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Monday, April 23, 2012

AIN'T THIS A CRYING SHAME? Beaverton School District may consider fund-raising for teachers | OregonLive.com

Beaverton School District may consider fund-raising for teachers | OregonLive.com:


Beaverton School District may consider fund-raising for teachers





Beaverton students and parents have raised funds for new playground equipment, sports gear, laptop computers and other items, but fund-raising for teachers has never been allowed. 

That may change as the school district faces the reduction of 344 jobs -- all staff -- next school year. The 39,000-student district has about 3,300 staff.

The school board is contemplating the idea, which it has forbidden previously because of equity and sustainability concerns. In other words, schools with a lot of kids in poverty might not be able to raise as much money as higher wealth schools. Also, the funds only guarantee the teacher's job 
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PAA leader sparks Pineapplegate « Parents Across America

PAA leader sparks Pineapplegate « Parents Across America:


PAA leader sparks Pineapplegate

by pagrundy

leonie haimson headshot


If you spent this weekend chuckling or fuming about a nonsensical standardized test question involving a hare and a talking pineapple, you have PAA co-founder Leonie Haimson to thank. Leonie wrote the blog that started the media storm, highlighted the absurdity of high-stakes standardized tests and got the question pulled from the exam.
Leonie, who’s worked on educational issues for years, was the right person in the right place in the right time.
She’d been looking for a way to spotlight problems with standardized test questions when she got an intriguing comment on a blog about this year’s New York state exams, purchased from testing giant Pearson to the tune of $32 million.
“Apparently the New York State 8th Graders thought the story about “The Hare and the Pineapple” was so ridiculous that they have started a Facebook page about it,” the 
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BREAKING NEWS!!! FIRST LOOK AT THE NEW STANDARDIZED TESTING FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS

http://www.southbronxschool.com:


BREAKING NEWS!!! First Look at the New Standardized Testing for College Students

by noreply@blogger.com (Bronx Teacher)
Did ya read David Brooks' column last week in The New York Times? In the immortal words of Carl Spackler, I had to laugh. It just shows how out of touch the people who think they are on the cutting edge of this so called "reform movement" really are. Guess what got me the biggest laugh? Yep you are right.

Brooks, showing is just how smart he thinks he is side suggested,
"One part of the solution is found in three little words: value-added assessments. Colleges have to test more to find out how they’re doing."
Not only is this impractical, (think of how 
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Jersey Jazzman: Reformy Logic

Jersey Jazzman: Reformy Logic:


Reformy Logic

by Duke
The most reformy Rev. Reginald T. Jackson, Executive Director, The Black Ministers Council of New Jersey [all emphases mine]:
Our urban students are more likely to be assigned an inexperienced teacher — which is bad for both the teacher and the student — more likely to have a substitute and more likely to have a teacher teaching out-of-subject specialization. Additionally, because teachers garner more control over their assignments as they accrue seniority, leaving little incentive for them to take difficult assignments as they ostensibly improve, in our troubled schools where the most experienced teachers are needed, we are least likely to find them.
So the answer to a lack of experienced teachers is to pass a bill - TEACHNJ - that would diminish the use of 
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ALEC Exposed as Lobby Group With 501(C) (3) “Public Charity” Status « Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!

ALEC Exposed as Lobby Group With 501(C) (3) “Public Charity” Status « Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!:


ALEC Exposed as Lobby Group With 501(C) (3) “Public Charity” Status

by millerlf



Conservative Nonprofit Acts as a Stealth Business Lobbyist
By MIKE McINTIRE
NYTimes Published: April 21, 2012
ALEC’s members include corporations and nearly 2,000 lawmakers. Kraft Foods, Intuit and Coca-Cola left the group amid a policy controversy.
AT&T, Reynolds American and Pfizer each gave $130,000 to $398,000 to the group, its 2010 tax returns show.
It was quickly flagged at the Washington headquarters of the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, a business-backed group that views such “false claims” laws as encouraging frivolous lawsuits. ALEC’s membership includes not only corporations, but nearly 2,000 state legislators across the country — including dozens who would vote on the Ohio bill.
One of them, Bill Seitz, a prominent Republican state senator, wrote to a fellow senior lawmaker to relay ALEC’s concerns about “the recent upsurge” in false-claims legislation nationwide. “While this is understandable, as 
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Big Education Ape: 4-23-12 PM Pineapple idiots! EDition #EDREFORM #PINEAPPLEGATE

Big Education Ape: PARENTS CAN!:
Big Education Ape: PARENTS CAN!

