Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement":

“Learning is family affair at Broomfield library”

Learning is family affair at Broomfield library is a recent article in a local Colorado newspaper. Here’s how it begins: The sign on the door says the library is for kids, but at Broomfield’s Children’s Library, reading is a family affair. In addition to putting beloved books in the hands of children, the Mamie Doud Eisenhower Public Library is one of 28 across the country that is part of grant th

3 by Larry Ferlazzo / 7h

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement": “Keys To Parent Engagement – Relationships, Climate, Communication”Keys To Parent Engagement – Relationships, Climate, Communication is the last in a four-part series I’ve published over at Education Week Teacher. Today’s post highlights responses from Darcy Hutchins and Mai Xi Lee, along with many readers’ comments. Here a

by mike simpson / 9h 

1-20-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: Duking it Out in NYSUT - At the Top:

Duking it Out in NYSUT - At the Top

On Saturday evening PJSTA (Port Jefferson Station) President Beth Dimino delivered the following message to the members of the PJSTA… For the record, the PJSTA will NOT endorse a slate of NYSUT Officers, led by Andy Pallotta, that endorse and use our vote cope money to pad Cuomo’s war chest! The PJSTA is leading the charge against this heinous act and will support individuals that oppose Pallotta 

by ed notes online / 8h 

1-19-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: Strange Bedfellows On Cuomo Team: Eva, DFER and MikeyGuess who is joining Cuomo's list of privateers? MEMORANDUMTO:        NYSUT Board of DirectorsFROM:  Andy Pallotta, Executive Vice PresidentDATE:   January 15, 2014RE:        NYSUT's Legislative ReceptionOn Monday evening, January 27, 2014, NYSUT will host a Legislative Reception and briefing in the Observation Deck of the Erast

by mike simpson / 8h 

1-20-14 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit

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

Ravitch: IN LOS ANGELES DEASY REFUSES TO RESTORE ARTS FUNDING

By dianeravitch  from Diane Ravitch's blog http://bit.ly/1haAa3A January 17, 2014  ::  Despite a board resolution in 2012 calling for a restoration of arts funding in Los Angeles, Superintendent John Deasy has refused to prepare a budget complying with the resolution. “In 2012, the Los Angeles Unified School District board voted to make arts education a core subject in its curriculum. “Four

1 by smf / 2min 

J’accuse: THE WIRELESS DISCONNECT IN LAUSD

By smf for 4 LAKidsNews 20 Jan 2014 :: The L.A. Time’s Howard Blume writes in his article L.A. SCHOOLS’ iPAD WATCHDOG COMMITTEE SET TO DISBAND on the ongoing iPad fiasco misadventure* in LAUSD: Materials from the most recent meeting of the bond oversight panel were not included in the information packet prepared for the board and the public. These materials included support for the panel's

1 by smf / 17min 

L.A. SCHOOLS’ iPAD WATCHDOG COMMITTEE SET TO DISBAND

Decision to end schools' iPad panel raises questions about oversight of the program that has had a bumpy rollout. By Howard Blume, LA Times | http://lat.ms/KxL4oH Avery Sheppard checks out his L.A. Unified-provided iPad. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times / August 27, 2013)   January 19, 2014, 4:57 p.m.  ::  The watchdog committee for the Los Angeles school district's $1-billion iPad

by smf / 21min

SANTA BARBARA UNIFIED APPROVES $700,000 iPAD PURCHASE: Offers parents lease-to-own option

Parents who wish to purchase pay $708 @ $20 per month. There is no funding source identified to anything beyond the pilot year By Kelsey Brugger | The Santa Barbara Independent http://bit.ly/1mkrqJl Thursday, January 16, 2014  ::  Santa Barbara Unified School District approved a $700,000 iPad Air purchase at Tuesday’s board meeting. Discussed at great length over the past several

by smf / 12min

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 1-19-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: HUNDREDS HONOR LAUSD’s LAMOTTE FOR DEDICATION TO EDUCATIONBy Susan Abram, Los Angeles Daily News |  http://bit.ly/1aB68lv < Los Angeles Unified school board member Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, a lifelong educator who represented South Los Angeles since 2001, died Dec. 5, 2013, at age 80. 1/18/14, 5:18 PM PST | ::  A public memorial to honor LAUSD b

by mike simpson / 9h 

1-20-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE:

