Superbugs Blog Carnival « MomsRising Blog

Superbugs Blog Carnival « MomsRising Blog:

Pig Farms Breed Resistant Staph

Elizabeth Svoboda at MomsRising Blog - 21 minutes ago

Dario Sabljak/Shutterstock Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), one of the most dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria, is responsible for more than 250,000 hospitalizations a year in the United States alone. And new, even more deadly versions of staph may be on the way, due to intensive use of antibiotics on factory farms. In February scientists reported that a methicillin-susceptible staph had [...]

Soil Bacteria May “Eat” Antibiotics

Dan Cossins at MomsRising Blog - 21 minutes ago

Long-term exposure to antibiotics from agricultural run off may encourage the evolution of soil bacteria that break down and consume the antibacterial agents. Soil microbes exposed to antibiotics over a long period evolve the ability to detoxify the compounds, and may even derive nutritional benefit in the process, according to a report out last week [... ]

Want To Take A Look At The Antibiotics In Your Meat? Here’s Your Chance

Beth Hoffman at MomsRising Blog - 21 minutes ago

Consumer’s Union (an arm of Consumer Reports) says that up to 80 percent of all antibiotics used in the U.S. are administered not to humans, but are given to animals as growth promotants and to prevent disease. But many including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Consumer’s Union say the overuse of antibiotics in the livestock industry has now led [ ...]

Reps. Waxman and Slaughter Introduce Legislation to Better Monitor Antibiotic Use in Animals

Rep. Henry A. Waxman Media Center at MomsRising Blog - 21 minutes ago

Today Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman and Rules Committee Ranking Member Louise M. Slaughter introduced legislation to provide better information on the amount and use of antibiotics and other antimicrobials given to animals raised for human consumption, H.R. 820, the Delivering Antimicrobial Transparency in Animals (DATA) Act. “The widespread use of [...]

Antibiotics and the Meat We Eat

David Kessler at MomsRising Blog - 21 minutes ago

Scientists at the Food and Drug Administration systematically monitor the meat and poultry sold in supermarkets around the country for the presence of disease-causing bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. These food products are bellwethers that tell us how bad the crisis of antibiotic resistance is getting. And they’re telling us it’s getting worse. But [...]

Superbugs in supermarkets

Dawn Undurraga at MomsRising Blog - 21 minutes ago

I thought I knew what I was getting myself into when I started this project on meat and antibiotic use in animals, but what Environmental Working Group’s team found still shocked me: federal scientists routinely find antibiotic-resistant bacteria – often called superbugs – in meat I regularly buy at the grocery store. Gail Hansen, an [...]

From Superbugs to Sustainability: a Fifth-Generation Producer’s Mission to Raise Pigs without Antibiotics

Russ Kremer at MomsRising Blog - 21 minutes ago

I have a passion for pigs. It started back when I was five years-old, as I cared for the runt and orphaned pigs on our 220-acre family farm in Osage County, Missouri. From the son of five generations of farmers to a student of animal husbandry, to the owner of my own farm, I’ve always [...]

‘We Have a Limited Window of Opportunity’: CDC Warns of Resistance ‘Nightmare’

Maryn McKenna at MomsRising Blog - 1 hour ago

It’s not often that you get to hear a top federal health official deliberately deploy a headline-grabbing word such as “nightmare,” or warn: “We have a very serious problem, and we need to sound an alarm.” Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said both Tuesday, during a press [...]

Antibiotic Resistance Due to Overuse of Antibiotics in Agriculture

Lonnette Harrell at MomsRising Blog - 1 hour ago

Overuse of antibiotics in agriculture has led to many antibiotic-resistant diseases in humans. Animals aree often given antibiotics in low doses to prevent disease, (often caused by unsanitary and crowded conditions), and to aid in growth. Animals that are fed antibiotics grow faster, experiencing 4 to 5 percent more body weight, than those who don’t [...]

