Sunday, July 11, 2010

Norm's Notes: Twitter feed on Gates appearance at #AFTconvention

Norm's Notes

An archive of articles and listserve postings of interest, mostly posted without commentary, linked to commentary at the Education Notes Online blog. Note that I do not endorse the points of views of all articles, but post them for reference purposes.

Norm's Notes: Twitter feed on Gates appearance at AFT convention

Twitter feed on Gates appearance at AFT convention

From two observers, one of them associated with the Chicago Teachers Union; read from the bottom:

CTULocal1

RT @janehun Bill gets rapt attention. Occasional applause. Occasional rumbles of disagreement. Occasional noise outside hall.#aftconvention 30 minutes ago via HTC Peep

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CTULocal1

RT @Thatsrightnate Now Bill is pushing Race to the Top #AFTConvention 31 minutes ago via HTC Peep

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CTULocal1

Gates, "Tenure should reflect student achievement." Audible boos. #aftconvention 31 minutes ago via HTC Peep

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Thatsrightnate

Some teachers applaud giving up tenure. I'm going to assume that it's our charter contingent #AFTConvention 31 minutes ago via Twitterrific

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CTULocal1

Gates on merit pay, "Teachers shouldn't have to leave the classroom to advance their careers." Audible jeers. #aftconvention 33 minutes agovia HTC Peep

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Thatsrightnate

Now Bill is pushing Race to the Top #AFTConvention 33 minutes ago via Twitterrific

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Thatsrightnate

Merit pay, Bill? Do some research #AFTConvention 34 minutes ago via Twitterrific

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CTULocal1

Gates extols the virtues of peer observation and merit pay. #aftconvention 35 minutes ago via HTC Peep

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Thatsrightnate

Trying to improve public education through teacher evaluation is like baking a cake by focusing on the mixing bowl #AFTConvention 36 minutes ago via Twitterrific

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Thatsrightnate

I really feel Bill Gates gets our goals & dreams as educators & can't wait to crush them #AFTConvention 40 minutes ago via Twitterrific

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Thatsrightnate

I wonder if Bill Gates will mention that "innovation can only come on charter schools" again or come out against tenure? #AFTConvention42 minutes ago via Twitterrific

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CTULocal1

Gates admits he couldn't teach his own kids science two at a time. Says most teachers have never been taught to be great. #aftconvention43 minutes ago via HTC Peep

In interview, Bill Gates urges teachers to join reform like Hillsborough's - St. Petersburg Times

In interview, Bill Gates urges teachers to join reform like Hillsborough's

By Tom Marshall, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Sunday, July 11, 2010

Bill Gates’ foundation is providing $100 million to help improve teaching in Hillsborough.

Speaker P�rez: Budget Choices Must Help Private Sector and Local Communities Keep Californians Working | California Progress Report

Speaker Pérez: Budget Choices Must Help Private Sector and Local Communities Keep Californians Working

by kaldveer

By Assembly Speaker John Pérez
SACRAMENTO – In this Democratic weekly address, Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) highlights comments he made to business leaders and local mayors this week that job creation must be the priority in budget negotiations and that California cannot afford another summer of ideological warfare.
Click onto the following link for the English language MP3 file. The running time is 3:03.
http://asmdc.org/newsline/20100709RadioAddressEnglishBudgetPerez1.mp3
Click onto the following link for the Spanish language MP3 file. The running time is 4:24.
http://www.asmdc.org/newsline/20100709RadioAddressSJPSPANISH.mp3
read more

MLPA Chair Praises Oil Industry’s 'Safety Record' as CEQA Review Begins

Historic DOMA Ruling Could Help Repeal Prop 8

Ending the Failed War on Drugs: New Directions for California

No Rest for the Weary Electorate

Phony Agents Prey on Homeowners

Of Lions and Lines

House Debates War Funding Supplemental

Sacramento Bee Editorials Continue to Attack Teacher Unions in Support of SB 1285

Why Districts Buy New Technologies, Part 2: Political and Psychological Explanations � Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Why Districts Buy New Technologies, Part 2: Political and Psychological Explanations

by larrycuban

How easy it is to forget that in the U.S., nearly all state and local funding schools depends upon property, sales, and other taxes. Federal money only accounts for less than a dime out of every dollar spent on schools. Local voters and their state representatives approve tax levies, bond referenda, and changes in school funding. Except for Hawaii, states authorize local school boards to make policy except in those cities where elected mayors run schools.

I repeat all of these Government 101 facts to make the simple point that public schools are political entities. Those who make policy for schools are utterly dependent upon voters who pay taxes (most of whom do not have children in school), upon parents who send their children to public schools, and upon those interest groups that have a stake in schools. Without the financial and political support of the community, kiss public schools goodbye.

