Latest News and Comment from Education

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Late Nite Posts 4-29 #soschat #EDReform


Missouri Education Watchdog: Educational Tidbits about Israel, Politicians and School Lovers in the Sunday Education Weekly Reader 04.29.12

Missouri Education Watchdog: Educational Tidbits about Israel, Politicians and School Lovers in the Sunday Education Weekly Reader 04.29.12: Educational Tidbits about Israel, Politicians and School Lovers in the Sunday Education Weekly Reader 04.29.12bystlgretchenWelcome to the Sunday Education Weekly Reader for 04.29.12.From Israel andLessons from Abroad:"There is an urgent need to ‘restart’ the concept of education, to re-examine the connection between scholastic scores and the school culture. It is time to go back to the basics — to educational environments motivated ... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Early Evening Posts 4-29 #SOSchat #p2 #edreform

I draw your a… « Bill AyersBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-4 minutes agoI draw your a… « Bill Ayers: I draw your a…bybillayersI draw your attention to this important petition that I recently signed:“Edu4: 4 children, 4 the public, 4 social justice, 4 the future”http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/edu4/?utm_medium=emailutm_source=systemutm_campaign=Send%2Bto%2BFriendThis is an important cause, and I encourage you to add your signature, too. It’s free and takes just a few seconds.Thanks!The Petition We are education scholars, students, teachers, and citizens who support wor... more »

OCCUPY EDUCATION - #LetOurVoicesBeHeard | Western International High...

OCCUPY EDUCATION - #LetOurVoicesBeHeard | Western International High...: (bySouthwestKnoxx) #LetOurVoicesBeHeard | Western International High School | Southwest DetroitOur Demands to the Detroit Public School System are the following:1. Don’t close Southwestern High School.2. Don’t close Maybury Elementary.3. Remove suspensions for students involved in the walkout.4. Don’t keep students away from school for walking out to stand up for what they believe.5. Don’t want suspensions to go on our student records.6. Don’t press criminal charges against students’ involved in the walkout.7. ... more »

ASCD Express 7.15 - Assumptions About Accountability

ASCD Express 7.15 - Assumptions About Accountability: Assumptions About AccountabilityMaking the Right Policy to Honor an Essential Human ValueNancy FlanaganOne of the most moving and eye-opening experiences of my life was attending a national conference, hosted by the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People and the National Education Association, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of theBrown v. Board of Education of Topekadecision. Like most Americans, I had been taught thatBrownwastheturning point toward justice and equity in educational opportunity ... more »

Rheeinforcements TFA Group Violates Connecticut’s Ethics Laws? - Wait, What?

Another “Education Reform” Group Violates Connecticut’s Ethics Laws? - Wait, What?: Another “Education Reform” Group Violates Connecticut’s Ethics Laws?byjonpelto It now appears that Teach for America is joining the “you won’t find our lobbying report” club.Is there no “Education Reform” group willing to live by Connecticut’s ethical standards?As noted previously, Connecticut’s Ethics law is really quite simple.A lobbyist is “any person [or organization] thatspends or receives $2,000 or more in a calendar year to communicate with, or to solicit others ... more »

Number of Minor Children Immigrating Alone to Find Parents on rise - Hispanically Speaking News

Number of Minor Children Immigrating Alone to Find Parents on rise - Hispanically Speaking News: First Ladies of Latin America Combating Number of Minor Children Immigrating Alone to Find ParentsPublished at 2:29 pm EST, April 29, 2012During a conference sponsored by the United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, first ladies from Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala joined forces to raise awareness of the growing numbers of illegal immigration of unaccompanied children. The conference occurred one week after 100 undocumented immigrant ... more »

The in box. Richard Ingram in Naperville. « Fred Klonsky

The in box. Richard Ingram in Naperville. « Fred Klonsky: The in box. Richard Ingram in Naperville.byFred KlonskyFrom a reader who attended the TRS meeting with TRS Executive Director Richard Ingram in Naperville last week.I attended the Naperville TRS Town Hall meeting Thursday afternoon.It was “troubling.”Terrible location for a meeting. Terrible sound system. No provision for a Mic for questions — so you relied on Ingram’s re-statement as your guide. There was no chance at a follow up.In my opinion– ... more »

Questions To Ask in Making the Changes in Schools and Classrooms: A Primer | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Questions To Ask in Making the Changes in Schools and Classrooms: A Primer | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Questions To Ask in Making the Changes in Schools and Classrooms: A Primerbylarrycuban Far too many reformers, regardless of ideology, forget two key principles in pushing for changes that will stick in community institutions.The first principle is an organizational fact. Both change and stability are constants in every societal institution. No institution is static. They are stable in ... more »

An unintended consequence of value-added teacher evaluation - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