Top 3 Ways to Avoid Overuse of Antibiotics

Heather Manley at MomsRising Blog - 1 hour ago

I am writing this blog on behalf on an important group, Supermoms Against Superbugs, as they approach their Superbugs Advocacy Day – April 16 – to bring awareness to the overuse of antibiotics. Below is a quote from them… “Doctors routinely warn patients that antibiotics should be used only to treat bacterial infections, at the [...]

The Facts Are Clear: Animals and Superbugs

Rep. Louise Slaughter at MomsRising Blog - 1 hour ago

As a young student studying microbiology at the University of Kentucky, I immersed myself in the study of antibiotic-resistance. When I wrote my Master’s thesis in 1954, I wrote at length about a danger that continues to be a growing threat today: antibiotics becoming ineffective against the evolution of modern disease. Even then, the laws [...]

Is This the End of Antibiotics?

Laura Termini at MomsRising Blog - 1 hour ago

One of the medications dispensed at the pharmacy, are antibiotics, whose invention is attributed to Fleming, but was really the discoverer? According to the Spanish Royal Academy an antibiotic is a chemical substance produced by a living or manufactured synthetically, could paralyze development of certain pathogens, for its bacteriostatic action, or cause their death, for [...]

¿Es este el fin de los Antibióticos?

Laura Termini at MomsRising Blog - 1 hour ago

Los antibióticos son sustancias que fabrican los microbios y producen la muerte de otros organismos (su nombre deriva del griego y significa “contra la vida”). En 1875 , el naturalista irlandés John Tyndall (imagen) descubrió el primer antibiotico, producido por el hongo Penicillium. El descubrimiento pasó inadvertido, porque en esa época se ignoraba que las enfermedades [...]

Why Trader Joe’s? Why now?

Meg Bohne at MomsRising Blog - 1 hour ago

Consumers Union has taken a stand against the overuse of antibiotics in livestock production for decades – about 40 years, in fact. In that time however, we’ve seen little action by regulatory agencies or lawmakers to curb this practice that is increasingly contributing to the problem of antibiotic resistance. In light of that, Consumers Union decided to [...]

Finding Antibiotic-Free Meat in Chicago (Without Going Organic)

Alison Klinger at MomsRising Blog - 1 hour ago

I’ve been passionate about the Supermoms Against Superbugs issue for almost a year now. The one small step I can take at home, of course, is to change the meat I buy and always look for antibiotic-free options. But at first this can be daunting. To the novice (that’s me) the search for non-industrial-farm meat seems to [...]

Its Master’s Voice: The FDA’s Dependence on Drug Industry Fees

Margaret Mellon at MomsRising Blog - 1 hour ago

I’ve spent many years wondering why the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been so slow to curb the rampant overuse of antibiotics in agriculture. Original Nipper, by Francis Barraud (1856–1924) (Transferred from en.wikipedia) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons For a public health agency, this issue would seem a no-brainer. Overuse of drugs in agriculture [...]

Can an industrialized meat system that breeds superbugs really be called safe?

Sasha Lyutse at MomsRising Blog - 1 hour ago

Not a lot of meat is raised here in New York City. Nonetheless, New York City played host yesterday to the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) Food Dialogues, a well-funded public relations project backed by some of the biggest and most notorious players in the food industry. Billed as a conversation on some of today’s most [...]

The Chicken That Threw Me A Change-Up

Sam Spitz at MomsRising Blog - 2 hours ago

This blog originally appeared in Food Patriots. Seven years ago I had big dreams of playing in the Major Leagues. My fastball topped 86mph. My curve broke from 12:00 to 6:00. And at 15, I was already entering my second season on varsity. Local scouts were drooling. They called almost every night, and even invited [...]

