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Friday, March 30, 2012

Big Education Ape: 3-30-12 AM Behind Every Harassed Child? A Lot of Clueless Adults EDition

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

Published by Coopmike48 – 7 news spotters today

Protesters Wreak Havoc As Ten Arrested

huffingtonpost.com - A class meets in the auditorium building at Oakland Technical High School in Oakland, Calif., Friday, March 18, 2011. Oakland, Calif. (AP) -- Oakland's school board is planning to resume a meeting ...
mikeklonsky

Eureka College maintains spot on honor roll - Peoria, IL

pjstar.com - For the second consecutive year, Eureka College has been named to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary community service.This year, Eureka College moved up in...
arneduncan

Behind Every Harassed Child? A Lot of Clueless Adults

movies.nytimes.com - “Bully,” Lee Hirsch’s moving and troubling documentary about the misery some children inflict upon others, arrives at a moment when bullying, long tolerated as a fact of life, is being redefined as...
arneduncan

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coopmike48 Snow Days in June? « PWC Education Reform Blog bit.ly/H7Udjhabout 1 minute ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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coopmike48 Nation & World | California community college to raise tuition for popular courses | Seattle Times Newspaper bit.ly/H7T5MA10 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

EducationSee all

Duval to challenge state Board of Education

jacksonville.com - The Duval County School Board will challenge the state Board of Education’s decision approving an online-only charter school’s application to open in Jacksonville. The School Board told its attorne...
DianeRavitch

Harlem charter school teachers unionize

columbiaspectator.com - Teachers at a bilingual elementary school in West Harlem are relieved to have won a fight with the school board to unionize—a rare move for a charter school. Faculty and staff at the New York Frenc...
DianeRavitch

SocietySee all

RITA KRAMER: A DARK PASSOVER | MIDEAST OUTPOST

mideastoutpost.com - When families gather around the Seder table, many recall the dark Passover of 1943 and the climax of the months-long battle in which the small number of men and women remaining in the Warsaw Ghetto...
DianeRavitch

PoliticsSee all

Blog posts on this issue

whitehouse.gov - The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release March 29, 2012 The President proposed the Buffett Rule to ensure a very basic principle of fairness: millionaires shouldn’t pay l...
coopmike48

EnvironmentSee all

Another 'Parent Trigger' Effort Ends in Defeat

kcrw.com - Subscribe to this Podcast:Listen to/Watch entire show: First in Compton, now in Adelanto — out in the Mojave Desert — elected school boards have rejected petitions by parents to reform failing scho...
leoniehaimson

Whale freed from fishing net off Palos Verdes

latimesblogs.latimes.com - A team of volunteers Thursday cut a gray whale loose from fishing gear it was tangled in off the coast of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, the second such rescue operation in Southern California in five...
coopmike48

BusinessSee all

Rockford out. « Fred Klonsky

preaprez.wordpress.com - After negotiating for over a year, members of the Rockford Education Association walked off the job this morning. District 205, one of the largest in the state, is known for being among the most to...
fklonsky

Age, sex, race, education and credit cards

foxbusiness.com - Rugged individualism. It's part of our national ethos, and we all like to believe that we make our own choices and determine our own destinies. But in reality, most of us are products of our enviro...
coopmike48

Art & EntertainmentSee all

Early morning Fox. « Fred Klonsky

preaprez.wordpress.com - WGN’s early morning sport reporter, Pat Tomasulo. I’m getting ready to fly off to Brooklyn this morning to see my daughters, their partners, my grand kids and the rest of my New York family. I neve...
fklonsky

Early morning Fox. « Fred Klonsky

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Early morning Fox. « Fred Klonsky: Early morning Fox.by Fred KlonskyWGN’s early morning sport reporter, Pat Tomasulo. I’m getting ready to fly off to Brooklyn this morning to see my daughters, thei...
coopmike48

#corpreformSee all

Challenging Corporate Ed Reform

rethinkingschools.org - Spring 2012Illustration: Michael Duffy By Stan Karp This is a revised version of a speech given at the Northwest Teaching for Social Justice Conference in Seattle, October 2011. Corporate school re...
leoniehaimson

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Jersey Jazzman: Jersey Jazzman: Year Three Begins!

