This Week In Education: AM News: Teacher Changes Move Ahead In Baltimore & LA

This Week In Education: AM News: Teacher Changes Move Ahead In Baltimore & LA

AM News: Teacher Changes Move Ahead In Baltimore & LA

by Alexander Russo

L.A. Unified settlement of lawsuit mushroomed into assault on long-held district practices LA Times: An effort to lessen layoffs at three middle schools became a vehicle to propel fundamental changes, such as requiring layoffs at the same rate campus by campus. It also sidestepped teachers union resistance... Education Overhaul Effort Loses Key Player WSJ: Ms. Rhee said her own future remained unclear. She said she planned to take some time off and then look for another job in the education arena... Gray vows to continue school reforms as he names interim D.C. chancellor Washington Post: Vincent C. Gray promised Wednesday to move ahead with the District's aggressive school reform agenda even as he allowed its most visible leader, Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, to exit the stage... Authorities look for clues in Minn. teen deaths AP: The bodies of two teenage friends were found near a gun in a heavily wooded area, and authorities looked into Facebook postings and text messages for clues Wednesday but said they were not searching for suspects... NEA Continues Its Ad Ground Game PK12: It's tough to say that Bennet and the NEA are best buddies, at least when it comes to policy... Teachers begin voting on progressive contract Baltimore Sun: Baltimore teachers began voting Wednesday on what is being hailed as one of the most progressive union contracts to emerge in the nation, which, if ratified, would give teachers unprecedented pay and autonomy and tie raises to proven effectiveness in the classroom.

News: Shifting Market Shares - Inside Higher Ed

News: Shifting Market Shares - Inside Higher Ed

Shifting Market Shares

Blackboard's competitors gain, budget cuts continue, mobile apps and lecture capture look likely to grow, annual technology survey finds.

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Mobile Momentum and Doubts

Technology companies promote convenient versions of services, but some professors still worry that all that convenience comes at the expense of attention in class.

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Britain Goes to Market

Landmark report proposes that government slash teaching subsidies and let student fees rise, in expectation that competition and choice drive quality.

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Britain's Answer to 'Who Pays?'

Proposed changes in financing of country's higher education system -- which, like those in U.S. and elsewhere, seems unsustainable -- would shift burden from government to students.

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NJ Spotlight | Adding Alternative Routes to the Top for School Principals and Administrators

NJ Spotlight | Adding Alternative Routes to the Top for School Principals and Administrators

Adding Alternative Routes to the Top for School Principals and Administrators

Gov. Christie wants to build on NJ EXCEL to bring more strong leadership to public schools

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By John Mooney, October 14 in Education |Post a Comment

Last night, 48 teachers and supervisors from across the state held a special kind of graduation in Monroe Township, having earned over the last year their certifications to be among the next generation of New Jersey’s school leaders.

Related Links

Gov. Christie Addresses the Details of his Educational Reforms

Innovative Pathways to School Leadership (2004)

They were the latest class to go through the NJ EXCEL, a seven-year-old program run by the state’s principals and supervisors association. Among its goals: help new principals and other top administrators to enter their jobs without the traditional graduate-level studies.

It is also a program that Gov. Chris Christie wants to expand and replicate further, as part of his reform package for improving New Jersey public schools.

Two weeks ago in presenting his education plan, Christie spoke broadly about the need to bring fresh blood into school principal jobs.

“We all know you need strong leadership,” he said. “You need strong, well-trained, well-formed principals to provide the leadership necessary to provide for a well-

Philadelphia Free School aims for democratic education model | Philadelphia Inquirer | 10/13/2010

Philadelphia Free School aims for democratic education model | Philadelphia Inquirer | 10/13/2010

Philadelphia Free School aims for democratic education model

By Liz Gormisky

Inquirer Staff Writer

Maddy Winters knows what she wants. Yes to ballet, no to soccer, yes to astronomy, and definitely yes to hanging out with the older crowd of third and fourth graders on her block.

Just 3 years old, she begged to go to school, but the local public school just won't do for her parents, Mark Filippone and Marie Winters. In September, Maddy will be enrolled at the Philadelphia Free School, where she will continue to decide what she wants to do all day long.

