12-24-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

De Blasio Releases Video Of Daughter Talking About Her Addiction, Depression Issues

Clearly somebody was about to run a story about de Blasio daughter Chiara having drug and alcohol problems because the de Blasio people just released this video:It's an important video, no matter what the reason the de Blasio people had to go up with it now.Wouldn't it be nice if Mayor Bill de Blasio used the experience his daughter has had with depression and alcohol/drug use to provide schools t

by reality-based edu... / 2min 

Mulgrew's Sister Hit With Conflict Of Interest Warning

From the NY Post:The sister of teachers-union President Michael Mulgrew was wrist-slapped Monday for operating a booming tutoring company that was awarded $40 million in work from the city while she was employed as a public-school teacher. The overlapping gigs got Kathleen Mulgrew-Daretany a warning letter from the city Conflicts of Interest Board, after it determined that her work for Brienza’s A

by reality-based edu... / 2h 

12-23-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: A Christmas WishIt's a traveling day for me, won't be back on the Internets until later this afternoon, but I wanted to leave this Christmas wish, via Leonie Haimson, before I head out on the road:"@McFiredogg: All I want for Xmas a School Chancellor who actually respects teachers. What's up, Mayor Elect DeBlasio?" & respects parents!— leonie haimson (@leonieha

by mike simpson / 8h 

Get Up, Stand Up, Before The PowerPointers Do [The Takeover, Part 1] - The Jose Vilson | The Jose Vilson

Get Up, Stand Up, Before The PowerPointers Do [The Takeover, Part 1] - The Jose Vilson | The Jose Vilson:

Get Up, Stand Up, Before The PowerPointers Do [The Takeover, Part 1]

by JOSE VILSON on DECEMBER 23, 2013

in MR. VILSON

Because I don’t really take breaks, I’m writing a three-part series at my other space. Here’s an excerpt:

Generally, you get the idea, but you’re left wondering, “How can we do this better? How can I do this better?”

Yet, when it comes down to it, too many of us are still waiting for someone to hold their hand into their voices, usher them in as the chosen one, or some movie-made accident that puts them in the seat next to a mayor, governor, or president. More and more, though, I’m starting to see the value in building a groundswell for yourself that doesn’t leave those high-ranking officials with much of an option except to know you.

For more, read here. Read. Like. Share. Thanks, guys!

Jose

Keep Reading

- See more at: http://thejosevilson.com/get-stand-powerpointers-takeover-part-1/#sthash.WSpnQRu2.dpuf

Update: The Educated Reporter: The Higher Ed Beat: Ten Story Ideas on Technology and Innovation

The Educated Reporter: 'How I Did the Story': Award-Winning Higher Ed Reporters Share Their Skills:


The Higher Ed Beat: Ten Story Ideas on Technology and Innovation

It's been a busy year for higher education reporters, and the New Year promises plenty of challenging -- and important -- stories to cover. I thought it would be a good time to revisit one of our most popular sessions from EWA's National Seminar, held at Stanford University. Today's guest blogger is Delece Smith-Barrow of U.S. News & World Report. Stream any session from National Seminar in y

by Emily Richmond / 19min 

'How I Did the Story': Award-Winning Higher Ed Reporters Share Their Skills

Here's a little gift for the holidays: Advice from higher education reporters who won the top prizes in EWA's National Awards for Education Writing. They shared their perspectives with attendees at our 66th National Seminar, held at Stanford University. We asked Samantha Hernandez of the Door County Advocate to contribute today's guest post. Stream any session from National Seminar in your browser, or subscribe via RSS or iTunes. For more on higher education, visit EWA's Story Starters online resource. 

What do you need to write a prize-winning education story? Curiosity, patience and a lot of shoe leather.

Each of the presenters at the "How I Did the Story" session at EWA '13 said they spent significant time cultivating sources, talking to people, and tracking down documents. The topics of their winning work ranged from ranged from sexual assault to misconduct by university governing bodies. 

Jon Marcus of The Hechinger Report, who won second prize for beat reporting, discussed several of his articles, including one that he wrote about Montana State University, a small university that had seen an increase in college graduates. 

A look back at the most-read education stories of 2013 - and a request to readers | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

A look back at the most-read education stories of 2013 - and a request to readers | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

A look back at the most-read education stories of 2013 - and a request to readers

by thenotebook on Dec 24 2013

The Notebook is on hiatus during the holidays. We'll be back in January, but in the meantime, take a look back at the most-read stories for each of the twelve months of the past year. In 2013, what stories were you, our readers, most interested in? 

