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Saturday, December 4, 2010

The Answer Sheet - Meier: Partisan mindsets and teacher collegiality

The Answer Sheet - Meier: Partisan mindsets and teacher collegiality

Meier: Partisan mindsets and teacher collegiality

This was written by prominent educator Deborah Meier on her Bridging Differences blog, which she co-authors with historian Diane Ravitch on the Education Week website. Meier and Ravitch exchange letters about what matters most in education. Meier is the founding principal of Mission Hill School in Boston and a renowned education reformer. Her latest book, written with Brenda Engel & Beth Taylor) is "Playing for keeps: Life and learning on a public school playground." Dear Diane: ...It's a relief these days to shift from contemplating the ugly takeover of our public institutions by private wealth—at a time when these very same people have undermined the economy of the nation itself—to talk about what fascinated me for 45 years. It was not the politics of schooling. A new book by Ryan Teves that just arrived in my mailbox is worth reading. Teves is a math and science secondary school teacher who

Yong Zhao » Blog Archive » The Value of a College Degree: High Test Scores, Low Ability

Yong Zhao » Blog Archive » The Value of a College Degree: High Test Scores, Low Ability

The Value of a College Degree: High Test Scores, Low Ability

The value of Chinese college degree: $44 per month according recent statistics. “China’s college graduates on average make only 300 yuan, or roughly $44, more per month than the average Chinese migrant worker,” writes a Wall Street Journal blog article citing data released by the director of Institute of Population and Labor Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Coincidentally, another story (in Chinese) that is spreading in Chinese media and online space is that a post-graduate degree (masters) is worth less than what a nanny makes. It is no ...

Joel Klein: What I Learned at the Education Barricades - WSJ.com

Joel Klein: What I Learned at the Education Barricades - WSJ.com

What I Learned at the Education Barricades

Our embrace of charter schools was especially controversial. But why should any student have to settle for a neighborhood school if it's awful?


Over the past eight years, I've been privileged to serve as chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, the nation's largest school district. Working with a mayor who courageously took responsibility for our schools, our department has made significant changes and progress. Along the way, I've learned some important lessons about what works in public education, what doesn't, and what (and who) are the biggest obstacles to the transformative changes we still need.

First, it is wrong to assert that students' poverty and family circumstances severely limit their educational potential. It's now proven that a child who does poorly with one teacher could have done very well with another. Take Harlem Success Academy, a charter school with all minority, mostly high-poverty students admitted by lottery. It performs as well as our gifted and talented schools that admit kids based solely on demanding tests. We also have many new small high schools that replaced large failing ones, and are now getting outsized results for poor children.

Second, traditional proposals for improving education—more money, better curriculum, smaller classes, etc.—aren't going to get the job done. Public education is a service-delivery challenge, and it must be operated as such. Albert Shanker, the legendary teachers union head, was right when he said that education has to be, first and foremost, about accountability for "student outcomes." This means there must be "consequences if children or adults don't perform."

When Mayor Bloomberg and I started, there was zero accountability. Instead, bureaucrats,

Teacher Ratings And The Gates Foundation

Teacher Ratings And The Gates Foundation

Teacher Ratings And The Gates Foundation

Teacher ratings and the Gates Foundation - this combination get me worried. The New York Times has an article on the issue of teacher ratings. and of course the Gates Foundation is involved. It appears as though Gates is investing $335 million into several big city school system’s personnel departments to help them figure out how to evaluate teachers more effectively.

One plus to come out of this is the Gates Foundation’s admission that more than value-added measurements are needed to effectively evaluate teachers.

Daily Kos: One week of teaching -  the good, the bad and the ugly

Daily Kos: One week of teaching - the good, the bad and the ugly

One week of teaching - the good, the bad and the ugly

In reverse order. And then a little reflection on what if anything it might mean.

The Ugly - I have a problem class. 12 failed 1st quarter, and more had Ds (they are guranteed a C if they simply do all the work). This week two were put up for expulsion. While they are out of school I have to give them assignments, in case they are not expelled. The reasons for the expulsion are not for things in my class.

The Bad - . In my non-AP classes I am giving them all the terms and definitions for which they are responsible at the start of a chapter so that we can try to explore things in more depth. While doing a check of knowledge

Cathleen Black’s Waiver Challenged in Suit by Parent - NYTimes.com

Cathleen Black’s Waiver Challenged in Suit by Parent - NYTimes.com

Parent Sues to Block Schools Chief

The father of two Brooklyn public school children filed a lawsuit against state education officials on Friday to stop Cathleen P. Black, a publishing executive, from becoming the next New York City schools chancellor.

