Sunday, September 12, 2010

Bill Gates Stirs Up the Education Debate in Toronto - NYTimes.com

Bill Gates Stirs Up the Education Debate in Toronto

Fred Thornhill/ReutersBill Gates at the press conference for “Waiting for Superman.”

TORONTO—Mild-mannered, soft-spoken, and beaming broadly, the Microsoft chairman Bill Gates looked every bit the benevolent businessman as he took the stage at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday evening, to help plug the education-reform documentary “Waiting for ‘Superman.’” Mr. Gates appears in the film, and, with his wife Melinda, heads a foundation that has invested heavily in improvements to education. But his aw-shucks manner couldn’t hide the fact that some of the proposals he tossed off on stage at the Winter Garden theater here were volatile stuff. “We’re investing in building these evaluation systems,” Mr. Gates said. He was referring to systems that would evaluate the performance of public school teachers, with an eye toward ending the current tenure system under which many teachers now work, and providing a way to

Web's #1 Source for K12 and Higher Education News and Commentary - EducationNews.org - Algiers charter schools invite the public eye: Andrea Shaw

Algiers charter schools invite the public eye: Andrea Shaw The New Orleans' regional poster child for charter schools is turning 5 this year. The Algiers Charter Schools Association opened its doors on Dec. 14, 2005, providing an educational refuge for youngsters in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. There ...

Misguided use of microchip technology 9.12.10 - Officials with Contra Costa County's Head Start program were frustrated. In order to meet federal requirements, they had to take attendance every hour.

State's education board in spotlight 9.12.10 - AUSTIN — César Chávez isn't on the fall election ballot. Neither is Thomas Jefferson. And Texans won't get a direct say in the teaching of evolution in public schools or how to handle sex education.

New East Harlem charter school Renaissance offers clean slate for its students

BY MEREDITH KOLODNER
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, September 12th 2010, 4:00 AM

Monaster/News

Art Samuels gets learning process going at Renaissance's first college prep class.

RELATED NEWS

This is the third in an occasional series about the opening of the first charter high school in East Harlem.

At his old, failing junior high school, Michael Delvalle was late so many times that he racked up the equivalent of 42 absences.

But on the first day of classes at his new school - Renaissance Charter High School for Innovation - the 15-year-old arrived two hours before the doors even opened.

"I wanted a fresh start," said Michael, a special education student from Junior High School 13, which later closed.

He wasn't the only one offered a clean slate on Day One at Renaissance.

One girl was walking into a public school building for the first time in two years after her

We Inhabit One World, Interconnected, Interdependent And Interrelated To The Whole | Dailycensored.com

We Inhabit One World, Interconnected, Interdependent And Interrelated To The Whole

by Peter Phillips

By Will Shonbrun

Some of us have been active in political, social justice, civil rights or environmental causes for a good bit of our lives if we’re now in our 60s and 70s. We might have been active in marches, demonstrations and rallies for one cause or another, to some degree of commitment or another. Some have truly put their asses on the line and gotten jailed, beaten or worse, while others have taken a less dedicated but still active engagement in trying to change things.

Those who took action in causes did so because they believed it was the right and just thing to do, that it was an obligation as citizens in a democracy to be engaged in our society and because we thought we could change the world and make it a better place. Now I find myself wondering if any of it, certainly most of it, really mattered and here are the reasons for what in truth is a deep and abiding pessimism.

Taking stock, on the plus side there’s no denying that in the realm of civil rights great progress has been made. It took a hundred years for the Proclamation ending slavery to take hold through the establishment and

Mayoral issue poll. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Mayoral issue poll.

by preaprez

Vote for the issue or issues that a Chicago candidate for mayor should support. You can vote for more than one.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Ohio Education Association and Staff Reach Tentative Agreement | Intercepts

Ohio Education Association and Staff Reach Tentative Agreement

by Mike Antonucci

After a large rally on Friday that included members, local officers and NEA affiliate staffers from other states, Ohio Education Association management and staff returned to the bargaining table and hammered out an agreement Friday night.

Details of the settlement were not available, but the staff union hopes to hold a ratification vote during the

The Washington Teacher: Nathan Saunders, WTU VP Defends DC Teachers on Fox News

Nathan Saunders, WTU VP Defends DC Teachers on Fox News

by The Wash. Teacher

Nathan Saunders, Candidate for President of the Washington Teachers' Union and Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells joined the FOX 5 News on September 10 to discuss the state of DC Public Schools which is the number one issue for voters in the upcoming primary for D.C. mayor.

