9-23-13 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL:

New York Times Begins Producing One Minute Science Videos

The New York Times has just begun producing one minute “Science Takes” videos on its website. You can see them all here. I’ve embedded one below, though you may have to click through to see it if you’re reading this post in an RSS Reader:

9 by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h 

An Extremely Important “Take” On “Wait Time” — One That I Hadn’t Thought About Before….

“Wait time” is commonly referred to as the time between a teacher asking a question and calling on a student to answer it. It’s an important, and often overlooked, element of classroom interaction. Here’s what I wrote about it in one of my books (minus the footnotes): The average time between a teacher posing a question and a student giving the answer in a typical classroom is about one second.. M

2 by Larry Ferlazzo / 5min 

Video: “42 Amazing Maps”

This 42 Amazing Maps video is pretty interesting, but the narrator speaks far too fast for English Language Learners. You might also be interested in This May Be The Best Geography Site Of The Year: “40 maps that explain the world”

7 by Larry Ferlazzo / 58min mark as read  //  save

Using Magic To Teach Academic Language

Use magic to teach and learn academic language in my new NY Times post that includes a student interactive and teaching ideas. I’m adding it to The Best Websites For Developing Academic English Skills & Vocabulary. You can see all my previous NY Times posts here.

4 by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h 

9-22-13 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: This Week In Web 2.0In yet another attempt to get at the enormous backlog I have of sites worth sharing, I’ve recently begin a regular feature called “The Week In Web 2.0.” It’ll be a short compilation of new decent sites that are worth noting, but maybe not necessarily worth a separate post and generally — though not alway

by mike simpson / 9h 

9-23-13 Jersey Jazzman

Jersey Jazzman:

The Continuing Problem Of the Wealthy, Reformy "Liberal"

Let's get back to America's Worst Congressman™, Jared Polis of Colorado: Don't bother trying to find this tweet: it's long gone. Funny how these things happen... But intemperate behavior seems to be Polis's m.o.; here's Diane Ravitch herself: In a series of Twitter posts last night, Congressman Jared Polis of Colorado called me “an evil woman.” He said that my ideas were harming public edu

4 by Duke / 11min 

  

9-21-13 Jersey Jazzman

Jersey Jazzman: They Only Win When You Give UpThis is depressing: When it came time yesterday for the question-and-answer session at state Education Commissioner Chris Cerf’s now-annual convocation with school superintendents, there was an awkward moment: nobody stepped to the microphone. “Oh, I know you have questions,” Cerf said wryly, aware of the challenges facing school leaders and their dist

by mike simpson / 8h 

Billl would prevent double testing and double frustration for students, teachers | EdSource Today

Billl would prevent double testing and double frustration for students, teachers | EdSource Today:

Billl would prevent double testing and double frustration for students, teachers

September 22nd, 2013 | Add a Comment | 
By Randolph Ward / commentary

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Of all the bills sitting on the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown, perhaps none is more important to the future of education in California than Assembly Bill 484. Sponsored by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson and authored by Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, AB 484 would end the standardized tests that have been in place since 1999 and move California forward in implementing tests based on the new Common Core State Standards.

The new standards represent the first major academic overhaul since 1997, and along with clear new goals for student learning come new assessments.  Students will take the new tests using computers (or iPads or similar devices), which means our local school districts need to figure out how to get those devices and the supporting technology such as Internet access into the hands of San Diego County’s 500,000 students. That’s why districts in the county have been hard at work preparing for the new standards and tests. Many San Diego County districts participated in earlier “pilots” of the new tests.