Jersey Jazzman: Jersey Jazzman: Year Three Begins!:


Jersey Jazzman: Year Three Begins!

by Duke
I now enter my terrible twos...

I'm very grateful to all of you for reading, retweeting, "liking," commenting, and inspiring me in this venture. I'll be more specific below; but first, indulge me for a minute or two in a birthday rant:

This blog has garnered more and more attention lately, to the point that I've tripled my audience over the last year. That's very gratifying, and I appreciate everyone's support, but it's clearly not good enough.

While I can see that some of the questions and arguments I've put forward have entered the conversation around education "reform," particularly in New Jersey, it's also clear that the messages of the teacher blogosphere haven't penetrated the dialogue on education as much as they must.

This is a serious problem: the voices of teachers are not being heard. I've tried to contribute as much as I could from this blog, but it's obviously not enough. We need to demand our place at the table; we need to force ourselves on to the pages of newspapers, and in the statehouses, and on the airwaves. Talking to each other via 
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Celebrate Cesar Chavez Day SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE:

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Celebrate Cesar Chavez Day:


Celebrate Cesar Chavez Day

by Duane Campbell

   
  Cesar Chavez Day is a state holiday inCalifornia – one of eight states to recognize the  date, and one of the few holidays  in the nation dedicated  to a laborleader.   Sacramento and dozens of cities, counties and laborfederations will celebrate the life of Cesar Chavez on March 31, 2012,
OnMarch 26, U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis honored Cesar Chavez and the UFWfounders by dedicating the auditorium at the Department of Labor in Chavez’sname.
Mexicanlabor leader Jose Humberto Montes de Oca of the SME, electrical workers unionwill lead the Sacramento  march onMarch 31.   Montes do Oca and the SME  in Mexico are fighting for survivalagainst a repressive government.  In central Mexico 44,000 Electrical Power Workers (SME) werefired to  privatize the industry and destroy the union. The march will begin at 10 Am in Southside Park. 
Thisyear, 2012 is the 50th. anniversary of the founding of theU.F.W.  The Cesar Chavezcelebrations focus on  the strugglefor union rights and justice in the fields of California.  Along with Dolores Huerta, Philip VeraCruz, and others, César created the United Farm Workers  (UFW) the first successful union offarm workers in  U.S. history.  There had been more than ten priorattempts to build a farm workers union.
           Each of the prior attempts to organize farm worker unions were destroyedby racism and corporate power. Chávez chose to build a union that incorporatedthe strategies of social movements and community organizing  and allied itself  with the churches, students,  and organized labor.  The successful creation of the UFWchanged the nature of labor organizing in the Southwest  andcontributed significantly to the birth of Latino politics in the U.S.
           Today, under the leadership of UFW president Arturo Rodriguez, onlyabout 8,000  farm workers enjoybenefits on the job. Wages and benefit in farm labor have again been reduced tothe pre union levels.  Unionizedworkers   are incorporated intoCalifornia's educational, health and civic communities.  The UFW has shown unions thatimmigrants can  and must beorganized.  
 
             Chavez and the UFW are best known helpingto create instrumental role in passing the  California Agricultural LaborRelations Act in 1975 under then Governor Gerry Brown  which gives workers collective bargaining rights.  The law was made necessary by theassault on the UFW of the Teamsters Union.  While workers are often able to win elections under theALRB, they seldom can win a contract. Growers stall and delay until the workers leave the area.

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Schools Matter: Krash Course #4: Bizarro Robin Hood

Schools Matter: Krash Course #4: Bizarro Robin Hood:


Krash Course #4: Bizarro Robin Hood

by P. L. Thomas
In the DC Universe exists an opposite (of sorts) to Superman—Bizarro Superman.

In the corporate education reform universe exists an opposite to Robin Hood—Bizarro Robin Hood.

