Friday, November 30, 2012

Big Education Ape - Morning Wink 11-30-12 AM Posts #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2



BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTS


The Common Core Kool-Aid :: Frederick M. Hess

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 minutes ago
The Common Core Kool-Aid :: Frederick M. Hess: The Common Core Kool-Aid *by Frederick M. Hess • Nov 30, 2012 at 10:05 am Cross-posted from Education Week* * * * * In a number of conversations this week over at Jeb Bush's annual edu-fest, at AEI, and around DC, I was struck by the degree to which the Common Core seems to have become Dr. Pendergast's miracle cure for everything that ails you (seemingly including heat blisters). The exchanges were eerily reminiscent of the run-up to *Waiting for Superman*, when smart, enthusiastic people kept telling me how everything was about to ch... more »

Shanker Blog » Bahraini Repression Against Teachers And Health Care Workers

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 28 minutes ago
Shanker Blog » Bahraini Repression Against Teachers And Health Care Workers: Bahraini Repression Against Teachers And Health Care Workers by Randall Garton *Bahrain Financial Harbor* The Kingdom of Bahrain, a small island nation in the Persian Gulf, is a perfect political stew, situated as it is at the confluence of political, religious, economic and international tensions simmering in the Persian Gulf. A majority Shi’a Muslim country ruled for hundreds of years by Sunni tribal chieftains with family ties to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain is a dictatorship whose people have regularly dema... more »

Daily Kos: The Etymology of "Miracle": On the Politics of Lies

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 31 minutes ago
Daily Kos: The Etymology of "Miracle": On the Politics of Lies: The Etymology of "Miracle": On the Politics of Lies byplthomasEdDFollow My doctoral work was a trifecta of marginalized scholarship since I attained an EdD (lowly second cousin to the PhD) by preparing a qualitative dissertation (closeted step-cousin of the sainted quantitative paradigm)—an educational biography (a mish-mash of a non-academic field, education, with a popular but lowly literary genre, biography) of Lou LaBrant (Thomas, 2001 ). My scholarship on biography helped me understand the roots of why academia sh... more »

The Quick and the Ed » Local Control and Common Core State Standards: The Coming Confrontation

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 39 minutes ago
The Quick and the Ed » Local Control and Common Core State Standards: The Coming Confrontation: Local Control and Common Core State Standards: The Coming Confrontation by Peter Cookson Jr. Election night is over and most pundits agree that federal educational policy is unlikely to change dramatically in the next four years. In Washington DC this week at the Excellence in Action National Summit Secretary of Education Arne Duncan promised to “stay the course,” emphasizing early childhood education, holding teachers to higher standards, recruiting more qualified teachers, improving ... more »

Water into wine; Deficits into surpluses: The Ben Barnes Story - Wait, What?

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 45 minutes ago
Water into wine; Deficits into surpluses: The Ben Barnes Story - Wait, What?: Water into wine; Deficits into surpluses: The Ben Barnes Story by jonpelto The hands down leader for the most absurdly incredible budget comment of the year, at least to date, doesn’t go to Malloy or Occhiogrosso, albeit they have had some pretty good ones, but to Ben Barnes, Malloy’s budget chief. When Barnes spoke to Connecticut legislators earlier this week about this year’s $365 million budget deficit and next year’s projected $1.1 billion shortfall, legislators also asked him about the impending and... more »

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee on Erasergate: No Biggie - Loose Lips

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee on Erasergate: No Biggie - Loose Lips: Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee on Erasergate: No Biggie Posted by Alan Suderman on Nov. 29, 2012 at 4:44 pm LL didn't have room in his column this week for some highlights of former Schools Chancellor *Michelle Rhee'*s new memoir. One particularly interesting passage is Rhee's take on *USA Today's* investigation that found an almost impossibly large number of erasure marks on standardized tests. Rhee acknowledges that her initial response to the story—attacking it as "insulting" to teachers after refusin... more »

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Yeah? What If They Don't?