Before AB 484 removed the need for our students to endure double testing, the vision had been 

How are the schools doing? This year, don’t ask - by Peter Schrag / commentary

Gov. Jerry Brown’s George Wallace act seems just a little forced. Standing defiantly against the feds in the schoolhouse door as the Alabama governor once did is probably not his shtick. But Brown, who this week suggested American schools were just fine before the federal government “intruded in education,” seems to ... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit the Edsource Today website for full

by Peter Schrag / co... / 5h 

New focus on school climate in massive student survey - by Jane Meredith Adams

The California Healthy Kids Survey – a massive survey of student behavior and a key resource for schools – has unveiled extensive revisions that put a stronger focus on students’ emotional health. The change reflects a growing interest among educators in school climate, a broad term that includes whether students and ... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit the Edsource Today website for full

by Jane Meredith Ada... / 4h 

Arne Duncan: Do Not Sacrifice Title I through Inconsistent Enforcement of Rules | janresseger

Arne Duncan: Do Not Sacrifice Title I through Inconsistent Enforcement of Rules | janresseger:

Arne Duncan: Do Not Sacrifice Title I through Inconsistent Enforcement of Rules

Title I is the federal civil rights program created in 1965 as the centerpiece of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to help equalize opportunity by sending federal money to schools serving a large number or high concentration of very poor children.  President Lyndon Johnson believed that childhood poverty is deeply connected to school achievement; Title I was a part of Johnson’s War on Poverty.  While the Title I formula has never been fully funded by Congress, Title I has historically been a primary federal tool for  equalizing educational opportunity as a civil right for every child.

Today, however, the Obama Administration’s Department of Education (DOE) persists in redesigning Title I.  In 2009, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan began transforming Title I from a formula program into competitions like Race to the Top and School Improvement Grants.  A much discussed problem with the DOE’s competitive grants is that competitions with winners always create losers, which means that federal support for expanded access to education is increasingly becoming a right for poor children only in winning states and school districts.  It has also become apparent that too much money is going to grant writers and consultants and too little reaching the classroom.

Now we learn that receipt of Title I funding is also being conditioned on states’ complying with the DOE’s requirements for states to earn waivers from the impossible requirements and 

9-23-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

NY Times Hit Piece On Bill De Blasio

Read Alex Pareene's take on the NY Times hit piece on de Blasio as a closet Sandanista.Here's a bit:The New York Times dropped a bombshell last night: As a young man, Democratic nominee for mayor of New York Bill de Blasio was… pretty left-wing. And he supported the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. And he once was in favor of democratic socialism. The Times presents this information as something they unc

by reality-based edu... / 15min 

Lhota Criticizes De Blasio As A Socialist

Well, if you can't run on issues, you can always red bait:Bill de Blasio’s not ready to overthrow capitalism just yet. Asked to respond to Republican mayoral rival Joe Lhota’s “Democratic socialist” hit, Mr. de Blasio wasted no time firing back, accusing Mr. Lhota of running a typical right-wing smear campaign. “I am not surprised that my opponents will throw labels and call names. That’s a Repub

by reality-based edu... / 19min 

Bloomberg So Sad He Has To Go

"Bloomberg prepares to depart with all the reluctance of a 6-year-old leaving Great Adventure" http://t.co/rbGXAigLoo cc: @jenchung— Azi Paybarah (@Azi) September 23, 2013

by reality-based edu... / 16min 

How About NYSED Commissioner John King PROVES He Consults With Parents Over His Education Reform Agenda?

From the Buffalo News:The state Education Department wants Buffalo School District leaders to prove that they offered meaningful opportunities for parents to weigh in on the district’s comprehensive improvement plan and the consolidated application that enables the district to qualify for more than $20 million in federal grant funding.Samuel L. Radford III, president of the District Parent Coordin

by reality-based edu... / 17min 

Daily Data Tracking

Teach for America corps member Mary Mac Thielman enters her students' daily exit ticket percentages onto the data tracking wall at O.M. McNair Upper Elementary School in Belzoni, Miss.The above photo and text appeared with a NY Post editorial touting the wonders of Teach For America teachers over traditional public school teachers.I want you to take a very close look at the photo.The bulletin boar

by reality-based edu... / 25min 

Bloomberg Plans Final Destruction Of Zoned High Schools Before He Goes

From the Daily News: In a push that is alarming parents, the Bloomberg administration plans to stop guaranteeing eighth-graders a spot in the city’s remaining neighborhood high schools. “It’s ridiculous to think that children are not able to go to their zoned school automatically,” said Kim Alvarez, who wants the option of sending her daughter Amber, 11, to the local school, Long Island City High

by reality-based edu... / 42min mark as read  //  save

Cuomo's Commission On Government Transparency And Ethics Hides Its Own Expenditures

