Monday, November 28, 2011

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top AM Posts #ows #edreform


Students lose individual attention as class sizes swell across the metro area | OregonLive.com

Students lose individual attention as class sizes swell across the metro area | OregonLive.com:Students lose individual attention as class sizes swell across the metro areaby Nicole Dungca, The OregonianHAPPY VALLEY -- After walking into Carl Sander's algebra class with a late pass in hand, Alex Gonzales, 13, found himself alone at a side table. It wasn't punishment. The Happy Valley Middle School classroom simply doesn't have enough desks for 47 students. In many school districts across Oregon, this year's classes ... more »

NYC Public School Parents: A message from Parents to Improve School Transportation: Relax about bus strike but not about safety

NYC Public School Parents: A message from Parents to Improve School Transportation: Relax about bus strike but not about safety:A message from Parents to Improve School Transportation: Relax about bus strike but not about safetyby Leonie HaimsonPIST was an invited guest at the monthly membership meeting of school bus drivers’, escorts’, and mechanics’ Local 1181 ATU on November 22. This was clearly NOT a meeting to hold a strike vote. The president went over the union’s position on Employee Protection ... more »

Schools Matter: A Look at Finnish Schools and Teacher Preparation

Schools Matter: A Look at Finnish Schools and Teacher Preparation:A Look at Finnish Schools and Teacher Preparationby Jim HornThe Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has an excellent piece on the Finnish system, including the video that you see below. As you watch the short video, listen for how the special education teacher in the poor Finnish school talks about the basic skills that all their children get--it's a very different conception of what is "basic" when compared to endless test-prep worksheets that non-privileged ... more »

Oklahoma Gazette News: Shaping social studies group that includes an influential nonacademic religious adviser

Oklahoma Gazette News: Shaping social studies:Shaping social studiesCurriculum for an interdisciplinary field gets revised by a group that includes an influential nonacademic religious adviser.Clifton AdcockNovember 16th, 2011 The state Department of Education is beginning the process of formulating new curriculum for public social studies classes.Sixty-five individuals are tasked with reviewing and rewriting the curriculum. At least one name on the list has drawn fire in the past for controversial statements: David Barton, the founder of WallBuilders, a group that bills ... more »

INTERACTIVE: The Privatization of Education | The Nation

INTERACTIVE: The Privatization of Education | The Nation:INTERACTIVE: The Privatization of EducationThe Nation November 17, 2011 Legislative changes to: Online coursework Charter schools Online schools Both charter schools and online schools Online coursework, charter schools and online schoolsFor years, privatizing education has been a hobby horse for conservatives of all stripes. But they met with little success until very recently. What accounts for the sudden change in fortune? As Lee Fang reports in this week's issue, under the banner of ... more »

Coordinated West Coast Port Shutdown « occupy california #ows

Coordinated West Coast Port Shutdown « occupy california:Coordinated West Coast Port Shutdownby *CALIFORNIA, OREGON, WASHINGTON – A Coordinated US West Coast port shutdown for Monday, December 12th has been called for by the occupation movement in solidarity with longshoreman, particularly in Longview, WA. RSVP here.A Call from Occupy Oakland:Greetings and Solidarity from Occupy Oakland!We present this call to you because we believe it is time the occupation movement begins to work together to carry through coordinated, pinpointed actions. We want ... more »

Modern School: The Not So Shocking Truth About the Crackdown on Occupy Wall Street #ows

Modern School: The Not So Shocking Truth About the Crackdown on Occupy Wall Street:The Not So Shocking Truth About the Crackdown on Occupy Wall Streetby Michael DunnImage from Flickr, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.comNaomi Wolf’s expose on the federal role in the crackdown on the Occupy Wall Street movement, “The shocking truth about the crackdown on Occupy,” has been making the rounds in the liberal blogosphere, getting replayed here and here, for example. In her piece, Wolf calls the violent crackdown on ... more »

URGENT: Occupy LA Prepares for Eviction | OccupyWallSt.org #ows

URGENT: Occupy LA Prepares for Eviction | OccupyWallSt.org:URGENT: Occupy LA Prepares for Evictionby OccupyWallStPopoutThe mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, has ordered Occupy LA to pack up and leave Solidarity Park (formerly City Hall Park) by 12:01AM tonight or face arrest. Villaraigosa – who initially claimed to support the Occupation and has lauded OWS for "awakening the country's conscience" – is now citing "public health and safety" as justification to evict the encampment, even as LA police chief Charlie Beck ... more »

Education Petition: Open Letter: Defend CA Public Education | Change.org #ows #edreform

Education Petition: Open Letter: Defend CA Public Education | Change.org:Open Letter: Defend CA Public EducationWhy This Is ImportantThis Open Letter is an indispensable tool to reverse the attacks on public education in California. It gives the authorities an ultimatum: either cede to our demands or we will begin a massive wave of actions beginning on February 1, 2012.Please help us gather hundreds of thousands of signatures, including from all major labor, student, and community organizations, by forwarding this out widely. ... more »

Schools need to have a voice | EdNewsColorado

Schools need to have a voice | EdNewsColorado:Schools need to have a voiceby Guest ColumnistEditor’s note: This article was submitted by teacher Mark Thorsen from Ponderosa High School in Douglas County.Our school now enters a critical period, and a recent conversation with a well-respected colleague helped to keep some of my angst in perspective. He mentioned that he felt like we were in a period of mourning; we were dealing with a loss. It is a process, and we enter ...more »

