Friday, December 17, 2010

Quebec Students Gearing Up for Tuition Fight « Student Activism

Quebec Students Gearing Up for Tuition Fight « Student Activism

Quebec Students Gearing Up for Tuition Fight

by Angus Johnston

Between 1994 and 2007, the Canadian Province of Quebec kept tuition at its public universities stable, access robust, and educational quality high.

In 2007 that tuition freeze was lifted, and a plan to hike tuition $50 a semester, every semester, for five years was implemented. That five-year period expires in 2012, and students are now bracing to oppose a dramatically more punitive tuition scheme. Union university workers, understanding that tuition increases typically

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I Don’t Give a Crap «Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech

I Don’t Give a Crap «Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech

I Don’t Give a Crap

by Dean Shareski

Cross Posted on the Huffington Post.

The PISA results were released this month and my overwhelming response was: Who cares? Many of my fellow Canadians were quite happy to be ranked sixth in the world. What does that even mean? Is that cause for celebration? Should we be upset? What would we do if we were first? (Hint: I've talked to many educators from schools with high test scores. They are the most resistant to try new things and be innovative for fear it will lower their test scores). Once again, these tests perpetuate the idea that:

  • Schools should measure math, reading and science only.
  • Arts, Health and Physical Education are not really necessary (rewatch Ken Robinson's video on creativity).
  • Tests taken on a single day are a good and accurate measurement of student learning and achievement.
  • Rankings against other countries/districts/schools/classrooms/students is important because education should be competitive.

There are no questions on the test that measure creativity (if that can even or should be measured), collaboration, or media literacy, never mind their ability to learn or their understanding of their body. The other

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Concerned Parents Are Ready to Take 'Supertanker' Action - Culver City, CA Patch

Concerned Parents Are Ready to Take 'Supertanker' Action - Culver City, CA Patch

Concerned Parents Are Ready to Take 'Supertanker' Action

An impromptu survey of Culver City parents reveals the top three concerns for children in the Culver City Unified School District in 2011 and beyond.

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This week I reached out to a large group of parents with children in the Culver City Unified School District system to ask them what their three top concerns were in 2011 and beyond. The results were somewhat surprising and very diverse.

Overcrowding in the classrooms came up a lot, as did safety around the schools especially at the beginning and end of the school day. Funding for the schools, or lack thereof, was also major theme. What I was impressed by the most was the out-of-the box thinking that was put forth by a few parents.

Most of these parents have had enough of the purse strings being pulled by Sacramento. They wanted to find ways local parents can get more control over funding and its distribution. One suggestion was to create endowments and pay the

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How to create a faux grassroots ed reform organization! | Seattle Education 2010

How to create a faux grassroots ed reform organization! | Seattle Education 2010

How to create a faux grassroots ed reform organization!

by seattleducation2010

Out-of-work DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee has just created her very own new ed reform organization. You can too!

How to Create a Faux Grassroots Ed Reform Organization (in 12 Easy Steps!)

1. Think of a name using these words: STAND, KIDS, STUDENTS, FIRST, ALLIANCE, EDUCATION, ED, OUR, SCHOOLS, COALITION, COMMUNITY, VOTERS, REVOLUTION, REFORM, NOW

2. Put two or three of those words together in any order (possibly linked by a preposition like “with,” “of,” “for” — or if you want to be really with-it, use “4″ instead of “for”!).

3. Add an exclamation mark at the end!

4. Create a slick web site – be sure to include engaging photos of multiracial kids on your front page.

5. Write a fierce and positive Mission Statement that no one can disagree with, like: “We want all kids to achieve excellence in school!” Or, “We want an excellent teacher in every excellent classroom teaching excellence to

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RSV-Passe? Custom's decline spells hosts' vexation - Boston.com

RSV-Passe? Custom's decline spells hosts' vexation - Boston.com

RSV-Passe? Custom's decline spells hosts' vexation

In this Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010 photo, Marjorie George poses at her home in Durham, N.C. George wrote an op-ed on the subject of RSVP for her local newspaper some time ago. George wonders whether busy lifestyles have begotten a culture of not committing, even to a few hours of socializing.In this Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010 photo, Marjorie George poses at her home in Durham, N.C. George wrote an op-ed on the subject of RSVP for her local newspaper some time ago. George wonders whether busy lifestyles have begotten a culture of not committing, even to a few hours of socializing. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
By Jennifer Peltz
Associated Press / December 17, 2010
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NEW YORK—It's become an acronym for a host's frustration: RSVP.

