Check Out ED’s New Parents & Families Page | ED.gov Blog

Check Out ED’s New Parents & Families Page | ED.gov Blog:

Check Out ED’s New Parents & Families Page

Posted on August 14, 2012 by Guest Blogger

The Department of Education is proud to announce the launch of a new parent web page that provides resources aimed at parent and family engagement. This new addition to ED’s site is an excellent resource for those interested in learning more and getting involved in their child’s education. To make it even simpler, here’s a list of some of the great things this new page has to offer:

1.     On the Blog

Find links to posts on ED’s Homeroom Blog that deal specifically with parents, families, and engagement.

2.     Email Updates

Enter your email address to receive updates from ED’s parent engagement team.

 3.     Parent and Family Involvement Topics

The parent page provides a list of links to a number of parent and family involvement topics, such as special education, college, bullying, Promise Neighborhoods, and more.

 4.     Further Resources

Click on any of the links below the Resources subheading to learn about how to collaborate with ED or to participate in family engagement in other ways, like EDwebinars or parent forums. You will also see links to our publications and newsletters focused on parents and families, such as Parent Power and Engaging Families.

Get started today by visiting www.ed.gov/parent-and-family-engagement.

Alexandra Strott is a student at Middlebury College and an intern in ED’s Office of Communications and Outreach

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: A strike is avoidable if Rahm "finds" the money

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: A strike is avoidable if Rahm "finds" the money:

A strike is avoidable if Rahm "finds" the money

by Mike Klonsky

Google hosted this "fireside chat" with Rahm when he was running for mayor.

He easily finds it for corporate cronies

Rahm/Brizard have already folded in their attempt to force CPS teachers to work a longer day and year without additional pay. But a settlement in contract negotiations is still problematic and a teachers strike is still possible, especially if Rahm keeps claiming that there's no money for teacher pay increases, as recommended by the mediator last month.

Rahm keeps speaking out of both sides of his mouth, one day playing poor-mouth and the next day finding 

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Tuesday, August 14, 2012

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

CA STILL HOT

Education Headlines

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Five school districts place bonds on November ballot

Four Kern County school districts have placed general obligation bonds on the Nov. 6 ballot, and one other has placed a parcel tax bond, Kern County Elections Division records show.

Fensterwald: Thursday deadline for resolving teacher evaluation bill

The Senate Appropriations Committee has given Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes three days to figure out how to pay for and, if possible, mollify critics of his bill to redesign teacher evaluations.

Bereaved mother turns grief into action on school-bus-stop safety

Harvard-Westlake student Julia Cukier Siegler, 13, was killed in a school-bus-related accident in 2010. Ever since, her mother has been working for changes.

Playa Vista baby boom leads to a new school

Playa Vista Elementary opens its doors Tuesday, serving 200 children in the coastal community. The level of parental involvement is almost unprecedented, an Los Angeles Unified official says.

$20 billion in building has boosted LAUSD elementary student test scores, study finds

A nearly $20-billion effort to reduce overcrowding in city schools has paid off -- at least for elementary school students, according to a new study.

Compton NAACP moves to recall school board member

The Compton chapter of the NAACP has launched an effort to recall Skyy Fisher from his seat on the Compton Unified School District board. In an Internet podcast, Fisher referred to the district superintendent with insulting names and used a gay slur to describe slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin.

Struggling districts, charters awarded exemption from state funding deferrals

A total of 33 local educational agencies and 203 charter schools have been given an exemption from this year’s series of $3.5 billion in state payment deferrals, the California Department of Education announced.

Negotiations intensify around teacher evaluation bill

The author of a bill requiring school districts to implement a teacher evaluation system said Monday he still needs to find the almost $22 million needed to pay for the plan – although there are indications a major policy rewrite could also be in the offing.

Frey: Report indicates new schools boost scores for younger LAUSD students only

Los Angeles Unified elementary students from overcrowded schools earned higher test scores after moving to newly built schools, but students in new high schools experienced no similar bump in scores, according to a policy brief released today.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Solana board member works for district’s law firm

Art Palkowitz serves on the Solana Beach school board as a part-time job, but his full-time job is working for one of the district’s outside law firms. Palkowitz is paid more than $100,000 a year by Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz, income that he is required by law to disclose on state forms and didn’t.

Tight budgets driving big changes in Sacramento area schools

Students returning to school in the Sacramento area should expect another year of large class sizes, fewer teachers and reduced resources. But they also can expect new programs including "transitional kindergarten," Internet safety training and new International Baccalaureate programs as districts move forward despite budget cuts.

Woodland school board member ousted for living outside his district

Woodland's school board voted to strip trustee Warren Berg of his district seat Thursday, a week after the panel learned Berg moved out of the district he represents and into another trustee area.

