Tuesday, April 10, 2012

UPDATE: Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top 4-10 AM Posts #soschat #edreform


Duncan Democracy? Algiers Charter Schools Association | NOLA.com

3 new board members join Algiers Charter Schools Association | NOLA.com: 3 new board members join Algiers Charter Schools AssociationPublished: Monday, June 28, 2010, 8:45 PM Updated:Tuesday, June 29, 2010, 12:18 AMTheAlgiers Charter Schools Association's board of trustees experienced a changing of the guard last week, withthree members departingand three newcomers taking their places.Susan Poag, The Times-PicayuneStudents from McDonogh 32 Elementary Charter School in Algiers check out a chicken during Agriculture Day in May.Board members Elsie Rose, Donna St. Louis ... more »

ILLINOIS RETIRED TEACHERS AND PUBLIC PERCEPTION « Teachers Fight Back

ILLINOIS RETIRED TEACHERS AND PUBLIC PERCEPTION « Teachers Fight Back: ILLINOIS RETIRED TEACHERS AND PUBLIC PERCEPTIONbyalkleenThe Chicago Tribune, certain business leaders, anti union forces, and groups like ‘Illinois is Broke”, have done an amazing job at convincing the public that retired teachers and other retired public employees are bankrupting the State of Illinois by getting incredibly lucrative pensions.I recently had three instances where I was with a group of people who were discussing political issues. These people didn’t know I ... more »

Yo El Jefe - Both of Obama's HEAT Jerseys were in the wash - Hispanically Speaking News

Castro Pokes Fun at Obama's Plan to Wear "Cuban Garment" to Summit - Hispanically Speaking News: Fidel Castro Pokes Fun at President Obama’s Plan to Wear Cuba’s “Official Garment” to SummitPublished at 7:25 pm EST, April 9, 2012Photo: Fidel Castro Pokes Fun at President Obama's Plan to Wear Cuba's "Official Shirt" to SummitClick Here to Enlarge PhotoFidel Castro is poking fun at U.S. President Barack Obama’s plans to sport a guayabera - a tropical shirt that is Cuba’s official garment ... more »

NYC Public School Parents: School closing hearings at John Ericsson JHS and Grover Cleveland HS

NYC Public School Parents: School closing hearings at John Ericsson JHS and Grover Cleveland HS: School closing hearings at John Ericsson JHS and Grover Cleveland HSbyLeonie HaimsonThe following is by Pat Dobosz, a teacher and a graduate of John Ericson MS 126:On Wednesday, April 4 we attended the closing hearing at John Ericsson MS 126 in Brooklyn. This was a "restart" school that is now becoming a "turnaround" school. This euphemism means it will close, lose 50% of its staff ... more »

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Week 26: Over the hump…

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Week 26: Over the hump…: Week 26: Over the hump…byalicemercerThis has been a hard “Spring” in some ways, but easier in others. One part of the “hard” has been the fact that I’m in one of the few local districts that still does a Spring Break aligned with Easter, and this year, that wasn’t until last week. Both students and adults were more than ready for a “time out” by the time that ... more »

Pension Call Tuesday: May 2nd bus to Springfield. « Fred Klonsky

Pension Call Tuesday: May 2nd bus to Springfield. « Fred Klonsky: Pension Call Tuesday: May 2nd bus to Springfield.byFred KlonskyOur Park Ridge Education Association is getting ready to head for Springfield on May 2nd. Current plans are to leave Des Plaines around 8AM.This does not replace back home lobby efforts. It is in addition to it. Messages to General Assembly members can be sent fromhere.We have a noon appointment with Park Ridge Senator Dan Kotowski to discuss pension issues on ... more »

My Teacher Doesn’t Let Us Talk « City School Stories

My Teacher Doesn’t Let Us Talk « City School Stories: My Teacher Doesn’t Let Us TalkbyfmurphyTeacher StoriesJoy of Teaching, April 9, 2012I often work with students in small groups providing strategies for improving reading. One of the activities I ask students to complete is a word sort that directs student focus on word features to improve decoding skills. Part of this activity involves students working together to decide how a group of words can be sorted. They must reach a ... more »

The Common Core Will Reduce Reading and Writing To Chore Status | Truth in American Education

