DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: Productive Parent Teacher Conferences: A P/T Form That Helps!

DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: Productive Parent Teacher Conferences: A P/T Form That Helps!:

Productive Parent Teacher Conferences: A P/T Form That Helps!

Year after year, I have tried to find a way to make my conferences more productive. I had attempted to find a way to share information with my parents so they had a clear understanding of where their child is. I had always felt frustrated, when after a parent had gone , and I would think, “Oh, I forgot to tell her/him….”  


A few years ago I created a form based on  some of the questions from a worksheet that my  Phi Delta Kappa sorer shared with me. There have been some revisions over the last two years, and I am sure there will be more.  The  first question I asked  is ” What are your concerns or comments?” This allowed my parents a chance to voice their concerns first.

We completed the form, using the questions to guide the conference and open discussion between myself and the parent. I felt that the form  answered questions parents have, but  forget or don’t think to ask. 

The following marking period, I reviewed  the first form with the parent, to see how it compared to the current marking period. 

After the form was completed, the parent signed it, providing not only a written document of what we discussed, but a guide for the parent.

When I used the form,  the conference moved along smoothly.  It is important to remember that it is a guide, not the end all and be all of the conference. I tried typing this year, but I gave up after the first parent. I didn't feel as if I was giving them my full 

Is Karen Hughes working in the Islamic Gulen Movement?:

Is Karen Hughes working in the Islamic Gulen Movement?

June 7, 2011 | Blog

The New York Times reported  today on the Cosmos Foundation, a public charter school provider with ties to the Gulen Movement. Fethullah Gulen, the founder of the Gulen Movement, is a Muslim Imam and supporter of instituting sharia law in his native Turkey. Under pressure from Turkish authorities claiming he was seeking an Islamic state in Turkey, Gulen came to America in 1999.

The Times didn’t mention that Karen Hughes, native Texan and former employee of  George W. Bush, is the spokesperson for the booming charter school operations of the Cosmos Foundation in Texas, operating under the name “Harmony Schools.”

The Times reports that Harmony Schools has issued over $200 billion in bonds in the past five years and receives over $100 million of taxpayer dollars annually. The Times

Profiles of For-Profit and Nonprofit Education Management Organizations: Fourteenth Edition – 2011-2012 | National Education Policy Center

Profiles of For-Profit and Nonprofit Education Management Organizations: Fourteenth Edition – 2011-2012 | National Education Policy Center:

Profiles of For-Profit and Nonprofit Education Management Organizations: Fourteenth Edition – 2011-2012

Proudly Sponsored by 

• 
 
• 
 

Gary Miron, Charisse Gulosino

November 26, 2013

Press Release →

The 2011-2012 school year marked another year of growth in both the for-profit and nonprofit education management sectors. In the previous three years we saw some signs of slowing growth in the for-profit sector, but the changes between 2010-2011 and 2011-12, demonstrate that there is still room for growth. The nonprofit management sector’s growth has been steadily growing faster than their for-profit counterparts, both in terms of new nonprofit EMOs and new managed schools. Student enrollments in all managed schools continue to grow at a rapid pace. 

Emo Profiles 11 12 by National Education Policy Center

Teachers getting younger in Tennessee | timesfreepress.com

Teachers getting younger in Tennessee | timesfreepress.com:

Teachers getting younger in Tennessee

share

email

print

font size

by Kevin Hardy
view bio »

Laura McNutt.

For decades, teachers have entered the classroom in their early 20s and stayed in front of the blackboard for 25 years, 30 years or longer.

But that traditional model is changing.

Many educators leave teaching after just a few years -- some estimates say half leave within the first five years. But other factors are changing teacher retention, too.

In the last several years, regulations governing who can become and who can stay a teacher have tightened, especially in Tennessee, even as a generation of baby boomer teachers is retiring. Other would-be educators are entering the profession later in life, after careers as scientists, engineers or accountants. And a growing number of educators see teaching not as a career but a pit stop, as some alternative programs such as Teach for America require only a two-year commitment.

