Tuesday Churn: Turnaround fight brewing | EdNewsColorado

Tuesday Churn: Turnaround fight brewing | EdNewsColorado

Tuesday Churn: Turnaround fight brewing

by EdNews staff

What’s churning:

Should young children be prohibited from addressing school boards on tear-inducing topics such as possible school closures?

The question, tossed out at the end of a lengthy Denver Public Schools board work session last night, was quickly quashed. Board President Nate Easley asked for comments from other board members, some of whom agreed that children may be used as pawns on such controversial subjects. But others, particularly board member Jeanne Kaplan, argued public entities need to hear from their constituents and it’s up to parents t

There’s Something about Michelle Rhee… | The Atlanta Post

There’s Something about Michelle Rhee… | The Atlanta Post

There’s Something about Michelle Rhee…

OCTOBER 11, 2010 12:36 PM

Yesterday, the Washington Post posted a “manifesto” from over a dozen public school district superintendents about what they feel should be at the heart of reform for the nations’ 97,000 public school districts.

Touting the need to shed entrenched practices, which have held the education system back, the education professionals wrote that two major reforms need to happen to ensure student achievement: first, more charter school choice in neighborhoods with failing schools and, second, the need for performance based evaluation of teachers.

In other words, those teachers, who perform well, are rewarded financially while those teachers who fail to ensure student achievement are shown the front door.

On an interesting side note, one of the many signers of this “manifesto” is Michelle Rhee, soon-to-be-former D.C. Schools Chancellor and current face of education reform in America. For those unfamiliar with the name, you might recall Rhee from her role as a shining example of education reform in the documentary,

State's charter school law in dire need of an update | Philadelphia Inquirer | 10/12/2010

State's charter school law in dire need of an update | Philadelphia Inquirer | 10/12/2010

State's charter school law in dire need of an update

By Gerald L. Santilli

While opinions about charter schools in Philadelphia are varied and heated, everyone should agree on one thing: The law that governs the state's charter schools needs to be changed.

Charter school operators would certainly welcome it. When the law in question, known as Act 22, was written, charter schools were little more than a concept. Today we have more than a decade of experience and data to inform a rewriting of the law.

There's no doubt that charter school regulations will eventually change. The key question is how to change them in a way that benefits the end users: the children of Philadelphia and the rest of the state.

Plowing ahead recklessly would only invite ill-considered changes that may leave us no better off - and possibly in worse shape - than we are now. We need an open, transparent process for revising the law that encourages

Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20101012_State_s_charter_school_law_in_dire_need_of_an_update.html#ixzz129EXn2lG
Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else

School civil rights complaints rise...Fort Hood shooting hearing

School civil rights complaints rise...Fort Hood shooting hearing

Oct 12, 2010 7:41am

Email

Print

UNDATED (AP) — The department of Education's Office for Civil Rights says civil rights complaints have risen 11 percent this fiscal year -- the largest jump in at least 10 years. The data suggests much higher suspension rates for African American boys than whites. Children who are learning English are kept in separate classes for years, and are falling behind. And students who are disabled or have an illness are also shortchanged.

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — A hearing begins today for an Army psychiatrist charged with the Fort Hood shootings and will mark the first time witnesses will testify. The Article 32 hearing for Army Maj. Nidal Hasan will determine if there's enough evidence for a trial and is expected to last at least three weeks. He's charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The question of whether Anna Nicole Smith's two doctors a

Evaluating teacher effectiveness is evolving | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Evaluating teacher effectiveness is evolving | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Evaluating teacher effectiveness is evolving

06:52 AM CDT on Tuesday, October 12, 2010

By JESSICA MEYERS / The Dallas Morning News
jmeyers@dallasnews.com

How good is your child's teacher?

For years, principals answered that question by visiting a classroom, taking down observations and handing the teacher an annual review.

Now with millions in federal money aimed at rewarding the nation's best teachers, school districts are searching for ways to identify them. Recent studies also point to teacher quality as a key to solving lagging student performance.

Transgender student not among homecoming queen nominees at North Dallas High

11:07 PM CDT on Monday, October 11, 2010

By ROY APPLETON / The Dallas Morning News
rappleton@dallasnews.com

The principal has held firm: Male students such as Andy Moreno can't be homecoming queen at North Dallas High School.

Moreno, who identifies as a female, wasn't among the three nominees for queen announced Monday.

