Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, January 19, 2013

UPDATE: Jersey Jazzman: Christie Uses NRA To Silence His Biggest Critics

Jersey Jazzman: Christie Uses NRA To Silence His Biggest Critics:



Oversight of Education Dies In NJ

Here's an interesting tidbit I haven't seen reported in the local press:
Bill Would Require Public Disclosure of Private Funding of State Services
Assembly Budget Chairman Vincent Prieto and Assembly Education Chairman Patrick J. Diegnan Jr. announced  December 14 that they have introduced legislation to establish legislative oversight of private money being used to pay for state services. 
The legislation comes on the heels of press coverage outlining several grants provided by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation to the New Jersey Department of Education in recent months.  The grants total over $430,000 education grant, and include a stipulation that the funding is available only as long as Gov. Chris Christie remains in office (Private education grant tied to Gov. Christie staying in office, NJ 



Christie Uses NRA To Silence His Biggest Critics

Say what you will about Chris Christie, but always takes advantage of a good political opportunity.

Yesterday, with one simple statement, he managed to pull himself toward the political center in anticipation of his upcoming campaign for reelection as New Jersey's governor, and set up a defense against what could be one of the most effective attacks against him in that campaign.

Because when Christie lashed out against the NRA, he not only created his own Sister Souljah moment; he set up a defense against his personal hypocrisy on the issue of school funding.

Popout

Let me start by giving Christie his due here. The plain truth is that even if I believe the power of the NRA is way overstated, it still takes political courage for any nationally recognized Republican to take them on. Christie deserves credit for doing so; however, it would be naive not to acknowledge that there is a benefit, in a deep blue 

UPDATE: Skepticism for SB736 + Oklahoma Parents Don’t Like Jeb Bush’s Florida Model | Scathing Purple Musings

Oklahoma Parents Don’t Like Jeb Bush’s Florida Model | Scathing Purple Musings:


Skepticism for SB736 in the Florida Senate

Rick Scott told FOX News host Neil Cavuto after SB736 was past, “It’s going to be great.”
Not so much. Changes are already being considered. Bush Foundation CEO Patricia Levesque wants to add student surveys into the calculus and is floating the idea around. Senate Education chairman John Legg has said his committee will be considering changes to the bill. The committee’s vice chair was more poignant. This from Travis Pillow in the Tallahassee Democrat:
State Sen. Bill Montford, a Democrat from Tallahassee, has a broader range of concerns with the law.
He said placing new teachers on one-year contracts for the rest of their careers undermines their job security and could make it more difficult to attract new people to the teaching profession.
“The damage it’s doing we won’t see until five, six years down the road, when we don’t have the 



Oklahoma Parents Don’t Like Jeb Bush’s Florida Model

From Tulsa World reporter Kim Archer:
JENKS – Tulsa-area parents told legislators Friday that the state’s A to F grades for all Oklahoma schools should be retracted in light of a report slamming the validity of the school report card system.
At a meeting of the Tulsa Parent Legislative Action Committee, about 90 parents and some teachers met in small groups with nine legislators, including a co-sponsor of the legislation that established the A-F grade system, Rep. Lee Denney, R-Cushing.
She said she was disheartened to hear the conclusions of policy experts at the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University. Denney said she believes that the formula should have 

solidaridad: Robert D. Skeels applauds Eric Garcetti's Efforts to Save The NVOC-Aviation Center

solidaridad: Robert D. Skeels applauds Eric Garcetti's Efforts to Save The NVOC-Aviation Center:


Robert D. Skeels applauds Eric Garcetti's Efforts to Save The NVOC-Aviation Center

Now, our struggle is for genuine equality, which means economic equality. For we know that it isn't enough to integrate lunch counters. What does it profit a man to be able to eat at an integrated lunch counter if he doesn't earn enough money to buy a hamburger and cup of coffee? — Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Adult Education Empowers, Photo by Robert D. SkeelsAdult Education means so much to so many people, especially our immigrant and underprivileged populations. One of the most important priorities of Adult Education is to prepare students for living wage jobs. Nowhere is this more true than in the few remaining vocational schools in Los Angeles Unified School District's (LAUSD) Adult Education division.
Recently LAUSD Superintendent Deasy and President Mónica García have once again expressed their willingness to axe an Adult Education program preparing community members for excellent, well paying jobs. On their chopping block this time is theNorth Valley Occupational Center's (NVOC) Aviation Center. Much like last year when the Deasy and García duo were all too eager to cut all the programs vital to our economic recovery, City Council Member Eric Garcetti has stepped up where the Superintendent and Board President have failed their constituents.
Last year in his eloquent save Adult Education speech Garcetti spoke about saving "the core" to "grow the 