The Free School, which plans to launch a pilot program in January in South Philadelphia for students ages 4 to 18, follows a democratic model of education, meaning no tests, no curriculum, no bells every 45 minutes, no separation into grades, and no teachers. The adults at the school will be called "staff" and be elected by the students each year. The students will also vote on the school's budget and serve on a judicial committee that deliberates on misbehaving peers.

The concept of free school began in England in 1921

Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/education/20101013_Philadelphia_Free_School_aims_for_democratic_education_model.html#ixzz12KzaRDrR
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Consensus vs. “Buy-In” � Failing Schools

Consensus vs. “Buy-In” � Failing Schools

Consensus vs. “Buy-In”

OCTOBER 13, 2010

by Sabrina

On Tuesday night, I attended a heated public meeting to discuss a planned overhaul of many of the schools in Far Northeast Denver. The meeting’s organizers– Denver Public Schools and their related civic organization, A+ Denver– billed the event as a way to roll out their proposed plans for six area schools, and “get community input” regarding those plans. The current proposal would mean big changes for the area’s schools, which you can read more about here.

I won’t delve deeply into the pros and cons of the different school options here. Though I generally like what I’ve heard about DCIS, and was quite impressed when I visited SOAR I a few weeks ago, there is a history of serious problems with school turnarounds in Denver and

Mayor's fiancee to leave D.C. education post - Sacramento City News - sacbee.com

Mayor's fiancee to leave D.C. education post - Sacramento City News - sacbee.com

Mayor's fiancee to leave D.C. education post

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By Ryan Lillis
rlillis@sacbee.com

Published: Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 2B

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson doesn't have to look very far to understand just how tense the political debate over education reform has become in this country.

Johnson's fiancée, Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, announced Wednesday she was resigning at the end of the month. Rhee's job security became uncertain after her boss, Mayor Adrian Fenty, was defeated in his re-election bid in what many have called an election that was a referendum on education reform.

Despite the events in Washington – where Rhee fired hundreds of underperforming teachers and battled with unions – Johnson continues to dive into the politics of education, announcing Wednesday his three picks for the Sacramento City Unified School District board seats up for grabs in the November election.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/10/14/3103187/mayors-fiancee-to-leave-dc-education.html#ixzz12Kx6vv2k

Education board trustee resigns; she's leaving area

Published: 12:00 am

Victoria Deane has resigned from the Sacramento County Board of Education.

Jury gets Sac Cilty Unified's suit over dismantled pension plan

By Melody Gutierrez - Published: 12:00 am

Jury deliberations will begin this morning in the $4.2 million malpractice suit over a dismantled pension system for Sacramento City Unified School District administrators.

State schools chief assails veto of funding for data-collection system

By Diana Lambert - Published: 12:00 am

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's veto of $6.8 million for a statewide data system to track student information has California Department of Education officials fighting back.

Mayor's school board picks: Powell, Corso, Singh

By Ryan Lillis - Updated: 2:58 pm

Flanked by a large group of business interests, police union officials and community activists, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson made his endorsements today for the three Sacramento City Unified School District board seats up for election in November.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/education/#ixzz12Kwzf7GU

Scant talk of schools in three debates | Thoughts on Public Education

Scant talk of schools in three debates | Thoughts on Public Education

Scant talk of schools in three debates

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Brown and Whitman spar over CTA

Posted on 10/14/10 • Categorized as Uncategorized

By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

So what did California voters learn about the candidates’ views on education from three gubernatorial debates?

Certainly not enough to base a vote on; the subject barely came up in questioning. And the answers were all but ignored in news stories. (Reporting on the state of California’s schools is not as sexy as talking about “whores.” And Jerry Brown’s apology for an aide’s tactless remark is the pivotal issue for an electorate facing 12 percent unemployment, another budget deficit and struggling schools, isn’t it?)

But Tom Brokaw’s question to Brown in Tuesday night’s debate about the role of the California Teachers Association in education and Meg Whitman’s follow-up did at least evoke

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rhee-ism without Rhee?

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rhee-ism without Rhee?

