Latest News and Comment from Education

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

NYC Educator: No Food, No Poor Kids, No Problem

NYC Educator: No Food, No Poor Kids, No Problem

No Food, No Poor Kids, No Problem

OMG, y'all, I just had an awesome idea. Have youever wanted to run your own school that can take in public money but not have to follow some/most/all of the public school rules? If you have, you've wanted to start a charter, right? Well, hang on to your hats, folks, because I found a way to make your charter school even better: Start one that doesn't serve meals! In California, you see, charter schools don't

NYC Public School Parents: Who's striking out and who's sliding home?

NYC Public School Parents: Who's striking out and who's sliding home?

Who's striking out and who's sliding home?

Check out the presentation of the "Media Bullpen", the new project of the pro-charter school organization, Center for Education Reform, funded by Gates, along with the right-wing Bradleyand Walton Family Foundations, which will grade reporters and news articles as to whether they accept their pro-privatization, pro-testing

School Tech Connect: Our Schools Are Basketcases of Anxiety

School Tech Connect: Our Schools Are Basketcases of Anxiety

Our Schools Are Basketcases of Anxiety

You've might not have heard of Michelle Young, president of Action Now. She's the mother of children who attend a Chicago public school, and she's also on the local school council of May Community Academy. I hadn't heard of her until I saw her testimony in front of an Illinois senate committe, and I live in this town. I gotta get out more.

Illinois is in the middle of some high opera. The combination of teacher-loathing and public employee bashing and pension busting has created the perfect storm, so that outside groups promoting education "reform" are being given a loud microphone. Apparently we're not going to get the votes to raise the income tax in this state unless some teachers are punished.

Anyway, I clearly don't know her. She lives in one of the communities where schools are likely to be shut down, unlike the person next to her, who knows better. By the way, the person next to her is Robin Steans, who will say this, as you'll see tomorrow:
Studies repeatedly and consistently show that a teacher’s influence is 20 times greater than any

Huckleberry Finn and Why Post-Racialists Get The Race Thing Wrong Again — The Jose Vilson

Huckleberry Finn and Why Post-Racialists Get The Race Thing Wrong Again — The Jose Vilson

Huckleberry Finn and Why Post-Racialists Get The Race Thing Wrong Again



Huckleberry Finn and Jim, Legos

“They’re doing that thing again,” racially underrepresented people in this country must have whispered to themselves (and tweeted). When news broke out that the more than 200 instances of the word “nigger” would be substituted by the word “slave” in Huckleberry Finn, most of us said, “Of the 100 things on our list that need improvement in this country for racial relations, you chose THAT?!”

Erasing the n-word from one of the literary canon’s biggest children’s books is akin to erasing the “3/5ths” in the US Constitution as it pertains to slaves. Books, whether biographical or fictional in nature, serve as documentation of a history. Because Mark Twain decided to use that language in the book, he too shone a light to the customs and history of the time, no matter how deplorable we consider it. Once we try and erase a

Diane Ravitch & Parents Across America Education Forum

Diane Ravitch & Parents Across America Education Forum
Diane Ravitch & Parents Across America Education Forum
Famed historian Diane Ravitch will critique the current direction of education reform, including privatization and high stakes testing, and will introduce a new national organization, Parents Across America, that is working for positive and progressive change in our schools.

The event is free but you must reserve a seat in advance.

Monday, Feb. 7 at 6:30 PM
At PS/IS 89 in Lower Manhattan
201 Warren St. (map here.)
(directions: take the A, C, E, 1, 2,3 to Chambers; or the N,R, 4,5,6 to City Hall.)

Co-sponsored by Parents Across America, Class Size Matters, the Education and Youth Committee of Community Board 1 and the PS/IS 89 PTA.

Success: More Questions Than Answers | Mr. Teachbad's Blog of Teacher Disgruntlement

Success: More Questions Than Answers | Mr. Teachbad's Blog of Teacher Disgruntlement

Success: More Questions Than Answers

How do I think about what I do? How do I gauge my professional success?

It seems like everything I do disappears…good or bad. I teach a lesson. It sucks. And it’s gone.

I teach a lesson. It’s awesome. And it’s gone.

What is a successful teacher? One who has simply survived 5, 10 or 30 years? One who writes kick-ass lesson plans and turns them in on time, every time? One who has become a principal? One who executes appropriate

Damn Good Education Daily

Damn Good Education Daily
Damn Good Education Daily

blogs.sacbee.com - The state Senate will not confirm two people former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed to the state board of education, leaving room for Gov. Jerry Brown to appoint seven new people to the board ...

emilyschoolsyou



dailykos.com - Well, then maybe I will have to offer some more.Bacevich rightly ties together two speeches by Eisenhowerfrom both of which I have quoted here in in that past. The better known is his farewell ad...

teacherken
toped.svefoundation.org - Full funding of Prop 98 depends on voters' consentBy The Sacramento Bee is reporting and sources are confirming to me that Gov. Jerry Brown will spare K-12 schools and community colleges further cu...

jfenster



zhaolearning.com - I was very impressed with John Richard Shrock‘s reaction to the NPR story on Chinese students PISA performance and asked if I could repost it here. He generously agreed. Thanks, John. What is most ...

leoniehaimson



huffingtonpost.com - The superintendent of the school system in which I teach in Prince George's County, Maryland, according to the 2009 annual report, had a budget of $1.7 billion, serving more than 127,000 students, ...

teacherke

Kenneth Bernstein: Of Generals and School Superintendents

Kenneth Bernstein: Of Generals and School Superintendents
Kenneth Bernstein

Kenneth Bernstein

Posted: January 5, 2011 03:57 PM



The superintendent of the school system in which I teach in Prince George's County, Maryland, according to the 2009 annual report, had a budget of $1.7 billion, serving more than 127,000 students, with roughly 18,300 employees, of whom about 9,000 were teachers.

In the U.S. Army a Major General, with two stars, might well command a division with 10,000 - 15,000 employees. It may consist of two to five Brigades, each of which might be led by a one-star Brigadier General.

Does the span of control of our superintendent and the budget and number of employees for which he is responsible qualify him to lead an Army