Top Content this Week - 1-19-13 The Educator's PLN



Top Content this Week - The Educator's PLN:



1Building a professional learning network on Twitter

Building a professional learning network on Twitter

Added by Thomas Whitby on January 12, 2013
2Amanda Ripley: Ask the kids

Amanda Ripley: Ask the kids

Added by Thomas Whitby on January 14, 2013
3Flipping Tools

Flipping Tools

Posted by Bonnie Birdsall on January 8, 2013
4How education lost its role as the great equalizer - Reuters Investigates

How education lost its role as the great equalizer - Reuters Investigates

Added by Thomas Whitby on December 24, 2012
5Google SketchUp Math and 21st Century Critical Thinking

Google SketchUp Math and 21st Century Critical Thinking

Added by Mitchell Swords on August 20, 2011
6Why Education in Finland Works

Why Education in Finland Works

Added by Thomas Whitby on September 25, 2012
7Where students lead by example-Quality counts 2013

Where students lead by example-Quality counts 2013

Added by Thomas Whitby on January 17, 2013
8Google Drive iPad Portfolio

Google Drive iPad Portfolio

Added by Thomas Whitby on January 15, 2013
9Mashups make meaning

Mashups make meaning

Added by Scott Kinkoph on January 16, 2013
10Diigo Bookmarks Weekly

Diigo Bookmarks Weekly

Added by Scott Kinkoph on January 14, 2013
1115 Education Technologies To Check Out in 2013

15 Education Technologies To Check Out in 2013

Added by Tess Pajaron on January 15, 2013
12What About Me, Mrs. M?:He's Not the Child He Could Have Been!

What About Me, Mrs. M?:He's Not the Child He Could Have Been!

Added by Lisa Mims on January 15, 2013
13How to create an app tutorial with an iPad in 5 steps

How to create an app tutorial with an iPad in 5 steps

Posted by Massimo Scapini on January 16, 2013
14Best Engineering College, MAE

Best Engineering College, MAE

Posted by Ajinkyajit Jadhav on January 16, 2013
15Digital Toolbelt

Digital Toolbelt

Added by Scott Kinkoph on January 14, 2013
16Summer in Smallywood
tags: gaming game gamebased gamification problem solving critical thinking web2.0 tools Web

What Project-Based Learning Is — and What It Isn’t | MindShift
tags: PBL ProjectBased…

Summer in Smallywood tags: gaming game gamebased gamification problem solving critical thinking web2.0 tools Web What Project-Based Learning Is — and What It Isn’t | MindShift tags: PBL ProjectBased…

Added by Scott Kinkoph on January 14, 2013
17Selecting an International School: Tip #7 – Does the school feature a curriculum that is consistent with your future plans?

Selecting an International School: Tip #7 – Does the school feature a curriculum that is consistent with your future plans?

Posted by International School Community on January 16, 2013
18FREE App About Endangered Animals From WWF

FREE App About Endangered Animals From WWF

Added by iGameMom on January 16, 2013
19How to create an app tutorial with an iPad in 5 steps

How to create an app tutorial with an iPad in 5 steps

Added by Massimo Scapini on January 16, 2013
20Dissect a Frog on iPAD

Dissect a Frog on iPAD

Added by iGameMom on January 16, 2013

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 1-19-13



4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:

4LAKIDS - SOME OF THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT

GREEN DOT @ LOCKE: When at first you don’t succeed, reconstitute and reconstitute again – or - The reconstitutions will continue until the morale improves!

Alert the Uh-oh Squad: The miracle takeover of Locke High by Green Dot – celebrated in The New Yorker, The LA Times and the 2011 novel book Stray Dogs, Saints and Saviors – wasn’t all that miraculous after all! Green Dot charter group to reorganize Locke High Green Dot hopes the changes will counter the slumping academic performance of incoming

PARENT TRIGGER PULLED ON LAUSD II: P-Rev strikes again!