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Yeah? What If They Don't?: Yeah? What If They Don't? by Charlie Mas There's a lot of talk about accountability and why we can't seem to be able to hold anyone accountable in culture of public K-12 education. I think the lack of accountability is built into the system - at every level. *Not MY Job, Man! I just buy them...* Take, for example, the new charter school law, I-1240. It's full of requirements. For example, the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the house have until March 6, 2013 to appoint members of the charter school commission.... more »

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 11-30-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] A Student Activist Joins the Honor Roll by dianerav Stephanie Rivera is a junior at Rutgers University preparing to become a teacher. Stephanie was one of the leading forces in creating Students United for Public Education, a new organization in which students are joining to stand up against the privatizers, profiteers and naysayers now besieging our public schools. She has her own blog, where she regularly debates other students who support corporate reform policies. Conservatives in Michigan Turn to Cou... more »

Chicago Teachers Union charges Chicago Public Schools with 'educational apartheid' - Blogs On Politics - Crain's Chicago Business

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
Chicago Teachers Union charges Chicago Public Schools with 'educational apartheid' - Blogs On Politics - Crain's Chicago Business: * **Teachers union charges CPS with 'educational apartheid'* November 30, 2012 Print | Email | 1 comment 7 0 0 [image: - Karen Lewis.] Karen Lewis. Chicago Public Schools has engaged in widespread “educational apartheid” by forcing predominantly African-American students into privately run charter schools that often perform worse than their old schools and employ relatively few black and Hispanic instructors, theChicago Teachers Union is charging. In a... more »

SAT, ACT No Longer Required For Admission To 800 U.S. Schools | toteachornototeach

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
SAT, ACT No Longer Required For Admission To 800 U.S. Schools | toteachornototeach: SAT, ACT No Longer Required For Admission To 800 U.S. Schools by aristotlethewise SAT, ACT No Longer Required For Admission To 800 U.S. Colleges And Universities [image: images] A growing number of colleges are stepping away from the standardized exams traditionally required of admissions applicants. More than 800 colleges and universities across the country no longer mandate score submissions from SAT or ACT college admissions exams, according to the latest survey by the National Center for Fair & O...more »

Ed Notes Online: Support Teachers Unite "Growing Fairness" Film on School to Prison Pipeline

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
Ed Notes Online: Support Teachers Unite "Growing Fairness" Film on School to Prison Pipeline: Support Teachers Unite "Growing Fairness" Film on School to Prison Pipeline by ed notes online Talk about school to prison pipeline? I once got a Thanksgiving Day collect call from an upstate prison from one of my favorite former students serving 15 to life (he got out after 28 years) who after a brief conversation handed the phone over to another fave who then told me there were 9 guys from the same buildings in the cell block. I guess I didn't know it at the time but with some of my toug... more »

It Was Kind of Like Teaching | The G Bitch Spot

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
It Was Kind of Like Teaching | The G Bitch Spot: It Was Kind of Like Teaching by G Bitch Thanks, Ali Arnold, Trisha, the students and faculty who came and sorry there was no time for questions. No one had read the Stanley Fish post I based all this on but, just like in the classroom, I forged ahead anyway. First, check out what “digital humanities” really means—Michael Mizell-Nelson’s online database projects. Fucking *awesome*. Fortunately, he did a fantastic job and if only there’d been another hour. Actually, he should’ve had the whole thing. Since I spent the time, here’s my t... more »

Oakland’s American Indian charter schools respond to violation notice - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
Oakland’s American Indian charter schools respond to violation notice - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools: Oakland’s American Indian charter schools respond to violation notice Thursday, November 29th, 2012 at 4:56 pm in No Comments *photo of Ben Chavis, founder of American Indian Model Schools, by D. Ross Cameron/Bay Area News Group* Thirteen binders of material from the American Indian Model Schools were delivered to the Oakland school district offices this week in response to the “notice of violation” the charter school organization received this fall... more »

UPDATE: Michigan coalition opposes Race to Top finalist in letter to Obama, Duncan