The Common Core Will Reduce Reading and Writing To Chore Status | Truth in American Education: The Common Core Will Reduce Reading and Writing To Chore StatusbyShane Vander HartMary Grabar who is teaches English at Emory Universitygave a very pointed critique atRoll Callof the literature standards for high school students within the Common Core. She started off with a great analogy (something we learn to appreciate when reading good literature):How good a player would Arne Duncan, former basketball pro and ... more »

Some Thoughts On Bullying | Connected Principals

Some Thoughts On Bullying | Connected Principals: Some Thoughts On BullyingbyPatrick LarkinCross-posted on the Burlington High School Principal’s BlogThere’s no doubt that the release of the documentaryBullywill lead to some deeper discussion on bullying and what we can do to reduce the number of incidences of bullying in our schools and communities. Discovery News posted a great article on the topic last week titledWhy Do People Bully?and I think that this a question that we miss sometimes after hearing the ... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Early Evening Posts 4-9 #SOSchat #p2 #edreform

QA: Schools Services of California chief on education financing issues - Education - The Sacramento BeeBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-4 minutes agoQA: Schools Services of California chief on education financing issues - Education - The Sacramento Bee: QA: Schools Services of California chief on education financing issuesbydlambert@sacbee.com (Diana Lambert)Hundreds of school administrators and finance officers will crowd into conference rooms around the state in May to hear School Services of California staff explain what the state budget revisions ... more »

NYC Public School Parents: The testing obsession, and how it is destroying my Kindergarten child

NYC Public School Parents: The testing obsession, and how it is destroying my Kindergarten child: The testing obsession, and how it is destroying my Kindergarten childbyLeonie HaimsonThis parent prefers to remain anonymous. But so many of usparents share her concerns about how the DOE’s obsession with testing threatensto undermine our children’s confidence and spirit.My 5 year old boy attends kindergarten in a high performing schoolin a high performing district, and it is destroying him. He's such a happychild and in ... more »

Schools Matter: Don't Miss This One: Stephen Krashen at Occupy the DOE

Schools Matter: Don't Miss This One: Stephen Krashen at Occupy the DOE: Don't Miss This One: Stephen Krashen at Occupy the DOEStephen Krashen is the funniest, most entertaining, and most knowledgeable educator/researcher that the University of Southern California can brag about. If you have not heard Stephen make his case, brew up a cup of tea and check this out.Watchlive streaming videofromcalifatherat livestream.comPosted byJim Hornat7:07 PM

The 2012 Race to the Top Fund Continues Investments in Statewide Systems of High Quality Early Education Programs | U.S. Department of Education

The 2012 Race to the Top Fund Continues Investments in Statewide Systems of High Quality Early Education Programs | U.S. Department of Education: The 2012 Race to the Top Fund Continues Investments in Statewide Systems of High Quality Early Education ProgramsColorado, Illinois, New Mexico, Oregon and Wisconsin are eligible for a share of $133 millionAPRIL 9, 2012Contact:Press Office, (202) 401-1576,press@ed.govMark Weber, HHS, (202) 690-6343The U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced today that $133 ... more »

Protect Nutrition Programs in the Upcoming Farm Bill - Jonathan Kantrowitz - Connecticut News

Protect Nutrition Programs in the Upcoming Farm Bill - Jonathan Kantrowitz - Connecticut News: Jonathan KantrowitzPolitical activist, health nutAbout Jonathan KantrowitzProtect Nutrition Programs in the Upcoming Farm BillApril 9, 2012 at 4:07 pm byJonathan KantrowitzOver 90 national and regional hunger relief, public health, faith-based and other advocacy organizations sent a letter to Congress today urging the Senate and House Agriculture Committees to strengthen and protect nutrition programs in the 2012 Farm Bill. The letter is being sent as the Senate ... more »

Are Education Reforms Causing a Decline in Student Achievement? - Education - GOOD

Are Education Reforms Causing a Decline in Student Achievement? - Education - GOOD: Are Education Reforms Causing a Decline in Student Achievement?byLiz DwyerEducation reforms are designed to boost student achievement, but what if they are producing the exact opposite result? According to research published in the scholarly journalPhysics Education, entering freshman at England's University of Bristol are less prepared for college level work than they were nearly 40 years ago—despite decades of efforts to improve secondary education.A generation ago, Bristol's ... more »