What We Know About Teaching Teachers | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

What We Know About Teaching Teachers | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights:

What We Know About Teaching Teachers

by American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education

Learning the art of preparing effective teachers never ends for the teacher education community. Each day, we discover new ways to review, modify and apply the best methods that will ultimately address the learning needs of all students. But what are the core ideals and characteristics that serve as the foundation beneath this evolving knowledge? I asked Alison Hilsabeck, who leads a successful program at National Louis University, to answer the question, "What do we know about teaching teachers?" Her insightful response follows.

-Sharon P. Robinson, Ed.D., President and CEO of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE)

The educational research community has devoted significant energies toward the goal of codifying the research on learning and teaching, and on translating that research into effective practice. Those efforts continue a legacy of scholarly practice extending back to Plato and Aristotle. Recently, there have also been a number of substantial reports (e.g. the National Research Council's Preparing Teachers: Building Evidence for Sound Policyand the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education'sTransforming Teacher Education through Clinical Practice: A National Strategy to Prepare Effective Teachers) that have informed the national dialogue about the mechanics and organizational arrangements of educating teachers. It would be presumptuous of me to even begin to summarize all of 

Q&A: UFT President Mulgrew readies his union for a “seismic shift” | Hechinger Report

Q&A: UFT President Mulgrew readies his union for a “seismic shift” | Hechinger Report:

Q&A: UFT President Mulgrew readies his union for a “seismic shift”

by Philissa Cramer

United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew runs the largest teachers union local in the country representing the teachers of New York City. Like many teachers union affiliates nationwide, the UFT has been fighting with policymakers over issues such as merit pay, school closures and charter schools, which pose a threat to union strength and which union leaders argue harm public education. Even as some national experts predict that teacher union power is waning, the UFT has won victories and its political influence remains strong.The Hechinger Report and GothamSchools spoke with Mulgrew at the union’s headquarters near Wall Street in downtown Manhattan about the biggest challenges facing the union and what the future looks like for the UFT.What was the biggest challenge you thought the union was facing when you started this job? The ideological war on teachers and on public education. It’s pretty simple. We knew that the progress reports of New York City were driving the instructional practices of the schools, which were bad because the progress 

Some Stats on Marriage Equality |

Some Stats on Marriage Equality |:

Some Stats on Marriage Equality

by Angus Johnston

Seeing that France and Uruguay are about to legalize same-sex marriage, I got curious. So I looked up some stats, because I’m a dork. And I’m sharing them, because some of you are dorks too.
Eleven countries, not including France and Uruguay, have marriage equality nationwide. Three more — Brazil, Mexico, and the United States — have marriage equality in some jurisdictions but not others.
Although same-sex marriage is allowed in less than half of Brazil, it’s still the country with the most same-sex-marriage-legal citizens, at 92.6 million. Nearly a quarter of the people in the whole world who live in places where same-sex couples can marry live in Brazil.
France’s new law will put it in second place on the list, with 65.4 million people, increasing the number of folks who have marriage equality worldwide by 15% with a stroke of the pen. Uruguay will bump up the numbers by another 3.7 million, less than one percent.
After France and Uruguay take the plunge, the land of marriage equality will have a population of about 452 

Modern School: NEA Sheds Crocodile Tears for the Poor

Modern School: NEA Sheds Crocodile Tears for the Poor:

NEA Sheds Crocodile Tears for the Poor

by Michael Dunn

President Obama has sent his budget plan to Congress, hoping to appease Republicans by slashing $400 billion from Medicare and other health programs (according to NEA Today) and cutting cost of living increases for Social Security recipients. Not surprisingly, Republicans are saying this isn’t enough and they have no intention of supporting any tax hikes, whatsoever. Some pundits are referring to the process as Obama negotiating with himself.