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
Michigan coalition opposes Race to Top finalist in letter to Obama, Duncan: The $10,000 bachelor's degree: gimmick or real? by Valerie Strauss With the cost of college at record highs, the governors of Texas and Florida (Rick Perry and Rick Scott, respectively) have challenged their state's public higher education systems to come up with a bachelor's degree program that costs no more than $10,000. Perry put out the call in 2011, and 10 colleges that enroll about 10 percent of undergraduates at public universities in the state have responded ( though not the flagship University of ... more »

The Educated Reporter: In Case You Missed It: EWA's STEM Express, Webinar Replays Now Available

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
The Educated Reporter: In Case You Missed It: EWA's STEM Express, Webinar Replays Now Available: In Case You Missed It: EWA's STEM Express, Webinar Replays Now Available by Emily Richmond The push toward STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education programs is one of the hottest topics on the table right now, and EWA wants to help you keep up to date. Our new Thursday STEM Express(TSE) is an ongoing digest of the latest news and opinion on this critical issue. You can find it -- along with a wealth of other terrific content -- at EdMedia Commons. I've written recent... more »

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Cruising the blogs

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Cruising the blogs: Cruising the blogs by Mike Klonsky When it csomes to ed bloggers, some of my favorites can be found on NEPC's aptly-named Best of the Ed Blogs, including the likes of Ravitch, Ferlazzo, Thomas, Cuban, etal... In this post, Stanford prof, *Larry Cuban*wrestles with the progressive/traditional teaching duality when one of his students innocently describes him as a "traditional" teacher. He is and isn't. ****** After reading Anthony Cody's favorable review of *Lois Weiner'*s new book,"The Future of Our Schools, Teachers Unions and Soci... more »

Its Time to Dismiss Florida Charter Schools’ Complaint About Fairness | Scathing Purple Musings

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Its Time to Dismiss Florida Charter Schools’ Complaint About Fairness | Scathing Purple Musings: Its Time to Dismiss Florida Charter Schools’ Complaint About Fairness by Bob Sikes The administrator for the Cape Coral Charter School Authority says all the right things and speaks with the right jargon to be believable in this morning’s guest column in the *Fort Myers News Press*. In an attempt to make the case for more taxpayer money going to charter schools like his, Lew Ford writes: Here is the issue: A tax of 1.5 mills is levied on all Florida residents for the purposes of cap... more »

School Tech Connect: The Culture Of Testing in Chicago

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
School Tech Connect: The Culture Of Testing in Chicago: The Culture Of Testing in Chicago by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman) [image: Home] In a word, wow. Raise Your Hand held the most remarkable forum tonight, called The Culture of Testing- Assessing the Assessments at CPS. I've been to a lot of forums in the past couple of years; this one was far and away the most... astonishing? poignant? I don't even know the word for what it was. People from all over the city gathered to talk about an epidemic of testing that has gripped the students of CPS over the past couple of years. As... more »

Some Nights (What We Stand For) | The Jose Vilson

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 11 hours ago
Some Nights (What We Stand For) | The Jose Vilson: Some Nights (What We Stand For) by Jose fun., “Some Nights” *Some nights, I stay up cashing in my bad luck* * Some nights, I call it a draw ** Some nights, I wish that my lips could build a castle ** Some nights, I wish they’d just fall off * *But I still wake up, I still see your ghost* * Oh Lord, I’m still not sure what I stand for oh ** What do I stand for? What do I stand for? ** Most nights, I don’t know anymore… * Dear You, Confession: Some nights, I know why I do any of this, either. Six years ago, I wondered if teaching actually... more »

Special Late Nite Cap UPDATE 11-29-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 11 hours ago
*Nite Cap UPDATE**UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE* My Best Posts Over The Years — Volume One by Larry Ferlazzo I’ve been writing this blog for six or seven years. I thought readers might find it useful for me to dig back in the “archives” and highlight my choices for some of the best posts that appeared during that time. This first collection — Volume One — comes from 2007 (and, in the case of some articles, even earlier): The Best Of The Best — 2007: Here I brought together links to my first annual lists, along with highlighting the sites I ranked first in each category. Intriguing Way... more »