Really, Seriously Very Peeved.

From casual get-togethers to catered affairs, the once-common act of replying to invitations has become an often lost and much lamented cause.

Parenting and bridal blogs seethe with tales of tracking down invitees like festive fugitives. Electronic invitation systems try to streamline head counting but sometimes just turn into a public display of ambivalence (Yes: 2. No: 15. Maybe: 147). Newspaper columns have bewa

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Senate Votes On DREAM Act in Less Than 24 Hours | Immigrant Rights | Change.org

Senate Votes On DREAM Act in Less Than 24 Hours | Immigrant Rights | Change.org

Senate Votes On DREAM Act in Less Than 24 Hours

by Prerna Lal

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) filed cloture on the bipartisan DREAM Act last night for a vote as early as Saturday morning. The legislation would grant certain immigrant youth who were brought here at a young age conditional non-immigrant status and a chance to eventually become legal residents, provided they finish two years of college or serve in the military. After a decade of waiting and months of unprecedented organizing that included undocumented students putting themselves at risk of deportation and hunger-striking for days, this is the deciding vote, requiring 60 Senators in support of the legislation.

DREAM Act student organizers are relentlessly lobbying in DC, with more students heading to the Capitol. Students and allies are gathered at the Senate Dirksen building today holding a study-in session and planning further actions in support of the legislation. Thousands of Change.org members have sent emails and made calls over the past two years to get us to this point. Keep making those calls in support 1-866-587-6101 and jam

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Tell the Senate to Pass the DREAM Act Now

Tell the Senate to Pass the DREAM Act Now

Tell the Senate to Pass the DREAM Act Now

This month the House of Representatives passed the DREAM Act. Now the Senate must do the same. Tell your senators to support consideration and passage of the DREAM Act (the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act) during the final week of Congress. The act is designed to allow undocumented immigrant youth who were brought to the country as children to obtain legal permanent resident status if they remain in high school through graduation and go on to college or military service. The DREAM Act provides conditional residency status to undocumented students and the possibility to access some forms of financial assistance such as student loans and work study.

In order to address your message to the appropriate recipient, we need to identify where you are.
Please enter your zip/postal code:

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The Answer Sheet - Schwarzenegger's misleading account of 'parent trigger'

The Answer Sheet - Schwarzenegger's misleading account of 'parent trigger'

Schwarzenegger's misleading account of 'parent trigger'

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has been on a public relations campaign to tell the world about his state's new law that allows parents to petition to have troubled public schools transformed through one of four avenues. In fact, he wrote about the first effort to invoke the "parent trigger" in an op-ed in Thursday’s Washington Post, waxing poetic about how wonderful it was that parents at troubled McKinley Elementary School in Compton were taking advantage of the "parent trigger law" to fix their local school. But it turns out that the governor forgot to mention one not so tiny detail. He didn't say that he had ordered the state attorney general to investigate alleged intimidation of the parents at McKinley. Intimidation by whom? It turns out that the Compton parent action was actually organized by a nonprofit group called Parent Revolution, which was founded by a group of charter
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A failure of imagination — WordPress

Education — Blogs, Pictures, and more on WordPress

Education

IN 1966, THE UNITED NATION’S INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS DECLARED that “educationis the primary vehicle by which economically and socially marginalized adults and children can lift themselves out of poverty and obtain the means to participate fully in their communities.” That still rings so true, and yet, barriers remain. Even in developed nations, a good education can be hard to find. But there’s also encouraging news on the horizon, and its name is technology, a realm where classrooms need not be physical spaces.

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A failure of imagination
Knitting with Pencils

As a teacher and a mom, education is one of my primary concerns. So the recent scores released by PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) were disheartening to me. I’m not terribly surprised. I’ve been watching the American school system become bogged down with bad ideas, from extending the school day, to piling on meaningless homework, to eliminating anything creative in the curriculum, and let’s not forget the massive failure of innovation and sense that is the No Child Left Behind act. A Bloomberg article quoted that one of the advantages that better-performing countries had over the U.S. was that schools had more autonomy over their curriculum. It flies in the face of a national curriculum, which makes sense. It’s kind of like the government controlling how you run your own family. You’re better equipped to say what your family needs or doesn’t need, and schools should have the same advantage. In my daughter’s school, the length

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