Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Early Evening Posts 2-28 #SOSchat #p2 #edreform


The Narrative of Poverty - Dana Goldstein

The Narrative of Poverty - Dana Goldstein:The Narrative of Povertyby Dana GoldsteinWhen I was reading Katherine Boo's Beyond the Beautiful Forevers, about day-to-day life in the Mumbai slum of Annawadi, I couldn't stop thinking about how much the book had in common with one of my all-time favorites,Random Family, Adrian Nicole Leblanc's masterpiece about love and the drug trade in the South Bronx of the 19080s and 90s. So I wrote an essay for The Daily Beast about the two ...more »

Safe at School and Ready to Learn | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

Safe at School and Ready to Learn | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights:Safe at School and Ready to Learnby NEA Health Information NetworkQuestion: What is found throughout the school meal program that can be deadly dangerous?If you answered food allergens, you would be right. Six percent of students have a food allergy and the big eight of food allergies (soy, eggs, milk, fish, wheat, shellfish, tree nuts, and peanuts) are found throughout school meal programs and family ... more »

Modern School: Fox Guarding Hen House: Rhee Buddies Up to Duncan During Investigation of DC Cheating Scandal

Modern School: Fox Guarding Hen House: Rhee Buddies Up to Duncan During Investigation of DC Cheating Scandal:Fox Guarding Hen House: Rhee Buddies Up to Duncan During Investigation of DC Cheating Scandalby Michael DunnMichelle Rhee was the chancellor of Washington, D.C. schools from 2007 to 2010, during the time D.C. school officials cheated to raise test scores. The Office of the Inspector General in Arne Duncan’s Education Department has been investigating the case for the past six months. Considering how much ... more »

Schools Matter: Why Bill Gates Makes Me Throw Up

Schools Matter: Why Bill Gates Makes Me Throw Up:Why Bill Gates Makes Me Throw Upby Jim HornThe chart above shows market capitalization trends for Apple and Microsoft over just two months in 2010.To show that this trend of Microsoft's failing hegemony is not a fluke, here is another showing operating income

How to Demoralize Teachers - Bridging Differences - Education Week

How to Demoralize Teachers - Bridging Differences - Education Week:How to Demoralize Teachersby Diane RavitchDear Deborah,Two weeks ago, New York state's highest court ruled that the New York City Department of Education could release for public scrutiny the value-added ratings of teachers of mathematics and English in grades 4-8. Rupert Murdoch's New York Post, joined by other media, had filed a "freedom of information" request to obtain the testing data, and the United Federation of Teachers opposed their release, saying ... more »

IRS targeting charter schools? (OneNewsNow.com)

IRS targeting charter schools? (OneNewsNow.com):IRS targeting charter schools?Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 2/28/2012 3:45:00 AMA school choice advocate says the Internal Revenue Service's proposed changes to the definition of "governmental plans" could make school teachers ineligible for participation in state pension systems. The IRS' "Determination of Government Plan Status" would force states to prohibit public charter school teachers from participating in state retirement plans. Todd Ziebarth, vice president for state advocacy and support for the National Alliance for Public Chart... more »

NY principal: Teacher scores inaccurate at my school - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

NY principal: Teacher scores inaccurate at my school - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:NY principal: Teacher scores inaccurate at my schoolby Valerie StraussThe information below comes from Elizabeth Phillips, principal of P.S. 321 in Park Slope, N.Y., about how badlythe newly released rankings of New York City public school teachers reflect the reality at her school. Phillips wrote that she is “absolutely sick” about the public release of the Teacher Data Reports (TDR) of some 18,000 teachers based ... more »

solidaridad: Please come battle New West Charter on Tuesday!

solidaridad: Please come battle New West Charter on Tuesday!:Please come battle New West Charter on Tuesday!by Robert D. Skeels * rdsatheneJoin hundreds of community members, students, teachers and parents are going to City Hall in force to protect West LA from the effects of that the relocation of New West Charter could cause, namely:Insane traffic at all hours of the dayUse of public funds to gain a rent subsidy just because they are near a Title 1 Elementary schoolPossible continued ... more »

Virtual Lobby Day Tuesday. School board members can do it too. « Fred Klonsky

Virtual Lobby Day Tuesday. School board members can do it too. « Fred Klonsky:Virtual Lobby Day Tuesday. School board members can do it too.by Fred KlonskyThe IEA may not be mobilizing people to go to Springfield. But teachers in this area want to go anyway. So we’re looking into getting a bus (maybe two) and heading down to the Capitol after Spring break.Sometimes things are too important to be left to those in charge.But today is today. Time to send ... more »

NEA Read Across America promotional videos Dr. Seuss' The Lorax movie ...

The stars of the Lorax are shining the spotlight on NEA's Read Across America. The cast, Taylor Swift, Zac Efron, Betty White, Danny DeVito, Ed Helms and Rob Riggle are this year's honorary Co-chairs and took time from their busy schedule to record two promotional videos for NEA. Zac Efron will join NEA President Dennis Van Roekel in New York for the March 2 national kickoff.