THE LOVE OF LEARNING « Teachers Fight Back

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 13 hours ago
THE LOVE OF LEARNING « Teachers Fight Back: THE LOVE OF LEARNING by alkleen I saw a large picture in an obscure local newspaper about an event that occurred 50 years ago on Nov. 14th, 1962. The picture showed the famous poet Robert Frost presenting his poetry to more than 10,000 people in the University of Detroit sports auditorium. This was the last large public reading by Frost before his death, on January 29, 1963. The picture was just amazing. The audience wasn’t just made up of university students, but people from all walks of life. The first thing that struck me was the odd ... more »

Jersey Jazzman: "Reform Churn"

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 13 hours ago
Jersey Jazzman: "Reform Churn": "Reform Churn" by Duke These days, urban schools system change their "reforms" as often as I change my underwear: Global Village had arrived in Newark with great fanfare just three years earlier. During its short life, it extended the school day for many children at the seven schools it served, provided eyeglasses to students who needed them, distributed books to build home libraries, and connected parents with a variety of social services, from mental health care to housing assistance. Much like the highly publicized Harlem Children’s Zone, Globa... more »

Recursos en español (Education Resources for Spanish Speakers)

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 15 hours ago
Recursos en español (Education Resources for Spanish Speakers): BIENVENIDOS Recursos en español Education Resources for Spanish Speakers Elija opcion abajo --------------- Portada El Departamento de Educación de los EE.UU. Educación Especial (IDEA) Ayuda Federal para Estudiantes Educación Para Adultos Educación Universitaria Que Ningún Niño Se Quede Atrás (NCLB) Preguntas y Respuestas Frecuentes ENLACES La Administración Anuncia Metas para Flexibilidad de La Ley NCLB La Administración Anuncia Nuevas Medidas para Proteger a lo... more »

Pass / Fail : LA Unified building 15 large campus clinics for students, public | 89.3 KPCC

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 15 hours ago
Pass / Fail : LA Unified building 15 large campus clinics for students, public | 89.3 KPCC: LA Unified building 15 large campus clinics for students, public by Adolfo Guzman-Lopez [image: School health centers 2] *Students at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles will have access to health information and treatment at a new clinic on the campus. Credit: Kelley Weiss/CHCF Center for Health Reporting* L.A. Unified cut the ribbon Thursday on the latest of 15 on-campus clinics that’ll offer dental, mental, and sexual health services to the school’s students and neighbors. The $1.6 mi... more »

Some call knowingly not telling the truth - lying… - Wait, What?

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 16 hours ago
Some call knowingly not telling the truth - lying… - Wait, What?: Some call knowingly not telling the truth – lying… by jonpelto Otherwise known as – When is $170 million really $123 million? Or in this case – When Governor Malloy and his administration seek to mislead Connecticut’s media and citizens about his cuts to the Connecticut state budget. The Facts: Connecticut State Government is facing a $365 million budget deficit this year and a projected $1.1 billion dollar shortfall next year. Yesterday, the Malloy administration released a list of $170 million in cuts that Governor... more »

NYC Educator: The Evaluation Trap--What's the UFT Planning?

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 16 hours ago
NYC Educator: The Evaluation Trap--What's the UFT Planning?: The Evaluation Trap--What's the UFT Planning? by NYC Educator It's been a while since UFT President Michael Mulgrew went to Albany and negotiated a statewide evaluation system. Part of that agreement was that value-added testing would comprise 20%, 25%, 40%, or even 100% of a teacher rating. It depends who you ask, and perhaps also when you ask. The debate over percentages does not much interest me. I'm firmly persuaded that the optimal percentage of VAM in a teacher rating is zero. UFT people I speak to say, well, what i... more »