An unintended consequence of value-added teacher evaluation - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post: An unintended consequence of value-added teacher evaluationByValerie Strauss A high school teacher in New York sent me the following e-mail, which discusses a most unfortunate unintended consequence of the state's new teacher and principal evaluation that depends largely on how well students do on standardized test scores.The“value-added”method of evaluation — which uses complicated formulas to determine how much “value” an educator has added to a ... more »

Daily Kos: Bi-partisan Failure: Misreading Education "Gaps"

Daily Kos: Bi-partisan Failure: Misreading Education "Gaps": Bi-partisan Failure: Misreading Education "Gaps"byplthomasEdDFollowShare1PERMALINK1COMMENT It took about twenty years, and then another secondary ten years, but the hysterical and misleadingA Nation at Riskunder the Reagan administration successfully kicked off three decades of public school accountability.In the beginning, the hysteria revolved around several points that were factually inaccurate, but publicly effective: (1) U.S. public schools were failing, (2) U.S. students were weak, and possibly lazy, but their school... more »

I draw your a… « Bill Ayers

I draw your a… « Bill Ayers: I draw your a…bybillayersI draw your attention to this important petition that I recently signed:“Edu4: 4 children, 4 the public, 4 social justice, 4 the future”http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/edu4/?utm_medium=emailutm_source=systemutm_campaign=Send%2Bto%2BFriendThis is an important cause, and I encourage you to add your signature, too. It’s free and takes just a few seconds.Thanks!The Petition We are education scholars, students, teachers, and citizens who support worldwide democratic efforts that demand economic and social justice. Access to decent e... more »

If Rhee and Klein put students first, they would stop supporting the failed policies of Bloomberg and NCLB:

We really should put students first - New York Amsterdam News: Opinion: We really should put students firstStoryCommentsShareSharePrintCreate a hardcopy of this pageFont Size:Default font sizeLarger font sizePosted:Sunday, April 29, 2012 12:00 amBy OCYNTHIA WILLIAMS|0commentsEarlier this month, former Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and former Washington, D.C., Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee announced that their StudentsFirstNY education group intends to raise $10 million a year to make sure that Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s education legacy continues after he leaves office. For many o... more »

Diane Ravitch sees no reform in Phila. plan

Education leader sees no reform in Phila. plan: Education leader sees no reform in Phila. planByKristen A. GrahamInquirer Staff WriterPost a commentRELATED STORIESPhilly schools gearing up for radical restructuringPHILLY.COM's TOP FIVE PICKSPhilly schools gearing up for radical restructuringThe fine art of the moveHoping for FiOS, some feel abandonedAn un-Christie for 2013?A bank of big dreams, big lossesDiane Ravitch, education historian and pointed observer of the American educational scene, came to Philadelphia last week to speak at a math teachers' convention.She ... more »

Gerard Robinson Continues to Mislead Floridians on Charter Schools | Scathing Purple Musings

Gerard Robinson Continues to Mislead Floridians on Charter Schools | Scathing Purple Musings: Gerard Robinson Continues to Mislead Floridians on Charter SchoolsbyBob Sikes Gerard Robinson knows he’s being fact-checked. Twice in a weekend interview withGradebook’sJeff Solocheck, heclearly sought tounburdenthe weightof a question. Despite having his guardup, Robinson let loose withsome real whoppers. Responding to a probe by Solochek regarding recent instances of serious malfeasance in charter schools, Robinson said this:There is nothing in place right now that prohibits the local ... more »

Jersey Jazzman: There IS a Teacher Labor Market

Jersey Jazzman: There IS a Teacher Labor Market: There IS a Teacher Labor MarketbyDuke I find it hysterical that so many of the "corporate reformers" also love to sing the praises of free market. They seem to believe that they can cap salaries and take away pensions, benefits, and workplace protections, but somehow still attract loads of qualified people to the field - in complete contradiction to their stated beliefs about the private sector.Take tenure; somehow, the reformies think you ... more »

Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky

Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky: Sunday links.byFred KlonskyRecall Walker phone banks in Wisconsin.NY Times photo.Apple loves Teach for America, but pays little in state taxes thatsupport public education.John Dillon’s Pension Vocabulary lesson of the week:Doublethink. Your pension is now a benefit.Glen Brown poses some important legal questions about Illinois pensions, funding and benefits.He also asks the question:Where is the IEA leadership?We all saw AFSCME’s Anders Lindall take on the Civic Committee corporate mouthpiece Ty Fahner the other day. But finding ... more »

Schools Matter: David Coleman's Global Revenge and the Common Core

Schools Matter: David Coleman's Global Revenge and the Common Core: David Coleman's Global Revenge and the Common CorebyJim HornAs you grow up in this world you realize people really don’t give a shit about what you feel or what you think.--David Coleman at NY State Department of Education presentation, April 2011In order to give the above quote the context it deserves, here is the clip from Mr. Coleman's speech. Please notice that in offering the transcript for public download, the ... more »

