Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Big Education Ape: 3-27-12 AM Momentum Builds for Dual-Language Learning EDition

Big Education Ape: PARENTS CAN!:


Big Education Ape: PARENTS CAN!

Published by Coopmike48 – 7 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....
leoniehaimson

LAUSD Should Fund Schools in Need, Not District Offices

huffingtonpost.com - Dear LAUSD School Board Members, Superintendent Deasy, Secretary Duncan, and President Obama,We all want to provide the educational opportunities for children and our communities. Please help me re...
DianeRavitch

The Rich Get Even Richer

nytimes.com - NEW statistics show an ever-more-startling divergence between the fortunes of the wealthy and everybody else — and the desperate need to address this wrenching problem. Even in a country that somet...
DianeRavitch

Momentum Builds for Dual-Language Learning

edweek.org - After reading a story about a Mexican hat dance, 1st grader Ethan Wheeler tries out the dance himself at the Wharton K-8 Dual Language Academy in Houston, one of the oldest schoolwide dual-language...
K12NN

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EducationSee all

Pilot Districts | slcedu.org

slcedu.org - To develop and launch the services, the SLC is working with school districts in several states that have holistic plans to improve student achievement by addressing curriculum, content, assessments...
leoniehaimson

SocietySee all

Lobbyists, Guns and Money

nytimes.com - Florida’s now-infamous Stand Your Ground law, which lets you shoot someone you consider threatening without facing arrest, let alone prosecution, sounds crazy — and it is. And it’s tempting to dism...
mikeklonsky

No Limits On Teacher Evaluation Info, Skelos Says

nydailynews.com - State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said Monday there will be no restrictions on the public release of teacher evaluations. Our Ken Lovett reports: The Daily News reported today that the issue...
DianeRavitch

All Kids To Keep Providing For Undocumented Children

progressillinois.com - An idea for reducing Illinois' health care costs is off the table for now. An Illinois Senate subcommittee rejected last week Sen. Carole Pankau's (R-Itasca) plan to bar undocumented immigrant chil...
fklonsky

PoliticsSee all

State budget framework takes shape as final deal nears

gothamschools.org - With a final deal on the 2012-2013 state budget imminent, legislators were racing to hash out the last of several education rifts in a series of closed door negotiations on Monday. State Senate Maj...
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All Our Problems Solved…Or Not « MomsRising Blog

momsrising.org - From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog MOTHERS changing the conversation @ www.MothersOughtToHaveEqualRights.org Journalist Liza Mundy sees a time, in the very near future, when women will earn more th...
coopmike48

The Best Fun Videos About Books & Reading

larryferlazzo.edublogs.org -   I’m sure there are plenty of fun videos out there about books and reading, and I hope readers will point me in the direction of others besides the ones on this list. You might also be interested ...
coopmike48

Practice Makes Perfect (maybe) - The Educator's PLN

edupln.ning.com - So I find myself a bit anxious, asking myself, "What am I doing here?"  As a brand new blogger, I am embarrassed that I don't know how to do it properly.  This has long been a failing of mine and s...
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India shows concerns to US over rejection of H1B, L1 visas

democraticunderground.com - 4 Mar, 2012, 10.00PM IST, Ishani Duttagupta,ET Bureau Alexandra Patargia is a 26-year-old civil engineer from Greece. After an engineering degree from Athens, she completed her master's degree in d...
coopmike48

Murdoch firm used hacker site to target pay-TV rival

democraticunderground.com - News Corp owned 49% of NDS at point of sale. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/15/us-nds-cisco-idUSBRE82E0C120120315 Issue affecting ITV Digital was publicised almost exactly 10 years ago. Det...
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A Mother’s Grace and Grieving

nytimes.com - Miami Gardens, Fla. “They called him Slimm.” That is what Sybrina Fulton, the mother of the slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, told me people called her son because he was s...
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Largest charter network in U.S.: Schools tied to Turkey - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Largest charter network in U.S.: Schools tied to Turkey - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:


Largest charter network in U.S.: Schools tied to Turkey

by Valerie Strauss
This was written by Sharon Higgins, an independent researcher and blogger based in California. She is also a founding member of Parents Across America.

By Sharon Higgins
The largest charter school network in the United States is operated by people in and associated with the Gulen Movement (GM), a secretive and controversial Turkish religious sect. With 135 schools enrolling more than45,000 students, this network is substantially larger than KIPP, the well-known charter management organization with only 109 schools. A lack of awareness about this situation persists despite it being addressed


Education Department’s own Etch-a-Sketch

by Valerie Strauss
This was written by Elaine Weiss, national coordinator of the campaign for a Broader Bolder Approach to Education .


