Sunday, February 26, 2012

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top 2-26 AM Posts #soschat #edreform


Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Late Nite Posts 2-25 #soschat #ReclaimingReform

Saturday coffee. « Fred KlonskyBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-1 hour agoSaturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky:Saturday coffee.by Fred KlonskyCartoon: Paul SchicklerThe coffee just seemed extra good this morning. Maybe because it is so cold out.Everyone seems to be blaming themselves for the wet sloppy three to four inches of snow that came through the north side of the city on Thursday. They blame themselves because everyone has been talking about how there has been no snow this winter. It ... more »

Schools Matter: What the U.S. Can Learn from Education in Venezuela

Schools Matter: What the U.S. Can Learn from Education in Venezuela:What the U.S. Can Learn from Education in Venezuelaby Judy RabinThe PBS NewsHour this Friday evening featured a music program that brings music lessons to a few lucky students in low-income neighborhoods in New York City. Modeled on a program in Venezuela, Harmony, supported by private philanthropy, is helping to raise test scores, improving reading and math skills and keeping kids in school. There are "no excuses" for wasting billions ... more »

NYC Public School Parents: A principal at a high performing school explains why she is "absolutely sick" about the public release of the TDRs"

NYC Public School Parents: A principal at a high performing school explains why she is "absolutely sick" about the public release of the TDRs":A principal at a high performing school explains why she is "absolutely sick" about the public release of the TDRs"by Leonie HaimsonHere is a message from Elizabeth Phillips, Principal of P.S. 321 in Brooklyn, who writes: “ I am absolutely sick about the public release of the TDRs. See below for some details in terms of what ... more »

Occupying Parents Win an Audience, but Chicago Schools Still Privatize | Labor Notes

Occupying Parents Win an Audience, but Chicago Schools Still Privatize | Labor Notes:Occupying Parents Win an Audience, but Chicago Schools Still Privatizeby Howard Ryan | Sat, 02/25/2012 - 11:26amHoward Ryan's blogLogin or register to post commentsPrint thisSend to friend Share this story RSS Make text larger orsmallerAfter parents occupied Chicago’s Brian Piccolo Elementary School February 17, they won a commitment from the school board to meet and discuss the “turnarounds” at Piccolo and a neighboring school—measures that would mean firing ... more »

“Mitchell 20″ Model Would Make a Difference for Students « InterACT

“Mitchell 20″ Model Would Make a Difference for Students « InterACT:“Mitchell 20″ Model Would Make a Difference for Studentsby ACT Guest Blog PostsToday’s guest post comes to us from Patrick Guggino, a National Board Certified Teacher in Charter Oak Unified School District. Patrick also serves as a support provider for National Board candidates, and has a Ph.D. in Education from U.C. Riverside, where he focused on Curriculum and Instruction.A couple of Saturdays ago, Cal State Fullerton’s Center for Maximizing Teacher ... more »

Jersey Jazzman: Accountability For Thee, Not For Me?

Jersey Jazzman: Accountability For Thee, Not For Me?:Accountability For Thee, Not For Me?by DukeSo now that it's hitting the fan in NYC, no one wants to stand up and be... oh, what's that word again... oh, yeah...Accountable:Facing a flood of criticism from teachers and principals, the city’s Education Department is trying to distance itself from the release of 18,000 teachers’ individual performance rankings to the press. That has not always been so.In a guide sent to public school principals on ... more »

SHOULD ARNE DUNCAN REMAIN SECRETARY OF EDUCATION?

Antonio S. Caruso's Education Blog:SHOULD ARNE DUNCAN REMAIN SECRETARY OF EDUCATION?There is a growing frustration among teachers that Arne Duncan is failing in his role as Secretary of Education. As a result, I have put together an informal poll to guage the level of frustration. Please look to the right of this post and vote in the poll.Antonio S. Caruso's Education Blog:

Buffett: Unemployment linked to housing - Omaha.com

Buffett: Unemployment linked to housing - Omaha.com:Buffett: Unemployment linked to housingBy Steve JordonWORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER« MoneyShareRelated NewsBuffett ‘wrong' on housingWarren Buffet's annual letter to...Related LinksBerkshire Hathaway 2011 annual reportPremium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.The nation's housing market remains in a "depression," Warren Buffett said Saturday, keeping the nation's unemployment rate too high.Buffett, the chairman and CEO of Omaha investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc, said he was "dead wro...more »

Jersey Jazzman: Public Employees Are Not Slaves

Jersey Jazzman: Public Employees Are Not Slaves:Public Employees Are Not Slavesby DukeLet me explain a few things to those of you who think that public employees should lose their rights as workers because you think you "pay their salaries":1) You and I, as taxpayers, do not have unlimited rights over public workers. I don't care if we "pay their salaries" or not; all workers have certain rights, even though we seem to have forgotten that these days.One of those rights ... more »