Meet the Dictionary's New Words: F-Bomb, Sexting, Bucket List - Entertainment - The Atlantic Wire

Meet the Dictionary's New Words: F-Bomb, Sexting, Bucket List - Entertainment - The Atlantic Wire:

Meet the Dictionary's New Words: F-Bomb, Sexting, Bucket List

by Jen Doll

It's the time of year in which we get new words in the dictionary! Not in our "despicable words" dictionary, to which of course you're welcome to contribute, but in the actual Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary. The 2012 update includes a range of new words that you can judge as delightful or reprehensible, including bucket list,mash-up, craft beer, sexting, and f-bomb. (Hm, does this change anything for the New York Times?)
From Merriam-Webster's Peter Sokolowski, here's the full list of words (we added a few notations about why certain words were added, via the m-w.com press release):
aha moment n (1939) : a moment of sudden realization, inspiration, insight, recognition, or comprehension [Oprah Winfrey's signature phrase]
brain cramp n (1982) : an instance of temporary mental confusion resulting in an error or lapse of judgment
bucket list n (2006) : a list of things that one has not done before but wants to do before dying [popularized by 

Shanker Blog » School Ratings For School Ratings' Sake

Shanker Blog » School Ratings For School Ratings' Sake:

School Grades For School Grades’ Sake

by Matthew Di Carlo

I have reviewed, albeit superficially, the test-based components of several states’ school rating systems (e.g.,OH, FL, NYC, LA, CO), with a particular focus on the degree to which they are actually measuring student performance (how highly students score), rather than school effectiveness per se (whether students are making progress). Both types of measures have a role to play in accountability systems, even if they are often confused or conflated, resulting in widespread misinterpretation of what the final ratings actually mean, and many state systems’ failure to tailor interventions to the indicators being used.
One aspect of these systems that I rarely discuss is the possibility that the ratings systems are an end in themselves. That is, the idea that public ratings, no matter how they are constructed, provide an incentive for schools to get better. From this perspective, even if the ratings are misinterpreted or imprecise, they might still “work.”*
There’s obviously something to this. After all, the central purpose of any accountability system is less about 

I’m wearing black to Springfield as union leadership waves white flag. « Fred Klonsky

I’m wearing black to Springfield as union leadership waves white flag. « Fred Klonsky:

I’m wearing black to Springfield as union leadership waves white flag.

by Fred Klonsky

“See you in Springfield on Friday. Wearing black?,” asked a retired friend.
Yes. Black in mourning at the unions representing state employees and retirees who are waving the white flag of surrender.

With lawmakers about to return to Springfield for a one-day session on government employee pension reform, a coalition of unions on Monday for the first time publicly said workers would consider paying more toward their retirement.

But the unions’ plan also would require the state to guarantee it will make its full 

Dear Governor Quinn. Illinois is broke. Morally and Ethically.

by Fred Klonsky

Dear Governor Quinn:
Recently you announced a special session of the Illinois General Assembly on August 17th. In calling for this special session, you urged lawmakers to push forward with “pension reform.” Governor Quinn, you keep using that word “reform.” I do not think it means what you think it means. You see, “reform” is defined as making changes in something to make it better. Asking a grandmother who dedicated 30+ years to Illinois’ children to accept less in her pension check next year in order to keep her health insurance does not make it better. Shifting the tax burden caused 

Before Dropping Algebra, Fix Math Education – SchoolBook

Before Dropping Algebra, Fix Math Education – SchoolBook:

Before Dropping Algebra, Fix Math Education

 A recent opinion essay in The New York Times by Andrew Hacker, asking the question “Is Algebra Necessary?”, drew hundreds of comments. Some of SchoolBook’s contributors went further and have written their own essays in response. What’s your opinion? Respond to our query below. (We would especially love to hear from students or recent graduates.)

As a parent with three children rising through New York City public schools, I’m sympathetic to the argument by the Queens College professor Andrew Hacker that “elite” colleges often saddle students with large debts for little discernible benefit in salaries or social status over their less-prestigious brethren.

Lorraine LeveyMatthew Levey

Whether or not my kids earn 3.8 GPAs and score 2,200 on their SATs, Dr. 

The Death of the Urban Comprehensive High School? - Dana Goldstein

The Death of the Urban Comprehensive High School? - Dana Goldstein:

The Death of the Urban Comprehensive High School?

by Dana Goldstein

You have ripped off my photograph from Flickr without giving me credit. Ordinarily, I'd say it was o.k because my wife and mother-in-law were both AFT members for 30+ years, but either you give me credit (as Frederick J. Nachman) or take down the photo.