Seattle Schools Community Forum: You Go Girls

Seattle Schools Community Forum: You Go Girls: You Go GirlsbyMelissa WestbrookI've found this to be something of a women's month for me, reading articles and watching tv shows about feisty, tenacious women.First up, from Germany,Amalie Noetherwho Einstein called "the most significant and creative" female mathematician of all time. What did she do? From theNY Times:She invented a theorem that united with magisterial concision two conceptual pillars of physics: symmetry in nature and the universal laws of conservation. Some consider Noether’s ... more »

Connecting School Reform to Online Instruction in K-12 Classrooms: The Next New Thing | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Connecting School Reform to Online Instruction in K-12 Classrooms: The Next New Thing | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Connecting School Reform to Online Instruction in K-12 Classrooms: The Next New ThingbylarrycubanImage via WikipediaWhy have the results of computers entering schools in the past thirty years so disappointed champions of high-tech?From Europe (OECD Report 2008)to the U.S., from developing nations buyingOne-Laptop-Per-Child(OLPC) to developed nations counting on schools preparing children and youth for a high-tech world, the same ... more »

Hechinger Report | The ‘cash cow’ of U.S. universities: Professional certificates instead of degrees

Hechinger Report | The ‘cash cow’ of U.S. universities: Professional certificates instead of degrees: The ‘cash cow’ of U.S. universities: Professional certificates instead of degreesBy Jon MarcusReggie Herndon returned to college because he wanted to change careers.What he didn’t want was another degree.Herndon, a University of Tennessee graduate from Lynchburg, Va., is on his way instead to finishing a nine-monthprofessional certificate in counterintelligencefrom Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa., which he hopes will bolster his odds of landing a job as ... more »

Fact Sheet: Educational Exchanges for the 21st Century: 100,000 Strong In The Americas and Science Without Borders | The White House

Fact Sheet: Educational Exchanges for the 21st Century: 100,000 Strong In The Americas and Science Without Borders | The White House: Fact Sheet: Educational Exchanges for the 21st Century: 100,000 Strong In The Americas and Science Without BordersbyThe White HousePresident Obama’s “100,000 Strong in the Americas” and Brazilian President Rousseff’s “Science without Borders” initiatives create opportunities for substantial new partnerships between Brazil and the United States to expand international study and research. These exchanges strengthen U.S. and Brazilian institutional partn...more »

RheeFirst! » A DC teacher speaks out on test cheating, Rhee’s successor declines

RheeFirst! » A DC teacher speaks out on test cheating, Rhee’s successor declines: A DC teacher speaks out on test cheating, Rhee’s successor declinesbyadminBy Claudio Sanchez for National Public Radio. Read theentire interview here.“NPR, CLAUDIO SANCHEZ:Frazier O’Leary has taught high school English for most of his 42 years in Washington, D.C. He says administrators and teachers may have altered test scores because they feared for their jobs.O’LEARY:You know, the pressure was put on principals, the pressure was put on teachers ... more »

DISD trustees to consider joining 100-plus other state districts in signing resolution condemning standardized testing | Dallas ISD Blog | dallasnews.com

DISD trustees to consider joining 100-plus other state districts in signing resolution condemning standardized testing | Dallas ISD Blog | dallasnews.com: DISD trustees to consider joining 100-plus other state districts in signing resolution condemning standardized testingbyRobert WilonskyAttention, Dallas ISD parents -- students too. You're not the only ones who hate standardized testing. Matter of fact, the loudest critic is none other than Texas Education Agency Commissioner Robert Scott, who, as you may recall, referred to teaching to the test as ... more »

Big Shifts at the Teachers Union: A Reader’s Guide - voiceofsandiego.org: Education

Big Shifts at the Teachers Union: A Reader’s Guide - voiceofsandiego.org: Education: Big Shifts at the Teachers Union: A Reader’s GuideStoryComments (2)Image(1)ShareSharePrintCreate a hardcopy of this pageFont Size:Default font sizeLarger font sizeFile photo by Sam HodgsonSan Diego Education AssociationPosted:Thursday, April 5, 2012 5:02 pm|Updated: 6:47 pm, Thu Apr 5, 2012.2commentsByWill CarlessIt’s been a hectic couple of months over at the San Diego Education Association, the union that represents some 7,000 San Diego Unified teachers.The union is right in the thick ... more »

