First pass at school inspections | Thoughts on Public Education

First pass at school inspections | Thoughts on Public Education:

First pass at school inspections

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State Board considers some alternatives

Posted on 5/10/12 • Categorized as State Board of Education

By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

The State Board of Education on Wednesday waded into what’s expected to be a yearlong process of revising the state’s standardized-test-heavy school accountability system. First up: discussing whether to reshape an existing tool, the School Accountability Report Card, or SARC, an annual data dump that every school collects and is supposed to post online, and whether to consider adding a new dimension – school inspections.

Talk of changing the state’s accountability system has gained currency amid recognition that narrow measures under the state’s Academic Performance Index, combined with federal accountability requirements, have skewed priorities and undervalued much of wh

The ironies of Teacher Appreciation Week - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

The ironies of Teacher Appreciation Week - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:

Student video: How high-stakes tests affect kids

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 2 hours ago

There is one voice rarely heard in the screaming debate about the role ofhigh-stakes tests in education: that of students. Though the big focus today in education is on evaluating teachers and whether student standardized test results should be a part of educator assessment (they shouldn’t), there is no group more affected by high stakes on these exams than the people who have to take them. Results from a single test can determine whether a student moves up a grade or graduates from high school. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to R... more »

The ironies of Teacher Appreciation Week

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 2 hours ago

Last Friday, the Friday before the start of Teacher Appreciation Week and two business days before National Teacher Day, D.C. Public Schools officialssent out noticesto 333 teachers saying that their jobs had effectively been eliminated. This should be considered better form than last year, when they sent out “excessing” notices on the last day of Teacher Appreciation Week. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]

How high-stakes assessments affect doctors (and the lesson for teachers)

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 3 hours ago

This *was written by Larry Cuban, a former high school social studies teacher (14 years, including seven at Cardozo and Roosevelt high schools in the District), district superintendent (seven years in Arlington, VA) and professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, where he has taught for more than 20 years. His latest book is “As Good As It Gets: What School Reform Brought to Austin.” This appeared on his blog.* Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]

Teacher evaluation: What it should look like

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 1 day ago

A new report from Stanford University researcher Linda Darling-Hammond details what the components of a comprehensive teacher evaluation system should look like at a time when such assessments have become one of the most contentious debates in education today. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]

Common Core [sic] Standards (Susan Ohanian Speaks Out)

Common Core [sic] Standards (Susan Ohanian Speaks Out):

K-12 Teaching: A Service Industry Ohanian Comment: P. L. Thomas hits the nail on the head. Who's to blame for turning teaching in to a service industry? A whole lot of teachers and people organizing teachers need to look in the mirror. Teachers don't seem to realize it yet, but the Common Core State [sic] Standards will eat them alive.  by P. L. Thomas 

At The New Republic, Making the Grade poses this about the difference between college professors (notice that term "professor," as in "one who professes") and K-12 teachers: 

"The vast majority of states have long granted public school teachers tenure. The way it works is simple: After a certain number of years, teachers qualify—'virtually automatically' in most states, according to the National Council on Teacher Quality--for a form of job protection that makes it extremely difficult to fire them for the rest of their careers. 

Local Control of Charter Schools is Over in Florida | Scathing Purple Musings

Local Control of Charter Schools is Over in Florida | Scathing Purple Musings:

Local Control of Charter Schools is Over in Florida

by Bob Sikes

After a February decision to overrule local school boards on charter school rejections, Florida State Board of Eduction Member Kathleen Shannon said that she “hoped” people were getting the impression that the Board was showing favoritism for charter school. And chance of that ended yesterday when Shannon’s Board overruled five districts in their rejection of charter schools. From Dave Weber in the Orlando Sentinel:

The Florida State Board of Education on Wednesday overruled the decisions of local school boards in deciding that five charter schools rejected by Central Florida districts should be allowed to open.
The decisions were a rebuff for officials in Orange, Seminole, Volusia, Polk and Brevard counties, who had said the charters, proposed to open in the fall, fell short of their standards.
During an appeals hearing in Tampa, the state board also sided with two charters in Broward 