To secure that external support, schools must be responsive to voters and external organizations (state legislatures, PTAs, city officials, Chambers of Commerce, unions, etc.). When the U.S. lags in global

Putting New Technologies into Schools: Explaining Non-Rational Behavior

by larrycuban

In the past 12 months, the average household spent nearly $1400 on consumer electronics (HDTV, computers, smart phones, etc.). Even during a deep recession, overall consumer spending is up 10 percent over last year. In a culture where new technologies that deliver faster and easier access to entertainment and information are highly prized, there many Americans, even during hard times, who line up to buy the next new thing.

And school purchases—including replacement cycles of equipment– of laptops, netbooks, and iPads have surged in these recessionary years. Using federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act funds (Title 1) and Stimulus funds, regular budget line items, bond referenda, and corporate largesse, school districts—again while

School Tech Connect: RSS Mavens, Where Are You?

RSS Mavens, Where Are You?

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

If I were any good at conversations about tools, which I'm not, I would assert that RSS is a more useful tool than Twitter. But then, that would be a silly conversation. I do love my RSS feeds, though--I like having them on the front page of my blog. It gives me impetus to interact with other writers. I see a new post; I go read it, maybe comment; then I come back home here and bounce off of it in a post. I like to read other people's RSS widgets, too. I go over to Big Education Ape all the time and just skim through the clips. It's very useful.

The weird thing is that I really don't understand RSS and have trouble explaining it completely. For example, on this blog, I clearly know how to pull in a bunch of different feeds, but some feeds are just a mystery to me. TakeRainbow Push, for example. They apparently burn a feed:

Schools Matter: Teacher Attrition in Charter Schools

Teacher Attrition in Charter Schools

by Jim Horn

From a new policy brief by Nat'l Center on School Choice (click to enlarge):

Bill Gates, the Oligarchs' Oligarch

by Jim Horn

Beneath the creaky boyishness and slightly demented grin of Billy Gates beats the heart of a ruthless capitalist intent upon shaping the world in ways that make the future safe for the production of his line of cure-alls to the problems that he spends so much of his time marketing. After all, the inevitability of accepting the Gates-Broad-Walton-Fisher cure depends entirely upon the framing of the problem in ways that make such cures inevitable.

One of his favorite problems these days is disguised as "underperforming" schools and teachers, when, in fact, Gates's real problems, if acknowledged, would include the real costs of urban renewal, the threat of unionism, the potential costs of any social disorder, inefficiency, and anything less than an oversupply of politically-fumigated, obedient, trained technical workers and technocrats to manage them.

The current Gates solution: KIPP Schools, where untrained white female Ivy Leagues temps engage the

Randi Wins Best Non-Supportive Acting Role as Teacher Unionist President

by Jim Horn

Thanks, Jack Gerson, for handing out this distinguished award. See Randi tsk, see Randi cluck, see Randi shocked! Really.

Weingarten has been in on every sleazy corporate-sponsored deal crafted during the past 3 years to eviscerate the teaching profession and due process, and now she is shocked Obama and Duncan are doing the same.

Her invited guest this week? Bill Gates, who had this to say last year at a TED talk where he discussed

Sunday links. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Sunday links.

by preaprez

Brand new African American Biloxi school to be closed by white school board.

The all-white school board of Biloxi, Mississsippi voted to close the newly constructed all-black Nichols elementary school. The board voted with no public notice.

Foreign student attendance increases at Cal Foreign student attendance increases at Cal

Foreign student attendance increases at Cal

Jessica Kwong, Special to The Chronicle

Sunday, July 11, 2010

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Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

Orlando Cano of Ecuador (from left), Claudia Martinez of Mexico and Romain Baverze of France attend a summer class on negotiation and conflict resolution at UC Berkeley.

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When Rebeca Ponce signed up for summer classes at UC Berkeley through her university in Mexico, she knew she was in for an experience that would broaden her view of the world.
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Anniston Star - Byrne not on track

Byrne not on track

Jul 11, 2010 | 320 views | 1

| 3

Since Bradley Byrne was once a Democrat who supported Bill Clinton for president, it is understandable that he does not know the history of the Alabama Republican Party.

When the GOP was the minority party in this state, one of the ways it tried to grow its membership was by having an "open primary" to afford everyone the opportunity to vote in its elections. These were the rules the day Byrne switched to become a Republican, and these are the rules that existed the day he filed to run for governor.

Now he wants to change the rules in the middle of the election. Whether Byrne likes it or not, every registered voter has the right to vote in the GOP runoff. Until Alabama changes the rules, it shall continue to be our right. But this discussion is a subject for a different time and place — not in the middle of a hotly contested runoff.