Parents Across America

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 17 hours ago
Parents Across America: *PARENTS CAN!* *Go to Parents Across America.* School closing controversy in Chicago pureparents at Parents Across America - 39 minutes ago PAA co-founder Julie Woestehoff was quoted in several newspaper stories (Chicago Tribune here, Sun-Times here) about Mayor Emanuel’s proposal to push a school closing announcement deadline back several months. Emanuel wants to close as many as 100 Chicago schools in 2013. The Tribune editorial board, which usually takes the corporate reform side, quoted a PURE blog post in agreeing with PURE’s opposition to the mayor’s pla... more »

Again; Relevance, Why Twitter? « My Island View

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 17 hours ago
Again; Relevance, Why Twitter? « My Island View: Again; Relevance, Why Twitter? by tomwhitby Twitter has been a topic for educational Bloggers for several years now. I believe that those educators using Twitter are drawn to those posts, while other educators, not using Twitter, are driven away. Maybe the problem is the emphasis, or focus of the blog posts. Maybe the focus should be on relevance and no mention of twitter. Are educators relevant in our technology-driven society? The obvious answer is that some are, and some are not. A more important question is which of these two ... more »

UPDATE: Seattle Schools Community Forum: It's a School Zone, Folks

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 18 hours ago
Seattle Schools Community Forum: It's a School Zone, Folks: It's a School Zone, Folks by Melissa Westbrook Unbelievable. From the Times: *Mayor Mike McGinn said he expected traffic cameras near four Seattle schools to catch a lot of speeding drivers when the devices went live Nov. 1.* *But almost 6,000 in less than a month?* *"We were surprised," McGinn said.* *Because there were so many speeders, the warning-citation period that was to end this week has been extended to Monday, Dec. 10, he said. From that day on, the registered owners of vehicles caught driving faster than 2... more »

"Learning Is More Than a Test Score" CampaignSave Our Schools

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 18 hours ago
"Learning Is More Than a Test Score" CampaignSave Our Schools: “Learning Is More Than a Test Score” Campaign by Server *Save Our Schools: A National Call to Action* www.saveourschoolsmarch.org Learning Is More Than a Test Score Campaign*“Promoting a lifelong love of reading is one of the most important things I do as an English language arts teacher. But we are sacrificing time that could be spent on learning and promoting reading in order to focus on tests that too often are unreliable indicators of student performance, poor quality and full of errors.”*—A dedicated New York teach... more »

NYC Public School Parents: CFE may sue for money owed & lessons learned re accountability and oversight

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 18 hours ago
NYC Public School Parents: CFE may sue for money owed & lessons learned re accountability and oversight: CFE may sue for money owed & lessons learned re accountability and oversight by Leonie Haimson Exciting news! The Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) announced in a letter today that it was considering re-opening the lawsuit against New York State, on the basis that the funding promised NYC and other high-needs school districts has never been fulfilled. The current plan puts off full funding "until at least 16 years from now, in 2028. *Thus, two more gen... more »

Lurking in the Bushes: Peeking at Florida Education Miracle | Cloaking Inequity

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 20 hours ago
Lurking in the Bushes: Peeking at Florida Education Miracle | Cloaking Inequity: Lurking in the Bushes: Peeking at Florida Education Miracle - 2 Comments There is another education presidential candidate lurking in the Bushes with an education “miracle” being discussed extensively in the media and elsewhere. Critics have pointed out that the miracle in Florida is no more real than the education miracle in Texas that spawned No Child Left Behind a decade ago— another elegant illusion of numbers? Some say the skeptics are wrong in their analyses of recent educational succes... more »

The Texas Miracle, The Florida Miracle, and Rush | Andrew Tobias

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
The Texas Miracle, The Florida Miracle, and Rush | Andrew Tobias: The Texas Miracle, The Florida Miracle, and Rush *by A.T. on JULY 14, 2003* You saw the front page of Friday’s *Times*? The Texas education miracle touted during the 2000 campaign appears now to have been slightly less miraculous. An audit of 16Houston schools for the school year 2000-2001 recommended reclassifying 14 of them from ‘best’ to . . . well . . . there’s no easy way to put a good face on this . . . ‘worst.’ It seems that – for example – one school that had reported no drop-outs for the year had . .... more »