Videos for the Classroom: Becoming American-The Immigrant Experience | Mr. D's Neighborhood

Videos for the Classroom: Becoming American-The Immigrant Experience | Mr. D's Neighborhood:

Videos for the Classroom: Becoming American-The Immigrant Experience

by ldorazio1

Immigration and the immigrant experience is a key element of the American experience.
Yet to get a real look at what it means to be an immigrant, it helps to look past the steerage section, the Statue of Liberty and a flood of Jacob Riis photographs.
Becoming American: The Immigrant Experience is a documentary created by the Merage Foundation for the 

Charters make their play - Bites - Opinions - May 10, 2012 - Sacramento News & Review

Charters make their play - Bites - Opinions - May 10, 2012 - Sacramento News & Review:

Charters make their play

By Cosmo Garvin 
cosmog@newsreview.com

This article was published on 05.10.12.

The Sacramento County Office of Education isn’t in the news all that much. But there have been a run of stories in The Sacramento Bee lately setting the stage for SCOE board elections in June.
Basically, Team Scoopy has framed the election as a contest between the well-meaning charter-school operators—Margaret Fortune in particular—and bloated union stooges who criticize charter schools.
That’s trouble for Harold Fong, the only SCOE board member who opposed the Fortune Schools application last year. Margaret Fortune has reported giving $1,100 to Fong’s challenger,Christina Shipman. The Bee also just endorsed a slate of charter supporters, including Shipman.
“They basically want to take out the person who opposed the Fortune charter. They want to send a message,” Fong told Bites.
He opposed it partly because the Fortune charter application was explicitly about closing the “achievement gap” for black students. A worthy goal, to be sure. But given that other Fortune schools are somewhere around 80 percent African-American, “I had serious reservations that 

Caring for Every Child's Mental Health — Whole Child Education

Caring for Every Child's Mental Health — Whole Child Education:

Caring for Every Child’s Mental Health

May 9, 2012 by Klea Scharberg

What does it take for children to be mentally healthy? Being mentally healthy is not just about emotional and behavioral difficulties. It's also about being mentally strong and resilient and having the skills and supports to deal with stressful issues when they arise. Today is National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day, established and promoted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The Awareness Day national event complements activities occurring across the country, such as community events, youth rallies, social media campaigns, and activities with children that promote community conversations about the importance of 

Barack Obama Supports Gay Marriage - Finally! #SOSCHAT

Obama declares support for gay marriage 

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President Obama today announced that he now supports same-sex marriage, reversing his longstanding opposition amid growing pressure from the Democratic base and even his own vice president.

In an interview with ABC News' Robin Roberts, the president described his thought process as an "evolution" that led him to this place, based on conversations with his own staff members, openly gay and lesbian service members, and conversations with his wife and own daughters

Big Education Ape Nite Cap UPDATE 5-9-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTS

BEFORE NOON HONEST!

RahmPublican

by Mike Klonsky

What Rahm must be thinking: Hey, this is great. It's like I'm back in the White House -- embracing the GOP, attacking teachers unions, their pensions and health care, closing mental health clinics, and warring on NATO protesters -- all on the same day.

Testifying before a House committee, Emanuel called for a 10-year holiday on paying cost-of-living increases in Chicago's four pension funds and other government retirement systems around the state. That freeze would apply to both current workers and those who already have retired.

As for Rahm's Teacher Appreciation Day pat on the head, the Reader's Ben Joravsky writes:

Apparently, Mayor Emanuel's appreciation for teachers is a little like his affinity for the principles of the Democratic Party... He's certainly not shown much appreciation for Chicago's public school teachers... Having already cut their pay, he's ordering them to work longer for less, while converting more unionized schools into lower-paying, nonunion charters and playing hardball in contract negotiations. It sure looks like he's itching for a strike. All in the name of helping the kids, of course.