Altogether, that's a drastic shift away from a cadre of career educators who mostly were trained at 

4LAKids - MORE CRACKS IN THE CORE: Massachusetts Halts Common Core Implementation

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: MORE CRACKS IN THE CORE: Massachusetts Halts Common Core Implementation:

MORE CRACKS IN THE CORE: Massachusetts Halts Common Core Implementation

BY BRITTANY CORONA ON EDUCATION,FRONT PAGE | POLICY NEWS BLOG FROM THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION HTTP://HERIT.AG/1C5WH1Y

Newscom

November 22, 2013 @ 9:00 am   ::  This week, the Massachusetts Board of Education voted to slow the transition to Common Core.
The board decided to delay implementation for two years while it compares the Common Core aligned Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) tests to their existing—and widely praised—Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exam.
Commissioner Mitchell Chester, who also chairs the governing board for the PARCC consortium, says ^[2] that adopting the Common Core by the 2014–2015 deadline would cause Massachusetts “too precipitous a transition.”
Massachusetts is known for its quality state academic standards and student achievement levels. This year, Massachusetts celebrated its 20th anniversary of its historic education reforms that kick-started the state’s success.
Former Governor Bill Weld signed the Education Reform Act in 1993. At its 10th anniversary, 90 percent ^[3] of Massachusetts students passed their MCAS exams ^[4]. SAT scores in the state rose for 13 consecutive years following the passage, and according to the

Gates Foundation Awards Education Grants During Last Quarter Of 2013

By Judith Fenlon | The Chronicle of Social Change http://bit.ly/18fJvll November 23, 2013  ::  Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Seattle, Washington (206) 709- 3100 www.gatesfoundation.org November, 2013 The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has announced numerous grants awarded to organizations that improve educational opportunities for the nation’s youth. The Gates foundation has partnered

by smf / 29min 

Please help to stop the attack against active and retired teachers in Illinois. | Reclaim Reform

Please help to stop the attack against active and retired teachers in Illinois. | Reclaim Reform:

Please help to stop the attack against active and retired teachers in Illinois.

Posted on December 1, 2013by Ken Previti

Imagine a law written by lawmakers who are actively breaking the law while also violating their oath of office. Now, imagine that the law is meant to steal the active and/or retired teachers legally deferred compensation (pensions) in Illinois. Now, imagine that the same law will steal from nearly all state employees and retirees on Dec. 3, 2013.
It is not necessary to imagine. It is reality. The vote is scheduled.

“The significant issue of pension reform is its attack on public employees’ rights to constitutionally-guaranteed, earned compensation and the legislators’ obligation to safeguard those promises. An unconscionable constitutional challenge of those rights and earned benefits generates a serious threat to their secure sense of worth as citizens and creates the unfair possibility for an economic disadvantage for a particular group of people and their families. This can never be legally or morally justified.”Read Glen Brown’s full article HERE.

The We Are One Illinois Coalition has declared this Monday (Dec. 2) as Pension Emergency Day. Teachers,public employees and their friends are strongly encouraged to email and call legislators who were specifically selected because they could potentially vote either way.Read Todd Mertz’s message and contact list HERE.

“If we in Illinois have nearly the highest rate of required contributions historically and nearly 80% of us get no social security, how could we be the only state in the union with such a miserable funded ratio? Was it us? I don’t think so, and yet the bond companies 

12-1-13 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:

The cranky one is publishing the times and locations of tomorrow’s We Are One pension rallies.

Here are the times and locations of tomorrow’s pension rallies at local representatives’ offices: AFSCME • Rockford – Stadelman/Syverson, Jefferson o Start Time: 10 a.m. o Transportation: Self. (Parking is plentiful.) o Meeting Location: All three offices are located in third-floor suites at 200 S. Wyman, Rockford, IL. o Note: The lead local has set a meeting time in a conference room with Sens.

by Fred Klonsky / 5min 

 

11-30-13 Fred Klonsky | Running for our pensions. | VOTE 4 Fred Klonsky.