No consensus on which skills should be included in teacher evaluations | Hechinger Report

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
No consensus on which skills should be included in teacher evaluations | Hechinger Report: No consensus on which skills should be included in teacher evaluations By Jackie Mader From the blog: HechingerEd At least 30 states are launching new systems to evaluate teachers using more rigorous criteria about what makes a good teacher, but so far there is little consensus on what that criteria should be. Teacher evaluations have become highly controversial as states introduce increasingly different models. Can the quality of a teacher be measured by looking at just a few key skills such... more »

School Tech Connect: Chartering For The Sake of Chartering

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 21 hours ago
School Tech Connect: Chartering For The Sake of Chartering: Chartering For The Sake of Chartering by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman) [image: Charter Schools - Dividing Communities since 1991] Bruce Baker has written a scintillating analysis of a CREDO study in NJ here, and it makes my head hurt.... it also makes me melancholy for brainpower I was never blessed with. Howevs, toward the end of the post, there's this: While it is likely that there exists some strategies employed by some charters (as well as some strategies employed by some district schools) that are working quite we... more »

What I learned about successful organizing from Chicago teachers strike leaders | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
What I learned about successful organizing from Chicago teachers strike leaders | Philadelphia Public School Notebook: What I learned about successful organizing from Chicago teachers strike leaders by thenotebook *by Beth Pulcinella* On Nov. 17, three leaders from the Chicago Teachers Union came to Philadelphia to share stories and strategies from their work as educational advocates and activists. The event, From Chicago to Philadelphia, revealed to me how the movement to challenge privatization and promote educational justice in Philadelphia has matured and honed its political sa... more »

Stonehaven Development and “Getting” a High School « PWC Education Reform Blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
Several days ago Planning Office Director Chris Price presented the recommendation for development of the Stonehaven property in the Gainesville / Bristow area. The proposal from county staff was to reduce the amount of land in that parcel that was to be dedicated to employment centers and increase the number of houses to be built there from about 1200 to 2000. During the presentation it was implied that this would be a good thing for area residents as we’d *“get”* a much needed high school that would relive overcrowding at Patriot and Battlefield high schools. This folks, is mal... more »

'Isolation box:' Abuse or therapy for Longview school kids? | Local & Regional | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
'Isolation box:' Abuse or therapy for Longview school kids? | Local & Regional | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News: 'Isolation box:' Abuse or therapy for Longview school kids? By Patrick Preston KATU News and KATU.com Staff Published: Nov 28, 2012 at 8:16 AM PST Last Updated: Nov 28, 2012 at 9:37 AM PST [image: 'Isolation box:' Abuse or therapy for Longview school kids?]»PLAY VIDEO One of the photos posted on Facebook shows the isolation box at Mint Valley Elementary School in Longview, Wash. LONGVIEW, Wash. -- Longview Public Schools administrators call i... more »

ED Data Express: State Graduation Rate, All Students: 2009-10

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
ED Data Express: State Graduation Rate, All Students: 2009-10: Data Mapping State Graduation Rate, All Students: 2009-10 U.S. Map Legend Less than the lower bound number Within the range Greater than the upper bound Not applicable, not available, or suppressed - Use the mapping tool to view state by state data on a specific data element, color-coded by value. - Select the range of values that you want to see by using your mouse to drag the handles on the slider bar; OR - Enter lower and upper bounds in the boxes provided and select "GO" to see the values di... more »

UPDATE: Seattle Schools Community Forum: Closing Bad Charters

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 22 hours ago
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Closing Bad Charters: Closing Bad Charters by Charlie Mas The National Association of Charter School Authorizers said 900 to 1,300 of the privately run, publicly financed schools should close because they are in the bottom 15 percent of public schools in their states. Here's a link totheir press release and a Bloomberg News story that the Seattle Times ran. In short, there are a number of poor performing charter schools and, according to NACSA, they should be closed. NACSA also calls for states to add school closure provisions to their charter sch... more »