Nearly 40 percent of Alabama Education Association members are self-identified as

Mr. Gray on education

MAYORAL HOPEFUL and D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray's platform on education has something to please everyone. There's funding equity for public charter schools, increased access to infant and toddler care, more guidance counselors, better middle schools, and more interesting high school programs. There's even a nod to the school reforms enacted under Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. How Mr. Gray would accomplish his agenda is another matter. So ambitious is the list that it is hard to discern what are his priorities and, more significant, how he would pay for them.

Mr. Gray, who is challenging Mr. Fenty in the Sept. 14 Democratic primary, released his education plan last week. The 12-page document incorporates many elements of the reform effort led by Mr. Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee. But unlike Mr. Fenty -- who for the past three years has focused his attentions on kindergarten through 12th grade -- Mr. Gray adopts what he calls a more "holistic" approach. He envisions a cradle-to-career pipeline of programs in which children are prepared for school by the time they reach first grade and high school graduates are helped to go to college.
Mr. Gray's advocacy for public charter schools is a welcome contrast to a disinterest sometimes displayed by Mr. Fenty. As chairman, Mr. Gray blocked cuts in charter facilities funding proposed by Mr. Fenty; he has pledged support for parity in resources for children who attend charter schools. He's also been an advocate for the University of the District of Columbia, again an area where Mr. Fenty has shown disinterest, if not outright hostility. Both Mr. Gray and Mr. Fenty have backed efforts to provide more and better pre-kindergarten programs; here their rivalry has had a beneficial effect, with each trying to outdo the other.
On the other hand, some of Mr. Gray's goals are contradicted by his actions. He proposes strengthening the office of deputy mayor for education, but he led an effort to strip the office of funding and major areas of responsibility. Likewise, even as Mr. Gray accuses the mayor of acting unilaterally, he helped engineer the questionable transfer of a

Grading Diane Ravitch's education ideas | Philadelphia Inquirer | 07/11/2010

Grading Diane Ravitch's education ideas

Frank Wilson
is a retired Inquirer book editor who blogs at http://booksinq.blogspot.com

Diane Ravitch was for No Child Left Behind (NCLB) before she was against it.
NCLB became law in January 2002, and Ravitch - a former assistant secretary of education - says her support for it "remained strong" for nearly five years, until Nov. 30, 2006. "I can pinpoint the exact date because that was the day I realized NCLB was a failure," she recounts in The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. The occasion was a conference at the American Enterprise Institute examining "whether the major remedies prescribed by NCLB - especially choice and after-school tutoring - were effective."
As it happened, "only a tiny fraction of eligible students asked to transfer to better schools" - 2 percent or less. Figures for after-school tutoring were not much better: 20 percent of eligible students in New Jersey took advantage of it, but in California only 7 percent; in Colorado, 10 percent; and in Kentucky, 9 percent.
There is nothing partisan in Ravitch's critique of NCLB. The law, she notes, was passed with broad bipartisan support. "In retrospect," she writes, "NCLB seems foreordained. . . . Elected officials of both parties came to accept as secular gospel the idea that testing and accountability would necessarily lead to better schools."
Ravitch's book is a must-read if you want to get some idea of just how chaotic educational thinking in this country has become.
"For the past century or more," she writes, "education reformers have tried out their ideas in the schools. . . . With

Weblogg-ed � Public Education as Conspiracy

Public Education as Conspiracy

by Will Richardson

I’ve always been a fan of Seth Godin who is one of those people who pushes my thinking on a regular basis and who can articulate the issues in an unusually clear way. And, I love his passion for what he believes. That in and of itself makes him great reading/listening.

In this video linked by Garr Reynolds of Presentation Zen, Godin neatly sums up in about 4 1/2 minutes a message I think every parent should hear (building on the post here a couple of days ago.) Take a listen:

My kids turn 13 and 11 next month. Homeschooling is not an option for us, for a variety of reasons. (I know, I know…we could make it happen if we REALLY wanted to.) One of my kids is in public school, the other goes to an independent school. While I love their teachers, I don’t love either system. I don’t love the “we’re going to do what you need to do to get yourself to college” path they’re both on (whether it’s articulated that way or not). I don’t love what’s lost in that equation.

What really resonates is when he says that we’re not going to test ourselves out of this problematic moment. “We need to essay ourselves out of it, sketch ourselves out of it, or we need to debate our way out of it” instead. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Thinking about all of this makes me more convinced that unless my kids develop serious passions for doing whatever good work they want to do, sending them off to college as Grade 13 is just a horrible idea, and that I