Also Online

North Dallas High School principal blocks transgender student's bid for homecoming queen

Link Fox4 DFW interview with Andy Moreno

"I'm really mad about it," she said after hearing the news. "I know it's not because I didn't have enough votes."

Students voted on the nominees and will select the homecoming royalty at a dance

NJ Spotlight | NJ Charter Schools On the Fast Track to Approval

NJ Spotlight | NJ Charter Schools On the Fast Track to Approval

NJ Charter Schools On the Fast Track to Approval

An expedited application and approval process is drawing out-of-state charter school networks to New Jersey

print | email | share

By John Mooney, October 12 in Education |Post a Comment

As politicians trumpet them and philanthropists seem eager to help pay for them, New Jersey’s charter schools are about to draw a lot of new interest, including from private operators.

Related Links

Charter and Choice, the Next Piece of Christie’s Education Reform Agenda

Charter Schools Still Struggling, Despite Governor's Enthusiastic Backing

Recent Charter Approvals

The state Department of Education is expected to receive a record number of applicants this week for its new fast-track approval process, said its spokesman, with at least three national networks jumping into the mix.

Among them would be the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), already an established veteran of Newark charter schools and looking for license to double its enrollment there. In addition, the Mastery Charter Schools out of Philadelphia and the multistate Imagine Schools are both

Newark Mayor Cory Booker's school reforms may not improve student performance, study says | NJ.com

Newark Mayor Cory Booker's school reforms may not improve student performance, study says | NJ.com

Newark Mayor Cory Booker's school reforms may not improve student performance, study says

Published: Tuesday, October 12, 2010, 6:15 AM

Jessica Calefati/The Star-Ledger
Follow

Share this story

Story tools

Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-LedgerNewark Mayor Cory Booker, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and NJ Gov. Chris Christie make their official announcement of the Facebook deal at Robert Treat Hotel.

7Share

6 Comments

NEWARK — Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s commitment to reform his city’s struggling schools may not help increase students’ performance in the classroom, according to research being presented today by the Institute on Education Law and Policy at Rutgers-Newark.

The study’s authors examined public school governance models in nine cities demographically and politically similar to New Jersey’s state-controlled school districts and found "no conclusive evidence" that greater mayoral participation in their governance led to improved student test scores.

"Student achievement has been the toughest nut to crack," the report says. "While school leaders tout many improvements in test scores, attendance and graduation rates, in fact we were unable to establish conclusively that the change in governance had any causal

‘Waiting for’ teachers’ unions to change | Thoughts on Public Education

‘Waiting for’ teachers’ unions to change | Thoughts on Public Education

‘Waiting for’ teachers’ unions to change - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

There’s a moment in Waiting for Superman when Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter cuts to the core. “It’s very, very important to hold two contradictory ideas in your head at the same time,” he tells the camera. “Teachers are great, a national treasure. Teachers’ unions are, generally speaking, a menace and an impediment to reform.” If balancing [...]

Local Democrats Call Out Fiorina on Schools - The Bay Citizen

Local Democrats Call Out Fiorina on Schools - The Bay Citizen

Local Democrats Call Out Fiorina on Schools

Supporters of Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer are taking aim at Repubican candidate Carly Fiorina’s record as CEO of Hewlett Packard and her stance on a multibillion-dollar jobs bill recently signed into law by President Barack Obama. At an event Monday morning outside Sherman Elementary School on San Francisco’s Union Street, former California Democratic Party chief Art Torres, flanked by teachers, parents and students, said he wanted to “highlight Carly Fiorina’s wiliness to protect tax breaks of companies sending jobs overseas rather than protecting teaching jobs here at home.” This is “hardly surprising,” Torres said, given Fiorina laid off laid off more than 30,000 workers when she was CEO of Hewlett Packard. Teachers and parents who attended the press conference

Schools Matter: Imagine and Others in NJ

Schools Matter: Imagine and Others in NJ

Imagine and Others in NJ Imagine is trying to join in on the Zuckerberg/Booker/Christie ed reform festivities; it was practically a given that KIPP would seek to expand. From the NJ Spotlight: NJ Charter Schools On the Fast Track to Approval An expedited application and ...

Easy Money for Schools, No Strings Attached Easy Money for California Schools, No Strings Attached Sent to the Long Beach Star Telegram, October 11, 2010 I wonder if the new coalition to win Race to the Top funding knows what will happen if they succeed ("LBUSD joins other districts on education ...