Why are strong readers being labeled remedial? - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Why are strong readers being labeled remedial? - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:Why are strong readers being labeled remedial?by Valerie StraussThis was written by Marion Brady, veteran teacher, administrator, curriculum designer and author.By Marion BradyI began teaching history at the high school level in the fall of 1952. It wasn’t by choice. I hadn’t majored in the subject in college. It had always been just another required hoop to jump through.Read full article NYC releases teachers’ value-added scores ... more »

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day - The Educator's PLN

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day - The Educator's PLN:Introduce a Girl to Engineering Dayby Brad CurrieThis past Tuesday a group of aspiring 8th grade students participated in Exxon Mobil's Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day. Exxon Mobil graciously provided volunteers to assist some of our 8th grade girls in exploring possibilities of choosing research and engineering as exciting and fulfulling career choices. Lab experiments were conducted during this event in one of our state of the art science labs. ... more »

“It’s time to march again.” « Fred Klonsky

“It’s time to march again.” « Fred Klonsky:“It’s time to march again.”by Fred KlonskyPopoutAt the Saturday morning meeting of Operation Push, the Reverend Jesse Jackson said that in response to the decision of the Chicago school board this week to close or turn around more than a dozen schools, “It is time to march again.”Sun-Times:The participants in a panel discussion, which included Jackson, his son Jonathan Jackson, who is Rainbow/PUSH spokesman, Chicago Teachers Union

Stupidity in Florida – Transformative Education by any means necessary. The 2012 FL budget funds failing charter schools. « Continuing Change

Stupidity in Florida – Transformative Education by any means necessary. The 2012 FL budget funds failing charter schools. « Continuing Change:Stupidity in Florida – Transformative Education by any means necessary. The 2012 FL budget funds failing charter schools.by gatorbonbcRemember when we looked at the school data here in Florida and nearly all the counties we looked at, the onlyF in the county was a charter school… ?? Well, it looks like our leaders in Tally figure failing must be a ... more »

School Tech Connect: A Mess!

School Tech Connect: A Mess!:A Mess!by noreply@blogger.com (Tim)Nice local catch by Susan Ohanian. It's a letter-to-the-editor by Susan Schmidt. Go read the whole thing.This notion that "the schools are a mess" and that "we can all agree" on that is pure bullshit, spouted by people

Florida Ed Commissioner Gerard Robinson’s Transparent Rhetoric | Scathing Purple Musings

Florida Ed Commissioner Gerard Robinson’s Transparent Rhetoric | Scathing Purple Musings:Florida Ed Commissioner Gerard Robinson’s Transparent Rhetoricby Bob SikesOver a period of 48 hours, Gerard Robinson has twice attempted to deflect criticism for his plan to turn Florida’s school grade formula upside down. Here part of his Thursday statement:The proposed changes to our school grading system are not only necessary to continue on the path of intelligent reform, but they will help ensure that Florida is prepared to compete on ... more »

Student Enrollments & State School Finance Policies « School Finance 101

Student Enrollments State School Finance Policies « School Finance 101:Student Enrollments State School Finance Policiesby schoolfinance101Most readers of the NJDOE report on reforming the state’s school finance formula likely glided right past the seemingly innocuous recommendation to shift the enrollment count method for funding from a fall enrollment count to an average daily attendance figure. After all, on its face, the argument provided seems to make sense. Let’s fund on this basis so that we can incentivize increased attendance in ... more »

Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky

Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky:Saturday coffee.by Fred KlonskyCartoon: Paul SchicklerThe coffee just seemed extra good this morning. Maybe because it is so cold out.Everyone seems to be blaming themselves for the wet sloppy three to four inches of snow that came through the north side of the city on Thursday. They blame themselves because everyone has been talking about how there has been no snow this winter. It amazes me that normal, rational people think that if you talk about ... more »

NYC Public School Parents: The diminishing number of black students at Stuyvesant and other NYC selective high schools

NYC Public School Parents: The diminishing number of black students at Stuyvesant and other NYC selective high schools:The diminishing number of black students at Stuyvesant and other NYC selective high schoolsby Leonie HaimsonThere is an interesting NY Times article about the diminishing numbers of black students at Stuyvesant and other Specialized Science High Schools (SSHS) in NYC. It includes the following statement: NY Times chartOver the years, there have been a host of efforts to increase the number of black ... more »

All of Our Students! | Connected Principals

All of Our Students! | Connected Principals:All of Our Students!by Dave MeisterA couple of weeks ago I received an email from a parent that has really set me to thinking about many things. Sometimes there are situations where students go way beyond the expectations of educators and achieve what was thought to be unattainable. When students exceed expectations we celebrate those great accomplishments and pat ourselves on the backs for a job well done. But, sometimes expectations are set so ... more »

Jersey Jazzman: Conspiracy in Connecticut

Jersey Jazzman: Conspiracy in Connecticut:Conspiracy in Connecticutby DukeI thought we had it bad in Jersey:But, bad as this is, Connecticut may be worse; check out Jon Pelto:The situation as of 2012:As of today, Alex Troy serves as the Chairman of the Board for Achievement First’s Amistad Academy and the Elm City College Preparatory School.Jonathan Sackler is a member of Achievement First’s Board of Directors and 50CAN’s Board