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Fred Klonsky | Running for our pensions. | VOTE 4 Fred Klonsky.mark as readNekritz: “We’re digging ourselves back in a hole.”Sun-Times:14min Keeping retirement weird.h On the road home. I80 through Penssylvania Gearing up for our pension fight on Monday.32min Democratic Party strategist David Ormsby:

by mike simpson / 44min 

Teachers Were Never The Problem - In These Times

Teachers Were Never The Problem - In These Times:

Study finds that in one third of U.S. states majority of public school students come from low-income households. (Southern Education Foundation)

WEB ONLY// FEATURES » NOVEMBER 8, 2013

Teachers Were Never The Problem

Poverty still lies at the root of the U.S. ‘education crisis.’

BY DAVID SIROTA

Social science research over the last few decades has shown that two thirds of student achievement is a product of out-of-school factors - and among the most powerful of those is economic status.

Google the phrase “education crisis” and you'll be hit with a glut of articles, blog posts and think tank reports claiming the entire American school system is facing an emergency. Much of this agitprop additionally asserts that teachers unions are the primary cause of the alleged problem. Not surprisingly, the fabulists pushing these narratives are often backed by anti-public school conservatives and anti-union plutocrats. But a little-noticed study released last week provides yet more confirmation that neither the “education crisis” meme or the “evil teachers' union” narrative is accurate.  

Before looking at that study, consider some of the ways we already know that the dominant storyline about education is, indeed, baseless propaganda. 

As I've reported before, we know that American public school students from wealthy districts generate some of the best test scores in the world. This proves that the education system's problems are not universal–the crisis is isolated primarily in the parts of the system that operate in high poverty areas. It also proves that while the structure of the traditional public school system is hardly perfect, it is not the big problem in America’s K-12 education system. If it was the problem, then traditional public schools in rich neighborhoods would not perform as well as they do. 

Similarly, we know that many of the high-performing public schools in America's wealthy locales are unionized. We also know that one of the best school systems in the world—Finland's—is fully unionized. These facts prove that teachers' unions are not the root cause of the education 

Does Standardization Serve Students? Or is Common Core a Dead End? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Does Standardization Serve Students? Or is Common Core a Dead End? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Does Standardization Serve Students? Or is Common Core a Dead End?

By Anthony Cody on December 1, 2013 2:10 PM

This weekend we have heard some controversy over corporations forcing low-wage employees to work on holidays such as Thanksgiving. Many of us are disturbed by this encroachment on time traditionally allowed for family. It feels as if every aspect of life is being bent towards maximum extraction of profits for the super-wealthy.

One of the undercurrents fueling concerns about the Common Core is the relentless focus on preparation for "college and career." Education has always had dual aspirations - to elevate mind and spirit, through the investigation of big ideas, and the pursuit of fine arts and literature, and the service of the economic needs of individuals and society. What we are feeling in our modern culture is the absolute hegemony of commercial aims, as if every activity that does not produce profit is under assault.

And in our classrooms there is a parallel assault on activities that do not "prepare for college and career," which has been redefined, in practical terms, as preparation for the tests that have been determined to be aligned with that goal. Preparation for college and career has begun to feel more and more like "preparation to make yourself useful to future corporate employers."

A letter signed by 132 Catholic professors made this argument clear: 

Promoters of Common Core say that it is designed to make America's children "college and career ready." We instead judge Common Core to be a recipe for standardized workforce 

12-1-13 Wait What?

Wait What?:

David Samuels: The Community Party’s Powerful Voice for Social Justice

David Samuels is the founder of the Community Party.  The Community Party is a Connecticut statewide network of activists dedicated to addressing issues of social justice and criminal justice reform.  Samuels and the Community Party have been working to educate people and change public policy on a wide variety of issues.  In particular, Samuels and […]The post David Samuels: The Community Party’s

by jonpelto / 24min 

Perry returns to the paid speaking circuit

Tonight, December 1, 2013, Steve Perry will be speaking at George Washington University from 7pm – 9pm (no word whether the will be back in time for school tomorrow morning).  But he’ll certainly be missing another school day on Friday when he speaks at the METCO Directors’ Association meeting outside of Boston from 8:30am – […]The post Perry returns to the paid speaking circuit (while taxpayers p

by jonpelto / 25min 

11-30-13 Wait What? All Week

Wait What?:      mark as readMalloy continues to cashes in in Education Reform initiativeEarlier this week, CT Newsjunkie and other media outlets reported on the fact that the Connecticut Election Enforcement Commissioner had authorized an investigation into Governor Malloy’s potentially illegal campaign activities. As Hugh McQuaid of CT Newsjunkie reported, “Election enforcement officials agreed

by mike simpson / 37min 

Measuring the Wealth Effect in Education - NYTimes.com

Measuring the Wealth Effect in Education - NYTimes.com:

Measuring the Wealth Effect in Education

By D.D. GUTTENPLAN

Published: December 1, 2013

LONDON — While it may be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, it has long been thought easier for the rich man’s son or daughter to get into Harvard. Or Oxford.