Needless to say, the cuts will hurt seniors and the poor the most (but on the brighter side, the wealthy will be able to continue to enjoying record low tax rates and subsidies for their businesses). These cuts could also have a trickle-down effect on schools. By stripping away some of the safety net for poor families, children will inevitably feel some of the cuts, which could lead to increases in malnutrition, untreated medical conditions, premature births, stress 

Missouri Education Watchdog: The New Spin from Common Core Proponents

Missouri Education Watchdog: The New Spin from Common Core Proponents:

The New Spin from Common Core Proponents

by stlgretchen

Get ready for the new talking points from the proponents of Common Core.  The first comes from the Indiana PTA (already repeated by Missouri DESE) in that because we've spent money on unproven, non-researched standards and teacher training that may or may not be good educational practices, we need to keep spending more to "see if it works".  Maybe if Ford had gone along with that line of thought the Edsel would have been an even more expensive boondoggle.

From theindychannel.com and Indiana PTA joins discussion over Common Core standards, pushing for implementation:
  

"Indiana PTA says some school districts have already spent two years planning and making purchasing decisions based on the implementation of Common Core, and it's too late to turn back now.

"Let's follow through with what we've started and let's see how it plays out, instead of 

UPDATE: Feminism, Child Development, and the Legacy of Shulamith Firestone - Dana Goldstein

Feminism, Child Development, and the Legacy of Shulamith Firestone - Dana Goldstein:

Does It Matter When Education Reformers and Activists Send Their Own Kids to Private School?

by Dana Goldstein

The scandal-prone Michelle Rhee does it. So does Leonie Haimson, the combative leader of the advocacy groups Class Size Matters, Parents Across America, and NYC Kids PAC, which oppose almost all the ideas Rhee supports, like increased standardized testing, teacher pay tied to test scores, and larger class sizes for effective teachers. Many left education writers have criticized Rhee for enrolling one of her daughters in the exclusive Harpeth Hall girls' school in Nashville, which boasts of tiny class sizes and a focus on critical thinking and the arts. But Haimson says her own decision to send her youngest child to a private high school is different, because unlike Rhee, she believes all children, especially the poor, should benefit from the small classes and progressive pedagogy many private schools provide. Indeed, Haimson has devoted her life to this cause, and isn't planning on stopping her activism simply because her own child is now enrolled in private schoool.
I am a product of socioeconomically diverse public schools and have written about why opting-out of 

Feminism, Child Development, and the Legacy of Shulamith Firestone

by Dana Goldstein

Like a lot of other people, I was riveted bySusan Faludi'sNew Yorkerreporton the work, life, and death of Shulamith Firestone, a Second Wave feminist theoretician and organizer whose name I knew, but whose legacy I was barely cognisant of. Faludi deals beautifully with Firestone's repressive Orthodox Jewish upbringing, her struggle with schizophrenia and social isolation, and the unfinished business of her particular brand of radical feminism, which declared that "pregnancy is barbaric" and childbirth is like "shitting a pumpkin."Those notions are shocking and perhaps ridiculous, but I nevertheless found insight in Firestone's observation -- decades before Judith Warner'sPerfect Madnessand Elisabeth Badinter'sThe Conflict-- that the increasing fetishization of childhood in the developed world has brought with it an unrealistic set of burdens on mothers, just as women finally earned the right to full lives beyond the domestic sphere. Describing Firestone's classic,The Dialectic of Sex, Faludi writes:

The book’s longest chapter, “Down with Childhood,” chronicled the ways that children’s lives had become constrained and regulated in modern society. “With the increase and 

SES IS A MESS: State investigators: 3 Dallas-area tutoring companies fraudulently billed Garland and San Antonio ISDs | Education Blog

State investigators: 3 Dallas-area tutoring companies fraudulently billed Garland and San Antonio ISDs | Education Blog:

State investigators: 3 Dallas-area tutoring companies fraudulently billed Garland and San Antonio ISDs

by Holly K. Hacker

Three local tutoring companies submitted fraudulent bills to the Garland and San Antonio school districts, according to state investigations.

