Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Nite Cap 7-1-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2


James Baldwin said it best: 

"For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."


A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAP



Fundraising advantages didn’t buy victory in SBE primaries | Chalkbeat
Fundraising advantages didn’t buy victory in SBE primaries | Chalkbeat: Fundraising advantages didn’t buy victory in SBE primaries Both candidates who won the contested State Board of Education primaries on June 24, Valentina Flores and Marcia Neal, raised less money than the people they defeated.In the 1st District, Democratic winner Flores raised $20,292 in cash and non-monetary contributions. L
Marie Corfield: Christie can't take the heat in Paterson
Marie Corfield: Christie can't take the heat in Paterson: Christie can't take the heat in PatersonApparently Gov. Christie heeded the old saying, "If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen" and high-tailed it out of the Silk City after uttering about 25 works in his swearing in of Mayor Jose Torres. But I don't think it was the typical Jersey-style summer-in-the-city, +90° hazy,
In Colorado Parents Are Denied Access to Their Student’s Data | Truth in American Education
In Colorado Parents Are Denied Access to Their Student’s Data | Truth in American Education: In Colorado Parents Are Denied Access to Their Student’s DataFiled in Privacy/SLDS by Shane Vander Hart on July 1, 2014 • 0 CommentsSimilar to what John Eppolito experienced in Nevada, parents in Colorado are having a difficult time accessing their own student’s data, but 3rd party entities don’t seem to h
NEA Representative Assembly to Vote to End ‘Toxic Testing’ | NEA Today
NEA Representative Assembly to Vote to End ‘Toxic Testing’ | NEA Today: NEA Representative Assembly to Vote to End ‘Toxic Testing’July 1, 2014 by twalker  Filed under Featured News, Top StoriesLeave a CommentBy Cindy Long and Sara RobertsonThe National Education Association will launch a national campaign to put the focus of assessments and accountability back on student learning and end the “test
NYC Public School Parents: District 6 parents want and need smaller classes! Contract for Excellence testimony by Tory Frye
NYC Public School Parents: District 6 parents want and need smaller classes! Contract for Excellence testimony by Tory Frye: District 6 parents want and need smaller classes! Contract for Excellence testimony by Tory FryeTo submit your own comments on the city's Contract for Excellence/class size proposal, emailContractsForExcellence@schools.nyc.gov  by July 19.  If you'd like to share your commen
7-1-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University)
the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): Welcome to the Oligarchy: The U.S. Needs a New MythologyAn oligarchy exists when power rests with a very few. The U.S. was founded as a rejection of the sort of oligarchy in which royalty (the accident of birth) determined power—although that movement was driven mostly b
Green Dot, based in L.A., plans to open schools in other states - Los Angeles Times
Green Dot, based in L.A., plans to open schools in other states - Los Angeles Times: Green Dot, based in L.A., plans to open schools in other statesGreen Dot Public Schools, a locally based group of charter campuses, announced this week it has set up a national organization to manage expansion into Tennessee and Washington.Charters are free public schools operated independently of local districts
7-1-14 The Whole Child Blog — Turning Around the Teen Brain by Building Effort
The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education: Turning Around the Teen Brain by Building EffortNeuroplasticity means humans have the ability to change their brains through repeated, adaptive practice. Buy-in, however, can be a huge hurdle in getting students to invest effort in the actions that will grow their brains. "If the brain's not buying in, then it's not changing," author Eric Jen
7-1-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD
LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District): Morning Read: Vergara may be headed for lengthy appealsFinal ruling in Vergara could be years in coming Vergara v. California, in which a Superior Court judge struck down California’s teacher tenure, layoff and dismissal laws, may be headed for a lengthy appeals process. A clue to how long may lie in anot
7-1-14 Answer Sheet
Answer Sheet: How to increase socioeconomic diversity in collegeLeaders in higher education have known for many years that low-income students are underrepresented at top institutions. How to change that? Catharine B. Hill, the president of Vassar College in New York, writes in this post about the only way that colleges and universities can expand socioeconomic diversity. By Catharine B. Hill As c
7-1-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy
Wait What?: Wait What? The battle against the corporate education reform industry takes center stageCharter School Scandal Continues to Rock Malloy Administration… However, rather than conduct a truly independent investigation into the fall of the Jumoke/FUSE charter school management company, Governor Malloy’s Commissioner of Education and his political appointees on the State Board of Education
7-1-14 @ The Chalk Face
@ THE CHALK FACE: A Lovely Review of David Greene’s Néw BookA Lovely Review of David Greene’s Néw Book.1 by David Greene / 6min 6-30-14 @ The Chalk Face@ THE CHALK FACE: Media Has No Idea What Special Education Is (Guest Post)Guest Post by Jessica S. Martinez, in response to a recent editorial in the Albuquerque Journal. Once again, the Albuquerque Journal Editorial Board has placed its ignorance
7-1-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Today Is Canada Day — Here Are Related Resources© 2008 Dennis Jarvis, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio Today is Canada Day! I’ve just made a lot of additions to The Best Sites To Learn About Canada.by Larry Ferlazzo / 11min   6-30-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFLLarry Ferlazzo’s Webs
7-1-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Tuesday Open ThreadWA State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn has sent a letter to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan asking that Washington be waived from the NCLB requirement that public schools send out letters about how they are all failing under NCLB (about 96% of schools would have to send out these letters).  Naturally, 96% of Washington school
Where are most of California’s tenured teachers? | Hechinger Report
Where are most of California’s tenured teachers? | Hechinger Report: Where are most of California’s tenured teachers?By Sarah ButrymowiczA California judge recently ruled that teacher tenure and other job protections violate a student’s right to education and, as such, are unconstitutional. The case, Vergara v. California, prompted speculation about what it would mean for other states where simila
Mercedes Schneider and VAMs in Louisiana |
Mercedes Schneider and VAMs in Louisiana |: Mercedes Schneider and VAMs in Louisiana I’ve been communicating recently with Mercedes Schneider, lifelong and now Louisiana teacher, blogger at deutsch29, and author of a newly-released book on corporate educational reform, A Chronicle of Echoes. We recently got onto the topic of George Noell – the infamous developer of the state of Louisiana’s VAM – p
“Good” Doctors and Teachers (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