Schools Matter: A call for accuracy: A response to Time Magazine's "A call for action"

A call for accuracy: A response to Time Magazine's "A call for action" A call for accuracy: A response to "A call for action" Sent to Time Magazine, September 11, 2010 "A call for action" (September 20) is based on two incorrect claims: American students are poor in reading, with 69% of 8th graders "below proficient", and ...

Obama's Accountability Measures Where It Counts: Non-Existent While Obama's man, Arne Duncan, parades around the country talking about "No Excuses" for poor teachers teaching poorer children in the poorest schools, the swollen leeches of Wall Street continue to feed on the blood of working men and women without ...

Where to turn for more information about C-sections | California Watch

Where to turn for more information about C-sections

by Ashley Alvarado

Cesarean sections have proved to be an important option for obstetricians and expectant parents. For a variety of medical reasons, some women are unable to give birth any other way. But a debate continues to rage in the medical community, and among some parent groups, about whether too many of the surgeries are being performed. Expectant parents researching C-sections, or childbirth in general, are likely to find a lot of contradictory information. Partisans of the various ongoing debates dominate the conversation – and are often misinformed. Here’s where to find unbiased advice.

Websites

March of Dimes

The nonprofit’s mission is to improve the health of babies, and it has no perceived ideology about how to best do

Weblogg-ed � Reality Check

Reality Check

by Will Richardson

1 person liked this

It is the thesis of this book that change—constant, accelerating, ubiquitous—is the most striking characteristic of the world we live in and that our educational system has not yet recognized this fact. We maintain, further, that the abilities and attitudes required to deal adequately with change are those of the highest priority and that it is not beyond our ingenuity to design school environments which can help young people to master concepts necessary to survival in a rapidly

Schools Matter: Will Rahm the Raptor Take Arne Back to Chicago with Him? Please.

Will Rahm the Raptor Take Arne Back to Chicago with Him? Please.

by Jim Horn

Here's a clue for clueless Dems who can't seem to understand why progressives have given up on this bunch of Wall Street enablers:

Math Teachers at Play coming Friday… � JD2718

Math Teachers at Play coming Friday…

by jd2718

The 30th edition of Math Teachers at Play will be published, right here, in 6 days. There is still time to submit an article.

MTaP focuses on teaching mathematics…

numbers, arithmetic, fractions, algebra, geometry, more advanced
the math itself, teaching the content, running the math classroom, puzzles, games, projects…

September’s Best Tweets — Part One | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

September’s Best Tweets — Part One Every month I make a short list highlighting my choices of the best resources I shared through (and learned from) Twitter, but didn’t necessarily include them in posts here on my blog. Now and then, in order to make it a bit easier for me, I may try ...

Good World Religion Lesson Plans The New York Times Learning Network has pulled together all their great lesson plans related to related. You can find them at Resources: World Religions. They’d have to be modified to be made accessible to English Language Learners, but there are a ...

Interview Of The Month: Robert Pondiscio From Core Knowledge Each month I interview people in the education world about whom I want to learn more. You can see read those past interviews here. This month I have the pleasure of interviewing Robert Pondiscio, writer of the always thought-provoking Core Knowledge ...

This Week In Education: USDE: Duncan Goes International

USDE: Duncan Goes International

by Alexander Russo

Our man Arne Duncan is headed out of the country for a media event next week -- all the way to Toronto -- then back on Tuesday for the President's back to school thingamajig and a lackluster set of media events the rest of the week. Where do you think he should go next, or do you think he should stay in country for the duration?

PUBLIC SCHEDULE OF U.S. EDUCATION SECRETARY ARNE DUNCAN

THE WEEK AHEAD: Monday, Sept. 13 - Sunday, Sept. 19

(All Events are EDT)

Monday, Sept. 13

The Secretary will travel to Toronto, Canada, for two events—a school visit and an international education symposium.

12:30-1:35 p.m.

The Secretary will first visit Weston Collegiate Institute (a high school). Premier Dalton McGuinty and School Principal Deborah Blair will join him. A media avail will follow.

Weston Collegiate Institute, 100 Pine St., Toronto, Cana

Field Rep Workload Increased By CTU? - District 299: Chicago Public Schools Blog

Field Rep Workload Increased By CTU?

Alexander Russo on 09.11.10 at 10:13 AM | 1 comment |

I'm told that CTU is implementing several cost-cutting measures, including increasing the workloads of the field reps from having 40-50 schools each to having 70 schools each. Saving money's always a good idea, but not everyone agrees with the approach. "This is not the time to be increasing the amount of schools that they have. New field reps aren't experienced enough and even the experienced reps have got to be going insane. There are so many problems right now and so many displaced tenured teachers. There are buildings with no delegates to make sure things are going properly...how can the field reps do the job

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Sunday, September 12, 2010