Diverse Learning, Avenue Academy and Boost Academy sent invoices to both districts so they could get paid for tutoring low-income students, as allowed under the federal No Child Left Behind law. But the tutoring never took place, investigations by the Texas Education Agency found. A lawyer for Diverse Learning said the company is contesting TEA’s decision. Messages left Academy and Boost have not been returned.

TEA had already removed Avenue Academy and Boost Academy (which have the same Hurst address) from the state’s approved list of tutoring companies for other violations. A related company called Diverse Learning (also known as Diverse Links) was removed April 4. In addition, a Coppell firm called 1 to 1 Computer Tutoring was removed April 2.

But those tutoring firms are free to reapply to get back on the state list this fall. And some school district leaders say that’s not cool.

“What we want is the ability to permanently remove companies from the list that have a history of fraud,” said Leslie Price, a spokeswoman for San Antonio ISD. She said SAISD spends a lot of time and money documenting problems with tutoring companies, only to have them potentially remain in 

Did Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee ignore her own cheating scandal? A new memo suggests clear evidence was discounted. | Get Schooled

Did Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee ignore her own cheating scandal? A new memo suggests clear evidence was discounted. | Get Schooled:

Did Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee ignore her own cheating scandal? A new memo suggests clear evidence was discounted.

by Maureen Downey

Michelle Rhee speaking to Georgia lawmakers last year. (AJC Photo)

PBS education reporter John Merrow writes about the erasure analyses, clear evidence of cheating and concealment of that evidence.
No, he is not writing about Atlanta Public Schools and former Superintendent Beverly Hall. He is writing about Washington, D.C., and former Chancellor Michelle Rhee.
Merrow questions why the strong evidence of cheating in the District of Columbia Public Schools — revealed now in a confidential memo — was not followed up as it was in Atlanta, and puts the blame on Rhee.
He says an inexperienced and ambitious Rhee arrived in Washington and imposed a  “Produce or Else” reform model. He notes that Rhee met one-on-one with each principal and demanded a signed guarantee of exactly how many points their test scores would increase.
Rhee has become a national leader in education and holds great sway with state Legislatures, including here in Georgia. She is winning converts to the …

Schools Matter: The New Republic Provides Wedding Details for Randi Weingarten and Bill Gates

Schools Matter: The New Republic Provides Wedding Details for Randi Weingarten and Bill Gates:

The New Republic Provides Wedding Details for Randi Weingarten and Bill Gates

by Jim Horn

To the 800,000 K12 teachers who are paying dues for AFT union support:

Your union dues are not going protect you and your students from the corporate onslaught by efficiency zealots, privateers, and proto-fascist ideologues.  In fact, your president, Randi Weingarten, has joined forces with the oligarchs to begin the Accountability Testing 3.0 regime that has failed so miserably in the two previous versions.  

Below is a full page informercial in the March 25 issue of that neoliberal rag, The New Republic.  

(A reception will follow the ceremony).

Six Steps to Effective Teacher Development and EvaluationBY VICKI PHILLIPS AND RANDI WEINGARTENSponsored by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and American Federation of Teachers

Sponsored content by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and American Federation of Teachers.

Some see us as education’s odd couple—one, the president of a democratic teachers’ union; the other, a director at the world’s largest philanthropy. While we don’t agree on everything, we firmly believe that students have a right to effective instruction and that teachers want to do their very best. We believe that one of the most 

Friday AM Graphs: Just how biased are NJ’s Growth Percentile Measures (school level)? | School Finance 101

Friday AM Graphs: Just how biased are NJ’s Growth Percentile Measures (school level)? | School Finance 101:

Friday AM Graphs: Just how biased are NJ’s Growth Percentile Measures (school level)?

