony:


Gideon Stein Looks Down His Nose From His Balcony

by noreply@blogger.com (Bronx Teacher)
On March 12, I wrote about one of Eva Moskowitz's official henchman Gideon Stein. But calling Gideon Eva's henchman is not enough. I think, at least my opinion is Gideon is Eva's Little mouthpiece.

Now to remind you who Gideon is, he is a very rich white man whose mission in life is to correct the behavior, culture, and education of little black boys and girls of color. The way I see it is that Gideon feels that only through the paternalistic good will that only he believes he has, that all the little boys and girls of color will learn what it means to pull up dem boot straps, comb dey hair, pull up dos pants and be able to enter through the front door and be one of Gideon's house...., well figure out the rest. Let's 
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Mike Klonsky...: Keynoter at Bowling Green

Mike Klonsky...: Keynoter at Bowling Green:


Keynoter at Bowling Green

by Mike Klonsky
The third annual Urban Education Conference is where BGSU undergraduates presented  alongside University faculty, graduate students, professional teachers, and administrators to learn from each other about the complexities of the urban education experience.

The Keynote speaker was Dr. Michael Klonsky, Small Schools Workshop, Chicago,  "Public Schools-An Endangered Species" at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, March 23, in 101 Olscamp Hall.
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Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee tells how she Divided D.C.

Education reformer Michelle Rhee tells her side:

Education reformer Michelle Rhee tells her side

Jill Tucker
Sunday, March 25, 2012
 
Michelle Rhee, the former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor, might very well be the most controversial figure in public education these days.
She runs the national nonprofit she started in 2010 called Students First, which advocates for increased parent choice, fiscal accountability at all levels of public education and weeding out ineffective teachers and, last year, Time magazine named her among the world's 100 most influential people.
But she is vilified by the teachers unions for her support of charter schools and vouchers and her efforts to rid schools of ineffective teachers regardless of their seniority. Her organization has gained national recognition among education-minded reformers and even Oprah.
Now living in Sacramento, Rhee, 42, is married to the city's Mayor Kevin Johnson. She was in the Bay Area last week for several speaking engagements and spoke to The Chronicle. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Your parents pulled you out of public school questioning the quality and sent you to a private school. Did you agree with them?
Rhee: You know, at that point I don't think I felt in any way I wasn't getting a good education or anything like that. But at the time that my parents did that my brother was attending a private school and I definitely saw the rigor of the instruction he was getting.
Q: Do you think that decision affected you and the direction that you've taken?
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Daily Kos: What Kids Aren't Learning

Daily Kos: What Kids Aren't Learning:


What Kids Aren't Learning

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)
is the title of the kickoff session of a camoaign titled "Teaching Out Loud" being run by Teaching for Change,  and organization which
provides teachers and parents with the tools to transform schools into centers of justice where students learn to read, write and change the world.
 It is dedicated to the idea that building social justice starts in the classroom.The subtitle of the campaign is Social Justice Teaching Shouldn't Be Silenced, and that of the particular event is History Under Attack And Why It Matters.
Teaching for Change runs the bookstores at the local DC area chain of restaurant/cafes, Busboys and Poets, with two locations in DC, one in Hyattsville MD, and one in Shirlington in Arlington County VA (where I live).
This was an important event, as well as a fundraiser for the work Teaching for Change does, which includes book author events at the restaurants and most notably the Zinn Education Project, which it runs in conjunction with
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Wolk still leads contribution race, Frerichs makes big move for second | Davis Enterprise

Wolk still leads contribution race, Frerichs makes big move for second | Davis Enterprise:


Wolk still leads contribution race, Frerichs makes big move for second

 

Heading into the final months of campaigning for Davis City Council seats, incumbent Dan Wolk has not lost much of his substantial financial lead in contributions.
Candidates again had to file on Thursday to show their campaign contributions from Jan. 1 to March 17 and Wolk now has amassed a $20,139 campaign war chest, over $8,000 more than any of the other four candidates who will vie for three seats on the City Council dais in the June 5 election.
Wolk, 34, a Stanford University graduate, works as deputy county counsel for Solano County and was appointed to the City Council last February after Don Saylor vacated his seat to join the Yolo County Board of Supervisors. Wolk collected $6,820 of contributions during the latest period.
The first of three incumbents, Wolk, who is facing his first election, has spent $10,581 on campaign expenses, leaving a balance of $9,157. In addition to this cash total, Wolk also has received $400 in non-monetary contributions during the campaign.
The candidate with the second most money raised is Lucas Frerichs, who received $11,605, all over the latest filing period, which is the most out of all the candidates.
Frerichs, 32, chairman of the Davis Planning Commission, was the last candidate to announce his campaign in February and did not file financial papers for the last period.
This also will be Frerichs’ first campaign, though he is familiar with the public process, as for the past seven years he has worked as a policy consultant on natural resources issues at the state Capitol.
So far, Frerichs has spent $4,894, leaving him with a cash balance of $6,711. Frerichs hasn’t received any non-monetary contributions.
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Missouri Education Watchdog: Creativity, Common Core, Racial Diversity (or Guilt). The Sunday Education Weekly Reader 03.25.12

Missouri Education Watchdog: Creativity, Common Core, Racial Diversity (or Guilt). The Sunday Education Weekly Reader 03.25.12:


Creativity, Common Core, Racial Diversity (or Guilt). The Sunday Education Weekly Reader 03.25.12

by stlgretchen
Welcome to the Sunday Education Weekly Reader for 3.25.12.  This week's visual soundbites from Twitter:

  •  I didn't make the connection of "collaboration" this tweeter took away from the article.  I find it fascinating the creative genius in all students could very well be squashed by a common curriculum, common timetable for learning, and shared experiences.  What do you think after reading?...VERY GOOD article...Creativity, Critical Thinking and Collaboration key for 21st 
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Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » EETT, that light at the end of the tunnel is looking less like a train…

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » EETT, that light at the end of the tunnel is looking less like a train…:


This emperor has no clothes…

by alicemercer
In general, education policy in California is on a different trajectory than many other states. No less a personage than Diane Ravitch has lauded my governor, Jerry Brown. Even though the Obama administration foolishly over-looked Linda Darling-Hammond, our state superintendent has highlighted her work, and appointed her to the state credentialing commission. With the departure of State Senator  Gloria Romero after her failed bid for the state superintendent position for a sinecure at Parent Revolution the legislature seemed on a more even keel.
As I grew up in the 1970s and 80s, the Legislative Analysts Office had a sterling reputation for giving sound advice. My experience on the ARRA EETT debacle, showed them as uninformed, and out of sync — chasing after pennies in the hopes of getting quarters that would cost dollars. Money was diverted from classrooms to data systems in the foolish hope of getting RttT funding from the feds when it was CLEAR to everyone that the 
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