Parent trigger misfires, again - San Bernardino County Sun

Parent trigger misfires, again - San Bernardino County Sun: Parent trigger misfires, againDean E. VogelPosted: 04/28/2012 07:10:46 AM PDT The Adelanto Elementary School District Board of Trustees boldly stood up for students and the rights of all parents in the school community by rejecting an attempt led mainly by a group of outside organizers to shut down an elementary school, replace the entire staff, and create a privately managed charter school.The trustees recognized that Parent Revolution organizers at Desert Trails ... more »

Jersey Jazzman: Tom Moran Doubles Down

Jersey Jazzman: Tom Moran Doubles Down: Tom Moran Doubles DownbyDukeTom Moran, op-ed editor of theStar-Ledger, tried to make a folk hero out of Janine Caffrey in his pages. And he will not allow his hard work in making her an iconto be undone:Janine Caffrey, the superintendent of Perth Amboy schools, has been shut out of her office and sent home.No one disputes that she works hard and that she was putting in place exactly the reforms she promised when she ... more »

Educators: Are You a Seed Planter or a Seed Killer? « Diary of a Public School Teacher!

Educators: Are You a Seed Planter or a Seed Killer? « Diary of a Public School Teacher!: Educators: Are You a Seed Planter or a Seed Killer?byOldschoolteachI attended a conference today called, ”Diversity Exchange:Learning from One Another.” The keynote speaker was supposed to beReginald Weaver, former NEA president,but unfortunately he is ill. Merwyn Scott, did a good job standing in for Mr.Weaver at the last-minute.Something Mr.Scott said, as he shared his thoughts, stood out to me. He said that when ... more »

The Lies, The Deceit, The Chutzpah of UFT President Mike Mulgrew

http://www.southbronxschool.com: The Lies, The Deceit, The Chutzpah of UFT President Mike Mulgrewbynoreply@blogger.com (Bronx Teacher)Leave it to Norm over atEdnotesto get that good juicy inside information on the manipulative machinations of The UFT and The Grand Exalted Mystic Ruler, and sometime Collaborator, Michael Mulgrew and his Unity hacks.UFT President Mulgrew Seen Here With Vichy President Philippe PétainAsecret memo has gone out to all Unity (I believe just Unity) chapter chairsfrom LeRoy Barr along the lines that Mulgrew is really neat, and ... more »

Saturday Night Home School Fever | Lefty Parent

Saturday Night Home School Fever | Lefty Parent: Saturday Night Home School FeverbyCooper ZaleConfessing my own bias as a big supporter of unschooling, I read Dennis Danziger’s piece,“Home School Fever”, in the April 24 edition of theHuffington Post, and it seemed to push more buttons in me than I even knew I had! I recall that classicSaturday Night Live“Weekend Edition” bit where Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd do a “Point-Counterpoint”, and after Curtin dresses down Aykroyd in every possible way ... more »

New York’s Bargain Basement Tests « Diane Ravitch's blog

New York’s Bargain Basement Tests « Diane Ravitch's blog: New York’s Bargain Basement TestsWhen I read Gail Collins’ nifty column about the pineapple fiasco, I realized why New York ended up using a ridiculous story that was recycled from tests given in several other states. Wherever that pineapple story appeared on the state tests, the kids said it was a stupid story with stupid questions. Pearson didn’t listen and

Prom Queens & Ed Reform - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

Prom Queens Ed Reform - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher: byNancy FlanaganProm Queens Ed ReformIf American schools are stages where our children act out and explicate our societal values, then perhaps this week's focus isn't only aboutdancing pineapplesandwhether parents have the legal right to shield their children from harmful bubbling.Maybe we should be scrutinizing another springtime tradition: the school prom.The word "prom" entered the American dictionary in 1894, and Dorothy Parker notably wisecracked, pre-Depression, that if ... more »

Peg with Pen: The Crime in Philadelphia

Peg with Pen: The Crime in Philadelphia: The Crime in PhiladelphiabyPeggy These are not my words. These are the words of Mr. Johnson, who commented on the articlePhiladelphia School District announces its dissolution. I am sharing them here because the crime in Philadelphia continues to be ignored. The children of Philadelphia continue to be ignored. Share widely.Mr. Johnson, thank you for this comment - the outrage you express is what I feel in my heart about the dismantling of public ... more »

Latest skeptic of teachers unions is clothing label’s city billboard | GothamSchools

Latest skeptic of teachers unions is clothing label’s city billboard | GothamSchools: Latest skeptic of teachers unions is clothing label’s city billboardbyRachel Cromidas, at 2:18 pmThis spring, the West Side Highway’s typical advertising fare also includes a political message that seems aimed at teachers unions.A billboard advertising Kenneth Cole — the clothing company owned by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s brother-in-law — puns to southbound commuters,”Shouldn’t Everyone Be Well Red?” In smaller lettering, the billboard says, “Teachers’ Rights Vs. Students’ Rights …”The ... more »

BLOCK THAT EUPHEMISM! « Diane Ravitch's blog

BLOCK THAT EUPHEMISM! « Diane Ravitch's blog:


BLOCK THAT EUPHEMISM!

