12-19-13 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

Report Testing Child Abuse in New York Kindergartens

If you suspect child abuse, you are required by law to report it Child Protective Services.  Call toll free in New York 800-342-3720.From NY Daily News:Goodbye Play-Doh, hello No. 2 pencils.Because of a tough new curriculum and teacher evaluations, 4- and 5-year-olds are learning how to fill in bubbles on standardized math tests to show how much they know about numbers, shapes and order.Teachers s

2 by Jim Horn / 42min 

Show us the evidence

Posted on State Impact: Ohio - Eye on Education - http://tinyurl.com/ltoc4xqIn the class described in "How the Common Core is Changing How Kids Learn in English Class," (Dec 16), the teacher urges students to "cite evidence" for their statements, part of the push for increased nonfiction in the schools. Ironically, there is no scientific evidence that anyone can cite that suppo

by skrashen / 3h 

Do other countries teach better?

Sent to the New York Times, Dec. 19, 2013The Times asks "Why Other Countries Teach Better?" (Dec. 18). But there is no clear evidence that they do. The most powerful factor in developing well-educated citizens, not mentioned by the Times, is poverty: When researchers control for the effects of poverty, our students score near the top on international tests. A survey from the Organization

by skrashen / 5min 

Weingarten Joins Union Enemy John Engler to Plead with Governors to Keep Common Core

On December 10 Randi Weingarten flew into Newark with her gold-plated bullhorn to protest the entirely predicted outcome to a teacher contract that she helped negotiate just over a year ago.  At the time the Newark agreement gave bragging rights to Republican governor Chris Christie for making New Jersey the first state in the Union to base teacher pay on student test scores and on a teacher evalu

2 by Jim Horn / 15min 

The Biggest Lies of "We Won't Back Down"

The movie "We Won't Back Down" was on television this week. It is a product of the corporate-sponsored Parent Revolution. With the help of financing by Walden Media and other business conservatives, the movie tells the fictionalized story of the California "Parent Trigger" law allowing the takeover of a failing school when 51% of parents file a petition. In their telling, howev

by John Thompson / 0min 

Excuses, Excuses...

In response to test scores for New York City:New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's reign as head of the nation's largest school system resulted in greatly improved graduation rates, but test scores that lagged behind the pace of other large American cities. New York City students' scores on national math and reading tests released Wednesday didn't show significant change in 2013 from 2011, ticki

1 by P. L. Thomas / 3h hide  //  save

Doomed!

A clip from the Salon article:. . . . Few would dispute that we should hold our educators and the children they are entrusted with to a high bar of excellence, but evaluating performance on test scores has never been a viable strategy. As Common Core test results have started trickling in, the results aren’t pretty. In New York, they show a widening of the achievement gap between black and white s

1 by Jim Horn / 6h 

12-18-13 Schools Matter

Schools Matter: Accountability without Autonomy Is TyrannyAt The Answer Sheet, Valerie Strauss confronts What’s wrong with this headline?:What’s wrong with this headline speaks to what’s wrong with a lot of the debate about school reform today. The problem is the indiscriminate and inaccurate use of the word “accountability.”While politicians and the media continue to pound at one nail—teacher qua

by mike simpson / 8h 

12-19-13 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education:

Deja Vu All Over Again: Charter Schools USA to Appeal Denial of Application to State Board

Baseball legend Yogi Berra’s yummy pleonasm seems appropriate when it comes to the manner that Charter Schools USA takes advantage of a system they helped game themselves. No for-profit charter school has appealed local school board more rejections than has Jonathan Hage’s CSUSA. Their appeals have always been granted by Hage’s cronies on the state board. Here we go again. From Tama Bay Times repo

11 by Bob Sikes / 3h hide  //  save

Bullying as a Misdemeanor in Florida?

SaintPetersblog sent this interesting little blurb out in his invaluable Sunburn email alert: An effort to fight bullying would go beyond school lines in Florida law, under a measure (SB 548) filed Wednesday by Sen. David Simmons. The proposal says the offense of bullying would involve “a person who willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly harasses or cyberbullies another.” The term excludes consti

7 by Bob Sikes / 4h 

 

12-18-13 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education: Common Core’s Not the Problem; It’s the “Other Stuff”New York is a step ahead of Florida. They have implemented Common Core and  administered the state-wide tests that go with them. The roll-out proved to be a disaster. Politicians develop education policy after listenin

by mike simpson / 8h 

12-19-13 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

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

mark as read

The Best Theory Of Knowledge Resources In 2013 – Part Two

As regular readers know, I teach an International Baccalaureate “Theory of Knowledge” class. Our school structures our IB program a bit differently from many others by having a whole lot of students take individual IB classes and we have relatively few who are taking all IB classes in order to get the IB diploma. I really like this set-up, and it opens up my TOK class to a lot more students. As I’ve said before, I can’t think of a high school class that would be more fun to teach or more fun to take… You might also be interested in: The Best Theory Of Knowledge Resources In 2013 – So Far The

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Find Out What Word Was First Used The Year You Were Born

The OED birthday word generator: which words originated in your birth year? is an interactive from the Oxford English Dictionary that does what its title says. Just because I don’t have any other place to put it, I’m adding it to The Best “Today In History” Sites.

