Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, February 22, 2014

2-22-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School: 

Perdido Street School Week





Many In China Hate The Chinese Education System - Even If Arne And Barack Love It!
From The Guardian:The streets surrounding Shijia primary school in Beijing were mobbed by a crowd of parents so dense that cars were obliged to beat a retreat.At 3.45pm on Friday, 11-year-old Zou Tingting, five minutes late, bounded through the school's west gate and into her waiting mother's arms. Tingting's classes were over, but her day was just beginning – she had an hour of homework, plus les


Here's What Common Core And Education Reform Will Not Fix
We keep hearing that Common Core is going to make kids the nation over "college and career ready," but that platitude assumes that there are actually "careers" available for kids to do (and get paid for) when they grow up.These days, that's a dicey proposition - as Robert Reich points out:If you ever wonder what’s fueling America’s staggering inequality, ponder Facebook’s acqui

YESTERDAY

The New Teacher Project Attacks The Unions For Pulling Back On Common Core
New Teacher Project leader Tim Daly wrote the following on his official TNTP blog today in response to NEA President Van Roekel calling for a "course correction" on Common Core: Change is hard – but this has almost nothing to do with “botched” implementation. Or standards. “Implementation” is a catch-all complaint that union leaders have often—and successfully—used to extract themselves
Andrew Cuomo's Common Core Panel Shills For The Common Core
Governor Andrew Cuomo may have tried to distance himself from the state education reform agenda yesterday when faced with parents protesting the Common Core outside a budget hearing, but the panel he named to look into Common Core implementation in NY State sure sounds like it's still fully on board with the state reform agenda:ALBANY—At the top of the agenda for Andrew Cuomo's expert panel on Com

FEB 20

Pro-Education Reform Andrew Cuomo Doesn't Get To Distance Himself From His Education Reforms
Governor Andrew Cuomo, ever the political realist, has weighed the merits (and political donations received) for remaining an unabashed Common Core State Standards supporter and education reform proponent as students, parents and teachers around the state rise in rebellion against the CCSS/state education reform agenda and has decided the downside outweighs the benefits.Thus he said the following
Pro-Common Core Andy Cuomo Throws In With Parent Critics Of Common Core
Don't take a sip of water while reading the following or you'll be performing a Danny Thomas spit take:Gov. Andrew Cuomo in Rochester on Thursday compared himself to a parent protesting the implementation of the Common Core standards and sought to distance himself from the highly criticized roll out. Cuomo was asked by a reporter in a Q-and-A about parents and children outside of his regional budg
Cuomo's Pre-K Plan Won't Work The Way Cuomo Says It Will
Jessica Bakeman at Capital NY:ALBANY—Andrew Cuomo has all but won the battle with Mayor Bill de Blasio over how to pay for pre-kindergarten in New York, but experts say the governor's plan won't provide enough money to serve every child in the state. Researchers estimate it will run anywhere from $10,000 to $13,000 per student to provide quality full-day pre-K in New York, accounting for the cost

FEB 19

My Take On Dennis Van Roekel's Common Core Backtrack
NEA President Dennis Van Roekel backtracked on Common Core today:The nation’s largest teachers union is pulling back on its once-enthusiastic support of the Common Core academic standards, labeling their rollout “completely botched.”National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel said he still believes the standards can improve education. But he said they will not succeed without a majo
Mayor Fulop Continues To Screw Up Snow Removal In Jersey City
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop is so busy giving lectures at Rutgers and announcing an endorsement in the Newark mayor's race that he just can't seem to do his job as mayor of Jersey City.As I posted on Sunday, citizens of Jersey City have been irate over the city's poor snow removal program, bombarding the city's Facebook page with complaints like this one from yesterday:My street is so bad could
Bobby Jindal One Of The Least Popular Governors In The Country
Good luck running for president, Bobby:A new poll released Tuesday suggests Gov. Bobby Jindal is among the least popular governors in the U.S.Public Policy Polling, of North Carolina, which generally works with Democrats, drew that conclusion after surveying 635 Louisiana voters between Feb. 6 and Feb. 9. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.9 percent for the overall survey.Fifty-three percent s
Obama Should Apologize To ALL Teachers
In case you didn't hear, Obama slammed art history last week:WASHINGTON — President Obama issued an artful apology Tuesday, taking back a “glib” remark encouraging students to ditch art history for more lucrative pursuits. Playing to the lunchpail crowd at a General Electric plant in Wisconsin late last month, Obama took a swipe at art-history courses while trying to persuade young people to pursu

FEB 18

Note To Mulgrew: You Are Responsible For The Excessive Paperwork Problem Too
A teacher called into a WNYC with UFT President Michael Mulgrew yesterday to complain about all the excessive paperwork teachers are dealing with.James Eterno posted about these excessive mandates last week:The list below was sent to me from a NYC public school teacher. Do you want to be a teacher today? Then understand that in many schools you will spend most of the day meeting multiple mandates

FEB 17

NYSED Admits Cuomo's APPR Teacher Evaluation System Is A Mess
Governor Cuomo threatened the Board of Regents last week if they made any adjustments to his APPR teacher evaluation system.A day later, the Regents backed off and decided to table any changes to teacher evaluations for a few months.Today we learned the following about Cuomo's "state of the art" APPR teacher evaluation system: State education officials for the first time are acknowledgin
New York City Democrats Must Not Vote For Andrew Cuomo
Fred Dicker in today's Post:Gov. Cuomo’s re-election strategy is to sacrifice New York City’s interests, take on Mayor de Blasio and pander to anti-tax and pro-business sentiments upstate, where he’s politically the weakest, angry Democrats from the city charge. Whether it’s Cuomo’s battles with de Blasio over pre-K funding or the city’s ability to hike the minimum wage on its own, his support for
Andrew Cuomo's Hypocrisy Over SUNY
Governor Cuomo announced the following plan yesterday: ALBANY -- Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Sunday the state will expand the opportunity for inmates to get college degrees as a way to keep them from returning to prison and save tax dollars. Cuomo said the state pays $60,000 a year to keep a prisoner incarcerated and 40 percent return to prison. Current college programs in prison cost taxpayers just

FEB 16

Life In Steven Fulop's Snow-Ridden Jersey City
Mayor Steven Fulop's Jersey City government has issued a warning to Jersey City residents today Sunday, February 16th, 2014:The City is working to remove snow from corners and has implemented a snow removal plan to haul snow to vacant lots owned by the City, State and County. Today, with the snow from last night and the freezing temperatures, icy road conditions persist. Because of the regional sa
UFT Stands For - Utterly Failing Teachers
James Eterno posts that he received the following note from a teacher passing along an administrator's demands to the staff for Danielson walk-throughs:Dear Staff,Please note that I will be looking at the following in a walk through tomorrow.Please have these items labeled in a central location where I do not have to interrupt instruction.Student folderDisplay of work inside and outside of roomCom