Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Special Late Nite Cap UPDATE 10-17-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2


Nite Cap UPDATE

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE



Merit Pay Fairy Sighting in Newark?

Oh, my:

Newark and its teachers union on Thursday are expected to sign a tentative contract deal blessed by Gov. Chris Christie that would overhaul teacher pay, introducing lucrative merit bonuses and giving teachers a role in grading each other.
The contract, fueled by about $50 million from the foundation started by Facebook Inc. founder Mark Zuckerberg, covers the next three years and would offer a compensation system that removes lifetime pay increases for those who earn advanced degrees and blocks poorly rated teachers from receiving automatic pay 


DON’T PROMISE THINGS TO TEACHERS – IT ONLY LEADS TO TROUBLE

Yet another suburban Chicago school district that is reneging on a promise. Striking teachers in North Shore School District 112 are being asked to forgo promised raises that they would receive for advanced degrees. A district spokeswoman was quoted as saying, ” We don’t want to discourage professional development, but we can’t afford these increases.” The union has argued that the district approved graduate work that would lead to a salary increase but said the district now wants to back off on its commitment and paint the teachers as unreasonable.
Why is it that we see time and again promises being made to teachers in contracts and agreements, and then the officials who made the promises later back off and realize it was a mistake ?  It happens with local district


Binders

I think you will want to check this out
Please trust me.


Teacher Suspended For Using Same Grading Policy As Her Employer

New York City - Seventh grade English Language Arts teacher Dianne Smith, who teaches at Brooklyn's Intermediate School 114, is facing disciplinary charges because of her grading policy. Her exact crime? She used the same grading policy for her students that the New York City Department of Education uses to provide grades to its schools.  

"I thought that if it was good enough for the DOE then it should be good enough for me," explained Ms. Smith over a cup of coffee at a diner near her school. Apparently not. After receiving numerous parental complaints, the DOE launched an investigation into Smith's grading policy and found it lacking. She has been suspended with pay while DOE officials scramble to determine how to handle the matter.

Parents objected to the idea that a pre-determined number of students would receive each grade; thus ensuring failures 




Where the Charter School Initiative in WA Gets its Money

According to Ann Dornfeld on the campaign in favor of charter schools in Washington State (I-1240) has received nearly $9 million dollars mostly from ten donors.

Dornfeld also reports that, get this, merely one half of one percent of the donations in support of the Yes on 1240 campaign were under $10,000. Think about that for a second, what demographic of our society is supporting this policy, and what demographic of our society this will affect.

While this is by no means a reason to oppose charters by itself, when considered in conjunction with other factors, it should at least give us serious pause when we think about where the impetus for this is really coming from.


No on 1240 (click on picture) 
Friends Don't Let Friends Get Fooled No On 1240 - No On 1240 is a grassroots group of volunteer parents and citizen education advocates from Seattle and Tacoma who are united to defeat I-1240. We stand in alliance with The People for Our Public Schools.