Education Research Report: State Spending on K-12 Assessment Systems

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 23 hours ago
Education Research Report: State Spending on K-12 Assessment Systems: State Spending on K-12 Assessment Systems by Jonathan Kantrowitz In the coming years, states will need to make the most significant changes to their assessment systems in a decade as they implement the Common Core State Standards, a common framework for what students are expected to know that will replace existing standards in 45 states and the District of Columbia. The Common Core effort has prompted concerns about the cost of implementing the new standards and assessments, but there is little comprehensive up... more »

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee writes a ‘zealot’s manifesto,’ er, memoir

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 23 hours ago
Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee writes a ‘zealot’s manifesto,’ er, memoir: Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee writes a ‘zealot’s manifesto,’ er, memoir Posted by Valerie Strauss on November 29, 2012 at 11:00 am - [image: Smaller Text] [image: Larger Text] Text Size - Print - Reprints - Share: - - - More » Michelle Rhee has written a memoir that gives her version of reality about the years (2007-2010) that she ran D.C. Public Schools and became a national leader of corporate-based school reform. The book is due out next year but Washington City Paper’s L... more »

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Thursday, November 29, 2012

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 23 hours ago
FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team: Education Headlines *Thursday, November 29, 2012* Kerchner: How a small bet on technology could have a big payoff in learningLet’s adopt a public policy that increases the capacity of public education, one that makes existing schools winners again, and that empowers both students and teachers. To make a technology investment we need to simultaneously think small and think big. Dr. Gary Rutherford final candidate for superintendent of the Desert Sands Unified School DistrictThe Desert Sands Board of Education has selected Dr. Gar... more »

Post-election, Push for Changes in Education Policy | California Progress Report

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 23 hours ago
Post-election, Push for Changes in Education Policy | California Progress Report: Post-election, Push for Changes in Education Policy by callen *By Lisa Schiff* Re-electing President Obama may have felt like a huge accomplishment, but it was really just the beginning of the work to come. With the rather low-key confirmation thatSecretary of Education Arne Duncan will be continuing on into the second term, the President gave the clear signal that federal education policies and strategies will remain essentially the same, meaning a continued emphasis on competitive grants, further... more »

GEDs for the 1%. « @ the chalk face

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 23 hours ago
GEDs for the 1%. « @ the chalk face: GEDs for the 1%.1 November 29, 2012 by slekar Recent news out of Hartford, Connecticut is that the *NON PROFIT* GED Testing Service is “merging” with Pearson . This must mean that the GED will be delivered more efficiently because of the enormous resources Pearson will be able to put behind delivering the GED. This must mean reduced costs and better delivery systems—efficiency! Great news for people seeking a GED right? But no, that assumption would be wrong. In Connecticut, it currently costs $13 to take the GED…. The price of the new tes... more »

Common Core [sic] Standards (Susan Ohanian Speaks Out)

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 23 hours ago
Common Core [sic] Standards (Susan Ohanian Speaks Out): To Be or Not To Be: The Teacher Must Decide by elaine Susan Ohanian Source: Susan Ohanian.org Opportunists have always promoted stupid things in education, but the Common Core seems to send opportunism traveling as skills development over the top of Mount Absurdity. I clicked on an ad for *Imagine Learning* appearing on the ASCD Smartbrief (sic) that comes in my e-mail every day. I couldn't resist the sell: *A Cure for the Common Core*. Every literacy salesman in the country is now selling The Cure. Imagine Learning invited ... more »

Affluent White People: Now with 1/3 More Excellence | EduShyster

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 23 hours ago
Affluent White People: Now with 1/3 More Excellence | EduShyster: Affluent White People: Now with 1/3 More Excellence by edushyster2012 This young man, let’s call him Chad, graduated in the top 1/3 of his class at Shore Country Day, ergo he would make an outstanding teacher. Reader: no doubt you are aware by now that affluent white people do just about everything a little better than you and I do. It’s called *panache*, and like dietary restrictions and yoga passions, this better-ness, otherwise known as excellence, is something that comes naturally to our affluent white friends. No... more »