Head to The Daily Beast to read my review of Michael Brook's new book, Saving the School, which does important work capturing this particular moment in national education reform, when so many urban neighborhood high schools are at risk of closure:

Brick, who worked for The New York Times, spent a year embedded at John H. Reagan High School in “the Two-Three,” a poor neighborhood on the eastside of Austin, Texas, known for tensions between black and Hispanic residents. Of the school’s approximately 700 students, 110 are teen parents, and only 22 are white. Over a third of Reagan students are classified as still learning the English language, and over 80 percent are so poor that the government pays for their school lunch. When a girl refuses to remove her hat during a school assembly, she is handcuffed and dragged out by the police. Military recruiters roam Reagan’s halls.     

Brick has done his homework on the history of American education, and he accurately assesses why schools like Reagan often appear to be such blighted places: less because their teachers are uniformly 

Reflections on Public Education and the Future of Our Democracy | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

Reflections on Public Education and the Future of Our Democracy | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights:

Reflections on Public Education and the Future of Our Democracy

by Cheryl S. Williams

This weekend I started reading David McCullough’s most recent book, The Greater Journey, which chronicles the experiences of some of the United States’ most accomplished writers and thinkers on their visits to Paris in the early part of the nineteenth century.  I’m still at the very beginning of what promises to be a fascinating book; however, I’m enjoying the description of the initial culture shock these prominent Americans had when they arrived in Paris and learned that most of the French knew very little about the United States and didn’t even speak English! 
McCullough points out that the French people’s initial 

Daily Kos: Belief Culture Redux: (Social) Darwinism from the Right

Daily Kos: Belief Culture Redux: (Social) Darwinism from the Right:

Belief Culture Redux: (Social) Darwinism from the Right

by rss@dailykos.com (plthomasEdD)

The U.S. is a belief culture, from our persistent clinging to creationism over evolutionary science to our unwavering claims that the U.S. is a meritocracy.
The great irony of this belief culture is that the popular rejection of Darwinism is supplanted by a very palpable embracing of Social Darwinism. Americans believe deeply in the rugged individual, the power of the free market (that glorious invisible hand) along with the cleansing effect of competition, and the foundational principle of choice.
At the center of this belief culture, in fact, appears to be an unwavering faith in choice, a faith so powerful that it blinds most Americans to their repeated claims of also believing in a need for greater economic equity. Krishna Savani of Columbia Business School and Aneeta Rattan of Stanford University, in a study published forPsychological Science, have confronted these "contradictory opinions on wealth" beneath the trust in choice:

They surmised that one factor -- the concept of choice -- might be particularly influential in discussions about wealth. "Choice is a pervasive and highly valued concept in the U.S.," say the authors. If we assume that people make free choices, they theorized, while at the same time we 

NYC Educator: Bloomberg Adds Negative Value

NYC Educator: Bloomberg Adds Negative Value:

Bloomberg Adds Negative Value

by NYC Educator

Poverty is up in the Big Apple. As Mayor4Life runs around stereotyping teachers as sex abusers, and trying to close schools that don't even meet his DOE standards, the quality of life for children is deteriorating.

Bloomberg can't wait to fire teachers. His mantra is "accountability." In Bloombergworld, it's "Children First, Always." And yet, 70% of these children now live in poor households. As Bloomberg stacks the decks against the public schools that might, in some small way, improve the prospects of these kids, as he decimates their neighborhoods by closing their schools, these kids are, indeed, the first to suffer.

Perish forbid that Mayor Bloomberg's rich peers should 

Middle School Charters — Suspending their way to the top | Edwize

Middle School Charters — Suspending their way to the top | Edwize:

Middle School Charters — Suspending their way to the top

by rsentell

In June, Gotham schools published the names of the 10 charter schools with the highest suspension rates. Many of these were middle schools and three had suspension rates at least four times above the city average.

Now, the city test results are out, and two additional facts emerge about these schools.
First, students in these schools weren’t just suspended; they also disappeared. Specifically, as classes moved up from one grade to the next, the number of students in them got smaller and smaller. The average reduction was 15% between 5th and 6th grade alone, which is when the size of cohorts is most likely to shrink.

School	Grade Span	Change in number of students in cohort	% Reducation in cohort
Harlem VIll. Acad. Ldrshp	5th (2011) to 6th (2012)	96 to 77	-20%
Bed Stuy Collegiate	5th (2011) to 6th (2012)	81 to 69	-15%
Kings Collegiate	5th (2011) to 6th (2012)	80 to 71	-11%

Classes shrink faster at these charters than as just about any other charters in the city. All three, in fact, rank in 

UPDATE: Jersey Jazzman: Star-Ledger, Once Again, Misses the Story

Jersey Jazzman: Star-Ledger, Once Again, Misses the Story:

NJDOE to Camden: "Who Cares What You Think?"

by Duke

When will the people of Camden understand that the state knows what their children need better than they do? When will they stop demanding a say in how their city is run? [all emphases mine]

Changes imposed by the state midway through the school district’s review of urban Hope Act school proposals have “tainted the process” and created “a process that’s a sham,” according to one of four school board members in open revolt against Department of Education edicts. 