As you look at these highlights from the year, we'd also like to take this time to pose a question to our readers: Do you rely on the Notebook for education news?

If the answer is yes, then please act by contributing to support our continued work in 2014. The more the Notebook can rely on you, the more you will be able to rely on us to get the real story during those controversies when it is needed most.

Make your most generous gift today. 

Gifts of $120 or more will include a 2014 membership in the Notebook and a free copy of our video DVD "Goodbye to City Schools."

January
After parents camped out in frigid weather, admission to the city's most-coveted elementary school changed from first-come-first-serve to lottery.

February
A leaked document revealed the School District's plan to seek major salary and work-rule concessions from the teachers' union.

March
A high number of principal vacancies showed a major turnover in school leadership was coming.

April 
Facing a $304 million budget hole, the District said schools would open with a bare-bones staff and scant resources.

May
Strawberry Mansion High School gained national exposure as one of America's 

Where did thousands of students from closed schools go? First reports are in

Just-released 2013 enrollment numbers from the School District show that the overwhelming majority of students displaced from closed schools ended up in other District schools. The new reports on District, charter, and alternative school enrollments reveal some significant movement of students between schools this year and include the first publicly released data about where the displaced students

3 by Paul Socolar / 9h 

California ballot measure would base teacher layoffs on performance, not seniority | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

California ballot measure would base teacher layoffs on performance, not seniority | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:

California ballot measure would base teacher layoffs on performance, not seniority

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez | December 24th, 2013, 6:00am

 It’s a waiting game now for activists who want to change teacher seniority rules through a statewide ballot measure. The proposed measure, called the "High Quality Teachers Act of 2014," was submitted to California's attorney general on Friday for review by state officials. If everything is in order, activists will start collecting signatures to try to get it on next November's ballot.

The measure would compel districts to use performance as the factor for teacher layoffs, not seniority. The text of the measure argues that layoffs based on seniority deprive many California students of a quality education.

"Today, there are plenty of high quality teachers available, but local school districts are not able to make sure all of our children have access to a high quality teacher because local districts are currently forced to retain teachers based on how long they have been on the job," it reads.

The state’s largest teachers' union has defended seniority-based layoffs, arguing that current performance evaluations are inadequate.

The measure was submitted by Matt David, a consultant for StudentsFirst, the Sacramento education reform group founded by former Washington D.C. school

NYC Educator: It's Just A Little Early to Give Up on Bill de Blasio

NYC Educator: It's Just A Little Early to Give Up on Bill de Blasio:

It's Just A Little Early to Give Up on Bill de Blasio

I keep reading all over my social media haunts that de Blasio has sold us out, that he's going to appoint a reformy Chancellor, and that he's no different from Bloomberg. There's not a whole lot of basis for this yet, other than speculation on who he's spoken with.

I know he just appointed someone from Goldman Sachs to be in charge of something. She wouldn't have been my first pick. But let's see what she does.

I read all the crap in the reformy press suggesting that the slimeballs from DC or Chicago would be chancellor and it turned out to be crap. I pledged if de Blasio were to appoint Kaya Henderson chancellor that I'd make a video burning my UFT de Blasio t-shirt. I'm pretty sure that won't be necessary.


But the man is not mayor yet, and he hasn't done anything whatsoever. I think it's fair to at 

Top ten stories from Hechinger: Higher education headed for a shakeout | Hechinger Report

Top ten stories from Hechinger: Higher education headed for a shakeout | Hechinger Report:

Top ten stories from Hechinger: Higher education headed for a shakeout

By Hechinger Report

If 2012 was the year of the MOOC, as the New York Times famously dubbed it, 2013 was the year of … well, not the MOOC.

The number of universities jumping on the MOOC bandwagon continued to rise, along with the number of people enrolling in these massive online open courses. But so did skepticism of their effectiveness, and warnings from the architects of MOOCs themselves that they were never meant to be the answer to the problems of higher education.

Signs that those problems are deepening were are among Hechinger’s 10 top higher-education stories of 2013.

Analysts and others warned that higher education was headed for a shakeout, unable to keep up with families’ demands for discounts on tuition, and even the presidents of small institutions in New England—a place identified with quintessential red-brick, ivy-covered college campuses—said they were worried about the futures of their schools. With enrollment starting to decline, private, for-profit universities quietly lowered their tuition and faced other unaccustomed setbacks. Some conventional nonprofits merged or consolidated to cut costs. And historically black colleges and universities faced an uphill battle to survive.

