Monday, April 16, 2012

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top 4-16 AM Posts #soschat #edreform


New York City’s Tutoring Industry Grows With Competition for Admissions - NYTimes.com

New York City’s Tutoring Industry Grows With Competition for Admissions - NYTimes.com: Fight for Middle School Spots Enriches Tutoring FirmsChang W. Lee/The New York TimesLeft to right, Chloe Luk, Nicholas Lui, the teacher Paola Higuera and Harry Swanson at a prep course at Bright Kids NYC.By ANNA M. PHILLIPSPublished: April 15, 2012RECOMMENDTWITTERLINKEDINSIGN IN TO E-MAILPRINTREPRINTSSHAREAs their parents sat anxiously in a waiting room, five children were sharpening their test-taking skills in a tutoring center in TriBeCa, underlining words that might ... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Late Nite Posts 4-15 #soschat #EDReform

Exposing ALEC: How Conservative-Backed State Laws Are All Connected - Nancy Scola - Politics - The AtlanticBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-1 hour agoExposing ALEC: How Conservative-Backed State Laws Are All Connected - Nancy Scola - Politics - The Atlantic: Exposing ALEC: How Conservative-Backed State Laws Are All ConnectedAPR 14 2012, 8:00 AM ET110A shadowy organization uses corporate contributions to sell prepackaged conservative bills -- such as Florida's Stand Your Ground statute -- to legislatures across the country.ReutersThe recent ... more »

Student “Learning Styles” Theory Is Bunk (Daniel Willingham) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Student “Learning Styles” Theory Is Bunk (Daniel Willingham) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Student “Learning Styles” Theory Is Bunk (Daniel Willingham)bylarrycubanU-Va. cognitive scientistDaniel Willingham, author of “Why Don’t Students Like School?.” This post appeared September 14, 2009.Since the publication of HowardGardner‘Frames of Mindin the early 1980s in which he pointed out the many ways that children and adults learn, popularization of “multiple intelligences” in the early 1990s has fused multiple intelligences with teaching to different “learning ... more »

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Going Green in BEX IV

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Going Green in BEX IV: Going Green in BEX IVbyMelissa WestbrookThe needs for BEX IV are considerable and complex. But we have to hope that, moving forward, the district does give a thought and an ear to more green building and sustainable buildings. If we are spending so much on buildings, there should be thought to how to build more cheaply and create buildings that will have lower operating costs.This is going on in districts in ... more »

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Being Clear on the Real Issues around the Lowell Investigation

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Being Clear on the Real Issues around the Lowell Investigation: Being Clear on the Real Issues around the Lowell InvestigationbyMelissa WestbrookI just wanted to make a couple of things clear on this issue and then move on. I'm going to rely on the words from the Times'articleof March 23, 2012 by Brian Rosenthal to make several points abundantly clear.It is a very dangerous thing to have people in authority who have legal responsibilities then look away ... more »

Okay Michelle Rhee – So you are the CEO of StudentsFirst BUT a lobbyist for GNEPSA?

Wait, What?: Okay Michelle Rhee – So you are the CEO of StudentsFirst BUT a lobbyist for GNEPSA?jonpeltoEducation,Ethics,Malloy,Michelle Rhee,StudentsFirstEducation Reform,Malloy,Michelle Rhee,StudentsFirst7 CommentsPerhaps in Michelle Rhee’s world our Connecticut laws are “more of what you call guidelines than actual rules.”Wait, What? readers now know that despite the plethora of Connecticut laws requiring honest and public disclosure when it comes to lobbying state officials, Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst organization failed to file any of the appropriate Connecticut forms or rep... more »

Sneaky Michelle Rhee What’s a GNESPA? More Bait N Switch - Jonathan Kantrowitz - Connecticut News

What’s a GNESPA? - Jonathan Kantrowitz - Connecticut News: Jonathan KantrowitzPolitical activist, health nutAbout Jonathan KantrowitzWhat’s a GNESPA?April 15, 2012 at 4:17 pm byJonathan KantrowitzAs Jon Pelto details,here,it is a registered lobbyist in Connecticut.But if it legally exists at all, it is clearly a cover front for Michelle Rhee’s StudentFirst.In fact if you go to GNESPA’s website:www.GNEPSA.orgthe fiction is so transparent that you find yourself transported immediately to StudentFirst’s Connecticut website.and on that website you will find the following TV ... more »

NYC Public School Parents: NYC Teacher supports parents opting their children out of standardized testing and wishes she could as well!