By Elaine Weiss
Policy is complicated, and context-sensitive, so policymakers and other influential actors who change their positions should be excused, even congratulated, when it’s clear they’ve learned from prior mistakes. This does not apply, however, in instances in which the change of heart seems motivated by political calculations. Unfortunately, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s recent statement in Education Week criticizing New York City’s publication of individual teacher “value-added” scores falls clearly into the latter category.
Read full article >>

Secrets of ‘miraculous’ charter management organizations

by Valerie Strauss
This was written by Lance Hill, executive director of the Southern Institute for Education and Research in New Orleans and a member of the New Orleans Education Equity Roundtable .  In this post Hill writes about the final report from The National Study of CMO Effectiveness, a four-year effort aimed at assessing the impact of charter management organizations on student achievement and identifying practices and structure that are effective at raising achievement. The study was done by researchers from Mathematica Policy Research and the Center on Reinventing Public Education.
Read full article >>

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS WEBSITE

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS
A compilation of news articles about charter schools which have been charged with, or are highly suspected of, tampering with admissions, grades, attendance and testing; misuse of funds and embezzlement; engaging in nepotism and conflicts of interest; engaging in complicated and shady real estate deals; and/or have been engaging in other questionable, unethical, borderline-legal, or illegal activities. This is also a record of charter school instability and other unsavory tidbits.
Couldn't Find Your Own Special Charter School Scandal
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CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS

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CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS

Be sure to check out two other Great blogs:
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Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: At yesterday's press conference

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: At yesterday's press conference:


At yesterday's press conference

by Mike Klonsky
Isabel Nuรฑez from Concordia Univ. at  press conference
I went to yesterday's press conference to stand with other academics in support of
 (CReATE). The research group presented its "Open Letter of Concern Regarding Chicago’s Implementation of Legislation for the Evaluation of Teachers and Principals" to the mayor yesterday.

Academics from 15 universities, including many that run teacher education programs, warned in the letter that relying heavily on student test scores to evaluate teachers will negatively impact students. CPS is currently in negotiations with the teachers union over a new evaluation system, which state law requires be in place in atleast 300 CPS schools by fall. I signed on to the letter and took part in the press conference, but thought the statement could have been stronger in its recommendations. It currently calls on the mayor to, 
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State leaders should embrace what Title I permits: arts funding | Thoughts on Public Education

State leaders should embrace what Title I permits: arts funding | Thoughts on Public Education:


State leaders should embrace what Title I permits: arts funding - by Joe Landon

by Joe Landon
The status quo is “stalemate.” The intention of the federal Title I program is to improve the academic achievement of children in schools with the highest percentages of children low-income families. That improvement is measured by improvement in English language arts (ELA) and math. According to the guidance provided by the California Department of Education, a school [...]

College demand “unstoppable,” says Kanter - by Kathryn Baron

by Kathryn Baron
Martha Kanter didn’t stand a chance of getting to the cookie table at the reception in her honor. When the Under Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education returned to her home turf at De Anza College yesterday, the receiving line was a couple hundred long. She greeted everyone personally with a hug, a handshake, [...]
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Nonprofit Teach for America to open Sacramento regional office - Education - The Sacramento Bee

Nonprofit Teach for America to open Sacramento regional office - Education - The Sacramento Bee:


Nonprofit Teach for America to open Sacramento regional office

By Melody Gutierrez
mgutierrez@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Mar. 27, 2012 - 12:00 am | Page 1B
Last Modified: Tuesday, Mar. 27, 2012 - 12:21 am
Teach for America, the nonprofit that recruits recent college graduates to teach at high-need schools, plans to open a regional office in Sacramento.
The organization will announce today that Natomas Unified School District has agreed to take between three and six Teach for America graduates, while St. HOPE Public Schools will hire between eight and 12 of the program's teachers and Capitol Collegiate Academy plans to hire one or two.
Teach for America is in the process of hiring an executive director and manager for its Sacramento office.
A coalition of community groups and local philanthropists raised $2.2 million to launch the

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/27/4368705/nonprofit-teach-for-america-to.html#mi_rss=Education#storylink=cpy
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How much USDA 'pink slime' beef do state schools serve? | California Watch

How much USDA 'pink slime' beef do state schools serve? | California Watch:


K–12 | DAILY REPORT

How much USDA 'pink slime' beef do state schools serve?