My Friends, The Cops | The Jose Vilson

My Friends, The Cops | The Jose Vilson:My Friends, The Copsby JoseBefore the turn of the century, my friends and I took spring walks from school to home, following the route of the M14D, which runs all the way down 14th Street from West to East and back again. Along the way, there was a little deli / convenience store along the way with the usual characters, including an dark-skinned man stocking up groceries in the back. While I searched ... more »

State board re-examines statewide rights for charters | California Watch #soschat

State board re-examines statewide rights for charters | California Watch:State board re-examines statewide rights for chartersFebruary 9, 2011 | Corey G. JohnsonThe State Board of Education will hold a public hearing today to discuss what has become a thorny question: Under what circumstances should a charter school company be allowed to bypass local district control and operate statewide?The board has granted statewide status to three charter school organizations since 2006: High Tech High, Pacific Technology School and Aspire Public Schools.The ... more »

Enforcement Chief at Postsecondary Bureau to Resign - The Bay Citizen

Enforcement Chief at Postsecondary Bureau to Resign - The Bay Citizen:Enforcement Chief at Postsecondary Bureau to ResignResignation comes after The Bay Citizen revealed the bureau failed to properly oversee state's for-profit schoolsTEXT SIZE A A ABy JENNIFER GOLLAN on February 27, 2012 - 6:34 p.m. PSTstart discussionScreen shot from California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools Annual ConferenceKaren Newquist speaks to the California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools' Annual Conference in Oct. 2011.The administrator in charge of policing the state’s for-profit... more »

Schools in the U.S Teaching Spanish With New Method - Hispanically Speaking News

Schools in the U.S Teaching Spanish With New Method - Hispanically Speaking News:Schools in the U.S Teaching Spanish With New MethodLearning Spanish is becoming more important for Americans every day, so the pilot launch of an interactive learning program in schools is being carried out to create a new model for introducing the United States’ second-most-spoken language into the country’s educational system.E.L. Haynes Public Charter School in Washington has been the first to employ the new program that enables students ... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Late Nite Posts 2-27 #soschat #ReclaimingReform

The Neighborhood as Curriculum - Dana GoldsteinBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-8 minutes agoThe Neighborhood as Curriculum - Dana Goldstein:The Neighborhood as Curriculumby Dana Goldstein Between periods at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, May 2011.The role of the curriculum in school "turnaround" efforts is not often acknowledged, which is why I wanted to writethis piece, about Crenshaw High School in South L.A. The school has struggled with difficult demographics, constant administrative turnover, and persistently low test scores. But ... more »

Setting the Record Straight: New York’s Teacher and Principal Evaluation Law | Learn More About Teacher Evaluations

Setting the Record Straight: New York’s Teacher and Principal Evaluation Law | Learn More About Teacher Evaluations:Setting the Record Straight: New York’s Teacher and Principal Evaluation LawBy Richard Iannuzzi, President, New York State United TeachersThe ink hadn’t dried on the agreement between NYSUT and the State Education Department before the press, blogs, e-mails and airwaves were filled with diatribes on what the new law does and does not do. While there were a lot of comments and reactions that understood ... more »

The Lake Wobegone Effect « Bill Ayers

The Lake Wobegone Effect « Bill Ayers:The Lake Wobegone Effectby billayersThe crazies driving the noisy, corporate-sponsored “school reform movement” exposed by my old friend Mike Klonsky—take a look:I rarely take statistics seriously when it comes to teacher evaluation. Especially when they’re based on student test scores and published in the New York Times. But this one is too good to pass up.At Public School 234 in TriBeCa, where children routinely alight for school from luxury cars, roughly one-third of the ... more »

Irresponsible and Shameful – For the Teachers of NY: Silence is Not an Option « Continuing Change

Irresponsible and Shameful – For the Teachers of NY: Silence is Not an Option « Continuing Change:Irresponsible and Shameful – For the Teachers of NY: Silence is Not an Optionby gatorbonbcRegarding the investigation into Michelle Rhee and cheating in DC schools, Justin Hamilton, spokesman for Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, says:.“It’s irresponsible for a New York Times columnist to presume guilt before we have all the facts,” (NY Times article).Well, see, now… finally, w

Video: The Occupy Seattle Public Education Work Group Invites the Gates Foundation to a Policy Throwdown | Seattle Education #soschat

Video: The Occupy Seattle Public Education Work Group Invites the Gates Foundation to a Policy Throwdown | Seattle Education:Video: The Occupy Seattle Public Education Work Group Invites the Gates Foundation to a Policy Throwdownby seattleducation2011Seattle Protest and March for Public EducationMarch 1 National Day of Action for EducationBanks got bailed out, students and teachers got sold out!Thursday, March 12:45pm – Gather at Westlake Park3:30pm – March to the Gates Foundation Headquarters (5th Mercer)4:15pm – Rally, teach-in, and grade-in led by ... more »

Family & Peers Essential, Mexican-American College Student Success - Hispanically Speaking News

Family Peers Essential, Mexican-American College Student Success - Hispanically Speaking News:STUDY: Family and Peers Essential to Mexican-American College Student SuccessHispanics are enrolling in the higher education system at a greater rate than ever, yet they are less likely than their non-Hispanic peers to enter college or earn degrees, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. A new study by a University of Missouri researcher found that Mexican-American college students’ family and peer attachments are associated with prosocial and physically aggressive behaviors ... more »