One worry for these schools was the continued shift to credentials other than traditional college credits—the “education buffet” of college-level courses offered to students while they’re still in high school, advanced-placement programs, military or corporate training, career and life experience, and those MOOCs, and to such things as “badges” and e-portfolios. The universities’ weapon so far has been to not accept the credits, even as increasing numbers of students transfer among schools, forcing them to spend more time and money getting their degrees.

That’s one cause of abysmal graduation rates. Another, it turns out, is that students are forgoing advisors who can help them finish college. That’s led to the advent of “success coaches,” and another new incentive being tried in some 

New evaluations put Minnesota teachers to the test

Minnesota Public Radio Pine Island, Minn. – Principal Cindy Hansen’s fingers fly across her laptop as she types notes in a corner of Scott Morgan’s classroom, watching as the special education teacher works with a kindergartner on her social skills. This is more than a principal pop-in. Hansen and Morgan are part of a new, experimental kind of teacher evaluation. Earlier, they met for a pre-evalua

by Tim Post / 15min 

Colleges tying presidential raises to results

Like all leaders of American colleges and universities these days, Massachusetts Bay Community College President John O’Donnell is under pressure to increase graduation rates and turn out students ready for jobs. And like a small but growing number of his counterparts around the country, O’Donnell has a new incentive to meet these goals: His salary partly depends on it. Massachusetts Bay Community

by Rebecca Trounson / 2h 

Bridging Differences: 2013's Top 10 Posts - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Bridging Differences: 2013's Top 10 Posts - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

Bridging Differences: 2013's Top 10 Posts

By educationweekly on December 24, 2013 8:46 AM

Poverty. Equity. And how teaching and standardized assessment intersect with both. These are themes that dominated Bridging Differences in 2013.

Looking back at the blog this year revealed that the most-read posts in 2013 were written by numerous writers (Eric A. Hanushek, Alfie Kohn, Michael J. Petrilli, Elliott Witney, and, of course, Deborah Meier) on different aspects of the achievement and experience gap between rich and poor students. Readers were particularly drawn to essays on the concept of the kind of schools poor children deserved, including how discipline should be meted out, how teachers should go about their work, and how student success should be judged.

Below are the headlines and brief descriptions of the 10 most-read Bridging Differences blog posts from the past year. Read the blogs and add a comment about what they say and why you think they attracted more readers than other Bridging Differences posts. —The Editors

1. The year's most popular post was written by Alfie Kohn. Titled "Alfie Kohn: Why Punishment Doesn't Work," the piece examined punishment in schools. In the Jan. 24 piece, author and former educator Kohn wrote: "With respect to the issues you've raised this week, I'd add a more specific question: Do you think punishment is sometimes appropriate and beneficial, or do you agree with me that it isn't but contend that it sometimes must be used as a transitional measure, the idea being that it should be faded out once the students' (or their parents') trust in the educators has been established and a caring school community has been constructed?"

2. Elliott Witney, a former KIPP school leader who now works in a traditional public school district, posted the No. 2 entry ("Explaining KIPP's 'SLANT' ") on April 11. "SLANT emerged at our school 

A Special Christmas Wish for What Children Need This Year: Quality Teachers | janresseger

A Special Christmas Wish for What Children Need This Year: Quality Teachers | janresseger:

A Special Christmas Wish for What Children Need This Year: Quality Teachers

Posted on December 23, 2013 by janresseger

The Rev. John Thomas, the former General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ, is now a professor and administrator Chicago Theological Seminary.  His wonderful blog post for this Christmas is about the importance of quality public school teachers:  All I Want for Christmas.

“While the old holiday song suggests that children might want two front teeth for Christmas, this year I’d like to suggest an alternative: “All I want for Christmas is a teacher.” Sunday’sNew York Times reported the stark impact of the recent recession on schools, namely, the massive loss of public school teachers since 2008. According to Labor Department statistics, public schools across the country employ 250,000 fewer people today than they did prior to the recession. Meanwhile, pupil enrollment has grown by 800,000 students. To maintain pre-recession staffing ratios, public schools nation-wide would have had to add 132,000 jobs.

“What does this look like in the classroom? In Coatesville, Pennsylvania, a declining steel town forty miles outside of Philadelphia, the professional workforce of 600 prior to the recession has been cut by twenty percent. This means that some of the thirty students in one fourth grade 

'I Cheated All Throughout High School' - Jessica Lahey - The Atlantic

'I Cheated All Throughout High School' - Jessica Lahey - The Atlantic:

'I Cheated All Throughout High School'

A teacher gets inside the mind of a serial cheater—and is dismayed by what she learns.