10 16h hide  //  save

Winners Of 15 Second Vocabulary Video Contest Announced By NY Times

The New York Times Learning Network has just announced the winners of their 15 Second Vocabulary Contest. See the great videos at Words Gone Wild: The Student Winners of Our 15-Second Vocabulary Video Contest. They’re excellent examples to use with your own students. I’ve embedded one below and you can see the rest at their post. I’m adding this info to The Best Resources For Learning To Use The Video Apps “Vine” & Instagram (where you can also see examples from my ELL students).

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Find Out What Word Was First Used The Year You Were Born

The OED birthday word generator: which words originated in your birth year? is an interactive from the Oxford English Dictionary that does what its title says. Just because I don’t have any other place to put it, I’m adding it to The Best “Today In History” Sites.

8 by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h hide  //  save

YESTERDAY

Great Video Response From English Class In Italy To Our Questions

I’ve been posting about the series of videotaped questions we’ve been sending to various English classes around the world as we study them in our ELL Geography class (see Terrific New Videos: Using English “Sister Classes” From Throughout The World In Our ELL Geography Class). One of the countries is Italy, and you can see our videotaped questions here at our class blog. Alessandra Cannelli Aless

7 by Larry Ferlazzo / 9h 

12-17-13 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Another Study Shows That Self-Affirmation Activities Help People Think More ClearlyI’ve previously posted here on the blog and also written in my books about research that shows the benefits of having students do simple self-affirmation activities. In Giving Students “Reflection Cards,” I describe its effect on developing s

by mike simpson / 8h 

12-19-13 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit

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

Release Of Naep 2013 Reading And Math Data For Lausd

tweeted and posted online by Howard Blume of the Los Angeles Times | http://t.co/CGjWcS36UW @howardblume: Here's a near final draft of L.A. Unified internal report on the NAEP test scores. They're pleased. Naep Informative 12-16-13 Draft

1 by smf / 14min 

CalPERS MOVES TO EXCLUDE PRIVATELY RUN CHARTER SCHOOLS

by Tom Chorneau - SI&A Cabinet Report   | http://bit.ly/JHOzJ2 December 19, 2013( Calif.)  ::  New eligibility requirements for participating in the California Public Employees’ Retirement System exclude private operators of charter schools, officials at the California Charter Schools Association said Wednesday. The new requirements were adopted earlier this year in anticipation of changes to

1 by smf / 9min 

1st Look/Taking Initiative: THE PROTECTION OF LOCAL SCHOOL REVENUES ACT OF 2014

via email from Educate our State and from their website | http://bit.ly/IYaNGG 19 December 2013  ::  According to Educate Our State: Over $7 billion dollars a year of local property taxes have been directed away from our community schools.  These are our local tax dollars apportioned to our neighborhood schools and community colleges -- and they no longer represent a stable, reliable cash flow

1 by smf / 18min 

12-18-13 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Ucsf Chancellor Resigns To Head Gates FoundationSusan Desmond-Hellmann, chancellor of UC San Francisco since 2009, is leaving to become chief executive of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation By Larry Gordon, LA Times | http://lat.ms/1bQ01w0 UC San Francisco Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann in 2009. (Jeff Chiu / Associated Press) December 17, 2013,

by mike simpson / 8h 

12-19-13 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE:

Our Dystopia Is Now: The Circle

Our Dystopia Is Now: The Circle (Eggers) and Feed (Anderson). via Our Dystopia Is Now: The Circle (Eggers) and Feed (Anderson).

1 by plthomasedd / 31min 

Center for Union Facts… Yeah, Right.

On December 10, 2013, the deceptively-named Center for Union Facts (CUF) bought a full-page ad in the New York Times in order to tell the public that some of the 2012 US PISA scores are the “fault” of American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten. Right there, we begin with stupid. The CUF attacks […]

3 by deutsch29 / 6h 

12-18-13 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: 2014 Educators’ AgendaBegin a movement to create and fund Deliver for America, temporary driver pool to replace full-time drivers at FedEx. (See FedEx Celebrating Holidays with TFA Donations.) Call for a nation-wide evaluation of political leaders based on value added methods measuring their positive impact on the people they represent; standardized tests administered for every e

by mike simpson / 8h 

12-19-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Good To See Chris Quinn Leave For Good