Looking for a few good mentors | Ideas and Thoughts

Looking for a few good mentors | Ideas and Thoughts:Looking for a few good mentorsby Dean ShareskiFrom January to April I'll be teaching a course called ECMP 455. It's an advanced course on using technology in education. Whatever that means. Actually what it means is I want my students to dig deep into what teaching and learning looks like in 2012 as great teachers and great ideas come together to make learning better and richer and even transformative. I've taught ... more »

Fact Sheet: Multiple Measures: A Definition and Examples from the U.S. and Other Nations | FairTest

Fact Sheet: Multiple Measures: A Definition and Examples from the U.S. and Other Nations | FairTest:Fact Sheet: Multiple Measures: A Definition and Examples from the U.S. and Other NationsSubmitted by fairtest on July 28, 2010 - 12:51pm fact sheets k-12 whats newMultiple Measures: A Definition and Examples from the U.S. and Other NationsSummaryDefinition. Multiple measures: the use of multiple indicators and sources of evidence of student learning, of varying kinds, gathered at multiple points in time, within and across subject ... more »

SOUTH BRONX SCHOOL: Little Evan Stone And Princess Sydney Morris Are Do-Gooders (Thank God!)

SOUTH BRONX SCHOOL: Little Evan Stone And Princess Sydney Morris Are Do-Gooders (Thank God!):Little Evan Stone And Princess Sydney Morris Are Do-Gooders (Thank God!)by noreply@blogger.com (Bronx Teacher)Let's try this. Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat (sound of teletype)rat-tat-tat-tat....From the newsroom of Educators4Excllence, breaking news!!!!E4E, Little Evan Stone, and Princess Sydney Morris have been featured onthedogooder.com as a couple of gosh diddly darn do gooders! Yes, in an article entitled, "Educators 4 Excellence: An Independent Voice for Teachers" (notice the major typo when you ... more »

Schooling in the Ownership Society: For-profit teacher certification is booming

Schooling in the Ownership Society: For-profit teacher certification is booming:For-profit teacher certification is boomingby Mike KlonskyThis, according to a Nov. 26 New York Times report.As you might expect, Texas leads the way in for-profit teacher certifications. More than 110 alternative certification programs — including iteachTexas, and nonprofits like Teach for America — produce 40 percent of all new teachers in Texas, according to an analysis of Texas Education Agency data by Ed Fuller, a Penn State University education professor and ... more »

Many Lenses, But Little Focus. « My Island View

Many Lenses, But Little Focus. « My Island View:Many Lenses, But Little Focus.by tomwhitbyTo understand why certain decisions are made, we need to understand the decision maker and the pressures under which certain decisions are made. This is sometimes referred to as looking through the lens of the decision maker. It takes into view many of the factors pushing and pulling on an individual responsible for making a decision. Sometimes decisions of some magnitude may require a number of individuals ... more »

Truth Values: One Girl’s Romp Through M.I.T.’s Male Math Maze will be at the University of Washington | Seattle Education

Truth Values: One Girl’s Romp Through M.I.T.’s Male Math Maze will be at the University of Washington | Seattle Education:Truth Values: One Girl’s Romp Through M.I.T.’s Male Math Maze will be at the University of Washingtonby seattleducation2011From the Truth Values website:Created as a response to former Harvard President Lawrence Summers’ now infamous suggestion that women are less represented than men in the sciences because of innate gender differences,Truth Values: One Girl’s Romp Through M.I.T.’s Male Math Maze is a true-life ... more »

Occupy Philly Facing Eviction TODAY | OccupyWallSt.org #ows

Occupy Philly Facing Eviction TODAY | OccupyWallSt.org:Occupy Philly Facing Eviction TODAYby OccupyWallStOccupy Philadelphia has announced they are facing imminent eviction:[Mayor] Nutter has joined the chorus of Mayors nationwide to silence and render invisible this movement against Wall Street greed. The City told us to leave City Hall with all of our belongings by 5pm today. At 5pm let's show them how much support this movement has. Come to City Hall and stand with the 99%! Chances are police will not ... more »

NYT: Policy-Making Billionaires – Their policy is to make billions off our kids. Shut the school house gates on Gates. « Continuing Change

NYT: Policy-Making Billionaires – Their policy is to make billions off our kids. Shut the school house gates on Gates. « Continuing Change:NYT: Policy-Making Billionaires – Their policy is to make billions off our kids. Shut the school house gates on Gates.by gatorbonbcPolicy Making Billionaires Boys Club making education their pet project.Wanna bet their policy is to make sure they make billions…

Is the Job of a Teacher 24/7 | Connected Principals

Is the Job of a Teacher 24/7 | Connected Principals:Is the Job of a Teacher 24/7by Akevy GreenblattPicture from: nysut.orgI haven’t blogged for a while and have been thinking about what to blog about. I am jealous of all of those in my PLN that blog daily and sometimes more than once a day. After thinking about this for a while I decided to put my thoughts down on “paper”.Today we talk about child centered learning and the teacher as ... more »

Library group denounces book destruction at Occupy Wall Street - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post #ows

Library group denounces book destruction at Occupy Wall Street - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:Library group denounces book destruction at Occupy Wall Streetby Valerie StraussThe American Library Association has denounced the destruction of books at a library set up by Occupy Wall Street when New York police raided a park where protesters were staying earlier this month.The ALA, the oldest and largest library association in the world, issued a release that said some of its members who had ... more »