Sunday, October 13, 2013

Daily Kos: Stiglitz argues that "Inequality is a Choice"

Daily Kos: Stiglitz argues that "Inequality is a Choice":



not by those at the bottom of the inverted pyramid of income, but of policies of governments.
In this Opinionator blog piece from the New York Times, the Nobel economic laureate takes us through the numbers.
He is exploring the work of World Bank economist Branko Milanovic and others, and starts with the development of the industrial revolution to provide historical context.
Consider this paragraph, focusing on the work of Milanovic:  
From 1988 to 2008, Mr. Milanovic found, people in the world’s top 1 percent saw their incomes increase by 60 percent, while those in the bottom 5 percent had no change in their income. And while median incomes have greatly improved in recent decades, there are still enormous imbalances: 8 percent of humanity takes home 50 percent of global income; the top 1 percent alone takes home 15 percent. Income gains have been greatest among the global elite — financial and corporate executives in rich countries — and the great “emerging middle classes” of China, India, Indonesia and Brazil. Who lost out? Africans, some Latin Americans, and people in post-Communist Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, Mr. Milanovic found.
Please keep reading.

Ed Notes Online: Oct. 15: LET’S MARCH TOGETHER TO THE PEP TO FIGHT FOR OUR SCHOOLS AND TO MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD!

Ed Notes Online: Oct. 15: LET’S MARCH TOGETHER TO THE PEP TO FIGHT FOR OUR SCHOOLS AND TO MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD!:

Oct. 15: LET’S MARCH TOGETHER TO THE PEP TO FIGHT FOR OUR SCHOOLS AND TO MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD!
MARCH TO CLOSE THE BLOOMBERG ERA AND CALL ON OUR NEXT MAYOR TO IMPLEMENT A REAL PLAN TO MAKE SURE EVERY STUDENT IS COLLEGE-READY!


BLOOMBERG’S PANEL FOR FAILED EDUCATIONAL POLICY PLANS TO “RUBBER STAMP” MORE CO-LOCATIONS!

LET’S MARCH TOGETHER TO THE PEP TO FIGHT FOR OUR SCHOOLS AND TO MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD!



The Educated Reporter: The College Admissions 'Match' Game: Should Preference Play Role in the Process?

The Educated Reporter: The College Admissions 'Match' Game: Should Preference Play Role in the Process?:

The College Admissions 'Match' Game: Should Preference Play Role in the Process?



EWA held its annual Higher Education Seminar recently at Boston's Northeastern University. We invited some of the education journalists in attendance to contribute posts from the sessions. Today's guest blogger is Brian McVicar of the Grand Rapids Press. For more content from the seminar, including stories, podcasts, video, check out EdMedia Commons

As demographic shifts change the size – and racial profile – of high school graduation classes, one debate in higher education will continue to swirl: Do the admission processes at colleges and universities promote diversity?

It was a question tackled during “Getting In: The Debate Continues,” one of several panels at EWA’s 2013 Higher Education Seminar last month at Northeastern University which examined what demographic 

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog: Teacher Suspended for showing "Same Love" by Macklemore

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog: Teacher Suspended for showing "Same Love" by Macklemore:

Teacher Suspended for showing "Same Love" by Macklemore





Basically, what happened was that a teacher In North Carolina had shown “Same Love” by Macklemore  to his class of 13 year old “pre-pubescent” students. The issue is whether it is school or age appropriate, because there is kissing between men. (The teacher, subject, and lesson plan were not given and this has happened at another school on the same video) For some reason, this has become a continuous debate in politics because of his “bash” against conservatives.
Today, Macklemore finally responded: (from the article so there is speech dialogue)"This level of intolerance and fear is still very active in America, but at times is not completely visible," Macklemore wrote on his website. "This incident is just one of tens of thousands that have happened across the country where schools have exposed a latent homophobia, preventing safe space for all young people to feel confident in being themselves."
He said he wrote the song "not with the expectation that it would cure homophobia and lead to marriage equality across the US (although that'd be awesome).  It was written 

Terror at Navy Yard
Aaron Alexis, “a former Navy reservist and a current military contractor,” at 8:20 this morning went into Washington’s Navy Yard with a semi automatic. Thankfully, our military is treating them in their hospitals “as if they were soldiers wounded in war.” In the end, the suspect had been stopped and died after officials arrived, but it has been confirmed that there were 12, not  ten, people who we