I wonder why our policymakers in Washington, D.C., love euphemisms. Ten years ago, Congress passed No Child Left Behind, and by now, is there anyone in the United States who takes seriously the idea that “No Child” has been “Left Behind”? Since Congress can’t agree on how to change the law, maybe they could just rename it and call it “Many Children Left Behind” (MCLB) or “No Child Left Untested” (NCLU). When the name of a federal law is so clearly at odds with its actual results, either we must rename the law or declare it a failure or both. But, please, no euphemisms, no flowery predictions in the title of the legislation.
Then there is Race to the Top. No one has explained what it means to “race.” Does it mean that with more and more pressure on teachers, their students will get higher test scores? Surely, a “race to the top” has nothing to do with equality of educational opportunity. And what, exactly, is “the top”? Does that mean that if we just test everyone with greater frequency, then student scores will rise to the top of the world? Where is the evidence for that? Another deceptive euphemism.
The euphemisms that are most annoying, however, are ”turnarounds” and “transformations.” When we think of a 

NYC Public School Parents: The bungled "turnaround" strategy of Long Island City HS: Who really is responsible for this mess?

NYC Public School Parents: The bungled "turnaround" strategy of Long Island City HS: Who really is responsible for this mess?:


The bungled "turnaround" strategy of Long Island City HS: Who really is responsible for this mess?


Panel for Educational Policy meeting, April 26, 2012
Last Thursday, April 26, in another long, highly emotional meeting that stretched late into the evening, the Panel for Educational Policy voted to close 24 schools and put them in “turnaround” mode, one of the federal models  for school “improvement” in which the entire teaching staff is fired and is forced to reapply for their jobs. The city is doing this, despite the fact that the state may deny them the federal funds that are supposed to be the “reward” for this model.
 In defending his decision to close these schools in general, and in particular to close Long Island City, as compared to Grover Cleveland HS, which was taken off the “turnaround” list at the last minute, Chief Academic Officer Shael Suransky explained:
… that the schools post some very different data points. At Long Island City, for example, only 11 percent of parents responding to a city survey said the school is doing well, he said. (Long Island City had a massive scheduling debacle earlier this year, and the department is replacing the principal it installed just last year.) 
Long Island City students, arriving at school
He didn’t mention that Grover Cleveland HS is also the alma mater of NYS Assembly Education Chair of Cathy Nolan, a fierce critic of these proposals. 

Daily Kos: "A man's got to know his limitations"

Daily Kos: "A man's got to know his limitations":


"A man's got to know his limitations"

Words spoken by Clint Eastwood in his role as Dirty Harry, Inspector Harry Callahan, in Magnum Force.
I suppose they can serve as a cautionary, even if the phrasing may not be absolutely on target.
The fact that a person can do something, even do it well, does not mean that he should do it.
If I have become clear on anything as the result of the mini-retreat I took this weekend, it is that.
I may not as yet know what I will do for income after this school year.
I know things I will not do, even though I can.
I know that I have to be able to keep writing - too many have told me they do not want to lose my voice, even thought at times they strongly disagree with me.
I know that in some way what I do has to involve the essential aspects of teaching - challenging, encouraging, prodding, pointing at new possibilities, exploring together.
I may at time fantasize at playing a bigger role in politics or policy.  But a man's got to know his limitations.  I have a voice that can contribute to both, but the value of my words on either come from being rooted in a different 

Guest Blog by Emma Rosloff: My Experience with Unschooling (Abbreviated) | Lefty Parent

Guest Blog by Emma Rosloff: My Experience with Unschooling (Abbreviated) | Lefty Parent:


Guest Blog by Emma Rosloff: My Experience with Unschooling (Abbreviated)

This is the first time I’ve published a piece by a “guest” blogger, which in this case happens to be my daughter Emma! She published her piece initially on the Daily KOS progressive political blog site (click here to link to it), and got a large number of views, recommends and comments, plus a “Community Spotlight” acknowledgement. I’ve posted it below in its entirety, along with some follow-up replies she made to comments she received…

My father turned me on to an article in Psychology Today about a woman named Kate Fridkis and her unschooling experience. After reading it and realizing how much her experience mirrored my own, I was compelled to comment, and encouraged (by my father) to blog about my experiences,