The Answer Sheet - 'Manifesto' should be resignation letter

The Answer Sheet - 'Manifesto' should be resignation letter

'Manifesto' should be resignation letter

My guest is Kevin G. Welner, professor of education policy and program evaluation in the School of Education at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and director of the National Education Policy Center. He can be reached at welner@colorado.edu. By Kevin G. Welner For a concise compilation of today’s fads and gimmicks in education, go read “How to fix our schools: A manifesto by Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee and other education leaders,” published in the Outlook section of Sunday’s Washington Post. The sort of nonsense about education found in the new manifesto has become astoundingly commonplace, but this time it came not from a Hollywood filmmaker or a Washington think-tank advocate but from the leaders of 16 of the nation’s major city school districts. According to the manifesto, “It’s time for all of the adults -- superintendents, educators, elected officials, labor unions and parents alike -- to start acting like

U-Maryland marching band wins $25,000 challenge with 'Book em Danno'

The University of Maryland marching band won $25,000 in a national competition, the Hawaii Five-0 Marching Band Madness, it was announced late Monday night. The band, called the MIghty Sound of Maryland, won with a performance in which it first spelled out Hawaii Five-0, and then “Book em Danno.” If you don’t know what that means, you never watched "Hawaii Five-0" on television. Watch the performance video above -- it’s a hoot. Not a bad way to win $25,000. -0- Follow my blog every day by bookmarking washingtonpost.com/answersheet. And for admissions advice, college news and links to campus papers, please check out our Higher Education page at washingtonpost.com/higher-ed Bookmark it!

My End At LAUSD: Now On To A Neutral Forum (Mi Terminar en el LAUSD: Ahora en un foro neutral) - Perdaily.com

My End At LAUSD: Now On To A Neutral Forum (Mi Terminar en el LAUSD: Ahora en un foro neutral) - Perdaily.com

My End At LAUSD: Now On To A Neutral Forum (Mi Terminar en el LAUSD: Ahora en un foro neutral)

by Leonard

(en español después) On Friday, October 8, 2010 LAUSD Chief Academic Officer Judy Elliott sent me a letter saying that she was going to submit my name to the LAUSD Board for dismissal as a teacher. In retrospect and in culmination of more then a year long campaign of harassment against me, the following facts are surprisingly undisputed:

- My fate was sealed with LAUSD from the moment I stood up against endemic LAUSD fraud in testing and graduation policies.

- Nobody in LAUSD administration has ever read my responses to the completely fabricated charges against me or ever reviewed any of the rather conclusive evidence I have submitted on various occasions clearly showing that none of the charges against me

NYC Public School Parents: Too little and much too late, the Times finally reports on the state test score scandal

NYC Public School Parents: Too little and much too late, the Times finally reports on the state test score scandal

Too little and much too late, the Times finally reports on the state test score scandal

by Leonie Haimson

In yesterday’s front page story, entitled "On NY School Tests, Warning Signs Ignored," the NY Times recounted the history of the state test score inflation that left its own deficient reporting conveniently off the hook.

Anyone who was paying attention knew at least as far back as 2007 that there was rampant test score inflation, primarily through articles by Erin Einhorn and other reporters at the Daily News. These articles, which themselves relied on analysis from testing experts like Fred Smith, revealed that the test score inflation started as early as 2002, with questions and scoring becoming easier over time.

See this 2007 article on our blog by Steve Koss, relating the ingenious experiment done by Einhorn in which she

“The Danger of a Single Story” (Part Two) � InterACT

“The Danger of a Single Story” (Part Two) � InterACT

“The Danger of a Single Story” (Part Two)

by David B. Cohen

I recently wrote a blog post that focused on a TED Talk by novelist Chimamanda Adichie, who cautioned her audience about “The Danger of a Single Story” - meaning that when we only hear one narrative about a subject, we accept stereotypes as truths. In the United States today, the risk submerging ourselves in the mono-narrative of failing public schools, which some observers have suggested is another manifestation of what Naomi Klein dubbed The Shock Doctrine in her recent book. Klein argues that danger and instability make it possible for those in power to make changes and advance agendas that would otherwise encounter opposition. If our public schools are in crisis, then the public is more likely to embrace dramatic remedies, in the form of traumatic “school turnaround” models and the rapid expansion of charter schools and mayoral control, along with the end