If no one is looking at your Twitter account, it could be for a couple of reasons. | Connected Principals

If no one is looking at your Twitter account, it could be for a couple of reasons. | Connected Principals:

If no one is looking at your Twitter account, it could be for a couple of reasons.

by George Couros • May 26, 2014 • 0 Comments

Most organizations or schools feel that jumping on the social media bandwagon is something that they should do because it is becoming the norm for others.  If you think that Twitter is just about tweeting, you are missing a huge cultural shift that is happening.

Too many people use Twitter as a “one-way” communication.  They simply use it to deliver messages with no engagement at all.  This might work if you are a huge celebrity, otherwise you are spending time doing something that is really going to do nothing but take up your time.  If you are just sending information out, with no interaction, you are becoming the new “spam”.

Communication is key with organizations, but the huge cultural shift is that people do not want to just hear, they also want to be heard.  You might have a lot of followers on your account, but that does not mean people are engaged in what you are doing.

For example, @AirCanada used to be a horrible Twitter account.  It was used to share deals and tell about how awesome they were.  If anything, their presence and lack of true communication did more harm than good.  People wonder why would organization be in a space that is about back-and-forth communication, but only talk, and not listen?  Now, the account is doing an amazing job to connect with customers when they have concerns or problems.  I would never use email with Air Canada as I know their Twitter account is much more effective and faster.  They have to be, because the whole world can see their reaction (or lack thereof).

What is also important is heart.  Creating an emotional connection through a social media account is an art formIf no one is looking at your Twitter account, it could be for a couple of reasons. | Connected Principals:

empathyeducates – For the First Time, Public Education Revenue Decreases in 2012, Census Bureau Reports

empathyeducates – For the First Time, Public Education Revenue Decreases in 2012, Census Bureau Reports:



For the First Time, Public Education Revenue Decreases in 2012, Census Bureau Reports

Originally Published at United States Census Bureau.

Public elementary and secondary education revenue declined in fiscal year 2012 for the first time since 1977, when the U.S. Census Bureau began collecting public education finance data on an annual basis. According to new Census Bureau findings released today, public elementary and secondary school systems received $594.5 billion in total revenue in fiscal year 2012, down $4.9 billion (0.8 percent) from fiscal year 2011.

Today’s findings come from Public Education Finances: 2012. These statistics provide figures on revenues, expenditures, debt and assets (cash and security holdings) of the nation’s elementary and secondary public school systems. The report, released annually, includes detailed statistics on spending — such as instruction, student transportation, salaries and employee benefits — at the national, state and school district levels.

State governments were the leading source of revenue ($270.4 billion), closely followed by revenue from local sources ($264.6 billion); almost two-thirds (65.3 percent) of revenue from local sources came from property taxes. Public school systems received $59.5 billion in revenue from the federal government, a decrease of $14.2 billion (19.2 percent) from the previous fiscal year.

The 50 states and the District of Columbia spent $10,608 per student on public elementary and secondary education in 2012, the same amount as 2011. All nine states in the Northeast were ranked among the 15 states with the highest spending per pupil (not including capital outlay or expenditure on long-term debt) in 2012. Out of the 20 states with the lowest spending per pupil, 18 were in the South or West.

The top spenders per pupil were New York ($19,552), the District of Columbia ($17,468), Alaska ($17,390), New Jersey ($17,266) and Connecticut ($16,274).

For the third year in a row there was a decline in total expenditures, which decreased to $593.8 billion, a $2.5 billion (0.4 percent) decrease from the previous year.

For the first time, these statistics can be found in American FactFinder, one of the Census Bureau’s data research tools.

Other highlights:

• Of the 100 largest school systems by enrollment in the U.S., the following had the highest spending per pupil in FY 2012: New York City School District ($20,226), Boston City Schools ($19,720), Baltimore City Schools ($15,287), Anchorage School District in Alaska ($14,963), Montgomery County Schools in Maryland ($14,873) and Howard County Schools in Maryland ($14,747).
• Of the 100 largest school systems by enrollment, six of the top 14 with the highest spending per pupil in 2012 were in Maryland.
• Of the $593.8 billion in total expenditure for public school systems, $524.0 billion is comprised of spending for day-to-day operation of schools and school districts. Expenditure for instruction amounted to $316.6 billion (53.3 percent) of total spending, while expenditure for support services amounted to $179.8 billion (30.3 percent).
• Instructional salaries, the largest expenditure category for public elementary and secondary education, totaled $206.7 billion in 2012 (34.8 percent of total spending).
• The states spending the least per pupil in 2012 were Utah ($6,206), Idaho ($6,659), Oklahoma ($7,466), Arizona ($7,559) and Mississippi ($8,164).
• Debt for public elementary and secondary school systems decreased by 0.1 percent from $407.0 billion in 2011 to $406.5 billion in 2012.
• States that had the highest percentage of their total public school system revenue coming fromempathyeducates – For the First Time, Public Education Revenue Decreases in 2012, Census Bureau Reports:

DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: Parental Support and Involvement: Should Teachers Just Make Do Without It?

DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: Parental Support and Involvement: Should Teachers Just Make Do Without It?:

Parental Support and Involvement: Should Teachers Just Make Do Without It?

More and more, the buck seems to start and end with teachers.

We seem to be the only ones held "accountable" for all that goes on in our classrooms, and it is frustrating!

It's become the norm to send a child to school and hope for the best.

I have done what I need to do as a teacher to get parental support, and then some.

If I post videos and sites you can use to supplement what your child is learning in school, why aren't they using it?

If I send email reminders, and newsletters, with information about what is going on in class, why is it you still don't know?

If I ask you to read one of your child's posts on their blogs the entire school year, why is it you haven't read a single one?

Why is the test checklist signed every week, but their grades are a surprise at conferences?

If  I send an email, could you  take a second and say you received it? Or even respond to it if a response is required?

Why can trip slips come back in a day, but important notices take repeated phone calls?

Why have I never met you during the course of the school year?

These are just a few of the issues that continue to frustrate me, year after year.

All parents do not work two-three  jobs, are homeless, suffer from poverty, are on drugs, or alcoholics. This seems to be the consensus of why parental support is lacking. Others believe parental involvement is not necessary or useful.

Parenting requires hard work, effort, and sacrifice. It is not an easy job, and hats off to all who do it. If you are not willing to put in the hard work, make an effort, and sacrifice for your children when it comes to their education, teachers will work without you, but we can't always pull it off.

I don't want parents held "accountable", just as I don't want teachers to suffer from "accountability."

What I do want is a parent who realizes they need to join us in providing an education for their child. School is not a day care center. You can't drop them off, pick them up, and DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: Parental Support and Involvement: Should Teachers Just Make Do Without It?:

Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » “Not Interested in Being #1:” Shanghai May Ditch PISA

Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » “Not Interested in Being #1:” Shanghai May Ditch PISA:

“Not Interested in Being #1:” Shanghai May Ditch PISA

25 MAY 2014 2,775 ONE COMMENT

“Not interested in #1 on International Tests, Focusing on Reducing Academic Burden: Shanghai May Drop Out of PISA” is the headline of a story in Xinmin Wanbao[original story in Chinese], a popular newspaper in Shanghai. Published on March 7^th 2014, the story reports that Shanghai “is considering to withdraw from the next round of PISA in 2015” because “Shanghai does not need so-called ‘#1 schools,’” said Yi Houqin, a high level official of Shanghai Education Commission. “What it needs are schools that follow sound educational principles, respect principles of students’ physical and psychological development, and lay a solid foundation for students’ lifelong development,” says the article, quoting Mr. Yi.

One of the shortfalls of Shanghai education masked by its top PISA ranking, Mr. Yi, pointed out, is excessive amount of homework, according to the story. For example, teachers in Shanghai spend 2 to 5 hours designing, reviewing, analyzing, and discussing homework assignment every day. “Over half of the students spend more than one hour on school work after school [every day]; Teachers’ estimate of homework load is much lower than actual experiences of students and parents; Although the homework is not particularly difficult, much of it is mechanical and repetitive tasks that take lots of time; Furthermore, our teachers are more used to mark the answers as ‘right’ or ‘wrong,’ while students are hoping their teachers can help them open their minds and point out their problems.”

“Homework is only one of the elements that supports student development,” an unnamed PISA official toldXinmin Wanbao. “Their skills and qualities should also be acquired from a variety of activities such as play, online activities, and games instead of merely completing academic assignments or extending homework time.”