SEE:  PARENT TRIGGER PULLED ON LAUSD - 24th Street Elementary School the target of new parent petition Parents demand charter in LAUSD’s first parent trigger campaign --Teresa Watanabe , LA Times/LA Now | http://lat.ms/UAIG1A Photo: Nearly 100 parents presented petitions Thursday demanding change at their low-performing 24th Street Elementary  School to Los Angeles Unified Supt. John

HEBREW-ENGLISH CHARTER SCHOOL IN VAN NUYS APPROVED BY LAUSD + smf’s 2¢

By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer | LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/13IfyJL 1/15/2013 08:05:27 PM PST  ::  A proposed Hebrew-English charter school in Van Nuys won the approval Tuesday of the LAUSD board, which also OK'd the renewal of two landmark charters and the conditional approval of a third. Lashon Academy plans to open in July near Vanowen Street and Hayvenhurst Avenue, operating a

LA GORDA DREAMS BIG: Monica’s Big Big Billboard

by Scott Johnson, reblogged from Mayor Sam’s Sister City | http://bit.ly/WK8AOb The "Gorda Boo Boo Dream Big Billboard" on El Sereno's Huntington Drive, within Garcia's LAUSD District Two boundaries …and just up the street from Academia Semillas, La Gordas favorite underperforming charter school – run by one of her campaign donors. Wednesday, January 16, 2013 Monica Dreams Big .......... more »

PARENT TRIGGER PULLED ON LAUSD

24th Street Elementary School the target of new parent petition By Brandon Lowrey, from the Huffington Post |http://huff.to/11zVJFY photo  from LA School Report 1/15/2013 10:27 pm EST  :: LOS ANGELES, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Parents at an underperforming Los Angeles elementary school are seeking to wrest control from the nation's second-largest school system a week after parents in a rural

THE CRENSHAW RECONSTITUTION

L.A. Unified to overhaul struggling Crenshaw High Calling Crenshaw the worst in L.A. Unified, Supt. John Deasy gets the green light to turn the landmark campus into three magnet schools. By Howard Blume and Stephen Ceasar, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/V8fOl3 Shruti Purkayastha, left, and Carla Gonzalez lead a rally protesting L.A. Unified's plans to overhaul Crenshaw High. (Michael

Briefly – POLL: STUDENT ENGAGEMENT WANES IN LATER GRADES

from ASCD SmartBrief: A recent Gallup poll of 500,000 students in 37 states finds that with each year they progress in school, students are less engaged -- with just 4 in 10 high-school students reportedly engaged, down from 8 in 10 in elementary school, Ellen Wexler writes in this guest blog post. Among the possible reasons cited for the decline is the increased focus on

STILL NEED A FLU SHOT? Here's a list+schedule of LAUSD clinics

from LAUSD District Nursing via LA Daily News twitter LAUSD Flu Shot Schedule by

Today, Tuesday, January 15, QUALITY COUNTS: INVOLVING STUDENTS IN SCHOOL CLIMATE -- an Education Week webinar from 11 AM- Noon PST

www.edweek.org from Fitzwire SEE: CALIFORNIA DROPS TO 49th IN SCHOOL SPENDING IN ANNUAL ED WEEK REPORT: By John Fensterwald, Ed Source Today | http://bit.ly/ZRMuLO Student behavior and attitudes are critical to a school's climate and academic success, but often students aren't involved in school improvement planning. Emerging research shows that getting students to buy in to their school

CALIFORNIA DROPS TO 49th IN SCHOOL SPENDING IN ANNUAL ED WEEK REPORT

By John Fensterwald, Ed Source Today | http://bit.ly/W4FZny January 14th, 2013 | California tumbled two more spots, to 49th in the nation in per-pupil spending, in Education Week’s latest annual Quality Counts report, released last week. The ranking, which includes Washington, D.C., and the 50 states, covers spending in 2010 and thus doesn’t include the impact of higher taxes that voters