Enlarge This Image

Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times

The campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.

But thanks to a new study by John Jerrim at the Institute of Education at the University of London we now know how much easier. At a time when governments on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean are increasingly facing questions about the widening gap between rich and poor, Dr. Jerrim studied access to high-status universities in Britain, the United States andAustralia.

“My background is economics, and if you look at the economics, kids that go to certain universities earn a premium on their wages during their working lives over and above the premium you get just by going to college,” Dr. Jerrim said. In the United States that premium is about 6 percent, he said.

“The other reason for looking at these particular universities is that they seem to influence access to certain jobs and to act as a signal to high-flying graduate recruiters,” he said. “If you take the job of being prime minister of Britain, for example, you almost have to have gone to Oxford.”

Dr. Jerrim found that students whose parents come from a professional or managerial background are three times as likely to enter a high status university in Britain or Australia as students with working class parents. For the sake of the study a “high status” university in Britain was defined by membership in the Russell Group of large research institutions; in Australia the study looked at students attending the “Group of Eight” 

Success Academy Tax Documents: Moskowitz Can Afford the Rent | deutsch29

Success Academy Tax Documents: Moskowitz Can Afford the Rent | deutsch29:

Success Academy Tax Documents: Moskowitz Can Afford the Rent

December 1, 2013

Since 2006, Eva Moskowitz has been running a small charter empire that has at least $50 million in assets and the support of hedge fund millionaires. Why is it, then, that her Success Academies have never paid a dime in rent for the public school space occupied by her charter schools?

Recently-elected New York Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to put an end to the rent-free usage of public school space by charter schools.

Moskowitz’s response?

She closed her 22 schools on October 8, 2013, so that her students could “volunteer” to protest.

Public schools do not close in order to have public school students engage in protests– and this protest coincided with the political agenda of Republican mayoral candidate Joe Lhota, who just happened to attend.

Moskowitz is playing both sides of the public-private hybrid that is the Success Academy charter school. Her schools are “public” when it benefits her schools to be so, and they are “privately managed charters” when that is title is convenient (as in her closing school in order to have her students “protest” in favor of a mayoral candidate).

Not only does Moskowitz believe that she has a right to squat rent-free in the very 

12-1-13 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet:

How public opinion about new PISA test scores is being manipulated

This Tuesday, new reading, math and science results will be released from the  Program  for International Student Assessment, or PISA, given every three years to 15-year-old students in more than 65 countries and education systems by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The results are always big news — and the usual average U.S. scores […]    

by Valerie Strauss / 8min 

Rosa Parks’s official arrest report: She refused to give bus seat to white man 58 years ago today

Here’s a piece of history: the arrest report from Montgomery, Ala., police for Rosa Parks on Dec. 1, 1955, the day she rode a  Montgomery city bus and refused to get up and move to the back of the bus so a white man could take her seat, as she was expected to in that […]    

by Valerie Strauss / 1h 

Amazing product placement: ‘American Girl’ backpack comes with mini Pearson math book

You’ve got to give it to Pearson: They do great product placement. Who would expect an “American Girl” miniature backpack set for a doll to include a tiny math book with a cover that comes from a Common Core-aligned textbook line put out by the education publishing giant? Yes, educator and blogger Chris Cerrone found that […]    

by Valerie Strauss / 22min 

All Week @ The Answer Sheet 11-30-13

The Answer Sheet:mark as readHow thinking like an engineer can help school reformArthur H. Camins, director of the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., suggests a new way to make progress in education policy — through engineering design thinking.  The ideas expressed in this article are his alone and do not represent Steven

by mike simpson / 32min