A New Villain: Air Pollution. « MomsRising Blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
A New Villain: Air Pollution. « MomsRising Blog: [image: bannerblue] A New Villain: Air Pollution. Iva Ingar at MomsRising Blog - 51 minutes ago Parents have been performing heroic feats since the dawn of time. Growing up, my mom worked the night shift as a medical technician but would still wake herself up for three hours in order to greet my sister and me coming home from school. She’d cook dinner for us and then help us with our [...] Can air pollution contribute to Autism? Diane Bailey at MomsRising Blog - 51 minutes ago A new study says: Yes, air pollution may be a factor contri... more »

Digging Into Our 'Disagreements' on Schools - Bridging Differences - Education Week

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
Digging Into Our 'Disagreements' on Schools - Bridging Differences - Education Week: Digging Into Our 'Disagreements' on Schools by Deborah Meier Dear Pedro, In keeping with the spirit of Bridging Differences—establishing differences—given our many nondifferences—could be helpful. In response to your blog post from Tuesday, I think there are three possible disagreements I want to address. 1. Your assumption (unsaid) that both "sides" have similar ends, and thus can be persuaded by similar evidence, and alternative solutions. 2. An underlying critique of "our side" for criticizing ... more »

Tom Friedman is a friggin’ idiot. « Fred Klonsky

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
Tom Friedman is a friggin’ idiot. « Fred Klonsky: Tom Friedman is a friggin’ idiot. by Fred Klonsky It only took a few seconds after I posted “Tom Friedman is a friggin’ idiot” on my Facebook page in response to today’s NY Times column, than my MacBook started pinging like crazy. *Likes* and comments poured like Morton salt. I once had an administrator offer me Friedman’s *The World is Flat *to read. I returned the favor by giving him Diane Ravitch’s *The Death and Life of the Great American School. * I actually read the Friedman book. I don’t think he broke the spine of Ravitch’s.... more »

Education Week: Standardized Testing Costs States $1.7 Billion a Year, Study Says

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
Education Week: Standardized Testing Costs States $1.7 Billion a Year, Study Says: Standardized Testing Costs States $1.7 Billion a Year, Study Says By Andrew Ujifusa Premium article access courtesy of Edweek.org. Read more FREE content! [image: Article Tools] - [image: Print]Printer-Friendly - [image: Email]Email Article - [image: Reprint]Reprints - [image: Comments]Comments - - - Standardized-testing regimens cost states some $1.7 billion a year overall, or a quarter of 1 percent of total K-12 spending in the United States, according to a new report on... more »

Missouri Education Watchdog: Common Core 3rd Grade Benchmarks for Citizenship. And You Still Believe the Standards Don't Drive the Curriculum?

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
Missouri Education Watchdog: Common Core 3rd Grade Benchmarks for Citizenship. And You Still Believe the Standards Don't Drive the Curriculum?: Common Core 3rd Grade Benchmarks for Citizenship. And You Still Believe the Standards Don't Drive the Curriculum? by stlgretchen [image: CCSS Double Down] *The new definition of being a "good citizen"? Common Core 3rd grade standards benchmarks to promote the "common good".* ** *What is your definition of a good citizen?* Let's travel back in time and revisit the 1954 World Book Encyclopedia's definition of citizenship:

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee's New Memoir Reads Like a Zealot's Manifesto, Details Time in D.C. - Loose Lips

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 1 day ago
Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee's New Memoir Reads Like a Zealot's Manifesto, Details Time in D.C. - Loose Lips: Rhee-visionist History Posted by Alan Suderman on Nov. 28, 2012 at 8:01 pm Like most sequels, the current round of D.C. Public Schools closings is a lot less dramatic than the first wave presided over by former Schools Chancellor*Michelle Rhee *four years ago. That soap opera included a protest outside the Wilson Building set to Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” police removing a man who yelled expletives at Rhee during a D.C. Council hearing, and some very unhappy ... more »





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