by schoolfinance101

New Jersey finally released the data set of its school level growth percentile metrics. I’ve been harping on a few points on this blog this week.
SGP data here: http://education.state.nj.us/pr/database.html
Enrollment data here: http://www.nj.gov/education/data/enr/enr12/stat_doc.htm
First, that the commissioner’s characterization that the growth percentiles necessarily fully take into account student background is a completely bogus and unfounded assertion.
Second, that it is entirely irresponsible and outright reckless that they’ve chosen not even to produce technical reports evaluating this assertion.
Third, that growth percentiles are merely individual student level descriptive metrics that simply have no place in the evaluation of teachers, since they are not designed (by their creator’s acknowledgement) for attribution of responsibility for that student growth.
Fourth, that the Gates MET studies provide absolutely no validation of New Jersey’s choice to use SGP data in the way proposed regulations mandate.
So, this morning I put together four quick graphs of the relationship between school level percent free lunch and median SGPs in language arts and math and school level 7th grade proficiency rates and median SGPs in 

Which Came First, the Practice or the Policy? - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

Which Came First, the Practice or the Policy? - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

Which Came First, the Practice or the Policy?

by Nancy Flanagan

Gary Rubinstein wrote a rather extraordinary piece this week where he describes, in some detail, teaching practice in the lone KIPP high school in New York City. There are lots and lots of blogs on What Teachers Do--but what makes Rubinstein's piece so compelling is his deceptively casual but spot-on analysis of the teaching he observes.
A few examples: A teacher who can't get a video clip to run as his pupils lose focus; a teacher who seems to be relying on charm and having students verbally repeat a little joke rather dig deeply into social studies content; a teacher who offers kids candy to complete their homework--and that was in a class that was supposed to be teaching "grit." Yikes.
A particularly interesting example comes from a math class where the teacher asks a good, concept-driven question, then is unsure how long to let kids flounder--or how to move them from going nowhere to going in the 

Voodoo Education Reform – @ the chalk face

Voodoo Education Reform – @ the chalk face:

Voodoo Education Reform

APRIL 12, 2013 BY PLTHOMASEDD LEAVE A COMMENT

Some things are funny and not funny at all, simultaneously.

Some things are so rich with commentary, however, they deserve careful attention. Consider the voodoo economics/Laffer curve scene (1’13″) fromFerris Bueller’s Day Off:

(

—–

While satire and somewhat exaggerated, this moment in the classroom highlights the supreme failure of the teacher- and content-driven classroom—the teacher as mechanistic dispenser of a state-endorsed core 

Do as I say, not as I do: Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee and the public education paradox | Money | guardian.co.uk

Do as I say, not as I do: Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee and the public education paradox | Money | guardian.co.uk:

Do as I say, not as I do: Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee and the public education paradox

Education activist argues for radical change in public schools but sends her children to private school, like many other officials

Michelle Rhee's daughter attends a $22,000-per child private school in Nashville. Photograph: Iris Harris/US Department of Commerce

Our personal finances play an all-but-unspoken role in how our children are educated. In the United States, we fund public education via local property taxes. This means the more expensive the neighborhood real estate, the more likely that the children living there will attend a school with decent teacher-student ratios and more in the way of "extras" like art and music classes than their peers with less financially flush moms and dads.

Others will go to private schools. The benefits of such a decision are obvious. You don't like the increased state and federally mandated testing in even the best public schools? You don't have to tolerate them at private schools. There is all but certain to be an institution for you and yours – if, that is, you can afford a hefty tuition bill, one that runs in excess of $40,000. The parent who pays the piper gets to call the educational tune for their children.

All this background is a way of introducing my readers to one Michelle Rhee. If you have children and live in the United States, you almost 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 4-12-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Tennessee: Starvation Bill Deferred for Now

by dianerav

Good news from Tennessee: The Legislature will not consider a bill to cut the welfare benefits of families whose children do poorly in school. At least not this year.
Senator Stacey Campfield took note of the fact that several prominent Republican senators planned to oppose the bill, as did the governor.
And Senator Campfield said “we all have true passion to get parents involved.”
So, now we understand his motive. He actually believes that starving the family would encourage parental 

Who Is Funding Privatization in Texas?

by dianerav

It won’t surprise you to know hat here is a lot of money behind the conservative agenda in Texas. But you might be interested to see the connections between the privatization advocates in Texas and national organizations like ALEC.
Julian Heilig Vasquez traces the connections in his series on the Teat, in which he reflects on what is known as neoliberalism.