UCLA STUDY POINTS TO IMMEDIATE HEALTH RISKS POSED BY CHILDHOOD OBESITY

Stephanie O'Neill| 89.3 KPCC http://bit.ly/VH4BGs MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images - A cafeteria worker supervises lunches at the Normandie Avenue Elementary School in South Central Los Angeles. A new study from UCLA links childhood obesity to numerous related health problems. Listen Now [56 sec] | Download January 14th, 2013, 3:15pm  ::  A new study from UCLA  suggests that obesity among

PARENTS PLAN PROTEST OF DEASY’S PLANS FOR CRENSHAW HIGH SCHOOL

Vanessa Romo | Pass / Fail  | 89.3 KPCC | http://bit.ly/WHn8ya Nick Ut/AP January 14th, 2013, 3:52pm  ::  After months of uncertainty, the future of Crenshaw High School will likely be decided at Tuesday's  monthly L.A. Unified school board meeting. The board will vote on whether to approve Superintendent John Deasy’s plan to convert the high school into three separate magnet schools or

LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT JOHN DEASY WARNS SUSPENDING STANDARDIZED TESTS WOULD HURT AT-RISK STUDENTS

By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/V6vF3A 1/14/2013 06:44:52 PM PST  ::  Los Angeles Unified Superintendent John Deasy has fired off a letter to the California schools chief, protesting plans to suspend many standardized exams next year while the state develops a new system of computer-based tests. In a two-page letter dated Friday to Superintendent Tom Torlakson,

TO LOCK CLASSROOM DOORS OR NOT: After the Newtown and Taft shootings, educators in L.A. debate whether teacher transparency or school security is paramount.

●●smf: School security is paramount …but the question poses a false dichotomy. By Stephen Ceasar and Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/10uEPcv Students at Taft Union High School near Bakersfield after a campus shooting last week. (Irfan Khan, Los Angeles Times / January 10, 2013) January 13, 2013, 10:08 p.m.  ::  Behind a locked classroom door, a Los Angeles third-grade

After Miramonte: LAUSD’s TAMAR GALATZAN, UTLA CHIEF WARREN FLETCHER LOOK AT REFORMING SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING TEACHERS

…but not together. By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, LA Daily News |http://bit.ly/UHJvnn Students are escorted to a waiting bus as they leave Miramonte Elementary school after classes Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012 in Los Angeles. Veteran Miramonte Elementary school teacher Mark Berndt, 61, was arrested Monday, Jan. 30, on charges of lewd conduct with 23 children after a film processor gave police

School Discipline Policy: TRAUMA-SENSITIVE SCHOOLS ARE BETTER SCHOOLS

Huffington Post | http://huff.to/W19CGh This article by June Ellen Stevens appeared in the Huffington Post on June 26th and 27th of 2012 . The first time that principal Jim Sporleder tried the New Approach to Student Discipline at Lincoln High School in Walla Walla, WA, he was blown away. Because it worked. In fact, it worked so well that he never went back to the Old Approach to Student

EDUCATION AND ITS DANCE WITH POLITICS

Editorial in the Lompoc Record | http://bit.ly/WAecdR January 11, 2013 12:00 am  ::  We’ve made no secret of our belief that California’s various levels of education are in trouble, some more deeply than others. To be absolutely fair, the same could be said for public education in many states across America, but in California’s case the problems are especially worrisome. There was a time in

“YOU DON’T FIX EDUCATION BY LOWERING THE BAR. YOU DO IT BY LIFTING THE KIDS.”

Florida and Virginia have adopted new academic standards for students based on race and ability. These states used their federally-granted NCLB waivers to create separate and unequal performance standards for their black, white, Hispanic, Asian and disabled children. In Virginia, in order to pass the standardized math exam, an Asian student has to get an 82 percent. a Latino student has to get

KNOCKING AT THE COLLEGE DOOR: New Report Projects High School Graduating Classes Will Be Smaller, More Diverse

International Business Times | http://bit.ly/11kVheq BOULDER, Colo., Jan. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The 8th edition of Knocking at the College Door: Projections of High School Graduates, released today by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), indicates that the population of U.S. high school graduates is entering a period of modest decline after nearly two

GOVERNOR’S PROPOSED BUDGET FOR 2013-2014

“Under this budget, K‑12 school districts will see an increase in funds. School districts serving those students who have the greatest challenges will receive more generous increases — so that all students in California have the opportunity to succeed. This budget also focuses more responsibility and accountability on those who are closest to our students.” From the Governor’s