March 27, 2012 | Joanna Lin
Anfuehrer/FlickrGround beef (pictured here) purchased by the USDA for its national school lunch program may contain "pink slime," or lean finely textured beef.
Tomato, tomahto. Pink slime, lean finely textured beef. Whatever you call it, one thing is clear: Many consumers say they don't want it.
Yesterday, following growing public disgust, the primary producer of the textured meat, Beef Products Inc., said it is suspending operations at three of the four plants that make the product. Its announcement came after fast food and supermarket chains dropped the product, even as federal regulators and the meat industry affirm its safety.
Schools, too, have been quick to distance themselves from the cotton candy-colored controversy after revelations that the U.S. Department of Agriculture buys the product, commonly used in ground beef, for its national school lunch program.
"We use 100% all natural ground beef with no fillers, additives or soy isolates including mechanically separated parts of beef," the Los Angeles Unified School District said this month on its food services division website. 
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Geaux Teacher!: DO AS I SAY AND NOT AS I DO !

Geaux Teacher!: DO AS I SAY AND NOT AS I DO !:


DO AS I SAY AND NOT AS I DO !

by noreply@blogger.com (Lee Barrios, M.Ed., NBCT)
At the same time that Governor Jindal is supporting bills that downsize retirement benefits and increase contributions for every category of state employee he is secretly planning for his own retirement - after which he will move on to some other government retirement system while earning a monthly paycheck.

Retired teachers can no longer even substitute for one day without giving up their entire monthly retirement benefit for each month in which they substitute. This deprives children from having a qualified certified teacher in the classroom every day when their teacher is absent. It also prevents a teacher from applying her professional expertise in the employ of any state institute of learning K-12 through university level. In what other profession (engineer, architect, doctor, nurse. . .) does state law prevent them from consulting or working in any capacity part-time after retirement?

This blog was posted by Tom Aswell at http://www.Louisianavoice.org 

New post on Louisiana Voice

Here’s a warm fuzzy for every state civil service worker: Jindal, buying air time to enhance his own retirement
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Jersey Jazzman: Pesky Democracy Stopping Charters!

Jersey Jazzman: Pesky Democracy Stopping Charters!:


Pesky Democracy Stopping Charters!

by Duke
When are you people going to stop exercising your rights and just take what's good for you?
Tighter standards, better ways to measure progress, increased accountability and an easier regulatory environment are what acting N.J. Department of Education chief Christopher Cerf says he has planned for the state’s charter schools as a way to encourage growth and educational quality.
“These are exciting times for charter schools,” said Cerf, speaking Monday at the New Jersey Charter School Association conference at Bally’s Atlantic City Hotel & Casino. “It’s also a time for change, and it’s a time when we have to live with an increasingly vocal and organized opposition.” [emphasis mine]
Life would be so much simpler if people would just stop looking at the facts about charters and just accept them coming into their communities whether they are want them or need them. Like those pesky plebes in Cherry Hill and Voorhees! It's just so annoying that they want control of their schools and their tax dollars! Don't they 
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Schooling in the Ownership Society: Who's behind 'Stand Your Ground' and school privatization? -- ALEC

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Who's behind 'Stand Your Ground' and school privatization? -- ALEC:


Who's behind 'Stand Your Ground' and school privatization? -- ALEC

by Mike Klonsky
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman shines his light on the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the force behind the so-called "Stand Your Ground" law in Florida and other states. The law is now being used as the basis for the defense in the murder of Trayvon Martin. When you turn the rock over on the current wave of union-busting, anti-immigrant, and school privatization legislation being pushed in states like Virginia and Arizona, there you will find ALEC.

Writes Krugman:
Many ALEC-drafted bills pursue standard conservative goals: union-busting, undermining environmental protection, tax breaks for corporations and the 
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Missouri Education Watchdog: Waiting for a Miracle in Schools. Is it all about Money?

Missouri Education Watchdog: Waiting for a Miracle in Schools. Is it all about Money?:


Waiting for a Miracle in Schools. Is it all about Money?

by stlgretchen
There is an interesting article about a "miracle school" in Seattle that is working "miracles" with at risk children.  From the Seattle Times:

For two decades the Seattle Urban Academy, in the Rainier Valley, has taken kids who dropped out or were kicked out of other schools and managed to graduate them at among the highest rates of any school for at-risk kids in the nation. The secret? It costs 80 percent more per student. 

A few were featured in the 2010 movie "Waiting for Superman." Those were charter schools, which are 
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