NYC Public School Parents: NYC Teacher supports parents opting their children out of standardized testing and wishes she could as well!: NYC Teacher supports parents opting their children out of standardized testing and wishes she could as well!byLeonie HaimsonAswehavespokenoutagainst high-stakes testing this year,after our family was first directly affected by it through our third-grade son,we have had the wonderful experience of connecting with like-minded parents inNew York and across the country who are also determined to put education backinto the ... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Early Evening Posts 4-15 #SOSchat #p2 #edreform

Schools Matter: Read and Endorse the Declaration of Professional Conscience for TeachersBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-10 minutes agoSchools Matter: Read and Endorse the Declaration of Professional Conscience for Teachers: Read and Endorse the Declaration of Professional Conscience for TeachersbyJim HornSign the Declaration of Professional Conscience for Teachers:In 1990 Ken Goodman published “A Declaration of Professional Conscience for Teachers” as a front piece of the bookThe Whole Language Catalog, edited with Yetta Goodman and Lois Bridges. Two decades later ... more »

In-depth analysis of federal school grant program shows mix of progress, problems - The Denver Post

In-depth analysis of federal school grant program shows mix of progress, problems - The Denver Post: In-depth analysis of federal school grant program shows mix of progress, problemsPOSTED: 04/15/2012 01:02:00 AM MDTUPDATED: 04/15/2012 04:20:39 AM MDTEducation WeekAfter two years, the federal program providing billions of dollars to help states and districts close or remake some of their worst-performing schools remains an ambitious work in progress, with roughly 1,200 turnaround efforts under way but still no verdict on its effectiveness.The School ... more »

Daily Kos: A Veteran’s Death, the Nation’s Shame

Daily Kos: A Veteran’s Death, the Nation’s Shame: A Veteran’s Death, the Nation’s Shamebyrss@dailykos.com (teacherken)HERE’S a window into a tragedy within the American military: For every soldier killed on the battlefield this year, about 25 veterans are dying by their own hands.That is the opening paragraph of apowerful and important columnin this morning'sNew York Timesby Nicholas Kristof. I am actually surprised that it was not featured in the Pundit Roundup.It is a critical issue: An American soldier dies every day ... more »

Jersey Jazzman: The Incoherent Reform of Michelle Rhee

Jersey Jazzman: The Incoherent Reform of Michelle Rhee: The Incoherent Reform of Michelle RheebyDukeLast Friday, Michelle Rhee was onBrian Lehrer's radio show. The segment, unsurprisingly, is a textbook example of the incoherence of the corporate reform movement.I'll have more to say about the rest of the interview later, but for now, I want to focus in on a remarkable passage, starting at 18:19.I have transcribed it in its entirety because I think it needs to go on Rhee's permanent record ... more »

Federal teacher evaluation requirement has wide impact | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

Federal teacher evaluation requirement has wide impact | Detroit Free Press | freep.com: Federal teacher evaluation requirement has wide impactElliott Elementary in Lincoln, Ne., struck off on its own last year when it became the only school in the city to win money through the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program. Winning wasn’t something to be proud of, though: It meant the school qualified as one of the worst in the nation. About a third of fifth-graders at Elliott were ... more »

Exposing ALEC: How Conservative-Backed State Laws Are All Connected - Nancy Scola - Politics - The Atlantic

Exposing ALEC: How Conservative-Backed State Laws Are All Connected - Nancy Scola - Politics - The Atlantic: Exposing ALEC: How Conservative-Backed State Laws Are All ConnectedAPR 14 2012, 8:00 AM ET110A shadowy organization uses corporate contributions to sell prepackaged conservative bills -- such as Florida's Stand Your Ground statute -- to legislatures across the country.ReutersThe recent blowing up of the Invisible Children viral video might have some of us thinking that Malcolm Gladwell was onto something with hisbiting critiqueof online ... more »

Teacher: Step-by-step guide to how ‘reform’ is harming public schools - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Teacher: Step-by-step guide to how ‘reform’ is harming public schools - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post: Teacher: Step-by-step guide to how ‘reform’ is harming public schoolsbyValerie StraussThiswas written by Elizabeth Walters, a proud graduate of Central Columbia High School in Bloomsburg, PA, Smith College, and the teacher-certification program of the University of New Orleans. Walters is a journalist and a teacher at Chalmette High School in St. Bernard Parish, LA. This wasoriginally publishedinCounterPunch, a provocative political newsletter and ... more »

Daily Kos: Who Controls the Table Wins

Daily Kos: Who Controls the Table Wins: Who Controls the Table WinsbyplthomasEdDFollowShare2PERMALINKplthomasEdDFollowRSSDaily Kos1COMMENTInher discussion of science fiction, Margaret Atwood examines and confronts the nuances among sci-fi, speculative fiction, fantasy, and utopian/dystopian fiction, and throughout, she highlights the power of these overlapping genres to explore the "What if?" by blending dramatizations of human history with human possibility. These genres have the power as well to force us to re-seenowin the imagined context ofothertimes and places.So in the spirit ... more »