Aly Song/Reuters

Sixty to 70 percent of high-school students report they have cheated. Ninety percent of students admit to having copied another student’s homework. Why is academic dishonesty so widespread? I wrote an article earlier this month that placed most of the blame on classroom culture. Currently, teachers assess students’ ability to reproduce examples and mimic lessons rather than display mastery of a concept. This is a misguided approach to learning, and it encourages students to cheat.

I specifically avoided a discussion of the question of student ethics and character in my article, not because I wanted to exonerate students from their share of the blame, but because I hoped to focus on pedagogy’s role in academic dishonesty. But just when I thought I had succeeded in divorcing character from practice for the sake of discussion, the folly of my strategy was made shockingly clear. 

The day the article was published, I received an email from a college student who wanted to provide his perspective on the cheating question. I had naively assumed that my readers and my students were operating from the same ethical starting place: that cheating is wrong. How mistaken I was. Here’s a condensed version of his letter:

I cheated all throughout high school. Not only that, but I graduated as a valedictorian, National AP Scholar, Editor-in-Chief of the school newspaper, and I was accepted into the honors program at [school withheld]. To most 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: View from Florida: Chicago charter scandals look familiar

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: View from Florida: Chicago charter scandals look familiar:

View from Florida: Chicago charter scandals look familiar

Tea Party Gov. Rick Scott visits Florida charter school

Chicago's scandal-ridden charter schools look eerily familiar to educators down here in Florida where public schools have long been free give-aways to Govs. Bush and Scott's corporate and political cronies. It seems that almost anyone with blood or alcohol running through their veins can get a charter here in the Sunshine State --- students and teachers be damned.

A December 14th NPR report found that Florida charters openly and illegally violate the rights of disabled students.  In fact, arecent Miami Herald investigation found that few charter schools in Florida  even try to serve students with severe disabilities. Statewide, 86% of charter schools do not have any students classified as severely disabled. That's despite state and federal laws that require charter schools to give equal access to these students.

Kids from low-income families and children of color are also systematically excluded from the state's wildly-expanding, privately-run charters.

The difference between Florida and Illinois is that  in Illinois, the Democrats -- not Rick Scott's Tea Party Republicans -- run the schools. The latest Concept charter school give-away was done by one Dem machine warlord faction overruling the other to do the bidding of Turkish billionnaire Fethullah Gulen in exchange for some free junkets to Turkey.

Another difference is that, while Florida charters openly and willfully violate the law in their 

Minor Glitch Leads To Major Criticism Of Michelle Rhee's Signature Initiative:

Minor Glitch Leads To Major Criticism Of Michelle Rhee's Signature Initiative

Posted: 12/23/2013 8:17 pm EST

The evaluations of 44 Washington public school teachers -- out of 4,000 -- were compromised by an outside contractor, an email from a D.C. official to the city's teachers union reveals.

The union is slamming the school system for the mistake and raising broader questions about the system.

D.C. Public Schools' chief of human capital, Jason Kamras, wrote to Elizabeth Davis, president of the Washington Teachers' Union, on Friday. In the email, which the school system provided to The Huffington Post, he told her of two errors in the evaluation of teachers for the 2012-13 school year.

First, Kamras wrote, the policy on appropriate weighting of administrator and master educator observations of teachers under the evaluation formula, known as IMPACT, was "not clearly communicated." IMPACT scores can affect teachers' bonuses and job security. So the District has recalculated all observation scores that might have been affected by that miscommunication, according to Kamras.

Second, he wrote, the outside contractor, Mathematica Policy Research, "found a small technical error" that affected some teachers' Individual Value-Added scores. Those scores have been recalculated as well. Kamras assured Davis that teachers who would have had a lower IVA score as a result "will be held harmless."

The teachers unions, both local and national, are calling attention to the errors, 

Buy David Greene's Book!! southbronxschool.com

http://www.southbronxschool.com:

Buy David Greene's Book!!

I just ordered it last week and it has yet to arrive but I know it will be a great book. Of course I am   by noted education advocate David Greene.
"Doing the Right Thing: A Teacher Speaks"
talking about the new book,

For those who do not know who David is, David can be found, here, here, here, and here. 

I first met David about 2 years or so ago. I have found David to posess an encyclopedic knowledge of education and teaching. I have sat with David many times in Starbucks and have been regaled with