Judge Sets 2014 Trial in School Discipline Suit - Higher Education

Judge Sets 2014 Trial in School Discipline Suit - Higher Education:

Judge Sets 2014 Trial in School Discipline Suit

Category: More headlines,News | 
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by Holbrook Mohr, Associated Press



JACKSON, Miss. — A federal judge has scheduled a December 2014 trial for a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit that says there’s a “school-to-prison pipeline” in east Mississippi that locks up students for minor infractions like flatulence or vulgar language.
The October 2012 lawsuit said the city of Meridian and Lauderdale County have policies allowing students to be detained without probable cause or legal representation in what mainly affects Black and disabled children.
The trial has been scheduled to take place in U.S. District Court in Jackson during a two-week period beginning Dec. 8, 2014. A settlement conference is scheduled for June 25.
The Meridian Public School District was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. In May, a federal judge approved a deal between the district and the Justice Department, known as a consent decree. The agreement calls for the district to fully comply with several measures to end discriminatory punishment by the end of the 2016-2017 school year.
The defendants in the lawsuit are the city of Meridian, Lauderdale County, the two Lauderdale County Youth 

Peg with Pen: One Parent at a Time

Peg with Pen: One Parent at a Time:

One Parent at a Time

 This morning I sat in front of my computer determined - determined to answer every opt out question in my inbox - this is hard to accomplish because they just keep coming. But today I did it. At least until tomorrow morning or until I check my email again.

I answered questions from distraught parents, parents pleading for help for their child who had been held back or might be held back - even with good report card grades. I responded to parents who were angry - parents whose autistic children are forced to take the test. I helped parents whose children were being denied fine arts due to test scores.  I answered questions from parents with children in kindergarten - these young children are being required to take tests online - these children are frightened. I gave advice to parents whose children are vomiting before the test, parents whose children hate school due to the tests, parents whose children 

Group Presses for Safeguards on the Personal Data of Schoolchildren - NYTimes.com

Group Presses for Safeguards on the Personal Data of Schoolchildren - NYTimes.com:

Group Presses for Safeguards on the Personal Data of Schoolchildren




 A leading children’s advocacy group is challenging the educational technology software industry, an estimated $8 billion market, to develop national safeguards for the personal data collected about students from kindergarten through high school.
Bits

More Tech Coverage

News from the technology industry, including start-ups, the Internet, enterprise and gadgets.
On Twitter: @nytimesbits.
In a letter sent last week to 16 educational technology vendors — including Google Apps for Education, Samsung School, Scholastic and Pearson Schoolnet — Common Sense Media, an advocacy group in San Francisco that rates children’s videos and apps for age appropriateness, urged the industry to use student data only for educational purposes, and not for marketing products to children or their families.
“We believe in the power of education technology, used wisely, to transform learning,” 

10-13-13 NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education

NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education:


TODAY
Success Charter Network has been just that for Eva Moskowitz but not for public schools | NY Daily News
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2011, 4:00 AM Talk about inflating demand for your product. The Success Charter Network, a chain of charter schools headed by former City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz, spent an astonishing $1.6million in the 2009-2010 school year just for publicity and recruitment of new students, the group’s most recent financial reports show. The network ...read moreThe post Success Charter Net
Some N.J. private schools for disabled students cashing in on taxpayers | NJ.com
By Christopher Baxter/The Star-Ledger TRENTON — The payroll at Somerset Hills School reads like a family tree, with 10 relatives sprinkled throughout. Four of them earn six-figure salaries. The cafeteria serves up a nice profit, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for food to a company founded and owned by the school’s executive director. via ...read moreThe post Some N.J. private schools for
Ratings madness: NO ‘highly effective’ elementary/middle-school teachers in Syracuse? | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS October 12 at 12:00 pm The teacher ratings madness continues. In this piece,  Aaron Pallas, professor of sociology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University, asks and answers this question: Are there really no highly effective elementary or middle-school teachers in Syracuse? Pallas  writes the Sociological Eye on Education blog — where this ...read moreThe post Rat
Teachers: do you agree with Malcolm Gladwell that class sizes below 25 are TOO small? | NYC Public School Parents
On WNYC radio, Brian Lehrer is asking teachers to call in on Monday morning, and comment on Malcolm Gladwell’s claim that classes shouldn’t be too small  — such as 25 students and below, since individual students are MORE likely to be able to disrupt the class and struggling students feel isolated at the bottom of ...read moreThe post Teachers: do you agree with Malcolm Gladwell that class sizes b
Why John King Canceled All Future PTA Meetings: “Special Interests” Took Over | Diane Ravitch’s blog
New York State Commissioner John King’s office issued a statement, explaining that the parents who booed and ridiculed him were being “manipulated” by “special interests.” Who are these “special interests” that have the power to befuddle parents about what is in the best interest of their children? Presumably, he meant the teachers’ union. Maybe he ...read moreThe post Why John King Canceled All F
‘There’s an insidious prejudice against older teachers’ | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS It’s not just in the United States where veteran teachers are feeling a bit unwanted in the push for young recruits from programs such as Teach For America. The Guardian newspaper in England published a post in its Secret Teacher blog, written by teachers who write anonymously, with this headline: “There’s an ...read moreThe post ‘There’s an insidious prejudice against older tea
Does StudentsFirst deserve a seat at the policy table? | dangerously irrelevant
BY SCOTT MCLEOD In August I blogged about the intersection of money, politics, and educator evaluation here in Iowa. Today, reporter Mike Wiser quotes me in his Sioux City Journal article about the growing presence of StudentsFirst, Michelle Rhee’s advocacy organization, in our state: We have seen the rise of influence of outside advocacy groups that are essentially ...read moreThe post Does Stude
The Bush-Obama Era: Built on Ignorance by Non-Educators | Diane Ravitch’s blog
A reader writes: “What I would really like to see is Arnie Duncan in a seventh period class, of whatever subject he could be certified in, implementing his signature policies. Only someone who has never taught in a public school could with a straight face implement race to the top. Should add, it would be ...read moreThe post The Bush-Obama Era: Built on Ignorance by Non-Educators | Diane Ravitch’
Tutoring Company in Texas Draws Fire as State Pulls Back Services | NYTimes.com
When two of Marcos Sifuentes’s children received free laptops from a tutoring program through their San Antonio middle school, the family signed up for wireless access at home for the first time. Mr. Sifuentes added an Internet hot spot to his cellphone plan so they could continue their lessons. But when his son and his ...read moreThe post Tutoring Company in Texas Draws Fire as State Pulls Back
Commissioner King addresses big, critical crowd on Common Core | The Poughkeepsie Journal | poughkeepsiejournal.com
Written by Craig Wolf State Education Commissioner John King faced a critical and often loud crowd Thursday evening as he defended the state’s Common Core curriculum initiative that all students, educators and parents are coping with and that has become increasingly controversial. King was sponsored by the state PTA, which has been collaborating with King to ...read moreThe post Commissioner King
More Parents Opting Kids Out Of Standardized Tests | I AM AN EDUCATOR
As a new school year begins, let me be the first to wish you parents, students, and teachers a year full of intellectual curiosity, problem solving, empowerment, and struggle to make education about more than the ability to eliminate wrong answer choices and shade the box corresponding to the single best answer choice. via More ...read moreThe post More Parents Opting Kids Out Of Standardized Test
An Opt Out Letter That Speaks to All Parents | Education Roundtable
My thanks to a parent who agreed to share her heart- wrenching and powerful opt out letter on this blog. It is our hope that this letter will resonate with other parents and give others the strength and the courage to fight to take back our public education system for our children. The child abuse, ...read moreThe post An Opt Out Letter That Speaks to All Parents | Education Roundtable appeared fi
Dr. Joseph Ricciotti: How CCSS Ruins Kindergarten | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Dear Diane, As an outgrowth of reading your new book, “Reign of Error” and reading your blog, I have written the op-ed piece below to the Connecticut Post. Thank you for all you do in your support of public education. Regards, Joe Ricciotti The Developmental Inappropriateness of the CCSS for Kindergarten Children Ricciotti, Joseph To: ...read moreThe post Dr. Joseph Ricciotti: How CCSS Ruins Kinde