Rhee-ism without Rhee?

by Mike Klonsky

Is D.C. mayor-elect Vincent Gray strong enough to follow the mandate of those who elected him and break withMichelle Rhee's destructive approach to school reform? He knows it's the right thing to do and has been openly critical of Rhee's testing madness, her one-sided emphasis on the classroom teacher, and her divisive anti-unionism. But it would mean risking the ire of Arne Duncan and the power philanthropists, whose largesse keeps the district financially afloat.

Gray's appointment of deputy chancellor, Kaya Henderson, as interim chancellor is an indication that he isn't

The Answer Sheet - Radical idea: Public schools aren't an awful mess

The Answer Sheet - Radical idea: Public schools aren't an awful mess

Radical idea: Public schools aren't an awful mess

This post was written by Nancy Flanagan, an education writer and consultant focusing on teacher leadership. She spent 30 years in a K-12 music classroom in Hartland, Mich, and was named Michigan Teacher of the Year in 1993. She is National Board-certified, and a member of the Teacher Leaders Network. She writes for her blog "Teacher in a Strange Land" for Education week, and her work is featured on the Web site Teachers Lead. By Nancy Flanagan Here's a radical idea: Public schools in America are not a catastrophic mess. Backed into a corner, beat up and wildly uneven in quality, yes. There's plenty of room for improvement, even in the schools that look terrific on paper. But perhaps it's time to take a deep breath and consider the words of Wendy Puriefoy: In a society where the wealthiest are walled off in gated communities and the poorest are isolated

Will Teachers Vote in November? � InterACT

Will Teachers Vote in November? � InterACT

Will Teachers Vote in November?

by Martha Infante

It has been a long two years since President Obama was elected as our nation’s leader. Amidst hope and desperation, teachers across the country rallied behind his message of accountability for all members of our society. “Finally,” we thought, “someone who understands that it surely takes more than just a single classroom teacher to produce an effective citizen.”

Well the President’s accountability message has been strangely truncated, and while he still verbally urges all Americans to get involved in improving education, only the teachers are the ones being held accountable.

More and more, the measure of the worth of a teacher and a school is boiled down to the single, high stakes test taken once a year by students, irrespective of any budget cuts, poor leadership/management, lack of parental involvement, or student motivation factors. Anyone who tries to point out the error in judging something as

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: COMPTON SUPERINTENDENT FIRED D.C. CHANCELLOR MICHELLE RHEE QUITS

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: COMPTON SUPERINTENDENT FIRED D.C. CHANCELLOR MICHELLE RHEE QUITS

WHAT CULPRIT-SEEKING ‘SUPERMAN’ LACKS: COMPLEXITY. ‘The real mystery of Waiting for Superman is how, despite all its flaws, it’s gotten so much attention so fast, even on the left.’ By Peter Schrag | TOP-Ed – Thoughts on Public Education | http://bit.ly/c7yqSM 10/13/10 - Teachers union members last week leafleted outside the Oakland movie house where I saw Davis Guggenheim’s film Waiting for Superman. And no doubt there’ve been ...

COMPTON SUPERINTENDENT FIRED + D.C. CHANCELLOR MICHELLE RHEE QUITS Compton Superintendent of Schools Fired! posted by: Judy Molland - Care 2.com | http://bit.ly/d5LnPf 13 October 2010 - School superintendents are hot news! On the same day that D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee announced her departure, the Los Angeles ...

Schools Matter: Shocking revelations from Geoffrey Canada's autobiography

Schools Matter: Shocking revelations from Geoffrey Canada's autobiography

Shocking revelations from Geoffrey Canada's autobiography

by skrashen

Sent to the New York Daily News, October 13

Geoffrey Canada says that a longer school day, increased accountability, and "data to drive instruction" can help children who have fallen behind ("The truth about our schools," October 13). But in his autobiography, Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun, he credits reading for his own school success, despite growing up in poverty: "I loved reading, and my mother, who read voraciously too, allowed me to have her novels after she finished them. My strong reading background allowed me to have an easier time of it in most of my classes."
There is no clear data supporting longer school days, increased accountability and data-driven instruction as a means of improving school performance. In contrast, there is overwhelming evidence showing that Mr. Canada's