Teacher Fired over Trayvon Martin Fundraiser | Teaching Tolerance

Teacher Fired over Trayvon Martin Fundraiser | Teaching Tolerance: Teacher Fired over Trayvon Martin FundraiserSubmitted byAlice Pettwayon April 6, 2012Keywords:Race and ethnicityWhat do you do with a teacher who provides students with authentic learning opportunities? A teacher who invests her own resources to support students? A teacher who was voted Teacher of the Year two of the last three years?If you’re Superintendent Jacqueline Cassell at the Pontiac Academy for Excellence Middle School in Pontiac, Mich., you fire her.When Brooke Harris ... more »

In Defense of the Department of Education, Diplomacy and . . . Defense

In Defense of the Department of Education, Diplomacy and . . . Defense: In Defense of the Department of Education, Diplomacy and . . . DefensebySamTwo unrelated articles in yesterday’sNew York Times– one about the ostensible decline of influence in American geopolitics, and the other about the ostensible rise of autism in American schoolchildren – have led me to consider a radical proposal:Let’s merge the Departments of Education, State and Defense.Georgetown professor of foreign policy Charles Kupchanindirectly argued for such ... more »

Q&A: Schools Services of California chief on education financing issues - Education - The Sacramento Bee

QA: Schools Services of California chief on education financing issues - Education - The Sacramento Bee: QA: Schools Services of California chief on education financing issuesbydlambert@sacbee.com (Diana Lambert)Hundreds of school administrators and finance officers will crowd into conference rooms around the state in May to hear School Services of California staff explain what the state budget revisions mean to their school districts.Ron Bennett of Schools Services of California works with educators on budgeting, contract negotiations and other services.

In Chicago, it’s not how many votes you get. It’s who counts them. « Fred Klonsky

In Chicago, it’s not how many votes you get. It’s who counts them. « Fred Klonsky: In Chicago, it’s not how many votes you get. It’s who counts them.byFred KlonskyChicago Machine Boss Berrios.Chicago politics ain’t mumbly peg Mayor Washington used to say.If you’re taking on the powerful Chicago Democratic Machine, that goes double.Cook County Democratic Chair Joe Berrios is the very embodiment of The Machine.That is what Will Guzzardi decided to take on when he announced he would run for ... more »

Missouri Education Watchdog: Trangressive Journalism at University of Missouri?

Missouri Education Watchdog: Trangressive Journalism at University of Missouri?: Trangressive Journalism at University of Missouri?bystlgretchenHave you heard of the word "trangressive"? Here's adefinition:Transgressivemay mean:Transgressive art, a name given art forms that violate perceived boundariesTransgressive fiction, a modern style in literatureTransgressive Records, a United Kingdom-based independent record labelTransgressive (morphology), a form of verb in some languagesTransgressive phenotype, a phenotype that is more extreme than the phenotypes displayed by either of the ... more »

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES: WEEKEND QUOTABLESbyMike KlonskyInSanford, Flthe police chief threatened to stop the game if Robinson did not leave the fieldChris Lamb"A specter of Jackie Robinson" haunts the city of 53,000 people to this day. People want to forget it and it shouldn't be forgotten."--Racist past haunts Florida town where Trayvon diedJudy Rabin"Like Pharoah, Duncan's heart is hardened and although members of United Opt Out met with him

Cognitive And Affective Variables That Should Rule Education | Miguel Angel Escotet

Cognitive And Affective Variables That Should Rule Education | Miguel Angel Escotet:Cognitive And Affective Variables That Should Rule EducationbyMiguel Angel EscotetEducation must focus on the quality of formation and learning. The quality of the results, as a concept borrowed from the business sector which is much less complex and interactive than the education sector, is difficult to define with precision, since it combines values, attitudes and achievements which form a part of the most complex areas of study in psy­chology, ... more »

Court challenges are brewing across US over the use of public dollars for private education - The Washington Post

Court challenges are brewing across US over the use of public dollars for private education - The Washington Post: Court challenges are brewing across US over the use of public dollars for private educationText SizePrintE-mailReprintsByAssociated Press,Updated: Monday, April9,12:04AMWASHINGTON — Students like Delano Coffy are at the heart of brewing political fights and court battles over whether public dollars should go to school vouchers to help make private schools more affordable.He was failing in his neighborhood public elementary school in Indianapolis ... more »

Deepening the Debate over Teach For America: Responses to Heather Harding - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Deepening the Debate over Teach For America: Responses to Heather Harding - Living in Dialogue - Education Week T