Morello raging against Rahm

Then, just to top off his fine RahmPublican day, he ordered the nation's largest Nurse's Association's march 

Email message from Barack Obama

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

Kenneth --Today, I was asked a direct question and gave a direct answer:
I believe that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.
I hope you'll take a moment to watch the conversation, consider it, and weigh in yourself on behalf of marriage equality:
http://my.barackobama.com/...
I've always believed that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally. I was reluctant to use the term marriage because of the very powerful traditions it evokes. And I thought 

Strongly urge people to read Andrew Sullivan

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

in his heartfelt post on marriage equality.  It is titled Obama Lets Go of Fear and it is powerful.
Let me just give a few snips.

So let me simply say: I think of all the gay kids out there who now know they have their president on their side. I think of Maurice Sendak, who just died, whose decades-long relationship was never given the respect it deserved. I think of the centuries and decades in which gay people found it  impossible to believe that marriage and inclusion in their own families was possible for them, so crushed were they by the weight of social and religious pressure. I think of all those in the plague years shut out of hospital rooms, thrown out of apartments, written out of wills, treated like human 

The NJDOE Makes Their Own Rules, Yet Again...

by darciecima

Now I've had it.  From State Street Wires:

State DOE to review several charter school applications TRENTON - The following charter school applications have been qualified for the approval process, the state Department of Education. Approval decisions will be made later, officials said. The following applications are listed by name, grade levels, number of student they are projected to take in, and the municipalities which they will serve. They are: Camden's Rosedale Charter School Grades Kindergarten to 4 Projected to serve

“the most effective way of helping children from low-income households to achieve their ambitions is engaging parents in their children’s learning”

by Larry Ferlazzo

Source: shareasimage.com via Larry on Pinterest    

The above quote comes from a new “meta-analysis” of scores of studies that found that parent involvement in

WE NEED TO ACCEPT SOME OF THE BLAME

by alkleen

I hate to say this, but Illinois teachers need to accept some of the blame for the current pension crisis.  Did we do everything possible over the years to combat the underfunding of our pension here in Illinois?  Did we see this crisis coming and start demanding years ago that the legislature stop stealing our funds? Did we hold rallies, protests, letter writing campaigns, and threaten to take action when the first few millions were stolen by the state?  I hate to say this, but I don’t think we did. I think we failed right along with our union leaders, lobbyists and legislative allies.  We should have voiced our outrage long before the millions became billions. We should have threatened state-wide strikes and done whatever it took to demand an end to the stealing of our pension funds. The question now is, what are we going to do now that the crisis is out of control? We probably have until November to do everything we can to fight for our pensions and insurance benefits. Will we make our outrage heard this time so the damage isn’t too severe?  I sure hope so.
Our failure to confront the pension problem early on, is very similar to how teachers failed to stop the trend of

Many Schools a No-Show at DCPS Job Fair

by Candi Peterson

Written by Candi Peterson


Eastern Senior high school, was the site for the first  DC Public Schools job fair held on May 9th. Surprisingly, it was not as crowded as it had been in years past. In fact the number of educators present seemed sparse and a little over 100 teachers. This year 333 teachers were officially hand delivered excess notices on Friday, May 4, 2012 which means they will no longer hold their current positions at the end of the school year. By definition an "excess is an elimination of a Teacher’s position at a particular school due to a decline in student enrollment, a reduction in the local school budget, a closing or consolidation, a restructuring, or a change in the local school program, when such an elimination is not a ‘reduction in force’ (RIF) or ‘abolishment."
According to a press statement released by DCPS earlier this week: "Excessed employees have until August 15 to find a placement for next school year. After that point, all unplaced excessed employees with Effective or

Big Education Ape Nite Cap 5-9-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2

James Baldwin said it best: 

"For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."

A Big Education Ape Nite Cap