United Opt Out to hold annual spring event in Denver, CO #edchat #edreform

Here are all of the official details, from United Opt Out National. UOO held its first two spring events in Washington, DC under the banner of “Occupy the DOE.” Occupations, unfortunately, are passe now, don’t you think? More than that, Washington is, honestly, an expensive and ugly place. The USDE building is ugly and isolated. […]

by Shaun Johnson / 9min

Fordham and Hess Temporarily Acknowledge that Reformers Can’t Have it Both Ways

Voucher advocates are in an absolute tizzy over a recent paper from the pro-education-reform Thomas B. Fordham Institute. It is truly a thing of beauty. Jay P. Greene is not amused. He is a titan in the ed-reformer ranks and the blog-host of such dandies as “New Column on Florida’s Anti-Testing Nihlists” (sic) wherein one finds wisdom touting the […]

2 by johnkuhntx / 25min

Digging deeper into the principal controversy in Newark, NJ #p2

Have you been following it? We have. There may be some connections to the bullying tactics of the Christie administration. There might not be. I don’t know. But what happened Newark in recent days is part and parcel of the assault on meaningful conversations in education, especially when it challenges prevailing reform interests. We’re starting […]

2 by Shaun Johnson / 21min

Dream Deferred, MLK Day 2014: “This rigid refusal to look at ourselves”

Dream Deferred, MLK Day 2014: \”This rigid refusal to look at ourselves\”. via Dream Deferred, MLK Day 2014: “This rigid refusal to look at ourselves”.

1 by plthomasedd / 20min 

My MLK Post: An Assignment for Test-Driven Reformers

On this day dedicated to the memory of a remarkable man who gave his life (literally) for the sake of civil rights and social equity, I expect that education privatizers will use the opportunity to promote themselves as “overcoming” opposition to their self-serving, destructive policies. They might even go so far as to imply that Martin Luther […]

4 by deutsch29 / 3h 

1-19-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: Don’t drown in the education reform Sea.Do you show up to your classroom, every single day, ready to influence the lives of your students? Do you arrive at your school building, every single day, ready to change the trajectory of your students’ lives? Do you wish to become a teacher that some student…someday…somewhere will always remember? If so, be careful not to […]1 by Angel C

by mike simpson / 9h 

1-20-14 With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs

With A Brooklyn Accent:

Sit and Stare Policies for Students Who Refuse Tests in New York State.

I am not sure if this is a policy that is being encouraged by the NY State Education Department, but at least 10 School Districts that I know of in Long Island and Upstate NY require that any child who refuses to take a state test, including those as young as third grade, must sit in the room with students taking the tests and stare at the blackboard for the entire time of the test. They are not a

by Mark Naison / 1h 

The False Prophets of School Reform

It is astonishing to see people who have never taught, or have taught a few years and left, become the major forces shaping education in the United States.. They are guided by a policy ethos,which, if you were describing it in biblical terms, would be regarded as False Idolatry. While holding the human skills great teaching involves in contempt, they worship Data, Quality Control and Top Down Mana

by Mark Naison / 2h

1-18-14 With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs All Week

With A Brooklyn Accent:With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs All WeekWhy the Term "School Reform" Has Lost Its LusterThe term "School Reformer" was once honorable or hopeful. No more. Now, the associations with those two words are so profoundly negative that most people, other than ambitious politicians, can no longer use them without choking. To me "School Reform" now is fa

1 by mike simpson / 8h

1-20-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University):

remnant 51: “Earth is a perfectly liberal world”

remnant 51: “Earth is a perfectly liberal world”.

1 by plthomasedd / 45min 

Our Readers Think: About Integration (1945)

Our Readers Think: About Integration (1945).

by plthomasedd / 2min 

New Bottles for New Wine (1952)

New Bottles for New Wine (1952).