Grumpy Educators: Florida Charter School "Boom": Warning Signs

Grumpy Educators: Florida Charter School "Boom": Warning Signs: Florida Charter School "Boom": Warning SignsbySandraThere is a charter boom going on with too many oddities:1) 15 of 30 "F" schools in Florida are charters. "Then last year in Florida, charter schools received 15 out of 31 of all the failing FCAT grades that went to public schools. Charter elementary and middle schools were seven times more likely to get an F than traditional public schools."Read full articlehere.2) VP Joe Biden's brother ... more »

NYC Public School Parents: Nightline on test prep & the gifted exams: more "choices" for parents or magnifying social inequities?

NYC Public School Parents: Nightline on test prep the gifted exams: more "choices" for parents or magnifying social inequities?: Nightline on test prep the gifted exams: more "choices" for parents or magnifying social inequities?byLeonie HaimsonThe results of the Gifted and Talented exams are in, andaccording to the NY Times, more than half of the children tested in wealthier districts like District 2 and District 3 were found to be "gifted", while only six children made the grade in District 7 ... more »

Schools Matter: Read and Endorse the Declaration of Professional Conscience for Teachers

Schools Matter: Read and Endorse the Declaration of Professional Conscience for Teachers: Read and Endorse the Declaration of Professional Conscience for TeachersbyJim HornSign the Declaration of Professional Conscience for Teachers:In 1990 Ken Goodman published “A Declaration of Professional Conscience for Teachers” as a front piece of the bookThe Whole Language Catalog, edited with Yetta Goodman and Lois Bridges. Two decades later we encouraged Ken to take another look at the Declaration and to add an addendum. The work of teachers ... more »

Jersey Jazzman: The Values of Vouchers

Jersey Jazzman: The Values of Vouchers: The Values of VouchersbyDukeTheStar-Ledgerhas a pair of very disturbing pieces in its op-ed section today: both are about the coercion women feel in the Orthodox Jewish community to conform to values that keep them oppressed. First, here'sFraidy Reiss:Where I come from, girls are married off as teenagers to men they barely know and are expected to spend their lives caring for their husband and children. They are required to cover their hair and nearly ... more »

Arts in education? Tell Obama, “No Duncan in a second term.” « Fred Klonsky

Arts in education? Tell Obama, “No Duncan in a second term.” « Fred Klonsky: Arts in education? Tell Obama, “No Duncan in a second term.”byFred KlonskyLast week we received an email from my department chair with a link to aspeechEducation Secretary Arne Duncan gave at a Washington DC elementary school on April 2nd.It is deeply disturbing that all students do not have access to arts education today.These survey findings suggest that more than 1.3 million students in elementary school fail ... more »

With A Brooklyn Accent: Education Reformers and "The New Jim Crow"

With A Brooklyn Accent: Education Reformers and "The New Jim Crow": Education Reformers and "The New Jim Crow"If somebody told me, 15 years ago, when I was spending many of my days working with community groups in the Bronx and East New York dealing with the consequences of the crack epidemic, that you could solve the problems of neighborhoods under siege by insulating students in local schools from the conditions surrounding them, and devoting every ounce of teachers energies to ... more »

DID SOMEONE SAY #EDREFORM -Bain, Teach For America, Sylvan, Broad Foundation and Dan Katzir

Broad Team - The Broad Foundation - Education:Dan Katzir Senior AdvisorThe Eli and Edythe Broad FoundationKatzir is senior advisor at The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, a national venturephilanthropy dedicated to dramatically improving K-12 urban public education throughbetter governance, management, labor relations and competition. He worked with EliBroad in 1999 to develop the vision for the foundation’s education work. One of thenation’s leading education reform and philanthropy experts, Katzir has more than twodecades of experience in improving the efficiency and ... more »

School Tech Connect: Don't Listen To These People

School Tech Connect: Don't Listen To These People: Don't Listen To These Peoplebynoreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman)They work in the schools--- they can't possibly know what they're talking about.Another clip fromThe Schools Chicago's Students Deserve:It would cost CPS approximately $170 million to lower class sizes in kindergarten through third grade from 28 to 20.12That is about half the amount CPS budgeted this year for the Office of New Schools, which supports the creation of more charter and“turnaround” schools. Instead of experimenting with ... more »

The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation AKA The Broad Foundation 2009 Form 990-PF

The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation AKA The Broad Foundation 2009 Form 990-PF: The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation AKA The Broad Foundation 2009 Form 990-PFxx