“Shanghai will not participate in PISA forever,” Professor Zhang Minxuan, director of PISA in China, told Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » “Not Interested in Being #1:” Shanghai May Ditch PISA:

Labor and English Language Teaching | Dissident Voice

Labor and English Language Teaching | Dissident Voice:

Labor and English Language Teaching

by Myles Hoenig / May 26th, 2014

The state of English Language Teaching (ELT) (and teaching content, electives overall) is going through a serious, almost radical, transformation.  Long gone are the days where union chapters, building reps and others who represent a teaching staff have the backing of their affiliate or parent union for support.  No more do we see teachers of all areas praised for working miracles with society’s problem students/children. Forever gone are the school days filled with bright eyes, smiling faces, recess, and an obvious love of learning.  What we see are bubble tests, exhausted and anxiety ridden students and teachers, and administrators and policy makers with little or no teaching experience making life changing decisions over the lives of people in a profession they know so little about.

The plight of the American worker (teacher) and student has epitomized the exploitation of labor.  Whether one works at a Wal Mart, McDonalds, GM plant or PS 234, the work force is no longer viewed as a crucial element in the growth or strength of the industry. Unfortunately, we now need to refer to education as an industry. We are all expendable cogs in which one’s labor is viewed as a means to enhance the profit margin of the few who do so little of the work yet reap the profits and accolades of ‘high society’ (government, media, etc.)

ESL teachers are unique in the work force of education. The motivation level of many of the students is often far higher than the general population.  Their backgrounds almost dictate they be placed in an educational survival mode. Either their families were well educated before coming to the US, they see that education actually is a key to further independence, or even the judge says stay in school or be deported, all contribute to a greater degree of determination amongst the ELL population to advance.

As teachers one is surrounded by colleagues who really love their job (not that others don’t!) and it shows everywhere, from the classroom to the department meetings. The motivational level of ELL teachers is readily viewed at the state conferences and international conventions. It’s very difficult for many Labor and English Language Teaching | Dissident Voice:

The Answer Sheet 5-26-14

Answer Sheet:

No. 1 Shanghai may drop out of PISA

First in 2009 and then in 2012, Shanghai’s 15-year-old students (or, rather, a supposed representative group)  were No. 1 in the world on the recent Program for International Student Assessment reading, math and science exams. But now, according to a popular Shanghai newspaper, Shanghai is considering dropping out of PISA. Why? The title of the article in Xinmin […]

2 by Valerie Strauss / 28min 

Rating colleges is ‘like rating a blender’ — Education Department official

This is what  Jamienne Studley, a deputy under secretary at the Education Department, told a group of college presidents who were meeting to talk about President’s Obama’s plan to rate colleges with the apparent aim of driving out of business schools that don’t meet the administration’s definition of success, as reported by The New York Times: […]

1 by Valerie Strauss / 1h 

The Answer Sheet 5-25-14

Answer Sheet: What school reformers can learn from pokerSchool reformers have made student outcomes the big focus of their efforts, targeting teachers for failure to improve student achievement. But teachers say they ignore the inputs — the issues students bring into a classroom and the training/resources of  teachers. Here’s a look about the problem with outcome-based assessment, by Ben Spielberg

by mike simpson / 22h

5-26-14 Ed Notes Online Week

Ed Notes Online:

MORE Lower Manhattan Happy Hour Friday, May 30, 4-6PM

DISTRICT 1 & 2 Happy Hour will be a place to discuss the proposed contract and other educational issues we face! Friday, May 30th (4-6)LOCAL 138, 138 Ludlow, between Rivington & Stanton (F, J, M to Delancey) Back room is reserved Feel free to spread the word and bring others.

by ed notes online / 21min 

UFT Contract Exit Polls Contradict NY Times Article on Contract

At my school, the xxxxxx, the chapter elected to conduct an "exit poll" to assess how we as a chapter voted on the contract proposal. These are the unofficial results of the xxxx vote.Total UFT members: ....45 Total voting "YES" - ......16Total voting "NO" - ........26Abstentions: .....................3---A MORE Chapter Leader Interesting, given today's NY Times artic

by ed notes online / 9min 

5-24-14 Ed Notes Online Week

Ed Notes Online: Ed Notes OnlineFinal Performance Tonight of RTC "Moon...I saw the Rockaway Theatre Company Production of "Moon Over Buffalo" last night for the 4th time - and I still laughed at every line -- and there were so many. My column with some cool photos finally appeared in The Wave yesterday, a week late, which doesn't do anything for the box office. Not that my columns e

by mike simpson / 42min 

John White’s Journey: Why he decided to ask his Louisiana Department of Education to alter student test scores | Crazy Crawfish's Blog

John White’s Journey: Why he decided to ask his Louisiana Department of Education to alter student test scores | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:

Crazy Crawfish's Blog

Zesty Louisiana Education Politics

John White’s Journey: Why he decided to ask his Louisiana Department of Education to alter student test scores