“Good” Doctors and Teachers (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: “Good” Doctors and Teachers (Part 2)1. Has the definition of “good” teachers changed over time as has the one about “good” physicians?2. Are there many different versions of “good” teaching as there were for “good” doctors?3. Even with the differences in definitions over time and setting, are their core cha
Morning Wink 7-1-14 AM Posts #edchat #edreform
BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTSLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 7-1-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for allDiane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Paul Bruno: What if There is No Crisis in U.S. Education?Paul Bruno, a science teacher in California, assembled a few charts to show that there is no “crisis” in American education. What we have
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 7-1-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Paul Bruno: What if There is No Crisis in U.S. Education?Paul Bruno, a science teacher in California, assembled a few charts to show that there is no “crisis” in American education. What we have today was aptly named “a manufactured crisis” by David Berliner and Bruce Biddle, in their book “The Manufactured Crisis: Myths, Fraud, an
7-1-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher
Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: The men on the bench. We need more than a tepid response and a “glad it wasn’t worse.”Things start slowly here in Denver. Following our three-day pre-conference yesterday was a day off for retirees – except for those who joined student members  in the annual Outreach to Teach program. They headed over
7-1-14 Schools Matter All Week
Schools Matter: A bad way to rate teachersSent to the Wall Street Journal, July 1, 2014Contrary to Eric Hanushek's statement ("How Teachers Unions Use 'Common Core' to Undermine Reform," June 30), there is no movement by anybody to "eliminate school accountability and teacher evaluations." There is a movement to eliminate the use of standardized test score gains to evaluate tea
7-1-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Short Bibliography on Charter School Corruption
With A Brooklyn Accent: Short Bibliography on Charter School CorruptionLeonie Haimson: Six Charter School Myths http://dianeravitch.net/2014/05/15/leonie-haimson-six-charter-school-myths/ Will Anyone Stop Charter School Corruption from Truthout http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/24659-will-anyone-stop-charter-school-corruption Who Is Profiting From Charters? From Alernet http://www.alternet.org
7-1-14 Curmudgucation
CURMUDGUCATION: Brown Presents NY Lawsuit Talking PointsIn the June 24 NY Daily News, Campbell Brown presented the basic talking points for the newly-manufactured NY road show version of the Vergara trial. Here we go.A Stirring AnecdoteHer story centers on the Williams familyOne of their children... felt so strongly about the lack of instruction she was getting at her Rochester school that she wro
7-1-14 Perdido Street School
Perdido Street School: RIP: Frank CashenFrom the Daily News:Frank Cashen, a one-time Baltimore sportswriter-turned-baseball man who presided over championship Oriole teams in the ’60s and ’70s and then, as general manager of the Mets, was the architect of their 1986 world championship team with a series of inspired trades for Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, Ron Darling and Bobby Ojeda, among others,
Have the people of Newark become invisible? | Bob Braun's Ledger
Have the people of Newark become invisible? | Bob Braun's Ledger: Have the people of Newark become invisible?Chris Christie and Cami AndersonThe renewal of Cami Anderson’s contract as state-imposed schools superintendent in Newark reveals some unpleasant truths many in the city and state may not want to face. The progressive wing of the state Democratic Party is all but dead. Support for public ed
SBE to clarify LCFF sanctions :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet
SBE to clarify LCFF sanctions :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet: JULY 01, 2014SBE to clarify LCFF sanctionsby Kimberly Beltran(Calif.) Even as districts met the June deadline for meeting new accountability measures under the Local Control Funding Formula, changes to the system are already in the wind.Next week, the California State Board of Ed
Pennsylvania Budget Fails to Provide for Desperate Education Needs of Philadelphia’s Children | janresseger
Pennsylvania Budget Fails to Provide for Desperate Education Needs of Philadelphia’s Children | janresseger: Pennsylvania Budget Fails to Provide for Desperate Education Needs of Philadelphia’s ChildrenPosted on July 1, 2014 by janressegerWriting for the NY Times, Josh Barro points out: “Kansas has a problem.  In April and May, the state planned to collect $651 million from personal income tax.  B
The REAL international story of American education | Dangerously Irrelevant
The REAL international story of American education | Dangerously Irrelevant: The REAL international story of American educationLinda Darling-Hammond said:Federal policy under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the Department of Education’s ‘flexibility’ waivers has sought to address [the problem of international competitiveness] by beefing up testing policies — requiring more tests and upping the con
Competency Education: The Next Great Disruptor in Education | Connected Principals
Competency Education: The Next Great Disruptor in Education | Connected Principals: Competency Education: The Next Great Disruptor in Educationby Brian Stack • July 1, 2014 • 0 CommentsAt a summit hosted by the Bainbridge Consulting firm in San Diego last week, research fellow Thomas Arnett of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation talked about the power of disruptors in shapi
Is test-prep teaching? It takes up 18 percent of school time | Education Lab Blog | Seattle Times
Is test-prep teaching? It takes up 18 percent of school time | Education Lab Blog | Seattle Times: Is test-prep teaching? It takes up 18 percent of school timePosted by Claudia RoweDonna Grethen / Op ArtAs lawmakers in Olympia prepare to grapple with court-ordered increases in school funding, it might help to have a better idea of the various tasks a teacher is expected to complete in a day.So wen
Shanker Blog » Teachers And Education Reform, On A Need To Know Basis
Shanker Blog » Teachers And Education Reform, On A Need To Know Basis: Teachers And Education Reform, On A Need To Know BasisPosted by Matthew Di Carlo on July 1, 2014A couple of weeks ago, the website Vox.com published an article entitled, “11 facts about U.S. teachers and schools that put the education reform debate in context.” The article, in the wake of the Vergara decision, is supposed to pr
NYC Educator: Troglodytes
NYC Educator: Troglodytes: TroglodytesThe United States Supreme Court made two important decisions yesterday. First, they decided that employers need not fund health care decisions that conflict with their religious views.So if you want your health care to entail birth control but your employer doesn't believe in it, too bad for you. Some religions have other reservations about medicine. Let's say
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: SCOTUS decision deserves a stronger response than Schuette got
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: SCOTUS decision deserves a stronger response than Schuette got: SCOTUS decision deserves a stronger response than Schuette gotFind out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them. -- Frederick DouglassThe right wing has obviously figured out that that they can do just fine by neut