.@ChrisCQuinn leaves the building for the final time. Pops her head into the press room to say goodbye. pic.twitter.com/hNJmgu1Gnm— Annie Karni (@anniekarni) December 19, 2013It's a shame she's not leaving in handcuffs escorted by a contingent of police.But I say that about almost every politician I can think of.I'm sure there will be plenty of enrichment opportunities to come her way now that she

by reality-based edu... / 2h 

Shelly Silver And Cathy Nolan Decide NYSED's InBloom Plan Is A Problem

From Daily Politics:State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Education Committee Chairman Catherine Nolan are trying to put the brakes on the state Ed Department's release of student data to outside vendor InBloom, saying it's just too risky right now. The data dump of attendance, grades and test scores -- plus disciplinary records and disabilities -- is supposed to fuel the SED's EngageNY web po

by reality-based edu... / 2min 

Bloomberg Claims His Education Reforms Are "Poster Child" For National Reform

The Daily News is doing Bloomberg "legacy" pieces today and the story on education by Ben Chapman is pretty good.Here's the opening: He ran for office as the Education Mayor, but his report card is mixed — at best. Mayor Bloomberg’s overhaul of the public schools was one of the most ambitious projects in the history of city government — backed by a doubling of the education budget during

by reality-based edu... / 11min hide  //  save

Republican Congressman Wants Poor School Children To Sweep Floors For Food

This country is becoming more Dickensian by the day:Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) proposed that "low-income children do some manual labor in exchange for their subsidized meals," the Huffington Post reports. Said Kingston: "Why don't you have the kids pay a dime, pay a nickel to instill in them that there is, in fact, no such thing as a free lunch? Or maybe sweep the floor of the cafete

by reality-based edu... / 6h 

 12-18-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Starting To Look Like No Chancellor Announcement This WeekAt least if you buy what's in this NY Times article about de Blasio's chancellor search.  Carmen Farina is supposed to be the frontrunner for the position now, but she told the Times yesterday that she didn't know if she would be offered the position:Carmen Fariña, a former deputy chancellor and the candidate who most

by mike simpson / 9h 

The Task of Building a Thirst for Knowledge - Bridging Differences - Education Week

The Task of Building a Thirst for Knowledge - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

The Task of Building a Thirst for Knowledge

By Deborah Meier on December 19, 2013 9:45 AM

Deborah Meier's reply to Robert Pondiscio of CitizenshipFirst.

Dear Robert,

Here's a much too long reply.  The time I allotted for editing has been cut short by the death of a colleague, Herb Rosenfeld.  He was a math teacher in New York City for many years and one of the founders of Central Park East Secondary School. Reading what his students had to say about Herb on Facebook is a reminder of  my final point below—how much it matters that teachers and students and families see themselves as members of a shared community.  (I'll try next week to print out some of those heartfelt memories.)

Back to your Tuesday letter.  I had a classroom "rule'—never say "obviously" or "there can be no dispute." It turns out that it's when we're most inclined to say this that we are also about to learn something new.  But I'll leave your assumptions about language and common knowledge for another letter.  It's an important issue, so thanks for raising it again.

We agree, what we do at school should be a hefty part of the knowledge an 18-year-old leaves us with. But trying to make a list of  "must learns" is a different matter.  Actually, if the "experts" could cram it into just one page I'd sigh and go along.  But remember, if  "good old" Mr. Mayor/Governor/President X can mandate pages and pages of grade-by-grade knowledge, and 

Filtering Noise From Signal In The Succession At LAUSD – redqueeninla

Filtering Noise From Signal In The Succession At LAUSD – redqueeninla:

Filtering Noise From Signal In The Succession At LAUSD

Written by redqueeninla in Education

 Sometimes, reasonable minds really can disagree on a course of action.  And sometimes that disagreement is not hypocritical or foot-dragging; sometimes just taking a deep breath and counting to ten is not only the most cautious and respectful thing to do, but the most pragmatic as well.

Following the death of octogenarian LAUSD board member LaMotte, there has been a flurry of assertive indecision regarding the next, proper course of action.  She was in life herself iconic of a style of cut-and-dried, unambiguous straight-talking, action.  If it jeopardizes my babies, I’m agin’ it.  Ms LaMotte seemed less willing to hedge or preempt a political vote with games of strategy than some.  Whether she actually saw things as more black-or-white than they appeared to others, or rather whether she simply chose an aesthetic of expedience, is unclear.  But her forcefulness was commanding, and in the wake of her death it feels incumbent upon we who survive to see the process of her succession match her style of honesty.

That said, most of the rest of her colleagues were never quite so definitive in the clicking of that speaker-button on and off.  It is hardly surprising that the board failed to agree upon a majority action for deciding how to anoint her successor when even her funeral has yet to be unfurled.  For there is deep, reasonable ambiguity in how to proceed.  And choosing between two courses that are each significantly different yet simultaneously reasonable, merits a period of respectful waiting to permit an understanding of how the