Posted on May 26, 2014

1

Believe it or not, John White did not start off with the intent of trying to delude Louisiana into believing his education reforms worked simply by altering a few scores. At first I think White believed much of his own rhetoric. Namely:

• that teachers were lazy and holding kids back with their incompetence
• that State workers were lazy union wannabe’s, and essentially worthless
• that IT folks were unnecessary
• that data would almost magically flow in the department’s coffers with little effort on anyone’s part
• that most corporations in the education business had kids best interests at heart
• that charter schools are inherently better than all public schools
• that simply improving reading and math test scores is the keystone to unlocking all other student learning and overcoming the challenges of poverty
• that Common Core will improve student outcomes and level the playing field across the nation
• and that the data will eventually prove that all of his education “reforms” were a success.

John White always wanted to be “the Decider”, a difference maker, a leader of a Nationwide Education Reform movement destined to change the entire landscape of education, schools and teaching, for the better – or so he thought. But there were a lot entrenched interests in his way, ready to pounce on any misstep, any nuance, any faltering. John White knew this, was told this, and had done this himself. Reformers used this approach to make inroads across the nation and even the world, by harping on data often taken out of context or interpreted in self-serving ways. This is what his team, the Reformers, specialized in. White knew exactly how to defeat this move and buy enough time for his vision to work its magic. To defeat people who use data to criticize the status quo, which he had now become, he needed to starve them for data. Like the propaganda John White’s Journey: Why he decided to ask his Louisiana Department of Education to alter student test scores | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:

5-26-14 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):

Memorial Day 2014: A Reader

If we could find a space to honor peace, to honor peace by taking action so that peace was the norm of humanity… 21st century “Children’s Crusade”: A curriculum of peace driven by critical literacy, P. L. Thomas Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut “All the King’s Horses,” Kurt Vonnegut Whom Will We Honor Memorial Day?, Howard Zinn At the Un-National Monument along the Canadian Border, William Staff

1 by plthomasedd / 15min 

5-25-14 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): Misreading the Never-Ending Drop-Out “Crisis”Prompted by Peter Greene’s Why Students Drop Out, further evidence that evidence doesn’t matter for the Obama administration of Secretary Duncan, I post below an entry for the Daily Kos from 4 February 2012. The political and

by mike simpson / 22min

Teacher Education Leader Francisco Rios: edTPA Leads Schools to Teach to the Test - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Teacher Education Leader Francisco Rios: edTPA Leads Schools to Teach to the Test - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Teacher Education Leader Francisco Rios: edTPA Leads Schools to Teach to the Test

By Anthony Cody on May 26, 2014 10:33 AM

Yesterday I began a series of interviews with leaders of schools of education. As I noted, these schools have been targeted by those seeking to "disrupt" and "reform" our educational system. Yesterday we met Kevin Kumashiro of the University of San Francisco. Today, we hear from Francisco Rios of Western Washington University, in Bellingham, Washington. 

1. Can you tell me a bit about how your school approaches teacher education?

I am the Dean of the Woodring College of Education at Western Washington University.

Our teacher education programs have a strong focus on issues of social justice, particularly connected to diversity, inclusion, and equity concerns. We add to this some essential understandings around teaching and learning. In addition, our programs have a strong focus on building a strong set of essential teaching skills mixed with a strong preparation in the academic disciplines, with a special emphasis on math and science. The program has a strong field based dimension, including early field experiences (via service learning) in schools, field experiences connected with methods courses, and nearly double the hours student teaching than are required for state certification.

2. How does this relate to how you expect the teachers your program graduates to engage in the work of teaching?

This is exactly how we would expect our teachers to engage in their work as teachers.  We need them to have strong academic content knowledge mixed with strong pedagogical content knowledge.  We need them to be strong teachers in as the essential dimensions of teaching and learning, from planning, to instruction, to curriculum, and to assessment.  We need teachers who recognize that educational inequalities are the most pressing matters facing public education and Teacher Education Leader Francisco Rios: edTPA Leads Schools to Teach to the Test - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

5-26-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL:

A Few Final Memorial Day Resources

Here are a few final additions to The Best Websites For Learning About Memorial Day: How African-Americans in South Carolina invented Memorial Day is from Vox. Sacrifices Set in Adorned Stone is a photo gallery from The New York Times. A Real Story of Memorial Day is from The Atlantic.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h hide  //  save

Here Are The Eleven Sites I’m Using For My Summer School “Virtual Classroom”