This opposite, the school choice advocate, lacks the irony and dark (and sometimes slapstick) humor of the comic book alternate universe because school choice Bizarro Robin Hoods steal from the poor to give to the rich—while claiming they are serving the poor. Yes, these Bizarro Robin Hoods are real-world personifications of George Orwell's doublespeak and doublethink.

South Carolina appears closer than ever to falling for the school choice propaganda. School choice advocacy, funded by Howard Rich and Koch money across the U.S., has become a moving target, but the newest bizarre ploy has been to claim that choice is primarily for the impoverished children and their families—a beacon of hope 
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Teachers For Social Justice: Teaching Trayvon Martin and Other Resources

Teachers For Social Justice: Teaching Trayvon Martin and Other Resources:


Teaching Trayvon Martin and Other Resources

MARCH 30, 2012 LEAVE A COMMENT
The following is a blog post that was shared by our brothers and sisters and compañer@s in the New York Collective of Radical Teachers (NYCORE).
Teaching Trayvon Martin: Three Strategies for Teacher Educators
Here's a video with discussion with Tim Wise, Al Sharpton and others.
There are also critical essays on Tim Wise's website,
New Rethinking Schools Issue and Resources!
(Posted from the Rethinking Schools website)
rethinkingschools/4B642F18.jpg
Every day, teachers are pressured to compete with each other and push their students over the testing precipice, all in the name of accountability-a word that has become corporate-speak for test, test, test.
The spring issue of Rethinking Schools celebrates our two new books that focus on what teachers are

Upcoming Events

by sarah-ji
The following are some upcoming events that should be of interest to the TSJ community.
Forced Out: A Forum on Deportation & Incarceration - April 5th
When: Thurs April 5, 9:30am-2pm
Where: UIC Student Center, 750 S. Halsted
Cost: Free
This city-wide forum provides a starting place for a conversation among individuals and families impacted by "mass detention." It also gives students, activists and allies a chance to make connections across issues that are often seen as separate and even competing. By educating people about the shared logic of the prison and immigration systems, Forced Out will increase the links among affected groups and help to create a more unified voice for policy change across all communities.
The Immigrant Youth Justice League will be collaborating to organize two workshops, one on youth and criminalization and another on the intersections of incarceration and detention for gay, lesbian, bisexual and 
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A blow-by-blow account of fight over charter school bill - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

A blow-by-blow account of fight over charter school bill - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:


A blow-by-blow account of fight over charter school bill

by Valerie Strauss
This was written by Mike Sayer, senior organizer and training coordinator for Southern Echo, Inc ., in Jackson, Mississippi. Southern Echo is a grassroots leadership education, training and development organization that is based in Jackson and works with grassroots communities and organizations throughout Mississippi as well as in the South and Southwest to, among other things, build and sustain a quality, first rate education accessible to all families regardless of race, ethnicity, class, gender, national origin, status, disability or language.
Read full article >>

A modern history lesson (or, there’s nothing new under the sun)

by Valerie Strauss
This was written by Fred Smith, a retired Board of Education senior analyst, worked for the city public school system in test research and development. This first appeared on the City Limits website .

By Fred Smith
Read full article >>

50-plus banned words on standardized tests

by Valerie Strauss
You might expect a standardized test to avoid using profane words but, it turns out, other words are banned too and they may surprise you: dinosaur and Halloween, rock ‘n roll and rap music, just to name a few.
Read full article >>
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In solidarity with the teachers in Rockford, Illinois | Seattle Education

In solidarity with the teachers in Rockford, Illinois | Seattle Education:


In solidarity with the teachers in Rockford, Illinois

by seattleducation2011

This morning 1, 800 members of Rockford Education/ Illinois Educators Association went on strike in Rockford IL. Teachers have been 11 months without a contract, some have been four years under a wage freeze. The district has paid tens of thousands of dollars to consultants, security firms, marketing corporations and legal counsel simply to prepare for the strike. Historically our teachers have taken health benefits in lieu of wage increases, so they recruited hospital administrators to go after our health plan saying it was too good. Thus some of the same people who benefit as high paid administrators of health care are setting high costs, and shoving the premiums back on teachers. The district offer adds $3000 burden to every teacher’s health care cost.
Meanwhile with a Chamber of Commerce sponsored initiative we are besieged with charters, small 
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Lawmakers, regulators focus on private student loans | California Watch