This is called transparency and ethics, Cuomo-style: New York's latest anti-corruption commission created by Gov. Andrew Cuomo two months ago to root out wrongdoing and promote transparency has no public budget and none of its spending is subject to taxpayer review. But state records and interviews by The Associated Press show taxpayer costs associated with the Commission to Investigate Public C

2 by reality-based edu... / 3h 

9-22-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Stephanie Simon Takes On Some Education Reform MythologyThe Stephanie Simon article at Politico on why public schools may not be failing is up now and it is a good one.She busts some cherished education reformer myths in it - including how the Chinese are kicking are asses in tests:A new video about the failures of public schools making the rounds on social media starts by i

by mike simpson / 9h 

9-23-13 teacherken at Daily Kos

teacherken at Daily Kos:

Why I can no longer support Jared Polis

on many issues Jared Polis has been a strongly progressive Congressman.  I knew that he and I did not see eye to eye on charter schools, but I often disagree on matters of policy with people I feel free to support. What is not acceptable to me is to see someone engage in ad hominem attacks on someone who disagrees with them. By now many here know that Polis responded to a tweet in which Randi Wein

19 by rss@dailykos.com ... / 1h 

Wash Post likely voters TMac + 8

In this story for which the Post sent out a breaking news email alert, we find McAuliffe leads 47 percent to 39 percent among likely voters, with Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis’s 10 percent suggesting an unrest among voters not satisfied with either major-party contender. In a one-on-one matchup without Sarvis in the mix, the poll shows a narrower, 49-44 race between McAuliffe and Cuccinell

1 by rss@dailykos.com ... / 18min 

Krugman goes after Republicans on SNAP

in a column today titled Free to be Hungry, which I highly recommend. He starts by noting the Right's obsession with the word "freedom"  (such as in Freedom Works and "freedom fries") before offering this gem of a paragraph: The right’s definition of freedom, however, isn’t one that, say, F.D.R. would recognize. In particular, the third of his famous Four Freedoms — freedom fro

5 by rss@dailykos.com ... / 2h 

9-21-13 teacherken at Daily Kos

teacherken at Daily Kos: September 21, 1974was a Saturday.  It was late afternoon.   I had spent several hours visiting friends on the campus of Bryn Mawr College.  I lived not far away, in Rosemont, and I had planned to go into Philadelphia, riding the Paoli Line train, top attend a party to which I had been invited. I was 28 years old, working as a computer programmer analyst, living in a rented

by mike simpson / 8h 

State Supreme Court rules against APS in charter suit: "... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com

State Supreme Court rules against APS in charter suit: "... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com:

State Supreme Court rules against APS in charter suit: " Intention of the General Assembly was to fund local schools unequally with regard to local revenue." 

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Previous Posts

• Missed connection: Are schools tripping up on technology? 
  September 22, 2013
• A panel on Common Core. An irate parent. An arrest. Who went too far? 
  September 21, 2013
• Sororities at University of Alabama offer bids to black women
  September 21, 2013

By Maureen Downey

From the state Supreme Court this morning:

The Supreme Court of Georgia has unanimously upheld a Fulton County court ruling that prohibits the Atlanta Public School system from deducting millions in local revenue to pay down an unfunded pension liability before distributing its local revenue to start-up charter schools.

In today’s ruling, written by Chief Justice Hugh Thompson, the high court says the language of the law is clear. It “expressly directs that as it pertains to start-up charter schools, local revenue shall be calculated according to the formula set forth in [Official Code of Georgia] § 20-2-2068.1 (c),” the opinion says, “and the product of this calculation ‘shall be the amount of local funds to be distributed to the local start-up charter school by the local school board.’” 

The appeal in this case involves the interpretation of the Charter Schools Act of 1998.  In May