YESTERDAY

6-30-14 @ The Chalk Face
@ THE CHALK FACE: Media Has No Idea What Special Education Is (Guest Post)Guest Post by Jessica S. Martinez, in response to a recent editorial in the Albuquerque Journal. Once again, the Albuquerque Journal Editorial Board has placed its ignorance on display for all to see. Here is yet another example of those who know nothing about education sticking their noses where they do not belong. Allow me
Friction in alliance between Democrats, unions over teacher tenure | MSNBC
Friction in alliance between Democrats, unions over teacher tenure | MSNBC: Friction in alliance between Democrats, unions over teacher tenureNational Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel and Nation Institute fellow Wayne Barrett look at the robust debate in the left over whether teacher tenure is in the best interests of students.
Common Core-Aligned Tests and the New Pearson GED: Failure By Design? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher
Common Core-Aligned Tests and the New Pearson GED: Failure By Design? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher: Common Core-Aligned Tests and the New Pearson GED: Failure By Design?By Anthony Cody on June 30, 2014 7:06 PMReturning from protesting the Gates Foundation's funding of corporate education reform, I have been wrestling with some questions about the goals for their project.The Gates
Nite Cap 6-30-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2
James Baldwin said it best: "For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAP6-30-14 Seattle Schools Community ForumSeattle Schools Community Forum: Great Reading on Ed Reform by a Local LeaderThat leader is Trish Millines Dziko who started Technology Access Foundation and is truly a great thinker on how to push the needl