Published by Coopmike48 – 6 news spotters today

Finding an End to the Parent-Teacher Wars

parenting.blogs.nytimes.com - According to Ron Clark, Disney’s American Teacher of the Year, new teachers remain in our profession an average of just four and a half years, “and many of them list ‘issues with parents’ as one of...
mikeklonsky

Inland Empire district charts its own course to success

latimes.com - The third-graders struggled to keep pace. And their teachers at Parkridge Elementary School in Corona wanted to know why. The teachers met after school recently and delved into sheets of data and r...
DianeRavitch

Education chief defends consultant's role

stamfordadvocate.com - HARTFORD -- State Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor on Friday defended the presence of a $195,000 consultant in the pending discussions over education reform. Pryor said that the consultant, desp...
DianeRavitch
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EducationSee all

You Know It's A Bad Idea When...

schooltechconnect.com - I just now noticed that David Brooks just made an argument for something like value-added assessments at college, which illustrates the adage, "If there's a really, really bad idea, then David Broo...
tbfurman

Lobbying Spending Database - Pearson Education, 2011

opensecrets.org - Lobbying A special interest's lobbying activity may go up or down over time, depending on how much attention the federal government is giving their issues. Particularly active clients often retain ...
leoniehaimson

SocietySee all

ALEC Revisited | Impatient Optimists

impatientoptimists.org - Over the past several weeks, many of our friends, partners and grantees, as well as some members of the general public, have expressed their concerns about the foundation’s recent grant to the Amer...
leoniehaimson

Occupy Oakland (OO): Mayor Quan Says Not Again

my.firedoglake.com - Oakland Mayor Jean Quan (photo: dougsmi/flickr) On Thursday, April 19, I attended a meeting sponsored by the Oakland Police Department (OPD) with our new police chief, Howard Jordan, leading the me...
coopmike48

PoliticsSee all

Rubio: Jeb Bush Would Be A 'Fantastic' VP

livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com - On CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said he thinks Jeb Bush would be an “fantastic” vice president, returning a compliment Bush gave Rubio in recent days.  Jeb Bush has bee...
fklonsky

Sunday Talking Heads: April 23, 2012

firedoglake.com - Every Day is Earth Day. Celebrate and honor our planet, our home, it’s the only one we’ve got.Washington Journal. ABC’s This Week: Secret Service Scandal: Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the top Republi...
coopmike48

StoriesSee all

Murdoch’s Muscle

nytimes.com - When I last saw you, at a White House Correspondents’ Dinner after-party in 2000, you were squiring around a foxy actress named Kathleen York. I have a pretty stiff public appearance, I guess. The ...
leoniehaimson

BusinessSee all

Former ALEC Supporters Now Find Connection Toxic

my.firedoglake.com - This article was originally published by the Center for Media and Democracy at PRWatch.org.With thousands of consumers expressing their concerns about the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALE...
coopmike48

EnvironmentSee all

#edreformRead this paperSee all

You Know It's A Bad Idea When...

schooltechconnect.com - I just now noticed that David Brooks just made an argument for something like value-added assessments at college, which illustrates the adage, "If there's a really, really bad idea, then David Broo...
tbfurman

Lobbying Spending Database - Pearson Education, 2011

opensecrets.org - Lobbying A special interest's lobbying activity may go up or down over time, depending on how much attention the federal government is giving their issues. Particularly active clients often retain ...
leoniehaimson

#pineapplegateSee all

Lobbying Spending Database - Pearson Education, 2011

opensecrets.org - Lobbying A special interest's lobbying activity may go up or down over time, depending on how much attention the federal government is giving their issues. Particularly active clients often retain ...
leoniehaimson

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