1 by plthomasedd / 20min 

Dream Deferred, MLK Day 2014: “This rigid refusal to look at ourselves”

“What happens to a dream deferred?” asks Langston Hughes in “Harlem.” As a poem of social consciousness, “Harlem” may often be reduced to literary analysis or an artifact of the Harlem Renaissance; as schools become more and more focused on the Common Core and raising scores on the related next-generation tests, the poem is likely to be (if at all) just one more text for close reading practice. Bu

9 by plthomasedd / 45min 

1-19-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): Intelligence Rating of High School Pupils and Their Achievement in College (1926)Intelligence Rating of High School Pupils and Their Achievement in College (1926).1 by plthomasedd / 16min hide  //  saveremnant 50: “I would prefer not to”remnant 50: “I would prefer not to

by mike simpson / 9h

1-20-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Starting To Look Like A Major Storm

National Weather Service now calling for 6-10 inches Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday morning, than plunging temperatures into the teens.Given the forecast, we should see school go off as normal tomorrow, then see after school activities cancelled for tomorrow afternoon.Wednesday starts to look dicey, depending on when the storm ends and snow stops falling.My guess is, we have school, but attendan

by reality-based edu... / 18min

NYSED Commissioner King: Opponents To Common Core Are Opposed To MLK's Dream

You knew someone prominent in the corporate education reform movement would trot out the "If Dr. King were alive today, he would be a huge proponent of the Common Core State Standards to drive racial and economic justice..." meme.That prominent someone was NYSED Commissioner John King.The underlying theme to his piece is that the Common Core will help bring about Dr. King's dream of raci

by reality-based edu...

Saying No To The Snow God

The ELA Regents exam is next Monday.We have four class days left before the exam.We have three days of after school tutoring, since Friday tutoring is always a no-go.Ever since they had to cancel school a day after we gave the ELA Regents back during the 2000's, I start scouting the weather reports a few weeks in advance before the actual test date.See, the last thing we want to do is spend all th

by reality-based edu... / 27min

Cuomo "Sitting Pretty" For Re-Election - Time To Make That Re-Election A Little Less "Pretty"

From the Daily Politics blog at the Daily News:Democratic Gov. Cuomo is viewed favorably by 66% of New York voters and 57% are ready to give him a second term, a Siena poll released Monday finds. But Bridgegate has eroded the Garden State gov's image among his neighbors -- including when it comes to his presidential prospects.Republican Christie's favorability rating stands at 49% -- a precipitous

by reality-based edu... / 27min

Mulgrew, UFT Leadership Worried About Office Bugging

Your UFT dues money at work:Something’s bugging teachers-union boss Michael Mulgrew — or, at least, he thinks so. The United Federation of Teachers president blew a huge wad of union cash to play out a paranoid James Bond fantasy when he paid $17,849 for a security team to sweep his headquarters for bugs, documents show. A crew from Protective Countermeasures & Consulting Inc. was hired to swe

by reality-based edu... / 31min 

Hey Governor Cuomo, Where's The Merit Pay Money Coming From?

The Jamestown Post-Journal wants to know:Danielle O'Connor, superintendent of Frewsburg Central School, said the logic of promising bonus pay to teachers while her district is still struggling with a $1.2 million gap elimination adjustment is less than sound. "We would certainly be able to strengthen our district and our performance if we had that $1.2 million, as opposed to giving it to indi

by reality-based edu... / 5h

1-19-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: BridgeGate, Hoboken/Sandy Relief Funds Scandal May Cost Chris Christie His Chairmanship Of The GOP Governor's AssociationThe scandals are starting to mount for Chris Christie and they're taking their toll.He might have survived BridgeGate, especially after he proved to be so adept at his press conference explaining away the particulars of the scandal and how he had nothing t

by mike simpson / 9h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Amiri Baraka's son Ras, delivers his eulogy (Video).

Ras Baraka 

"Every nurse that would come in the room he said, 'Hey, my son is running for mayor. He came to the hospital with a bag of (political) literature." -- NJ.com

Michael Eric Dyson 

We’ve deliberately dismembered him [Dr. Martin Luther King] through manipulation of his memory. And those of us who have failed to see his radical challenge, in deference to a vision of King that is one of a universalist, that everybody can attach to — which was true, of course — but that wasn’t the full story. -- Salon, How we get Dr. King Wrong

Obama's NSA Speech

Meanwhile, totalitarian states like East Germany offered a cautionary tale of what could happen when vast, unchecked surveillance turned citizens into informers, and persecuted people for what they said in the privacy of their own