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Monday, December 20, 2010

Randi Weingarten: Scaling Up Success

Randi Weingarten: Scaling Up Success

Scaling Up Success

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One of the great frustrations with America's public education system is that our success stories are rarely scaled up so that more students can benefit. To our children's detriment, decision-makers are more likely to chase fads, shift course or choose "reforms" lacking evidence of effectiveness than they are to adopt and expand educational approaches that have been proven successful.

Unfortunately, this is true on many levels. Accomplished teachers rarely have opportunities to share their craft with colleagues or to mentor new teachers. The "secrets" of successful schools too often remain a mystery, even to schools close by. And rather than replicate the practices of high-performing school districts for the benefit of far more students, many superintendents seem intent upon putting their own imprint on a school system -- evidence be damned.

The results of an international assessment released earlier this month show the consequences of America's failure to build on what works in education. American students ranked in the middle of

This Week In Education: Stray Dogs: Teaching Turnarounds

This Week In Education: Stray Dogs: Teaching Turnarounds

The Educated Reporter: My Christmas gift to you: a value-added story idea.

The Educated Reporter: My Christmas gift to you: a value-added story idea.

My Christmas gift to you: a value-added story idea.

If you go into a typical fourth-grade class—especially a high-poverty one—on test day in March, you might find a kid who arrived at the school in January, one who arrived in February, and one who arrived three days before. You’ll find several kids who receive most of their reading instruction from a pullout teacher, and others who do so in math. There will be students who spend large part of their day in a special ed room, and some in ESL. The class might have spent a large chunk of the fall with a student teacher. A couple of kids might have been swapped from the class across the hall because they had trouble getting along with their classmates.

So how much credit, or blame, for these kids’ scores on the test should be attributed to the classroom teacher?

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Chicago board president's suicide tied to City Hall/Olympics corruption

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Chicago board president's suicide tied to City Hall/Olympics corruption

Chicago board president's suicide tied to City Hall/Olympics corruption

In the run-up to the Olympic Games, the mayor and school board presidentMichael Scott forced CPS principals, teachers, and students to turn out for rallies to support the mayor's failed campaign to make Chicago the Olympic City. Now we know why.

While serving as school board president, Scott negotiated key components of the $1.2 billion Olympic Village plan and had a long business relationship with developer Gerald Fogelson, who was vying to build the village. Scott served as a $10,000/month consultant on a condominium project near the proposed athletes village, a development that would increase in value if the city wins the Olympics. The city owns more than 750 properties in the immediate vicinity of two proposed Olympic venues, Douglas Park on the West Side and Washington Park on the South Side.

Scott lost a ton of money when his consulting fees from Fogelson were cut off after the bid failed. This combined

What’s really behind Boss Madigan’s rush to reform? « Fred Klonsky's blog

What’s really behind Boss Madigan’s rush to reform? « Fred Klonsky's blog

What’s really behind Boss Madigan’s rush to reform?

Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s rush to reform is so unseemly, so suspicious, so behind-closed-doors, that even supporters of the reforms themselves are embarrassed by the process.

You know that last Thursday and Friday Madigan scheduled hearings of his newly created House Committee on Education Reform.

You know the committee is stacked with reformy types bought and paid for by Stand for Children, the Oregon-

Duncan, Senate Republicans Talk ESEA Renewal - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Duncan, Senate Republicans Talk ESEA Renewal - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Duncan, Senate Republicans Talk ESEA Renewal

No one is expecting the more-conservative Congress and the Democratic administration to cooperate on much next year.

But reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is one area where there's a glimmer of hope for compromise between the two parties. (In fact, most education advocates would tell you that the differences between Democrats and Democrats, and Republicans and Republicans may be just as likely to scuttle talks as any partisan divides.)

The buzz is that education could get a much more prominent role than usual in the president's State of the Union

The Answer Sheet - A 'highly qualified' gift from Congress to Teach for America

The Answer Sheet - A 'highly qualified' gift from Congress to Teach for America

A 'highly qualified' gift from Congress to Teach for America

By Valerie Strauss

Should teachers still in training programs be considered “highly qualified” to teach kids?

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently ruled that theyaren’t, but some members of Congress think so.

Senators have included in key legislation language that would allow teachers still in training to be considered “highly qualified” so they can meet a standard set in the federal No Child Left Behind law.

In an era when the education mantra is that all kids deserve great teachers, some members of Congress want it to be the law of the land that a neophyte teacher who has demonstrated “satisfactory progress” toward full state certification is “highly qualified.”

Teachers still in training programs are disproportionately concentrated in schools serving low-income students and students of color, the very

Amazing Spectacle: Total Lunar Eclipse Monday Night - Yahoo! News

Amazing Spectacle: Total Lunar Eclipse Monday Night - Yahoo! News
UPDATE

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 2011

Live feeds of lunar eclipse at Slooh, Google Earth and Times Square - latimes.com

Live feeds of lunar eclipse at Slooh, Google Earth and Times Square - latimes.com

Live feeds of lunar eclipse at Slooh, Google Earth and Times Square

EclipseSince it’s currently pouring in Los Angeles, the only way to watch Monday night’s total lunar eclipse might be through a live feed from Google Earth and robotic telescope service Slooh.
Google Earth’s Sky feature will present an ongoing visual of the celestial event, which will stretch for several hours beginning around 10:30 p.m. PST. Viewers can go to the Slooh Space Camera section -– known as a “layer” -- to watch.
It will be a coming-out party of sorts for the Google Earth-Slooh partnership, which launched in the fall.
Slooh also will show the total lunar eclipse -- the first in about three years -- on its website, with live audio commentary by astronomer Bob Berman. The phases will also appear on a large digital billboard in Times Square in New York City at 1568 Broadway.
And NASA will be hosting Web chats about the eclipse and feeding it live atNASA.gov/WatchTheSkies






Amazing Spectacle: Total Lunar Eclipse Monday Night


For a few hours on the night of Dec. 20 to Dec. 21, the attention of tens of millions of people will be drawn skyward, where the mottled, coppery globe of our moon will hang completely immersed in the long, tapering cone of shadow cast out into space by our Earth. If the weather is clear, favorably placed skywatchers will have a view of one of nature's most beautiful spectacles: a total eclipse of the moon.
Unlike a total eclipse of the sun, which is only visible to those in the path of totality, eclipses of the moon can usually be observed from one's own backyard. The passage of the moon through the Earth's shadow is equally visible from all places within the hemisphere where the moon is above the horizon.
The total phase of the upcoming event will be visible across all of North and South America, as well as the northern and western part of Europe, and a small part of northeast Asia, including Korea and much of Japan. Totality will also be visible in its entirety from the North Island of New Zealand and Hawaii — a potential viewing audience of about 1.5 billion people. This will be the first opportunity from any place on earth to see the moon undergo a total eclipse in 34 months. [Amazing photos of a total lunar eclipse]
This star chart shows where in the sky the upcoming lunar eclipse will appear. And check this NASA lunar eclipse chart to see how visible the eclipse will be from different regions around the world.
Stages of the eclipse
There is nothing complicated about viewing this celestial spectacle. Unlike an eclipse of the sun, which necessitates special viewing precautions in order to avoid eye damage, an eclipse of the moon is perfectly

Why the GAO Should Play Powerball :: Frederick M. Hess

Why the GAO Should Play Powerball :: Frederick M. Hess