Lawmakers, regulators focus on private student loans | California Watch: "Founded by the Center for Investigative Reporting
"


Concerns hover over illegal school fee legislation

pixdeluxe/istockphoto.com
A new bill that seeks to crack down on illegal school fees is moving through the state Legislature, but it faces a lukewarm reception from lawmakers and some education groups.
With a 6-3 vote last week, AB 1575 [PDF] made it out of the Assembly Education Committee and is now being reviewed by the Appropriations Committee.
But influential groups, like the Association of California School Administrators and California Association of School Business Officials, criticized the measure, saying it would increase the burden on struggling schools. That argument picked up steam as Assemblyman Donald P. Wagner, R-Irvine, asked if the bill was too similar to


Lawmakers, regulators focus on private student loans

As the cost of higher education continues to increase and federal and private student debt nears the $1 trillion mark, lawmakers and regulators are zeroing in on private student loans.
A bill introduced by state Senate Majority Leader Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, and advanced this week through the Senate Education Committee would require universities to provide clear information to students about private 
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Missouri Education Watchdog: Four Missouri School Districts Indicate Suspicious Test Scores According to Atlanta Journal Constitution

Missouri Education Watchdog: Four Missouri School Districts Indicate Suspicious Test Scores According to Atlanta Journal Constitution:


Four Missouri School Districts Indicate Suspicious Test Scores According to Atlanta Journal Constitution

by stlgretchen
The Atlanta-Journal Constitution has written an in-depth investigation about the Atlanta public school cheating scandal by the superintendent, principals, and teachers.   The scandal stems from cheating of educators as job accountability is now determined from student scores.  The AJC also uncovered some questionable testing results from other states.

The newspaper writes in a follow-up article:

Suspicious test scores in roughly 200 school districts resemble those that entangled Atlanta in the 
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Duval Challenge Unmasks Politization of Florida Board of Education | Scathing Purple Musings

Duval Challenge Unmasks Politization of Florida Board of Education | Scathing Purple Musings:


Duval Challenge Unmasks Politization of Florida Board of Education

by Bob Sikes
In an astonishing move last month, the Florida Board of Education  ignored the recommendation of its own Charter School Board and overruled Duval’s denial of a Florida Virtual Charter. Yesterday, Duval moved to appeal the state ruling. Writes Teresa Stepzinski in the Florida Times-Union:
The Duval County School Board will challenge the state Board of Education’s decision approving an online-only charter school’s application to open in Jacksonville.
The School Board told its attorney Thursday to appeal the state board’s approval of Northeast Florida Virtual Charter School Board Inc. to Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeal.
School Board Vice Chairman Fel Lee said the issue is bigger than just this one virtual charter school. It’s the principle, said Lee, emphasizing that the board wasn’t picking on the school.
“This is precedent-setting,” Lee said. “If we were not to do this appeal, what we would basically be saying is ‘we’re not going to do our vetting process.’ ”
Lee said the district applied the standards according to state statutes when it evaluated and 
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An Urban Teacher's Education: On Coercion, the Healthcare Law, and Race to the Top

An Urban Teacher's Education: On Coercion, the Healthcare Law, and Race to the Top:


On Coercion, the Healthcare Law, and Race to the Top

by James Boutin
Listening to the third day of oral arguments before the Supreme Court over the Obama healthcare law today, I was struck by the discussion around whether the law constituted coercion.

The law suggests the federal government would be within its right to deny medicaid funds long received to states who refuse to accept new funds to cover more of their citizens. The argument on the side of the twenty-six states resisting the law is that this is coercive (and therefore unconstitutional) because it does not allow them to realistically opt out of participation. States have become so dependent on this federal money that not receiving it would be tantamount to being fiscally incapacitated.

Interesting, I thought.

In discussion with Solicitor General Verrilli, Justice Alito (who certainly sees the law as unconstitutional) brought 
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