Sunday, December 26, 2010

Brian Pickett: Student Play Censored for Being Critical of NYC's School Closure Policy

Student Play Censored for Being Critical of NYC's School Closure Policy

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When word came down that school officials would bar the performance of a student play set to perform at Jamaica High School, I was -- as their teacher -- charged with delivering the sad news. Huddled around an old wooden table in the school's library, the young cast reacted with a range of emotions. Some felt despair over the lack of power they seemed to have, others, a deep sense of outrage at not being consulted about the decision.

"Let's go to the press!" said some, realizing they just might have some power after all.

As part of a credit-bearing class at Queensborough Community College, students from Jamaica High School and Queens Collegiate, a smaller school within the same building, spent the fall semester reading and discussing the classic Greek play Antigone and creating scenes that

Hudsonhubtimes.com - School reform group takes root

School reform group takes root

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about 6 hours ago

by Tim Troglen

Reporter

Hudson -- A national group formed in Washington, D.C., earlier this year to help foster educational reform is starting to take local root with hopes of transforming the Hudson City School District.

Michelle Rhee, the former head of the Washington, D.C., public schools, announced the formation of StudentsFirst (www.studentsfirst.org), Dec. 6 on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

Hudson Superintendent Steve Farnsworth said he supports some of the core beliefs of the organization, but he does not believe education reforms for public schools in Washington, D.C., often characterized as the worst in the nation, are appropriate for Hudson.

The organization's goal is "to build a national movement to defend the interests of children in public education and pursue transformative reform, so that America has the best education system in the world," according to the local

Teacher shortage feared - San Bernardino County Sun

Teacher shortage feared

Report: Fewer students seeking education careers

Staff and Wire Reports

Posted: 12/25/2010 09:42:22 PM PST

California's teaching work force is running on empty, according to a new report by the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning.

The report - "California's Teaching Force 2010: Key Issues and Trends" - says the number of public schoolteachers has reached a decade low in the state, and the job is getting less attractive amid state budget cuts.

The budget problems have boosted class sizes, interfered with teacher training and reduced support from school counselors, nurses and aides, according to the report by the nonprofit research and advocacy group based in Santa Cruz.

"The disinvestment in building a top quality teacher work force is at odds with rising demands for students' academic success," Margaret Gaston, president and executive director of the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning, said in a news release.

"The fiscal crisis has so severely damaged the pipeline for recruiting and training new teachers that teaching

Mayor Villaraigosa's school reform efforts cost him little labor backing - latimes.com

Villaraigosa's school reform efforts cost him little labor backing

As he takes on United Teachers Los Angeles, he retains much support so far from other unions, which see a basic difference in the issues.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa meets with Caroll Turner, who has a fourth-grader at McKinley Elementary in Compton, at a press conference where he voiced his support for the effort to make McKinley a charter school. (Al Seib, Los Angeles Times / December 10, 2010)

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Villaraigosa takes on teachers union

By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times

December 26, 2010

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A mayor with deep roots in the labor movement now finds himself denounced in some quarters as a turncoat — a description he calls absurd.

"No one buys that turncoat stuff," Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the other day at a union-sponsored event in Watts. "But I am challenging orthodoxies in a way that we have to."

The mayor's recent branding of United Teachers Los Angeles, the L.A. teachers union, as "one unwavering roadblock" to his effort to reform public schools has raised ire in organized labor circles

The Answer Sheet - How the banned student play was created

How the banned student play was created

By Valerie Strauss

This was written by Brian Pickett, a theater artist and educator who currently teachers high students in collaborative programs at Brooklyn College and Queensborough Community College. He was involved in helping students at two New York High Schools, Jamaica and Queens Collegiate, write a play about school reform in New York City that was subsequently banned from being performed at the school. I published the play last week, and since then, Pickett has been offered other venues to stage the play. Here is his account of how the students developed the play and learned about how and why it was banned. It first appeared on Huffington Post.

By Brian Pickett
When word came down that school officials would bar the performance of a student play set to perform at Jamaica High School, I was -- as their teacher -- charged with delivering the sad news. Huddled around an old

Commentary: A crucial lesson in education reform | Asbury Park Press

A crucial lesson in education reform

Money alone doesn't help improve student achievement

DECEMBER 26, 2010

Schools around the country have begun to show measurable progress in closing achievement gaps, according to evidence from a growing range of sources. That's the good news.

The bad news is that in New Jersey this progress is much more limited, and it is young African-Americans who seem to be losing out the most.

Despite an influx of new funding to New Jersey's poorest urban school districts following the state Supreme Court's Abbott rulings, student achievement levels remain mostly flat at the lower end of the spectrum.

The percentage of black eighth-graders who scored above "basic" in reading actually declined, from 62