Our school year will be ending in two-and-a-half weeks and, as usual, our District has little money for actual summer school. We used to have over one thousand of our students attending for at least six weeks — not because they were failing and had to retake classes, but because they wanted to get ahead. Now, we’re down to four classes for students who have failed a class and have to take it agai

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h 

This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Useful Posts & Articles About Education Policy

Here are some recent good posts and articles on education policy issues: Who Gets To Graduate is by Paul Tough and appears in The New York Times. He raises many useful points, but misses others. Those “misses” are pointed out in a good response in The EduOptimists titled Doing What’s Easy: Comments on “Who Gets to Graduate?” IT echoes similar points I made in a Washington Post piece, The manipula

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h 

5-25-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Dr. Walter Mischel, Creator Of Famous Marshmallow Test, Is Writing A BookDr. Walter Mischel, creator of the famous marshmallow test used by many of us in classroom lessons, is writing a book that will be published in September. It’s titled The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control. I’ve written many posts over the years

by mike simpson / 21h 

“Warning: The Literary Canon Could Make Students Squirm” NYT, May 18, 2014 | Bill Ayers

“Warning: The Literary Canon Could Make Students Squirm” NYT, May 18, 2014 | Bill Ayers:

“Warning: The Literary Canon Could Make Students Squirm” NYT, May 18, 2014

The call for “trigger warnings”—a recent censorious trend gaining traction on American college campuses—is designed to alert students of any potentially troubling, unsettling, or upsetting course materials. The impetus is benign enough, and the context includes the important recent mobilization to deal seriously with epidemic levels of rape and sexual assault on campuses across the country. But objections to this trend are also clear: art and literature, education and growth are characteristically disturbing. When a few years ago Judith Shapiro, president of Barnard College, told a faculty meeting dealing with the discomfort some students experienced when exposed to criticisms of Israel that she thought no Barnard student should be uncomfortable in any class, I thought she had lost her way if not her mind. As a professor my goal was that every student would find in my classes every day the familiar and the strange, the comforting and the discomfiting—and I wanted to find those things for myself as well. I mostly wanted everyone to be moved to leap forward, to launch themselves into the going world, and to embark on voyages into the unknown.

The trigger warning—if it is to be used at all—should appear on the application to college itself: Please be aware that you will be challenged here, you will be exposed to ideas you cannot now imagine, you will experience times of cognitive dissonance and intellectual vertigo, and you will likely be transformed in some “Warning: The Literary Canon Could Make Students Squirm” NYT, May 18, 2014 | Bill Ayers:

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 5-26-14

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

Stoner Parents Win, Lausd Removes Co-Located Charter

by Michael Janofsky, Managing editor LA School Report | http://bit.ly/1pcPXWD CWC Mar Vista Charter School May 23, 2014,  2:07 pm  ::  Parents of students at Stoner Elementary School, who have been fighting to get the co-located Citizens of the World  Charter School Mar Vista (CWC) off their campus, have succeeded in their quest. A letter from LA Unified has informed them the charter “will

by smf / 1h hide  //  save

L.A. Unified Shifting ‘Teacher Jails’ Into Homes

By Howard Blume, LA Times | http://lat.ms/1jWl7zs UTLA President-elect Alex Caputo-Pearl said the change "was brought about by the pressure generated over the last few months from parents, school communities and educators." (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times) May 26, 2014, 4:57 pm  ::  As of Tuesday, Los Angeles teachers suspended amid misconduct investigations will be allowed to

by smf / 1h 

Editorial - CONGRESS’ ASSIGNMENT: SCHOOL REFORM. Why not start with No Child Left Behind?

Los Angeles Times Editorial |  http://lat.ms/1tdNl8k President Obama is seen visiting a school in Maryland. Congress is considering several education bills this year. (Chip Somodevilla / EPA) May 26, 2014  ::  School reform shouldn't be this hard Congress is taking up a large number of education bills this year. Unfortunately, the issue it is ignoring — as it has for years — is the one that

by smf / 1h 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 5-25-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: From the far side of the pond: EDUCATION’S CULTURE OF OVERWORK IS TURNING CHILDREN AND TEACHERS INTO GHOSTSIf schools slowed down and focused on a deeper kind of flourishing, they might be more productive (if not very Goveian)   by Melissa Benn, The Guardian, http://bit.ly/1lLwrtM ●●smf’s translation: GOVEIAN: of or pertaining to the Rt. Hon. Michael Go

by mike simpson / 23h