The suit, filed by Eric J. Snyder of Park Slope, was the first formal legal challenge to Ms. Black’s appointment, although more are expected.

The suit argued that David M. Steiner, the state education commissioner, erred in his interpretation of the law when he issued a waiver to permit Ms. Black to become chancellor even though she lacked the required education credentials and experience.

Citing state education law and the commissioner’s regulations, the suit claims that while the required graduate course work and teaching experience may be waived for “exceptionally qualified” people, they do not allow the commissioner to waive a separate requirement that the chancellor possess a master’s degree, and calls for Mr. Steiner’s decision to be annulled.

Ms. Black, 66, holds only a bachelor’s degree in English from Trinity University in

Teacher Evaluations May Get a Video Assist - NYTimes.com

Teacher Evaluations May Get a Video Assist - NYTimes.com

Teacher Ratings Get New Look, Pushed by a Rich Watcher

Travis Dove for The New York Times

Lindsey Cozat, a technology teacher at Croft Community School in Charlotte, N.C., set up a classroom recording device.

PRINCETON, N.J. — In most American schools, teachers are evaluated by principals or other administrators who drop in for occasional classroom visits and fill out forms to rate their performance.

Travis Dove for The New York Times

The aim is to capture what happens in the classroom of a fifth-grade teacher, Damien Kingsberry, and to evaluate him.

The result? More than 9 out of 10 teachers get top marks, according to a prominent study last year by the New Teacher Project, a nonprofit group focusing on improving teacher quality.

Now Bill Gates, who in recent years has turned his attention and considerable fortune to improving American education, is investing $335 million through his foundation to overhaul the personnel departments of several big school

Sparks fly at Gov. Christie's Parsippany town hall meeting regarding superintendent salaries | NJ.com

Sparks fly at Gov. Christie's Parsippany town hall meeting regarding superintendent salaries | NJ.com

Sparks fly at Gov. Christie's Parsippany town hall meeting regarding superintendent salaries

Published: Friday, December 03, 2010, 9:00 PM Updated: Saturday, December 04, 2010, 8:42 AM

Gov. Christie holds town hall meeting in ParsippanyEnlargeKeith Chaudruc, left, of Madison, debates Christie after he was invited to come up on stage with him. (Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-Ledger)Gov. Christie holds town hall meeting in Parsippanygallery (14 photos)
  • Gov. Christie holds town hall meeting in Parsippany
  • Gov. Christie holds town hall meeting in Parsippany
  • Gov. Christie holds town hall meeting in Parsippany
  • Gov. Christie holds town hall meeting in Parsippany
  • Gov. Christie holds town hall meeting in Parsippany

PARSIPPANY — Gov. Chris Christie took off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves and warned the crowd: This, he said, is when his explosive town hall moments happen.

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He waded into Parsippany yesterday — the epicenter of his battle with school superintendents. He appeared to be looking for a fight.

And he got it.

The Parsippany town hall, his 15th such event, proved to be the governor’s most explosive yet. There were robust challenges to his economic and education policies from all sides, catcalls, heckling, and three people were removed by the police. And despite of all of that, or because of it, he ended the night with an ovation.

Keith Chaudruc, of Madison, got the final question of the night.

The Livingston school district elementary teacher launched into a list of complaints about drops in municipal aid, increasing NJ Transit fares

A right to say ‘Christmas’ and ‘Jesus’ — Joanne Jacobs

A right to say ‘Christmas’ and ‘Jesus’ — Joanne Jacobs

A right to say ‘Christmas’ and ‘Jesus’

Pencils stating “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” were confiscated from goodie bags distributed by an elementary student at a school holiday party in Plano, Texas. Another student was told not to give out pencils saying “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so” at her classroom birthday party. Students were prohibited from saying “Christmas” at school and could not write “Merry Christmas” on holiday cards sent to

Nanny state says no to brownies, pizza

Uncle Sam could ban school bake sales and pizza days under a child nutrition bill on its way to President Barack Obama, reports AP.

The legislation, part of first lady Michelle Obama’s campaign to stem childhood obesity, provides more meals at school for needy kids, including dinner, and directs the Agriculture Department to write guidelines to make those meals healthier. The legislation would apply to all foods sold in schools during regular class hours, including in the cafeteria line, vending machines and at fundraisers.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will have the power to decide when a food-based fundraiser is “infrequent”