Florida: Don’t Let a Charter Corporation Steal Your Neighborhood School

by dianerav

Bill Sublette is a former Florida state representative who is now chairman of the Orange County school board. He is a Republican.
In this excellent article, he explains how the parent trigger bill, which just passed in the Florida House, will allow charter corporations to grab neighborhood schools, public property paid for by local citizens. And once the corporation takes control, neighborhood children will have to enter a lottery to attend what was once their neighborhood school.
He asks the reader:
“Imagine you live in a neighborhood with a school your community has called its own for years. A school you and

Who Holds State Officials Accountable When They Are WRONG?

by dianerav

In a brilliant post, Bruce Baker of Rutgers demonstrates that states are imposing teacher evaluation systems that are flawed.
This is what Arne Duncan and Bill Gates demanded, and this is what states are doing. And it is wrong, it is factually wrong.
Who will hold Duncan, Gates, and all those state officials accountable?
Chris Cerf in New Jersey and John King and Merryl Tisch in New York assure the public that the evaluation systems will work because they take many factors into account. But Baker demonstrates that they are wrong.

LA Times: Bill Gates Hath Spoken

by dianerav

The Los Angeles Times became notorious in 2010 when it commissioned its own ratings of thousands of teachers in the LAUSD and published them. The newspaper was condemned widely by educators and researchers. Even some who supported such ratings said it was wrong to publish them. The LA Times strongly defended its decision to create the ratings and to make them public.
Now the LA Times is expressing doubts about the overuse of test scores to evaluate teachers. It even scoffs at 

Schneider: Arizona, the Land of Conflicts of Interest

by dianerav

Mercedes Schneider takes a close look at Arizona, known as the Wild West of charters.
What she finds is a state where the ethics laws are even laxer than those of her home state of Louisiana.
The charter sector in Arizona is unregulated, unsupervised, and has a firm lock on the taxpayers’ dollars.
Money rules.

Diane in the Evening 4-11-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 4 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Florida: The “Parent Trigger” Scam by dianerav In this article columnist Daniel Shoer Roth explains how parents at the Desert Trails school in Adelanto, California, were hoodwinked into turning their public school over to a charter operator. Under the Florida proposal, charters can set their own rules for eligibility, and many students will be excluded from the school that once was their neighborhood school. Roth writes: “Some local students will not meet the new strict admission rules. This includes students wi... more »

Conversation with Karen. | Fred Klonsky

Conversation with Karen. | Fred Klonsky:

Conversation with Karen.

by Fred Klonsky

Last night Logan Square supporters of the Chicago Teachers Union leadership hosted a fundraiser at Weegee’s Lounge.
President Karen Lewis, VP Jesse Sharkey and Financial Secretary Kristine Mayle were there to share drinks, food and conversation with neighborhood folks.
Weegee’s, a popular Logan Square cocktail joint, is named for the famous black and white photojournalist.

The IL Supremes will decide if health care is a pension benefit.

by Fred Klonsky

A little known Sangamon County Judge named Stephen Nardulli recently ruled that health care was not a pension benefit and so was not covered by the pension protection clause of the Illinois constitution.
The pension protection clause states that those state employees enrolled in pensions plans like the Teacher Retirement System cannot have their benefits diminished or impaired.
The ruling by Judge Nardulli, who is a family court judge and who normally handles issues like child custody and divorce issues, came at an important moment – just a few days before the Senate approved Senate President John Cullerton’s SB1 last month. That bill, if passed by the House and signed by the Governor, would require retirees to choose between a cost of living increase to their pension or access to the state health care system.