“The process is not good, not credible,” board member Raymond L. Lamboy said after the revisions were disclosed last week. “They are constantly changing the process, which gives the impression that this is being done to arrive at a foregone conclusion.” 

Not only was the board caught off guard, so were the three current school proposers — Benjamin 

Star-Ledger, Once Again, Misses the Story

by Duke

This one pains me, because I like Jessica Calefati of the Star-Ledger; she's done some good work on education. But, I'm sorry to say, she totally blows it here:

When DaShawn Boyd enrolled last fall as a freshman at Bard Early College High School he considered himself a top student. The 15-year-old had earned mostly A’s at Camden Middle School.

But a few weeks into the school year, he discovered things were different. "I was failing math, a subject I had always done well in," DaShawn said. "I started to realize I was failing because I hadn’t learned enough math before I got to high school."

Schools Matter: The Walmart Model for Education

Schools Matter: The Walmart Model for Education:

The Walmart Model for Education

by Judy Rabin

In These Times

Wamart, Right-Wing Media Company Hold Star-Studded Benefit Promoting Education Reform Film
by Josh Eidelson

(My bolds)

Asked over e-mail how AFG expected Won't Back Down to influence education policy debates, Weil said the movie "explores many different approaches to issues that parents face every day as they selflessly advocate for their children to receive the promise of a great education." Weil adds that the film does not "advocate any specific approach," and that, "If anything, we hope the film will inspire parents to be aware of and involved in their children's educations." 

Vilson describeds Walmart’s involvement in "Teachers Rock" as evidence of an 

UPDATE: Schooling in the Ownership Society: Klein back to pimping Murdoch's Amplify program

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Klein back to pimping Murdoch's Amplify program:

Klein back to pimping Murdoch's Amplify program

by Mike Klonsky

Murdoch & Klein

"What we're trying to do is really become a hub for serious thinking and trying to make sure that technology is a positive force," Klein said in an interview. "Because I've long said that just giving a kid a computer isn't going to change the game."

Now that Rupert Murdoch has hired the best criminal defense lawyer money can buy, former NYC Chancellor

Indy is Vallas' latest privatization target

by Mike Klonsky

Legendary Ownership Society hustler Paul Vallas is at it again. His high-profile, high-profit target this time is Indianapolis. Here's a re-post of Diane Ravitch's August 13th post: "Saving School Districts Is Not a Full-time Job."

Paul Vallas is superintendent of schools in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He is paid more than $200,000 a year. He also runs a private consulting business that just landed an $18 million contract to reorganize the Indianapolis school district even as he remains full-

Dragon tales and other reasons I oppose school vouchers

Change of Subject: Dragon tales and other reasons I oppose school vouchers:

Dragon tales and other reasons I oppose school vouchers

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Deanna Pan at Mother Jones does a quick run-down of the worst of the claptrap that taxpayers in Lousiana are going to have to pay to disseminate to that state's schoolchildren under a new school voucher program.  In 14 Wacky "Facts" Kids Will Learn in Louisiana's Voucher Schools:

(Some of the schools) rely on Pensacola-based A Beka Book curriculum or Bob Jones University Press textbooks to teach their pupils Bible-based "facts," ...and all sorts of pseudoscience that researcher Rachel Tabachnick and writer Thomas Vinciguerra have thankfully pored over so the rest of world doesn't have to. Here are some of my favorite lessons:

 Dinosaurs and humans probably hung out: "Bible-believing Christians cannot accept any evolutionary interpretation. Dinosaurs and humans were definitely on the earth at the same time and may have even lived side by side within the past few thousand years."—Life Science, 3rd ed., Bob Jones University Press, 2007

Dragons were totally real: "[Is] it 

California's Prop. 32 would be Citizens United on steroids - The Hill's Congress Blog

California's Prop. 32 would be Citizens United on steroids - The Hill's Congress Blog:

California's Prop. 32 would be Citizens United on steroids

By John Logan, professor, San Francisco State University - 08/14/12 07:57 AM ET

  

Conservative activists in California are promoting a deceptive ballot proposition that would increase the ability of business groups and billionaires to dominate state elections. The measure, Proposition 32, claims to be an even-handed effort at campaign finance reform – but nothing could be further from the truth. Prop. 32 (or “Stop Special Interest Money Now,” as its big money supporters prefer to call it) would cripple the ability of unions to participate in politics, but have little or no impact on unlimited spending by corporate executives and other wealthy individuals.

Data compiled by the non-partisan Center for Investigative Reporting